Set Up and Optimize Ubuntu in VMware Environments

So you want to jump into virtualization and take the open source route on your guest virtual machine operating system? Several of our customers have recently spun up Ubuntu VMs on top of VMware. Here are our tips for setting up and optimizing performance in a virtualized Ubuntu environment. These tips may also apply to other Linux distributions on top of VMware hypervisors.

Linux guest operating systems often have trouble with the BusLogic virtual SCSI adapter. VMware recommends using the LSI Logic virtual SCSI adapter instead.

To install Ubuntu, obtain a disc or download an ISO of your version of choice. Power on the virtual machine, insert the disc or locate the image, and follow through the prompts. Once completed and you have logged into the Ubuntu VM, set the HTTP proxy by going to Network settings.

Installing the Ubuntu Server kernel can improve performance as it sets the system clock to 100Hz by default. Otherwise you may have to recompile the kernel.
 

VMware Tools

Installing VMware Tools will improve performance in your virtualized Ubuntu instance. It also includes various utilities for administration of VMs. Open VM Tools is a version of VMware Tools built for open source use.

To install Open VM Tools, run $ sudo apt-get update followed by $ sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools.

If you plan on duplicating the machine, using it as a master image, or using VMware Site Recovery Manager backup tools with it, you must install the deployPkg Tools plugin.

Download the Public Packaging Public Key Files and install them using $ sudo apt-key add /DIRECTORY/NAME, where directory/name is the path where each key is saved. Then create a file called /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vmware-tools.list and include this content: deb http://packages.vmware.com/packages/ubuntu trusty main.

To install the package, use the commands $ sudo apt-get update  followed by  $ sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools-deploypkg.