Red Hat Linux 7.1
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Support
This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:
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VMware Workstation 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.5, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 5.0, 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on Workstation 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2 |
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VMware ACE 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2 |
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VMware GSX Server 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2.1 |
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VMware Server 1.0
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on VMware Server 1.0 |
Note: If you are installing a guest operating system through VMware VirtualCenter, be sure it is supported under the VMware product-ESX Server or GSX Server-on which you are running the virtual machine.
Note: With many Linux guest operating systems, various problems have been observed when the BusLogic virtual SCSI adapter is used with VMware virtual machines. VMware recommends that you use the LSI Logic virtual SCSI adapter with this guest operating system.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
General Installation Notes
Be sure to read
General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.
The easiest method of installing Red Hat Linux 7.1 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Red Hat distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Red Hat Linux 7.1 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well. If your VMware product supports it, you can also install from a PXE server.
Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.
Note: You should not run the X server that is installed when you set up Red Hat Linux 7.1. Instead, to get an accelerated SVGA X server running inside the virtual machine, you should install the VMware Tools package immediately after installing Red Hat Linux 7.1.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Installation Steps
1 Insert the Red Hat Linux 7.1 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
2 Power on the virtual machine to start installing Red Hat Linux 7.1.
You must install Red Hat Linux 7.1 using the text mode installer, which you can choose when you first boot the installer. At the Red Hat Linux 7.1 CD boot prompt, you are offered the following choices:
To install or upgrade a system ... in graphical mode ...
To install or upgrade a system ... in text mode, type: text <ENTER>.
To enable expert mode, ...
Use the function keys listed below ...
To choose the text mode installer, type text followed by Enter.
3 Follow the installation steps as you would for a physical machine. Be sure to make the choices outlined in the following steps.
4 Choose the language and keyboard, and then in the Installation Type screen, choose either Server or Workstation for the installation type.
A warning appears that says:
Bad partition table. The partition table on device sda is corrupted. To create new partitions, it must be initialized, causing the loss of ALL DATA on the drive.
This does not mean that anything is wrong with the hard drive on your physical computer. It simply means that the virtual hard drive in your virtual machine needs to be partitioned and formatted. Click the Initialize button and press Enter. Also note that sda appears in the message as the device name if the virtual disk in question is a SCSI disk; if the virtual disk is an IDE drive, hda appears in the message as the device name instead.
5 Allow automatic partitioning of the disk to occur in the Automatic Partitioning screen.
6 If your computer is connected to a LAN that provides DHCP support, in the Network Configuration screen, you can select the option Use bootp/dhcp. If you prefer, you can also set the networking parameters manually.
7 In the Mouse Selection screen, choose Generic - 3 Button Mouse (PS/2) and select the option Emulate 3 Buttons for three-button mouse support in the virtual machine.
8 In the Video Card Selection screen, choose the default selection.
9 During the configuration of the X server, select the defaults and proceed through this section as quickly as possible, as this X server is replaced by an X server specific to your guest operating system when you install VMware Tools in this virtual machine.
10 Continue to the Starting X screen and click the Skip button to skip testing the configuration.
This completes basic installation of the Red Hat Linux 7.1 guest operating system.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
VMware Tools
Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at
www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.
Do not start X until you have installed VMware Tools.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Enabling Sound After Installing Red Hat Linux 7.1
VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Known Issues
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Guest Screen Saver
On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Installation Hang
Installation sometimes hangs at running /sbin/loader for no apparent reason. The hang is caused by a bug in early versions of the 2.4 Linux kernel. The bug has been fixed in kernel 2.4.5. Distributions based on this kernel should install without problems.
For earlier 2.4-series kernels, a workaround is available. Although the Linux kernel bug is not related to CD-ROM drives, the workaround involves changing a VMware configuration setting for the virtual DVD/CD-ROM drive.
Power off the virtual machine and close the virtual machine window. Open the virtual machine's configuration file (.vmx file on a Windows host or .cfg file on a Linux host) in a text editor and add the following line:
cdrom.minvirtualtime=100
Save the file. Now you should be able to install the guest operating system as described above. After you finish installing the guest operating system, remove this setting from the configuration file, as it might have a performance impact.
Red Hat Linux 7.1
Migration to a Different Processor
VMware recommends you do not migrate a Red Hat Linux 7.1 virtual machine between hosts when one host is running on an AMD processor and the other is running on an Intel processor.
During the Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation, Red Hat Linux 7.1 chooses a kernel that is optimized for the specific processor on which it is running. The kernel might contain instructions that are only available for that processor. These instructions can have adverse effects when run on a host with the wrong type of processor.
Thus, a Red Hat Linux 7.1 virtual machine created on a host with an AMD processor might not work if migrated to a host with an Intel processor. The reverse is true; a Red Hat Linux 7.1 virtual machine created on a host with an Intel processor might not work if migrated to a host with an AMD processor.
This problem is not specific to virtual machines and would also occur on physical computers. For example, if you moved a hard drive with a Red Hat Linux 7.1 installation from an AMD machine to an Intel machine, you would experience problems trying to boot from that drive.
