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Dell PowerEdge 1855 Blade

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:09:07 GMT

This document is a detail page for the Community-Supported Hardware/Software List.

Tell Us About the Product

Vendor	Dell
Product	PowerEdge 1855
Product Version	Blade
Tell Us About the Configuration You Tested
VMware Infrastructure	ESXi 4.0.1, ESXi 4.0, ESX 4.0.1, ESX 4.0, ESXi 3.5u4, ESX 3.5u4
Configuration Tested	Old blade with: 2 old Xeon (no VT support, but 64 bit support) 4 GB RAM
Integration Method
Tell Us About the Support Provided
Submitter	AndreTheGiant
Vendor Representative?	no
Configuration Supported?	no
Provider Name
Provider Contact
Provider URL
Support End Date
Known Issues	Not in vSphere HCL, but it works
Additional Comments

Community-Supported Hardware/Software List

HP HP Proliant ML 570 G3 G3

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:01:23 GMT

This document is a detail page for the Community-Supported Hardware/Software List.

Tell Us About the Product

Vendor	HP
Product	HP Proliant ML 570 G3
Product Version	G3
Tell Us About the Configuration You Tested
VMware Infrastructure	ESXi 3.5u4, ESXi 3.5u3, ESXi 3.5u2, ESX 3.5u4, ESX 3.5u3, ESX 3.5u2
Configuration Tested	2 old Xeon MP 12 GB RAM
Integration Method
Tell Us About the Support Provided
Submitter	AndreTheGiant
Vendor Representative?	no
Configuration Supported?	no
Provider Name
Provider Contact
Provider URL
Support End Date
Known Issues
Additional Comments	See also: ESX4 / ESXi 4 on Proliant 570 G4

Community-Supported Hardware/Software List

Some infos on VCP4

rothb — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:00:24 GMT

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

ich bin vom 09.11.2009 bis einschließlich 24.11.2009 nicht im Haus.

In dringenden Fällen wenden Sie sich bitte an unseren Service Desk (Tel.: 2098 oder hotline@klilu.de).

Vielen Dank.

Björn Roth
Administration
Z.E.N.works / Windows
Informationstechnologie

Physical vs VM vCenter Server

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:30:19 GMT

Over the yeas there have been some controversy over this topic. Should vCenter Server be a physical or a virtual machine?

But it's also very important understand with VMware service require a working vCenter Server:

VMware HA require vCenter only for the initial setup
VMware VMotion and SVMotion require vCenter only to start the operation
VMware DRS/DPM can work only with vCenter
Template provisiong require vCenter

In addition, you will also need to know where your SQL server is located, cause if you loose DB connection, the vCenter Server service will stop!
For this reason in medium/small environment could be a good idea put the on the same server also the DBMS.

Physical solution: pro and cons

Pro

With VI 3.x the license server can work also if ESX are down... this coul be useful to power on the ESX and the VM
It is not susceptible to a potential VI outage
Most scalable, cause performance are limited only by server hardware

Cons

A dedicated physical server is required (it's not recommended mix it with VCB or other services)
Backup must be done using tradition tools
Difficult to manage a disaster recovery solution
Not easy solutions for Business Continuity

Virtual solution: pro and cons

Pro

vCenter Server is just an "appliance", you do not need a dedicated physical server
Faster to restore, you can use VMware HA to restart vCenter Server
Each backup solution that work for a VM work also in this case
Simple solutions for Business Continuity
If you have VMotion license you can move the VM to one ESX to another

Cons

If you do not have VMotion license than you have to power-off vCenter Server to move between ESX (see VMotion section of How work without vCenter Server )
It is susceptible to a potential VI outage
It must contend for resources along with other VMs
In VI 3.x, if license server is on vCenter Server, you can have some big problems after 14 days of downtime (see http://www.riccardoriva.com/archives/703)

P2V or V2P

The P2V conversion is very simple and can be managed by VMware Converter without problem.
The V2P conversion could be a little complicated. See: Moving Virtual Center from VM back to Physical
To move the SQL Server database see this KB:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/7960893 - VMware Self-Service- Moving the VirtualCenter SQL Database

Reference

http://www.dailyhypervisor.com/?p=1054
Vcenter server physical or virtual
vCenter on a VM v/s vCenter directly on hardware?
Increase the availability of vCenter Server

Virtual NIC type

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:08:55 GMT

Available Network Adapters

The following network adapters may be available for your virtual machine, depending on the factors discussed above:

Vlance - An emulated version of the AMD 79C970 PCnet32 LANCE NIC, an older 10 Mbps NIC with drivers available in most 32bit guest operating systems except Windows Vista and later. A virtual machine configured with this network adapter can use its network immediately.

VMXNET - The VMXNET virtual network adapter has no physical counterpart. VMXNET is optimized for performance in a virtual machine. Because operating system vendors do not provide built-in drivers for this card, you must install VMware Tools to have a driver for the VMXNET network adapter available.

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.

E1000 - An emulated version of the Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet NIC, with drivers available in most newer guest operating systems, including Windows XP and later and Linux versions 2.4.19 and later.

VMXNET 2 (Enhanced) - The VMXNET 2 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 ESX/ESXi 3.5 and later.
VMXNET 2 is supported only for a limited set of guest operating systems:
- 32 and 64bit versions of Microsoft Windows 2003 (Enterprise and Datacenter Editions). You can use enhanced VMXNET adapters with other versions of the Microsoft Windows 2003 operating system, but a workaround is required to enable the option in VMware Infrastructure (VI) Client or vSphere Client. See Enabling enhanced vmxnet adapters for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (1007195) if Enhanced VMXNET is not offered as an option.
- 32bit version of Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- 32 and 64bit versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0
- 32 and 64bit versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
- 64bit versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0
- 64bit versions of Ubuntu Linux

VMXNET 3 - The VMXNET 3 adapter is the next generation of a paravirtualized NIC designed for performance, and is not related to VMXNET or VMXNET 2. It offers all the features available in VMXNET 2, and adds several new features like multiqueue support (also known as Receive Side Scaling in Windows), IPv6 offloads, and MSI/MSI-X interrupt delivery.
VMXNET 3 is supported only for virtual machines version 7 and later, with a limited set of guest operating systems:
- 32 and 64bit versions of Microsoft Windows XP and later
- 32 and 64bit versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 and later
- 32 and 64bit versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and later
- 32 and 64bit versions of Asianux 3 and later
- 32 and 64bit versions of Debian 4/Ubuntu 7.04 and later
- 32/64bit versions of Sun Solaris 10 U4 and later

Adapter Caveats

This section discusses some potential problems you might have.

