64-bit Linux with VMWare or VirtualBox preinstalled?
Keoki
Linux vs Windows 7 performance-wise. Does anyone know of a 64-bit
Linux distro that has either VMware or VirtualBox preinstalled?
So far I installed three 64-bit distros without either of the two
programs. One distro installed fine, then VMware's install totally
borked it (CentOS 5.6), one distro installed with a non-working Net
connection (Ubuntu 10.04), and one wouldn't even install. (64 Studio)
on my i7-920 PC. Reading 30-step VMware install instructions on the
Net, I can tell, the only way an average non-rocket-scientist mortal
is likely to get working virtualization with either VMware or
VirtualBox on Linux today is if one of the two comes pre-loaded. Have
anyone seen such a 64-bit distro anywhere? TIA
Norman Peelman
Pre-installed, no I haven seen one. But on the other hand I had no
problem installing VMWare or upgrading Sun VBox on my Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
(now upgraded to 10.04).
--
Norman
Registered Linux user #461062
AMD64X2 6400+ Ubuntu 8.04 64bit
Jasen Betts
> I have some VMware virtual machine (VM) files that I'd like to A/B on
> Linux vs Windows 7 performance-wise. Does anyone know of a 64-bit
> Linux distro that has either VMware or VirtualBox preinstalled?
Debian 6.1 comes with virtualbox-ose as a package.
you probably want to do the net install
> and one wouldn't even install. (64 Studio) on my i7-920 PC.
new pc... you may have network driver woes. easiest fix is a cheap PCI
network card.
--
⚂⚃ 100% natural
J.O. Aho
> Does anyone know of a 64-bit
> Linux distro that has either VMware or VirtualBox preinstalled?
Not as pre-installed, but there are almost as many distributions which has
those as packages as there are distributions out there, just pick yet another
one from the list at distrowatch.com.
> So far I installed three 64-bit distros without either of the two
> programs. One distro installed fine, then VMware's install totally
> borked it (CentOS 5.6), one distro installed with a non-working Net
> connection (Ubuntu 10.04), and one wouldn't even install. (64 Studio)
> on my i7-920 PC. Reading 30-step VMware install instructions on the
> Net, I can tell, the only way an average non-rocket-scientist mortal
> is likely to get working virtualization with either VMware or
> VirtualBox on Linux today is if one of the two comes pre-loaded. Have
> anyone seen such a 64-bit distro anywhere? TIA
For a meta distribution like Gentoo, it's not much hassle to get things to
work, just see to build tun support and load the tun module. Only you need is
to be able read German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Simplified
Chinese or Spanish and do some copy past and you have it up and running within
minutes.
--
//Aho
Keoki
wasn't a Linux glitch, the Realtek EtherNet adapter decided to quit
just while I was installing VMWare onto CentOS. This is a triple-boot
PC, so when all 3 OSs (OSX / Win7 / Linux) fail Net access (when a
second computer doesn't, through the same router) - this isn't a Linux
issue at all.
I'll pick up a Netgear G311 EtherNet card and start from scratch. I
already reloaded a bare-bones CentOS on the Linux HD.
J.O. Aho
Should have been enough to install the new nic, boot into CentOS and it would
detect the change of hardware and load the driver for the new card (as long as
the chip-set is supported in the build of the kernel).
--
//Aho
Keoki
> detect the change of hardware and load the driver for the new card (as long as
> the chip-set is supported in the build of the kernel).
Hello Aho,
When I didn't know yet why the network became notwork in CentOS, I
opted to plow CentOS totally under with Ubuntu, lest Ubuntu inherits
some CentOS's network setting that may be causing the trouble.
I got the PCI Ethernet card in today, The reinstalled CentOS handled
the hardware change highly elegantly, without nagging for a driver CD.
Virtualization is still a wholly different matter, though. There was
no telling if one should install some Virtualization files with CentOS
or not. Will VirtualBox need some of these goodies? Or are those Xen
only (and hence only a hindrance?)
After installing VirtualBox, I got the error: "Running VirtualBox in a
Xen environment is not supported." Well, can't complain on lack of
consistency. First there was no info what OS virtualization files to
install for VirtualBox, now there's no info what OS virtualization
files to remove. I went back to "Add / Remove Software" and did a semi-
decent butchery of all things with Xen in the file name. Next I
sauntered back to VirtualBox, loaded my VM into it, and pressed Start.
