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Virtualisation SERVER

BRAVOTEM — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:03:54 GMT

Installing Virtual Server VM Additions on Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista

by Vukelic Ranko - January 8, 2009

Virtual Machine Additions are a very important component of Virtual Server 2005 (and Virtual PC 2007). Running VM Additions on a VM is not a must, but you'd better do it as soon as possible, even as the first thing to do right after finishing the installation phase of the OS itself.

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Note: if for some reason, you're using VMware products to virtualize Windows Server 2008 Server Core, you might be interested in reading my Core Installations article.

Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating system:

Improved mouse cursor tracking and control
Greatly improved overall performance
Virtual machine heartbeat generator
Optional time synchronization with the clock of the physical computer

You can use several methods to install the VM Additions:

Through the Virtual Server administrative website
Through VMRC Plus
Unattended installation
Through scripting

Additionally, if you've got Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) installed, you can also:

Install the VM Additions from the VMM console
Use PowerShell

Let's see how each method is carried on:

Using VMRC Plus to Install the VM Additions

If you've got VMRC Plus installed you can easily install VM Additions by performing these steps:

In the VMRC Plus console, point to the virtual machine you want to install the VM Additions on, and then double-click it to turn it on.
Once the virtual machine has started, point to the virtual machine name, and then double-click it to remote control it.
Log on to the virtual machine as an administrator or member of the Administrators group.
Once the guest operating system is loaded, in the Console Manager window click Media > Install Current VM Additions.
Inside the VM, follow the prompts and perform the installation.
You must *reboot the guest virtual machine* in order for the VM Additions to function properly.

Using the Virtual Server administrative website to Install the VM Additions

To install Virtual Machine Additions through the Virtual Server administrative website please follow these steps:

Open the *Virtual Server Administration website.*
In the navigation pane, under Virtual Machines, point to Configure and then *click the appropriate virtual machine. *
In Status, point to the *virtual machine name*, and then click Turn On.
Once the virtual machine has started, *point to the virtual machine name*, and then click Remote Control.
Log on to the virtual machine as an administrator or member of the Administrators group.
Once the guest operating system is loaded, press the HOST KEY to release the mouse pointer, and then in the lower-left corner under Navigation, click Configure virtual_machine_name, where virtual_machine_name is the name of the VM you wish to install the VM Additions on.
In Configuration, click *Virtual Machine Additions,* click *Install Virtual Machine Additions,* and then click OK.
Under Status, point to the *virtual machine name, *and then click Remote Control.
Click in the Remote Control window to return to the guest operating system. The Virtual Machine Additions installation wizard will start. Proceed through the wizard.
Once the wizard is complete, you will be prompted to restart the virtual machine to complete the installation.

Using Unattended Installation to Install the VM Additions

To perform an unattended installation, place the Virtual Machine Additions image file (.ISO) to a location where it can be accessed by the virtual machines. Logon to the VM and in a command prompt window from within the VM type the following command:

setup.exe -s -v"/qn [Reboot=ReallySuppress]"

Using Scripted Installation to Install the VM Additions

The script to install Virtual Machine Additions in a running guest OS is fairly straightforward, but for a good scripting guide I suggest you look at Desmond Lee's excellent article:

2005 R2, Part 2

Using the SCVMM Administrator Console to Install the VM Additions

First, it is recommended that you add the Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library. This will allow you to use the same ISO image for all of your virtual machines.

To add Virtual Machine Additions to your VMM Library:

Copy the VMAdditions.iso file to a share in the *Virtual Machine Manager library* and then refresh the library server. The default location is C:'Program Files'Microsoft Virtual *Server*'*Virtual* Machine Additions.
If you do not see the VMAdditions ISO file in Library view or when you browse for a known image file, disable any filters and manually refresh the library.

To install Virtual Machine Additions on an existing virtual machine:

In Virtual Machines view, right-click the *virtual machine* on which you want to install Virtual Machine Additions, and then click Properties
In the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box, display the Hardware Configuration tab.
If there is no DVD drive, add a DVD drive to the IDE device by clicking DVD on the New menu bar to add one.
Click K*nown image file,* click Browse to open the Select ISO dialog box, click the VMAdditions.iso file, and then click OK.
Start the virtual machine. Virtual Machine Additions will install from within the running virtual machine.

Using SCVMM and PowerShell to Install the VM Additions

Coming from this blog - VMM Beta 2: Installing VM Additions:

Here is a PowerShell script you can run on the VMM server that will do that. It assumes that you have an ISO called VMAdditions.iso in a library share managed by VMM. The VM Additions are installed with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 in the <yourinstalldrive>'Program Files'Microsoft Virtual *Server*'*Virtual* Machine Additions folder. So you first either copy this ISO to the library for use on all VMs, or modify the script to use the copy local to the host your VM is on.

Copy the following text and save it as Install-VMAdditions.ps1:

# Install-VMAdditions.ps1 $vm = $args[0] if ($vm.Status -eq ‘Running' ) { $vmadditions = get-iso | where { $_.Name -eq ‘VMAdditions' } Set-VirtualDVDDrive -VirtualDVDDrive $vm.VirtualDVDDrives[0] -Link -ISO $vmadditions } else { write-host "The VM must be Running before you can install VM Additions." }

To use this script:

$vm = get-vm -Name "My VM" C:'Scripts'Install-VMAdditions.ps1 $vm

The VM Additions installer will launch automatically inside the guest OS.

Notes:

The VM does not need to be running order to attach an ISO to a Virtual DVD drive, but the VM does need to be running in order to install VM Additions.
On the Set-VirtualDVDDrive lines, the -Link¬ parameter means: Point to the ISO inside the library instead of copying it to the host.

Reinstalling Virtual Machine Additions for use with Virtual PC

If you move a virtual machine that was created with Microsoft Virtual PC to Virtual Server, we recommend that you reinstall Virtual Machine Additions, even if it was installed in Virtual PC. This is because the version of Virtual Machine Additions included with Virtual Server has been updated.

Current VM Addition versions are:

VM Additions in VS 2005 R2 SP1 = 13.813
VM Additions in VPC 2007= 13.803

Links:

VMM Beta 2: Installing VM Additions

2005 R2, Part 2

View 4 downloads are now available

cburry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:36:27 GMT

View 4 downloads are now available.

Multiple physical servers combined into one virtual server

MWorsham2120 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:15:40 GMT

Hello. I am new to virtualization technology and am working to evaluate the VMWare software suite for my organization. So far, I have been able to create several virtual servers using one physical server with VMWare Server, but I am looking to do the opposite.

I am looking for a solution whereby I can take 2 or more physical servers and combine them into a single virtual server. The idea being that the virtual server running our applications will stay up and online in the event of a failure of any one physical machine. Is this possible? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Why Intel-VT/AMD-V for 64 Bit guests?

AWo — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:57:19 GMT

From the ESX 3.5 Supported Guest Operating Systems:

"There are specific hardware requirements for 64-bit guest operating system support. For AMD Opteron-based systems, the processors must be Opteron Rev E and later. For Intel Xeon-based systems, the processors must include support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). Many servers that include CPUs with VT support might ship with VT disabled by default, and VT must be enabled manually. If your CPUs support VT but you do not see this option in the BIOS, contact your vendor to request a BIOS version that lets you enable VT support."

I think I know what Intel-VT and AMD-V is for. But I do not know why running 64 Bit guests require VT technologie? I thought 64 Bit should be independent from VT.

Can someone explain the relationship, please?

AWo

Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d NAS Server performance?

khughes — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:18:08 GMT

I was curious if anyone is running the Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d NAS Server? I'm planning on maybe picking one up for our R/D and DR testing but was wondering how the performance was. Granted I'm not going to be running production on it, and using it mainly for proof of concept and testing but how much can 4 spindles really run?

