VMware Communities : Thread List - vSphere Upgrade & Install

How do we backup or protect Vcenter server nd ESX

DSRSAS — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:55:00 GMT

What is the best way to protect the Vcenter server and the database.

If we enable a FT but i feel it wont be a supported configuration as we will have to use one processor only...Than how do be backup it in order to have fastest recovery in disater situation.

Is there any way to have a backup of ESX servers and Vcenter for the recovery pourpose.

vSphere 4u1 - any issues?

Anton V Zhbankov — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:59:33 GMT

Please post any issues with 4u1 here

---
MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009
http://blog.vadmin.ru

ESXi SSL Certificate breaks vCenter agent install

DSeaman — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:02:10 GMT

We have an internal Microsoft 2008 CA and created a SSL certificate for our ESXi 4.0 host, using the OpenSSL instructions. We got the SSL certificates uploaded to the ESXi host, and the web interface on the ESXi host is accessible and is protected with our issued certificate. However, when we try to add the host to vCenter 4.0 it gets to 80% (checking that vCenter agent is running...) and dies with:

Cannot install the vCenter agent service. Agent is not running.

If I reset the ESXi host configuration and configure it exactly the same but keeping the self-signed certificates, all is well. The common name of the SSL certificate is the FQDN of the ESXi host, and it's registered in DNS. In vCenter we are adding the host using the FQDN.

If I'm sneaky and add the host to vCenter with the self-signed certs then upload our custom SSL certs, it tries to re-install the agent and dies at 80%.

Thoughts?

vMotion from ESX 3.5 U3 to ESX 4.0 failing

jjewett — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:56:59 GMT

I'm at the half-way point of my ESX vSphere migration. We have two facilities managed by one vSphere vCenter and VUM 4.0. Things were progressing well with our upgrade from ESX 3.5 until yesterday. I have 6 ESX hosts left to upgrade but I'm stuck.

The first group of ESX servers upgraded nicely with this process:

1. Created new EVC Cluster
2. Added ESX hosts to cluster
3. vMotioned off all VMs from one ESX server
4. Upgrade that ESX server with VUM (reboot)
5. vMotioned VMs back to ESX server
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until complete

However, with this second batch of ESX servers these steps aren't working. When trying to vMotion back to the upgraded ESX 4.0 host I get the message:

A general system error occurred: The product version of the destination host does not support one or more CPU features currently in use by the virtual machine. Such features from CPUID level 0x1 register 'ecx' are indicated with a '1' bit:
x00:0000:x00x:x100:00x0:00x0:000x:010x

The difference between the two sites may be the version of ESX that I upgraded from. These ESX servers that fail to vMotion are ESX 3.5 Build 143128 (Update 3) but I believe the ESX version that worked was Update 4. I haven't found a kb article or post related to this. Has anyone seen anything about ESX U3 unable to vMotion to ESX 4.0?

Thanks in advance,

Jonathan

Planning the installation

DSRSAS — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:45:29 GMT

I have to virtulize a physcial datacenter having a mix of windows 2000, 2003 and 2008 servers and exchnage servers and database servers.

Now I am kind of lost.. on how to start desigining the infrastructure. I am having a Dell blade server attached to a storage. Now I need to virtulize all these servers. My confusion in on following points

1. should I virtulize the Domain controllers?
2. How do I reach a conlusion that how much resource should allocated to a VM ( the physical server which I will be virtuailzing)
3. Should I keep the Vcenter server a physcial system or a VM.
4. How do I plane a backups

I would highly appreciate anyone can shed some light on this

Regards
DS

ESX4 on Poweredge T110?

kevcherry — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:04:04 GMT

Has anyone successfully install ESX 4 on a Dell PowerEdge T110?

ESX 3.5 Eval Upgrade to vSphere

ddockter — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:02:29 GMT

I have an ESX 3.5 eval with a couple of weeks left on the eval that I am thinking of upgrading to a vSphere eval. Will I get the full eval period of vSphere or will it expire at the end of the 3.5 eval period.

on reboot all network settings are gone

shredhead1080 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:34:04 GMT

I just reinstalled ESX 4 on a host, mostly keeping default settings. One change is adding second port group for iSCSI and command line to make MTU 9000. Everything seemed fine and it finds the luns ok. After a short time, it starts randomly disconnecting from vCenter. I can restart the mgmt-vmware or network services and it fixes it for 5 minutes or so but then starts doing the same thing again. What's worse is that if I reboot it, the network settings completely disappear. I now have a host that has no port groups, and no virtual nics. I can recreate it all and then if I reboot it all goes away again.

There is another host that is identical hardware, identical setup to what I am trying to do on the first one. That one works no problem.

Not much other network traffic exists, as this is my home lab. I'm really scratching my head on this one.. I asked a collegue who is a vExpert and he never heard of this happening either..

CPUID utility vs processors listed in Systems Compatibility Guide

LyleRyan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:41:07 GMT

In the Systems Compatibility Guide HCL, some servers like the Dell PowerEdge 1850 are listed as supporting 4.0 if they have a "Prestonia/Gallatin" Xenon, but only support 3.5 if they have a "70xx" Xenon.

In looking to buy some old hardware for a testbed, I'm wondering how to tell a "Gallatin" from a "70xx" (for instance).

If the system passes the "cpuid" utility with a last line of "Supports 64-bit VMware" = Yes, does that mean I'm in the clear? Or would the "Brand String" output of the utility give the pedigree (the README doesn't show it doing this)?

