CoreOS

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The CoreOS documentation provides information about how to install the operating system in a virtual machine. For additional information about the operating system, refer to the CoreOS web site.

The CoreOS documentation includes the following topics:

• Installation Instructions for CoreOS
• Installing Tools in an CoreOS Guest
• Knowledge Base Articles for CoreOS
• VMware Compatibility Guide

You can install the CoreOS operating system on a virtual machine by using the VMware VMDK or VMware OVA file format.

Installation Instructions for CoreOS builds 494 through 522

Prerequisites

Before you begin, verify that the following tasks are complete:

• Read General Installation Instructions for All VMware Products.
• Read General Knowledge for CoreOS at the CoreOS website.
• Open the Stable page at CoreOS webpage and open the directory of the build that you want to deploy.
• Download the coreos_production_vmware_image.vmdk.bz2 and coreos_production_vmware.vmx files.
• Decompress the coreos_production_vmware_image.vmdk.bz2 file.
• Place coreos_production_vmware_image.vmdk and coreos_production_vmware.vmx in the same directory.
• (Optional)If you want to deploy CoreOS on a ESXi host, download the VMware OVF Tool from https://developercenter.vmware.com/tool/ovf/3.5.2 and install the tool.

Installation Steps for VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion

1. For VMware Workstation, right-click the coreos_production_vmware.vmx file and select Open with VMware Workstation.
2. (Optional)For VMware Fusion, right-click the coreos_production_vmware.vmx file and click Open with>VMware Fusion.

Installation Steps for vSphere ESXi server.

1. Login to the machine that has OVF tool installed.
2. Run the ovftool coreos_production_vmware.vmx coreos_production_vmware.ovf command to convert the VMDK file to OVF file.
3. Log in to your vCenter Server by using vSphere Web Client.
4. Click Actions>Deploy OVF Template... and navigate to the coreos_production_vmware.ovf file.
5. Follow the prompts to complete the VM deployment.

Installation Instructions for CoreOS builds 557 and later

You can use the following installation steps to create a CoreOS VM by using VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, or vSphere Web Client.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, verify that the following tasks are complete:

• Read General Installation Instructions for All VMware Products.
• Read General Knowledge for CoreOS at the CoreOS website.
• Open the Stable page at the CoreOS web page and open the directory of the build that you want to deploy.
• Download the coreos_production_vmware_ova.ova file.

Installation Steps for VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion

1. For VMware Workstation, right-click the coreos_production_vmware_ova.ova file and select Open with VMware Workstation.
2. (Optional)For VMware Fusion, right-click the coreos_production_vmware_ova.ova file and click Open with>VMware Fusion.
3. Follow the prompts to finish the import process.

Installation Steps for vSphere ESXi server

1. Log in to your vCenter Server by using vSphere Web Client.
2. Click Actions>Deploy OVF Template... and navigate to the coreos_production_vmware_ova.ova file.
3. Follow the prompts to complete the VM deployment.

Enable Auto login for CoreOS

1. Power on your CoreOS VM and open the console.
2. When the boot loader prompts you to edit GRUB, enter e immediately.
3. To enable automatic login to the shell as a core default user, add coreos.autologin as a boot parameter in the GNU GRUB screen, press Ctrl-x or F10 to boot.
4. Run the sudo passwd core command to set the login password for the core user.

Installing Tools in an CoreOS Guest

Use the guest OS provided Open VM Tools.

Open VM Tools in CoreOS

Open VM Tools is the open source implementation of VMware Tools and consist of a suite of virtualization utilities that improves the functionality, administration, and management of virtual machines on VMware hypervisors. VMware recommends using the Open VM Tools redistributed by the operating system vendors.

CoreOS 490.0.0 and later releases include open-vm-tools that is installed in the /usr/share/oem/ directory.

For additional information, see:

• Knowledge base article 2073803, VMware support of open-vm-tools, at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2073803.
• Knowledge base article 2073804, VMware support for Linux inbox VMware drivers, at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2073804.

Knowledge Base Articles for CoreOS

The following link refers to knowledge base articles on operating system specific issues. See VMware Knowledge Base for a list of known issues about the operating system.

VMware Compatibility Guide

The VMware Compatibility Guide Web site lists supported guest and host operating systems and provides related support information.