Remote login to different VM guests

Discussion in 'Virtual and Cloud Computing' started by Jakamoko, Sep 16, 2005.

  1. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Had a brief and fruitful discussion with Ryan about this recently (thanks Pheo !), but thought I would open it out to you Guys as well...

    My mate and I are now planning a new set up, whereby we can remotely connect into a 2k3 server running VM with various guests, in this instance, XP Pro, 2k3 Server and Fedora. The question is, can anyone suggest a way whereby we can login and automatically be presented with the guest VM OS of our choice, based on login credentials ?

    I guess we're looking at some sort of script for this, but how the hell would we implement it ? And would it be a Windows script, or specifially a VM one ? Open to all suggestions here, and the more details the better.

    Thanks in advance :)
     
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  2. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    I'm not sure your exact requirement here Jak


    if you have a login script that invokes

    c:\program files\vmware\vmware workstation\vmrun start s:\virtual machines\longhorn\longhorn.vmx

    it will likely fireup VMWare and start the VM named Longhorn

    however this will be within the Win2k3 environment
    so you will have logged into W2k3 and have vmware start up automatically, you wont be 'remotly connected to the VM' you will be remotly connected to the host and launching VM

    if you had a frontend backend setup peraps it would be possible to load and unload a VM on the backend setup when remoting to the frontend server, and firing up the remote desktop connection to the backend VM, but you might as well just use local scripts to do that, and obviously you would want to use suspend not start/stop to enable speed for this

    GSX server has a more powerful CLI, as does ESX server, but obviously these are not available for your project

    PM/MSN me at work with more details of exactly what you want, and ill see if I can come up with a solution

    I must say I enjoy being able to SSH into my XP box and invoke the script 'longhorn' to start/suspend it then remote desktop to it direct from my work machine, its nice :)
     
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  3. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    That makes sense, Ryan, thanks :)

    Can you clarify - what's GSX/ ESX ? :oops:

    We've hit our first snag already, in that VM apparently wont run on a DC (is this right ? ) therefore we've had to switch to Virtual PC, which will run. More details to follow ...
     
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  4. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    cant say i ever tried on a DC, cant see why it wouldnt?

    dont know if virtual PC has the same command line structure which could mess up your whole starting from a login script idea :)

    Edit: found this in the VM KB

    With the exception of GSX Server 3.2 and Workstation 5, VMware products do not support running on a Windows 2000 Active Directory domain controller. If you want to run VMware products (other than GSX Server 3.2) on such a host machine, you must uninstall Windows 2000 and reinstall it without configuring the machine as a domain controller. After you complete the re-installation, you can install VMware products again.

    So, workstation will run on a DC, the warning is because you really shouldnt run it on a production DC, obviously, it will however run, and function correctly on a 2k/2k3 AD domain controller
    hope that helps
     
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  5. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    GSX is server version, that requires a host OS still
    ESX is a heavy duty version that doesnt require a host OS as such, very powerful
    you get copies of both with a VMTN subscription
     
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  6. GeorgeZip

    GeorgeZip Bit Poster

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    Another thing to point out about ESX server is that it will only run on a limited range of hardware although I dare say that if your a linux god then you'd probably be able to customise the installer as I have seen articles where people run it on their laptops...

    I've got GSX Server 3.2 running on my XP machine for lightweight playing around and a couple of HP Proliant DL380 G4's in the loft for when I want to go to extreme nerd-factor..


    :biggrin
     
  7. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Cheers again, Guys. Ryan, that's pretty much what we found as the limitation. The DC would need flattened the re-created after the VM set up was in place, so obviously a no go for now :(

    Saying that, it's now working (almost) sweet as a nut using VirtualPC (couple of failed guest installations, but that will be nailed soon)

    Thanks all :)
     
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  8. nugget
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    nugget Junior toady

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    Jak, why don't you just virtualise the DC? I just found out on the weekend that VMWare can take a running physical machine and make it into a virtual one (P to V?). Maybe Phoenix knows more about this and if I'm barking up the wrong tree then just ignore me.
     
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  9. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Now that's an interesting idea, Nugg. Will give it some thought ...:)
     
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  10. Phoenix
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    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    Jak
    as i said, Workstation CAN be installed on a DC, what you get is merely a warning, not an all stop
     
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  11. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    I think my mate just doesn't want to b0ll0x his working DC in anyway. It's currently running as a file, web and mail server, so there's a fair bit at stake here.
     
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  12. nugget
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    nugget Junior toady

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    Jak, I asked someone (as promised) and he uses RDP. I assume you would have XP and server 2k3 running and connected to the net through the bridged networking. As long as you have the right setup on your router it should be no problem, at least for the MS os's.
     
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  13. Jakamoko
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    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Thanks Nugg - will check this evening :)
     
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