Today I had to install a new iFolder server in a VMWare ESX environment. It was a  little more difficult than I expected it to be.  Everything from the mono .Net layer, to openLDAP, to iFolder over SSL had it’s own little challenges.  Hopefully this step by step will help a few of you out getting this very slick personal backup and file sharing solution installed and running.

• Step 1 (you are here)
• Step 2 – Finalize the LDAP server
• Step 3 – Finalize the iFolder Web server

Step 1 – The Virtual Machine setup

Since I’m using a separate LDAP server from the iFolder web server, I decided to start with an OpenSUSE 10.3 virtual template that I could then use to customize each server.  Also, this would give me a good fall back point if I decided to start over the build process for either one of them.   Its a pretty basic virtual machine setup.  I started with a 4GB disk, 1024 MB of memory, 2 CPUs, 1 NIC, etc.  I set my guest operating system to “Other Linux 32-bit”.

I set the full ISO for openSUSE-10.3-GM-GNOME-i386.iso to be my Datastore ISO file so I could boot the VM and get the install started.  You could probably get away with the net-install ISO, but this was an ISO I already had a copy of in my datastore. (Note: make sure you set the status of your virtual CD/DVD Drive to both Connected and Connected at power on)

Starting up the VM, I was greated with the OpenSUSE welcome screen.  Even though I have the full ISO downloaded, I like to do network based installs because the CD always seems to be missing a package or two that I’d like to install.  Also, since I’m doing very minimal installs, the download time required is pretty small.  So hit F4 to change your source and enter in the details of your preferred mirror and get the install going…

Installation Steps

1. Select your language
2. Accept the license agreement
3. Select New Installation (this will download lots of files the the online mirror you selected on the Welcome screen.  The downloads took about 3 minutes on my network)
4. Timezone: set your timezone and clock settings
5. Desktop Selection: I use “Other – Text Mode”
6. Installation Settings:
   1. Partitioning: for me, no changes
   2. Software: Since I’m only doing a base installation right now, no changes here
   3. Locale Settings: again, no changes
   4. Click Accept, and then confirm on the popup window that appears
7. Now you get to watch the installation process.  The 210 MB download and install took about 20 minutes for me.  After the install finishes, the system will automatically reboot.  If you want to create a virtual machine template, this is a great spot to do it, power off the virtual machine when it starts the boot up process.
8. Back in your VMWare Infrastructure Client, right-click on your guest, “OPENSUSE10.3″ in my case, and select “Convert to template…”
9. That’s all for Step 1, in Step 2 we’ll tackle the rest of the install for the LDAP server and Web server.

• Step 1 (you are here)
• Step 2 – Finalize the LDAP server
• Step 3 – Finalize the iFolder Web server