This - MAP - procedure details the steps I am taking to build an Ubuntu 9.10 server virtual machine platform ready to install Mathematica 7. I will also be documenting the steps I am taking to perform the Mathematica 7 installation. I've wanted to get to know Mathematica for as long as I can remember. I am excited to see what kind of ways I can integrate it into my work as Network Engineer and especially to see what types of tools I can develop.

Notations: A-Action, R-Result, Q-Question, C-Cognition/Commentary, X-Exploration research

C MAP 1.0.1 - I recently added 2x 2GB RAM sticks to my DL360 G3 host. Now running at 4.7G RAM

A MAP 1.0.2 - Create a new virtual machine
a. Custom virtual machine
b. 2 virtual CPUs
c. Choose the memory size recommended for best performance: 4864MB
d. 1 NIC, VM Network, Flexible
e. SCSI LSI logic
f. Create new virtual disk, 18GB, browse to "datastore2"
g. start VM, connect to Ubuntu 9.10 server ISO
h. server install successfully - with LAMP and SAMBA
i. install ubuntu gui desktop: apt-get install ubuntu-desktop (takes 2G more disk space)
j. reboot MAP1 vm after successful ubuntu-desktop install
k. insert Mathematica 7 into CD/DVD drive
l. execute this command: root@MAP1:/media/cdrom0/Unix/Installer# sh MathInstaller

R MAP 1.0.3 - Below is the resulting text
Enter the installation directory, or press ENTER to select
/usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/7.0:

A MAP 1.0.4 - Hit enter

R MAP 1.0.5 - Below is the result

Now Installing...

[****

C MAP 1.0.6 - It took so long for the first * to appear in the installation that I assumed that it hung so I exited and restarted, resolving to let it try installing overnight. While I was doing some research on issues with Mathematica and Ubuntu I went back to the console and say sime stars..

R MAP 1.0.7 - More output from the install
Type the directory path in which the Wolfram Mathematica script(s) will be
created, or press ENTER to select /usr/local/bin:

Please choose how you want to configure the password for Wolfram Mathematica 7.0.
(1) Single machine
Install a password specific to this machine. Wolfram Mathematica will
launch, and you can enter your password.
(2) Network license
Obtain a license from a MathLM license server on your network each time
Wolfram Mathematica is launched.
(3) Enter license information later
Input your password and register when you start Wolfram Mathematica.
Type your selection, or press ENTER to select (1):
Configuring Single-Machine password...
Mathematica 7.0 for Linux x86 (32-bit)
Copyright 1988-2009 Wolfram Research, Inc.
You will need to get a password from your
license certificate or from Wolfram Research
(http://register.wolfram.com).
Machine name: Machine name
MathID: MathID number
You will need a valid license ID and password in order
to proceed. Go to http://register.wolfram.com or
consult your Getting Started documentation.
Enter your name:

(to be continued)

I'm going to show you how to decompile the package back to project.
All actions in this tutorial are only for researching.

WARNING! You can do it all on your own risk (license etc.).

There is two ways. First (my own) has two modifocations.
The first thing that you should know - ThinApp is packed itself. Can't say about second method (on which another Thinuser gave the permission), but in first method you'll need UNPACKED ThinApp.
All works you should do on "clean" PC.

Unpacking ThinApp.

1. Install ThinApp.
2. Ckick "Next" till you get dialog window (DW) for saving the project.
3. In DW (important) change the location to "C:\Program Files\VMware\"
4. Right click on the folder "VMware ThinApp"
5. Copy
6. IN THE SAME DW go to some another path: "D:\Unpack\" (for example).
7. Right click in this folder.
8. Paste.
9. Close all windows.
10. Put all unpacked files from "D:\Unpack\" WITH REPLACE into "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware ThinApp\" (installation folder).
11. In "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware ThinApp\" you can delete "Setup Capture.exe" but leave the "setup_capture.exe".
12. Now you have absolutely portable unpacked ThinApp.

By the way, this unpacked TA runs on Win7, by the applications made with it still do not.

Meth1.Mod1. Suitable for ThinApp and Xenocode (using ThinApp).

1. Run precapture.
2. Do not install anything and close TA window (with standard close button) or kill it's process in task manager.
3. Run the application you want to unpack (Object).
4. Call any dialog window (DW) in this application (Save... etc.)
5. In DW's file name field put * and press enter to see ALL files and use this DW as explorer.
6. Go to TA installation path with this explorer.
7. Run "setup_capture.exe" and it will give you choice to continue capturing.
BUT! This postcapture will continue in virtual area, where Object IS ALREADY INSTALLED (AppLinked)
8. Continue postcapture (is all goes good you should see our Object entries after postcapture).
9. Save project.

Pay attention that the project would be saved beside of your Object executable.
As you see, this method depends very much on dialog windows.
Xenocode can't be run under DW of application packed by Xenocode.
So you can use ThinApp to unpack Xenocoded application and then import ThinApp project back to Xenocode.

Meth1.Mod2. Suitable for ThinApp.

1. Using unpacked TA make precapture.
2. Do not install anything and put some simple file manager (RollerNT) in Program Files.
3. Make postcapture.
4. With "RollerNT.exe" entry point.
5. (In "Package.ini") uncomment "OptionalAppLinks=Plugins\*.exe" and change it to "OptionalAppLinks=Plugins\*.*"
the package can have not only EXE extension
6. Build this project.
7. Create "Plugins" folder beside of "RollerNT.exe" that you've build.
8. Put the application you want to unpack (Object) in "Plugins".
9. Run precapture.
10. Do not install anything and close TA window (with standard close button) or kill it's process in task manager.
11. Run VIRTUALISED "RollerNT.exe".
12. Go to TA installation path with this explorer.
13. Run "setup_capture.exe" and it will give you choice to continue capturing.
BUT! This postcapture will continue in virtual area, where Object IS ALREADY INSTALLED (AppLinked)
14. Continue postcapture (is all goes good you should see our Object entries after postcapture).
15. Save project.

