As some of you noticed, when you install vSphere(ESX) within a VM you will need at least 2GB to get the installer started. Even when it has finished installing you can’t reduce the memory because the following error will occur:
I couldn’t find a way of pre-adjusting the memory requirements but there’s a way to change this behavior and to downsize the memory when the installation has finished. Keep in mind this is, as far as I know, not supported… it’s only to be used to run ESX within VMware Workstation for your demo / test environment. I personally use it for running 2 ESX servers and vCenter within VMware Workstation on my 4GB laptop. (That’s what I actually use to create screenshots and prepare blog articles.)
ESX:
- Install vSphere(ESX) with at least 2 GB memory
- Login to the Service Console and type the following:
vi /etc/vmware/init/init.d/00.vmnix
- Change the following line to the desired value:
RequiredMemory=2064384
- Shutdown the virtual machine and change the VMs memory and boot it up!
Thanks Mark for the comment on ESXi:
- Install vSphere(ESXi) with at least 2 GB memory
- Login to the console via the “unsupported” method.
- Edit the file /etc/vmware/esx.conf and add the following line:
/vmkernel/minMemoryCheck = “false”
- Save the file and shutdown ESXi, change the memory and boot it up!
Don’t use any other editor than “vi”, there are multiple reports of nano wrecking the layout of the file which leads to an unrecoverable error during booting.
vSphere 4.0 Quick Start Guide
Thanks for the tip, I was trying to figure out how to run a couple of test ESX hosts on my laptop for some demos.
What host OS are you using?
Nice one Duncan, I’ve been running the same setup as you on my laptop for a while, good tip!
The file name is 00.vmnix – 2 x zeros
wat laptop model is it ? has to be a 64bit and intel vtd or vt right ?
@kris, yes to 64-bit, yes to VT, and dual-core too.
I’m using a Dell D630 with an Intel T8300 and 4GB of RAM.
Good stuff Duncan! I’d say keep up the great work but you are doing that already!
Jas
Nice one, cheers Duncan – got it running on my D620 with 4Gb and VT enabled.
some experiments with minimum allocated RAM here http://vinf.net/2009/05/08/vsphere-rc-ram-under-vmware-workstation-how-low-can-you-go/
To adjust memory requirements for vSphere 4i:
Edit /etc/vmware/esx.conf
Add line: /vmkernel/minMemoryCheck = “false”
Anyone been able to use this great tip with the GA version of vSphere?
The line about /vmkernel/minMemoryCheck = “false” doesn’t seem to work in ESX4i GA, it complains about being unable to manage filesystems and then just locks up.
.
I have it running with the GA for 4i you I received a mounting file system error when I used only 1024 gig memory, bumped it up to 1280 and it booted fine.
I tried GA 4i with 1152 meg; it booted but gave a message on Alt+F11 “Not enough memory without swap, system may not be stable”. This message was also there with 1280, 1344, and 1408. It disappeared at 1472. Toshiba Tecra M9 with 4GB of RAM, Win 7 x64 RC, Workstation 6.5.2.
I started with 1280mb but didn’t see any problems until I tried to add the ESX server to VC and it would fail. When I put memory on ESXI to 2048 adding to VC worked fine…then I lowered it back.
Note that some ESX patches will overwrite this file !
change RequiredMemory to 516096 and you can boot with 768 MB which is barely enough for a minimal xp guest, but enough to vMotion things about.
You can put the esxi boot image on a usb key, boot to it, make the change, rip it back off with winimage, rezip it and then recreate the iso and not have to sweat installing esxi on minimal machines again, well except for not supporting hardly anything
Hi,
started 2x esx4i yesterday with 2GB a piece and vCenter.
Everything works fine, but it doesn’t leave me any room for booting a VM :S
changed the esx hosts to 3GB a piece and i had about 1GB free for VM’s (checked by setting resource pool memory reservation)
4i seems to be taking up the whole first 2GB for itself.
Checked this article, but can’t find a file 00.vmnix on my esx4i servers…
There is a 00.vmvisor, but not the file mentioned above.
Is there any way to change how many mem 4i reserves for kernel ?
ESXi 4.0.0 build 208167 (Update 1)
By default nano wraps files it edits so you can see their entirety.
To avoid this behavior, simple start nano with the ‘-w’ flag, and you’re good to go. Long lines now won’t wrap and you can’t ruin a file just by saving it.
So go ahead, use nano -w file.conf for all your needs.
You can pass the memory check options on the command line when starting up the Installer ISO. On the blue menu that mentions pressing [Tab] for options, press Tab and edit the command line to add the nominMemoryCheck option.
For a good example with screenshots, see the http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/vmkernel_boot_options.php vmkernel boot options page for ESXi 4.0.
The boot process appears to get values from /etc/vmware/esx.conf for this command line, so anything you would set in esx.conf may be also provided on boot.
Unfortunately, the installer seems to eat an inordinate amount of RAM. I’ve had no luck getting the default ISO to run in under 2048 Mb when trying many of the memory control options documented in the vmkernel debugger (press escape at any purple screen and type ‘l’ to access the list.) Perhaps install.tgz needs a diet?
I am unable to get this memory “hack” to work. I am using Windows 7 x64 and vmware workstation 7. The problem is that I can edit the 00.vmnix file but if the VM on workstation 7 does not get 2 GB allocated my ESX server will not boot. Did anyone else have this problem?