In this 7th post of the Home Server series, after having configured a SSD drive, a working ESX environment and the RAID disks, let’s create our first virtual machine based on Debian Linux.
For the goal we want to achieve (hosting a web server, our personal files, personal streaming server, …) we do not even need the graphic environment. Therefore, I like to do it on a Linux (in this case, Debian is my personal choice) with the minimum installed so that we save resources and space and, in turn, be more secure (basic security best practice: just install the install the minimum required services). Lets go!
Download Debian ISO image
The images are from a little while ago but the installation will be exactly the same. We started by downloading the ISO image from the Debian website:
https://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/
Specifically, I used the amd64 architecture iso, which at the moment of publishing this post is:
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-9.8.0-amd64-netinst.iso
Upload ISO to datastore
Once downloaded, lets upload the file to the datastore. Select the datastore in which you want to upload it, and click no “Datastore Browser” option.
I recommend using the SSD drive based datastore
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(The pictures are only showing a single create datastore because I create the RAID array and the datastore based on it after creating the virtual machine)
Create f.e. a ISO directory and upload the ISO.
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Create Virtual Machine
Lets start with virtual machine creation process. In “Virtual Machines” section, click “Create / Register VM”.
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Select the “Create a new virtual machine” option
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Name the virtual machine, and select de OS family (Linux) and version (debian GNU/Linux 9 (64-bit)).
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Select the SSD based datastore
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In the hardware configuration:
– CPU and memory can be changed after created and installed the Linux, so no problem.
– The DISK can also be extended (it depends on enabling Linux LVM that we’ll see a bit later in this post).
– Disk provisioning: I recommend the thick provisioned (so that the virtual machine file size does not provision the configured space from the beginning, but the used one).
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Dont forget to connect the network adapter to your single VM Network and the CD/DVD Drive to the Datastore ISO file that was downloaded in the previous step.
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After checking the summary of configurations, click the “Finish” button:
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Now you can “Power on” the virtual machine to start with the Debian Linux OS installation:
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Debian Linux Installation
Before starting, dont forget to adapt the ESX console window to your keyboard layout in case you don’t use English layout
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I usually choose the standard installation (instead of the graphical one)
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Basic settings (location and passwords)
Language
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Location
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Keyboard layout
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Network hostname
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Network domain
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Set root password
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Set user account full Name
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Set user account name
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Set user account password
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Time zone
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Disk partitioning
Choose between:
– standard (Guided – use entire disk)
– LVM (Guided – use entire disk and set up LVM).
For a testing or lab machine use the standard partitioning. But for a “production” machine i encourage you to use LVM because that allows to extend the partitions size in case you need more free space.
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Select the disk (the one VMWare presents)
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Write the changes and configure LVM -> Yes
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Here you can see how the guided partitioning has mapped the the partitions.
Click Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
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Reconfirm
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Software installation
Do not scan another CD
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Select a nearby country
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Probably you can continue without proxy if not in a corporative environment
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Depending on your needs you can choose software collections. I usually choose “standard system utilities” + “SSH Server”. In case i need more extra software (like a web server) I install it manually after OS installation.
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Yes, install GRUB in the MBR
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Yes, install it in that disk
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Continue
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And thats all!
Now, after rebooting, the GRUB menu will show up and your recently installed Debian Linux will boot up.
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VMWare Tools
In the virtual machine general information you can see the VMWare Tools are “Not installed”
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To install them, simply install the open-vm-tools package.
apt-get install open-vm-tools
Before installing the package, if you still havent done before, update the package list by executing…
apt-get update
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After installing, the VMWare tools shoould show the “Installed and running” message
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