Migrating virtual machines that use enhanced vmxnet
VMXNET 2 is new with ESX 3.5 virtual machines configured to have VMXNET 2 adapters cannot migrate to earlier ESX hosts, even though virtual machines can usually migrate freely between ESX 3.0 and ESX 3.0.x.
If you must migrate a virtual machine between later and earlier hosts, do not choose VMXNET 2.

Upgrading from ESX 2.x to ESX 3.x
When a virtual hardware upgrade operation transforms a virtual machine created on an ESX 2.x host to an ESX 3.x host, Vlance adapters are automatically upgraded to Flexible. In contrast, VMXNET adapters are not upgraded automatically because most or all Linux guest operating system versions do not reliably preserve network settings when a network adapter is replaced. Because the guest operating system thinks a Flexible adapter is still Vlance, it retains the settings in that case. If the upgrade replace a VMXNET adapter with a Flexible adapter, the guest operating system erroneously discards the settings.
After the virtual hardware upgrade, the network adapter is still VMXNET, without the fallback compatibility of the Flexible adapter. Just as on the original earlier host, if VMware Tools is uninstalled on the virtual machine, it cannot access its network adapters.

Adding virtual disks
Adding an existing earlier (ESX 2.x) virtual disk to an ESX 3.x virtual machine results in a de-facto downgrade of that virtual machine to ESX 2.x. If you are using ESX 3.x features, such as enhanced VMXNET or Flexible network adapters, the virtual machine becomes inconsistent. When you add an existing ESX 2.x virtual disk to an ESX 3.x machine, immediately use the Upgrade Virtual Hardware command to restore the virtual machine to the ESX 3 version. This problem does not arise when you add earlier virtual disks to an ESX/ESXi 4.0 virtual machine.
Note: Executing Upgrade Virtual Hardware changes the ESX 2 virtual disk so that it is no longer usable on an ESX 2 virtual machine. Consider making a copy of the disk before you upgrade one of the two copies to ESX 3 format.

Problems with VMware FT
The new vmxnet3 virtual NIC is not compatible with VMware FT, see: http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/07/05/another-reason-not-to-use-pvscsi-or-vmxnet3/

Performance difference

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_vmxnet3_perf.pdf
http://blog.vmpros.nl/2009/09/22/vmware-performance-evaluation-of-vmxnet3-virtual-network-device/

Reference

Choosing a network adapter for your virtual machine - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001805
http://blogs.vmware.com/networking/2009/06/what-vnic-choosing-an-adapter-for-your-vm.html
vmxnet3 - features and use information - tips and tricks
Which NIC for Windows 2008? E1000 or VMXNET 3?

ESXi vs Full ESX

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:07:34 GMT

ESX vs ESXi

ESX and ESXi official comparison:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006543 - VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015000 - VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison

Probably the big difference is that ESXi has a POSIX Management Appliance that runs within the vmkernel and ESX has a GNU/Linux Management Appliance that runs within a VM.

ESX vs. ESXi which is better?
http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/vmmeup/2009/04/07/esx-vs-esxi-which-is-better
Dilemma: buy vSphere with ESXi4 or with ESX4?

ESXi vs. ESX: A comparison of features
http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2009/06/esxi-vs-esx-a-comparison-of-features.html

ESXi limitations

No official interactive console (there is only a "unsupported" hidden console: http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vmware-esx-articles/general/how-to-access-the-vmware-esxi-hidden-console.html)
No official supported SSH access (there is only a "unsupported" access: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/08/10/howto-esxi-and-ssh/)
No support for some 3th part backup programs (see also Backup solutions for VMware ESXi)
No support for some 3th part programs
No hot-add feature for virtual disk in ESXi 4.0, but only on ESXi 3.5 (or also on ESXi Advanced with hot-add license)
No SNMP "get" polling"
No virtual Serial or Parallel port
No USB disk in the "console"
No support for mount ext2/ext3/ntfs/cifs filesystem in the console
No fully functional esxtop
No fully functional esxcfg-mpath
No vscsiStats tool
No PXE install or scriptable installation (but seems that there is a solution: http://www.mikedipetrillo.com/mikedvirtualization/2008/11/howto-pxe-boot-esxi.html)
Normally with a standalone ESXi host you'll get 1 hour of performance data, the graph should be set to reset every 20 seconds (you can also extend the performance data to 36 hours will a simple hack - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/extending_performance_data.php)

Free ESXi limitations

ESXi 4.0 free can not be connected to a vCenter Center (it required a VC agent license)
VCB does not work (it require a VCB license)
Lot of 3th part backup programs does not work with free ESXi (see also: Backup solutions for VMware ESXi)
RCLI and VMware Infrastructure toolkit are limited to read-only access for ESXi free
The free version of VMware ESXi does not support SNMP
The free version of VMware ESXi does not support Active Directory integration at this time
Free ESXi EULA has some interesting restrictions including enforced read only mode for v4 and later versions of v3.5.