Kyle

how are packet loss detected by ESX server?

vnshilpa — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:10:23 GMT

hi All,

I am running I/O from the ESX server to the storage device.If the packets are losed in between how will the ESX server detects the packet lost or data Over run and data underrun etc??

Regards,
SHILPA

VMWare and IaaS (WAN)

TechMonkeys — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:20:35 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I've been doing lots of research, and starting to get an understanding of all of this technology. But I have some questions, and where better to get the answers!

It would appear with the new PCoIP technology, providing a virtual desktop over a WAN connection (<150ms) is now more than feasible. So it's planted an idea in my head to provide mico and small businesses a complete manage IT infrastrucure. By setting their office up with only an Internet connection and thin-clients, I'd like to provide them with the full "private network" experience but virtually.

Where I'm getting confused is more what VMWare products I need to use! View 4 seems to be the one with the PCoIP technology, so I would want that to provide the actual desktops. But vSphere 4 seems to be the one I want to use to set up private network, server management, etc. Is this correct, or does vSphere provide the desktop experience with PCoIP as well? Or does View work under vSphere? So confusing!

Essentially my concept is to have a number of servers in a local datacenter (to get the sub 150ms pings), and then virtualise a Windows Server, Network, and 1-10 PCs to provide to a business. But if I have two micro businesses, and want to host them all off of the one physical server, can I virtualise two seperate private networks?

I guess my main questions are:

1) Do I look at using vSphere, View or both?

2) Is it possible to emulate a complete private infrastructure (server/network/etc), and can more then one be done on a physical server?

I'm sure there's more questions, but hopefully this becomes a resourceful discussions and we can sort it all out! If you're wondering "why not just set it up on site", I'm more chasing the concept that I can monopolise on hardware and serve 2-3, or more, business on the one physical server. That way the businesses only get the costs of setting up thin-clients, and none of the server setup costs.

Thanks in advanced,

Chris

Mixing HP blades with rack-mounted servers

Arkady — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:03:21 GMT

Hi,

Is it a good practice to mix in one cluster Blades servers with rack-mounted servers? Will the difference in BIOS potentially can impact perfromance?
Any Pros and Cons?

Thank you in advance.

Hosting Licensing

michael.custance — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:49:01 GMT

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, couldn't find a licensing section for vSphere

As a company we have recently deployed some very expensive hardware to provide our customers with a hosted environment for their virtual machines.

We have signed up to the VSPP program to allow us to license per VM. This works well at the enterprise level, where customers require all the advanced features. We have sold solutions to a number of customers and everything is good in this market place.

Here is the problem

To allow us to get the best return on our expensive hardware we would like to market a lower end solution to customers who don’t require all of the advanced features. Our plan was to use some of our perpetual licenses we own and have paid for, but I have recently been told we are not allowed to use these. Even though we own them! - Not best pleased. This is part of the EULA, can someone confirm this is correct or have I miss understood the EULA?

I thought this only applied to free versions of ESX not the paid for versions.

We have to license each VM through the VSPP. Even the cheapest option means that we will be losing money when competing in this market place. Competitors using other hypervisors can provide VM's much cheaper by licensing the host.

On top of this, some accredited VMware hosting partners seem to be offering Resource with an unlimited amount of virtual machines. I can only assume they are using perpetual licenses, or keeping their fingers grossed customers only ask for one VM. Offering an unlimited amount of VM’s simply doesn’t fit the VSPP pricing model.

I really want to be able to standardise with VMware across our hosted solutions, and fly the VMware flag. Problem is I can’t produce a business case when we would be losing money. Especially when all our hosts are already licensed to use Hyper V through the SPLA.

VMware please let us use our software we have paid for! don’t force us to use competitors hypervisors. We want to give you money! But we can’t afford to give you money while going bankrupt providing a service

HELP PLEASE 

VM Appliance creation

Xternal — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:10:31 GMT

Good day to you folks.

I neeed to create a vmware appliance thing, which would be a demo with some preinstalled software and settings. Btw, i don't need networking support.
Just boot, click the button on the desktop and open the browser.

This is working from a bootable usb flash (with ubuntu 9.10 onboard) with persistent storage. Filesystems stores in loopback file 'casper-rw' with aufs.
It contains python, postgres, avahi, git and some bundled system.

Thing is to create the copy of this stuff ASAP.

So here we have a couple of questions:
1) What is the simplest way to do it? -- common question.

And no in more detail:

2) Can I just create an ISO from the needed files (usb flash content), make it bootable -> create virtual machine (with ISO in cdrom) --> boot it --> make a snapshot? Can I load this snapshot anywhere in vmware without other stuff? And how can I load my loopback file (storage) like a hard drive?

3) Can I create VM Appliance with VMStudio using ubuntu 8.04 template but with ISO with my flash drive contents? My distr is based on ubuntu 9.10 for a moment And again -- how can I use my loopback file in VM like a persistent storage?

4) Can I somehow copy loaded system in VM Appliance? Does anyone have success stories with VMWare Converter?

5) Or these options will fail because of loopback-file storage practise, and i have to install ubuntu 8.04 from a template and configure it again?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Pavel.

How to contact VMware sales?

alerteye — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 05:41:20 GMT

Hi,

We are an UK registered non-profit organization working exclusively at Nepal from 1954. To reduce operating cost, reduce time to recover from disaster and enable high availability we are consolidating our servers (mixture of Windows and Linux machines). We are interested in VMware Infrastructure 3 Enterprise Edition. But there are no VMware distributor at Nepal, we have sent several request through the online contact form http://www.vmware.com/contact/contact_sales.html to VMware sales, but we have not received any reply to our requests. If there is an easier way to contact VMware sales please let me know. Also I am interested to know if VMware provides spcial discount (special license?) to non-profit humanitarian organizations.

We are in the middle of a project to setup a Virtualization infrastructure, we have purchased the hardware (SAN and servers) and we are ready to install virtualization tools.

Thanks in advance...

Best regards,
Rajesh K

Virtualizing Desktops

jeremywatco — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:34:04 GMT

Hi All,

We currently have 90% of our server infrastructure virtualized via vSphere (ESX4). Now we are looking to start virtualizing some of our desktop environments with Thin Clients. Server virtualization I understand, however Thin Client's and desktop VM's I know nothing about. Can someone point me in the right direction on where to start? I know HP & Sun both have Thin Clients for cheap, however I don't quite understand how they would interface with vSphere.

Basically I am just wanting a little guidence on where to begin. I know VMWare makes a product called View, but I don't quite understand what it does.

In the end what I am wanting is to have "dumb" terminals that will boot directly into guest OS's and have a majority of all the processing done at the server level.

Any help would be excellent.

Message was edited by: Texiwill: Removed Microsoft Word foo.

How to persuade manager install new servers virtual instead of physical ?

Semka — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:24:16 GMT

My manager want to buy new HP BladeSystem c3000 with 8 blade servers (2 disks each , 4 GB Ram) for Windows 2003 Std for Terminal Server role ,user will be connecting to those in order to run various applications.
I want to offer him to get those server with 16 GB ram , no disks , and with SAN connection to EMC (we already have ) , Install ESXi and run 5-6 Windows 2003 on each .
The final performance for end user will rise to the sky as 400 users instead of sharing 8 physical servers will be sharing 36 virtual servers and SAN disk performance will for sure overcome slow raid 0 on physical. Memory sharing will help too as all server will be having identical configurations and it will run same apps , this will get us significant RAM savings .
Any ideas how to get him to change his mind about going to physical instead of virtual?

Thanks for reading

a little guidance please

jjj0923 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:02:33 GMT

I'm new to virtualization and would like to start out with free products if possible so perhaps you folks can tell me what I need.

I will comments that the plethora of products in a little intimidating right now, but I'm sure there a simple solution for me.