Thanks in advance.....Lyle

Essentials Plus upgrade

Vanaaken — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:09:41 GMT

Hi I'm new to VMware so please bear with me.

We are currently running two servers with ESXi these are then managed by vSphere client however we can't manage both servers from one console and there is no built in backup feature, my old boss before he left said to look at the Essentials+ bundle as this would allow us to manage both servers from one console and also give us the data backup feature, is the above pack the cheapest option for the two requirements that I need?

I have to write a business case for the upgrade so want to be sure that I am going for the right upgrade!

Cheers

Mark

ESX 4.0 Update 1 (DVD ISO)

Lunddahl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:24:23 GMT

I seem to have troubble burning this file:

ESX 4.0 Update 1 (DVD ISO)
File size: 814MB
File type: .iso
MD5SUM: 01130d1504dbeb13ff77aaa41be63a60
SHA1SUM: acea10cd6eb323c7e06562a72dadecf705d4f589

All my programs tells me this is a CD ISO file, but it's to big to fit on a CD, how did you burn it ?

Ulrik Lunddahl - vExpert 2009

(If your question has been resolved please mark the answers as "Helpful" or "Correct".)

get error message when adding a new datacenter...

wlandymore — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:14:06 GMT

We have just one ESX box and have a datacenter that we have come to the end of. We have more disk space on an array so I was going to add a new datacenter, but when I try and get to the add host part and enter the ESX IP and 'root' it says:

Permission to perform this operation was denied. You do not hold the System > view privilege.

If I try to login with any other account it says it's a bad user/password. It seems to want the local root account for the ESX box, but I don't know how to adjust the privileges so I can add a 2nd datacenter. Can someone help me out with this?

Thanks.

VM Performance Hostory Migration - Possible?

CapiZikus — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:28:10 GMT

All,

We're planning to create a new vCenter4 with a new 2008 DB, new DC name and add ESXs server to this new environment.

The current ESXs are managing by VC3.5 and don't want to use the current DB due to performance issue (we think this might to do with corrupt data in the DB, but not 100% sure).

We know how to migrate the Esxs from old VC to new vCenter4, however one of the requirment of the task is the new vCenter is should able to show/report statistic of all VMs which we not sure a best practise to do this.

I'm thinking of migrage the DB to 2008 first then upgrade the current VC to vCenter4, then add a new vCenter to co-manage the ESXs then depromote the old VC(the one that just upgraded from VC3.5).

I will then create a brand new DB and run backup-restore from the old DB (the one just upgrade from 2003), then point a new vCenter4 to the brand new 2008 DB

Is this a best way to do?

Thanks

NaviAgent in ESX 4?

dTardis — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:16:57 GMT

I upgraded one of our ESX 3.5 hosts to ESX 4 using the update manager, and all went smoothly.

Now as expected the newly upgraded ESX 4 host does not have the naviagent for our EMC Clariion CX3-20 installed or running. No problem I thought I would just reinstall it. we have version 6.26 and I ran the .sh script and it appeared to go ok. I started the service and again everything appears ok. But the Navisphere does not see the agent and I am not sure where to go from here. The PowerLink is one of the worst web sites I can imagine when trying to find something, and I could not find a reference to esx 4 anywhere. Is it supported? Is there a different install procedure? Anyone know?

Setup cannot create vCenter Server Directory Services instance

masselwagen — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:53:02 GMT

during upgrade from VC 3 to VC 4 i've got error message (see attach pic 1), after click on 'Yes' second message appear and then install process rollbackin'
what's wrong?

log's file don't make things clear

content of %Temp%\jointool-0.log

[2009-05-22 09:35:03] INFO JoinTool started
[2009-05-22 09:35:03] INFO Storage directory for LDAP instance: C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\VMwareVCMSDS
[2009-05-22 09:35:03] INFO Operation Mode: initialize
[2009-05-22 09:35:03] SEVERE Failed to load certificate: : Failed to load certificate
[2009-05-22 09:35:03] SEVERE Execution error.

content of %temp%\vminst.log

VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 --- CA exec: VMAdamInvokeJoinTool
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Jointool command: ["C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\jre\bin\javaw.exe" -jar "C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\jointool.jar" init --statusFile "C:\DOCUME~1\a-mic\LOCALS~1\Temp\2\status.txt" --recoverIfPossible --name VIM01.domain.com --vimURL https://VIM01.domain.com:443/sdk --webServiceURL https://VIM01.domain.com:8443/vws --ldapPort 389 --dsn "VMware VirtualCenter" --dbUser "" --dbPassword "***********"]
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Deleting
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Did not find file/directory: ""
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Already removed:
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Deleting C:\DOCUME~1\a-mic\LOCALS~1\Temp\2\status.txt
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Found "C:\DOCUME~1\a-mic\LOCALS~1\Temp\2\status.txt"
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Deleted file C:\DOCUME~1\a-mic\LOCALS~1\Temp\2\status.txt
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:33 Found "C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\jre\bin\javaw.exe"
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:38 Process returned 255
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:38 status.txt file size: 161
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:38 linked mode operation failed with error [255]. Join Mode = [init] Join Error ID = [28038]
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:12:38 Posting user message 28042
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:35:03 MsiProcessMessage returned: 6
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:35:03 PerformJoinOperation() -- HandleJoinToolResults returned <1603>
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:35:03 Found "C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\jre\bin\javaw.exe"
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:35:03 Process returned 255
VMware VirtualCenter-build-162856: 05/22/09 09:35:03 Jointool invoked with --force option

content of %temp%\status.txt

-----------------
Failed to load certificate:
com.vmware.vim.common.ssl.CertificateLoadException: Failed to load certificate
-----------------
Execution error.