Pay attention that the project would be saved in "Captures\RollerNT\bin\Captures\%Object%".

Now this %Object% folder should be moved in "Captures".
And now you can see all the files and registry of the project, but isolation settings now were setup by YOUR version of ThinApp.

Meth2. COMING SOON...

The goal here is to recreate (using the procedures of William Lam and Raj Perumal) a repeatable procedure for backing up VMs to "external storage". The system I am using is ESX server 3i 3.5.0 Build 153875
Notations: A-Action, R-Result, Q-Question, C-Cognition, X-Exploration research

A BES 1.0.1 - Allow SSH to ESX host server
(This step is only necessary on the first instance of the procedure)
Go the physical server hosting ESX and press Alt+F1, then type "unsupported" - you will not see anything as you type - you will then be prompted for a password. After gaining root access use vi to edit /etc/inetd.conf Remove "#" comment character in front of the SSH line. Save changes and reboot the system. You now have SSH access to the host.

A BES 1.0.2 - Get script to ESX host server
(This step is only necessary on the first instance of the procedure)
Download a copy of the ghettoVCB script found here http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760 then transfer it without modification to the ESX server with WinSCP making sure the transfer happens in Text mode. The destination on the ESX server should be: /vmfs/volumes/"datastorename". Once the transfer is complete change the permission to allow it to be executed: chmod +x ghettoVCB.sh

A BES 1.0.3 - Create list of VMs to back up
(This step is only necessary on the first instance and then every time the list of VMs to be backed up changes)
Since the script uses a text file to input the names (one per line) of the VMs to be backed up, this needs to created on the ESX host server. Use vi to create the textfile in the same directory in which the ghettoVCB.sh script is located.

A BES 1.0.4 - Create destination for backups
(This step is only necessary on the first instance and every time the backup storage destination changes)
I took Raj's advice and downloaded Allegro NFS in order to create and NFS share on my Windows machine as the destination for the backups.
Launch Allegro NFS to create the share
a. in the Export tab click "new" type /j/vmwarebackups (where j is the local partition and vmwarebackups is the folder)
b. browse for folder to partition j and folder vmwarebackups
c. click all on allowed hosts list, click everyone and root for read/write, do not click anything in read only
d. click apply and the apply button goes grey, click ok and Allegro NFS config window closes.
Open VMware Infrastructure Client (VIC) to add the share as a datastore
e. select host machine
f. select Storage in hardware then select add storage link
g. select NFS then next
h. input the static IP of the backup destination
i. input the path of the backup destination ( see a., and b. above)
j. do not check Mount NFS read-only
k. input the name of the datastore - for example: backup
l. click next and finish

R BES 1.0.5 - You see the new data store in the VIC

A BES 1.0.6 - Configure the ghettoVCB script
(This step is only necessary on the first instance and every time you need to reconfigure the script)
Use vi to edit the ghettoVCB.sh file on the ESX server
a. first make a backup of the script: cp ghettoVCB.sh unmodified_ghettoVCB.sh
b.. VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/backup or whatever the path of the NFS share is from BES 1.0.4i
c.. any other changes needed based on reading of script
d.. write changes and exit vi

Q BES 1.0.7 - My Windows NFS share is probably non-persistent NFS-backup, but I didn't modify the non-persistent section of the script - will this matter?

A BES 1.0.8 - Run the script
(This step will be needed every time you want a backup unless a cron'd)
a. execute the script: ./ghettoVCB.sh vmbackups

R BES 1.0.9 - The script ran successfully and let me know that since a snapshot was found the backup will not take place.

A BES 1.0.10 - Remove the snapshots before running the backup
a. shut down VM
b. go to snapshot manager in VIC and select remove all snapshots
c. the task window show in progress, but it has been a long time - good thing I trusted VMware and didn't reboot the box - that operation took 30 minutes, but completed successfully.

Q BES 1.0.11 - Why after removing the snapshots have I not gained capacity back on my datastore?

A BES 1.0.12 - Re-Run the script now that snapshot were removed.
a. execute the script: ./ghettoVCB.sh vmbackups
b. Script running sucessfully with % done ticker.

Hi everyone, please take a look at this weeks newsletter which is packed with loads of interesting new articles related to VMware Technology.

Kind Regards

Neil Isserow | VCP | Technical Account Manager - Queensland |
VMware Australia

It's been about 2 years since we introduced a re-designed website with an entire new look. It was an incredible struggle for the team to make that happen back in 2007. This year, we did a new design, and we spent about 2 months to re-work the design of communities.vmware.com.

The team did an excellent job, and this time it was smooth. I personally like the new look, and it tends to be easier to navigate. It will be interesting to see what the reaction to this is. We didn't change much functionality, just some navigation behavior and new content boxes on landing pages.

I would say, we are all much more aware of the requirements for doing major redesigns.

Eric Nielsen

Director, Web Communities.

See Attached

Great read over here: http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2009/09/top-things-to-do-after-installing.html

Check out some of the key things you must do once you upgrade your system to 9.10 (or rebuild it from scratch).