I have 5 old compaq proliants 1850's each with dual 550 MPH cpu and about 60 gb of disk space running on Windows 2000 Server running sql server 7databases, IIS and one running exchange 5.5

I would like to migrate all of them over to a DL380G4 with 300 GB of space and 8 GB of ram.

I downloaded and installed ESX Server 3i after reading what it's supposed to do, but is just seems like a tool to get you to buy their other products and doesnt really do anything at all.

What I wnat to do is to install 5 virtual machine on this server each with about 1 GB ram and about 50 gb each and then use the VMware Migration tool to migrate these servers over to their virtual replacements.

If this all goes well, I want to bring up another DL380G4 box to server as a hot spare.

Should I nuke the ESX software off the server and install linux and multiple free copies of VMware server?

Cost is a major concern because we are a small company

what do you folks recommend?

thanks in advance.

Jeff

a general system error occurred on vmware - i have to do service mgmt-vmware restart ?

maxtoscano — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:13:36 GMT

hi all !

i have some many virtual machines on a vmware infrastructure client ;

one virtual machine linux suse has had problems , a file system corrupted , and not was possible to repair it ;

in spite of many fsck -y etc etc ...

now i have deleted this virtual machine linux , using "delete from the disk" option ;

but .. from when i used this command "delete from the disk" , i can not create new virtual machines , i have this error "a general system error occurred" and even "invalid state" ,

i can not create new virtual machine , and if i do a "power off" i can not put in "power on" that machine ;

when i click in"events" inside every virtual machine , i get this " a general system error ocurred" as i wrote before ,

so .. must i restart init.d/mgmt-vmware restart ??

or maybe must i do a physical reboot of the host ?

is it sufficient ? , or maybe the virtual disk is corrupted ?

if it is corrupted , what i must do ??

thanks a lot for attention !

best regards

massimiliano toscano

is HP ProLiant WS460c G6 supported?

trxman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:33:35 GMT

my local dealer informed me that HP ProLiant blades from 460c G6 series are supported by VMware,

but HP ProLiant *WS*460c G6 ( like this one: http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6918/460c01.png ) are not.

so, what is the problem with WS460c G6?

Interesting number

AWo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:36:07 GMT

Regarding IDC at the end of 2009 the number of virtual servers will be 10% higher than the number of physical servers shipped.
For 2013 they see a 3:2 ratio for virtual servers:physical servers.

AWo
VCP / VMware vEXPERT 2009
[:o]===[o:]
=Due to lack of employees, human beings work here. - Treat them carefully, they are rare.=

about vmware

saajid232 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:00:38 GMT

Hi people ,

My name is Sajid, I want to know about vmware and learn about it. please some tell me what is vmware all about . i have no work experience in networking but i know some concepts about server 2003 as i have a done mcse course. what are the job prospects if i want to learn vmware and build a career .

thanks

sajid

Vmware infrastructure documentation format

Ravi1987 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:24:46 GMT

Hi recently my implementation team did vmware infrastructure 3 and 4 implemenation for me. Now it is time for Knowledge transfer and transition time for my inhouse team. so can any one please provide me a format or point which we can take as a handover from our implementation team. basic administration KT already has been done.

iSCSI connectivity using software initiators

ajwellsy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:42:47 GMT

Hi there,

I have two ESX hosts (Dell PE2950 servers) connected to a Dell MD3000i iSCSI SAN. All going well however I wanted to connect another LUN to share between the hosts however I am unable to add another iSCSI software initiator on either ESX host. All the documentation I read states that you are limited to just one software initiator on ESX 3.5, is this correct? Should I purchase the below iSCSI HBA being a hardware initiator so I can connect to more iSCSI storage (and get better performance)?

http://www.qlogic.com/Products/SAN_products_iSCSI_qla4052C.aspx

Any help appreciated.

Help me pass regualtory BS with VMware

MassiveOverkill — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:15:19 GMT

So part of our problem getting VMware validated is that our regulatory dept. classifies it as an Operating System. I have found documentation that it's a kernel, not an OS, especially in the modern definition of an OS. In the legacy definition, I guess it can be called one. What hurts us more is that VMware's own KB documentation refers to ESX as an OS, which really kills me. Anyone have any suggestions?

What a poor show from VMware and how bad they have become.

ainterne — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:30:51 GMT

So I am a user of VMWare and have been from the early days, but alas, slowly watched them go down the same trail as so many US companies do. Customer service is put in place that ruins communications.

There is no one there to answer calls.......promo codes for being a good customer are wrong and don't work. etc etc etc..... As soon as they get a little success the loose the formular that got them there...

Well I for one am on my way out of the door and won't be promoting VMWare anymore....... Back in to the SUN ..!!...

Thanks for nothing VMWware.....

Re: Plugin name and description do not show correctly within Plug-in Manager Window

dkaiserlt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:15:19 GMT

Hi,

We're in the process of procuring two Xsigo V780 Directors to connect to our Netapp Filer. Any suggestions, tips, or anything that would be benificial? Thanks.

soft or hard?

IkerSilva — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:59:38 GMT

Hello!

I was asking on other places, but I`m gathering
the different opinions.

I`m working in the middle size business. We`re
looking for shared storage I`m considering what iSCSI solution is better if
compare of price and functionality - software or hardware? And what vendor is
more reliable?

Anyone Running EMC AX-4 with/without snapview?

rmacdonaldnai — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:16:00 GMT

Im looking to add another SAN to my 3 host esx cluster. Im currently running a EMC AX-150i which just cant handle the io load i am presenting to it with SATA disks and it has no upgrade path. I am now looking at adding an EMC AX-4i with 12X146GB 15K SAS drives to our cluster and wanted to see what other members in the Philly area are already running this unit. Are there any hiccups I should be aware of with this unit. How is performance? Also i am interested in doing scheduled snapshots with Snapview and Navicli throughout the business day to reduce my RPO and wanted to see if anyone was using any of the advanced software features of the array. I have read online that Snapview creates crash consistent snapshots so I was concerned how stable the snapshots were when mounted and presented to another standby esx server or for rollback. Any info in regards to this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich

how to connect two virtual machines hosted on two different vmware

student123 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:53:05 GMT

I have two windows machines in which vmware is hosted. In each vmware i have created linux virtual machines. I want to know how to create a connectivity between two virtual machines i.e how to ping virtual machine hosted on one vmware from another virtual machine on source vmware.

5nine P2V Planner for Hyper-V and VMware Vs. Opnet capacity planning tool

HKWP — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:28:47 GMT

Hi All,

Looking for an assessment and capacity planning tool to analyze existing infrasturcture. Do anyone have experience with any of the tools above? Please provide some feedback.

Also, do anyone have any recommendations beside the two tools that were mentioned above?

Thanks

Will

connect Host and guest are on the same machine

sanbapi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:29:45 GMT

hi,

I am quite new to virtual machine deployments so please bear with me.

I am running VMWARE gsx 3.2.0 Server with Windows XP, where host(windows xp) and guest(redhat linux 4). Host and guest are on the same laptop.

How can I transfer files between the host and guest OS. I have a wireless card in laptop. how can I connect or share network between hot & guest.

How can I copy files between host and guest without network access?

Thanks,

How to monitor VMware Esx server

raghs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:46:08 GMT

Hi all,

I am a new user, I have installed VMware Esx in my pc but I don't know how to monitor this...

By the use of VI Client can I come to monitor this...??????

But if I want to use VI client to monitor Esx server I need one more pc to install VI client.

Can you please clarify my doubts.....

Thanks..

Who can give me some document about specification on virtualization ??

wichali — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:27:25 GMT

<<Existing data center servers Energy Saving Technical Specification>>

Who can give me some document about this specification ? I am working on it and I can not find the exactly information about it.

I just need someting like this :What kind of level does the usage of CPU or Memory reach, and we need to integrate the servers with the virtualization ??

