Installing VMware Server 2.0 on Linux Systems
The first step in deploying VMware Server based virtualization involves the obtaining and installation of the software. The installation process differs considerably depending on the particular operating system running on the host computer. The goal of this chapter of is to cover the steps necessary to download and install VMware Server 2.0 on a Linux host. Installation on the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems is covered in the chapter entitled Installing VMware Server 2.0 on Windows Systems.
Whilst detailed instructions for each of the many different Linux distributions currently available is beyond the scope of this chapter, installation on both the Red Hat (encompassing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora and CentOS) and Ubuntu (i.e Debian based) Linux distributions will be covered in the hope that the instructions will meet the needs of the majority of Linux users.
Downloading VMware Server 2.0
VMware Server 2.0 for Linux may be downloaded free of charge from the VMware web site located at ([www.vmware.com www.vmware.com]). The download process involves locating VMware Server 2.0 from the products page and submitting a moderately detailed form. Once the form has been submitted and the subsequent license agreement agreed to, the VMware Server 2.0 download page is presented.
VMware provide the software distribution in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions so it will be important to identify the CPU architecture of the host computer before downloading the software. The VMware software is also distributed as either a compressed (gzipped) tar or Red Hat Package Management (rpm) archive. The archive type to select is as much about personal preference as anything else, although users with non-Red Hat derived Linux distributions may be more included to opt for the compressed tar archive.
