VMWare

VMware - Commercial Version

ESXi VMware Server

ESXi Server License Renewal Process

• The ESXi server will run in "Evaluation" mode for 60 days.
• The "Evaulation" license can be renewed after it expires indefinitely, using the below "Renewal" process.
• Renew evaluation license process:
  • SSH into ESXi server as root user and execute the below commands:

[root@esxi01:/etc/vmware] mv /etc/vmware/license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg.old
[root@esxi01:/etc/vmware] cp .#license.cfg /etc/vmware/license.cfg
[root@esxi01:/etc/vmware] /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
watchdog-vpxa[2587640]: Terminating watchdog process with PID 2099327
vpxa stopped.
vpxa started.
[root@esxi01:/etc/vmware]

You might also have to remove/delete the old vmware.lic license file before restarting the license server services, like this:

[root@esxi01:~] rm /etc/vmware/vmware.lic

vCenter - Commercial ESXi Mangement System

The vCenter server for ESXi comes as a virtual machine that runs on top of the ESXi hypervisor and is sold by VMware as the tool of choice for mangement of ESXi virtual machine servers and clusters of ESXi servers, making the system adminstrators job much easier when it comes to managing VMware ESXi servers, especially in a commercial setting where uptime is of utmost importance! vCenter allows you to easily clone servers, use templates to deploy purpose-specific VM's, and so much more!

vCenter Server Management

vCenter uses many customized tools that are very similar to Linux commands and tools. Instead of APT, YUM, DNF or Pacman, vCenter uses a modified version of DNF called TDNF. Here is the help summary for the TDNF tool:

root@vcserver [ ~ ]# tdnf --help
usage: tdnf [options] COMMAND

options    [-c [config file]]
           [--debugsolver]
           [--disablerepo=<repoid>]
           [--enablerepo=<repoid>]
           [--noplugins]
           [--enableplugin=<plugin_name>]
           [--disableplugin=<plugin_name>]
           [--rpmverbosity [debug level name]] [-v] [-y] [--assumeno]
           [--version] [--installroot [path]]
           [--nogpgcheck]
           [-q, --quiet]
           [--releasever RELEASEVER] [--setopt SETOPTS]
           [--refresh]
           [--exclude [file1,file2,...]]
           [--security]
           [--sec-severity CVSS_v3.0_Severity]
           [--reboot-required]
           [--skipsignature]
           [--skipdigest]
           [--disableexcludes]
           [--downloadonly]
           [--downloaddir=<directory>]

reposync options:
           [--arch=<arch> [--arch=<arch> [..]]
           [--delete]
           [--download-path=<directory>]
           [--download-metadata]
           [--gpgcheck]
           [--metadata-path=<directory>]
           [--newest-only]
           [--norepopath]
           [--source]
           [--urls]

List of Main Commands

check-local               Checks local rpm folder for problems
check-update              Check for available package upgrades
clean                     Remove cached data
distro-sync               Synchronize installed packages to the latest available versions
downgrade                 downgrade a package
erase                     Remove a package or packages from your system
help                      Display a helpful usage message
info                      Display details about a package or group of packages
install                   Install a package or packages on your system
list                      List a package or groups of packages
makecache                 Generate the metadata cache
provides                  Find what package provides the given value
remove                    Remove a package or packages from your system
reinstall                 reinstall a package
repolist                  Display the configured software repositories
reposync                  Download all packages from one or more repositories to a directory
search                    Search package details for the given string
update                    Upgrade a package or packages on your system (same as 'upgrade')
updateinfo                Display advisories about packages
upgrade                   Upgrade a package or packages on your system
upgrade-to                Upgrade a package on your system to the specified version

Installation of GIT on vCenter Virtual Server - Very Useful for Adding Additional Software, Especially Source Code

root@vcserver [ ~/MyDev ]# tdnf install git

Installing:
serf                                                   x86_64                      1.3.9-2.ph3                          photon-updates                  112.66k 115360
utf8proc                                               x86_64                      2.2.0-2.ph3                          photon-updates                  322.95k 330696
subversion                                             x86_64                      1.10.8-4.ph3                         photon-updates                   7.78M 8156574
subversion-perl                                        x86_64                      1.10.8-4.ph3                         photon-updates                   4.91M 5148906
perl-YAML                                              noarch                      1.26-1.ph3                           photon                          132.69k 135872
perl-CGI                                               noarch                      4.40-1.ph3                           photon                          538.61k 551538
git                                                    x86_64                      2.35.6-1.ph3                         photon-updates                 22.04M 23110472

Total installed size:  35.81M 37549418
Is this ok [y/N]: y

Downloading:
serf                                     55975   100%
utf8proc                                 88761   100%
subversion                             2996591   100%
subversion-perl                        1383653   100%
perl-YAML                                69921   100%
perl-CGI                                238323   100%
git                                   10853382   100%
Testing transaction
Running transaction
Installing/Updating: utf8proc-2.2.0-2.ph3.x86_64
Installing/Updating: perl-CGI-4.40-1.ph3.noarch
Installing/Updating: perl-YAML-1.26-1.ph3.noarch
Installing/Updating: serf-1.3.9-2.ph3.x86_64
Installing/Updating: subversion-1.10.8-4.ph3.x86_64
Installing/Updating: subversion-perl-1.10.8-4.ph3.x86_64
Installing/Updating: git-2.35.6-1.ph3.x86_64

Complete!

VMWare Alternatives

Oracle VirtualBox

I've been using a fairly new, non proprietary, open source and free virtual machine tool by Oracle, VirtualBox, which I've been using for a couple of years now and I've found it actually far superior to VMWare! I'll post a lot more info about VBox as soon as I have the time. VBox is my new solution for my own home virtual machine servers and it's working far better than I ever expected!

Background & History

I really love VMWare! I've been using VMWare Server for years on my old Fedora Core 5 box that
I've spent years getting perfectly setup and tuned to just what I need it to do!
The big down-side is that I can no longer upgrade the box.. Good thing I have plenty of other boxes to play with :)

My VMWare server is an ancient version 1.02, and I've been using it to run all kinds of VM's for many years.
I have even been using it to run a Slackware VM I heavily customized to run my dawgland.com website
for the last 5 years, until I finally got my hands on a box that could take over that function more permanently.

Current

Currently, I continue to use VMWare not only at home, but every day at work.
I can't go into the details, as I am sure many can relate to, but it's nice
to be able to use and experiment with VMWare at work. I have numerous VM's
for both development and production purposes I administer and am responsible for.

I've been extremely pleased that VMWare has decided to provide the VMWare Player free of charge!
And just yesterday, I received an email with a link to download for free their new stand-alone VMWare Converter.
It allows you easily and quickly convert any hardware machine using wizards into a virtual machine able
to run on any VMWare product! And it's provided free of charge to anybody. How cool is that?!?!?!!!

Tips, Tricks, Solutions & How_To's

How to Get VMware Player to Work on the New 3.1.x Linux Kernel!
How to Get KDE to Work on a VMWare virtual machine
Installing VMWare Tools on a Freshly Installed Linux VM

Useful VMWare Related Links I've Found

Main VMWare Website
VMWare Communities Website
VMWare's Virtual Appliance Marketplace
Bagside's Virtual Appliances
New VMware Player Install Tips for Recent Fedora Based Distros
My Current Favorite Fedora "Spin" Fusion Linux, aka "Fedora Remix Done Right"