Installing VMware Server on unRAID Box

[ftp222]

Well hopefully someone takes on the task with VMWare soon!  I need to evaluate VMWare for our Windows environment at work, so if it becomes a viable option we end up purchasing, then I will drop a hint to my sales rep.  If I still worked at my previous employer, I would have a direct channel into their engineering and sales teams, unfortunately I left there a couple of years back.

 

[havix]

Virtualbox has some benefits over VMware server and vice versa.  This seems like the better solution of the two.  There is an open source version, Tom could include it with Unraid or as a downloadable option.  This is a huge piece that would alleviate one of the largest reasons people don't use Unraid, because you can't easily install apps.  This stopped me from using it for years because I didn't want to deal with extra computers running 24x7 in the house. 

[ftp222]

Virtualbox has some benefits over VMware server and vice versa.  This seems like the better solution of the two.  There is an open source version, Tom could include it with Unraid or as a downloadable option.  This is a huge piece that would alleviate one of the largest reasons people don't use Unraid, because you can't easily install apps.  This stopped me from using it for years because I didn't want to deal with extra computers running 24x7 in the house. 

 

I just took a look at Virtualbox and didn't see a Slackware distribution available for download.  This means I would have to compile it and create a package, correct? If that is the case, I'm back in the same boat as the VMWare distribution.

 

I really like the idea of Tom including some type of Virtual Machine with the unRAID distribution since it would be a fairly easy way for anyone to run any applications they wanted without interfering with the unRAID storage component too much.  As a Windows user, I would prefer the application be VMWare as we are more familiar with the interface.  If Virtualbox has an easy to use viewer, that would be fine as well, but just looking at the Virtualbox site, it does not scream "professional" the way VMWare does.

 

It will really be up to Tom and the community with the new 5.0 version coming.  What are Tom's goals - to grow the Linux or Windows user base?  The vocal users in this community seem very much pro-linux and linux savvy, while the Windows users struggle to perform basic tasks (myself included).  If Tom's goals are to grow the Windows base, us Windows users need to start voicing our opinions louder and Tom needs to start asking more questions like he has been for Windows-centric functionality.

 

I know I am new to the community, I just want to help in whatever way I can, which at this time is from the view of a very savvy Windows user.

 

[musicmann]

At one point, I had found a pre-made Slackware package of the VBox OSE version, but it wouldn't work out of the box because it required a particular kernel config (System V something).  It is a very capable virtualization platform which Sun purchased a year or so ago.  From what I understand, it might have performance characteristics superior to VMware.  Download the Windows binary, and you'll probably find it to be very easy to use and pretty powerful.  However, I don't know if the OSE has a UI.  The binaries (the closed-source edition) have a built-in remote desktop server (and can do USB over the remote desktop).  Without a UI, I definitely need the remote desktop server, so that and the kernel requirement pushed me back to VMware.

 

Although I think it might be easy for Tom to make some kernel and API changes to make adding packages easier, I'm not sure how far he'll go to provide a third-party virtualization platform himself.  I think it adds a ton of non-core (to him) support issues.  Looking at the bubbaRAID thread, BubbaQ is having to field a ton of support requests for the myriad of software packages he includes.  If Tom were to do similar, it might divert focus from the core. 

 

If someone knows of the functionality of the VBox OSE edition (the only one that, I assume, could be redistributed)...namely, whether it has a built-in web-based GUI...that might be the real source of a near-term sharable-amongst-the-community virtualization platform.

 

Yes, there are some very saavy Linux experts here, and I'm definitely not one of them.  I had touched a little Linux in the past, but I really just wanted/needed VMware on my unRAID so bad, that I learned the things that I needed to learn to make it happen.  Yep, it was a huge investment in time, but it got me what I needed.

[smino]

I emailed vmware today to see what was required to redistribute vmware server bundled with Unraid.

I'll let you know what their answer is.

[ftp222]

After re-reading musicmann's post, I saw he was able to use a VM to build the development server and test box.  I put this together yesterday and after a couple of minor issues (my fault), I was able to create the VMWare packages!  I am successfully running a Windows XP and Windows Vista VM on my unRAID box, which seems to be running fine so far.

 

I do have a couple of questions though:

1.  There is a huge amount of disk activity on the Vista VM (I turned off XP for now), and Vista seems to be running very very slow.  I was only able to allocate 1 GB of memory to that VM at the moment, but it still seems like its hitting the disk way too much.  I am running on an older 200 Gig 7200 RPM hard drive and am used to running SATA, so that could be causing my perception of running slow.  The write count on the cache drive jumped up to 3 Million within a few short hours.  Is there anything else that would cause the system to hit the drive so much?  Anything I can do to speed the system up a bit?

