>I have been installing OpenBSD 4.6 inside a VMWare ESXi 4.0 virtual machine >and ran into a strange behavior I can't explain... it seems to cache my >installation options between totally unrelated virtual machines. The >process goes like this: > >I create a new 'Typical' virtual machine, select 'Other' as the guest OS and >choose 'Other (32-bit)' in the Version pulldown menu. I accept all default >settings (256MB ram, 1 vCPU, 8GB disk, etc) and check the Thin Provisioning >disk allocation checkbox. I then associate the cd46.iso file (stored on a >datastore) with the virtual cdrom drive and boot off of it to begin the >installation process, where I specify a local LAN ftp server to fetch the >install media from. > >The install process goes as expected and the virtual machine is running >happily along... The thing is, when I create a second brand new virtual >machine using the process described above and get to the 'select install >media' step, it already has my local ftp server's name populated! As far as >I can tell, the only thing in common between the two installation processes >is the cd46.iso file. > >This isn't necessarily bad, I just can't explain why its happening. Two >questions: > >1) Is anyone else observing this behavior? >2) Can anyone explain why it is occurring?
It is entirely intentional, and designed into the install scripts. For the large majority of people, this is very helpful behaviour. For people using NAT and other IP sharing mechanisms, yes, it can be akward, but you are (and will remain) in the minority.
