Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Support
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
32-Bit Version
This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:
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VMware Workstation 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 5.0, 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2-AS, ES, WS
Update 4 supported on Workstation 5.0, 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2
Update 5 and 6 supported on Workstation 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2
Update 7 supported on Workstation 5.5.2
Experimental support for Update 8 (Beta) on Workstation 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-AS, ES, WS
Update 3 or 4 supported on VMware ACE 1.0.1, 1.0.2 |
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VMware GSX Server 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2.1- AS, ES, WS
Update 4 supported on GSX Server 3.2, 3.2.1 |
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VMware Server 1.0
Updates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 supported on VMware Server 1.0
Experimental support for Update 8 (Beta) on VMware Server 1.0
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on VMware Server 1.0 |
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VMware ESX Server 2.0.1, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 3.0-AS, ES, WS
Update 1 supported on ESX Server 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 3.0
Update 2 supported on ESX Server 2.1 with Virtual SMP, 2.5.3
Update 3 supported on ESX Server 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3
Update 4 supported on ESX Server 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 3.0
Update 5 supported on ESX Server 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 3.0
Update 6 supported on ESX Server 2.5.3, 3.0
Update 7supported on ESX Server 2.5.3 (requires Upgrade Patch 1), 3.0
Virtual SMP supported |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
64-Bit Version
This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:
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VMware Workstation 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2-AS, ES, WS
Update 4, 5, and 6 supported on Workstation 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2
Update 7 supported on Workstation 5.5.2
Experimental support for Update 8 (Beta) on Workstation 5.5.2
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on Workstation 5.5.2 |
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VMware Server 1.0
Updates 6 and 7 supported on VMware Server 1.0
Experimental support for Update 8 (Beta) on VMware Server 1.0
Experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP on VMware Server 1.0 |
This guest operating system has experimental support on the following VMware products:
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ESX Server 3.0-AS, ES, WS
Experimental support for update 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 on ESX Server 3.0 |
Note: 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 (without any update) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Update 1 do not support more than 4GB of memory on VMware virtual hardware
Update 2 is not supported.
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.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
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 Enterprise Linux 3.0 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 Enterprise Linux 3.0 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: Be sure the virtual machine is configured with at least 256MB of memory. If the virtual machine has less than 256MB of memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux presents an error message as it loads certain VMware drivers.
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 Enterprise Linux 3.0
Installation Steps
Note: Pay particular attention to the notes in
step 6 about how to avoid installing an inappropriate kernel.
1 Insert the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
2 Power on the virtual machine to start installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0.
You must install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 using the text mode installer, which you can choose when you first boot the installer. At the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 CD boot prompt, you are offered a number of choices, including the following:
To install or upgrade Red Hat Linux ... in graphical mode ...
To install or upgrade ... in text mode, type: text <ENTER>...
...
Use the function keys listed below ...
To choose the text mode installer, type text and press 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 Advanced Server or Custom for the installation type.
5 In the Mouse Selection screen, choose Generic - 3 Button Mouse (PS/2) and select the Emulate 3 Buttons option for three-button mouse support in the virtual machine. If you have a wheel mouse, you can choose Generic Wheel Mouse (PS/2).
6 VMware GSX Server only: In the Package Group Selection screen, choose Software Development and Select individual packages. In the Individual Package Selection screen, use the arrow keys to move down to System Environment/Kernel and press Enter. Be sure that kernel-smp is deselected (no asterisk should appear between the brackets). The SMP kernel is not supported in a GSX Server virtual machine. You do not need to change any other selections.
7 Allow automatic partitioning of the disk to occur in the Automatic Partitioning screen or partition the virtual disk manually if you do not want to use the Red Hat defaults.
8 You might see a warning that says:
The partition table on device sda was unreadable. To create new partitions, it must be initialized, causing the loss of ALL DATA on the drive.
Would you like to initialize this 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. Select the Yes 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.
9 VMware GSX Server: 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.
VMware ESX Server and VMware VirtualCenter: If you are using the vlance network adapter in your virtual machine and 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. If you are using the vmxnet network adapter in your virtual machine, use the network configuration tools in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 to configure your network connection after you finish installing the guest operating system.
This completes basic installation of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 guest operating system.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
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 the X server in the guest operating system until you install VMware Tools.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Enabling Sound After Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
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 Enterprise Linux 3.0
Known Issues
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
PAE Message During Installation
VMware Workstation: If your host computer has a processor that includes NX (no execute) technology, you might get an error message during installation. The message says the guest operating system is trying to use PAE. The NX technology is present in AMD processors including Athlon64, Opteron and Sempron. It is also present in Intel EMT64-capable processors.
To avoid the problem, be sure the virtual machine is powered off, and then use a text editor to edit the configuration (.vmx) file for the affected virtual machine. Add the following line to the file:
paevm="true"
You can then power on the virtual machine and install the guest operating system.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Disable PAE in ESX Server Virtual Machines
EXS Server 2.5.x: Although ESX Server 2.5.x virtual machines are compatible with Physical Address Extension (PAE), they are not optimized for it. As a result, guest operating systems with PAE enabled might experience poor performance. For best performance, VMware recommends that you disable PAE in guest operating systems. For more information and instructions on disabling PAE, see the knowledge base article at
www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2020.
EXS Server 3.0: Note that disabling PAE also disables NX (no execute) and ED (execute disabled) features found in recent AMD and Intel processors. These features are not supported by ESX Server versions before ESX Server 3.0.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Guest Screen Saver
VMware GSX Server: 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 Enterprise Linux 3.0
Migration to a Different Processor
VMware recommends you do not migrate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 virtual machine between hosts when one host is running on an AMD processor and the other is running on an Intel processor.
During installation, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 chooses a kernel that is optimized for the specific processor on which it is running. The kernel might contain instructions that are available only on that processor. These instructions can have adverse effects when run on a host with the wrong type of processor.
Thus, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 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 also true: a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 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 Enterprise Linux 3.0 installation from an AMD machine to an Intel machine, you would experience problems trying to boot from that drive.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Installation on Uniprocessor Virtual Machines with More than 4GB of Memory
VMware ESX Server 3.0: If your virtual machine is configured as a uniprocessor system with more than 4GB of RAM, when you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, the huge memory kernel might fail to install. As a result, the guest operating system will see only 4 GB of memory. To work around this problem, reboot the virtual machine and install the huge memory kernel manually, using the RPM installer.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
Message about "Tainted" Driver
VMware ESX Server or VMware VirtualCenter: With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Update 6 and later, when the system loads the vmxnet networking driver, it reports that the driver is tainted. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with the driver. It simply indicates that this is a proprietary driver, not licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0
X Windows System Fails to Start in Virtual Machine If Default Depth for Display Is Set to 24
ESX Server 3.0: In a virtual machine running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Update 7, if you choose the setup default of 24 for display depth, when you attempt to start the X windows system (with the startx command), the error message No screens found is displayed. You can work around this problem in either of the following ways:
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Install VMware Tools, or |
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Manually edit the file /etc/X11/XF86config, setting the default depth for the display to 8 |