If someone knows about this, please reply me aqap.

Thanks very much!!!

Primary & secondary ESX

krish09 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:24:48 GMT

Hi All,

I would like to know whether is there any way to find out the Primary and secondary ESX servers in a cluster.Is there something like Primary and secondary ESX servers..

Mohan

Hyper-V on VMWare products?

Mrkus — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:35:00 GMT

Hello,

Is it possible to get Hyper-V working on products like VMware Workstation 6.03 or any other...?

About installation of vSphere

frankabel — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:18:26 GMT

Hi all!

I'm using VMware Server 1.0.X and want migrate to an vSphere solution to spend less in management.

My question is: Have sense think in a migration to such product even my hardware (processor) are Desktop hardware? I mean, I have lot of "servers" with 6Gb RAM but are just PCs with P4 processor. ESX hypervirsor can run on such processor?? or vSphere require some special feature on the processor as Intel Virtualization Technology???

I know that exist a Hardware Compatibility List, but of course, such kind of processor aren't include, but that don't mean necessarily that aren't supported.

Cheers
Frank Abel

VMware Server Migration Questionnaire

liamfleming — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:59:25 GMT

I'm a student from Loughborough University. For my dissertation I intend to research the migration of servers into a virtualised environment. The focus of the investigation is to establish whether the promised savings can be made in the time estimated. I want to find out if there are any common problems that occur within organisations that delay server migrations and therefore add cost to the project.

I'm hoping to find as many real life examples as possible. Ideally I would like to find details regarding how well projects keep to time and cost. Any information on return on investments etc. If the project was successful finding evidence for the cost saving. If the project wasn't successful the reasons as to why it wasn't. Hopefully I will be able to find examples from different industries and different size companies so as to cover a substantial cross section of the market.

I would be very grateful if any of you could provide me with your experience of virtualised server migrations by completing the questionnaire below. I know that this information maybe confidential. A university representative and I are willing to sign confidentiality forms to prevent the information from being distributed if you require it. If you want to send the questionnaire to me personally rather than post it on the forum my email address is l.fleming-06@student.lboro.ac.uk any additional information/ideas that you think would be interesting would be very welcome.

Many thanks

Liam

VMware Server Migration Questionnaire

*ignore if previous question was no for N/A

A) Company:

B) Role:

C) What were the business objectives of moving into a virtualisation environment? Highlight the three most important factors.

Reduce IT Costs

o Improve existing hardware utilization to reduce costs

o Reduce software license requirements

o Leverage scarce IT resources to manage more

o Reduce energy costs and drive Green IT initiatives

o Improve management of virtual infrastructure

Drive Business Improvements

o Better adapt to business changes

o Deliver services on demand

o Improve availability of applications

o Better secure data and infrastructure from risks

D) How successful would you consider your virtualisation project to be?

A) Number of servers estimated to migrate?

B) Actual servers migrated?

C) *Reason for difference?

A) Projected time to complete the migration?

B) Actual time taken?

C) *Main reason for delays?

A) Was there any cost over run? If so what percentage?

B) * Main reason for difference?

A) What was the estimated return on investment (ROI) for the project?

B) What was the actual (ROI)?

C) What was the estimated Payback period for the project?

D) What was the actual Payback period?

A) Did the management style, culture or organisational structure limit or delay the project?

B) Did the physical distribution of servers prove to be an issue? E.g. communication and planning methods for migration?

C) Where there any other factors that made the migration more challenging. E.g. lack of knowledge or experience in the company, key members of staff leaving, changes in budget etc.

A) Where there any compatibility issues regarding hardware and software that delayed the project?

B) Where there any licensing problems? Did this delay the project or add additional costs?

C) Where the planned consolidation ratios reached?

A) What affect did the migration have on performance?

B) Did users experience any downtime?

C) Did you reduce energy needs? If so by how much ?

D) Do you feel the correct virtualisation package for your company was used?

Thanks

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

Trialces — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:10:04 GMT

Hi,

Please tell me how to achieve this. I want to run few operating systems independently at the same. No host operating system like in VMWare Workstation which obviously we have to install on something. So what I look for is software that will install directly on computer. This software only role is to maintain other operating systems. It should have GUI. First thought ESX/ESXi is what I'm looking for but after installation I realised that to run this you have to install VMware vSphere Client on other machine.

What is the major difference between VMware Esx and VMware Esxi

raghs — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:59:59 GMT

Hi,

What is the major difference between VMware Esx and VMware Esxi....??????

Thanks....

Efficiently update large templates at remote offices?

DSeaman — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:31:50 GMT

Is there a commercial solution that will help us keep up to date large templates (4-6GB) at 200+ remote branches? I'm thinking something along the lines of block-level differential updates, so only the changed blocks from the master template are replicated to the remote site. The branch office servers only use local internal disk storage. Our WAN speeds are too slow to copy the entire template to 200+ remote offices when we patch or otherwise update the master template.

This is mostly for Windows patches, but other changes to the VMs will be done as well such as updating third party software prodcuts. If it was strictly Windows patches, then VUM might be sufficient. But the solution really needs to allow for any change to the internal VM, be it security lockdown, OS or application patch, etc.

Memory reservation on a large scale

IrNico — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:44:57 GMT

Does anyone use ESX memory reservations for almost every VM?

If yes, why and how many VMs?

Thanks

Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE)

JDLangdon — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:05:27 GMT

Does anyone know who owns and recognizes the Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE) designation? The course is being offered after Christmas but if this is isn't widely recognized, I'd rather hold out for the DSA course.
________________________________
Jason D. Langdon

VM seems to be having CPU issue

ramvenkey — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:34:22 GMT

One of VM seems to be having CPU issue. VM has 2 CPUs and Windows OS installed on it. CPUReady Time is extremely high. VirtualCenter and esxtop command shows two different values. Although, VirtualCenter converting to Millseconds units where esxtop command shows in percent. Can someone please take a look at screenshot and tell me that how CPU looks?

Troubleshooting guide for ESX

singh.padam123 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:06:30 GMT

Hi All,

Please help me if anyone is using any ESX troubleshooting guide . kindly mail me the same at singh.padam123@gmail.com

Others please reply on this message for the troubleshoots they have performed as per below tabs.

VMware Technology: (i.e. VCB, HA,Vmotion,Netowking, Storage)

Issue Faced :

Workaround as temp\real fix :

Actual Issue :

Thanks to all in advance for their replies....!

__vmware_user__ questions!!

mripper — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:07:32 GMT

I know that this might not be in the right place, but I am in need of some help. I am relatively new to VM and am currently enrolled in networking classes that utilize its technologies. The question that i have for all of you fine people is what is the default password for the user {color:#0000ff}__vmware_user__{color} ? I am attempting to learn more about tidying up my workstation and would like to know about this possible security risk.

Thank you for your time and help!!!

vmware converter while source machine is in use?

jze1212 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:19:14 GMT

I have a Windows 2003 server x64 machine that I would like to convert to a virtual machine with Vmware converter. The machine see's very little down time so I am wondering if I can successfully convert the machine while it is being used. File sharing, RDP, print services, etc... Thanks!

Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE) VMware course

hiroy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:50:33 GMT

Hi,

The Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE) VMware course does anyone have an opinion on whether this course that is offered is it beneficial in any way?

Is it a waste of time and money? Should it be skipped?

Thanks in advance...

How to generate Visio Diagram for whole Virtual infrastructure (50 Hosts) ?

Ethan1412 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:22:21 GMT

Can anyone suggest me a free tool which generates Visio diagram for the whole Virtual Infrastructure?

Thanks in advance.

