bdattilo

This FAQ will guide you in the install of SUSE Linux on VMware server, and how to set up the SMP Folding@Home client on this virtual machine.



To verify if the CPU will work, run the VMware "Processor Check for 64-Bit Compatibility" located here.





Step 1: Download and install VMware

• Go to the VMware server website and download VMware. The site is located at http://www.vmware.com/download/server/ On this site, download VMware server 1.0.0, and also register for your free VMware serial key.

• Install VMware, and put in the serial that you have received.

Step 2: Download Open SUSE 10.2

• Go to the Open SUSE website, and download the x86_64 Open SUSE DVD. The web address is http://en.opensuse.org/Released_Version The HTTP DVD download is much faster than the Torrent and the Metalink download.

• Save the .iso to a file in which you can find it later

Step 3: Configure VMware

• Now that you have VMware installed, and the linux .iso downloaded, it is time to make a virtual machine.

• Open the VMware server console and select ‘Local Host’ You may get a warning about not having VMware tools not installed, just ignore the warning.

• Select ‘New Virtual Machine’ from the VMware window.

• This will open a new window. Hit ‘Next,’ and then in the next dialog select ‘Typical’ configuration, and hit ‘Next.’

• Next choose the guest operating system. Check the ‘Linux’ box, and in the drop down menu, select ‘SUSE Linux 64-Bit.’

• In the next window you can give your Virtual Machine a name, and choose where the virtual disk is located. The default location is C:\Virtual Machines\SUSE Linux 64-bit. Hit next to move to network settings.

• Choose what kind of networking you want the Virtual Machine to have. The default is ‘Bridged networking’ which allows the Virtual Machine access to the Ethernet controller on the host machine. Select an option and hit ‘Next.’

• In the next window select how much disk space you want to allocate for the Virtual Machine. The default and recommended is 8GB. You can change the value if you wish. Keep ‘Allocate now’ selected, as this will increase performance in the future. Hit ‘Finish’ to move to the next step.

• VMware will create the disk, which will take some time.

• Once the disk has been created, you will have a SUSE Linux 64-bit tab in the VMware server window. Select ‘Edit Virtual Machine Settings’ to open a config window.

• In the configuration window, select ‘CDROM’ on the left hand console, and then select ‘Use .iso image’ on the right. Browse to the location of the SUSE .iso that you downloaded, and select it.

• You will also need to go down to ‘Processors,’ and select VMware to detect two, or the SMP will not detect your dual-core.

• Hit 'OK,' and this will take you back to the sever console window, and now it is time to start up the virtual machine. Select ‘Start this virtual machine’.

• We will now install SUSE.

Step 4: Install Open SUSE 10.2

• When you hit ‘Start Virtual Machine,’ the console will disappear, and what you now have is the ‘monitor’ attached to the VPC. The Linux install window will come up, and select ‘Installation.’ You will have to click inside the VMware window to be able to select it, but you can release your cursor at any time by pressing ‘Ctrl-Alt.’

• Press ‘Enter’ and the linux kernel will start to load. This will take some time, and as soon as it is finished, the install window will appear.

• Select the language of the install, and click ‘Next.’

• Agree to the license agreement, and press ‘Next’. SUSE will now scan for devices on your system.

• In the next dialog, select ‘New Installation,’ and click ‘Next.’

• Select your time zone, and click ‘Next.’

• In the next window, you can select your desktop environment. You can choose between GNOME, or KDE. KDE is ‘more like windows’ and GNOME is more stable and a bit faster. Check out http://www.psychocats.net/essays/kdevsgnome for an essay about the differences in KDE and GNOME. Personally, I use KDE.

• Click ‘Next,’ and you will get the install summary window. To start installing, select ‘Next.’

• Now SUSE will install. This will take between 15-30 minutes.

• After the install is complete, you will set the root password.

• Next, in the network configuration, select ‘Use following configuration,’ and click ‘Next.’

