VMware VI SDK information

The VI SDK allows you to control VMs and machines managed by an ESX or VC instance.

Here’s a link to the documentation: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/sdk_pubs.html

1. A good place to start for a tutorial is the VMware SDK Webinar series here: http://act.vmware.com/servlet/website/R … lipghMM_si

2. The most complete VMware Developer resources are http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/ & http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/ (includes Porting Guide, Programming Guide, Reference Guide, etc)

Here’s a link to the reference guide: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer … index.html

3. VMware Discussion Forum dedicated to the APIs: http://www.vmware.com/community/categor … goryID=114

[ad#ad-1]

MAC addresses stored in different places in Linux

Where the MAC address is stored is pretty important for Virtual Machines because the MAC address can change if you move the VM or if you copy it, etc.

Ubuntu 7.1.0 puts it in
/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Redhat puts it in
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Seems that older Ubuntu versions put them in /etc/network/interfaces I think. I’ve also did a search and found that there’s a /etc/iftab as well.

More FUD – MSFT vs. VMware

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/13/micros … artner=msn

I can’t believe people are writing stuff like this. VMware has a product that’s better in VMware Server and it’s free too!

Read this http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/ … iew_1.html and see that you should really be using VMware server which is free and better than HyperV!

How to manually build an initrd for ESX 3.5

notes came from here:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/116768

Hi,

i managed to get my ESX3.5 to boot and run on a HP ML 115.

onboard raid: yes, this “raid” really sucks, because my rescue cd found 2 controllers/disks -> NO RAID

TODO-List to get ESX-3.5 up and running.

1.) install it from the cd (of course)

2.) reboot with a linux live cd of your choice.

and now i hope that there are no typos…because i created this “script” on my laptop during i tried and tested it on my ESX box!

mkdir /mnt/eboot
mkdir /mnt/eroot

1. /boot of ESX box

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/eboot

1. /root of ESX box

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/eroot

mkdir /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd
mkdir /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted
mkdir /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extractednew

cp /mnt/eboot/boot/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd

cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd
mv initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz
gunzip initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz
mount initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img extracted -o loop

cd extracted
cd etc/vmware
cp simple.map simple.map.org

vi simple.map
2nd go for SED!

search for 037e
double this line
change one 037e to 037f
save

cd ..
cd ..

dd if=dev/zero of=initrd.img bs=1k count=97000
mke2fs -i 1024 -b 1024 -m 5 -F -v initrd.img

mount initrd.img extractednew -t ext2 -o loop

tar -C extracted/ -cmf – . | tar -C extractednew/ -xmf – .

1. umount initrd.img

umount extracted
umount extractednew

gzip -best initrd.img
ls -alh
mv initrd.img.gz initrd.img

cd /mnt/eboot
mv initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.org
cp /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/initrd.img initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img

cd /mnt/eroot
cd etc
cd vmware

cp pci.ids pci.ids.org
vi pci.ids
2nd go for SED!

search for 037e
double this line
change one 037e to 037f
save

cp pci.xml.merged pci.xml.merged.org
vi pci.xml.merged
2nd go for SED!

search for 037e
double this SECTION
change one 037e to 037f
save

cd pciid
cp sata_nv.xml sata_nv.xml.org
vi sata_nv.xml
2nd go for SED!

search for 037e
double this SECTION
change one 037e to 037f
save

reboot from your resuce system into ESX and JUCHEEEEE….

kind regards,

Reinhard

________________________________________________________________________________________

#!/bin/bash

vmware esx initrd changer
#/bin/bash
Reinhard Partmann
date created: 2007-12-17
date modified: 2007-12-17
version: 0.2
echo “creating directories…”
mkdir -p /mnt/eboot
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot

echo “mounting..”
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/eboot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/eroot
mount | grep sda

echo “copying original initrd file…”
mkdir -p /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/extracted
cp /mnt/eboot/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz
cd /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd

echo “unpacking & mounting original initrd file…”
gunzip -f initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz
mount initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img extracted -t ext2 -o loop
cd extracted
cd etc
cd vmware

echo “changing simple.map…”
echo “10de:037f 0000:0000 sata_nv.o” >> simple.map

cd ..
cd ..
cd ..

umount extracted
echo “replacing original initrd file…”
gzip –best initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img
mv /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz /mnt/eboot/
cp /mnt/eboot/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img.gz /mnt/eboot/initrd-2.4.21-47.0.1.ELvmnix.img

echo “patching xml files”

cd /mnt/eroot/etc/vmware/pciid
lines=`wc -l sata_nv.xml | awk ‘ { print $1 } ‘`
echo “lines: $lines”
(( lines -= 2))
echo “subtr lines: $lines”
mv sata_nv.xml sata_nv.xml.org
head -$lines sata_nv.xml.org > sata_nv.xml

echo ” ” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” ” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” sata_nv” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” ” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” MCP55 SATA Controller” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” ” >> sata_nv.xml
echo ” ” >> sata_nv.xml
echo “” >> sata_nv.xml

touch /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo “#!/bin/bash” >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo “esxcfg-pciid” >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo “sleep 5” >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
echo “rm /etc/rc3.d/S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot” >> /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
chmod a+x /mnt/eroot/etc/init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot
cd /mnt/eroot/etc/rc3.d/
ln -s ../init.d/rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot S99rp-esxcfg-pciid-boot

echo “cleanup…”
cd /
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot/tmp/initrd
umount /mnt/eboot
umount /mnt/eroot
rm -f -r /mnt/eboot
rm -f -r /mnt/eroot]]>

[ad#ad-1]

Microsoft FUD that idiot’s writing a story about …

This is a total load of FUD. Like most of the comments here, I must agree. Even WHEN this so-called HyperV does come out, it still will lack the features that VMware currently HAS! If you’re already running VMware, why would you DOWNGRADE!? If you’re not, why would you adopt an UNPROVEN LOSER 1.0 release!? Just like a lot of people are upgrading from Vista to XP, people will be upgrading from HyperV to VI3, which will be 2 years OLD by the time HyperV comes out. VMware stays atop for at least 5 years as nobody comes close just yet.

