- Top Three Lightweight Linux VMs for VMware vSphere Lab environment
- Top Three Lightweight Linux VMs for VMware Lab
- 1. Damn Small Linux
- 2. Tiny Core Linux
- 3. TTY Linux
- About Vladan SEGET
- Comments
- Thread: How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
- How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
- Re: How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
- HD Install :: How to Install DSL in VMware 6
- Which Linux distro is best for VMware?
- What version of Linux does VMware use?
- Why is my VMware VM so small?
Top Three Lightweight Linux VMs for VMware vSphere Lab environment
For VMware vSphere Lab testing you need testing VM. I’ve gathered Top Three Lightweight Linux Distros which can be used as testing VMs in a VMware lab environment. A testing VM is a VM which is not a filer or other type of VM that provides core network services for your lab environment (DC, DNS, DHCP firewall… ). It’s just a VM to test vSphere features like HA, vMotion, FT etc…. So this VM must be as small as possible to consume as less resources as possible.
You certainly have a laptop that is installed with VMware Workstation. And if your laptop has only for example 8Gb of RAM (like mine which is getting oldish…) you’re certainly concerned about RAM resources. I use my laptop as a mobile test lab. I like to run two VMware ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and a domain controller with perhaps Starwind ISCSI target as well in the same VM (to get some shared storage).
So any other VM you add to this will consume additional resources, so careful selection can be done in order to minimize CPU, Memory and storage resources. Usually you seek for a VM which is:
Usually you need this kind of VM when running nested ESXi hosts in VMware Workstation or on ESXi, or also when used as a test VM in a bare metal ESXi deployments. It’s really something that is a must-have in each VMware lab.
Top Three Lightweight Linux VMs for VMware Lab
In no particular order… here is the list.
1. Damn Small Linux
Live CD which can be installed as usual. Check and download Damn Small Linux , as an ISO which you can install: http://distro.ibiblio.org/damnsmall/current.
You can follow a guide by Mike Brown how to install it to the hard drive (you have to use IDE otherwise the hard disk is not detected).
Update: You can download the compressed ZIP archive which has already the “VM” version… (for example this: dsl-4.4.10-vmx.zip)
2. Tiny Core Linux
Check VMware Communities here where you can download directly an OVA file (simpler to deploy… ) The VM boots very fast and goes right into desktop. No need any login/password. Here is a screenshot. Pretty rudimentary, but apparently the VM consumes just 4Mhz CPU cycles, and has 48Mb of RAM. Can’t really get any better than that.
3. TTY Linux
TTY Linux is a very small Linux distribution based on a 2.6 kernel. For installation, it requires only 12 MB of disk space and 32 MB of RAM. It has no GUI, but does have a text-mode web browser and ssh server.
Download here. PDF documentation here. The installation on to the hard drive does not work out of the box as on modern Linux distributions, so some Linux skills are necessary to properly install the distro.
TTY Linux is also used by my friend Alastair Cook over at Labguides.com where together with Nick Marshall they using it in their automated kit for deploying nested ESXi hypervisors, vCenter server and shared storage. The whole free solution called Autolab can be downloaded there (free registration is required).
Note that there are other distros which does looks and feels better, but are heavier, consume more RAM and disk space. So if your workstation or lab resources are limited those are the ways to go.
If you know an easy-to-deploy and use VM, or you have built your own VM like this, don’t hesitate to comment and I’ll add it to this list. If you find this post useful, just share…
About Vladan SEGET
This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x12, Veeam Vanguard x7, VCAP-DCA/DCD, VCP, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.
Connect on: Facebook. Feel free to network via Twitter @vladan.
Comments
If I recall correctly DSL doesn’t like to be just powered off… You never know if it will restart eventually. I would point at new players in the lightweight Linux championship:
– CoreOS
– RancherOS Both are Docker oriented and weight few MB 🙂
Thanks for the input guys. I checked slax.org and it looks good. The guy, Thomas is from Czech rep not far from where I was born.. -:)
Hi,
I tried Tiny Core Linux but it fails. Error line 31 unsupported hardware family vmx-09
” vmx-09″
Thanks
Jeff
Hi,
Thanks for the tip which lead me in the correct direction. Built it in VMware Workstation 11 changed the hardware in VMWorkstation to Hardware 7. I then converted to an OVF and then imported in vSphere 5.5 with no issues at all. I added SSHD for authentication for testing backup products.
