The WhiteHack Blog

We all know that ESX server can be run within VMWare Workstation 6, but as I already has Server 2.0 installed, I decided to see if the same could be done, mainly as learning ESX server cannot be a bad thing, but I did not want to run Server 2, and Workstation 6 at the same time, although both are free products, it really does not make much sense to run thetwo on eht same machine if one will suffice.

The basic VM is set as a 32bit RedHat linux machine running a 2.6 kernel, with 1GB memory, bridged nic, 8GB hard disk, and I am using the ESX 3.5.0 iso image from VMWare.

The install fails with the following message:
“The installer was unable to find any supported network devices“:

Fixing this is the same as fixing ESX to work on Workstation 6, just power off the VM, browse to the corresponding .vmx file for the ESX server VM and add the following line:

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

Your .vmx file will show something like as follows:


ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.allowGuestConnectionControl = "FALSE"
ethernet0.features = "1"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.networkName = "Bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"


With this fixed you can power on the machine, and continue with the installation. Once it’s installed and booted you should see:

And by browsing to the IP address, you can then install the VMWare Infrastructure Client:

For this test I am using the Nostalgia client, its a small 6MB download, which you can get from File > Virtual Applicance > Import, and then browse the appliance marketplace. Once it’s installed, right click and press Power On, and you’ll see the following message:

This is in no way a show stopper, all you need to do is add the following lines to your .vmx file (for the ESX server vm):

monitor.virtual_exec = “hardware”
monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = “true”

And then with one final addition to the guest VM inside your ESX server we can boot up!

Press Alt+F1 to get the the login screen on the ESX server, login with the details you used during the install, and browse to the Nostalgia folder, which for me was:
[root@localhost /]# cd vmfs
[root@localhost vmfs]# cd volumes
[root@localhost volumes]# cd storage1
[root@localhost storage1]# cd Nostalgia
[root@localhost Nostalgia]# vi Nostalgia.vmx
press i on the keyboard to enter insert mode
add:
vmx.allowNested = TRUE
To the vmx file (I added it about 12 lines down where there was a space) and then press : and wq then enter to save and exit:

Now try powering on the Nostalgia VM:

Please note that you will need to ad this line to all your ESX server guest VMs.

All done.
Now you can run ESX server properly without having to purchase additional hardware, it will provide a great learning platform for anyone looking to learn VMWare.