 

2.  How do I disable using the cache drive for caching unRAID writes?  The normal write speed is fine for my needs.  Can I just set the minimum space very high on the config page in unRAID?

 

Thanks again musicmann for the great manual.  Anyone hesitant to try putting it together, it will take around 3-4 hours the first time you do it, but maybe only an hour or two after that.

 

[smino]

Vista with less than 4GB of ram will be slow on a normal non vmware box, unless you turn off all the fluff...even then 2GB seems slow.

I reverted back to xp because I found it too slow on my workstation. Funny thing, 2008 server ran fast on my box. You can install direct x and a fe other needed components to play games like WOW, or CNC, or FarCry. Make you wonder what they did to the code in Vista. Sorry getting sidetracked.

[Acuum]

Hi,

 

So Musicman has this working...

 

this could be exactly what i have been waiting for:

 

Is it possible to have the virtual machine files sitting on the *protected* unraid partition?

 

I am a windows Admin so feel comfortable with windows shares.

What i was is the expandability of Unraid with its protection, but to be able to work on a windows share.

 

So... an unraid box with a virtual machine running windows would be perfect for me if the VM is protected.

 

 

VMs are expandable from what i remember... in the very least I could add a second disk to the VM and user dynamic disks to JBOD from with-in windows. comfortable in the knowledge that all the data is safe because it's sitting on an unRAID partition.

 

if this works I'm signing up for a pro account tomorrow

 

could also work nicly for a virtual WHS - all the benefits of expanding media share - automated backups etc but without having to sacrifice disks to mirroring.

 

 

 

VMs are expandable from what i remeber... in the very least I could add a second disk to the VM and user dynamic disks to JBOD from with-in windows. confortable in the knoledge that all the data is safe becuase it's sitting on an unRAID partition.

 

if this works I'm signing up for a pro account tomorrow

[smino]

RE: Distribtuing vmwareserver with unRaid or any other package...

VMware answered back, but the answer is not clear in regard to lic.

I am waiting for a second answer. It might be doable as a vmware partner..

[musicmann]

Is it possible to have the virtual machine files sitting on the *protected* unraid partition?

 

I think this could be read in a couple of different ways...and probably niether is pretty.  If you mean having a virtual hard drive as a file located on a protected disk, I think performance might be an issue.  I currently have 2 VMs (Windows Home Server and Windows XP) both running as VHD files on my cache drive.  I notice a HUGE difference in responsiveness from either VM if the other is experiencing significant disk activity at the same time.  If the other is relatively idle with respect to disk activity, the VM I'm using is very responsive.  Given that writes will take longer on parity-protected drives, I think there might be a noticable impact on responsiveness just from the nature of the parity protection, and I would really expect some responsiveness issues if there are any other simultaneous writes to the array.  This is all just conjecture, so if anyone has actually tried this, please chime in.

 

The other way I initially interpreted the question was asking whether VMware could use a protected disk natively.  On second thought, I don't think this is what the question is asking, but I don't think that would be possible as the native virtual machine writes would probably leave unRAID thinking the disk is unformatted in most cases.

 

Saying all that, I'll also say that I love having WHS as a VM on my unRAID.  The automated backups is great plus using AutoExit to easily have WOL ability for any of my home machines is SWEET.  I don't have any MCE machines, so I don't run my media through WHS....and I can't answer how well that works. 

 

At this point, my VMs are not backed up.  I have thought about adding an Acronis or ShadowCraft product to create automated backups of WHS onto the protected array, but right now, most of my (non-replacable or PIA-to-be-replaced) data (including periodic OS images for my machines) is already on the unRAID array natively.  My "live" data (i.e., work data and "My Documents" data) is being replicated to my work desktop, home desktop, and traveling laptop via Microsoft LiveMesh (www.mesh.com...I love this product/service!).

 

 

[Acuum]

@MusicMan,

 

Thanks for all that info - VERY usfull and has given me some things to think about.

 

you were right in your first assumption that i want to have the virtual machine files sitting as file in the unraid partition rather than trying to mount the unraid parition.

 

I appreciate the problem and i guess i'll have to play and see what performace i get out it.