Happy camper. 🙂
Thanks to you and Tiny Linux.
Jeff
Hello Vladan.
I’m sorry for disturb, but could I ask you for consultation?
I’ve the PC Intel Q6600\8Gb ddr3\HDD 120 Gb RAID 1\Video graphic.
Could you tell me work ESXi + vCenter appliance?
What kind of appliance you recommend to use on Windows 2012 or OVA?
I want to use ESXi for Cisco ASAv, but I have trouble with allocation resource for ESXi vcenter.
If I use ESXi 5.1 – 1,5 GB DDR use ESXi, then I use 4 Gb DDR for windows 2012 with Vcenter, but Vcenter didn’t want work.. and 2 Gb shall use ESXi
Hi Vladan, I was recently reading your post during my research into a very small Linux distro that would have a capability of hosting VM tools. I recently built a very small VM (64MB HDD, 48MB RAM) based on TinyCore with open-vm-tools, nginx web server and openssh server inside. You may download it from here: https://cloudarchitectblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/yvm-download-page/
“Only 8gb of Ram” – Madness. Only ever needed 2.
Tiny Core is the way to go. It is my main distro. Never needed anything else.
DSL is dead. Has been for years.
The whole review is a little bit “copy and paste” from other sites anyway.
Hey, you’re probbably not a “virtualization guy”… Anything else with less than 32Gb of RAM is history… Note that the post was written back in March -:)….
Thread: How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
Gee! These Aren’t Roasted! 
How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?I installed Vmware Workstation on WinXP Host, and I have made a Damn Small Linux Virtual Machine. Now I need to install Vmware Tools- it’s not in the MyDSL Repository.
When I click VM/Install Vmware Tools, it suggest me to mount the virtual CD, how to do that?
I do find the linux.iso file in the host, but how can I install it into the guest?
Grande Half-n-Half Cinnamon Ubuntu 
Join Date Nov 2006 Location Wisconsin, USA Beans 920 —> Beans 920 Distro Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail
Re: How to install Vmware Tools in Damn Small Linux?
VM/Install Vmware tools doesn’t do what you expect. The net effect is only to assign the virtual CD-ROM drive to the linux.iso image file. Probably it connects the CD-ROM drive too. If not, go back to the VM menu and connect the CD.
Ok, so you have the vmware tools CD image connected to the live VM. Now what? Probably it didn’t automount, so next you need to mount it. Then you will find a TAR file on it; you have to unpack that. Having unpacked it, there is an installer script you can run. Afterwards you’ll have to rerun the /usr/bin/vmware-tools-config.pl script each time you install a new kernel, as the vmware glue modules for the tools will have to be rebuilt for the new kernel. So you are going to do something like this:
sudo -i mkdir -p /media/cd mount -r -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cd cd / tar xf /media/cd/*.tar cd vmw* bash install*
HD Install :: How to Install DSL in VMware 6
* I am assuming you have downloaded and installed VMware.
1. Create new Virtual Machine in VMware with the following settings. NOTE: When prompted in VMware i chose custom as I want to mount this as a server in VMWare v1.0.3 and virtual machines created in Workstation6 mode are not comptible, so choose Workstation5 if you plan to use as a server.
