Reasons to get VMWare

VMWare Server is a tremendous tool. It allows you to run multiple ‘virtual’ machines on your computer.  This has many applications for the enterprise world.  It is also a great tool for testing and tinkering for individuals.  For example, you are running Ubuntu as your desktop OS, but you want to have a Windows machine available for those Windows apps that don’t run on Linux.  You might want to test several flavors of Linux before deciding on your favorite OS.

With VMWare, you can accomplish all this and more without having to reboot, and without the mess of Grub and partitioned disks.

VMWare Server – the best kept free secret

VMware offers several tools for free.  Their focus as a business is of course to get you to upgrade to their licensed products.  These licensed tools are wonderful for the enterprise.  When you pay you also get technical support and possibly a more robust solution.  However, for private use, the free tools are just as good.

VMware offers VMWare Player and VMWare Server for free.  Their website is sparse on information and instructions on how to install and deploy their free products.  Obviously, they want you to upgrade.

I’d recommend skipping the player and going straight to the server. It requires a bit more perseverance to get it up and running, but then you’ll have a bunch of additional resources at your fingertips that are not available for the simple Player.  For example, with the Server, you can add additional hardware to your VM appliance.  An appliance is essentially an OS running as a ‘virtual machine’ on your computer with the VMWare Server managing the access to it.

Installation of VMWare Server

Note: These instructions assume you are running Ubuntu desktop, they probably will work on most Linux Distros.

1. Go to http://www.vmware.com and sign up for an account.  Then download the Server 2.0 (Go to the Store tab, then click on Download on the right side).  You will also get a serial number license for your free Server download.  Keep it in a safe place, as you will need it start using the server.

2. untar the downloaded file (tar -xf filename path)

3. Go to the directory that you placed the files and run  sudo ./vmware-install.pl

4. You will be prompted through a very detailed installation.  The only important prompt that you’ll want to change from the default option is access and permissions.  When it prompts you for the username you want to administer the server, make sure to type in your user account.  This will enable you to run the server for your regular login.

5. Once the server is successfully installed (you can run sudo /etc/init.d/vmware restart ) to make sure it’s running.

6.  Access your VMware server from a Browser window https://127.0.0.1:8333/  (or if you have trouble with SSL you can open http://127.0.0.1:8222/  which should redirect to the https address above).

The VMware Server should look something like this. (Click for larger screen)

VMware Server 2.0

VMware Server 2.0

In this implementation, we have five different Linux OS and Windows 7 running as separate virtual machines.  In our next installment, we will discuss managing appliances on the server.