See also: What's the difference between free ESXi and licensed ESXi?
http://vmetc.com/2008/08/10/whats-the-difference-between-free-esxi-and-licensed-esxi/
VMware ESX/ESXi EULA - http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/esx_esxi_eula.html

ESXi advantages

Small footprint
Can be installed on a flash card or USB key
Does not use a vmdk for console filesystems (as ESX 4.0 does)

Sources

Serious ESX vs ESXi in the Enterprise
Compare ESXi with ESX?
Re: list of features that you cannot use with ESX4i
Looking for more good comparisons of ESX 4 and 4i
Re: ESXi Free edition - limitations

VMFS vs RDM (vs VMDirectPath and other solutions)

AndreTheGiant — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:15:15 GMT

VM disk type

There are different solution for implement a VM disk:

(native) vmdk over VMFS datastore (see also the different VMDK virtual disk type)
(native) vmdk over NFS datastore (vmdk format usual is thin)
virtual RDM (not for NFS datastore)
physical RDM (not for NFS datastore)
NPIV RDM (only for FC storage)
(native) guest iSCSI
direct with VMDirectPath I/0 (see also VMware VMDirectPath I/O)

How to choose virtual disk for a VM, iSCSI initiator in ESX, iSCSI initiator in OS or RDM

Performance difference

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmfs_rdm_perf.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/performance_char_vmfs_rdm.pdf
http://www.virtualization.info/2008/02/benchmarks-vmware-vmfs-vs-raw-disk.html
http://it20.info/blogs/main/archive/2007/06/17/25.aspx

Virtual Compatibility Mode Compared to Physical Compatibility Mode
http://pubs.vmware.com/vi35/server_config/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=server_config&file=sc_adv_storage.12.6.html

VMDK disk vs RDM disk

VMFS vs. Physical Disk performance
vmfs or raw for vms? which to choose
Question re RDM vs VMDK for high performance
RDM vs. VMFS...again...
vmdk vs RDM for large disk
VMFS vs raw data mappings in windows 2008.
Difference between a VMDK disk and Virtual RDM disk

Usually the "keep it simple" approach is the best choice... and vmdk over VMFS are very simple...

But anything that adds an "additional layer of abstraction" must therefore create a (no matter how small) overhead. For this reason when you have mid-range to high-range I/O on a disk, the RDM will perform a little better than a vmdk inside a VMFS.

For any database over a reasonable size I could be a good idea to create the database drive as an RDM - first to remove any I/O hit, and second to give the flexibility to access that RDM-ed LUN on a physical box without the need to 'convert' or V2P it.

Remeber one thing that a lot of people forget... the VMFS mounts from your SAN come to the hosts over the SAME fibre infra as the RDMs (same switch, same HBA etc) - if one VMFS-hosted VM is leech-whoring all the FC bandwidth then having your database be on an RDM is not going to help matters, is it?

VMDK vs VMDirectPath I/O

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010789 - Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host
VMware VMDirectPath I/O

Actually VMDirectPath I/O it the best solution for VM with very high I/O, cause the performance are like in "native" mode.
But you loose a lot of the advantages of the virtualization: no VMotion, no backup, no cold migration between ESX, ...

VMDK vs native iSCSI

Re: iSCSI Performance
Creating VMFS on multiple internal SCSI disks

This solution could be very simple and "natural" in a iSCSI environment.
But remember that VM with a guest iSCSI cannot be protected with a backup solution for virtual environment, cause VCB, VDR or similar program can not "see" the iSCSI disks...

Backup solutions for VMware ESXi

AndreTheGiant — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:44:17 GMT

Free solutions

ghettoVCB
ghettoVCB.sh - Free alternative for backing up VM's for ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.0+
ghettoVCBg2 - Free alternative for backing up VMs in ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.x (no SSH console required!)
This script performs backups of virtual machines residing on ESX(i) 3.5/4.0+ servers using methodology similar to VMware's VCB tool.
It's created and well maintained by lamw

Other script based solutions
Another ESXi backup script
http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/gabrielmaciel/2008/12/08/free-vm-backup-alternative-for-esx-35-and-esxi
Re: Free ESXi Backup Solution for Windows
Any new backup VM Solutions - ESX 3.5

VMware Converter Standalone
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/
Is not designed as a backup solution, but could be used also for this purpose.

File copy solutions
For a powered off VM is possible to simple copy all the files in the VM folder.
To use also with a powered on VM you need to do create a VMware snapshot to unlock the *-flat.vmdk files
To make this copy several tools could be used:

Datastore browser (directly from VIC or vSphere Client)
SCP / Veeam fastSCP (need to enable SSH access: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/08/10/howto-esxi-and-ssh/)

VMware solutions (need license)

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)

VMware Data Recovery (VDR)
http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-data-recovery/

Commercial solutions that may support ESXi in the future releases

esXpress
http://phdvirtual.com/products/esxpress-virtual-backup
esXpress radically alters the notion of how to protect data in virtual infrastructures in one simple way: we use the virtual infrastructure to backup and restore itself!
esXpress v3.6 is Compatible with VMware ESX v3, v3.5 and vSphere4.

Vizioncore vRanger Pro 4.0
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vRangerPro/
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vRangerPro/documents/vRangerPro-DPP-FAQ.pdf
vRanger Pro Data Protection Platform (DPP) is the market-leading backup, recovery and backup management solution for virtual environments. The 4.0 release is the next generation of vRanger Pro which features a completely redesigned architecture, including plug-n-play modularity and a service-based architecture. VMware ESX3.x and VMware ESX 4.x upon initial release. Future releases include support for: VMware ESXi 3.x, VMware ESX & ESXi 3.x VCB, VMware ESXi 4.x, VMware ESX & ESXi 4.x VCB.

The free ESXi "problem"

With the free version of ESXi then you cannot actually use a third party tool to perform any backups. This is against your EULA. If it is the paid version of ESXi go for it.
So be sure which you are using to be sure you do not violate the EULA.

As for other mechanisms, you can snapshot the VM and then copy the data via the vSphere Client/VIC as well. There is also VMware Converter. These tools do not violate the EULA.

See also: http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=274 - VMware Forcing Third Parties to NOT Sell Products for Free ESXi

Storage based solutions

If you have a stora NFS base, then file copy could be simple...
For other shared storage you can use storage snapshots.