• The install will now test the internet connection by downloading updates. Select ‘Test’ and click ‘Next.’

• You are then taken to a window to allow you to configure online updates. Select ‘Configure now’ and hit ‘Next.’

• In the next window you can choose to run or skip online updates. Choose ‘Run updates,’ and press ‘Next’ to enter update window. Select all updates and hit ‘Accept’ in the lower right hand corner to download them. Hit ‘Next’ after the install is complete to continue.

• Next set up the users. Select ‘Local Authentication,’ and press ‘Next.’ Then type in the name of the user, and password. Make sure to UNCHECK ‘Automatic login! Select ‘Next’ to continue.

• The system will not set up users, and clean up install files. You will then view the release notes (click ‘Next’) and will be taken to hardware configuration window. Detecting hardware will take a while, and the screen might flash several times. Select ‘Use following configuration’ when done detecting, and click ‘Next.’

• SUSE has now been installed. Click ‘Finish’ to restart the machine to boot up for the first time in Linux.

Step 5: Logging in and configuring Folding@Home

• When logging into Linux, we will want to use the ‘root’ username, and the root password, which was assigned in the installation. Type ‘root’ in username, the the password, and login.

• Enter the Linux desktop, and wait for a second. There will be many popup ‘welcome to linux’ windows, so just close them. You might also get an error about your monitor, just ignore that.

• To start setting up Folding@Home, we will need to access the Terminal, also called the Konsole. This can be found in the menus of KDE and GNOME.

• Once the terminal is open, we need to create a directory for F@H. Type (without “”) “mkdir /folding/” Hit enter, and this will create a directory.

• Then type “cd /folding” to change the directory to your folding direcotry that you just created.

• After the directory has been created, we need to get the SMP folding client from the Stanford site. Still in the terminal, type:
  “wget http://folding.stanford.edu/release/FAH_SMP_Linux.tgz” and press enter.

• This will now download the client, and there will be a download progress bar.

• After the client has been downloaded, type “tar xzf FAH_SMP_Linux.tgz” in the terminal window. Hit enter after typing this command.

• You are now ready to run the client. Still in the terminal, type “./fah6” and hit enter. The F@H configuration window will show up, and put in user name, team info (37726!), and configure the other folding options.

• Select advanced folding options, and make sure to set the save interval to 3 minutes, and to always use the advmethods flag. See below for all the settings.

• The client will now download and begin to work on the first work unit.

• If you ever turn off the virtual machine, you can start up the folding client again by typing "cd /folding" and then "./fah6" in the terminal window. You are now ready to fold!! Good luck!

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bdattilo

Here is my FAQ! Hope you all enjoy. If you would like a MS Word copy of this, please PM me your e-mail address, and title the PM 'SMP FAQ'.

Would like to give props to stevemc and Enterprise for looking this over,
Also props to my teammates on Team Ascension, and Taeric for answering all my noobish folding questions!
Big thanks to Whodie for helping me out with SMP config, and also for pre-reading this FAQ.

If you have any suggestions or just general comments, please PM me or post in this thread!

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Check out my Remote Desktop FAQ!

SHaCK

That's totally noob-proof rock solid!!

Good job

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Folding for - Team Ascension.

Hiba

seconded!

rep+

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bdattilo

Thanks guys! Still working on getting this posted....lol
Still need to get to the config inside of linux! Be done in 1/2 hour or so....

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Check out my Remote Desktop FAQ!

Whodie

Sticky!!!!!!

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Project: That's tha FIRE!

Mastacator

How does SMP folding with Suse compare to folding with Ubuntu? Anyone?

Whodie

Probably about the same, Ubuntu may be slightly faster. The difference would be marginal though

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Project: That's tha FIRE!

stevemc

It bears repeating... this is solid work... even I could do SMP with these instructions...

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Go you Redbirds

Hiba

Seriously man...the directional faqs which were posted earlier on another website cannot compare to this. Fabulous work!!!

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