AutoLab on VMware Fusion

I have noticed that you can’t find much about installing the AutoLab on a Mac running VMware Fusion.  Here are some notes on getting it going.  The first thing I noticed about trying to get this setup was that we needed to utilize Nicholas Weaver’s UBER Network Fuser.  Why, you ask?  Well, one of the biggest limiting factors between VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion is the inability to create customized networks beyond the defaults.  This tool allows us to create up to 10 other networks beyond the two defaults.  Once you start this tool, you will want to create a network called VMnet3.  This network is one that is used by the AutoLab VMs.  If you read through the AutoLab documentation you will see that it will need to live on the 192.168.199.0/24 subnet…but wait…we can’t edit the subnet in UBER Network Fuser.  Well, here is the way to edit this:

  1. Open up Terminal.
  2. Do the following:  cd /Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion
  3. You will want to edit the file called “networking”.  So:  vi networking
  4. Find the IP that UBER Network Fuser has chosen in this file for VMnet3 and change it to reflect 192.168.199.0.

    Screenshot of the networking file and what to look for.

  5. Save the file.

Are we done?  Nope…one more quick thing before I let you go.  I found that when bringing the AutoLab VMs into Fusion one will want to copy them to their Virtual Machines folder and then rename the VM’s folder to <VMname>.vmwarevm.  This will allow UBER Network Fuser to see the VMs so you can adjust the custom networks as needed.  Now after this has been completed, you should be able to continue through the AutoLab documentation and start placing the content needed on the NAS VM.  if you have any questions then please feel free to ask in the comments.  I will continue to post more as needed as I get this configured on my MBP.

  • Jessie

    Does this work on Fusion 5 on Mountain Lion? Because vSphere5AutoLab_vSphere_v1_1.vmwarevm is not recognized.

    • http://vsential.com/ James Bowling

      It should work. I am running Fusion 5 on Mountain Lion and the file extension is still the same with the .vmwarevm. Is it just that Fusion isn’t seeing the VM? If so, what step are you at and when are you having this issue?

      • Jessie

        I download vSphere5AutoLab_vSphere_v1_1.zip. After unzipping I added the .vmwarevm extension. I tried refreshing UBER Network, but it can’t see it. I even tried to start it, but it keeps giving an error message a “Damaged and cannot be open”. I tried to import the OVF file, but it keeps failing. Thanks for responding.

  • Jessie

    I tried downloading it again. Unzip the file and added the extension .vmwarevm. I quit and restarted UBER Network Fuser. I also tried to import the folder, still getting an error. I also tried starting the file by double clicking and I get an error message “the VM is damaged”. Thx

    • http://vsential.com/ James Bowling

      That is because you are renaming the wrong thing. You need to extract the contents of that folder. Inside that archive you will see a folder called Lab_Local. Inside that folder you will find all of the VMs. Rename the folders inside of Lab_Local with the .vmwarevm extension. If you download the documentation and follow along in it you will see where it states to rename the folders. Let me know if that helps!

      • Jessie

        Hi James,

        I did read the documentation. The files in the vSphere5AutoLab_vSphere_v1_1 unzip file are :

        AutoLab-disk1.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk10.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk11.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk12.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk2.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk3.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk4.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk5.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk6.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk7.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk8.vmdk
        AutoLab-disk9.vmdk
        AutoLab-file1.flp
        AutoLab-file2.flp
        AutoLab-file3.flp
        AutoLab-file4.flp
        AutoLab-file5.flp
        AutoLab-file6.flp
        AutoLab-file7.flp
        AutoLab-file8.flp
        AutoLab.mf
        AutoLab.ovf

        Did I download the wrong file? I appreciate you help.

        Thanks

        Jessie

        • http://vsential.com/ James Bowling

          Yes, you want to download the one for Workstation.