This is the first in a series of posts outlining the feature, methods and ideas surrounding the tool: Ubuntu-VM-Builder.

Ubuntu-VM-Builder

Caution, security warning:
These are default settings for a new virtual machine, you will want to change them immediately or better idea would be to set them during build, for more information keep reading after the break.
Default fullname: Ubuntu
Default username: ubuntu
Default password: ubuntu

Here is some quick information on what Ubuntu-VM-builder is:

ubuntu-vm-builder provides a method to quickly create a clean testing environment, a way to automate the virtual machine installation process, and for software developers, the ability to integrate the creation of a virtual machine into the build process of an application. If using a local mirror the virtual machine creation process can take less than two minutes from start to finish. (source)

Step 1. To install Ubuntu-VM-Builder on your linux workstation, requires 8.04 or greater

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-vm-builder

ubuntu-vm-builder Depends on:
Depends: debootstrap
Depends: kpartx
Depends: parted
Depends: qemu

These will automatically be installed by apt-get during the installation, no other installation is required.

Step 2. To build a virtual machine, first move into the directory where you will want the vm folder to be created
mkdir ~/virtual-machines
cd ~/virtual-machines

Step 3. Run Ubuntu-vm-builder, with the required flags and options
sudo ubuntu-vm-builder kvm hardy

For more flags, options and some examples keep reading.
Read more »

Open VMware Tools, Installation Instructions Step by Step

What are VMware Tools?

They are a collection of software and drivers which enhance and improve the virtualization experience for the guest operating system. They include shared folders, heartbeat drivers, enhanced network drivers, and mouse and video drivers to allow seemless migration between guest and console operating systems.

Where can I get VMware tools?

Currently there are 2 sources, the first source is with VMware workstation or VMware Server Products (including VMware Server and VMware ESX). If you are running VMware player the expectation is that you are only going to be using prebuilt Virtual Machines which have the tools previously loaded.

What are Open VMware Tools (open-vm-tools)?

The Open Virtual Machine Tools (open-vm-tools) are the open source implementation of VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. As virtualization technology rapidly becomes mainstream, each virtualization solution provider implements their own set of tools and utilities to supplement the guest virtual machine. However, most of the implementations are proprietary and are tied to a specific virtualization platform. (About Open-VM-Tools)

Where can I get Open-VM-Tools?

The open tools are available currently in the source format only currently. For a limited time they where available as part of the Ubuntu repository, but due to their alpha stages they have been removed. More info about the removal can be found here at launchpad bug # 217254 To dowload a copy of the source files or learn more about the project visit the open-vm-tools sourceforge page.

Keep reading to see step by step installation instructions
Read more »