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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

unclear instructions...

good evening...

i'm trying to install the actual os of the first virtual machine. reading the instructions from a document called GuestOS_guide.pdf whichi got off the web site. it says literally:

To install FreeBSD 8:

1 Insert the FreeBSD 8 CD or DVD into the CD-ROM drive.

2 Power on the virtual machine to start installing FreeBSD 8.

3 Follow the installation steps as you would for a physical PC.

so.. i have a virtual machine done. and i have the dvd. question # 1. where? on which machine? the one with the sphereor the actual physical machine?

if it's the actual physical machine then why nothing happens when i (#2) "Power on the virtual machine" from the sphere. if i open the console of that virtual machine i get the attached file... i was waiting to see the bsd sysconfig interface... so # 3 never really happens?!

any reason of this happening?

thanks..

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mittim12
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Immortal

From the vSphere client you can edit the settings of the virtual machine to utilize the ESXi host CD-ROM or to utilize the CD-ROM of the PC you are running the vSphere client on.






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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

thanks...

is it under "virtual machine properties > hardware"? if it is - i had the dvd.iso in the "client" dvd drive and then in the physical machine one and restarted pretty much everything (like windows likes it) and still get the challenged dhcp console. i don't know where it gets the idea about the dhcp since it's all static addresses right now for the vmware. i changed it back and forth a few times. same result. when i turn the virtual machine on - "the task" apparently competes and i get the option to turn the machine off or suspend it but still it doesn't find the installation disk. and on top of that complains about the vmwaretools....

what am i doing wrong?

thanks...

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jpdicicco
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Use the button in the attached image:

From there, you can attach to a device on the host or your client. You are likely to also have to update the BIOS boot order or use the boot device menu. If you have difficulty getting into the BIOS, then go to Edit Settings for the VM, Options tab, Boot options. There should be a check box to enter the BIOS on next boot.




Happy virtualizing!

JP

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wecarealot
Contributor
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thanks....

it would have been happy if it worked...

now. i did that too. connecting through that icon. here is what happens...

in the panel to the left i select the virtual machine. it says it's already running(?!). ok. looking at summary. it says that the guest os is freebsd 64 bit. correct. it also says that vmware tools is not installed. which makes sense since the os is not really installed yet. then i open the console. all i see is Operating system not found. ( and the most irritating thing is that if i click on the console my cursor disappears and i have to restart the whole vmware (surprise) on this laptop too in order to reconnect and control the sphere.... awesome experience so far). so i do that - restart the whole vmware - and connect again. then using the suggested icon i select connect to host device and the only option is the dvd drive on the hosting system. so i select that.

there is a dvd with a bootable freebsd on it. i checked the image by booting off of it. it's fine.

so now with the new device selected and the disk in it i start the virtual machine again. "the task" completes in about 2 sec. i open the console again and again i see no operating system. no options to install anything of the image on the dvd...

i don't have a problem getting into the bios. right now the first boot device is the disk on which the vmware is. makes sense. otherwise if i pick the cd when rebooted the machine will go strait into the bsd loader....

now what?

thanks....

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ScottBentley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Power down the VM and ensure that you have also selected the connect at power on option in the settings

If you click on the console and the cursor dissapears you can press ctrl and alt at the same time to release the cursor

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I hope this helps
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jpdicicco
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First, let's get some info clear:

To release your mouse/keyboard from the guest console, hit <left-ctrl>+<left-alt>. This gets you back to your host.

To send a ctrlaltdel to the guest, either use the menu option on the console window or (when your KM are focused on the guest) press ctrlaltins.

When you add a CD/DVD to the guest using the console window, it is only there until the next POWER OFF. If you need it to persis across power offs, then you need to update the settings on the VM for the optical drive and configure it there to "Connect at power on" and use the Host Device."

The guest os setting of "FreeBSD 64-bit" is for the host to know what tools to send to the guest and some other things regarding interaction between the host and guest. It does NOT indicate that the OS is installed yet.