Backup ESXi configuration

You can use the RCLI to make a backup configuration of your ESXi host using
esxcfg-cfgbackup
You can find more information for the RCLI documentation here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_rcli.pdf

There are also other ways to do a backup of ESXi configuration, see:
http://www.r71.nl/index.php/kb/technical/212-vmware-esxi-configuration-backup
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/eslvmwre/DG/ESXi_3_5_U4/HTML/app_c.htm

VI 3.5 vs vSphere 4.0

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:44:54 GMT

VI 3.5 and vSphere 4.0

What’s New with VMware vSphere 4 - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/
What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0 - http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_40_new_feat.html
VMware vSphere Editions Comparison - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

Pro and cons

VI 3.5 pro

Does not require a "new" x64 CPU
Support old hardware - See HCL (http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility)
Less resources for ESX (1 GB vs 2 GB requirement)
Less resources for vCenter Server (3 GB vs 3 GB requirement)
Free ESXi can be managed by vCenter Server
VI 3.5 has the disk hot add feature also in free version (on vSphere you need at least the Advanced version)
Lab Manager 3 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also LM 4)
SRM 1 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also SRM 4)
View 3 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also View 4)
3th part tools may work only on VI 3.5 (but most of them now works also on vSphere)
It can use a 2 TB disk (without the 512B limitation)... ok it's bug... it's not a feature - Re: Disks bigger than 2TB - 512B are not supported.

vSphere pro

Faster on CPU, Mem, I/O - See also http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-vSphere-Performance-WP-EN.pdf
VMware Fault Tolerance (only with Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus) - See also VMware FT
Thin provisioning with GUI (in ESX 3.5 was possible only with CLI)
GUI Storage VMotion (but there was also 3th part GUI for VI 3.5)
Host profiles (only with Enterprise Plus)
vDistributed Network Switches and Cisco Nexus 1000v integration (only with Enterprise Plus)
vShield Zone (only with Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus)
VMware Data Recovery (only with Essential Plus, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus)
Hot pluggable (add/remove devices while VM's online)
Double resources support (ram, memory, etc.)
Support cloud solution & x64 bit architecture & seperate SC VM (vmdk)

Compatibility between products

You need last version of vSphere Client and vCenter Server to manage old and new products.
See also:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf - VMware Infrastructure Compatibility Matrixes

Downgrade to VI 3.5

New customers will have only the vSphere licenses.
To downgrade them to the VI 3.5 version see:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010533 - Downgrading a vSphere 4.0 license to a ESX 3.5 license

To evaluete VI 3.5 try to evaluete View 3, you will have also VI 3.5 evaluation licenses.

VMware FT

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:33:08 GMT

FT Information

http://www.vmware.com/products/fault-tolerance/
Meet the Engineer Series: VMware Fault Tolerance
http://tech.philipsellers.com/2008/09/20/introduction-to-vmware-ft-fault-tolerence/
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010601 - Understanding VMware Fault Tolerance
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013428 - VMware Fault Tolerance FAQ
FT not supported on Nehalem systems with hyperthreading enabled?

About vLockStep:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/05/28/instruction-level-lock-step-parallelism-on-desert-islands/
http://mordtech.com/tag/vlockstep/

FT requirements

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008027 - Processors and guest operating systems that support VMware Fault Tolerance

To check compatibility there is also a VMware utility:
Site Survey - http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html

FT 1.0 limitations

Only 1 vCPU for each VM protected by FT
Require compatible CPU (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008027)
No vmxnet3 support (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013757)
No snapshot support (and no VCB and other snap-based backup program)
No physical RDM (Need clearification on FT requirement)
Do not use both ESX and ESXi hosts in clusters with fault tolerant virtual machines (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013637)

FT vs VM HA or MSCS

FT does not protect against OS or application failures, only ESX host failures.
Clarificaiton on Fault Tolerance

Enable/Disable FT with script

Could be useful to implement some backup solution on FT protected VM.
on-demand FT, can this be automated?
ftCLI.pl - VMware Fault Tolerant Managment

Increase the availability of vCenter Server

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:33:30 GMT

Introduction

There are at least 3 solutions to have HA for vCenter Server:

use a VM for VC and use VMware HA
use vCenter Server Heartbeat product
use a MSCS solution for VC

VMware HA

http://www.vmware.com/products/high-availability/

Only usable when vCenter Server is a VM!
VMware HA require vCenter Server only for the initial setup and configuration.
Than it can work on ESX in a distributed mode, and vCenter Server is not needed to ensure the correct work of HA.
For this reason VMware HA can handle also vCenter Server restart (in this case the downtime could be some minutes...)

IMHO, for small/medium environment I prefer the VMware HA solution... very simple and cheap.
Be sure to have also the vCenter DB on your VM, or you have to find a HA solution also for your DB.

vCenter Server Heartbeat

http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-server-heartbeat/

In this case vCenter Server (the primary instance) could be a VM or a physical system. The secondary must be a VM!
Optimize availability and resiliency for VMware vCenter Server in any situation. VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat delivers the maximum uptime for your virtual datacenter infrastructure, ensuring consistent operation, even when VMware vCenter Server is threatened by unplanned or planned downtime.

MSCS or Failover Cluster

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/VC_MSCS.pdf
http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1111 - Reference Implementation: Clustering VirtualCenter 2.5 Using Microsoft Cluster Services

In this case vCenter Server (both the primary and the secondary node) could be a VM or a physical system!
You also need at least Windows Server 2003 (or 2008) Enterprise Edition.
Note that vCenter Server 2.5 is not supported on Windows Server 2008!

Similar to this solution is the usage of other cluster solutions, for example Veritas Cluster:
http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid94_gci1341780,00.html

Why not VMware FT?

Is it a good choice-using FT for virtual vCenter server redundancy?
Not yet... vCenter Server 4.0 require 2 vCPU (expecially if you have also a local DB).
FT 1.0 can work only with VM single vCPU.
For more information on FT see: VMware FT

How work without vCenter Server

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:58:31 GMT

For who does not have vCenter Server here are some features that can be realized (of course with a lots of limitations) also without this product.

Note also that now there is a new free management tool specific for ESXi that can do a lot of interesting task:
VMware Go - http://www.vmware.com/go/vmware-go/
VMware to launch Go: a free web management service for ESXi - http://www.virtualization.info/2009/08/vmware-to-launch-go-free-web-management.html
VMware Free Service Simplifies ESXi Hypervisor Use - http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Virtualization/VMware-Free-Service-Simplifies-ESXi-Hypervisor-Use-341468/

Host and VM Management

The client is still the same (vSphere Client or VI Client), just point directly to the ESX/ESXi name or IP.
You will loose all vCenter specific menu (migrate, template, cluster, converter, maps, alarms, ...)

VMware HA

VMware HA require vCenter Server only during installation, that the HA agents will work on the ESX/ESXi. Also you must be licensed for HA.

