Fusion 13 Support

[leelustig57]

Does Fusion 13 Pro support running Oracle Linux 7,8, and 9 on Apple Macbook Pro Laptop M1 chip Monterey 12.3?

[ColoradoMarmot]

So couple of things:

1) I'm sure Oracle doesn't support it (i.e. call if you have problems)

2) Does Oracle work on Linux ARM64.  If so, then it should work.  If it's x86/64 only, then no.

[Technogeezer]

While Oracle Linux 7 and 8 have aarch64 (ARM) distributions, in all likelihood they will not run on M1 Macs. It is very likely that Oracle 8 and 7 aarch64 kernels were compiled with 64KB page sizes like their RHEL counterparts. That would make them incompatible at the hardware level with M1/M2 CPUs that support only 4KB and 16KB page sizes. 

With RHEL 9, Red Hat started compiling the aarch64/arm64 kernels with 4KB page sizes which is compatible with the M1/M2 chip. RHEL 9 is supported by Fusion 13 on M1/M2, according to the VMware guest OS compatibility guide. I've found that other RHEL 9 downstream releases such as Rocky/Alma/Oracle will run.  (I personally recommend the 9.1 versions as it fixed some issues from 9.0 that were annoying but able to be worked around).

[Technogeezer]

I'm going to walk back my prior post a bit.

I just downloaded Oracle Linux 8.7 aarch64. It does seem to install and run  under Fusion 13 on Apple Silicon. 

I have had difficulties in installing CentOS Linux 8..x RHEL 8.x and Rocky Linux 8.x in the past because of the kernel page size issue. You know what happens when you make assumptions, right?

[Technogeezer]

A bit more explanation based on research.

Oracle Linux on aarch64 platforms only supports Oracle's Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK). The Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) is not available on aarch64.

Oracle Linux aarch64 versions before 8.5 shipped with UEK R6 kernels. These kernels were built with a 64KB page size. UEK R6 kernels are incompatible with M1/M2 chips, so no Oracle Linux version before 8.5 can run on M1/M2 chips.

Oracle Linux aarch64 versions 8.5 and 8.6 installed the UEK R6 kernel by default, but had an option to install a UEK R7 kernel. UEK R7 kernels are compiled with a 4KB page size. Oracle Linux 8.5 and 8.6 should run on M1/M2 chips, but only when the UEK R7 kernel is installed.   (updated, see my next post, tl;dr 8.5 and 8.6 can't be installed)

Oracle Linux aarch64 versions 8.7 and 9.x install the UEK R7 kernel by default.

[Technogeezer]

A bit more research... and some testing to check out a couple of hypotheses.

I tested both Oracle Linux 8.5 and 8.6 to see if they could be installed. They can't. The ISO installer seems on both seems to be running the UEK R6 kernel. Attempts to boot the installer fail with the same symptoms as RHEL 8 - so you can't even get to the point to install the UEK R7 kernel with these releases. 

Bottom line: if you want to run Oracle Linux 8, you must use Oracle :Linux 8.7 on M1/M2 Macs.

Also, there do not appear to be any open-vm-tools packages available for Oracle Linux 8.7 aarch64 in Oracle's repos. While the UEK R7 kernel does contain the VMware graphics driver that allows screen resolution change, there are no other VMware hypervisor integration tools for the guest.  That means there's no coordination for a graceful shutdown/suspend in the guest initiated by the Fusion menus, and  means no copy/paste/drag/drop between the guest and host.

open-vm-tools/open-vm-tools-desktop packages do exist in the repos for Oracle Linux 9 aarch64.

[leelustig57]

These are the updates you can download from Oracle.

OracleLinux-R7-U9-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso
OracleLinux-R8-U7-x86_64-dvd.iso
OracleLinux-R9-U1-x86_64-dvd.iso

So I am luck since it is OL8 U7.

[RDPetruska]

Well, none of those 3 will work because they are all for Intel compatible chips.

[Technogeezer]

---

@leelustig57 wrote:

These are the updates you can download from Oracle.

