The Leal Family Blog

Tag: VMWare

  • VMware Free Server Copy VM script

    This is a follow-up post to VMware/CentOS build where I showed how I built my CentOS/VMWare server step by step.  You’ll find that you will want to copy virtual machines to duplicate them.  However, the VMware Server Console does not have a way for you to copy them.  You have to do it with the CLI and root access to the server.  In order to do this quickly, without having to remember what to do, I wrote a script.

    This script will copy the VM  and change the names in the config file and the harddisk images.  I think there are probably more things that this could do and maybe more efficiently.  However, I find this script to work for me.  Maybe it will for you too.

    ++++
    Begin Script
    ++++

    #/bin/sh
    #
    # Script used to copy VMs for use
    # with VMWare.
    #
    # Usage:
    # copyvm VMTOCLONE NEWVMNAME
    #
    # Created 20090309
    #
    # Setup Variables
    # Set “VMROOT” to VM directory where VMs reside
    #
    VMROOT=”/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines”
    OLDVM=$1
    NEWVM=$2
    #
    # Change to VM Root directory
    #
    cd “$VMROOT”
    clear
    echo
    echo
    echo Copying the VM called $OLDVM to new VM named $NEWVM.
    echo This could take awhile…go get some coffee!
    echo
    echo
    #
    # Copy Contents of Original VM to New Directory
    #
    cp -ax $OLDVM $NEWVM
    echo Done copying…
    echo Fixing Image and file names
    echo
    echo
    #
    # Change to new VM’s Directory
    #
    cd $NEWVM
    #
    # Use VMWare diskmanager to rename VM’s Disk Image and fix file names
    #
    /usr/bin/vmware-vdiskmanager -n $OLDVM.vmdk $NEWVM.vmdk
    #
    # Change vmx file then edit the config
    #
    mv $OLDVM.vmx $NEWVM.vmx
    sed -i “s/$OLDVM.vmdk/$NEWVM.vmdk/” $NEWVM.vmx
    # Set Display name if old display name matched Old vmname
    sed -i “s/$OLDVM/$NEWVM/” $NEWVM.vmx
    echo All done,  Enjoy!
    echo
    echo

    ++++
    End Script
    ++++

  • VMware/CentOS build

    At work, I found it helpful to have test machines that are quick to blow up and get back to a base install. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to virtualize a box.

    This is my quick software build for installing VMware (Free Server) on a CentOS 5 box.

    Here are my install steps:

    First Install CentOS 5 with a minimal installation (uncheck everything). After the first boot, I log in as root and go:

    1 useradd somebody
    2 passwd somebody
    3 vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
    Here I am just verifying that ssh doesn’t allow root log in.

    4 service sshd restart
    5 cd /home/somebody
    6 vi securemachine
    Here I am pasting a script I received from a dear friend in Baltimore that uninstalls unneeded stuff.  I prefer to install anything I need as I need it.  This machine will only be a VMware box so I don’t need anything else.  Remember to set a static IP address.  This script will kill the DHCP client.

    7 chmod 755 securemachine
    8 ./securemachine
    9 ./securemachine
    10 ./securemachine
    11 ./securemachine
    12 ./securemachine
    13 ./securemachine
    14 ./securemachine
    15 ./securemachine
    The trick here is to keep running the script until it no longer removes packages.  The number that displays at the end will stop decreasing.

    16 shutdown -r now
    Sometimes, you’ll need to turn off iptables here instead of at the end.  See steps 27 and 28.

    17 yum update
    18 yum install glibc libxpm perl gcc kernel-devel libX11 libXtst libXext libXt libICE libSM libXrender libz libc inetd
    19 shutdown -r now
    20 cd /home/somebody
    21 wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz
    22 cp VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz /tmp
    23 cd /tmp

    24 tar zxf VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz
    25 cd vmware-server-distrib
    26 ./vmware-install.pl
    Answer the questions and follow the instructions.

    27 service iptables stop
    28 chkconfig iptables off
    My machine will be on my private network and I am not worried about it.  However, you may want to set up iptables to protect your machine if you have different requirements.

    30 shutdown -r now
    When the machine comes back up, it will be working like a charm.  You’ll need to install the VMware Server Console to access the VM.

    Good Luck!