Without vCenter Server and with only two hosts (but is possible to do also with more) you have to use shell script and VMware CLI.
See:
http://vmetc.com/2009/03/25/script-for-vmware-ha-feature-without-virtualcenter/

Also you can try Starwind: in this whitepaper (http://www.starwindsoftware.com/vmware-availability-guide) you can read how to implement HA using SAN.

VM template

Re: Creating templates without VirtualCenter Server?
http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=8774

VM Host Migration (with shared storage)

If you have vCenter, you could shutdown the VM and do a cold migration. Or use VMotion on a live VM but only if you have VMotion license and a shared storage.

If you do not have vCenter Server, you can simply power off the VM, go on destination host, browse the datastore with the required VM, right click on the vmx file, add to the inventory and then power-on the VM.
There could be a question about keep or modify the UUID of the VM (on vSphere the question is about you have moved or you have copied the VM). Choose "keep" (or "moved").

This is very useful also in case where exist a vCenter Server, it's a VM, but there isn't a VMotion license (like in vSphere Essential bundle).
How to migrate vCenter Server VM

VM Storage Migration

If you have vCenter Server, you could shutdown the VM and do a cold migration. Or if the ESX host in which the guest is on local storage, can see the new shared storage, you can do an SVMotion and then you wouldn't have downtime.

If you do not have vCenter Server, you can copy the VM folder (with VM powered off) using cp commnad from ESX CLI.
Note that your datastore are under /vmfs/volumes.
After the copy you add add the "new" VM to the inventory, test it, and if all works delete the old one.

Upgrade a major release of ESX/ESXi

With vCenter Server is very simple: just use VUM.
Without vCenter Server there are different solutions.

ESXi 3.5 -> ESXi 4.0

http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/ESXi40_upgrade_without_virtualcenter.php
You can do it with "host upgrade utility" which is included to vSphere Client bundle.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011542 - Take a look at this VMware kb here on a method to obtain the Host Update Utility since you don't have vCenter.
You then download the media and add the media to the host update utility...

ESX 3.5 -> ESX 4.0

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1009440 - Performing an offline upgrade from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0 on a local ESX host
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf

Backup

VCB and most of the beackup programs can works both with vCenter Server or directly with ESX/ESXi.
Just point to the ESX name or IP.
See also: VCB backup without vCenter vSphere 4.0 Standard

SRM without SRM

Automating Disaster Recovery without SRM

Censimento VUG Italia

stecche — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:13:30 GMT

Grazie,me ne sono accorto solo adesso,avevo aperto un blog,ma con scarso successo,in Italia si sat diffondendo da circa 1 anno la virtualizzazione.

io sono ormai 6 anni che me ne occupo

Master VCP

scott28tt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:02:48 GMT

I've been advised that is the case

Scott.

Blog: http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com
Web: http://www.thinkvirtually.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/vmtraining and http://twitter.com/thinkvirtually

Virtual SCSI Adapter type

AndreTheGiant — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:21:21 GMT

LSI vs Buslogic (ESX/ESXi 3.x)

In ESX 3.x there are two different type of virtual SCSI adapters: Buslogic and LSI Logic (new from ESX 2.x)
The backend for Buslogic / LSILogic is almost identical, with very minor differences due to the hardware specs being different. The differences only apply during device driver loading, and should not affect I/O speed.

The real reason for two controllers is driver support. Older OSes have default driver support for Buslogic (e.g. Windows 2000 install CD), newer OSes do not have Buslogic drivers but do have LSILogic drivers (e.g. Windows 2003, 2008 install CDs). Pick the controller for which it is easier to obtain a driver for the guest.
Windows 2000 has by default the BusLogic driver, and Windows 2003 the LSI Logic.

For Linux in most cases, VMware recommends that you use the LSI Logic virtual SCSI adapter with all Red Hat guest operating systems. However, ESX Server 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.4, and 2.5.5 support only the BusLogic SCSI adapter. VMware provides a separate BusLogic driver for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Upgrades 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (see http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/linux_install_config.pdf).

To change adapter type:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1002149 - Changing the virtual SCSI controller of a virtual machine
http://www.bahramov.com/2009/07/10/how-to-replace-buslogic-with-lsi-logic-scsi-controller-on-virtual-machine/

Possible performance issues with Buslogic virtual adapter:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1614 - Effective BusLogic Qdepth is Limited to One on Windows 2000 SP3, 2003, or XP
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1890 - Limited Disk Throughput from Windows with BusLogic Adapter Causes Performance Problems
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1306 - NOT_IMPLEMENTED Errors in Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003 Virtual Machines on ESX Server 2.0 and 2.1

Possible problem with LSILogic:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006224 - Windows Guests Installed with LSI Logic Storport Driver 1.26.05 Crash while Booting

And here is some LSILogic tuning knobs to play with that I haven't made time to test yet:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/9645697 - Large I/Os Are Split into 64KB Units When Using LSILogic Driver

New adapters (ESX/ESXi 4.x)

With vSphere there are two new virtual SCSI adapters: LSI logic SAS and VMware Paravirtualized (PVSCSI).
The old adapters are now called: LSI logic parallel and Buslogic parallel.

LSI Logic SAS is intended for use with Windows 2008 only for clustering.
Note that VMware doesn’t support using the PVSCSI adapter for boot devices. That is not to say that it doesn’t work (it does work), but that it is not supported.

For PVSCSI see:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010398 - Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters
http://blog.petecheslock.com/2009/06/03/how-to-add-vmware-paravirtual-scsi-pvscsi-adapters/

Know problem with PVSCSI:
http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/07/05/another-reason-not-to-use-pvscsi-or-vmxnet3/

More information

LSI or BUS Logic
SCSI Controller Type
Re: LSI vs Buslogic Clarification?
Re: LSI vs BusLogic.
Re: What is the diffrent in LSI and SCSI disk types ?
Re: LSI logic Parallel, LSI logic SAS, Buslogic parallel (Not recommended for guest OS), vmware paravirtual

ESX version and build number

AndreTheGiant — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:41:57 GMT

How to read the build number

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1012514 - Determining detailed build number information for VMware ESX 4.0.x hosts
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001179 - Determining detailed build number information for VMware ESX 3.0.x and 3.5.x hosts
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/392 - Determining VMware Software Version and Build Number

Service/Management Console mode

The build number at server console is the version of the VMware Kernel.
To read this number use this command:
vmware -v

VIC or VS Client mode

The build number which you see at vSphere Client is the hostagent version number.
For example, for ESX 4.0, after installing the latest patches your server console would show 193498, vSphere Client would show 175625. If you have installed patches released on 08/06, then the console would show 181792 and vSphere client would show 175625.