It quit with an Error 1, saying in its log, ***unable to find the
sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and
run Make again. Stop."
Well, I do understand "Make"; It means "dead" in Hawaiian. (Tell me
about it.) The rest of the blurb... let me go back to sleep on it :-)
J.O. Aho
>> Should have been enough to install the new nic, boot into CentOS and it would
>> detect the change of hardware and load the driver for the new card (as long as
>>
> opted to plow CentOS totally under with Ubuntu, lest Ubuntu inherits
> some CentOS's network setting that may be causing the trouble.
No installation "inherits" another installations settings, no matter if it's
the same distribution and version or a completely different distribution if
you choose to make a clean install and even if you do choose to install
without reformatting slices, you will not inherit settings.
> Virtualization is still a wholly different matter, though. There was
> no telling if one should install some Virtualization files with CentOS
> or not.
>
> After installing VirtualBox, I got the error: "Running VirtualBox in a
> Xen environment is not supported." Well, can't complain on lack of
> consistency. First there was no info what OS virtualization files to
> install for VirtualBox, now there's no info what OS virtualization
> files to remove.
There ain't any reason to choose the "virtualization" option during
installation unless you want to install Xen (which will not be supported in
CentOS of version 6 and later as it's removed in RHEL 6), avoid to install
libvirt too, as it has a stupid habit in CentOS/RHEL5 to draw in Xen and dom0
kernels.
> I went back to "Add / Remove Software" and did a semi-
> decent butchery of all things with Xen in the file name. Next I
> sauntered back to VirtualBox, loaded my VM into it, and pressed Start.
> It quit with an Error 1, saying in its log, ***unable to find the
> sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and
> run Make again. Stop."
Your problem is that you have booted into a xen kernel, this don't support
running other viritualization at the same in Dom0. Install a generic kernel,
uninstall the dom0 kernel and reboot. Be warned that next time you have a
system upgrade it may be loading the xen kernel as the default kernel (we had
such issues on machines where we changed from Xen to KVM viritualization at my
previous job).
To make a proper server with VBox as the choice of viritualization engine, I
would suggest Gentoo or Sabayon if you don't want spend time on compiling,
this way you can run headless version of VBox on the server, but be prepared
that those do require more time form you at the initial setup than those
"standard" distributions do.
--
//Aho
Aragorn
with the following words...:
> [J.O. Aho wrote:]
>
>> Should have been enough to install the new nic, boot into CentOS and
>> it would detect the change of hardware and load the driver for the
>> new card (as long as the chip-set is supported in the build of the
>> kernel).
>
> [...]
>
> I got the PCI Ethernet card in today, The reinstalled CentOS handled
> the hardware change highly elegantly, without nagging for a driver CD.
> Virtualization is still a wholly different matter, though. There was
> no telling if one should install some Virtualization files with CentOS
> or not. Will VirtualBox need some of these goodies? Or are those Xen
> only (and hence only a hindrance?)
I don't quite understand what you mean by "virtualization files". Do
you mean guest virtual machine images?
> After installing VirtualBox, I got the error: "Running VirtualBox in a
> Xen environment is not supported." Well, can't complain on lack of
> consistency.
Xen is a bare metal hypervisor. It runs on the bare metal, with all
operating systems atop of it, including the management system, dom0,
which is a privileged guest, not a host.
Xen runs in ring 0 of the processor, while all paravirtualized guest
kernels run in ring 1, and userspace runs in ring 3. Virtualbox is a
host-based virtual machine monitor, and it assumes that the kernel is
running in ring 0.
Furthermore, if the hardware supports virtualization via virtualization
extensions to the processor and memory controller, optionally with an
additional IOMMU, then Xen will use these (if made available in the BIOS
set-up utility). VirtualBox will attempt to do the same. Hence, there
is an additional conflict.
You should never run an X11 server on a Xen dom0 anyway. The privileged
guest is best left untouched.
> First there was no info what OS virtualization files to install for
> VirtualBox, now there's no info what OS virtualization files to
> remove.