Uptime 5

JDLangdon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:01:16 GMT

Is anyone using Uptime 5 as a monitoring tool for their VMware environments? We still looking for something that will provide accurate resource usage and trending reports but I'd like something that monitors both the VM and the OS.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

________________________________
Jason D. Langdon

Sage applications running on VMware

Eire09 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:49:32 GMT

Hi,

I've a bit of an issue here. I virtualised a Sage server & just found out that Sage do not support running their product on a VM.

So I have two questions:

1. Is this well known that Sage don't support their products running in a virtual environment

2. What would be the best way to do a V2P migration?

Thanks

VMware Virus-Testing Environment?

Darn4man — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:14:22 GMT

Hello fellow VMware users,

I have decided to set up a virtual machine virus-testing environment.
I wanted to ask if anyone had
knowledge on how to prevent host - virtual machine interaction. I will
most likely use a bridged network connection to my own computer, and I
want to secure any possibility that a virus may infiltrate my host
computer ( like a worm or something) or the network on which i'm running (there are other computers running in the same network in my household), if there is any chance
this could happen. I am just wanting to know if there is anything that
i can do to secure the safety of my computer(s) before i go ahead and set
up this crazy idea?

Thanks in advance.

Other Info: Don't know if this matters: Running an XP Home Edition SP3 -- Pentium 4 Processor -- 3.00 GHz -- 1 GB of RAM

Running XP Home Edition on VMware Workstation version 6.5.3

Presentation / introduction to virtualization

marius — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:56:16 GMT

I have been asked to deliver a presentation introducing virtualization concepts and solutions.
Is there any general whitepaper or, even better, a .ppt presentation I can start from?
A brief comparation among VMware offering and other vendor solutions would be really useful...
Suggestions, pointers and hints welcome
Regards
Marius

vmkping from esx to san?

ranjitcool — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:27:45 GMT

Hey Guys,

Complex network issues,

Now I am asked to ping to the iscsi SAN or atleast the gateway from vmkernel.

How can I ask vmk0 to ping to the gateway or the SAN iscsi path?

pls assist can i vmkping?

Thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

EVC / Proposed Migration

StuartH — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:40:50 GMT

Hi,

I am planning a migration of some virtual machines and would like to clarify something on EVC compatibility.

My existing servers use Intel 53XX / 54XX processors and will be retired after the migration has taken place. My new servers will use the Intel 5500 processors. All will be on VI3.5 and a single vCenter 2.5 server will manage both clusters.

I'm proposing to use Storage VMotion to migrate the VM's between old and new datastores, and would like to use VMotion if possible to migrate the VM's between clusters.

My proposed approachs is as follows:

Upgrade existing cluster to ESX 3.5 Update 4.

Create new cluster with ESX 3.5 Update 4.

Enable EVC on the new cluster, and baseline at the Core 2 level that is compatible with the old clusters processors.

Migrate VM disks with Storage VMotion, then VM's with VMotion, between old and new clusters.

Decommision old cluster.

Has anyone used this approach? Did it work and should I be aware of any gotcha's?

Thanks

can renaming a file or a directory on VMFS delete the file ?

continuum — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:48:45 GMT

I am investigating a strange issue ...
A user running ESX4i had used VEEAM Fastscp to rename a directory and a few files on VMFS. After doing this he refreshed the view in Datastorebrowser and suddenly noticed that 3 *-flat.vmdks are mssing now.
We searched the whole VMFS volume and did not find them again.
Also Datstorebrowser shows the diskspace occupied by this 3 flat vmdks as free space now.

The user claims to have not used any rm commands.

Is there any way to find those "lost" vmdks again ?

Thanks Ulli

___________________________________

VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

Need help on setting up VDI

suna — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:55:04 GMT

Hello All,

I am new to VDI and I have been assigned a project to virtualize 30 desktops using VDI. I went though few links on the net and found that VDI uses VDM and VDM inturn uses VC and is deployed on ESX host.

Does VDI resides on ESX host (Server), where other virtual servers are running.
How to virtualize desktop by taking snapshot (need more information)
Internally how VDI works with VDM.

Can you please help me to understand how to virtualize desktop. Some step-by-step instructions or any links which has this information.

Looking forward for your help

Thanks

Only one HBA sees newly provisioned LUNs

Arkady — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:16:44 GMT

Hi,

We have 5 ESX 3.5 Update 4 hosts connected to EMC Symmetrix SAN. Two new LUNs have been provisioned but after re-scanning only one HBA on each host can see new LUNs. SAN group verified masking and zoning - everything looks good. No errors in kernel log. Our ESX servers are HP Proliant 585 G2, HBAs are Emulex

LPe 11000 4 Gb.

Anybody experienced same problem?

Thank you in advance!

New VMware install on 2003 host

doodleman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:01:29 GMT

heyup guys,

i have just installed VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0-171294.x86_64 and all went to plan.

the machine i am building it on has win2003 installed on a raid5 array

the VM install was on a second array i have added under a RAID1 config.

now........ i can't get the server to boot from the new vm build?!? in windows disk manager it labels the newly created Hypervisor0 drive as "active" .

im sure there is an obvious was to get this working....

thanks

the problem was a really poor raid bios..... confused to fcuk thanks anyway

need help deciding on version-licensing-subscription

cambee — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:45:09 GMT

Trying to figure out the best way to go here and am hoping for some opinions
out there of people with more experience with vmware.

Currently we have a virtual server in our DR hotsite hosting 5 VM's
under Vi 3.5. We're now looking to virtualize some of our infrastructure
at our main site starting with exchange and BES. We have one 2003 exchange
ent server on server 2003 which will be upgraded to 2007. The general
plan is to move exchange to a temporary box and rebuild the server (DL380G5
with direct attached MSA60) with ESXi to host both exchange and our BES
server. I only expect to virtualize one other server within the next
couple of years (SQL). After that who knows but I also don't expect any
crazy growth other than a few users. So right now I'm trying
to figure out just exactly what all the licensing is about in looking at the
essentials bundle which makes the most sense at this point. As I
understand it, the bundle includes a license that looks like it gives you
vCenter and update manager, along with a subscription for a year.

What is the point of the subscription? I'm not so sure that vCenter is
worth the cost in this scenario. It would make things more convenient when/if
there are 2 servers up and running but is certainly manageable on their
own. It seems that just running ESXi out of the box would be plenty
sufficient. Any opinions or suggestions here would be greatly appreciated?

Also I know that the essentials plus gives you HA and DR capabilities but
right now we are using doubletake to replicate our servers. Does anyone
see HA as a better or more cost effective or just technically better/easier
solution?

Thanks

Replication question

rsoulliard — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:05:24 GMT

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question. We have a large file server VM that we need to replicate to our DR site (from Boston to Washington DC) we currently have a T1 connection between them. We probably see about 8GB of changes to the server a day. There is a C drive with mostly just the OS, a 135GB data drive and a 500GB data drive. Does anyone have a recomendation on the best way to handle the replication? We tried using vReplicator from Vizioncore, it works fine with our other servers, but it takes weeks to replicate just the 135GB vmdk. I need to come up with a better solution.

Thanks

Ron Soulliard
Oxfamamerica

Known friendly USB Fax/modem

MonsterMaxx — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:59:31 GMT

I'm looking to make my winXP fax machine virtual. Looks like it'd be easiest to just get a USB FAX/modem rather than try to mess with reading the PCI winmodem.

Is there one that's well liked by VMware users? and proven to play nice w/ Linux, VMware and Windoz?

clone server

Nico27 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:02:26 GMT

Hello, we have a server with a application licence's based on the serial processeur and serial disk. Can you put a serial number CPU and disk virtuel? and make a P2V?

Thank's.

VMFS vs. Physical Disk performance

zenomorph — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:55:30 GMT

I've read alot about the performance of VMFS in comparison to RDM and physical disk comparison.

