VMWare ToolsA suite of utilities to enhance the performance of the virtual machines guest operating system and improve management of the virtual machine. Adds considerable functionality especially when working in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and moving between host and guest computer. It improves:

  • Inability to copy and paste and drag-and-drop files
  • Restricted movement of the mouse
  • Missing sound
  • Low video resolution
  • Inadequate color depth
  • Incorrect display of network speed
  • Provides the ability to take quiesced snapshots of the guest OS
  • Synchronizes the time in the guest operating system with the time on the host

VMware Tools components

  • Service
  • Device drivers
  • User process
  • Tools control panel

Installation of VMWare Tools in VMWare Workstation

VMware Tools are bundled with VMware products as well as security updates when applicable.

VMware Tools Formats

  • ISOs (containing installers)
  • Operating System Specific Packages (OSPs)
  • Open VM Tools (OVT)

Installation

  1. Click on ‘VM' in the menu bar and choose ‘Install VMWare Tools…'
  2. From terminal execute the following command to mount the virtual CD drive 
    mount /dev/cdrom /media

    Navigate to the ‘media' directory

    cd /media

    and view its content to figure out ‘VMTools-.tar.gz file

    ls

    Navigate the ‘tmp' directory

    cd /tmp

    extract the tar file with the command

    tar -xvzf /media/*.gz
  3. PERL is required to complete VMWare Tools installation, to install execute the command 
    yum install -y perl.x86_64

    for 64 bit system and

    yum install -y per.i386

    for 32 bit system

  4. Navigate to ‘vmware-tools-distrib' directory 
    cd vmware-tools-distrib

    and execute the command

    ./vmware-install.pl -d

    -d option is given for default installation, for customization omit it

The new technology makes the applications abstract and independent from the underlying platforms on which their services execute. Virtualization allows legacy assets to deliver value by enabling flexible partitioning, aggregation, and composition of computing, storage, memory, and bandwidth within and across different clouds, clusters, servers, and other nodes.

Moving application assets-up the stack into Cloud-native computing

A common virtualization toolchain is required by enterprises to migrate their software-defined data centers into the public clouds that are absorbing more workloads.

VMware Cloud on AWS

The VMWare customer gets the option to run apps in a fully managed hybrid environment virtual machines, inside AWS public cloud.

VMWare 4.0 Beta Release – VMWare 4.0 Build 4183

It includes support for new versions of Linux, better VESA BIOS, ACPI and APIC support, better sound, and interface