"VL-e Proof-of-Concept Distribution", owner=>"Jan Just Keijser", email=>"janjust@nikhef.nl", footer=>"Comments to Dennis van Dok or Jan Just Keijser.")); ?>

Virtual Laboratory for e-Science
Using the VL-e PoC Release 3 VMware Images

The VL-e PoC Release 3 is also available as a VMware image. This VMware image can be used on any PC on which the free VMware Player is installed (or any of the non-free VMware products).
Versions for both Linux and Microsoft Windows of the VMware Player are available. It is recommended to install the latest version of the VMware Player, 2.0.5-109488 at the time of this writing.

The VL-e PoC Release 3 VMware Images were created using VMware Server 1.0.7 with this configuration:

512 MB RAM
16 GB SCSI disk (max size, currently used: 4.4 GB)
CD-ROM and floppy support
Mouse support
USB support
No sound support

The resulting virtual machine was then preloaded with

CentOS 4.7 (incl updates)
Gnome as the graphical user interface
GLite 3.1.22 software, configured as a UI
The VL-e PoC Release 3 software, build 3.0-21 (vl-e-ui)

The current build of the VMware image is build 001 which is based on PoC R3 build 21, released on June 1st, 2008

Installation Instructions and FAQ

PoC Release 3 VMware Image Installation Instructions

NOTE: The VMware image files require at least 4.4 GB of free disk space!

After installing the VMware Player, unzip the image file
VL-e PoC R3 build001
into an empty directory. You should end up with the following files:

    vle-poc-r3-s001.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s002.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s003.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s004.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s005.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s006.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s007.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s008.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3-s009.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3.nvram
    vle-poc-r3.vmdk
    vle-poc-r3.vmsd
    vle-poc-r3.vmx

You are now ready to proceed to Using the PoC Release 3 VMware Image.

Using the PoC Release 3 VMware Image

After installing the image files, start up VMware Player and select the .vmx file to use:
load_file

Alternatively, you can also launch the image directly by double-clicking on the vle-poc-r3.vmx file itself.

The CentOS boot-up screen appears:
grub_start

If it does not, then pray that there is help for you in the VMware Image FAQ.

Linux will boot after approximately 10 seconds and will bring up the graphical login screen:

The login screen will automatically log in as the user pocahontas after 15 seconds, after which you are ready to use the VL-e PoC Release 2 VMware Image. Congratulations!

The passwords for both pocahontas and root are:

user_names

Stopping the VMware Player (Windows)

The VMware Player can be stopped like any other Microsoft Windows program. When the player is shut down, the VMware session is put on standby, pretty much like a laptop. The next time you launch the VMware session, it automatically restores the previous state.

VMware Player Installation Instructions (Linux)

It is assumed that a Linux-capable person is installing VMware, hence these instructions are relatively short:

Download the VMware Player RPM and install it (requires root access):

  rpm -i VMware-player-2.0.5-109488.i386.rpm

That's all folks!

Trademark

VMware, the VMware "boxes" logo, GSX Server, ESX Server, Virtual SMP, VMotion and VMware ACE are trademarks (the "Marks") of VMware, Inc.

Virtual Laboratory for e-Science Using the VL-e PoC Release 3 VMware Images