SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 – Workstation 4.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, 4.0.5, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.5.3, 5.0, 5.5, 5.5.1, 5.5.2, 5.5.3, 5.5.4, 5.5.5, 5.5.6, 5.5.7, 5.5.8, 5.5.9, 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.0.3, 6.0.4, 6.0.5, 6.5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 – ACE 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.0.7, 1.0.8, 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3, 2.0.4, 2.0.5, 2.5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 – GSX Server 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 – VMware Server 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.0.4, 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.0.7, 1.0.8
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 – ESX 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.5, 3.5 U1, 3.5 U2, 3.5 U3
Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.
The easiest method of installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (SLES 8) in a virtual machine is to use the standard SUSE distribution CDs. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing SLES 8 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well. If your VMware product supports it, you can also install from a PXE server.
In many Linux distributions, if IPv6 is enabled, VMware Tools cannot be configured with vmware-config-tools.pl after installation. In this case, VMware Tools is unable to set the network device correctly for the virtual machine, and displays a message similar to
ESX Server 2.5.x: Although ESX Server 2.5.x virtual machines are compatible with Physical Address Extension (PAE), they are not optimized for it. As a result, guest operating systems with PAE enabled might experience poor performance. For best performance, VMware recommends that you disable PAE in guest operating systems. For more information and instructions on disabling PAE, see the knowledge base article at
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2020.
ESX Server 3.x: Note that disabling PAE also disables NX (no execute) and ED (execute disabled) features found in recent AMD and Intel processors. These features are not supported by ESX Server versions before ESX Server 3.x.
VMware Workstation or VMware GSX Server: On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.
During installation, many distributions of Linux choose a kernel that is optimized for the specific processor on which it is being installed, and some distributions install a generic kernel by default, but provide architecture-specific kernels that the user can choose to install. The kernel might contain instructions that are available only on that processor. These instructions can have adverse effects when run on a host with the wrong type of processor.
Thus, a Linux virtual machine created on a host with an AMD processor might not work if migrated to a host with an Intel processor. The reverse is also true: a Linux virtual machine created on a host with an Intel processor might not work if migrated to a host with an AMD processor.
This problem is not specific to virtual machines and also occurs on physical computers. For example, if you move a hard drive with a Linux installation from an AMD machine to an Intel machine, you are also likely to experience problems trying to boot from that drive.