OracleLinux-R7-U9-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso
OracleLinux-R8-U7-x86_64-dvd.iso
OracleLinux-R9-U1-x86_64-dvd.iso

So I am luck since it is OL8 U7.

---

Scroll down a little further in the list of ISOs from https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-isos.html and you will find the Oracle Linux Arm (aarch64) ISOs. Those are the ones you will need to run under Fusion on M1/M2 Macs. - as @RDPetruska says, x86_64 ISOs won't work on M1/M2 Macs. 

OL8 U7, OL9 U0 and OL9 U1 are the only aarch64 versions listed here that will install on M1/M2 Macs under Fusion. No OL8 before U7 or OL 7 release will work.

[gxclark]

I seem to be lucky.  Fortunately, on my apple M1 macbook, I downloaded the right ISO file that works well to install Oracle Linux R8 U7 --> OracleLinux-R8-U7-aarch64-dvd.iso .   Reading this thread, I understand it was sheer luck that it worked OOTB.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to configure the network to be able to connect via NAT ... maybe I will try bridged, but does anyone have any advice on how to get the Oracle linux machine to recognize the host as a DHCP provider?

I've read through this page below to understand the nuances of Oracle Linux 8, but so far no luck.

https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/8/network/network-ConfiguringtheSystemsNet...

[Technogeezer]

I’m going from memory on this from when I performed tests on installing Oracle Linux 8R7.

The virtual network interface should be detected by the Oracle Linux installer and set to DHCP automatically. You can verify this by checking the network configuration within the guest and making sure that the network is getting its configuration automatically.  For example in the document whose link you posted, use the nmtui text based config utility and edit the network connection so that the IPv4 and IPv6 congurations are set to “Automatic”  

Oracle Linux always sees a wired network. The virtual network type configured for the VM’s  network adapter in its Settings will determine whether NAT is being used.  Set this to “Share with my Mac” so the VM uses Fusion’s NAT virtual network. That’s all you should need to do.

If in the future you want the VM to use a bridged network, the change the Settings of the VM. No change in the VM itself should be necessary. 

[Technogeezer]

I just tried a re-install of Oracle Linux 8.7 and found that I forgot a step.

In the Oracle Linux installer, click on "Network & Host Name":

You'll see that the "Ethernet (ens160)" - which is your virtual Ethernet adapter - is discovered.

But you see that by default, the adapter is marked as "Off" and doesn't have an IP address. The installer won't be able to contact the network and the configured VM won't enable the adapter. By turning the adapter "On":

(note now the interface as an IP address) the installer can mark the network as available in the VM. The adapter will be configured for DHCP by default (that can be changed by using the "Configure" button.

If your network isn't active in the VM, that can be changed once the VM is active. If you have installed "Server with GUI", the Settings app has a Network item. You should see this for the "Wired" network if you didn't turn on the network at install time:

Click the gear icon to open the configuration for the Wired network adapter:

Click "Connect automatically" to enable the network at boot time. Also, click the IPv4 and IPv6 tabs and make sure the IPv4 (and IPv6) methods are set to DHCP.

Click "Apply", then switch the slider on the Wired adapter to "On". You should now be connected to the network. 

The VM settings will determine if you're using a Bridged or NAT configuration. 

[gxclark]

Thanks a lot for the great explanation.  I guess I did not set up the network for automatic connectivity ... there seem to be a few more options than the standard CentOS 7 installer ... but anyway it worked well this time.

Just one more question ... when I made the VM, it asked me to select an operating system.  Previously, I think there was a CentOS 7 entry, so it was easy to select.  With Oracle Linux 8 on ARM architecture, it was not clear what choice to make here.  I think my previous VM was built after selecting "Other Linux 5.x kernel 64-bit Arm", but this time I selected "Fedora 64-bit Arm", and things worked well, including the default network OOTB.

[Technogeezer]

“Other Linux 5.x kernel 64-bit Arm” is probably the safest guest OS selection for Oracle Linux 8/9 but it does not surprise me that Fedora or even RHEL 9 would work fine. I don’t think there’s a lot of difference in the virtual hardware configuration from any of these selections (perhaps in default memory and disk sizes).