Configuring Etherchannel in vSphere4

NYSDHCR — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:28:37 GMT

We are in the planning stages to deploy vSphere 4 on a Dell m1000 bladecenter with m610s and m710 blades, connected to a Cisco 3130 switch on the backend. The blades have 2 on-board nics each, and 4 additional nics on the adapter cards. For redundancy, we are planning to Etherchannel vmnic0 and vmnic1, then add vlans for the service console (vlan172), vmotion (vlan173), and Fault Tolerance (vlan174) on two of the six nics. When I build an ESX from scratch and I add the SC to the service console vlan on the Etherchannel vswitch, it is not able to communicate to anything. But if I add the SC to the vmnic0 not in an Etherchannel setup, communications works.

We are able to add the SC to an vswitch Etherchannel after the Etherhannnel has been configured, but we are not able to sdd the SC to an existing Etherchannel. (I hope I have explained that right!).

We have set the vswitch properties to route based on IP hash. Are we missing something here? Should I be able to add the host to the vlan which is in an Etherchannel configuration as I am building it?

vSphere Host Update Utility Scan Failed

inasol — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:30:50 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've recently upgraded my Dell PE2950iii ESXi 3.5 Embedded to 4.0. After the upgrade I was unable to patch the host after successfully scanning and downloading the 2 available patches. I then decided (after reading a user's post) I decided to run the Repair option on the ESXi 4 CD. The repair went through fine without any visible errors. Now that I am attempting scan and patch my host, I get an error which referred me to an viu-3 log file. I'm not to clear on how to read it but I managed to locate this piece of info that may be valuable in determining what is at fault in my setup.

VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 msg: hostCacheManager, 50 cache location: /tmp/updatecache cache size: 260408MB
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 msg: Host scanner wrapper: scanning(all) started.
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 inf: Managed patch manager using metadata URLs:
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 inf: Start uploading files to host
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 inf: Event posted: Start uploading files to host
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 inf: Upload file: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VI Update/vmw/metadata/vmw-ESXi-4.0.0-metadata.zip to: /tmp/updatecache/vmw-ESXi-4.0.0-metadata.zip
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 inf: Managed patch manager uploading file, src: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VI Update/vmw/metadata/vmw-ESXi-4.0.0-metadata.zip, dst: /tmp/updatecache/vmw-ESXi-4.0.0-metadata.zip
VIU :QuickInf 2009-11-18 17:10:15.328 msg: Host scanner wrapper scanning(all) failed [2]: I/O error occurred. Failure details: System.IO.IOException: I/O error occurred.

Can someone please advise me on how to proceed?

vSphere Licensing/Support Subscription Expires?

dlchapman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:29:56 GMT

I couldn't find a vSphere licensing or support subscription community to post this in, so I will post this here. I sincerely apologize if this is the incorrect place.

Our company is looking to move forward with our virtualization/consolidationplan utilizing vSphere Advanced Acceleration Kit. I have a VMWare VAR but everytime I ask them a question it takes two days to get a response and they're always trying to push other services on me. I'd rather just find the answers myself.

Anyway, my question is what happens to my vSphere and vCenter licenses if I let my subscription expire. Is that even an option? What I am actually purchasing when I get the vSphere Advanced Acceleration Kit with 1 year of Gold support. Do I lost the ability to use the software after 1 year? What if I want to renew after I had let them expire? Do I have to pay any back maintenance or reinstallation fees?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

upgrade to vsphere4

frjo76 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:35:02 GMT

hi!
I'm going to upgrade my esx3.5 environment to vspere4
I have 3 esx in a ha cluster with a Hp FC SAN
My Virtual center 2.5 server is in a VM
I read somewere that I should disconnect my FC to the SAN, am I forced to to this or is it just for be safe?
This can be difficult in my case becase the VC is in a VM.

should i use Update manager or host update utility?

What is the best upgrade method in my case?

greatful for a answer

how to upgrade ESX 3.5 to vSphere 4; kindly suggest & provide step-by-step doc.

raju1216 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:18:44 GMT

how to upgrade ESX 3.5 to vSphere 4; kindly suggest & provide step-by-step doc.
We have ESX 3.5 environment & want to upgrade vSphere 4, is there any doc ? what are mandatory requirement?

vSphere on IBM HS 22 in BladeCenter H 8852

mirko.josipovic — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:20:56 GMT

Hi all

i have problems installing vSphere on HS22 7870B3G.
it boots ok and after loading network drivers (22%) it breaks connection to IMM of Blade which then lose connection to chassis AMM.

after that i have to restart Blade from AMM web UI and start over again.we tried to load vSphere from Media Tray(DVD) but problem is same.

so we have IBM H 88524YG loaded with:

1.two AMM (25R5778)
2.four Power Supply (31R3335)
3.six Cisco 3012 (43W4395) loaded in 1,2,3,4,7 and 9 Bay IO slot
4.two Fibre Brocade 20 port SAN Switch module (32R1812) loaded in 8, 10 Bay
5.two interconnect modul (39Y9314)

We have 14 blades in chassis but only 6 is for vSphere.
So HS22 7870B3G is loaded with:

1.2 Intel Xeon 5530,32GB ram
2.2×146GB SAS internal drives (for boot vsphere)
3.one QLogic Ethernet and 8Gb Fibre Channel Expansion (44X1940); two eth, two FC port
4.one Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) (44W4475); two eth

AMM has 10.0.29.0 range address
Cisco has 10.0.29.0 range address
Fibre Switch has 10.0.29.0 range address
Intenal management network of chassis are default and vlan id is 4095 ( tried vlanid 1000)

Cisco Modules
Firmware data:
Type : Main Application 1
Build ID : 12.2.40
File Name : CBS31X0-UNI
Release Date : 04/16/2008
Release Level : EX2

AMM firmware

Version:		2.50c
Release Date:		2009-08-31

Blades firmware

1 SN#YK12509982KP FW/BIOS P9E130A 08/24/2009 1.04 Different
1 SN#YK12509982KP Diagnostics DSYT19A 08/20/2009 2.33 Different
1 SN#YK12509982KP Blade Sys Mgmt Processor YUOO32F 1.05 Different

I tried to load RHEL 5 and Win2k8 and installation went fine.