However what I find is alot of the times when if the comparison is done for eg. dBase performance it usually based on using eg. a SAN with native Physical Win2k3 machine running SQL and then ESX with VMFS running Win2k3 and SQL. Most of the times when they comapare I find they configure the physical servers local disks for optimum usage that is on the physical machine they may mirror the logs and RAID5 the dbase partition etc. and for the camparing VM, theVMFS volume they will do the same similarly define the SAN with mirror lun for the Logs VMDK disk and then the database RAID5 luns.

The reason I'm asking is because we will be setting up an EMC Clariion SAN and running some of our SQL servers which use local storage and by standard we just RAID5 the disks and place the logs and database on seperate partitions or sometimes follow the best practice of mirror log volume and RAID5 the database volume.

But on the Clariion CX-3 we will be just defining standard RAID5 groups for the VMFS volumes. All systems will just use RAID5 luns rather than having seperate RAID1 LUNs and some RAID5 luns just for easier maagement. I understand that for a start comparing the local SAS 300GB 15K disks on HP DL580 with the EMC 300GB 15K FC disks the performance is quite signiticant compared to local. But by the time we RAID5 VMFS volumes with the FC disks what I haven't seen is how much performance difference there really is betwen running the local disk performance and SAN disks.

The thing I'm trying to get at is will be challeged the question whether running the EMC Clariion with RAID5 VMFS performance compared with local, native SAN physical host performance and the RAID5 VMFS performance on the SQL server.

Many thanks

Cheers

Infrastructure suggestion

mikeus — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:33:53 GMT

Hi,

I have a Small Business and would like to make some changes to my current infrastructure. I currently have VMware Workstation installed on a Ubuntu Desktop machine with an old RAID controller. I also have a laptop and USB printer.

I have several virtual machines: one that I use for the company's email, another one for the company's intranet, and several others that I use for testing our applications.

I would like to have a new infrastructure, since the hard disks are all installed in the Desktop machine. If the RAID controller or the machine itself should crash, it would be difficult to quickly recover the data and continue working without rebuilding or changing the failed hardware (this could take a few days).

I did a long research on the Internet and came up with the following configuration:

1) QNAP TS-239 Pro Turbo NAS(2 bay for RAID 1)

2) Netgear GS108T Smart Switch

What do you think about the above hardware? Is there any better solution? Should I keep using VMWare Workstation or is there a better product I should use with the above configuration?

Any suggestion, comment, and link to available documentation is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike

Physical to Physical (P2P) Arena

goolasso — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:32:41 GMT

Hello.

Every time we are involved in a virtualization project we are involved in a few physical to physical migration for some different reasons.

I think the best way to do that is manual migration but often it will be a hard work, also because are involved third part suppliers.

I know that many people use "Symantec BESR Restore Anywhere" to restore to dissimilar hardware.

Have you some other real experiences with some "enterprise" tools?

Single Root I/O Virtualization

scottschweitzer — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:51:02 GMT

Does anyone know if Single Root IOV is support in ESX?

Some PCIe products are starting to be introduced into the market that mention they support this method of virtualizing hardware I/O devices at the PCIe level.

Scott Schweitzer

VMware 3.5 PPT

nandap — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:57:44 GMT

Hi ,

I am looking for the PPT of VMware training materials. Any body can helps me on this?

Thanks in advance..

Nanda P

Can snapshot exceed size of the original virtual disk?

Arkady — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:26:31 GMT

Hi,

I always was under impression that snapshot can not exceed size of the original virtual disk.

Is it a true statement?

Saving Hard Disk Space.

TasMot — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:29:26 GMT

So I have a some virtual machines. A couple of Win2003, XP, and so on. Each one eats up about 10 to 16 Gig of drive space just to get the OS installed and operational.

To me, it looks like the OS has lots and lots of static files (.exe, .dll, language files, help files, and so on). Then, there are some files that are changing such as the registry, AD, DNS and so on. How do I set up the virtual machines so that they can share all the files that don't change (ignoring fixes and service packs for now). So that I can save a bunch of hard drive space?

Thanks,

Tom

How to restore deleted VMKernel Switch

kathirkk23 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:48:10 GMT

Hi,

I have deleted my VMKernel switch mistakenly ....and I forgot IP address also which was assigned for vmkernel.

How to restore my vmkernel switch or is there any way to find my old IP address which was binded with my vmkernel..?

I knew I can create new vmkernel switch with new IP to connect the storage but I want to use old IP only otherwise I'll be cought by manager.

Please help

Regards
Kathir

Defrag guest on solid state drive necessary?

timofcourse — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:14:52 GMT

We're running Windows guests in various VMWare products (Workstation and ESX) on workstations with solid state drives. I know youre not supposed to defrag Windows hosts on solid state drives, but havent been able to find anything that mentions guests.

Anyone familiar enough with these technologies to know whether or not it makes a difference?

Thanks.

Slow performance when backing up virtual machines with VCB

rabbit2001 — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:35:06 GMT

Hello,

We're using VMware Consolidated Backup with Backup Exec 12.5 for backing up our virtual machines. Our problem is, that the speed of the backup process is very slow.

It takes 1 hour when the virtual machines has a size of 12 GB.

The virtual machine which we backup is located in our SAN (iSCSI) and the backup is performed on the SAN.

What could we do?

Thank you very much.
Cheers,

rabbit

Maximum vCPUs ESX 3.5

IrNico — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:10:14 GMT

What is the maxium amount of vCPUs a VM in ESX 3.5 can get?

AS400 integrated W2K3 servers and VMware

atiisler — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:02:45 GMT

Ok..first I am both new to Virtualization arena and am not really familiar with IBM AS400 or I series. But I have been put in the position to find the answers. We are going to be upgrading our current As400 iseries to a new Power 6 i system. Currently we have about 6 integrated Windows 2003 servers on the iSeries. these are just 32 bit servers that act as our DC's and file servers, etc.

Now I have virtualized many of our current external servers (both IBM and HP) and success. Our next quesion is whether we can virtualize the 7 integrated W2K3 systems and bring into our new ESXi host on our new I system that is not blade center but iScsi connected to our new I System. Most of what we have been told is no. but just for experimentation sake...I did create a virtual machine of one of these intergrated W2K3 systems using VMConvertor utility. Then brought this VM into an existing Esxi host on our network which is an external HP server. I then shut down the Physical server and started up the Vserver. Came up no problems / errors. I had a user that works with this server test everything and everything worked the same. So I guess what I am asking is that it would appear to work, but why do people say it won't. And am I missing the big picture here. Could someone please help me to understand what exactly will not work? Again, I am new to both of these technologies...so bear with me. Thank you.

Reducing database on sqlserver

ksuchewie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:01:01 GMT

Today I noticed the database for vmware on our sqlserver was sitting at 38 GB. How can I trim this down, because I am starting to run out of HD space?

Thanks,

Matt

To do Vmotion

karthickar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:28:43 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to do the vmotion.

I have two physical ESXi host located in the same network and the storage for both ESXi host is different, ie, both physical ESXi host uses its own hard drive.

So, what else needed for me to do the Vmotion from one esxi host to another ESXi host?

I have a list of doubt here

1. What is vCenter server management server.

2. What is virtual Center

Thanks

karthick

vcenter 4 on SAN LUN or local storage?

ranjitcool — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:34:41 GMT

Hey guys,

I am no expert so I wanted to know, what is the best practise? Should the vcenter sit on the lun including all physical disk mapping data or on local storage of the server?

Please assist.

Thanks

PS: Does it matter where the physical disk mapping data lives, on lun or local storage?

May be we all live virtual lives..

Migration of VM's from One Datacenter to Another

Raghukalloor — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:51:06 GMT

Hello,

We have a new datacenter and an Existing Datacenter. New Datacenter is having ESX 4.0 and VC 4.0(VSphere) whereas Existing Datacenter is having ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5.

we have around 30VMs running on teh existing datacenter.Now we have to migrate all the VM's from existing datacenter to New datacenter.