The only "OS virtualization files" I can think of are the images of
guest operating systems. Xen doesn't really need those - albeit that it
can use them - because Xen allows one to export device special files to
the unprivileged guest kernels.
> I went back to "Add / Remove Software" and did a semi- decent butchery
> of all things with Xen in the file name. Next I sauntered back to
> VirtualBox, loaded my VM into it, and pressed Start.
> It quit with an Error 1, saying in its log, ***unable to find the
> sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and
> run Make again. Stop."
Well, there you have it. You've removed software in a GUI environment -
which you should not be running in a Xen dom0 anyway - and you've
deleted the kernel sources in the process, because they probably had the
name "xen" in it. VirtualBox needs the sources of your running kernel
in order to compile its own kernel module for it.
> Well, I do understand "Make"; It means "dead" in Hawaiian. (Tell me
> about it.) The rest of the blurb... let me go back to sleep on it :-)
No offense, but to me it sounds like you've gotten yourself into
something you have no understanding of without properly documenting
yourself first.
--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
Keoki
> To make a proper server with VBox as the choice of virtualization engine, I
> would suggest Gentoo or Sabayon if you don't want spend time on compiling,
> this way you can run headless version of VBox on the server,
If by "headless" you mean GUI-free, this may be an issue. These two
VMs are meant for the home computer user, working on a single physical
home machine.
I just tested my virtual machines with VirtualBox on Ubuntu 10.04. The
first got an error, "invalid front-side bus frequency 45 Hz. Disabling
the CPU..." (It runs fine on OSX and Win7.) The second VM worked.
I loaded VMWare Server onto Ubuntu 10.04 as well. Its installer
announced, "None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Server is
suitable for your running kernel. Do you want this program to try to
build the vmmon module for your system? I answered yes, hit a lot of
Enters for all the default answers, which led to:
"Building the vmmon module.
(snip...)
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
31:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/compat_wait.h:78: error:
conflicting types for ‘poll_initwait’
include/linux/poll.h:70: note: previous declaration of ‘poll_initwait’
was here
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
vmware.h:38,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
99:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_basic_types.h:108:7:
warning: "__FreeBSD__" is not defined
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./common/vmx86.h:
32,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:
29,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
101:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/x86msr.h:164:1: warning:
"MSR_THERM2_CTL" redefined
In file included from /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic/arch/
x86/include/asm/msr.h:4,
from /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic/arch/
x86/include/asm/processor.h:21,
from include/linux/prefetch.h:14,
from include/linux/list.h:6,
from include/linux/module.h:9,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
compat_module.h:27,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
26:
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic/arch/x86/include/asm/msr-
index.h:230:1: warning: this is the location of the previous
definition
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
vcpuset.h:103,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
modulecall.h:37,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./common/vmx86.h:
33,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.h:
29,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
101:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:329:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:333:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:401:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:407:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:460:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:506:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:551:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:595:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:640:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:684:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:729:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:773:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:775:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:816:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:860:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:862:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:903:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:945:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:947:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:986:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1028:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1030:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1069:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1223:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1227:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1313:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1536:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1663:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_atomic.h:1796:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
vm_asm_x86_64.h:39,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
vm_asm.h:41,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
103:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_asm_x86.h:486:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_asm_x86.h:779:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_asm_x86.h:820:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_asm_x86.h:922:7: warning:
"_MSC_VER" is not defined
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/
vm_asm.h:41,
from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
103:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./include/vm_asm_x86_64.h:56:7:
warning: "_MSC_VER" is not defined
In file included from /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:
119:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/./common/hostif.h:53:7: warning:
"WINNT_DDK" is not defined
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function
‘LinuxDriverSyncCallOnEachCPU’:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1423: error: too many
arguments to function ‘smp_call_function’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function
‘LinuxDriver_Ioctl’:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1987: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘euid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1987: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘uid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1988: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘fsuid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1988: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘uid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1989: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘egid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1989: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘gid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1990: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘fsgid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:1990: error: ‘struct
task_struct’ has no member named ‘gid’
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:2007: error: too many
arguments to function ‘smp_call_function’
make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-28-generic'
make: *** [vmmon.ko] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'
Unable to build the vmmon module.