So it looks like vmware is trying to make some changes (change to promiscuit mode or loads its driver) and then i loose connectivity to IMM of blade

which leads to loosing all connections between AMM and blade.

did anybody of you gays have something similar?

thanks

regards

Optimal size of /usr directory and partitioning

raxz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:44:27 GMT

Hi,

I would like to find out what would be a safe maximum partition size for /usr folder on vSphere box? Normally I would not expect posing such a question, but for some reason I recently installed vSphere and created a new partition of size 2 GB for /usr.

Now after installation /usr directory is already using 54% space. Normally /usr is part of the / partition which is normally 5GB with some room for expansion.

I would like to find out if 2 GB would be enough for /usr partition, or do I need to add more space to this partition? Or reinstall this host with /usr directory being part of the / partition.

Regards

ESX 3.5 Host Upgrade

mayfa — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:18:55 GMT

Hi,

I have a customer looking to upgrade one of his hosts to vsphere 4.

The issue is this host only has local storage.

Will an automatic upgrade deployed from virtual center remove his virtual machines from the single local storage volume?

Storage nightmare or overlooked solution?

shadoh10006 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:41:00 GMT

I have the following setup

R710 (native SQL)

R900 (ESXi)vsphere

MD1000 Storage

And heres my issue!

THe SQL server must remain native for configuration purposes. The R900 is hosting "worker" vm's that are processing jobs handed out by the SQL server. the workers finish the processing and then report back to SQL all the results and save completed documents and data on the MD1000...

Currently the R710 SQL server and MD1000 are attached via SAS. The R900 and SQL server are attached via a switch and 4x1GB connections.

The workers must rely on SQL to serve them access to the MD1000 and thus creating a HUGE bottleneck including approx 50-90 ms latency between the VM and datastore.

Wishful thinking i would like to direct attach the R900 to the MD1000 keeping all the data to be processed and already processed here...I am planning on having a RAID10 setup on the MD100 for performance and reliability.

What i cant figure out is how to access the MD1000 once it is attached to the R900? should i use RDM? VMFS? NFS?

All Comments/criticism welcome !

Upgrade to vSphere Clean Install but what about upgrading virtual machines

skilled123 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:36:00 GMT

need help I am looking to upgrade a esx 3.5 environment that has HA/DRS implemented although I would like to use VUM to update the host as I will be building a brand new vCenter4 server, I want to perform clean installs of the ESX host so I am going to build a new vCenter 4 Server and build the first new cluster from new hardware for this environment:

what is the best approach to take to upgrade the virtual machines ? Can I still use VUM for the virtual machines if I build new ESX host and want to migrate from ESX 3.5 cluster to ESX 4 cluster? Will new vcenter convert for vcenter 4 upgrade hardware and vmware tools if I migrate over?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated

ESX 4 guest Hardware 7 upgrade does not retain wins settings

jrwininger — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:40:57 GMT

Upgrading to HW version 7 does not retain wins settings. Anyone else noticed this?

Intel® PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Adapter (PCI Express) with ESX/ESXi 4?

whorsfall — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:32:51 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to work out if the following card worsk with VMWare ESXi 4.

The card is teh
Intel® PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Adapter (PCI Express)

Which uses the: Intel® 82571GB Gigabit Controller

However in the VMWare HCL it mentions the Intel 82571EB Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Are these two items compatibile, so will VMware ESXi work with this card?

I am hoping somebody out there has tried it can can give me some insight.

Thanks,

Ward.

vSphere client install error J# 4113

Ghell — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:24:50 GMT

I have installed vSphere on a server and visited it by IP address in my browser. It gave me a link to download the vSphere client. However, when I try to install this client I get the following error:

VMware vSphere Client 4.0

The Microsoft Visual J# 2.0 Second Edition installer returned error code '4113'.

If I extract the installer with WinRar, it says:

VMware vSphere Client 4.0

Error 25070.Setup has detected that the Microsoft
Visual J# 2.0 Second Edition pre-requisite is not
installed on this system. Please install this pre-requisite
and try again.

I am running Windows Vista x64, which comes with .net 2.0 and 3 and I also have Visual Studio 2005 installed on the machine so I don't know why it is trying to install this in the first place, let alone why it is failing.

Upgrade from 3.5 to 4 but some server replacement at the same time... Blades possibly?

pops107 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:25:09 GMT

Hello,

I have a client that has around 30 Physical hosts at the moment ranging from DL585 4U 4 way but old single core opterons to newer DL385's dual quad core boxes.

We are about to implement vSphere but I pointed out the 585's are now over 5 years old, massive and are not cost effective with regards to power anymore. I originally looked at more 2U opteron based servers but have recently been considering Blades.

