www.xtravirt.

com
May 2007, Version 1.3

White Paper
Install and run VMware ESX3
on VMware Workstation 6

By
Paul Davey

Copyright 2007

1.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...........................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................3
1.1.
PRE-REQUISITES .........................................................................................................3
3.
PREPARING VMWARE WORKSTATION 6.................................................................................5
4.
CONFIGURATION FOR NON DNS ENVIRONMENTS.................................................................19
5.
ADD VIRTUAL ESX HOST TO VIRTUAL CENTER ....................................................................23
1.
2.

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2.

Introduction

This paper discusses the process to create working ESX hosts within VMware Workstation 6.
Multiple hosts can be created and V-motion, HA and DRS features can be configured.
Although performance is significantly reduced from that of a physical server, this type of
environment opens considerable possibilities for portable client demonstrations and is
excellent for self training and small lab environments.
This paper assumes the reader has good technical knowledge of VMWare Virtual
Infrastructure 3. The paper assumes that you know how to install the VirtualCenter2, License
Server and Virtual Infrastructure Client.
The hardware used in this whitepaper was an IBM Thinkpad T60P 2007 SKU, Core Duo, 3GB
memory, 120GB SATA Hard Disk.

Above: Multiple ESX hosts running within VMware Workstation 6

1.1.

Pre-requisites

This paper assumes that the following actions have been carried out by the reader.

May 2007

VMware Workstation 6 has been installed

Virtual Centre, License Server and Virtual Infrastructure Client have been installed.
ESX 3.0.1 installation media is available on CDROM
License file is available

Install and run VMware ESX3 on VMware Workstation 6, v1.3, www.xtravirt.com

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Above: Multiple virtual ESX hosts in a cluster using VirtualCenter 2 in VMware Workstation 6.

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3.

Preparing VMware Workstation 6

1.

Open VMware Workstation and select the option to create a new virtual machine.

2.

The New Virtual Machine wizard will launch. Click Next to continue.

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3.

Select the option to create a Custom virtual machine. Click Next.

4.

In the Hardware compatibility box, select Workstation 5 and tick the ESX Server
Compatible box. Click Next.

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5.

Select Linux for the Guest operating system and Red Hat Linux for version. Click
Next.

6.

Enter a name and location for the virtual machine files to be stored. Click Next.

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7.

Select the option for Two processors. Click Next.

8.

Allocate sufficient memory for the ESX virtual host. Click Next. NB: I have used 512MB
in this example as I will not be hosting any Virtual Machines on this ESX VM host.

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9.

Select the Use Bridged Networking option. Click Next.

10.

In the Select I/O Adaptor Types dialog, ensure the LSI Logic adaptor is selected.
Click Next.

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11.

Select the option Create a new virtual disk. Click Next.

12.

Click Next as there is only one default option.

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13.

Select the disk size that you wish to use. In this example I have chosen to create an
8GB virtual disk. Click Next.

14.

Specify the name of the virtual hard disk file to be created. Click Next.

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15.

Select the virtual machine that you have just created and select the option to remove it
from favourites.

16.

When prompted select Yes.

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17.

Close VMware Workstation 6 completely. Do not leave any other VMs running in the
background.

18.

Using notepad.exe open the .vmx file for the previously created ESX virtual machine.

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19.

The .vmx file requires to be edited as shown in the diagram below (boxed in blue).
Once the changes have been made, save the file and exit notepad. One of the
changes includes modifying the NIC type from vlance to the e1000 adaptor type. NB: If
you do not change the adaptor to this type then connections to VirtualCenter will not
work.

The above modifications will work for an Intel based CPU, but for AMD chips you also
need to additionally include the following line:
Monitor_control.enable_svm = TRUE

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20.

Launch VMware Workstation and select the option to open a VM from the File menu.

21.

Select the ESX host VM in the dialog box and select Open.

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22.

Add the opened VM to your favourites so you can easily access it later on.

23.

Power on the virtual ESX host. At the BIOS screen in the host, hit <esc> to access the
boot order menu. You will see that the network adaptor is of the Intel E1000 type, as
required for connectivity to VirtualCenter.

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24.

Select the option to boot from CD, ensuring that the installation media is in the
CDROM. The ESX Server installation will start. Press the <enter> key to start a
graphical installation.

25.

When prompted select the option to skip the media test.

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26.

Perform an installation of the ESX operating system as per your requirements. For
further guidance on performing an ESX server installation watch the Xtravirt webcast
Beginners Guide to Installing VMware ESX 3 - Graphical Mode which can be found
at www.xtravirt.com, in the Tech Talk => Webcasts section.

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4.

Configuration for Non DNS Environments

If you are just setting up virtual ESX hosts for basic training purposes, you do not need a
Active Directory domain infrastructure with DNS configured. You can simply use the Windows
hosts file as well as edit the hosts file on your ESX host to correctly achieve communication
from ESX to VirtualCenter.
To do this follow the steps below.
1.

Logon to the ESX host Service Console (COS) using the root account and password.

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2.

Navigate to the hosts file which is stored in the /etc folder and edit it with nano (or your
favourite text editor) as shown below.

3.

Edit the server hosts file and add in the IP address, FQ name and short name of any
other ESX servers that you have, along with the IP address and name of the machine
holding your licence server and VirtualCenter installation.

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4.

You will need to open firewall ports to allow VirtualCenter to connect and remote SSH
connections for example. For the purposes of simplicity, I have allowed all incoming
and outgoing ports to be opened on my ESX host.

5.

On the Windows server that is hosting the License Server, VirtualCenter and Virtual
Infrastructure Client, edit the Windows hosts file using notepad. The hosts file can be
found under %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, for example: Notepad.exe
C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.

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6.

Add the IP address and FQ name of the ESX host in to the hosts file. If you have other
virtual ESX hosts ensure that they are added in as well.

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5.

Add Virtual ESX Host to Virtual Center

1.

Launch the Virtual Infrastructure Client and log in to Virtual Centre.

2.

Within your nominated Datacenter, right-click and select Add Host.

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3.

Enter the FQ name of the virtual ESX host, along with the root account details to allow
Virtual Centre to authenticate to the virtual ESX host.

4.

Review the settings and click Next to continue.

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5.

If required, select a Resource Pool to add the virtual ESX host to. Click Next.

6.

Click Finish to add the virtual ESX host.

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7.

The virtual ESX host task will run, displaying progress in the Tasks pane.

Your virtual ESX host is now available to be managed by VirtualCenter.

For information on how to install and configure shared storage in a VM so that you can test
advanced functionality such as VMotion, HA, DRS etc you can find further white papers on
http://xtravirt.com under Tech Talk => White papers, eg: IET Virtual Shared Storage (ESX
on Workstation Part 2).

This concludes the white paper; we hope you found it useful. We gratefully receive any
feedback, errors or omissions at support@xtravirt.com.

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