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Testing Vail: can I use a VM? RRS feed

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    I'm currently downloading Vail. I don't have sufficient kit to make it live on its own box, but I'm wondering if I could run it in a VM? Are there any issues of which I should be aware. My VM box has limited drive space.
    qts
    Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:35 AM

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    Yes you can run it in a VM - people have confirmed on VMWare and MS solutions:

    http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/04/26/installing-vail-onto-a-virtual-machine-using-vmware-workstation/

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    Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:54 AM
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    Before you try you should read the thread Al has pointed you to. You should also read all of the available documentation, the known issues above, etc.

    One thing that you should bear in mind: Vail requires a 64 bit machine to install and run. If you're not using a 64 bit virtualization solution, you won't be able to install on a VM.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Wednesday, April 28, 2010 12:04 PM
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    Rats! My VM box doesn't have 160 GB free. I'll have to find a HDD from somewhere.
    qts
    Friday, April 30, 2010 11:22 AM
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    Try thin provisioning.
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    Saturday, May 1, 2010 9:13 AM
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    I have tried twice (and it failed twice the same way) to install the Vail Beta under VMware Workstation 7.0 running on Windows XP (32-bits) but on an AMD x64 CPU (dual core) with plenty of disk space and 4 GB of RAM.

    The first part of the install goes fine, but then it reboots to continue the install and throws a fatal error at about 37%. I’ve saved the logs and looked them over. They’re not of much help figuring out exactly what the install error is.

    Does anyone here have any expertise in deciphering the install log errors for usefull information?

    Saturday, May 1, 2010 3:29 PM
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    I have tried twice (and it failed twice the same way) to install the Vail Beta under VMware Workstation 7.0 running on Windows XP (32-bits) but on an AMD x64 CPU (dual core) with plenty of disk space and 4 GB of RAM.

    The first part of the install goes fine, but then it reboots to continue the install and throws a fatal error at about 37%. I’ve saved the logs and looked them over. They’re not of much help figuring out exactly what the install error is.

    Does anyone here have any expertise in deciphering the install log errors for usefull information?

    Although installing it in a VM is (probably) unsupported, you could try submitting a bug report on Connect.  I can say that I installed in a VM (VMWare 7.0 as well), but my host OS is 7 x64.  (Have you tried installing on real hardware, or install a different 64 bit OS in the VM to see if that's the issue?)  Also, did you verify that image was valid by comparing the checksum values?
    Saturday, May 1, 2010 3:48 PM
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    I have tried twice (and it failed twice the same way) to install the Vail Beta under VMware Workstation 7.0 running on Windows XP (32-bits) but on an AMD x64 CPU (dual core) with plenty of disk space and 4 GB of RAM.

    The first part of the install goes fine, but then it reboots to continue the install and throws a fatal error at about 37%. I’ve saved the logs and looked them over. They’re not of much help figuring out exactly what the install error is.

    Does anyone here have any expertise in deciphering the install log errors for usefull information?


    I had a similar issue installing v2 on VMware ESXi bare metal HV.  Installation would hang at every automatic restart (3%, 37% 96%, etc.). I was able to finish the installation by turning the Virtual machine off, then back on manually.  The installer would pick back up where it left off and eventually completed the install
    Saturday, May 1, 2010 4:29 PM
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    I agree, i could not get it working in VM workstation 6.5.3.  I thought it was the vm tools injecting themselves after the first reboot.  Forcing the setup to run again seemed to complete the installation but when you run the connector, it says its not installed correctly.

    I installed onto a blank hard drive in the end, so far so good except it seems remote access keeps saying i got the password incorrect when i know for a fact its right.  Ive even created test accound with password test and that didnt work either.  I wonder if i missing a port on the router as UPNP failed to configure my router correctly.

    So far though, nice product, been able to back itself up is good feature - allbeit too late.

    Saturday, May 1, 2010 5:58 PM
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    Quentin

    As others have noted, with VM you don't actually need all 160 Gig free, you can set the drive to that size, but VM will only use the amount it needs.  I am running VM Vail on VM Workstation 7 on my Win 7 32bit Host OS system (you do need a processor that supports 64 bit), I just have the VM machine set to 64 bit and 160 Gig drive.  It installed fine and has been running great and the whole size of the VM machine is only 15 Gig at this point.

    Saturday, May 1, 2010 9:03 PM
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    I initially ran it under VMWare ESXi 4.0. A quick word of warning, if you install the VMWare Tools, it will completely break the installation. No drives will show up under the console and no machines can be added. Even uninstalling the Tools doesn't resolve the issue, only a reinstallation of the entire Vail server does.
    Saturday, May 1, 2010 9:29 PM
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    I am running WHS2 on VMWare Server 2.02 on Server 2008 R2 64 bit host with no issues. I have not run VMWare tool though and reading the post above, I am going to take a snapshot and try it.

    Sunday, May 2, 2010 3:19 AM
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    I am running in ESXi 4.0 with the tools and have no issues at all.

     I rather like the way Vail is running under this environment. I gave it 2 gigs of Ram, 2 cores, a 165 dynamic drive, 64M GPU mem and a delay start of 5000 enabling me to get to the boot screen for recovery testing.

    I have placed a windows 7 Ultimate on my host alongside that I have joined to the WHSv2. They are running nicely.

    Johnathan
    • Edited by jwcarroll Sunday, May 2, 2010 5:11 AM Spelling
    Sunday, May 2, 2010 5:11 AM
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    I too have installed the tools with VM Workstation 7 with no problems.
    Sunday, May 2, 2010 5:47 AM
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    You cannot install Vail in VMware with Easy Install, it will not work.  You have to choose "install at a later time", and then go through the normal installation process.  That will solve the issue.

     

    MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
    Sunday, May 2, 2010 1:15 PM
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    Can confirm it works with ESXi4.0U1, 4GB RAM, 160GB Thin provisioned disk and E1000 NIC (ie the defaults for a Win2008R2 VM).

    If you select any of the other NICs the Home Server setup will not run until you've installed VMware tools and the NIC is working.

    Didn't find any problems with the VMware tools being installed as mentioned.

    Created a XP SP3 VM as well and installed the connector and backup worked a treat!

    Saturday, May 8, 2010 11:15 AM
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    ...
    If you select any of the other NICs the Home Server setup will not run until you've installed VMware tools and the NIC is working.
    ...

    This has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum. It's a known issue: you must have a functional network connection for setup to complete.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Saturday, May 8, 2010 12:40 PM
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