We are looking at replacing around 5 x DL585's 2.4ghz single core 4 CPU's 16GB RAM with either;

4 x 2U Dell R805's Dual Six Core 2.4ghz with 32GB RAM.
4 x M710 blades with the same spec as above but split across 2 enclosures.

Cost isn't significantly different but there are obviously pros and cons both ways.

The reason I feel blades could be a great option here is that they still have around 20 Physical servers they wont/cant virtualise for various reasons, we could implement half height M610's in the same enclosures for the physical boxes and expand further on the M710's further down the line slowly replacing the starting to get old DL385's

I would want to make use of the current network and SAN fabric plus arrays so would use the enclosure passthru devices to get as much network and FC I can to each blade individually.

It appears I cant get 2 FC ports and around 6+ nics to each blade even if fully populated. If I can get 8 I would be happy, talking to Dell about that tomorrow.

My plan would be to have 4 blades max in a cluster two from each chassis, this would fit nicely to replace 4 or more severs a year for 4 blades and keep up with new cpu features and not have to worry about vmotion as we could mix Intel and AMD in the same enclosure but keep the clusters separated and not have to worry about HA if a enclosure pops.

The obvious usual drivers are a part of this, power, cooling, space and on going costs.

Opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Netbios turned back on after upgrading virtual hardware

adgross — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:12:59 GMT

This is more of an informational note than a question....

I have been upgrading Windows guests to the latest version of VMware Tools and Virutal Hardware and have noticed that after the hardware upgrade, Netbios is set to Default even though it was set to Disabled prior to the upgrade. I would imagine that this behavior is due to the fact that new hardware is found and Windows is setting the Default properties....but if they are able to keep IP address and DNS settings, you would think that it would also keep the Netbios setting.

Has anyone else noticed this behavior? Have you found a way around it other than manually editing network settings after upgrading the virtual hardware?

4GB memory limit on 32bit VMware host?

TheTechie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:25:09 GMT

Hi, I’m hoping to install ESXi v4 on a PowerEdge 2650 with 8 GB memory but recently realized it doesn’t have a 64bit processor. Does ESXi have the same limitation as windows 32bit OS where it won’t recognize over 8 GB of memory? Seems odd the server could support 12 GB of memory if nothing can use it.

I know PowerEdge 2650 isn’t on the official VMware ESX support list but I read other posts about people saying it works.

Thanks.

Hot Add RAM Option not viewable

stanj — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:49:13 GMT

I upgraded the VMs tools and hardware (v7) but do not see the option to hot add RAM.

The attached doc shows a Windows 2003 Server OS with the VM options.

I do not see the line that allows me to enable the option.

Do I need to do someting else to enable the Hot Add option for RAM?

thanks

Memory load in Vsphere

BAMUser — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:44:56 GMT

Hi all,

We installed ESX 4.0
( 52go of RAM )and we receive this error message: TSC: 3136608883 cpu0:0)NUMA:
827: Significant imbalance between NUMA node detected. Performance may be
impacted.

See attachement plz

On the same server, ESX 3.5
did not mention any error.

When we add memory
(to 56go of RAM) this error disappears.

My questions:

1) is there a way to correct
this message in ESX 4.0 (in the software and not in hardware modification)

2) It's true that this will
affect performance of ESX 4.0.

Thank you in advance for
your support.

Cannot see Health Status in vSphere 4

amitdebnath — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:27:40 GMT

Hi,
I am using vSphere 4 as client and As host i'm using a ESX 4 server.
In configuration tab of Host Health Status is not showing in the Hardware section.
So I cannot see any health status information.

Is there any configuration that has to be enabled in vSphere or in host I have to install any addon?

Thanks and regards,
Amit

Navisphere Host Agent and vSphere 4

mckenzieaj — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:37:33 GMT

We are about to upgrade our Dell Blades to vSphere (ESX 4), connected to a CX3-40 SAN. This will be a fresh build of each host.

Traditionally we have installed the Navisphere Host Agent on each host - quote: "the Host Agent is required because it registers the host bus adapters with the SPs to which they are connected, and integrates host-side information such as device and volume names".

From reading a couple of threads in these forums, I see this is probably no longer the case for ESX 4:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1317011 quote "The Navisphere Host Agent is not required vSphere 4.0 (also referred to as ESX 4.0). With these versions of VMware the native multipathing driver performs a registration "push" down all paths at each boot. With this functionality, no host agent or manual registration is required"

Also some discussion in http://communities.vmware.com/thread/150924

So here is my question that I am struggling to find a definitive answer for... If this host agent is not required, why does one apparently exist that is compatible with ESX 4? Do I miss out on functionality by not installing it? Is one way better, or more supported than the other?

Happy for an answer and or a pointer to the right information source!

Thanks, Andrew McKenzie

Strategic Group

ESX4 with HP NC510F 10Gbit adapter

Poort443 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:16:10 GMT

I have a number of issues with the HP NC510F adapter. NFS datastores remain in "Inactive" state permanently. The datastores can be browsed, but that's all. VM's can't be started off it, and VMotions fail. The issues are resolved when I use a different adapter on the same vSwitch.

I've also had nothing but trouble with this adapter on ESX3.5. The NFS stores were properly connected, but VM's would freeze or be otherwise unreachable after a few hours or maybe a day. This is why I wanted to upgrade to ESX4, hoping that these problems would be resolved. All these issues happen on several servers, but all with the NC510F.

I'm working with VMware support to resolve these problems, but my question really is: Is anybody using this NC510F succesfully on ESX4?

