Trying to install Vmware Player on OEL 4-kernel 2.6.9-78.0.0.0.1.ELhugemem
All
I need to run a preconfigured Vmware VM on one of ours Enterprise Linux servers. I've already installed VMware-Player-3.1.2-301548.i386.bundle on the machine, no error message, but now when I try to run vmplayer I am getting the following message:
before you can run vmware, several modules must be compiled and loaded into the running kernel:
kernel headers 2.6.9-78.0.0.0.1.ELHugemem
kernel headers for version 2.6.9-78.0.0.0.1.ELHugemem were not found...
I've already searched both on google and on Oracle website for a package containing this version of kernel headers, but didn't find them.
I've did an up2date -i kernel-devel, some kernel headers got installed, but it seems they are at the wrong version:
[root@dscdap01 ~]# ls -la /usr/src/kernels/
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Nov 2 06:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Dec 4 2008 ..
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Nov 1 09:42 2.6.9-89.31.1.0.1.EL-hugemem-i686
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Nov 2 06:59 2.6.9-89.31.1.0.1.EL-i686
As far as I can see, I have two paths for solving this:
1: update the running kernel to 2.6.9-89.31.1.0.1.EL-hugemem-i686 - in order to do that I'll have to restart the machine, which is quite risky because this is an important machine used for many projects and I do not have physical access to it; in case something goes wrong I'll have to make an SR to the GIT guys, and pray for a quick resolution
2. find this particular version on kernel headers (2.6.9-78.0.0.0.1.ELHugemem), install them in a non-standard location and then point vmplayer installer to that location in order to compile and plug them into the running kernel
Questions:
- If I choose the 2nd path:
-- where can I find this particular kernel headers version?
-- after vmplayer compiles them, will it request a machine restart, or plugging them into the running kernel will be possible without restart?
-- I already did an up2date -u, so the entire system excepting the running kernel is updated to whatever is in Oracle's internal repositories. Will this conflict somehow with an older running kernel and modules?
-If I choose the 1th path (update the kernel itself and reboot the machine):
-- will then vmplayer be able to compile and install the kernel modules without asking for another restart?
Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Any idea is appreciated, even pointing me to someone in Oracle that might help (I am an Oracle employee) would be useful.
Regards
Serban