VMWARE Server 2.02 has been released October 27, 2009. It includes a few important security updates for VMWARE Server. If you are running a Linux server with VMWARE server 2.01, I strongly suggest to upgrade due to the “Directory Traversal Vulnerability” — which may allow for remote retrieval of any file from the host system.

VMWARE has two “free” options to get started into virtualization. VMWARE Server 2.0 and VMWARE ESXi. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. Notably, VMWARE server will run on many different operating systems (Windows/Linux/etc.) while the VMWARE ESXi is limited to certain hardware since it runs on bare metal (has its own hypervisor). No OS is required to run ESXi. Read more to see the comparison review.

Why install VMWARE Tools?
Improved display support with SVGA driver
Cut and paste from host onto the VMWare guest
Automation of guest operating system commands
Sync time
Shrinking disk space
Startup and shutdown scripts

In order to install VMWARE tools on Debian, you will need to make sure you have the package “linux-headers-[kernel version]” installed.

If not, you will get a prompt during the configuration asking for the path of the C header files.

To find the version of your kernel, type in:
uname -a

It should say something like Linux infomine 2.6.26-2-amd64 (with your current CPU architecture at the end)

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NOTE: Do this at your own risk. If you put the …

Ever change the Network MAC address setting in VMWARE and you can’t get the network to work?

Here’s a quick how-to on changing the MAC address on a Linux VM. This is useful if you want to clone an existing machine and want to have both machines running with network at the same time. I am using VMWARE Server 2.0. (free version)