This adapter is on the I/O Compatibilty Guide, and I'm using the driver that's stated there, the nx_nic 4.0.301

Out of Band Update for vSphere

Odurasler2 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:56:51 GMT

Our upgrade to vSphere have been put on hold because of an article that we read. Does anyone know what this Update will fix? I'm wondering if we can just perform the upgrade before the Update, as it may not affect my environment. Any thoughts, or should we just wait for this update before any upgrade?

Design and best option advice please...

Vitaly91 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:44:46 GMT

Dear fellow virtual heads,

I am working on a project for a customer and have, as usual, several options to do some implementation tasks. What I am looking for is an opinion on the BEST and easiest way to do them. I hope you will share with me your thoughts and I am sure you will have some helpful advice.

General Info: it's a vSphere 4.0 implementation. Storage: Dell Equallogic iSCSI. Disks: 10K SATA (not sure on these though yet)

Currently customer has data stored locally on their physical servers. Some of them have HUGE amount of data (1TB plus). Some of them also run applications that have dependency on SQL servers that "support" them. So there is no single SQL cluster, but a bunch of smaller SQL boxes supporting their own application servers.

Questions:

1. What is the best way to P2V all these servers? What product to use considering the situation (VMware Converter vs Vizioncore vConverter)?

2. What is the best approach to moving data and presenting it back to the VMs? Should I P2V data disks along with the server and have them as VMDKs or should I move data to LUNs and present them back to VMs as RDM?

3. Should I try to utilize PVSCSI?

Any other thoughts on this project?

I thank you all for your help in advance and look forward to your advice!

Upgrade to vSphere 4

samuk — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:08:41 GMT

Hi,

Currently we have 4 ESX 3.5 Hosts and a single Virtual Center Server runing the update manager aswell. The VC server is also the licence server.

I wanted to install Vsphere 4 and upgrade the VM's.

I was going to migrate all VM's of one of the ESX hosts and format and install Vpshere 4 on this. Once the VC server is ready i was going to migrate the VM's to here and upgrade the hardware. The format the next ESX 3.5 host.....

Can someone please tell me the order in which i should be doing this? as the old enviroment will be runnning along side whislt the upgrade is taking place,

Thanks

Is Vsphere and Vcenter licenses now split?

tom11011 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:24:43 GMT

Hi.

Our existing envirnonment is a 6 dual cpu enterprise licenses with all the goodies.

We converted our licenses to the new license scheme needed for vsphere 4.0 upgrade.

We were able to download the vsphere 4.0 iso but received an error message saying we were not licensed for vcenter so we could not download it.

Are these licenses split now? I'm having difficulty understanding how we are running a full blown esx 3.5 environment but we are somehow not entitled to upgrade even though we are under support.

Any help appreciated.

esx 4.0 doesn't recognize a intel pro/1000 pt server adaptor

AMVM2009 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:44 GMT

Hello,

This is my first post. I'd like to tryout the esx 4.0 software, but it doesn't recognize my intel pro/1000 pt nic

I'm a newby to vmware please help

Options for my specific upgrade?

abaack — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:55:15 GMT

Ok, we currently have three ESX 3.5 hosts that are regular HP DL385s. Another DL385 is being used as a vCenter 2.5 system. Around 20 or so VMs spread across the three.

We just purchased our first blade chassis and are going to move all of our ESX hosts onto 4 BL480 (blades). What is the best way to approach this? I was also considering virtualizing our vCenter since I've heard a lot of people are doing it now and for DR purposes it's nice.

If I don't mind losing the 'stats' from the old vCenter can I setup a new VM and install vSphere Center on it and then attach all of the existing ESX hosts to it without worrying about messing with the 2.5 vCenter?

Thanks.

iommu and vtd errors in vSphere

filip_n — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:03:58 GMT

Hi!

After installing vSphere one service is not starting. This is iommu (Failed to load iommu driver) and after boot on the first screen I have message in red:

cpu1 :4106)Mod: 2077: Initialization for vtd failed with -1"

What are disadvantages of this situation.

My hardware: Intel S3210SHLX, Core2Quad, 4GB RAM

Regards

migrate to distributed switch

tdubb123 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:08:47 GMT

how do I migrate my hosts to a vdistributed switch? what are the steps?

VM upgrade with Update Manager - how do you attach the Tools baseline

stanj — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:07:23 GMT

I am upgrading the Virtual Machines tools on one of our ESX Servers – ESX8.
There are several VMs (10-20). I tried to attach the default baseline provided with vSphere (VMware Tools Upgrade to Match) to the ESX Server and the VMware Tools Upgrade to Match baseline does not show up.

The vShpere upgrade video series #2 shows the user using a folder that he created in the Vm and Templates view with all of the Xp VMs in one folder.
He then attached the VMware Tools Upgrade to Match baseline and scans and remediates all of the Xps.

If I go to the Vm and Templates view and I see Discovered Vms folder, VMs, templates, etc.
But the VMs associated look to be in alphabetical order and not in an order that associates them with ESX8.
If I create a folder under the Discovered VMs folder and try to move VMs associated with ESX8 into the folder, it does not work.

I even tried to create a new baseline and tried to add VMware Tools Upgrade to Match, but still can not attach it to the host.

Is there way to get Update Manager to work at the host level with the host ESX8 so I can attach VMware Tools Upgrade to Match baseline to ESX8 and update the tools?

Otherwise, updating all of the VMs manually by attaching the baseline to each will take a very long time.

thanks

Error - Insert the ESX Installation media

nadokter — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:04:16 GMT

Does anyone know what the resolution is to the error, Insert the ESX Installation media, on a ESX4.0 install?
I have attempted an install from a IDE and USB/IDE drive and have also tried different media.

