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VMware Studio 2.0 Release Notes


  Public Beta Release | 29 June 2009 | Build 946

  Last document update 28 June 2009. Check frequently for changes to these Release Notes.


Contents:

About VMware Studio

VMware Studio is an easy-to-use virtual appliance that helps you transform software applications running on Linux or Windows into virtual machines that you can deliver as quick-starting virtual appliances.

VMware Studio includes a Web browser interface that simplifies development of virtual appliances. This Web browser interface controls an extensive build system. VMware Studio also has a command-line interface to assist you with automated builds. An Eclipse plug-in is provided so you can use the same integrated development environment for programming your applications as for packaging components and running the Web browser interface. Linux-based virtual appliances can be patched from an optional update repository. Windows-based virtual appliances can be configured with sysprep and boot scripts.

New Features in VMware Studio 2.0

The following features were added between VMware Studio 1.0 and 2.0:

  • Ability to create multi-VM appliances, vApps to run on VMware vSphere.
  • More provisioning engines including ESX/ESXi 3.5 and 4, VMware Workstation 6.5.1, and VMware Server 2.0.
  • Support for building Windows Server 2003 and 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) virtual appliances.
  • Support for building 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Enterprise Linux Server (SLES).
  • Support for building new distributions RHEL 5.3, CentOS 5.3, and Ubuntu 8.04.1.
  • Extensible management services allowing you to customize an interface into a new tab.
  • An Eclipse plug-in to package applications and create management services.
  • Automatic dependency resolution for application packages installed on Linux-based virtual appliances.
  • Existing VM build (input-as-VM) for Linux virtual appliances.
  • DMTF standard OVF 1.0 and open virtual appliance (OVA) packaging. VMware Studio always supported OVF 0.9.

You can read all about release 1.0 in the VMware Studio 1.0 Release Notes and other VMware Studio documentation.

Requirements for VMware Studio 2.0

For provisioning, VMware Studio 2.0 requires one of these virtualization product platforms:

  • VMware ESX/ESXi 4.0
  • VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 U3
  • You can provision on ESX/ESXi 4.0 and 3.5 through VMware vCenter Server
  • You can provision on ESX/ESXi 3.5 through VMware VirtualCenter
  • VMware Workstation 6.5.1
  • VMware Server 2.0
  • VMware Server 1.0.4, 1.0.5, and 1.0.6

Virtual appliances created by VMware Studio can run on these supported product platforms:

  • VMware Player 2.04 and 2.5
  • VMware vCenter Server 4
  • VMware VirtualCenter 3.5 U3
  • VMware ESX/ESXi 4
  • VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5 U3
  • VMware Workstation 6.5.1
  • VMware Server 2.0
  • VMware Server 1.04, 1.05, and 1.06

The VMware Studio 2.0 Web console supports these browsers:

  • Internet Explorer 6.0
  • Internet Explorer 7.0
  • Mozilla Firefox 2.0.14 or 2.0.16
  • Mozilla Firefox 3.0

Recently Discovered Issues

This release of VMware Studio has the following known issues:

  • Creating a VM based on Windows 2008 Datacenter or Windows 2008 Enterprise fails if there are two or more virtual disks configured in the profile.
  • If an application package is in form of a tar file and contains symbolic links, the build fails. Ensure there are no symbolic links when creating the input tar. If the application requires them, create them as part of post install script.
  • A vApp build profile must not have numbers in the profile name.
  • Partition or disk names must contain only alphanumeric characters and underscore.
  • Studio currently has a limitation that it can create only nine vApps per vApp build profile. The workaround is to delete vApp instances, so you can get nine more.
  • When provisioning VMs through vSphere, the build fails if a cluster name is entered in the Managed ESX Host field under Build Settings. Be sure to provide the name of an ESX/ESXi host.
  • When using existing VM as input, additional packages from the ISO do not get installed. The workaround is to manually copy the OS packages you want to add into the /opt/vmware/www/ISV/appliancePackages directory and let Studio find them there and resolve dependencies with the ISO image.
  • Internet Explorer might have problems downloading ZIP files from the VMs > VM Profile page. You see an empty window and nothing happens. The workaround is to right click Save Target As and download to a file.
  • After importing the OVF of a non-Ubuntu Linux-based VM into Workstation 6.5, the VM does not boot. It displays an error that Buslogic SCSI is not supported. See the Troubleshooting appendix for a solution.

Copyright © 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

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