 

I think i'd be quite happy to have a maybe 250 GB disk sitting as a swap drive with the gues OS's on it. these could then run fast and have the paging files etc sitting on them where it's not going to be affected by the parrity slow down.

 

For my media i could creaet a second Virtual HDD on the unraid parition that was used for nothing other than the file share storage. There will be only occasional writes to this - basicly when ever i add more files which will probably be daily, but will in no way be time critical. so if it's performace is slow i can live with that.

 

I'll then make a nightly backup job on the virtual machine to run a backup to file job of the virtual machine's OS drive over onto the Virtuals machines Shares drive (which will be the physicaly located on the unraid drive and so protected).

 

this gives me the best of both worlds

 

I really want to be able to support a few VMs @ once so performace needs to be passable other wise it's not going to work for me.

 

 

 

As an after thought MusicMan, did you pre-expand your VM files? I've never used the linux VMserver but on the Windows version you can either create a virtual HDD that is ~ as big as the data that is on it, or you can pre-expand them to the full size of the VM disk you've created.

I can see that if you had not pre-expanded them that a LOT of disk writes would be happening over and over as the VMServer works with the disks and they creep bigger and bigger over time... Just a thought - I might be well off in my assumption.

 

[SuperPerry]

@musicman,

 

Thank for the step-by-step instruction on how to install VMware Server on unRAID development box. Everything seem to work fine. My next step is to - have my production unRAID to run this VM.

 

Its a bit late now so... I am guessing all I have to do is point my cache setting to my unraid development box right?

 

Thanks!

 

[ftp222]

I just checked my syslog after running VMWare for a few days now and it looks like the Mover script is still trying to move the files:

 

Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/Request.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/Request.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/ViewSpecImpl.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/ViewSpecImpl.class'

 

There are thousands of these messages every day.  Did I do something wrong in compiling?  Any way to make these message stop?  Is this something to be concerned about?  I would prefer they are not there.

 

[Joe L.]

I just checked my syslog after running VMWare for a few days now and it looks like the Mover script is still trying to move the files:

 

Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/Request.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/Request.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorFactory.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/CallParamArray.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessor.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/RequestVector.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/DataProcessorImpl.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class'
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: mv: cannot move `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class' to `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/JSONProcessor.class': No such file or directory
Apr 29 03:40:22 Tower logger: `./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/ViewSpecImpl.class' -> `/mnt/user0/./.custom/vmware/usr/lib/vmware/webAccess/tomcat/apache-tomcat-6.0.16/webapps/ui/WEB-INF/classes/com/vmware/vim/adapter/broker/data/ViewSpecImpl.class'

 

There are thousands of these messages every day.  Did I do something wrong in compiling?  Any way to make these message stop?  Is this something to be concerned about?  I would prefer they are not there.

 

What version of "unRAID" are you running.  I'm fairly sure the current version of the mover script has that bug fixed, where it used to try to move files in folders with a leading "." even though it correctly did not create the sub-directories

[musicmann]

As an after thought MusicMan, did you pre-expand your VM files? I've never used the linux VMserver but on the Windows version you can either create a virtual HDD that is ~ as big as the data that is on it, or you can pre-expand them to the full size of the VM disk you've created.

I can see that if you had not pre-expanded them that a LOT of disk writes would be happening over and over as the VMServer works with the disks and they creep bigger and bigger over time... Just a thought - I might be well off in my assumption.

 

 

I did not pre-expand them.  They grow as needed. 

 

Also, I must also say that I wasn't very scientific in testing the performance.  I would expect a VHD on a parity-protected drive to be slower, but you should definitely be able to run multiple VMs on a non-protected drive without issues.  The performance issue that I saw might have been an anomaly...I didn't try it multiple times to make sure it was repeatable.

 

[musicmann]

@musicman,

 

Thank for the step-by-step instruction on how to install VMware Server on unRAID development box. Everything seem to work fine. My next step is to - have my production unRAID to run this VM.

 

Its a bit late now so... I am guessing all I have to do is point my cache setting to my unraid development box right?

 

Thanks!

 

 

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question.  You should have two *.tgz package files on your development box.  Use these files to install a working VMware Server onto the production unRAID.  You'll then need to copy any VMs you have to the appropriate location on the production box.  You might have to "import" your VMs to get them to appear in the production installation.

[ftp222]

What version of "unRAID" are you running.  I'm fairly sure the current version of the mover script has that bug fixed, where it used to try to move files in folders with a leading "." even though it correctly did not create the sub-directories

 

I am running 4.4.2.  I have not jumped to 4.5 yet, but I intend to when beta 5 is out.

