Description
This article describes which OS versions are currently available for use with the Cloud / CaaS application.
Content / Solution:
CloudControl supports two different methods for deploying servers: 'Guest OS Customization' deployments and 'Non-Guest OS Customization' deployments. The table below identifies which methods are supported for which Operating Systems as well as whether an OS Image is provided for the specified Operating System and whether Cloud Backup services are supported. For more details on the difference between these methods, see Introduction to Cloud Server Provisioning, OS Customization, and Best Practices.
You can view additional information about which Operating Systems are supported on the Supported Operating Systems dashboard. See Navigating the Supported Operating Systems Dashboard
UNIX Operating Systems
Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
Network Adapters and Supported Operating Systems
CloudControl supports five different 'Network Adapters' (also referred to as 'NIC Types') as defined by VMware in their KB article Choosing a network adapter for your virtual machine. These adapters define how the NIC will appear to the Guest Operating System. The five available types are as follows:
- e1000 - An emulated version of the Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet NIC. The advantage of this NIC is that it will work even if VMware Tools is not running.
- e1000e - This version emulates a newer model of the Intel Gigabit NIC (number 82574) in the virtual hardware. This is known as the 'e1000e' vNIC. e1000e is available only on hardware version 8 (and newer) virtual machines in vSphere 5.
- VMXNET3 - VMware's paravirtualized NIC designed for ideal performance. It provides better performance, but does not work unless VMware Tools is running. This means that if VMware Tools stops running, all network connectivity to and from the NIC will be lost until VMware Tools is restored.
- VMXNET2/Enhanced - The VMXNET2 adapter is based on the VMXNET adapter, but provides some high performance features commonly used on modern networks, such as jumbo frames and hardware offloads. This virtual network adapter is available only for some Guest Operating Systems on ESXi/ESX 3.5 and later. Because Operating System vendors do not provide built-in drivers for this card, you must install VMware Tools to have a driver for the VMXNET2 network adapter available.
- PCNET32/Flexible - The Flexible network adapter identifies itself as a Vlance adapter when a virtual machine boots, but initializes itself and functions as either a Vlance or a VMXNET adapter, depending on which driver initializes it. With VMware Tools installed, the VMXNET driver changes the Vlance adapter to the higher performance VMXNET adapter.
However, for a given Operating System, the system will only make available whatever adapters are defined by VMware to be 'supported' for the Operating System as defined in the VMware Guest OS Compatibility Guide. Therefore, some adapters may not be available for a given Operating System. For example, Microsoft Windows 2012 and Windows 2012 R2 variants are only supported for the VMXNET3 and e1000e adapters, so the system will only allow these two options for the NICs on this OS. In the case of Operating Systems where the specific version cannot be identified (for example, imports of Ubuntu that are imported as "UBUNTU?/64"), the system will present only options that work for all variants.
If a specific network adapter is not specified for a given Cloud Server deployment:
- For Guest OS Customization deployments, the system will default to the 'recommended' VMware option for the Operating System
- For Non-Guest OS Customization deployments, the system will match the same NIC adapters as the source Image.
Note that you can change the value of a given Network Adapter on a deployed Cloud Server as described in How to Change the Network Adapter of a NIC on a Cloud Server.