SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9

Support

This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:

General Installation Notes

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 9 (SLES 9) 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 9 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well. If your VMware product supports it, you may also install from a PXE server.

ESX Server: Only the BusLogic virtual SCSI adapter is supported in a SLES 9 virtual machine.

Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.

Installation Steps

  1. Insert the SLES 9 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive.
  2. Power on the virtual machine to start installing SLES 9.
  3. Install using the text mode installer. In the first installation screen, use the arrow keys to select Installation, press the F2 key, use the arrow keys to choose text mode, then press Enter to select the text mode installer.
  4. At the Installation Settings screen, go to the Change menu and choose Booting.
  5. The Boot Loader Setup screen appears. Set the Boot Loader Type to LILO instead of the default GRUB.
  6. The installer displays a warning that indicates you may lose some settings and prompts you to select a course of action. Select Convert current configuration and continue.
  7. Select Finish to return to the Installation Settings screen.
  8. Follow the remaining installation steps as you would for a physical machine.

This completes basic installation of the SLES 9 guest operating system.

VMware Tools

Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.

Enabling Sound After Installing SLES 9

VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine settings editor (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.

Known Issues

Clock in Guest Operating System May Run Too Quickly or Too Slowly

If the clock in your guest operating system runs too quickly or too slowly, use one of the workarounds described in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1420.

Guest Screen Saver

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.