 

[Joe L.]

then in the interim, you will live with the extra messages, or look back in the posts I made where I described how to fix the mover script and edit it.

 

Or, download the current release, set up a spare flash drive, boot it up in ANY PC, but do not assign any drives, then

copy the mover script from the in-memory directory to the flash drive with the following command:

cp /usr/local/sbin/mover /boot/mover

 

Then you can shut down, plug the same flash drive into a windows PC and copy the "mover" file from it to your unRAID server replacing the one in /usr/local/sbin/mover currently.

 

Joe L

[ftp222]

then in the interim, you will live with the extra messages, or look back in the posts I made where I described how to fix the mover script and edit it.

 

Or, download the current release, set up a spare flash drive, boot it up in ANY PC, but do not assign any drives, then

copy the mover script from the in-memory directory to the flash drive with the following command:

cp /usr/local/sbin/mover /boot/mover

 

Then you can shut down, plug the same flash drive into a windows PC and copy the "mover" file from it to your unRAID server replacing the one in /usr/local/sbin/mover currently.

 

Joe L

 

Thanks Joe.  I will live with the messages for now.  Hopefully 4.5 will be done soon.

 

[havix]

I'm probably missing something but what if we uploaded the customized slackware unraid dev vm to vmware's virtual appliance site?  Couldn't someone then script an unattended install, config update and then pkg creation?

 

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/183444

[musicmann]

I'm probably missing something but what if we uploaded the customized slackware unraid dev vm to vmware's virtual appliance site?  Couldn't someone then script an unattended install, config update and then pkg creation?

 

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/183444

 

That's VERY interesting!  Using the answerfile, people could easily make customizations such as changing the installation location, and it would give a place for people to enter their activation key.  The post-installation, package creation could easily be turned into a bash script, so at the very worst, you'd have to run one script for the installation and a second script for the package creation.  I bet a real linux guru could make an "initializing" script or a master config file that could update the installation answerfile AND the package creation script so that they would be in sync even if installation parameters were changed.

 

It sounds very feasible and not that hard.  I think it would take some time to complete, and right now I don't have much of that commodity.  I'd be willing to help anyway I could.  Actually, when the 4.5 comes out of beta, I might play around with this.

[SuperPerry]

@musicman,

 

Thank for the step-by-step instruction on how to install VMware Server on unRAID development box. Everything seem to work fine. My next step is to - have my production unRAID to run this VM.

 

Its a bit late now so... I am guessing all I have to do is point my cache setting to my unraid development box right?

 

Thanks!

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question.  You should have two *.tgz package files on your development box.  Use these files to install a working VMware Server onto the production unRAID.  You'll then need to copy any VMs you have to the appropriate location on the production box.  You might have to "import" your VMs to get them to appear in the production installation.

 

Thanks!

Do I need to use both packages or just one? ONETIME and the REALTIME?

[musicmann]

Do I need to use both packages or just one? ONETIME and the REALTIME?

 

ONETIME just needs to be installed once.  It creates a persistent installation (i.e., survives reboots) by writing most of the installation to your cache drive (or another location if you specified a different persistent loacation).  REALTIME needs to be set up to be installed each restart (either via the Go Script or something like the Package Manager in unMENU) or will need to be manually started each time.

[SuperPerry]

Do I need to use both packages or just one? ONETIME and the REALTIME?

 

ONETIME just needs to be installed once.  It creates a persistent installation (i.e., survives reboots) by writing most of the installation to your cache drive (or another location if you specified a different persistent loacation).  REALTIME needs to be set up to be installed each restart (either via the Go Script or something like the Package Manager in unMENU) or will need to be manually started each time.

 

@musicman

Just want to say THANK YOU! Everything seems to work fine on my production unRAID server 4.4.2. I used the combination of Slackware 12.2 and unRAID 4.5beta4. All I have to do now is create VM's. 

 

Quick question: Do I need to move the /temp directory on step#10? Or you made that command so I we don't need to move it all the time. Thanks!

 

 

[musicmann]

Quick question: Do I need to move the /temp directory on step#10? Or you made that command so I we don't need to move it all the time. Thanks!

 

Those lines will need to be invoked each boot via the Go Script or something similar.  Each time unRAID boots, the initial file system has the /tmp directory in memory.  Because VMware Server uses this directory heavily, you can easily run out of RAM if it is not moved.