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"