Using VMware Player 3.0 with USB Pocket Hard Drive For IT Curriculum

Using VMware Player 3.0 with USB Pocket Hard Drive For IT Curriculum

Salient Features Virtual machines stored on the USB Portable Hard Drive can be carried from one computer to another as long as the same hypervisor is available on all computers Multiple different operating systems can run concurrently on the host system (within the processing capacity of the physical machine) All virtual machines on the same computer can be networked to perform various functions A master copy of the virtual machine can be kept to provide instantaneous recovery of a corrupted system

How Does It Work? The hypervisor (VMware Player) is a software that creates a virtual environment in the operating system running on the computer. The virtual environment emulates the hardware environment of the physical machine. The guest operating system operates through the running hypervisor, accessing all the physical resources of the computer through the virtual environment.

How Does It Work? Cont d The installed virtual machine is saved on the selected hard drive (the USB Portable Hard Drive in our case) as if it is an application. To run the virtual machine, the hypervisor must be running in the host system to allow the guest system to be launched. When the guest system is up and running, the host and guest operating systems are sharing the physical resources (e.g., memory, CPU processing power, etc.), which affects the performance of all running systems accordingly.

Native Installation vs. Virtual Machine Installation Method Feature Native Virtual Machine (Internal Hard Drive) (External Hard Drive) Hypervisor required No Yes (VMware Player 3.0 in our case) Partitioning/Formatting of Physical Hard Drive MBR of the Physical Hard Drive OS / Hardware Interaction Portability Running Instances on the Computer Yes (e.g., NTFS for Windows or ext3 for Linux) Yes Direct with maximum performance Only runs on the computer it is installed The only running operating system on a computer at any given time Not on the physical hard drive (only to the hard drive space allocated to the virtual machine) No (only done to the virtual hard drive) Sharing with other running operating systems (host and guest) Can be moved from one computer to another as long as the hypervisor is installed on the computer Multiple operating systems can run concurrently

Preparing for Creating a Virtual Machine Some schools have tested a method that would eliminate the difference between the virtual installation using the USB portable hard drive and the native installation using the old removable hard drive. This method involves a procedure to reconfigure all lab computers so that the institution-owned hard drive with the image becomes the internally fixed master hard drive, leaving the receiving bay open for student-owned removable hard drive as a removable secondary hard drive to store virtual machines (the same way as the USB hard drive is used) While this method does make the delivery of the courses seamlessly consistent without having to be bothered with the difference between the USB Potable Hard Drive and the old removable hard drive, the process and resources required for the reconfiguration of the lab computers will need to be considered separately

Preparing for Creating a Virtual Machine Virtual machine Installation Configure CD Drive Properties* and VMware Player Installing Operating System Partition Hard Drive Installing Operating System Native installation Installation procedures of the OS are very similar between virtual machine and native installation; the only difference is in preparing the computer* and the hypervisor or the physical hard drive. *For creating the virtual machine, the advanced configuration for the CD/DVD drive on the physical computer must be set to Legacy Operation to allow recognition by the OS installation process through VMware Player

Browse the Start Menu to open VMware Player 3.0

Select Create a New Virtual Machine

Select the correct CD/DVD drive on the computer (Do NOT select the virtual CD drive that comes with the USB hard drive)

Select Linux and drop down the list to select Red Hat Linux (as Fedora is not in the list but Red Hat will work for Fedora)

Fill the information in this section and click Next

Put in the name for the virtual machine being created Select the desired directory on the USB Hard Drive as the location to save the virtual machine.

Recommended space should be sufficient unless you anticipate to add a lot of applications to the OS You may chose to save the virtual disk in a single file, but separating it into smaller chunks makes it easier to copy and move around different computers

You may chose to customize the hardware environment, but the default setting is adequate for most of our learning purposes for the course

Use Arrow key to select. Follow these instructions for input between the host and virtual systems Do NOT click this box until the entire installation is complete!

Use the Arrow key on the keyboard to select the button and Enter to proceed

Use Arrow key on the keyboard to select and Enter to proceed

Use the Arrow key on the keyboard to highlight the correct choices and Enter to proceed

Use Arrow key to select this button and Enter to proceed

Prior to this screen, correct packages must selected for the actual installation. Follow instructions in specific courses for the selection of software packages.

Enter to reboot the virtual machine. Do not reboot the physical machine!

Select the user name created during the installation to log on

Use the password created during installation

Virtual XP and Fedora already up and Server 2003 still launching