Run Oracle VM Manager (OVM) at VMWare vSphere

Note: The below method is not supported by original vendor.  Use it at your own risk.

Oracle has prepared Oracle VM Manager 3.1 (OVM) in OVA format for fast implementation.  As the virtual hardware is designed for VirtualBox 4.1.8, it is impossible to directly upload the OVA into VMWare environment directly.

It is possible to extract all the files inside OVA, then manually change the virtual hardware configuration in order to run the VM at vSphere.

Here's the step:

A. Download and Install the OVM and Tools
  1. Download Oracle VM Manager 3.1 VM (in OVA format) at Oracle. (Oracle account need.  It is free.)
  2. Download ovf tools at VMWare. (VMWare account needed.  It is free to register.)
  3. Install on ovf tools.  (I am testing in Win 7 64 bit which is installed at "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool" in default.)
B. Convert the OVA into VMX format
  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. run: "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool\ovftool" --lax OracleVM-Manager-3.1.1-build365.ova \output-path
  3. The command will ask for your acceptance for the end-user license agreement. enter yes to accept.
  4. The conversion process will start.  Since the OVA is built on virtual box which is not supported by VMWare.  You will see the below error during the conversion:
     - Line 47: Unsupported hardware family 'virtualbox-2.2'.
     - Line 88: OVF hardware element 'ResourceType' with instance ID '5': No support  for the virtual hardware device type '20'.
     - Line 114: OVF hardware element 'ResourceType' with instance ID '8': No support for the virtual hardware device type '35'.
     - Line 144: Duplicate element 'AddressOnParent'.

    The conversion process will continue as we have use -lax option to ignore the error.
C. Edit the VMX file
  1. Inside the \output_path, it will create a new folder OracleVM-Manager-3.1.1-build365.  Find and edit the .vmx file, Add the below lines if not exist:
    ide1:0.clientDevice = "FALSE"
    ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
    ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
    svga.vramSize = "16777216"
    virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
  2. Remove the below lines if exist in the .vmx file:
    ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
    svga.autodetect = "FALSE"

  3. Change the value below lines if exist in the .vmx file:
    virtualhw.version = "9" to "7"guestos = "oraclelinux-64" to "rhel6-64"
D. Upload all the files to vSphere and edit the hardware using standard vSphere client interface.
  1. Run vSphere client.
  2. Upload all files into ESX using Datastore Browser. 


    1. In the vSphere client, click on the server.
    2. Click on the summary tab.
    3. Right click on datastore, then click "Browse Datastore"
    4. Use the icon with the up arrow in front of some disks (Upload files to this datastore)
    5. Upload the folder(" OracleVM-Manager-3.1.1-build365")  that contains all the vmx and vmdk files just converted.
  3. Right click on "OracleVM-Manager-3.1.1-build365.vmx", click "Add to Inventory"
  4. Just follow the wizard steps to add "Oracle VM-Manager" into vSphere.
  5. Close the datastore browser
  6. Edit the hardware profile, remove the below hardware:
    1. remove the CDROM 
    2. remove the Network Adapter
    3. click OK
  7. Add the new virtual hardware:
    1. Add the CDROM again.
      1. map the CDROM to IDE 1:0. (as IDE 0:0 and 1:1 are for harddisks).
    2. Add the Ethernet adapter again (use E1000) and select the correct VM Network which the vNIC should attaching.
    3. Click OK
  8. Power up the VM.  My downloaded OVM is actually a Red Hat 5.1.19.6.
  9. Follow the on-screen instruction to enter:
    1. root password
    2. IP address, netmask and DNS server IP
    3. hostnamecd 
E. Solve the X-Windows display problem
  1. The VM should said that there is a problem on running the X-Windows.  
    1. Answer to ignore the error diagnostic message.
    2. Answer to perform auto detect of new hardware.
    3. Supply your root password upon requested.
    4. Please follow the on-screen instruction to auto-detect the hardware again.  The X-Windows should be able to display in 800x600 format.
  2. The X-Windows will be restarted.  Click "OK" to confirm
  3. The X-Windows will be started and you should see GDM.
  4. Login as root
  5. At the VM menu of the VM viewier, click VM - Guest - Install/Upgrade VMWare Tools
  6. Wait for a few second.  You should see a folder "VMWare Tools" pop up at the desktop.
  7. Right click the VMWareTools-x.x.x.tar.gz file.  Click "Extract To".  Follow the instruction to extract it to /root.
  8. Open a terminal
  9. cd to /root/vmware-tools-distrib
  10. run vmware-install.pl
  11. Follow all the on-screen instruction to accept all the default value.
  12. Select the resolution according to your need.  The screen will seems to reset but still remain at 800x600.
  13. Don't worry.  Reboot the VM.  After reboot, your VM should run in a new resolution.  No login is required because it will be auto login using "ovm" credential.
For other instructions on using OVM, please refer to Oracle's instruction.

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