Revision as of 22:43, 6 July 2012

1 Introduction

Testing OpenFOAM installations on several different Operating Systems can take its toll. But at least with virtualization, one person can handle 3, 4 or even more virtual machines at the same time or in sequence, all with a single real machine.

For the readers that don't know what machine virtualization is, here are some pages on this subject at Wikipedia:

• Page about what a Virtual machine is.
• The global description of what Virtualization is.
• Extended descriptions of selected virtualization software.

From the last link there are 2 popular and free virtualization applications for the general public:

• VirtualBox - The preferred among the open-source community, given the code is open-source.
• VMware Player - The one described in this How To page and which will be referred to from here on as VMplayer.

The choice of using VMplayer is somewhat simple: it's free, very good (if not best) performance and easy to use. (and personal preference - Wyldckat 00:11, 7 July 2012 (CEST)) Nonetheless, VirtualBox is a very good competitor, specially for testing PXE boot images. (Wyldckat 00:11, 7 July 2012 (CEST))

This wiki page is divided into the following chapters:

• How to install VMplayer
• How to create a new virtual machine
• Troubleshooting - as in don't shoot your computer, shoot only the troubles themselves

Final introductory note: this tutorial would probably be more appreciated as a video tutorial, but that exercise is left to the readers that wish to contribute!

2 How to install VMplayer

First a few links for reference:

• The official page for VMware Player: www.vmware.com/vmplayer
• Official documentation: Getting Started with VMware Player

TODO

3 How to create a new virtual machine

TODO... 1st upload pictures, then write dialogue...

4 Troubleshooting

TODO...

4.1 The yield() function is not activated

Issue: A message dialogue box appears saying:

The yield() function is not activated

And doesn't allow running the machine.

Note: This is happens on Linux with kernel versions greater or equal to 2.6.31.

Solution: To fix this until next boot, run as root:

echo "1">/proc/sys/kernel/sched_compat_yield
sysctl -w kernel.sched_compat_yield="1"

For a permanent solution, run as root as well:

echo -e "\n\n#This is needed for Virtual Machines to run at full power\!\nkernel.sched_compat_yield = 1" >> /etc/sysctl.conf

4.2 Unable to operate the VMplayer window

Issue: Error and warning windows sometimes pop to the wrong side of the window, namely to the back of the VMplayer window!

Note: This is more common on Linux.

Solution: The main window is sometimes still usable, in the sense that it can still be moved out of the way, to reveal the small error/warning dialogue in the back of the main window.

4.3 /dev/vmmon does not exist

Issue: A dialogue appears with the message:

/dev/vmmon does not exist

Note: This is more common on Linux.

Solution: run as root:

/etc/init.d/vmware stop
/etc/init.d/vmware start

5 History

Readers are welcome to improve this document if they so see fit to do it. Links to video tutorials directly related to this tutorial are also welcome.

Below is a short edit history. For the complete history, see the History link at the top-right of the page.

• Wyldckat 00:30, 7 July 2012 (CEST) - Still editing the page...