How To Install VMWARE Server in UBUNTU (Hardy) ?

VMWARE Server, well for those who know what VMWARE is skip this paragraph & for those who don't read on :)

VMWARE Server allows user to create & run other OPERATING SYSTEMS (Virtual Machines or commonly know as VMs) on the HOST machine running VMWARE Server.OS like Linux,Windows, Free BSD,Solaris etc can be run on this.The benefit of this is that you can try out new OS without screwing up your existing set up & also have other OS running without having to buy a whole new machine for other OS or making a dual boot system.

Now to start with the installation. Go to http://www.vmware.com/download/server/ & download VMWARE 1.0.x (I havent tried this on 2.0 so have no idea if this will work for it) Select the version you want & then you will be redirected to a License Agreement page, scrool down & press YES (like there is any other option :P )



Once done with that a pop up window will come up asking whether to save the file or open it, select save.



Once you are done with the form, submit it.The next page will have the serial number.Write it down somewhere or save it. Now go to Terminal.

Applications-> Accessories ->Terminal.
Or just press Alt+F2 & in the Run Application window just type gnome-terminal





Once the Terminal is up, type the following command to get some necessary packages.

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd

Next go to the location where you had saved the VMWARE tar.gz file (by default firefox will save it on your desktop) so for me the path would be

cd /home/kartik/Desktop/

(replace kartik with your name/your session name) Unpack the VMWARE tar.gz file & then run the installer.To do that run the following command.

tar xvfz VMware-server-*.tar.gz

(where * means the file version you downloaded. I downloaded 1.0.6, so for me the command would be -> tar xvfz VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.tar.gz )

cd vmware-server-distrib sudo ./vmware-install.pl

After executing the above commands the installer will ask you a lot of questions, just keep on pressing Enter & keep accepting the default value.

If the installer gives out an error on this question:

Before running VMware Server for the first time, you need to configure it by
invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl". Do you want this
program to invoke the command for you now? [yes]

Then you need to download a patch for it.
Type the following in Terminal.

cd /home/kartik/Desktop wget -c http://www.insecure.ws/warehouse/vmware-update-2.6.27-5.5.7-2.tar.gz


Once the download is complete, type this

tar xvfz vmware-update*.tar.gz cd vmware-update*/ sudo ./runme.pl

This will patch the VMWARE installation & you can continue from here.
After this you can accept all the default values & proceed.Also when asked for default location to store your VMs

In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files? [/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines]

you can either select this default value or type another path where you have space (like another partion or disk)

Finally type in the serial key that you had got after registering with VMWARE.
Thats it!! you have sucessfully installed & configured VMWARE Server :)

To start either go to Applications -> System Tools -> VMWARE Server Console
or just type in Run Application vmware.

How to install OpenSSH Server in HARDY with Port Forwarding in your Linksys Router

Before we start I have to tell you,really bored to write this, but my dear Dadu keeps telling me that i should keep updating the blog.So here it is.


To Enable SSH all we need to do is install OpenSSH. To install OpenSSH follow the steps mentioned. Open the Terminal either by going in Application->Accessories->Terminal or by doing ALT+F2 and typing "gnome-terminal" (without the quotes) in the RUN enter. Once the terminal pops up, copy paste or type the following command in the Terminal.

sudo apt-get update

after the update type this

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Once Openssh is installed, we need to configure it.(This can be optional, but I would suggest to do it so as to increase the security of your system)
For this we need to open up the sshd_config file.
Type the following command in Terminal(or copy paste) :)

sudo gedit /etc/ssh/sshd_config

(You can use any editor of your choice vi emacs or whatever, I have used gedit)
once the file opens up search for the following line.

PermitRootLogin

set it to NO, which should look like this.

PermitRootLogin no


Also If you want you can change the default port from 22 to something you like, as this would boost up your security for default ssh attacks on port 22. To do this search for the line called Port. Change the value there from default 22 to something you like.
After this is done, save the file and close it.Now we need to restart the ssh service.To do that we need to type in the following command in the Terminal.

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Thats it you have successfully installed OpenSSH on your machine.

Now if you are behind a router or a firewall you will need to enable the port forwarding. I have a linksys wifi router, hence I'll be taking that as as an example. If you have any other you can visit portforward.com & see how to enable Port Forwarding in your router. Type in your routers IP address in the browser to open up the browser console page.


which in turn will open up the below.



One the above page opens up, click on Advanced settings which will open up the user id password setup.Type in your user id & password.

Once on the linksys console page do as shown below.

In the Application feild type anything you like(thats just for your reference). Type the port number you have kept for OpenSSH in the Start & End field, type the IP of your computer & check mark Enable. Once this is done, click on Save Settings to save the settings. Thats it You have now configured your linksys router for Port Forwarding for OpenSSH.