Nesting VM (Proxmox inside VMWare): is it possible?

[italian01]

Hi to all readers,

I'm new here, and I'm also new Proxmox user. That being stated, I get immediatly to the point: I'd like to test Proxmox under VMWare Workstation 8 installed on Win 7.

I already tried this but, unluckly, without good result. So, I'll describe follow my enviroment:

• Host OS: WINDOWS 7 64bit.
• VMWare: Workstation 8.
• CPU: Pentium Dual-Core E6600 3.06GHz (VT-x supported).
• Proxmox VE: 2.6.32-7-pve.

Hence, I installed without problems Proxmox under VMWare. I connected my browser to webserver of this new Virtual Machine, and I tried to create new VM under Proxmox. Settings of this one following:

> qm config 100

​

• 
  [*=1]bootsik: ide0
  [*=1]cores: 1
  [*=1]ide0: local:100/vm-100-disk-1.raw
  [*=1]ide2: none, media=cdrom
  [*=1]memory: 288
  [*=1]name: RDP
  [*=1]net0: virtio=224:32:6B:1E:EA,bridgge=vmbr0
  [*=1]ostype: wxp
  [*=1]sockets: 1

​

So, I started that VM and it stops like follow:

> qm start 100

​

• 
  [*=1]No accelerator found!

I tried to understand what was the problem, and after long googling I read that I had to see "vmx" flag in "cpuinfo" under "proc" folder, but it wasn't so in my case:

> cat /proc/cpuinfo

​

• 
  [*=1]processor: 0
  [*=1]vendor_id: GenuineIntel
  [*=1]cpu family: 6
  [*=1]model: 23
  [*=1]model name: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E6600 @ 3.96GHz
  [*=1]stepping: 10
  [*=1]cpu MHz: 3066.640
  [*=1]cache size: 2048 KB
  [*=1]fpu: yes
  [*=1]fpu_exception: yes
  [*=1]cpuid level: 13
  [*=1]wp: yes
  [*=1]flags: fpu wme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx constant_tsc up arch_perform pebs pebs bts xtopology tsc_reliable nonstop_tsc aperfmperf unfair_spinlock pni ssse3 cx16 xsave hypervisor lahf_lm dts
  [*=1]bogmips: 6133.28
  [*=1]clflush size: 64
  [*=1]cache_alignment: 64
  [*=1]address sizes: 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
  [*=1]power management:

​

At this point, my question is: what do I have to do for resolving this issue?

Thank's for your attention.

Best Regards.

​

 

[daveo]

Hi italian01,

I think the correct term is that KVM & VMWare (64bit) use hardware assisted (or accelerated) virtualisation. The host can not expose the hardware assistance to a guest, so a guest can not be a host using this technology.

You *might* be able to start a guest in your KVM/Proxmox environment by passing the start command to qemu, but I'm sure this is not an advisable route since your experience will not be comparable to a real proxmox install.

Regards,
Dave

 

[tom]

you can use container, but not KVM guests.

 

[JimH]

You should be able to do this, VMWare 8 does support VTx passthrough but you need to change the virtualisation engine under machine settings, processors. Mine is set for preferred mode: intel VT-x or AMD-V and Virtualise Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI. You get a message saying that it is reverting to automatic when you start your machine.
I haven't installed proxmox but I have installed another VE program that uses KVM and it works just fine.
You can also run this type of program under ESX but it is a little more involved (not much though)

 

[italian01]

First of all,

thank you so much for your attention.

you can use container, but not KVM guests.

Ok, Tom: I've understood your messagge, but what about this VMWare document: "Running Nested VMs" ( http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8970 )?

Here, VMWare states that nesting is possible, even with both Xen and KVM guest hypervisor! Could this document suggests you something for helping me in any way? I tryed to apply its line-guide, but not everything is clear to me.

You should be able to do this, VMWare 8 does support VTx passthrough but you need to change the virtualisation engine under machine settings, processors. Mine is set for preferred mode: intel VT-x or AMD-V and Virtualise Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI. You get a message saying that it is reverting to automatic when you start your machine.
I haven't installed proxmox but I have installed another VE program that uses KVM and it works just fine.
You can also run this type of program under ESX but it is a little more involved (not much though)

JimH, I made those very settings to mine! Yet, my result was which one I have already reported above.

Another question: why doesn't my guess hypervisor make me able for adding "cdrom" to my VM? When I try to set to my existing VM "CD/DVD (ide2)" by "Use physical CD/DVD Drive", it states (by popup titled "Error"): "image '/cdrom' does not exists (500)". Yet, Proxmox shell permits mountig of this media drive (both CDROM and DVD)! And, it permits navigation through media content... Where am I making mistakes??

Thank's for your attention.

Regards.

 

[tom]

I just successfully installed a Proxmox VE inside VMware Workstation 8, using nested virtualization.

I installed win7 on my hp microserver (AMD cpu), then vmware workstation 8 on top. as vmware guest, I installed Proxmox 2.0 rc1 and as guest inside Proxmox VE I run Ubuntu as KVM guest.

not really useful for me but seems to work

 

[JimH]

Italian01, are you certain that you have "hardware virtualisation" / AMD-V / VTx enabled in your bios (on the host system). I have seen systems that do not allow it even though the cpu is capable.

 

[tom]

just to add, I cannot get it working on Intel CPU´s, maybe I got too old ones.

 

[italian01]

just to add, I cannot get it working on Intel CPU´s, maybe I got too old ones.

Maybe...! Fact remains that I've the Intel CPU with VT-x supporting, enabled by BIOS as well, and with no-particular settings (if which one exists) I get above error message.

Italian01, are you certain that you have "hardware virtualisation" / AMD-V / VTx enabled in your bios (on the host system). I have seen systems that do not allow it even though the cpu is capable.

JimH: yes, I enabled HW-V by BIOS. In fact, running little utility known as securable.exe ( http://www.GRC.com/SecurityNow ), I got following info:

HARDWARE VIRTUALIZATION: Locked ON! (that's, in other words, HW-V is on and it's setted on secure-mode).

Anywat, I found a way to bypass the "accelarion" issue: setting VM' option "KVM HW-V" to "No". So, I can start my new Virtual Machine guessed by ProxMox now.

Now, what remains is the issue with cdrom: have you got any suggestion for me, please??

Thanks for your attention.

Regards.

 

[tom]

...
Now, what remains is the issue with cdrom: have you got any suggestion for me, please??

Thanks for your attention.

Regards.

new question, new thread please.

 

[eilz]

....................

Anywat, I found a way to bypass the "accelarion" issue: setting VM' option "KVM HW-V" to "No". So, I can start my new Virtual Machine guessed by ProxMox now.

Now, what remains is the issue with cdrom: have you got any suggestion for me, please??

Thanks for your attention.

Regards.

Where do you set the option "KVM HW-V" to "No" ???

 

[tom]

Where do you set the option "KVM HW-V" to "No" ???

on 1.9, see "Virtual Machine Configuration: Options - Disable KVM"
on 2.0, see "Virtual Machine: Options - KVM hardware virtualization"

 

[jozwikjp]

I just successfully installed a Proxmox VE inside VMware Workstation 8, using nested virtualization.

I installed win7 on my hp microserver (AMD cpu), then vmware workstation 8 on top. as vmware guest, I installed Proxmox 2.0 rc1 and as guest inside Proxmox VE I run Ubuntu as KVM guest.

not really useful for me but seems to work

Thank you, also on workstation 8 on a i7. Checked "Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI" under processor and that fixed it running in nested with acceleration.