[BlueOnyx:08449] Re: vmware ESXi 4.0 and 5107R

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Miguel,

> I am running a VMware ESXi 4.0 machine in which i have installed a
> virtual server with a 5107R distro with all updates and some other
> software.
> 
> I am trying to replicate the 5107R by copy-paste the vm files and then
> starting the copy.
> 
> All is working well excpet that i can not figure how to change the mac
> address of each  5107R  copy.

Actually the MAC addresses of network interfaces are hardware specific. As you 
know, they're a unique identifier which is different for every network 
interface - even of the same model and make.

In a virtual environment the virtualization software (in your case ESXi) 
provides the MAC addresses. When you clone your VPS, it of apparently also 
keeps the MAC addresses the same, which is indeed undesireable.

So you would need to change these not inside the VPS, but through the settings 
of ESXi.

BlueOnyx just works with the MAC addresses that the hardware (or virtualized 
environment) provides and doesn't by itself care much about the MAC in 
general.

Upon CCEd start (or restart) the constructor 
/usr/sausalito/constructor/base/network/30_addNetwork.pl and checks which 
active network interfaces are there. It reads their settings (IP, netmask and 
MAC) and simply stores that information into the GUI database for future 
usage.

BlueOnyx itself has no mechanisms for changing the MAC, because usually the 
MACs don't need to be changed and the mechanisms for that are outside of the 
scope of the OS. As they're either provided by the hardware, or the 
virtualization layer.

It's probably best if you check the ESIx settings for the cloned VPS and see 
if you can change the MAC there, or ask someone who knows ESXi better than I 
do. 

Maybe someone else on the list has an answer?

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber