Title: HowTo Install VMware Server in a Suse 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 Host

Page is out of date Contemporary version here∞

Introduction: VMware Server Beta is now free (as in you still have legal obligations) so It will achieve increased use. At its simplest "server" allows the running of a guest desktop operating system in a Linux host. This article gives a walk through installing and configuring VMware Server Beta on a Suse 10.0 host with attention to some of the fine detail that puzzles a new Linux user like me. I cobbled this together from the work of others to create a contemporary How To. See Credits at the end.

Prerequisites:

The following packages are assumed to be already installed:
kernel-source
gcc
gcc-c+ +
make

You will need the VMware RPM package which can be downloaded from the VMware download server.∞
The package I used is Vmware-server-e.x.p-23869.i386.rpm but that of course changes with time.

Preparation:

Use Yast's software manger to check the needed packages have been installed.

Register for VMware Server Beta to receive your software key by email.

Check package installation and kernel consistency: Open a console and su --> password and issue this command: rpm -qa kernel* gcc* make. This checks for installation of gcc, gcc-c+ + and make. Further it allows you to see whether kernel modules are of the same version. This is a must. I received this response to the command:

john@linuxtest:~> su
Password:
linuxtest:/home/john # cd /
linuxtest:/ # rpm -qa kernel* gcc* make
kernel-default-nongpl-2.6.13-15.8
make-3.80-188
gcc-4.0.2_20050901-3
gcc-c+ +-4.0.2_20050901-3
kernel-default-2.6.13-15.8
kernel-source-2.6.13-15
kernel-update-tool-0.9-10
linuxtest:/ #

Note the inconsistency in the versions highlighted in bold. You must fix it by updating! Let's proceed assuming you haven't got/have fixed such a problem.

A few more commands still as root and the preparation is complete:

john@linuxtest:~> su
Password:
linuxtest:/home/john # cd /
linuxtest:/ # cd /usr/src/linux
linuxtest:/usr/src/linux # make mrproper; make cloneconfig; make modules_prepare
etc

.
etc
.
etc
(finished when this prompt comes back):
linuxtest:/usr/src/linux #


Installation of VMware:

Right click on package VMware-server-e.x.p-23869.i386.rpm and select install with Yast..

Configuration of VMware:

After Yast finishes open a terminal as root, change to /usr/src/linux and enter vmware-config.pl:
john@linuxtest:~> su
Password:
linuxtest:/home/john # cd /usr/src/linux
linuxtest:/usr/src/linux # vmware-config.pl

You will be asked to accept the licence agreement. Press enter and the space bar to scroll through, reading carefully. At the end press q. Then enter yes. At this point the actual configuration starts and you can accept the defaults by simply pressing enter at each question. You will also need to enter your software key (obtained by email) using the correct case.

I pressed enter for all questions except "in which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?" I found on the first install that I was frequently bothered by disk-nearly-full problems if I accepted the default because the default is a subdirectory within the Linux root filesystem. After constructing a few virtual machines the Linux host partition filled up. So I uninstalled, started again and before installing VMware I created a new partition for the virtual machines' file systems and entered the path to that in response to the question about virtual machine directory files. I use 10Gb for Windows 2000 pro [I use this to replace the need to multiboot to my old XP installation].

Finally, after entering the serial number and installing correctly, you will get this message and can then exit: The configuration of VMware Server e.x.p ubild-23869 for Linux for this running kernel completed successfully.

You can now install host virtual machines. The icon is at Menu-->System-->More Programmes-->VMware Server Console

Finished: Yahoo -- Have a good one

Credits:

E@zyVG™ installed VMware beta workstation in Suse 10.0 at linux.wordpress.com∞
VMware Server technical pages are found at www.vmware.com∞
Joe Harmon installed VMware Workstation 5.0 in Suse 10.0 at Novell CoolSolutions.∞
Swerdna's WebSite∞