Convert a build number in a ESX version

For the major releases, not including patches between roll-ups, you can look at the download page (for each product version you see also the relative build number).
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_4/4
http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/

Or the quick and dirty solution is to google the build number

To know the applied patch you can use:
esxupdate -l info

ESX/ESXi 3.5 versions

http://www.techhead.co.uk/how-to-determine-the-vmware-esx-or-esxi-build-version
ESXi 3.5 - What 'update' am I using.

VCP4 exam beta

Jae Ellers — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:18:22 GMT

I have not seen a welcome kit yet. Passed the VCP4 at VMworld, Sept. 3rd. Heard they were updating the cert.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://blog.mr-vm.com
http://www.vmprofessional.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

VMware VMDirectPath I/O

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:10:43 GMT

Introduction

VMDirectPath I/O allows a guest operating system on a virtual machine to directly access physical PCI and PCIe devices connected to a host. Each virtual machine can be connected to up to two PCI devices. PCI devices connected to a host can be marked as available for passthrough from the Hardware Advanced Settings in the Configuration tab for the host.
VMDirectPath allows guest operating systems to directly access an I/O device, bypassing the virtualization layer. This direct path, or passthrough can improve performance for VMware ESXTM systems that utilize high‐speed I/O devices, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

VMware unveils VMDirectPath technology, Intel to support it with Nehalem:
http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=8474
http://www.virtualization.info/2008/08/vmware-unveils-vmdirectpath-technology.html

Intel releases new CPUs and NICs with nested page tables and I/O virtualization:
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/03/intel-releases-new-cpus-and-nics-with.html

Configuration

Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010789
Configuration Examples and Troubleshooting for VMDirectPath - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_vmdirectpath_host.pdf

Configuration Examples and Troubleshooting for VMDirectPath
{youtube}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMkmTqBbUA{youtube}

Configuring VMDirectPath IO with Cisco UCS and vSphere
{youtube}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQ5Ej8r-aA{youtube}

Requirements

vSphere (well… common)
Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
AMD IP Virtualization Technology (IOMMU)
Devices must be connected to the host and marked available for pass through
VMs require hardware version 7

VMDirectPath I/O is experimentally supported for the following Storage and Network I/O devices:

QLogic QLA25xx 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
Emulex LPe12000 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
LSI 3442e-R and 3801e (1068 chip based) 3 Gb SAS adapters
Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller
Broadcom 57710 and 57711 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers

VMware regularly adds support for new hardware. Check on HLC: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

Limitations

When using VMDirectPath you lose following features:

VMotion
Storage VMotion
FT
Device hot add
Suspend and resume
Record and replay

USB virtualization

If your server has support for device pass-through you may be able to provide USB access to Virtual Machines:
Enable USB Support for ESXi with VMDirectPath - http://vm-help.com/esx40i/VMDirectPath/USB_Setup.php
VMware ESXi4 and VMDirectPath - http://www.petri.co.il/vmware-esxi4-vmdirectpath.htm

Note that you give (if it works...) the entire USB chipset... so all the USB devices to a single VM!

Sources

Introduction from SimonLong Blog
http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/2009/08/03/vmware-vmdirectpath-io/

VMDirectPath? Paravirtual SCSI? – vSphere VM Options and You!
http://professionalvmware.com/2009/08/vmdirectpath-paravirtual-scsi-vsphere-vm-options-and-you/

Client Hypervisor

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:17:30 GMT

Introduction

Client Hypervisors: Why Would I Need One of Those? - http://www.virtual-strategy.com/Features/AppSense-20090721.html
Endpoint virtualization: http://www.neocleus.com/OurVirtualizationApproach.html

Existing solutions

There are several Client Hypervisors out there at the moment, like:

NXtop - http://www.virtualcomputer.com/Products/nxtop
Neucleus - http://www.neocleus.com/ (is easier to deploy as it self virtualises itself)

VMware and Citrix have on in the pipeline:
http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/cvp-intel-vmworld.html
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/01/citrix-and-intel-to-jointly-develop.html

VMware Client Hypervisor (CVP)

http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/cvp-intel-vmworld.html
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2008/10/13/a-deeper-look-at-vmware-s-upcoming-bare-metal-client-hypervisor.aspx
http://vinf.net/2009/02/24/vmware-client-hypervisor-cvp-grid-application-thoughts/
Seems that CVP will be not release with the new version of View 4.0: CVP release with View 4??

Source

Re: How do I run many operating systems at same time without host OS?

VMware Go vs vSphere Client

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:18:13 GMT

Introduction

VMware Go is a Cloud based application that enables you get up and running quickly with VMware virtualization in a completely automated fashion.

Web Browser Interface
Easy-to-use Wizard
Quickly create ESXi
Easily add VM
Manage ESXi and VM

VMware Go - http://www.vmware.com/go/vmware-go/
VMware to launch Go: a free web management service for ESXi - http://www.virtualization.info/2009/08/vmware-to-launch-go-free-web-management.html
VMware Free Service Simplifies ESXi Hypervisor Use - http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Virtualization/VMware-Free-Service-Simplifies-ESXi-Hypervisor-Use-341468/

VMware Go vs vSphere Client

VMware Go will require only a browser (but you DO need to install the web client "helper" tools in order to use the Web UI, it is NOT a fully web-based UI to ESXi)
VMware can manage more ESXi from a single interface (as vCenter Center)
VMware Go gives you the ability to patch scan VM's and also patch scan the ESXi itself and update it if needed (as vCenter Center)
VMware Go can manage P2V conversion (as vCenter Center or Standalone Conveter)
VMware Go it is free... as vSphere Client (but not as vCenter Center)

VMware Go is in beta version...
Future releases of VMware Go will also incorporate many other useful features

Source

Differences/benefits over vSphere client?

We have new Champion

VladN — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:57:48 GMT

Congratulations! Антон - Чемпион!

