Toestart Blog

I like having the ability to actually configure VMware ESX 4.0 (vSphere) connectivity to a Netapp Storage Array, all in a VMware Workstation Team on my laptop.  I can successfully crank up the entire lab in about 15 minutes and be ready to tinker.

I can implement Netapp’s multi-protocol file sharing to guests in an Active Directory network on this rig, and backpedal the entire thing if I blow anything up (which I do often – it’s my QA experience…)

Backing it up is just a file copy operation to my external USB disk (or e-SATA if I want it done 3x faster…)

I can get command line access to both an ESX host and a Netapp storage controller, as well as Netapp

Host Hardware = HP Elitebook 8530w, Core2 Duo T9400, 4GB mem, hitachi 250GB internal 5400 hdd, NVIDIA gpu option, and the extended battery option.

Host OS: Ubuntu Jaunty 64-bit

VMware workstation 6.5.3 for Linux 64-bit
Using “host-only” network for the demo environment, so as to be independent of the physical link state and perfectly isolated, except from the host OS.

My training/demo setup:
VM #1: 384MB RAM, single vCPU – Windows 2003 R2 32-bit – Active Directory DC and DHCP/PXE
VM#2: 768MB RAM, single vCPU – Centos Linux 5.3 – 32-bit – virtual host for running the Netapp Ontap Simulator v7.2.6 – iSCSI SAN + NFS + CIFS + Clustered Storage failover – integrated SAN/NAS
VM#3: VMWare vSphere 4 – http://www.xtravirt.com instructions
VM#/4/5/6: Clients – Windows XP, Linux, Solaris 32-bit clients for demonstrating multi-protocol file access from the Ontap Simulator & Active Directory Integration for SSO, etc.

I am currently installing VirtualCenter on a 2003 guest, and installing one more vSphere/ESX4 guest.
I’m going to see if I can do SRM and SMVI demos, too… (in-a-box)

Technology vmware vsphere esx netapp ontap simulator guest linux workstation

Well, in my tinkering, I managed to get all of the FreeNX stuff going flawlessly.
The Fedora 10 VM as a FreeNX host is quite responsive, and when used locally in FullScreen mode (Workstation 6.5/OpenSuse11) it’s “just like being there”. Sounds and all.. I even have used it as a music player connected to HGFS shares from the host, using the bridged sound adapter. All of that works in Unity Mode too. Gets downright confusing when you’re running an Active Directory Server, Windows XP Workstation, and a few Linux VM’s hosting NetApp simulators… At least it lets you color code all the guest windows. I wonder if it’s possible to get ESX running on a 6.5 guest???

Okay, so the Citrix Client, you ask?

Here goes.

Downloaded 2 files from http://rpm.pbone.net.
Namely,
libXp-1.0.0-11.fc9.i386.rpm
openmotif-2.3.0-0.3.fc10.ccrma.i386.rpm

Then I downloaded this file from Citrix.com.
ICAClient-10.6-1.i386.rpm

Then made a link:

cd /usr/lib
ln -s libXm.so.4.0.0 libXm.so.3
ls -al /usr/lib/libXm.*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 2009-01-27 21:47 /usr/lib/libXm.so.3 -> libXm.so.4.0.0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 2009-01-27 21:21 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4 -> libXm.so.4.0.0
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2648680 2008-11-25 20:32 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4.0.0

You’ll then need to install the Citrix RPM using the –nodeps option, like-a-so:
su -c “rpm -ivh /home/user1/Download/ICA*.rpm –nodeps”

When you use Firefox to open an ICA file, use:
/usr/lib/ICAClient/wfica

It works for me! Looks exactly like Outlook 2003 is running on my Gnome desktop. Tray icon and all. Sweet!

Technology citrix, freenx, linux, metaframe, vmware, xenapp

Recently I have been hearing about Fedora 10, so I decided to give it a test run in a VM.
I use VMware Workstation 6.5 on a $500 Dell OpenSuse 11 host. (x86 – the 64-bit editions always seem to be too much trouble for no obvious returns.) I added some memory to get 3GB total in my host PC.

I’m just doing this to document my trail, since I usually forget all this stuff before I can jot it down.
Perhaps it’ll help you.

First the links:
Get Fedora 10 here.

Add a handy repository with this command :
su -c “rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm”

To install Handbrake, I used this link.

Also, I like to use NoMachine’s FreeNX to access the machine remotely.

I also like gkrellm, vlc, sshfs, privoxy, tor, and ktorrent (with blocklists).

Perhaps I’ll update this if there is any interest.

Technology handbrake, linux