Install VMware Tools or Virtual Guest Addition for Oracle Linux

Problem: Get your Oracle Linux ready to install  VMware Tools or Virtual Guest Addition.

Solution: Oracle Linux by default uses Oracle's own unbreakable kernel, so if you install VMware Tools or Virtual Guest Addition, you need to get the correct header files to do the compilation. Here is the "yum" command to get all you need:

yum -y install kernel-uek-headers-`uname -r` gcc kernel-uek-devel

Access the Service Console in VMware EXSi

Apart from being free, VMware EXSi 4.0 also cannot access the service console like EXS. It is not easy but it is possible.

1. From the ESXi console summary screen hit ALT-F1.
2. Enter the word "unsupported" (without quotes and there will be no echo).
3. Enter in the root password for your system.

VM everywhere

Saw the following headline a few days ago "VMware stock loses 33% on revenue"
http://www.boston.com/business/markets/articles/2008/01/30/vmware_stock_loses_33_on_revenue_miss/

Apart from Microsoft and VMWare, even Oracle is offering VM software for free(I wonder when Oracle will start selling burger !)

http://www.oracle.com/technologies/virtualization/index.html