Clustering Software in a VMware environment

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:42:13 GMT

It is possible to combine virtualization technology with "traditional" cluster technology to increase the availability of some service.
As is physical case, guest clustering usually require shared storage.

Guest Cluster type

Guest Cluster can be created in 3 different schema:

Cluster in a box: two VM inside the same ESX (can also work without shared storage)
Cluster across box: two VM in different ESX
Cluster physical-virtual: one physical node and one VM

A different approach could be use a software iSCSI initiator inside the guests: in this case the cluster's nodes are "normal" VM with only their own local disks. The shared disks are visible only inside the VM so from VMware side you do not have any limitation, from guest side the OS and the vendor must only support a configuration with software iSCSI.

MSCS vs VMware HA

Note that application/guest clustering is different from VMware HA (and also from VMware FT):
Microsoft Cluster Server (MCS) versus VMWare HA
Pros and Cons to have MS Cluster?
To use MSCS or not?
VMware HA Vs Microsoft Cluster Server: http://it20.info/blogs/main/archive/2008/03/26/102.aspx

Windows 2003 MSCS

Actually the only supported cluster environment in ESX 3.x is MSCS (Microsoft Cluster Service) 2003 in a 2 node configuration using FC SAN (for cluster across boxes and cluster physical-virtual):
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_mscs.pdf

This does not mean that is not possible to have a working Guest Cluster with iSCSI storage (and it can work fine also with iSCSI RDM disks, but is not officially supported by VMware...).

To configure VMware for a cluster in a box there is a good step-by-step guide:
http://exchangeexchange.com/blogs/bkeane/archive/2007/07/30/mscs-clustering-in-vmware.aspx

To configure the Microsoft part, just use the Technet Guide:
For 2003: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Server Clusters Quick Start Guide
To setup a MSCS Cluster, could also be usefull this document:
http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2009/04/01/setup-for-microsoft-cluster-service/

Windows 2008 Fail-over Cluster

Windows 2008 fail-over cluster will work only in ESX4 (due to lack of SCSI3 reservation in ESX 3.x).
For more info of MSCS configuration in vSphere:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_mscs.pdf
http://vmguy.com/wordpress/?p=1019

To configure the Microsoft part, just use the Technet Guide:
For 2008: Failover Cluster Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster

Other informations about Microsoft cluster

For a complete list of Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) support on ESX Server 3:
Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) support on ESX - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004617

For specific Microsoft cluster solutions:
SQL 2008: SQL Server Clustering Guide
Exchange 2007: Implementing Exchange 2007 on VMware

To using VMware Converter to convert Microsoft Cluster (MSCS) nodes to virtual machines there is a specific KB:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1002661

Other type of Guest Cluster

Other cluster technology could work, but usually are Linux based and Linux is not Windows, and Windows is not Linux .

For Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) and VMware:
http://symantec.dciginc.com/2008/10/veritas-cluster-server-vcs-and.html

For RedHat Cluster and VMware:
http://sources.redhat.com/cluster/wiki/VMware_FencingConfig

Guest Cluster limitations

Note the application cluster configuration will have several limitations and restrictions (http://communities.vmware.com/message/1099039#1099039):

no shapshot on the VM
no vMotion
no VCB

VMDK virtual disk type

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:38:51 GMT

VMware virtual disk type

There are different type of virtual disks in VMware world.

From point of view related with the disk size there are two different types:

thick (or preallocated)
thin (or dynamically)

From point of view related with the number of files there are two different types:

monolithic (a single data file)
split (more data files, usually with a fixed size like, for example, 2 GB)

In ESX Server only monolithic format (thin or split) is directly supported.
In VMware Server and Workstation also split format is supported.

For more information see:
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/thin_provisioning_datasheet.pdf
http://thinkvirtualization.net/2009/02/the-thick-and-the-thin-of-a-vmdk/

Type conversion

With Workstation there is the vmware-vdiskmanager command:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004022

With ESX there is the vmkfstools command:
http://vmetc.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/man-vmkfstools.txt

With ESX and vCenter Server is possible use the "migrate" function to move vmdk files and (if needed) change the type (between thin and thick). But all disks will have the same format.
With SVMotion license this operation could also be done the a "live" VM.
Without vCenter Server, is possible convert a thin disk to a thick with datatostore browser and the inflate option on the vmdk file (but the VM must be powered off).
To convert a thick disk to a EagerZeroed (for FT usage), simple enable FT on a powered-off VM: the disk will be automatically converted!

Note that by default ESX/ESXi disks are ZeroedThick, from vSphere is possible (also from the GUI) build thin disks (choosing "thin provisioning") or EagerZeroed Thick disks (choosing "support clustering feature").

Choose the right type

Choosing a virtual disk type for VMware Workstation/Server:
http://sanbarrow.com/vmdk/monlithicversussplit.html

Choosing a virtual disk type for VMware ESX:
http://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid179_gci1348873,00.html

Disk type in ESX

	Thick	ZeroedThick	Thin	EagerZeroed Thick
Creation Time	Fast	Same as Thick	Fastest	Extremely slow, and linearly proportional to size of disk
Block Allocation	Fully preallocated	Same as Thick	Allocated, on demand, on first write to the block Zero size on creation	Same as Thick
Virtual Disk Layout	Due to preallocation, it has a higher chance of using contiguous file blocks.	Same as Thick	Layout varies according to dynamic state of the volume at the time of on-demand block allocation.	Same as Thick
Zeroing of Allocated File Blocks	File blocks are not zeroed out.	File blocks are zeroed, on demand, upon first write to virtual disk.	File blocks are zeroed out upon block allocation.	File blocks are zeroed out upon creation of the virtual disk (blocks are allocated and zeroed).
I/O speed	Max all the time	Reduced at beginning due to zeroing blocks on first access	Reduced slightly more than ZeroedThick due to allocating and zeroing blocks on first access	Same as Thick
Security	Insecure - VM can read what was on partition before VM deployment	Secure	Secure	Secure

Source: http://communities.vmware.com/message/1380846

VMTN Problems: hidden messages and email notification lost

AndreTheGiant — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:58:45 GMT

Thread is back again

Re: email notifications. This appears to be an issue, and I continue to investigate. I will update as I know more.

