My Ubuntu Server Installation with VMware Server
Last updated $Date: 2008-09-17 11:23:09 $
Martti Kuparinen <martti.kuparinen@iki.fi>
http://www.iki.fi/kuparine/comp/ubuntu/en/server.html
Abstract
This is how I installed and configured few servers (both 32-bit and 64-bit) running Ubuntu 8.04 Server and VMware Server. With this setup I was able to reduce the number of physical computers in our lab, thus reducing electricity consumption and need for extra cooling.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: I no longer use VMware Server in our lab so this page (and the server.sh installation script) might not work correctly. I'm nowadays using VMware ESXi on all our servers as it gives me better performance than the Linux + VMware Server combination. Most likely I'm not going to update this page any more but I leave it here in case someone still finds it useful.
[ See also My Ubuntu Installation and My Ubuntu UML Installation ]
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Initial install
- 3. Adding more software repositories
- 4. Installing applications
- 5. Installing and configuring SSH server
- 6. Installing VMware Server
- 7. Configuring VLAN interfaces
- 8. Install VMware Server Console
- 9. Optimizing virtual machines
1. Introduction
This document and the installation helper script applies to Ubuntu 8.04 Server.
2. Initial install
Start by fetching the installation CD image from the Ubuntu download page. I used the "Server install CD" image but it's possible to use the "Alternate install CD" and select the server installation from the initial menu. Make sure the MD5 checksum matches with the published value before burning the ISO file or the installation may fail. Reboot with the new installation CD and follow the instructions to install Ubuntu.
I prefer to use ext3 for the root filesystem, jfs for the /vmware filesystem and tmpfs for /tmp.
sudo aptitude install jfsutils sudo umount /vmware sudo mkfs.jfs /dev/sda3 sudo vi /etc/fstab proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 / ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1 /dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0 /dev/sda3 /vmware jfs noatime 0 2 tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0 /dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
Next I activated some tweaks to make the server perform faster.
sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst # kopt=root=UUID=... ro elevator=deadline ... kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24 ... elevator=deadline sudo vi /etc/rc.local blockdev --setra 32768 /dev/sda 2> /dev/null blockdev --setra 32768 /dev/sdb 2> /dev/null sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf vm.swappiness=0 vm.overcommit_memory=1 vm.dirty_background_ratio=5 vm.dirty_ratio=10 vm.dirty_expire_centisecs=1000 dev.rtc.max-user-freq=1024 sudo reboot
3. Adding more software repositories
Login to the newly installed Ubuntu system, modify /etc/apt/sources.list and update the installed packages to the latest versions. With the following repositories you have more applications available for download and install. Replace fi with your country code (fi = Finland, se = Sweden, ...) in the following example to access the closest national mirror.
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list ## MAIN AND RESTRICTED REPOSITORIES deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted ## UNIVERSE REPOSITORY deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security universe ## MULTIVERSE REPOSITORY deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security multiverse deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy multiverse deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security multiverse ## UBUNTU SECURITY UPDATES deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted ## MAJOR BUG FIX UPDATES deb http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted deb-src http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted ## CANONICAL REPOSITORY deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ hardy partner sudo aptitude update && sudo dist-upgrade
4. Installing applications
Next install the following programs.
## Some useful programs sudo aptitude install openssh-client sudo aptitude install wget sudo aptitude install unattended-upgrades ## NIS sudo aptitude install nis ## NFS sudo aptitude install nfs-common ## NTP sudo aptitude install ntp ## Rootkit detection sudo aptitude install chkrootkit rkhunter chkrootkit rkhunter --checkall
5. Installing and configuring SSH server
Next install and configure SSH server to allow only your normal users to login. If your system has usernames jane and john make sure /etc/ssh/sshd_config has these lines. Modify the settings and restart the SSH server.
sudo aptitude install openssh-server sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config Protocol 2 ... PermitRootLogin no ... AllowUsers jane AllowUsers john sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart
Sometimes you may need to limit which hosts can contact the SSH server. Restrictions can be implemented by using the /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny files. The next allows connections only from trusted networks.
sudo vi /etc/hosts.allow # Allow SSH from my own networks sshd : localhost sshd : 10. 192.168. sshd : .mydomain.com .mydomain.net sudo vi /etc/hosts.deny # Deny everything by default ALL : ALL : severity auth.info
6. Installing VMware Server
VMware Server is a free virtualization software which enables you to run Windows, BSD and Linux on your Linux server. With VMware Server it's possible to access the virtual machines remotely as the VMware Server is always running in the background on the server. The server does not even need X server installed.
Start be fetching these three files.