So, you have a couple of options-

1. Configure the VM settings.

2. Attach the disc from the console icon, and reboot the guest using the ctrlaltins command.

Try those and let me know.



Happy virtualizing!

JP

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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

thanks jpdicicco...

i just really wish all or part of this information was in the installation guide. either with the generic ones or the specific ones. "put the cd in and install" is not enough... i couldn't connect the mv to the local cdrom drive thought....

anyway.. i got through the installation. now i need a bit more specific information. the website doesn't provide anything bsd specific. i found a few ported distributions of the vmware in the bsd ports. they are vmware-tools6, 5, 4, 3. my guess is i need the latest ones - 6. but since the esxi is 4.1 - do i need 4?!

thanks...

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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

how long does it take to install vmware-tools?!

i did select the virtual machine -> inventory -> virtual machine -> guest -> install/upgrade vmware tools

i did that about an hour ago. absolutely nothing happens. there is no updates in the events pane. nothing happening in the tasks pane. nothing in the ps on the machine itself. if i follow the path above again instead of install/upgrade there is end vmware tools install.

how do i know that something is happening?!

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ScottBentley
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Installation instructions for the tools can be found here

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I hope this helps
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wecarealot
Contributor
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thanks Scott... i've seen that. nothing concrete there. if i'd rely on that information i'd still be waiting for the vmware-tools to install... the sphere this morning was still "installing" them...

instead i actually installed the open-vmware-tools without the x11 (these will be only servers eventually) from one of the bsd distributions and now the summery for that vm says VMware Tools: Unmanaged.

what does that mean. how come it's unmanaged?

thanks...

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

what does that mean. how come it's unmanaged?

..

Not managed by vCenter update. The tools update happens inside the guest OS using normal guest update procedures YUM, APT etc.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
jpdicicco
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

The console command to Install/Upgrade vmtools works differently in Linux/Unix than on Windows. All it does is mount the disk image that has the installation. It does not run it. I am not sure where it mounts it, but I would guess it is the same location as the Linux instructions linked to above by Scott.



Happy virtualizing!

JP

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wecarealot
Contributor
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right.. i found it... here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/249774;jsessionid=79E1617AEC857E6B51C29539AD294AC9?tstart=0

ok. what is the point of having those now? if they can not be managed via the sphere what is the advantage of having them on the vms?

thanks...

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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

awesome. i actually read that too. the problem i have with that is that when i use that gui option the sphere says it's installing it. there is no feedback of any kind to warn or explain what's happening. the events pane doesn't provide anything useful. i did check the vm install for mount points - like /tmp or /var/mnt or a bunch of other ones the nixes like. nothing was mounted anywhere. also how would the vm know where the image to mount is... it doesn't make any sense...

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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

It doesn't mean you can't mange the guests just that you don't update guest VMware tools from vCenter or the vSphere client. You update the guest OS just like you normally do and the VMware tools will be updated at the same time.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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DSTAVERT
Immortal
Immortal

Operating System Specific Packages http://www.vmware.com/download/packages.html

Install guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/osp_install_guide.pdf

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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wecarealot
Contributor
Contributor

right.. i've seen all this too... i've read all that is there on the website about installation in the last 24 hrs.... there is yum and rpm and what not...

i really, honestly trying very hard not to be the a**hole here but apparently everybody is missing the point... why isn't there a normal tarball with the readme file in it that normal people can download unpack and install the way it's supposed to? why do i have to read pages and pages of convoluted documentation that still doesn't provide anything concrete? i mean do we really need to know about yum? if somebody is looking into virtualization clusters wouldn't s/he know all this? or is it that the vmware company is trying to make it difficult in order for people to trow their hands up in the air and just ask "where do i sign?" and "do you accept visa?"...

the functionality of the software is pretty impressive. why can't the documentation be on par - clear, succinct and precise? why it always has to be some "tool"?

forget it... apparently all this will be just labeled as "some idiot's rant" and that's where thing will end... not surprising at all...

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