— Select Guest OS type as Linux -> Other Linux 2.6.x Kernel
— Give it a name e.g. «DSL»
— Choose the number CPUs
— Choose the memory amount (I have used as low as 64MB but depending on what you want to do you will need more, e.g. OpenOffice requires 384MB)
— Choose Network type (use bridged is possible)
— Select I/O adapter types (just click next)
— Create new virtual disk
— Virtual Disk Type (IMPORTANT — Make sure you choose IDE and NOT SCSI as you will have problems)
— Specify Disk Capacity — WARNING — It is painful to increase the disk size at a later date, so bigger is better in this case
— Specify Disk File name — I usually rename it to something smaller than the default long name e.g. DSL.vmdk
2. Configure you new Virtual machine
— You should now see your new virtual machine in VMWare
— Click Edit virtual machine settings
— Remove any un-necesary items e.g. Floppy drive, Sound (if you have no sound card)
— Click add and select CD-ROM
— Select Use ISO Image
— Browse for the DSL ISO image you have downloaded and select it
— Click OK (make sure you see the check box «Connect at power on») so that the Virtual Machine boots from the ISO image
3. Start your Virtual Machine
— You should now see the Boot screen for DSL
— Hit enter, DSL will boot
— once you see your desktop, click «ATerminal»
— type «sudo -s» enter
— type «cfdisk»
— Select «Y» when asked Do you wish to start with a zero table
— You will now see your cfdisk applicaton. Use the arrow keys and select «NEW»
— Select «Primary» then select the size (by default it will be the entire HDD space you sepcified in VMware — I used the whole amount — some say leave space for a swap drive)
— Select «Bootable» (you see the word «Boot» under the Flags coloumn)
— Select «Write»
— When prompted with a (Y/N) type «YES» and hit enter. Once completed you will see the message «Wrote partition to hard disk»
— Select «QUIT»
— now back at the command prompt type «mkfs /dev/hda1». This will prepare the hard drive file system ready for installation. (this is not necessary, you can skip directly to the next step if you wish)
— now type «dsl-hdinstall»
— you will be prompted for the target drive type «hda1» and press enter
— you will then be prompted for multiuser logins (Y/N) — I choose «N»
— Select «N» for ext3 filesystm (unless you know what its for)
— Select «Y» to continue. You should see «The copying of system files has been complted»
— Select «Y» when asked «Proceed to install a boot loader»
— Type «g» for GRUB (Unless you specifically want LILO) — NOTE: This is case sensitive, it will default to GRUB otherwise
— Type «Y» when prompted for reboot
— You will see DSL shut down and press «Enter» when prompted
— At the VMware screen, Stop the Virtual Machine (hit the red stop button) and click edit and select the CD-ROM device that points to your VMware image .iso file
— Click remove and start the Virtual machine again.
— You should be prompted to enter a password for the «root» user and the «dsl» user.
— If it starts and you see your DSL desktop you have succesfully intalled DSL ! Congrats!
Please note, Im an abolute noob when it comes to Linux, so maybe there is a faster way to do this, but the above worked for me and I hope it will help others. BTW, DSL has to be the fastest linux distros out there. Please make a donation, however small.
Cheers,
Phez phez, that’s a fantastic tutorial! I followed it to the letter and installed DSL in VirtualBox, which I assume is the same as VMware. I wish there were more tutorials in LinuxLand like yours, because it was clear and it worked! Can you write up a tutorial for installing Adobe Flash? I follow the Adobe website’s instructions for all 3 types of download, and never get past the terminal message, «no such directory.»
original here.
Which Linux distro is best for VMware?
Five Linux operating system distributions are particularly suitable for running virtual machines, so let’s take a look at them….We’ve picked the most interesting, lightweight Linux versions for you to install.
- Linux Mint.
- Lubuntu.
- Raspberry Pi OS.
- Fedora.
- Manjaro Linux.
- elementary OS.
- Ubuntu Server.
Which Linux distro is best for virtual machine?
Top 7 Linux Distros to Run in VirtualBox
- Lubuntu. Popular lightweight version of Ubuntu.
- Linux Lite. Designed to ease the transition from Windows to Linux.
- Manjaro. Suitable for Linux veterans and newcomers alike.
- Linux Mint. Extremely user-friendly compared to most Linux distros.
- OpenSUSE.
- Ubuntu.
- Slackware.
Will VMware run on Linux?
VMware Workstation runs on standard x86-based hardware with 64-bit Intel and AMD processors, and on 64-bit Windows or Linux host operating systems.
What version of Linux does VMware use?
1 Answer. VMware’s ESXi is apparently based on the linux kernel. There is a lawsuit about this because the linux kernel is under GPL v2. Here is a comparison between a system using a complete linux kernel and a system with VMware ESXi.
Which is the best lightweight Linux VM for VMware vSphere lab environment?
What is a a testing VM?
Why is my VMware VM so small?
How do I convert a Stresslinux file to a VMware file?