Installing VMWare Server 2 in Ubuntu

Ok, so here is a quick reference to installing VMWare Server 2 in Ubuntu. I used 8.04 at the time, but upgraded to 8.10 and the same methods still apply. If you already have VMWare Server installed, follow the instructions at the end first, then proceed with the install.

1. Download the VMWare Server TAR file to the desktop. Make sure you copy the serial from the website as well.
   
2. Once the download has finished, open up konsole, and enter the following commands.

• uname -r (Copy the output of this command and paste it where it says *paste* in the next line)
  
• sudo apt-get install linux-headers-*paste* build-essential xinetd
• cd Desktop
• tar xvzf VMware-server-*.tar.gz
• cd vmware-server-distrib
• sudo vmware-install.pl

Keep all the defaults, pressing enter at the prompts. It will continue to install then ask you if you would like to run vmware-config.pl. Press Enter, then once again, leave all the defaults.

*NOTE: It did ask me if I wanted to use a C Compiler, I selected yes (default) and then it found that GCC was a newer version than that which my kernel was compiled with. Here it asks if I want to continue and it is defaulted to 'no'. Just type in 'yes' and be on your way. It might ask this a few times.

Keep chugging along, but pay attention to what you are pressing enter to at this point. You may want to change some directories or options. Once it comes to the part where you enter your serial, make sure you enter the letters in CAPS.

That's pretty much it. Navigate to https://localhost:8333 and log in with the specified user. You may need to add a security exception in Firefox.

*UPDATE* When I upgraded from 8.04 to 8.10, I could not access the web gui. I restarted the vmware service via "/etc/init.d/vmware restart" and it told me I needed to run vmware-config.pl again. I ran vmware-config.pl and went through all prompts and it's back up and running just fine.

TO UNINSTALL and REINSTALL, this is what I did:
Either run sudo vmware-uninstall.pl
or
Log in as root...

• su
• rm -R /etc/vmware
• rm -R /usr/lib/vmware
• exit

Then continue with the install.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you find something different. A more detailed guide can be found here.

Installing VMWare tools in Backtrack 3 (BT3) *UPDATED*

Finally! I just finished an install of VMware tools on my BT3 VM. This includes seamless mouse and keyboard integration without having to manually capture and release input. I am still unable to drag and drop files from my OS and VM (I still plan on finding a solution). But here is what I did to get it working. If you encounter any errors, just post the errors as a comment and I’ll look into it.

1. Download the BT3 VM from remote-exploit and unzip.
2. Power on the VM and verify everything is working correctly. If it asks you if you moved it or copied it, select "copied it".
3. Open up terminal and make a directory under /mnt called cdrom

• mkdir /mnt/cdrom

4. Now go to the tool bar VM > Install VMware Tools.
5. Click Install and a window should appear saying that media has been detected. Select Open in New Window. If it doesn't auto open, then you will have to issue these commands:

• mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
• cp /mnt/cdrom/VM* /root/Desktop/
• Skip to step 7.
  

6. Drag and drop the VMwareTools-1.0.6-91891.i386.tar.gz file to your desktop or desired folder.
7. CD into the proper folder (in my case its Desktop).
8. Then untar the file.

• tar xvzf VMwareTools-1.0.6-91891.i386.tar.gz

9. CD into the newly created vmware-tools-distrib folder.
10. Execute vmware-install.pl
11. Leave all the defaults, pressing enter at every prompt.
12. When completed, configure vmtools by executing vmware-config-tools.pl. Leave all the defaults. Then add the following start up script to the ~/.kde/Autostart directory (it will be hidden).

• echo "/usr/bin/vmware-toolbox --minimize"> ~/.kde/Autostart/vmware-toolbox.sh

13. Press enter then make it executable

• chmod +x ~/.kde/Autostart/vmware-toolbox.sh

14. Now restart your VM and the next time you boot you should be able to drag your mouse seamlessly within the BT VM and your native OS.

*NOTE: This process will not allow you to drag and drop files between the two OS's. I am currently working on a solution for that.

An accompanying video showing the steps is coming soon!

If you run into any errors, just post them as a comment and I will investigate the problem. Hope this helps.

Technorati Tags: Backtrack, VM, Virtual Machine, VMware Tools, Backtrack VMware

Find System Specs in Terminal

I was presented with the job of "specing" out our ESX servers and documenting my findings. I figured the easiest way to do that would be to SSH into the box and get the specs that way. I stumbled up a site that gave a lot of useful commands. Here are the commands I used:

Graphics Card
lspci | grep VGA - dislpays graphic card model

Ethernet
lspci | grep Ethernet - displays the ethernet card model / controllers
ifconfig [interface] - displays IP address, MAC, and various other information

Kernel and System Info
cat /etc/issue - current distrobution and kernel version
uname -a - kernel information

Processor
cat /proc/cpuinfo - displays processors, speed, flags, and various other information
top (then press C) - realtime processes information by CPU usage

Memory
cat /proc/meminfo - displays RAM, swap, and amount being used
free -m - displays RAM and swap information in an easier to read format
top (then press M) - displays realtime processes by RAM usage

Hard Drive
df -h - displays total space, mount points, free space, percentages, and various other information
fdisk -l - displays all attached drives and their ID's along with block information

Various
uptime - displays the system uptime
w - displays current logged in users and activity