Next install some packages needed during the installation.
sudo aptitude install xinetd sudo aptitude install build-essential ## i686 users: sudo aptitude install libxtst6 sudo aptitude install libxt6 sudo aptitude install libice6 sudo aptitude install libsm6 sudo aptitude install libxrender1 sudo aptitude install libxi6 ## amd64 users: sudo aptitude install ia32-libs ## If you are running the linux-server kernel ## (i.e. you installed from the Ubuntu Server Installation CD) sudo aptitude install linux-headers-server ## If you are running the linux-generic kernel ## (i.e. you installed from Desktop or Alternate Installation CD) sudo aptitude install linux-headers-generic
Next install the VMware Server.
tar xzf VMware-server-1.0.7-108231.tar.gz -C /tmp cd /tmp/vmware-server-distrib sudo ./vmware-install.pl
Finally note that you should have a firewall to protect the following VMware Server services. See My Ubuntu Installation for an example how to use iptables to protect these ports.
| Port | Protocol | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 902 | TCP | VMware remote access authentication daemon |
7. Configuring VLAN interfaces
VMware Server (and VMware Workstation) has a nasty bug which makes it fail when connecting to a VLAN interface if the interface name is longer than 8 characters. The bug is visible if you use VLAN tags larger than 999. One solution is to rename the physical interface from ethN to vN so that the VLAN interfaces will be called vN.NNNN (in other words, the name is short enough). Here is an example where eth0 is used for the server maintenance and v1 is the interface connected to a VLAN capable switch.
sudo vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1659 (tg3)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:15:c5:fc:28:74", ATTR{type}=="1", NAME="eth0"
# PCI device 0x14e4:0x1659 (tg3)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:15:c5:fc:28:75", ATTR{type}=="1", NAME="v1"
The v1 interface needs to be up in order for VLANs to work so I configured a fake address on it.
sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1
broadcast 192.168.0.255
auto v1
iface v1 inet static
address 0.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.255
Next install the tool needed to create the VLAN interfaces and load VLAN (802.1q) support during boot time.
sudo aptitude install vlan sudo vi /etc/modules 8021q
We have a lot of VLANs in our switch so I created a simple script to create all those VLAN interfaces at boot time. That script reads its settings from /etc/network/vlan.conf so this file can be shared between all our servers without any modification.
cd /etc/network sudo wget http://www.iki.fi/kuparine/comp/ubuntu/en/vlan.conf sudo vi vlan.conf cd /etc/init.d sudo wget http://www.iki.fi/kuparine/comp/ubuntu/en/vlan sudo chmod 755 vlan cd /etc/rcS.d sudo ln -s ../init.d/vlan S41vlan
After reboot you should see a lot of interfaces with the ifconfig command...
reboot
ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:c5:fc:28:74
inet addr:192.168.0.10 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::215:c5ff:fefc:2874/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2712556 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4762970 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:266218687 (253.8 MB) TX bytes:6719433076 (6.2 GB)
Interrupt:16
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3260 (3.1 KB) TX bytes:3260 (3.1 KB)
v1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:c5:fc:28:75
inet addr:0.0.0.1 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.255.255
inet6 addr: fe80::215:c5ff:fefc:2875/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:422118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:372 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:46801428 (44.6 MB) TX bytes:32792 (32.0 KB)
Interrupt:17
v1.1000 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:c5:fc:28:75
inet6 addr: fe80::215:c5ff:fefc:2875/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:8144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:468088 (457.1 KB) TX bytes:406 (406.0 B)
...
v1.4009 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:c5:fc:28:75
inet6 addr: fe80::215:c5ff:fefc:2875/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:8144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:468088 (457.1 KB) TX bytes:406 (406.0 B)
Now it's possible to reconfigure VMware Server to provide virtual vmnet devices for all these VLAN interfaces, in other words it's possible to connect your virtual machines to different VLANs. However, please note that you can have max 4 ethernet interfaces for virtual machines. This is a limitation of VMware Server (and VMware Workstation). Consider using Xen if you need more interfaces for your virtual machines...
sudo vmware-config.pl ... Would you like to skip networking setup and keep your old settings as they are? (yes/no) [yes] no Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes] yes Would you prefer to modify your existing networking configuration using the wizard or the editor? (wizard/editor/help) [wizard] editor yes 10 bridged v1.1000 yes 11 bridged v1.1001 ... yes 49 bridged v1.4009 no
8. Install VMware Server Console
Finally install VMware Server Console on your desktop PC. This is used to connect to your virtual machines running on the VMware Server.
unzip VMware-server-linux-client-1.0.7-108231.zip tar xzf VMware-server-console-1.0.7-108231.tar.gz -C /tmp cd /tmp/vmware-server-console-distrib sudo ./vmware-install.pl sudo cp /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/
9. Optimizing virtual machines
9.1. Linux
Modify the .vmx file to include these settings.
MemTrimRate = "0" sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE" MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
Within the virtual machine, consider using these kernel option in /boot/grub/menu.lst
noapic nolapic apci=off clocksource=acpi_pm elevator=noop
9.2. Microsoft Windows
Modify the .vmx file to include these settings.
MemTrimRate = "0" sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE" MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"