For more information on how to troubleshoot module-related problems,
please
visit our Web site at "http://www.vmware.com/go/unsup-linux-products"
and
"http://www.vmware.com/go/unsup-linux-tools".
Execution aborted."
Imagine, this mess happens even on Ubuntu, the most user-friendly of
the 64-bit distros.
Robert Wolfe
> Imagine, this mess happens even on Ubuntu, the most user-friendly of
> the 64-bit distros.
Did you run an apt-get install for the kernel header files as well as
for the build-essential package FIRST before installing this? I had to
do that with my Ubuntu Server and Debian installs and after I did that,
it worked fine.
Keoki
> for the build-essential package FIRST before installing this? I had to
> do that with my Ubuntu Server and Debian installs and after I did that,
> it worked fine.
I did not; this is the first time I hear about kernel header files. So
I fired up Synaptic, and copied & pasted "kernel header files" into
its Search field. It says, linux-headers-2.6.32-28 and linux-
headers-2.6.32-28-generic are up an running, whatever those may be.
Repeating the process with "build-essential package" revealed that a
file by that name is also installed and running.
Following the URL on the VMware installer error message's bottom sent
me to the VMware manual file, which sent me back to VMWare's site,
which gave me a VMware Compatibility List ending with version 9 on the
Ubuntu side. Yippee yay, Ubuntu.com doesn't even host Ubuntu 9
anymore. So I stepped by isohunt.com, ran a search on Ubuntu 9, got a
million matches, all conveniently ending with i386, meaning 32-bit. So
I repeated the search with "Ubuntu 9 x86". That reduced the matches to
4, of which 3 appear to be unrelated, and 1 is some mystery file with
a Russian description that's I'm downloading now.
I still think there ought to be a better way... :-)
Keoki
> No offense, but to me it sounds like you've gotten yourself into
> something you have no understanding of without properly documenting
> yourself first.
I'm not offended at all, we're saying the same thing.
Since then, I got VirtualBox running on Ubuntu 10.04 with one of the two of my VM files. The second VM (of OSX origin) reports "invalid front-side bus frequency 45 Hz. Disabling the CPU" (This same VM runs fine on Windows 7.)
I tried installing VMware on Ubuntu 10.04 next to deal with this last VM. Got a ton of errors from the VMware installer how it tried to create a vmmon for the Ubuntu kernel but couldn't.
I just need to see this second VM run once on *any 64-bit distro* so I can test the speed, then I'll be done with the whole project. OK, time for a third bare bones CentOS install with no virtualization files... by now I can run the installer almost with closed eyes, anyway.
Robert W
> I did not; this is the first time I hear about kernel header files. So
> I fired up Synaptic, and copied& pasted "kernel header files" into
> its Search field. It says, linux-headers-2.6.32-28 and linux-
> headers-2.6.32-28-generic are up an running, whatever those may be.
> Repeating the process with "build-essential package" revealed that a
> file by that name is also installed and running.
Kernel headers are often needed to build drivers fro source code and
incorporate those drivers into the matching Linux kernel. That's, IMO,
the main use for them. Other programs may use code from the kernel
headers as well for whatever purpose.
> Following the URL on the VMware installer error message's bottom sent
> me to the VMware manual file, which sent me back to VMWare's site,
> which gave me a VMware Compatibility List ending with version 9 on the
> Ubuntu side. Yippee yay, Ubuntu.com doesn't even host Ubuntu 9
> anymore. So I stepped by isohunt.com, ran a search on Ubuntu 9, got a
> million matches, all conveniently ending with i386, meaning 32-bit. So
> I repeated the search with "Ubuntu 9 x86". That reduced the matches to
> 4, of which 3 appear to be unrelated, and 1 is some mystery file with
> a Russian description that's I'm downloading now.
Hmm. Have you tried one of the Ubuntu mirrors? They may have older
releases available for downloading. And I am sure I have 9.x around
here somewhere. :) If anything, I believe http://www.wnylug.org
maintains a list of mirrors for quite a large number of distros that
often have older versions available for downloading.
>
> I still think there ought to be a better way... :-)
There usually is. :)