COuld you please suggest us on what is the best way to migrate all the VM's with less time consumption.

Thanks

Kalloor

veeam back up or vmware consolidated backup?

ranjitcool — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:29:08 GMT

Which one is better?

Thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

need monitoring help

ranjitcool — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:56:05 GMT

Hey Guys!

I have an esx host running 3.0, for some reason the 4.0 host kept crawling on 3 simple servers and i suspect a hardware issue, anywyas

what do i do to setup instant admin alert emails? I mean if a vm is slow or reboots or shuts down?

we dont have vcenter setup yet so how do i do it please

thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

Quickest Way To Push Out Virtual Machines

StevenFL — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:56:04 GMT

I am rather new to VMware and that is why I am here. Anyways, maybe some of you could help me out a little.

I am helping out my local community college with a project for their desktop operating systems class.

They basically want a lab environment set up so all of the students on their computers can troubleshoot Windows XP problems though a virtual machine running on their computer.

What would be the quickest way for the instructor to create a virtual machine..create a problem on that virtual machine intentionally for the students to solve.....then push out (clone) these virtual machines to the students host computers so they can work on solving them.

Is there a faster way than simply creating the virtual machine, copying the vmdk file over, and importing them on each of the students' machines?

Any ideas? Thanks.

Any time frame to write an VCP 310?

kathirkk23 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:04:10 GMT

Hi All,

I have completed my VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure V3.5 course last April'09.

and now planning to write a VCP 310. please tell me is there any time frame to write this VCP..? and need to know whether this certificate is life time validity or

it will expire after any time frame..? can I write VSphere 4 directly without under go vsphere 2 days training..?

Please help me out.

Regards
Kathir

vmfs or raw for vms? which to choose

ranjitcool — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:53:46 GMT

Hey Guys,

We have a EMC SAN and talks to esx host over iscsi. Now when i carve a new lun lets say lun1 of 100gb, shud i present it to its designated vm as a vmfs datastore or raw? which is better also wud vmotion work on both?

please assist. I think if i have it as vmfs then the 100gb lun can be used by different OS's and can be shared, this is going to be a critical server so is that a good way?

please advice

thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

Networking a virtual PC to the physical PC to another physical PC

boxxy27 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:08:25 GMT

Hi, im new to this forum and iv got a question.

I have installed VMWare workstation 6.5 onto my PC (windows XP). I also installed a virtual windows XP onto it and what i want to do is to network these PC's together and then network another PC to my computer via a crossover cable and share a couple of files (yes i know i can use a flash drive and everything else). I can not figure out how to network them alltogether and share files amoung each other. All 3 PCs will be using windows XP, and iv tried to bridge the vmnet8(NAT) to the local area connection and i have successfully been able to ping both but can not see each other in the network via windows explorer.

Can anybody help me with this?

Capacity Planner error

nrand — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:15:33 GMT

I am receiving an internal error message in a pdf whenever I run a capacity assessment report for a client over the past 24 hours. Anyone seen this or have any idea on how to resolve this? A screen shot of the error message is in the attached document file. Thanks.

New Internal Error

VMware Capacity Planner Error ({0})

A VMware Capacity Planner internal error has occurred. VMware is already working to correct the error. VMware is already working to correct the error......

Vmware Sizer.... what you need for Version 4?

VmwareSizer — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:37:22 GMT

http://www.abe-formel.de/html/vmware.html

please post me your needs for version4, I will take care of it...

Greetings

Michael

Ok, I dont really understabd VMware, maybe someone could point me in the right direction

JamesWHS — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:34:22 GMT

First I'm sorry if someone has asked this, I was searching through the threads and didnt find anything specific to my goals.

So.. Ill tell you my story, maybe someone could help.

I'm building a new WHS,...(basicly windows server 2003)... (familiar with the OS have it on another box) I want to create a dual box, WHS/ Windows 7 ultimate. I have heard running htpc content on a whs is a bad Idea, but I think If I could Emulate windows 7 and dedicate a drive to it that would be awesome so I could handle all my stuff in one neat box.

Can vmware help me accomplish this? I would dedicate almost all this power to windows 7 as WHS only needs like 512 ram, and a single core processor :P

Thanks in advance

Server specs;

AMD Phenom II x4 945 3.0 gxz

4gb DDR3 1666 mhz

6 HDDS , 5 1tb drives for WHS , and 1 500gb for windows 7

ATI 4870 card

Mobo, 7 sata, 2 IDE, 1 esata, 1 fire wire, 10 usb

Gigabit Lan, TV tuner, Blueray drive

VCB (nbd mode) error : NBD_ERR_GENERIC

Enafets — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:26:56 GMT

Hi,

When we try to save VM (fullvm or file), located on an ESX host 3.0.3, using vcbmounter (Version 1.1.0 build-118380) in NBD mode, we've got the error :

~~2009-01-20 17:17:40.406 'vcbMounter' 4936 info~~ Exporting disks
~~2009-01-20 17:17:40.421 'vcbMounter' 4936 info~~ Filenames: vpxa-nfc://datastore2 nt2xp/nt2xp.vmdk@192.168.1.139:902!52 4b 2e 41 b0 c8 40 b4-12 82 dd 8c 90 f0 5b 70 --> e:\mnt\nt2xp\scsi0-0-0-nt2xp.vmdk
~~2009-01-20 17:17:40.750 'vcbMounter' 4936 error~~ Error: Failed to open the disk: NBD_ERR_GENERIC
~~2009-01-20 17:17:40.750 'vcbMounter' 4936 error~~ An error occurred, cleaning up...

The same VM located on an ESX host 3.5 is saved without problem ... We've log a call with Vmware support, but no clue, and still have the problem.

Any help please ?

Command used :

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework>vcbMounter.exe -h vcbhost -u admin -p ******** -a name:nt2xp -t fullvm -r e:\mnt\nt2xp -m nbd -M 1 -L 4

which vendor to go with?

ranjitcool — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:30:26 GMT

Hey Guys,

I am purchasing vmware licenses to run sharepoint, 8 processor license kit worth 28k.

vendor 1 is giving it for 27k with 1000$ worth some online training.

vendor 2 is giving it for 28k but with an experienced solution architect on site to help with setup and all for 2 days .

which one shud win? its for vsphere

please assist

thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

Testing software on variety of VMWare solutions - is it worh doing?

AntakarDonvar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:01:38 GMT

Hello,

I would like to take your opinion about testing software in VMWare environment.

As we know there is variety of VM solutions:

VMWorkstation 6.5

VM Server 1 and 2

ESX 3; 3.5, 4

ESXi ....

When i will test software, will results be the same on all solutionions? I would like to support all of VMWare Varieties, but i am not sure is it worth to run the same tests on all of them.

Will testing on for example ESX 3.5 will cover all others?

Thank you for all your replies

Migrating from datastore to SAN based assist

ranjitcool — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:29:00 GMT

Hey Guys,

We have two esx servers. ESX1 and ESX2.

ESX1 is standalone while ESX2 is with a SAN (connected on fibre channel HBA)

I am right now loading vcenter on ESX1, once done I want to move the VM-ESX1 machine to ESX2 server, BUT this time it should reside in the LUN of the SAN.

I know I cannot move them with no downtime as they are not on SAN already, so i will have to cold migrate the vm from esx1 to esx2 but is it the same as using vconverter? Also if i migrate can i ask vcenter to load the machine in the lun of the san and not on the datastore of esx2?

Please assist, i really need to get the vms on the san and not have to build them from scratch again.

Thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

VM2.0 website?

davidjones — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:02:25 GMT

I want to put a hyperlink on my website that will allow access to a Suse Linux VM. 2.0 is web based so I should be able to do this. This is definately a configuration problem but there is not a lot of data on the subject. Is it somehow related to publishing of the site? I guess most people do not want you to access their vm from the world wide web. I on the other hand, like to test my personal hypothesis' and I also believe this may be a way going forward to more effectively manage remote systems.

