Workstation on Ubuntu 8.10 host

[tmose]

I have been trying to run workstation 6.5.1 on Ubuntu 8.10 ( both 32 and 64 bit) with little success. 6.5.1 installs as expected and builds the correct libraries but once you try to run a session (win2003) then the session slows down drasticaly and at times completly hangs. At first glance it appears to be when the network driver gets accessed but then it also appears to happen at other times. I realize that currently ubuntu 8.10 is not supported but has anyone gotten this to work sucessfully and if so, you can you provide the details

[Noel]

I realize that currently ubuntu 8.10 is not supported but has anyone gotten this to work sucessfully and if so, you can you provide the details

I have it working on Ubuntu 8.04.1, Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu 9.04 and Fedora 10. Nothing special for 8.10 except for the key mapping in /etc/vmware/config.

Have you tried another VM?

[tmose]

I have been trying on a VM that works succesfully in 6.5.1 under ubuntu 8.04.1. But when I run it under 8.10 I get the symptoms described and brings everything to a crashing halt. I guess the next step woudl be to create a new VM and try again.

[O_o]

I have Workstation 6.5 running without any issues whatsoever on an Ubuntu 8.10 x64 edition. I can't say I did anything strange or different during the installation, on the contrary, the installation has never been this easy.

Currently I have a Windows XP and an Ubuntu server running as guests without issues as well.

[tmose]

I think I may have discovered my issue. I had the VM running on a NTFS partition and once I moved it to a linux ext3 one it worked a whole lot better. Will report back here if i completely resolved this. May save someone a lot of time in the future.

[Noel]

I had the VM running on a NTFS partition and once I moved it to a linux ext3 one it worked a whole lot better.

According to http://www.ntfs-3g.org/support.html#vmware VMware and ntfs-3g should work, but it would not surprise me to hear of issues.

[CharlieM]

I've always treated NTFS partitions under linux with great care, and used them only when needed (data recovery etc.) and R/O when possible. Using NTFS as an active R/W partition in linux is asking for trouble IMHO. It may work in most times, but it's probably one of the least excercised linux configurations.

[tmose]

Well I did confirm that the problem I was having was releated to the NTFS file system. That will teach me not to convert everythign when I move from one OS to another.

[szaka]

Using NTFS as an active R/W partition in linux is asking for trouble IMHO. It may work in most times, but it's probably one of the least excercised linux configurations.

Actually it's just the opposite. In the last two years NTFS became one of the most excercised Linux file systems.

There are two main reasons. The obsolete FAT is being replaced by NTFS and Linux is rapidly replacing other embedded OSes.

NTFS-3G had over 12 million visitors, daily 1,000 daily downloads despite it being used by over 200 Linux distributions (on some it's the root file system), it uses one of the most extensive suite of file system test suites (http://ntfs-3g.org/quality.html), used by many well-known ISVs in their products and consumer electronic device makers who sell millions of units per year (routers, multimedia player/recorders, set-top boxes, data collectors, etc).

[clansman77]

i confirm that itoo have this problem.my virtual machines are in ntfs system and ntfs 3g uses randomly 100% cpu while in vm.my guest is winxp on ubuntu 8.10 host

[szaka]

Please see

So far it solved the performance problem for everybody.

Regards, Szaka

--

NTFS-3G:

[tmose]

I would fully agree with you that the linux implementation of the NTFS fiel system has matured over the last couple of years. But that is not the issue being discussed here. The issues is or was that with Ubuntu 8.10 the kernel and NTFS have changed in a way that it became incompatible with VMWare workstation running virtual machines stored on a NTFS filesystem. ON Ubuntu versions prior to 8.10 this wan not an issue.

Hope this adds some clarity to the situation, and I still use NTFS partitions for other data items with out any issues.

[Noel]

The issues is or was that with Ubuntu 8.10 the kernel and NTFS have changed in a way that it became incompatible with VMWare workstation running virtual machines stored on a NTFS filesystem. ON Ubuntu versions prior to 8.10 this wan not an issue.

Once VMware started using memory-mapped files, it did not work with NTFS-3g, due to the lack of support for same. That was well-documented. NTFS has apparently changed to be "functional" but with poor performance. Either way, the solution is what it has always been since the inception of VMware's use of memory-mapped files: move your VMs to a fully functional file system that is intended for something other than read-write compatibility.

[szaka]

The free NTFS-3G driver is indeed 3-20 times slower than the commercial one. However people reported much better performance with the free one when using the documented VMware workaround.