converting virtualbox to vmware

[jcothran]

We run the free vmware ESXi 4.0 here and wanted to post a few notes
related to converting the provided madrona virtualbox image to vmware.

1. Unzip(I used 7-zip) the .ova file to show the contained .ovf
and .vmdk files

2. Referenced the instructions at
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/how-do-i-convert-virtualbox-files-to-work-with-vmware-workstation/2997
, which basically entails downloading vmware's 'OVFTool' to convert
the .ovf metadata info to a .vmx file - no actual conversion of
the .vmdk file, no .mf file

3. OVFTool complained about unsupported devices(like sound card,etc)
so used the <Item ovf:required="false"> tag for these devices.

4. On trying to upload the .vmx file using vmware standalone convertor
tool, .vmx was missing some critical references to scsi device and the
named .vmdk file - looked at a different server working .vmx file on
hand and substituted a few lines where needed to get the image to
load. Final edited .vmx file looked like listing at page bottom the
below for our setup.

After the .vmx file manual edits, image converted successfully and am
now working through the tutorial. I'll probably end up running this
image without the desktop, so might want to include a section or notes
for folks that might run the vmware image as a dedicated command-line
server with github version updates, without the desktop interface.

Thanks
Jeremy

annotation = "Madrona 4.0 Ubuntu 12.04 Server VM"
config.version = "8"
displayname = "Madrona 4.0 Ubuntu 12.04 Server VM"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.present = "true"
ethernet0.startConnected = "true"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
floppy0.present = "false"
guestos = "ubuntu"
ide1:0.autodetect = "true"
ide1:0.deviceType = "atapi-cdrom"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.present = "true"
ide1:0.startConnected = "true"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "madrona_virtual_v3-disk1.vmdk"
lsilogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
memsize = "512"
mks.enable3d = "TRUE"
numvcpus = "1"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
svga.autodetect = "true"
usb.present = "true"
virtualhw.version = "7"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"

[Tim Welch]

Jeremy, thanks for the info!  I'll look to include it with the installation instructions.

Agreed on wanting a headless server, the goal of the appliance was mainly the ability for people to test drive and we thought a GUI environment would be more approachable to people not savvy with the command line and editors.  At some point you may just want to do a setup from scratch.  Tutorials will be getting an update here soon.

Holler if you have any other questions.  Enjoy the holiday!

Tim