Interestingly, ESXi installs without any trouble. I would prefer ESX for the local port options on my server environment.

Regards,

Chris

vsphere db upgrade

amsnetops — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:52:55 GMT

Hi,

Still running VC2.5 U5, i use a local SQL Express SP3 instance on the VC server. The database size is currently aroung 2GB (i believe SQL Express has a limit of 4GB). Is the upgrade increasing the db size, do you know how much?
Running around 23 hosts (150 VMs)

Thanks

Installation of ESX 4 without a VGA port

amitdebnath — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:06:39 GMT

Hi,

I want to install ESX 4.0 on one of our servers.

But the server dose not have any VGA port. It has only Serial console port , network and USB port.

Can any one please help me out to install ESX wihout VGA port.

Regards,

Amit

Do I run esxcli corestorage claimrule convert after each upgrade

M80ARM — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:31:44 GMT

Hi Guys,

Long time reader first time poster. I'v just upgraded to vCentre 4.0 and upgraded our test host to vSphere. The upgrade went fine but I was curious when to run the esxcli corestorage claimrule convert command. Our test server is all local storage so when i run this command I get the following error message, which I assume is due to the local storage:

--root@nexvmhp01 ~--# esxcli corestorage claimrule convert
Errors:
No /adv/Disk/MaskLUNs config entry to convert!
--root@nexvmhp01 ~--# --root@nexvmhp01 ~--# esxcli corestorage claimrule convert
-bash: [root@nexvmhp01: command not found

When i come to upgrading our Blades (Dell PowerEdge M600's which are connected to a dell EMC CX240 SAN) I'm assuming the command will work. But do I run this command after each host upgrade or wait until all hosts are running vSphere before running the command? The vSphere upgrade guide doesn't really explain too much about the command, it basically just says that you need to run it, so:

When do I run the command, after all hosts have been upgraded or after each upgrade?

What exactly does this command do? and is it necessary?

Thanks

Michael

Time span vSphere upgrade

TaFfin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:31:51 GMT

Good day,

I was wondering if the upgrade from ESX3.5 to vSphere has a time span?
I know the steps to take to make the upgrade succesfull, but can I, for instance, wait a day after every step?
I want to upgrade to vCenter and ESX4.0, but than want to wait 2 day's before I upgrade my VM's.
Is this adviceable / supported?

Thanks in advance,

Michael.

ESX buildnumber is not reflected in the vi client

Timothy@Corismo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:53:53 GMT

Hi all,

I just updated 3 ESX 4.0 hosts with the latest patches found on https://www.vmware.com/mysupport/download/ . I installed them manually on all hosts via the esxupdate scan|stage|update command. The updates were all succesfully applied. After the 3 updates the buildnumber is reflected in /proc/vmware/version. However if I log on the vCenter server or directly , I see a buildnumber 175625 which should be 193498 (or at least this is the vmkernel release in /proc/vmware/version). Executing vmware -v shows yet another buildnumber namely 171294.

There doesn't seem to be a problem with the patches. However in the future we plan to use vmware update manager in vSphere. What if the version number are not properly interpreted by this tool and it will try to update the host without this being needed?!

Thanks for helping out!

Timothy

vCenter Service Status error

kenner — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:42:27 GMT

What does "Cannot access the health service!" mean? Where, precisely does that service run and how can it be restarted?

VMware vCenter Update Manager Extension- Plugin not available

ajesha008 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:05:56 GMT

VMware vCenter Update Manager Extension- Plugin not available in vSphere client after I installed the plug-ins from manage plugin snapin.

When I click on "Donload and install" from "Available plug-ins" Installation succeeds but after the installation it is not visible in "Installed Plug-ins"

Also I can see "VMware vCenter Update Manager Client" in my add or Remove Programs.

My laptop : Win XP SP3

vCenter Server is Win2K8 Standard, and update manager is working fine on it.

Could some one help with this.

Thanks,

Ajesh

Health status not displaying due to vcenter rename

oschistad — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:16:49 GMT

First of all, I am very much aware of the needless pain and suffering I have caused myself by installing vCenter before assigning the correct hostname to the server. However, I've been able to weed out all the resulting problems except one; the hardware health tab still doesn't work.

I know that this is caused by a leftover from the old hostname since the vws.log dumps the following error when I try to access the tab:

 [2009-08-18 10:07:09,550 Thread-52  ERROR 'com.vmware.vim.health.impl.ComponentSpec'] Error while trying to login to https://WIN-6S7KEDU17NJ:8443/vws/Login

However, what boggles me is that there doesn't seem to be a single reference to the old hostname in any of the xml files nor in the vCenter database itself. So where is this hostname being referenced I wonder?

Lastly, a tip to anyone installing vCenter on a windows 2008 server: The windows setup wizard never asks you for a hostname during the installation, it just auto-assigns a name to the host. Do remember to change the hostname before launching the vCenter installer and you'll save yourself a LOT of hassle

can you upgrade vms from esx 3.5 to 4 and vice versa

knat — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:28:19 GMT

We have a setup of VMWare ESX 3.5 and 4. Can VMs be moved interchangeably between the two? Or will the converter tools convert them or am I SOL?

Nate

kickstart 3.5 and 4.0

tdubb123 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:28:12 GMT

Can I use the same kickstart file from 3.5 for ESX 4.0 ? IS there any additional things I need to add to the file?

Failed TO load IOMMU driver on ESXi 4.0

malarie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:01:02 GMT

I know there is a thread like this, but no answers have been given..