Here’s the story:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/m … teid=yhoof

[ad#ad-1]

Re: How to build redhat kernel for VMware for time issue

In the guest, you’ll want to run NTP and not use the VMware tools time sync. It seems to work better. Also, you might also considering Ubuntu 7.1.0 instead as with ESX 3.5, VMware Server 2.0, and Workstation 6.0, it has a VMI option, so that you can run a paravirtualized kernel and get up to 30% better performance. It also doesn’t have the LSILogic scsi driver bug that everyone seems to run into.

VLC media player is way better than Windows Media Player!

If anyone didn’t know, you should know now. I used to just think like … if it worked, why change. Well, there were a lot of videos that I couldn’t watch before and with VLC player, I could! It must be certain bits that are missing or something from the files Windows Media Player wouldn’t play it. VLC will!

You can get VLC Media Player for free here:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[ad#ad-1]

Analyst Mumbo Jumbo about Red Hat

Quote:
Ahead of the Bell: Red Hat
Monday December 10, 8:08 am ET
Jefferies & Co. Analyst Downgrades Red Hat on Challenges From Competing Technology

NEW YORK (AP) — A Jefferies & Co. analyst downgraded Red Hat Inc., saying competing technologies are nabbing market share and could hurt profit growth, as the software maker deals with rivalry by making acquisitions.

Katherine Egbert in a client note cut her rating on Red Hat to “Hold” from “Buy” and reduced her target price to $19 from $23.

Red Hat will have to work to diversify its business away from its Red Hat Enterprise Linux products, which are based on open-source software, Egbert said. That’s because newer virtualization technologies, which allow businesses to use different computer operating systems on a single server, are replacing Linux servers as companies work to cut costs, Egbert wrote.

Often new servers are shipped with a key competing product from VMware Inc., which is cutting into Linux market share, she added.

But Red Hat is diversifying through acquisitions and could step up this process, Egbert said, which could eat into earnings potential.

This is total bullshit for lack of a better term. What in the hell does VMware have to do with Red Hat? They are new and coming into the Virtualization space! VMware actually allows OS vendors to sell more licenses!

Let’s see here “virtualization technologies, which allow businesses to use different computer operating systems on a single server, are replacing Linux servers as companies work to cut costs” … what the fuck!? So you’re running different operating systems … what operating systems might they be? Windows (costs money), more Linux? Probably! They’ll be running other operating systems … just less computers!

Anyone else with any input on this?[ad#ad-1]

Re: iptables notes

ipchains-save output from a firewall

*filter
:INPUT DROP [3229:322102]
:FORWARD DROP [0:0]
:OUTPUT DROP [0:0]
:icmp-in – [0:0]
:icmp-out – [0:0]
:log-and-drop – [0:0]
:valid-source-address – [0:0]
:valid-source-address-udp – [0:0]
:valid-tcp-flags – [0:0]
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -j valid-tcp-flags
-A INPUT -p ! udp -j valid-source-address
-A INPUT -p udp -j valid-source-address-udp
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags SYN,RST,ACK SYN -j valid-source-address
-A INPUT -p icmp -j icmp-in
-A INPUT -m state –state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 80 -m state –state NEW -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 443 -m state –state NEW -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 22 -m state –state NEW -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p udp -m udp –dport 123 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -p tcp -j valid-tcp-flags
-A OUTPUT -p icmp -j icmp-out
-A OUTPUT -p udp -m udp –sport 1024:65535 –dport 53 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -p tcp -m tcp –sport 1024:65535 –dport 53 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -m state –state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -j REJECT –reject-with icmp-port-unreachable
-A icmp-in -p icmp -m icmp –icmp-type 0 -j ACCEPT
-A icmp-in -p icmp -m icmp –icmp-type 8 -j ACCEPT
-A icmp-in -p icmp -m icmp –icmp-type 3/4 -j ACCEPT
-A icmp-in -j DROP
-A icmp-out -p icmp -m icmp –icmp-type 8 -j ACCEPT
-A icmp-out -p icmp -m icmp –icmp-type 0 -j ACCEPT
-A icmp-out -j DROP
-A log-and-drop -j LOG –log-level 7 –log-tcp-options –log-ip-options
-A log-and-drop -j DROP
-A valid-source-address -s 127.0.0.1 -j DROP
-A valid-source-address -s 0.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 -j DROP
-A valid-source-address -d 255.255.255.255 -j DROP
-A valid-source-address-udp -s 127.0.0.1 -j DROP
-A valid-source-address-udp -s 0.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 -j DROP
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags FIN,SYN,RST,PSH,ACK,URG NONE -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags FIN,ACK FIN -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags PSH,ACK PSH -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags ACK,URG URG -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags FIN,SYN FIN,SYN -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN,RST -j log-and-drop
-A valid-tcp-flags -p tcp -m tcp –tcp-flags FIN,RST FIN,RST -j log-and-drop
COMMIT