Speeding up VMware Server console connections
September 12th, 2006
This post does not have much to do with OpenSUSE, but it could be useful for people trying out OpenSUSE in a virtual machine using the free VMware Server virtualization product.
For some reason, console connections to running virtual machines can be really slow on VMware Server. For example, I have experienced that doing a simple ‘ls’ or ‘cat’ in console (no X server) would require 100% CPU utilization on the host for several seconds. I could literally see each line scroll by.
Part of the reason for the low performance is that SSL is enabled by default for console connections. By disabling SSL, I got much better performance, although still not to the level of VMware Workstation. Here is how to do it:
- Select Host > Settings
- In the dialog select the Connections tab
- Uncheck “Use SSL for Console communications”
- Click OK
Note: by disabling SSL, you are lowering security, so please consider the implications before using this tip.
Entry Filed under: Software
3 Comments Add your own
1. A.Lizard | October 27th, 2007 at 02:03
Have you tried changing the default 10 mbps virtual ethernet card to an e1000 supporting 1000 mbps transfers?
Google on alizard and VMware, the how-to article I wrote on VMware Server has got to be on the Net somewhere.
2. Christian Krog Madsen | October 29th, 2007 at 20:34
No, I have not tried that, but I will definitely give it a shot. Thanks for the tip!
I have also found another way to make a Linux (Unix) guest much more responsive: Instead of working through the VMware Server console, start a remote X session from the host to the guest. This obviously requires an X server on the host, so for a Windows host that would need to be installed. I have used Xming with great success.
What I usually do is to open an SSH connection from the host to the guest and then launch applications (Emacs, GIMP, etc.) from there. The gives performance and responsiveness comparable to running Linux non-virtualized.
An added bonus is that you can immediately Alt+Tab between Linux applications and Windows applications.
3. naisioxerloro | November 28th, 2007 at 19:11
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
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