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]

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"