VMware Cloud Community
anilkatti
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

He

Hi All,

I have been trying to create a Solaris 10 64 bit Virtual Machine on ESX and VMWare server Virtualization Platforms.

Solaris forum says - The installer doesn't really care about the processor. At every boot, the processor type will be determined and a 32-bit or a 64-bit kernel will be run (unless you override it)

I hence downloaded the iso from http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp and I installed it. When I run uname -a command on the terminal, this is what is displayed -

SunOS unknown 5.10 Generic_127128-11 i86pc i386 i86pc

This indicates that the kernel is 32 bit right?

How do I create a 64 Bit VM? Please help me create one.

Thanks in Advance,

Anil.

Tags (4)
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
mcowger
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

uname -a isn't the right way to check your guest's solaris kernel ISA - it will always return that on an x86 PC.

isainfo -kv:

mcowger@solaris { ~ }$ isainfo -kv

32-bit i386 kernel modules

^^That is a 32bit kernel. otherwise it would say:

64-bit i386 kernel modules

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
10 Replies
weinstein5
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Is your ESX host running with 32 bibt or 64 bit processors? - if it 32 bit you will only be able to run 32 bit vms -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
Reply
0 Kudos
anilkatti
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Thanks for replying,

Please find the processor details on which the ESX server is running - Intel Xeon E5310 Series 64 Bit.

- Anil.

Reply
0 Kudos
TomHowarth
Leadership
Leadership
Jump to solution

Intel Xeon E5310 Series 64 Bit.

This chip is VT capable, boot the host machine into the BIOS and enable the VT extensions, this should be found in the Advanced Section for your Bios, if it is not there, check for a BIOS upgrade. Once you have enabled VT extensions you will be able to create 64bit guests.

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
Reply
0 Kudos
anilkatti
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Tom,

We have enabled VT from Bios settings. Smiley Happy

Thanks

Anil.

Reply
0 Kudos
anilkatti
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Even after enabling VT, it is not working. Smiley Sad

Anil.

Reply
0 Kudos
Dave_Mishchenko
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Did you do a cold restart of the host after enabling the option? You can also check with this command

esxcfg-info -w | grep "HV Support"

This should return a value of 3 if it is enabled.

For the VM that you created, did you select 32 or 64 bit for the guest OS?

Reply
0 Kudos
mcowger
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

uname -a isn't the right way to check your guest's solaris kernel ISA - it will always return that on an x86 PC.

isainfo -kv:

mcowger@solaris { ~ }$ isainfo -kv

32-bit i386 kernel modules

^^That is a 32bit kernel. otherwise it would say:

64-bit i386 kernel modules

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
Reply
0 Kudos
dmaster
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi Dave,

We have the same problem with a 64-bit release of Solaris 10. Even with AMD V enabled.

We enabled AMD V (AMD Virtualization) in the BIOS. a Value of 1 is returned ..

# esxcfg-info -w | grep "HV Support"

|----HV Support...............................................1

i am realy curious why the problem occurs..

dmaster
VMware Employee
VMware Employee
Jump to solution

Hi anilkatti,

I installed the same sun solaris software in a virtual machine running on VMware ESX server 3.5 Update 1.

The ESX server is a HP DL585G2 (AMD CPU inside.) In the bios we enabled AMD V (AMD Virtualization).

We created a new empty VM for the Sun Solaris 10 build. We choose Sun Solaris 10 (64-bit) as the guest OS.

Now we booted the new VM with the following iso downloaden from the SUN website : sol-10-u5-ga-x86-dvd.iso

We followed the installation steps and after the last reboot i installed VMware Tools for Sun Solaris.

After installing VMware Tools i rebooted the virtual machine again. When it has been restarted i entered the command as mentioned before to check the 32/64 bit release of the kernel.

it says 64-bit.. see screenshot.

Reply
0 Kudos
anilkatti
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the help! The issue is solved now. I was completely deceived by uname -a command which on linux says i386 for 32 bit OS and i86_64 for 64 bit OS. I was expecting the same here on solaris. The kernel running on my machine too is 64 bit.

Thanks

Anil.

Reply
0 Kudos