Thanks

Re: Site slow:

For me site speed is acceptable, only a couple of time in a day (and usual less for less than a minute) the site is unusable... But it isn't a big problem.

Andre

Disk partition alignment

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:01:03 GMT

What is Disk partition alignment?

In a SAN environment, the smallest hardware unit used by a SAN storage array to build a LUN out of multiple physical disks is a called a chunk or a stripe. To optimize I/O, chunks are usually much larger than sectors. Thus a SCSI I/O request that intends to read a sector in reality reads one chunk.
On top of this, in a Windows environment NTFS is formatted in blocks ranging from 1MB to 8MB. The file system used by the guest operating system optimizes I/O by grouping sectors into clusters (allocation units).
Also, operating systems on x86 architectures create partitions with a master boot record (MBR) that consumes 63 sectors. This is due to legacy BIOS code from the PC that used cylinder, head,
and sector addressing instead of logical block addressing (LBA). Without LBA, the first track is reserved for the boot code, and the first partition starts at cylinder 0, head 1, and sector 1. This is LBA 63 and is therefore unaligned.
An unaligned partition results in a track crossing and an additional I/O, incurring a penalty on latency and throughput. The additional I/O (especially if small) can impact system resources
significantly on some host types. An aligned partitions ensures that the single I/O is serviced by a single device, eliminating the additional I/O and resulting in overall performance improvement.

The performance degradation of unaligned partition occurs during intensive I/O workloads rather than on those with low to moderate I/O activity.

A good document about align problem is "Recommendations for Aligning VMFS Partitions" (This paper is now considered obsolete, but it still contain a lot of useful information):
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_partition_align.pdf

For the latest information on this topic there "Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere® 4.0":
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere4.0.pdf

Align a VMFS partition

Note that if you add a datastore using a VI Client connected directly to the ESX server or through vCenter your disk will be aligned .
For manually align a VMFS partition, see:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_partition_align.pdf

These recommendations are for block-based storage solutions. I/O characteristics on NFS are different from those of Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage systems. Though partition alignment eliminates track crossings and benefits performance on all storage platforms, the throughput improvements in specific types of I/O between SAN, NFS, and iSCSI are different.

Note that the first VMFS volume of a ESX 4.0 could not be aligned: the reason is that the volume contain the COS vmdk, so is not possible to free the volume to do the alignment.

Align a Guest OS vmdk disk

In Windows Vista as well as Windows Server 2008, partition alignment is usually performed by default. The default for disks larger than 4 GB is 1 MB
Partitions created on versions of Windows up to and including Windows Server 2003 by default are not aligned. Partition alignment must be explicitly performed.

For Microsoft OS see also:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929491
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995867.aspx
http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/E/7/CE7DA506-CEDF-43DB-8179-D73DA13668C5/DiskPartitionAlignment.docx

More info

Storage Alignment and VMFS Block Sizes
Re: I/O performance of vSphere
VMFS Partition Alignment

Specific Software

To check if your VMs are aligned you can download a free tool called VM Check Alignment available at http://ctxadmtools.musumeci.com.ar/VMCheckAlign/Default.asp

To perform alignment there are some commercial product, like Vizioncore vOptimizer Pro:
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vOptimizerPro/features.php

We have new Champion

LucD — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:35:52 GMT

I'll save the chalice for the coming weekend.
Next champion will get some Belgian beer in it

We have new Champion

Tyler9584 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:33:08 GMT

Congrats azn2kew!!

Tyler

VMFS Recover or Undelete

AndreTheGiant — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:16:25 GMT

As you know, when you remove a VM or a vmdk disk from disk (and not only from inventory or VM) you loose all your data.
Is possible to roll back? Yes... just restore from a backup.

But if you do not have a VM backup? Or a recent one?

The solution could be the VMDK Recovery Tool.

It requires proactive steps to protect the VMFS datastore: only if the block-list (a plain text file that keeps a record of all VMDKs of the virtual machines) is generated automatically it will work in a production environment.
Also if VMs are moved, cloned etc. or reconfigured it must be refreshed or the tool could do more damage than good.

Some limitations of the VMDK Recovery Tool are that is an experimental software (means that the tool is not supported and might not work as expected in all customer environments), it works only in ESX 3.x (is not available for ESXi and for ESX 4.0 ) and you cannot restore from multiple block list files.

To configure this tools there is also an HowTo: Protecting ESX VMFS Stores with Automation

What can I do if I delete the data and I never configure the VMDK Recovery Tool?

In this case you can use some tools that make a search at physical block-level: for example http://www.ufsexplorer.com/
UFS Explorer is designed to make no matter where your data reside. It supports fast and safe access to set of storages, including SCSI/SATA/PATA hard disks, USB mass storage devices, RAID arrays, VMWare, Microsoft Virtual PC, Parallels Workstation, Bochs virtual disks and RAW disk or partition image files.
UFS Explorer did not find any file system or folder structure or file names so all the deteced file are RANDOM#.JPG or RANDOM#.TXT. The data that is stored inside files like for images EXIF and word files the Author are intact so I was able to indentify my data by a combination of looking at file sizes + adding additional fields to the display in windows.
Note that the advanced data scan took about 1 hour per GB.

What can I do if I loose the VMFS partition?

If you only loose the partition, is possible recreate with fdisk.
See: Re: Removed VMFS3 volume from iSCSI target - am I screwed?

For more details on VMFS there is the great Understanding VMFS Volumes

We have new Champion

kjb007 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:35:43 GMT

Congrats.

-KjB
VMware vExpert

Congratulation Troy!

wila — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:04:09 GMT

Congrats Troy, keep up the great work!

--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
Visit the VMware developers wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

DBMS Compatibility for vCenter Server 2.5 on Linux

Texiwill — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:05:00 GMT

Hello,

Linux VC should support the MSSQL of the normal vCenter... I have not tested it as I would rather not use MSSQL, but its code is similar.

Best regards, Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
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VMware Solutions Roadshow 2009

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:30:26 GMT

Nel caso possa interessare segnalo questo sito con i prossimi eventi italiani:
http://www.eventivmware.com/

Schedule the VCDX Design Exam

AndreTheGiant — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:26:07 GMT

Thanks to all,

Andre

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