In theory once entering the website and Upon hitting the hyperlink for the Linux "Demo", it should request username and password. just as if I was looking at the console once the remote console opened. I created a guest account for this. I tried getting the url of the remote console by selecting the properties of the vm. The results were:

}}

This path only brings up the remote console with all the VM's available. I want only the remote console url.

Also, I changed the dns from "david-pc" to the public IP I received from Iptool.com but this also did not work.

I believe this to be a url path problem however i am not sure what it should be. How do I determine the url path for the remote console of the VM I am selecting?

I would like to test this with someone, as I said before I will be granting access to the Linux device.

Does any of the vmware products support boot from USB option in bios ?

vijaymohan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:22:58 GMT

Does any of the vmware products support boot from USB option in bios ?

Slightly Off Topic: Any ebook worthy of reading VMWare PDFs on?

MattG — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:45:02 GMT

So we are faced with the issue of printing out the multitude of PDF documents for our day to day SysAdmin duties including VMWare's numerous volumes. It would be great if there was a good ebook that could display all of the PDF data in these files in a usable format. I know Amazon's Kindle doesn't do PDFs yet and Sony has an ebook that does.

Are there any ebook platforms out there that could handle these type of docs, with full search capability, that could become a SysAdmin fav?

I would want the display to have a high resolution, as I can read smaller text without issue.

Do any display the graphics in PDFs?

Thanks,

-MattG

VM is getting slow

Nithiyan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:25:07 GMT

5 vm installed in esx server. Suddenly 2vm is getting very slow and cpu and ram utilization is high .so we have checked OS part and application part there is no problem found.

There is any chance to check esx server and how do we troubleshoot this problem?
How do I identify the reson?

vm over home network? new user questions

zvmware — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:32:18 GMT

Hi All

I'm new to vmware, but I have high hopes! I have a few questions that I was hoping some of you all would be able to help me with. If this is the wrong, form, my apologies...

Her's a high level description of what I'd like to do... I want to run a server in my home that hosts multiple VMs. I want to be able to log into those VMs over the network and use them as if they were the actual OS for the remote client. I think of this sort of like using a thin client to log into the VM. For example. imagine that I have a fully funcitonal notebook that has XPpro on it. I turn that machine on, log in, then log in to the VM over the network (I can use rdesktop or vnc or whatever...). I then maximize the remote window and literally never use the actual underlying operating (XPpro) OS at all. all it's doing is running the remote viewer client.

There's a few reasons I want to do this. First, it will make it very easy to back up the various VMs since everything is on a central server. 2nd, it makes it easier to administer the individual VMs since I can just log into the server and work on them locally if needed (instead of having to access an actual physical computer). 3rd, since my family members don't like to turn off all there programs, and shut down the computer every night, they can at least leave the VMs running in the current state, and just shut down the notebooks that they're using to log into them... This will be more energy efficient. Also, it would make it easier to share printers, etc. Basically, similar reasons to why a coporate setting would want to do it.

So as of now, I'm using vmworkstation to host a VM, i've bridged the NIC, and then gone to one of my laptops and used rdesktop to attach to the VM. It works relatively well for most things, but when it comes to watching video (think - youtube), it lags a lot and has unnacceptable performance. Other than this problem, I think it would work fine as i described, but unfortunately, most of the family uses their respective computers for exactly this sort of thing. so, i need better performance. I was hoping that some of you may be able to make suggestions as to a better way to do this. One thing I had thought of was to share the directories with have the VM files in them, and then have each remote client run vmplayer and just open the vmk files over the network.

What other ways could I do this in order to maximize performance?

Anyway, I'm sure that I'm not asking a question that hasn't been asked before in some form or another, but I wasn't able to find a sufficient explanation elsewhere.

Thanks in advance,

VCB Server cant access SAN Luns

Rpokharel — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:47:33 GMT

Hi All,

I have a VCB setup on windows2003 server. we have total 6 SAN Luns, when i check from Disk management from VCB server it can see and acces 3 luns but couldnt access rest of them. i am getting 'The specified luns couldnt be accessed ' Error messge when i am trying to use VCB Mounter command to backup VMs on those luns. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Regards,

Raj

Any time frame to write VCP 310.

kathirkk23 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:41:20 GMT

Hi All,

I am planning to write VCP exam this month end, please need your advice/suggest/help me to finish VCP.

Thanks in advance

Regards
Kathir

VMware Capacity Planner Data Collection Guide

gparch — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:08:18 GMT

Can someone please forward me a copy of the VMware Capacity Planner Data Collection Guide? I cannot find it on the VMware website. Thanks.

Time line

hurdle — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:32:12 GMT

Does anyone out there have a tme line of vmware's products accross the past ten years?

For example

GSX

VMware releases VMware Server 1.0 July 10, 2007

VMware Workstationxxxxx

I have not found one on vmwares website

Thanks!

Network Design for Server and Client virtualization

PGRSteve — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:29:26 GMT

I am a network engineer for a large enterprise and we have a project going on to start utilizing hosted virutal desktops. I was curious if there is any documentation out there for best practices for the network design? Reason I ask is we already have a server farm built for server virtualization with well over 1000 virtual servers and now the client team wants to utilize the same infrastructure instead of building out a new client virtualization server farm (they want to save money and just purchase servers not the network infrastructure). I do not think that is the best approach and I was wondering what the industry best practices would be or if anyone could share there experiences in these areas? I know alot of this depends on requirements, but there should be some white papers or best practices guidelines? I have found a few things, but nothing that is addressing my concerns.

Hyper-V R2 "dynamic I/O redirection"

nzsteve — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:43:05 GMT

Hi,

Just throwing this out for discussion - anyone has had a chance to look at this at all?

Microsoft describe it as a way of detecting and recovering from network or SAN failure. The doc here talks about it Hyper-V R2 Reviewers Guide

Extracted from the doc:

"Because of the architecture of CSV, there is improved cluster node connectivity fault tolerance that directly affects VMs running on the cluster. The CSV architecture implements a mechanism, known as dynamic I/O redirection, where I/O can be rerouted within the failover cluster based on connection availability...if the SAN connection on Node 2 fails, the I/O operations are redirected over the network to Node 1. Node 1 then performs the I/O operation to the SAN. This allows you do a Live Migration of the VM running on Node 2 to Node 1...The next type of failure that can be redirected is the failure of network connectivity for a cluster node. As shown in the following figure, the primary network connection between Node 1 and Node 2 fails. Node 2 automatically reroutes network traffic over a redundant network connection and Node 1 performs the network I/O."

So...

1) Anyone know how well this works in practice?

2) Assuming it works, how does vSphere compare?

I've not had much chance to play with vSphere as yet so I'm unsure if theres anything new in this area, but am I correct in saying that theres no direct equivalent? For 3.5 at least I'm pretty certain that:

Unless the VM network vSwitch is also used with an SC port group acting as the only HA heartbeat network, there's no way to failover automatically if all network uplinks on the VM's portgroup are offline; And

if all paths to a SAN LUN drop to a single host in a cluster, the VMs running on that host go offline, but would be brought back up on a different host if virtual machine HA is turned on?

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Cheers!

Cannot install because image is not bootable

Daver88 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:43:31 GMT

We have a copy of VMware vCenter Server 4 Essentials for vSphere that we downloaded as an ISO. I have burned it to a DVD using Roxio and ImageBurn and neither disk will boot. We've tried it on the server we want to install to, plus multiple laptops. Seems like such an easy thing to do, but we can't install it because we cannot get the DVD to boot. Yes we have made sure the bios is set to boot from the optical drive. What am I missing? Any suggestions are appreciated!

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