This section provides guidelines specific to installing NetWare 6.5 (NetWare 6.5 SP5 or later) on VMware GSX Server or VMware ESX Server. It is intended to be used in conjunction with the documentation for your chosen VMware product.
The overall installation process can be divided into several tasks:
The hardware requirements for running VMware are more stringent than for dedicated servers running a single operating system. As a minimum, VMware recommends a two or more processor x86-based server with two network interface cards and sufficient memory and disk space. Refer to your VMware documentation for more information on hardware requirements and supported devices.
VMware hardware compatibility guides and other helpful documents are available on the VMware Support Web site.
IMPORTANT:For better performance, VMware recommends that you install two or more network interface cards: one for the VMware console and at least one other for the guest operating systems to share.
Follow the instructions in the VMware documentation to install the VMware software and set up the system devices such as memory, hard disk storage, network interfaces, and other hardware devices connected to the VMware host server.
GSX Server supports any storage technology that the host operating system supports. Virtual disks can be located on any storage device accessible by the host operating system, including local IDE and SCSI disks, RAID arrays, SAN arrays, NAS and NFS file servers, and iSCSI.
ESX Server uses the VMware virtualization layer to present each virtual disk as a SCSI drive connected to a SCSI adapter. This abstraction eliminates the need to support device drivers from multiple vendors for the wide variety of SCSI, RAID, and other disk storage controllers that might actually be used in the system.
In most usage scenarios, it is best to use VMware’s default partition setup. This selection erases any existing partition information on the disk.
The VMware installation process also installs the service console, which is used to configure, start, and administer virtual machines. Assign a static IP address, netmask, gateway, and other TCP/IP configuration parameters to the network interface to be used by the service console. All other network interface cards are initially disabled; you configure them later when you create a virtual machine.
When the VMware installation is complete, reboot the server.
Follow the instructions in the VMware documentation to create a new virtual machine on your VMware server. The exact procedure varies depending on whether you have VMware GSX or ESX Server.
Be sure to select Novell NetWare 6 as the intended guest operating system during the virtual machine configuration. You can change the display name to be something more descriptive, such as “NetWare 6.5 Server_1”. This is the name that is listed in the VMware Management Interface to identify your virtual server.
When you configure the virtual disk, take special care in selecting the disk mode setting from the following options:
Persistent: Changes are immediately and permanently written to the virtual disk.
Nonpersistent: Changes are discarded when the virtual machine powers off.
Undoable: Changes are saved, discarded, or appended at your discretion.
Append: Changes are appended to a redo log file when the virtual machine powers off.
Whenever possible, you should create the virtual disk in persistent mode. In this mode, all writes are committed to the device immediately without creating a redo log file.
In undoable mode, VMware keeps a redo log file on the virtual disk, containing all of the pending changes. If you select this setting, be sure to leave enough free space for the redo file to grow to the size of the partition created for the virtual server. To avoid possible problems, the virtual disk should be set at twice the size of the Novell Storage Services™ (NSS) partition you intend to create for NetWare.
WARNING:If you create the virtual disk in undoable mode and don't have enough free space for the redo file, you might experience issues such as the NSS pool being deactivated or the NSS partition being deleted.
To install a guest operating system, you use the VMware Remote Console on a different system than the one on which you've installed GSX or ESX Server. The basic steps are outlined below. For more complete instructions, refer to the VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
Follow the instructions in the VMware documentation to start the Remote Console on a Linux or Windows workstation and connect to the virtual machine you have created.
Click to start the virtual machine.
Insert NetWare 6.5 SPx CD 1 (Operating System) into the CD-ROM drive of the VMware server.
Boot the virtual server from the CD or DVD, using one of the following methods:
With the CD inserted, click to start the virtual machine, press Esc when it comes up, and select the option to boot from the CD.
Change the server’s BIOS options to boot from the CD drive first, then click to start the virtual machine.
Proceed with the NetWare installation.
Follow the instructions in Section 4.0, Installing NetWare 6.5 SP8 (Physical).
When you see a message about configuring a swap partition, do so. Otherwise, the number of virtual machines that can run simultaneously is severely limited.
If NetWare 6.5 SPx CD 2 (Products) does not mount when you are prompted to insert it, go into the VMware devices, disconnect the IDE CD-ROM channel, and then reconnect. The NetWare installation program should now detect and mount the Products CD.
After you have installed NetWare 6.5, install VMware Tools for NetWare. Follow the instructions in the VMware Knowledge Base for your VMware product.
The VMware Tools package provides required support for shared folders and for drag-and-drop operations. Other tools support time synchronization between NetWare and the host, copying and pasting between guest and host, automatic grabbing and releasing of the mouse cursor, and improved mouse performance.
Installing VMware Tools also installs and loads the CPU idler program. NetWare servers do not idle the CPU when the operating system is idle. As a result, a virtual machine takes CPU time from the host regardless of whether the NetWare server software is idle or busy. To prevent unnecessary slowdowns, VMware recommends that after you install VMware Tools, you keep the NetWare CPU idle program loaded.
For additional information about installing and running NetWare on VMware, see the following: