Summary: A cheatsheet to collect various information regarding vmware products.
Date: 3 January 2025

VMware tools:

• Dependencies: gcc/gcc++/(kernel-headers)

On ESX, first mount the cdrom:

• OES3:/media # mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/
• mount: block device /dev/cdrom is write-protected, mounting read-only

Turn off the vm , and set the cdrom to automatically connect as host device, as auto detect.

• mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom -o rm

Click “Install VMWare Tools” menu option and issue the following commands:

cd /tmp
tar zxf /media/VMware\ Tools/vmware-linux-tools.tar.gz
cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl
Run tools: /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox

Install everything into /usr/local/bin

Open

vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

eand remove “vga=0x332” from the linux kernel load line

After you've added a new disk to linux you can discover it by issuing 'rescan-scsi-bus.sh' as root:

# rescan-scsi-bus.sh
Host adapter 0 (mptspi) found.
Scanning SCSI subsystem for new devices
Scanning host 0 channels 0 for  SCSI target IDs  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, all LUNs
Scanning for device 0 0 0 0 ...
OLD: Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
      Vendor: VMware   Model: Virtual disk     Rev: 1.0
      Type:   Direct-Access                    ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Scanning for device 0 0 1 0 ...
OLD: Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 01 Lun: 00
      Vendor: VMware   Model: Virtual disk     Rev: 1.0
      Type:   Direct-Access                    ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Scanning for device 0 0 2 0 ...
NEW: Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 02 Lun: 00
      Vendor: VMware   Model: Virtual disk     Rev: 1.0
      Type:   Direct-Access                    ANSI SCSI revision: 02
0 new device(s) found.
0 device(s) removed.

It says 0 devices found but the new disk is still discovered and ready for partitioning.

Open ntp.conf and add the following lines:

vi /etc/ntp.conf
server x.x.x.x prefer
tinker step 0

Stop, synchroniseer en start ntp:

/etc/init.d/ntpd stop
ntpdate x.x.x.x (repeat until the difference is less then 1 second)
/etc/init.d/ntpd start
ntpq -p (repeat until the reach is on 377)

• vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
• Add “clock=pit” to the linux kernel load line

or

• vi /etc/lilo.conf
• Add “clock=pit” to the “append=” line
• /sbin/lilo

Set to 333 or 250

Turn on time synchronisation with the host in the VMware tools or the *.vmx config file.

• vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
• add “noapic nolapic nosmp” to the linux kernel load line

• vi /etc/ntp.conf
• server x.x.x.x prefer minpoll 4 maxpoll 6
  • (number is seconds * seconds, so 4 = 16 seconds and 6 = 36 seconds)

Sync the hardware clock with the system clock:

hwclock --systohc
# Check the hardware clock
hwclock --show

If the boot screen goes too fast, F2 is the key to enter the BIOS/CMOS.

I needed to be able to authenticate through LDAP on a virtual from the production network. Of course, vmware server does not support reverse NAT, so I took my chances on port forwarding… and it worked:

Don't forget to press restart and apply when you've added port forwards.

To uninstall and re-install VMware Tools:

• Right-click on the virtual machine.
• Click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
• Open a Console to the virtual machine and log into the guest operating system.
• Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK to open a command prompt in Windows.
• Change the drive to your CD-ROM drive (For example, D:\).
• Type setup /c and press Enter to force removal of all registry entries and delete the old version of VMware Tools.
• Open My Computer, double click the CD-ROM that contains VMware Tools.
• After Auto-Run starts, follow the prompts to install.