When I PRESs ALT+F1 on my ESXi, I have this errror Message: Failed to load iommu driver.

I have check in the BIOS, VTX and VTD are enabled.. But I still have this error.

Thanks.

Scripting Configuration of HBAs for Boot From SAN

jah81 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:40:24 GMT

Hi all,

I've just created a scripted install of ESX using HP RDP, what I'd like to achieve is a complete zero touch installation and one of the things I want to look at next is whether I can configure the HBAs for boot from SAN via script rather than manually.

We're using Emulex HBAs by the way. I've seen LB6DUTIL mentioned somewhere but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of documentation around it. I'm hoping I might be able to boot to DOS and just feed it a script before kicking off my ESX install.

Just wondered if anyone else has looked at this and can give me any pointers to save me some time?

Cheers guys.

ESX 4 Install localstorage block size?

ephillipsme — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:10:22 GMT

During the install there appears to be no way to change the local block size on the VMFS created? Is there a ay other then a scripted install to change this?

~Ernie

VCP3,VCP4, MCSE, CCA

vSphere installer. How to change block size or Datastore size during install

Brijn — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:47:03 GMT

Hi,

I'm installaing vSphere on a server with one 800G R5 volume. In advanced install I don't see options to either set blocksize or datastore size. By default it's 1MB + full disk. This leaves me with a VMDK limit of 256G. I need more, what is the best way to change the datastore to 4MB block size. I thought I'd just drop the standrd DS and add a new one. But you can';t do that because the Service COnsole is on it. You also can't shrink it seems.

I'll go and try to see if I can copy the console files off via sftp and then reformat and copy back. But I have the feeling that might nbot work

I was hoping to run a P2V overnight.. But changes are getting small it seems

Bas

Qlogic QMH4062 and Vsphere

ITSE — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:43:41 GMT

Hello,

I have 2 Qlogic iSCSI QMH4062 mezzanine modules and a built-in HP NIC installed in my HP Bl460c. The built-in HP NIC was detected during installation but not the two Qlogic QMH4062 mezzanine modules. I am not able to find any driver or update for QMH4062. Has anyone encountered this before?

Thanks for your help.

Pete

another IBM x3650 M2 headache!

athlon_crazy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:53:51 GMT

Last week one of my customer IBM x3650 M2 server got issue with UEFI features & workaround is, do legacy boot. But today another customer having another issue during ESX 4.0 installation which ESX unable to detect the local storage, so I cant proceed with the installation.

The 2x 73GB (Raid 1) disk currently attached to ServerRaid SAS/SATA M5014 controller. Searched in Vmware HCL, no result found.

Anyone having same issue?

vcbMC-1.0.6 Beta
vcbMC-1.0.7 Lite
http://www.no-x.org

vSphere Server 4.0 compatibility with Virtual Desktop Manager 2.1

mjbtrc — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:13:54 GMT

Currently running Virtual Infrastructure 3, specifically ESX 3.0.3 hosts, Virtual Center 2.0.2, , and Virtual Desktop Manager 2.1.0 (build 596). Looking to upgrade to vSphere 4.0 ESX, and Vsphere Server but wondering if there are any compatiblity issues with the Virtual Destkop Manager 2.1 connecting to a vSphere Server 4.0? Clients are wyse S10 getting sessions from the VDM to XP VM's. I'm planning on getting the VDM upgraded to View at a later time.

Thanks for the help.

Chris

License Question

markus_herbert@yahoo.de — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:38:04 GMT

I have 4 Licenses VMware Infrastructure 3 Enterprise for 2 prozessors and
1 License VMware VirtualCenter Managment Server 2.
Also an active Gold-Supscription for these products.

Do I need new Licenses before upgrading to VSphere 4 ?
What is the equivalence for the VMware Infrastructure Enterprise in VSphere ?

Thanks for any reply.

Upgrade with no vmotion?

stanj — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:10:38 GMT

I have two test sites to upgrade

These are NOT production sites.

Test site 1:
has 5 Del 2950 ESX servers running 3.5 U4 and a SAN but only Standard Licenses, so no vmotion unless I can get a 3.5 eavl.
Also, have vCenter 2.5 and a license server on a PC with the default database (no Oracle or SQL Server DB).
There are about 35 VMs total (some are on local Dell Server storage and some are on the SAN).

I also am looking at using a spare Dell 2650 for vCenter 4.0 sice the PC has a single CPU and 2 GB of RAM.

Test site 2:
has 10 Del 2950 ESX servers 3.5 U4. and 1 Dell 1950 ESXi server running ESX 3i.
There is no physical SAN but a virtual SAN is configured with 3 of the Dell 2950 Servers and this site has ESX 3.5 Enterprise License.
Also, have vCenter 2.5 and a license server on a Del 2850 and am using SQL Serve on a Dell 6850 for the vCenter and Update Manager DB.

I have been reading the upgrade guide and it appears that a cold migration may be the only option at both sites.

Do I need to go with cold migration since I have 2 sites that are not in production and can be down for a period of time or can
I use the vSphere Host Update Utility?

thanks

new vSphere 4.0 install error "tsc: 38428789 cpu0:0) memmap : 1715: reducing number of colors from 26 to 2"

sysmast — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:10:00 GMT

new vSphere 4.0 install error "tsc: 38428789 cpu0:0) memmap : 1715: reducing number of colors from 26 to 2"

This is on a brand new DL585 G6, i've seen several TSC, errors usually they are fixed with a change in a bios setting. Anyone have any thoughts what this ould be?

error attached,

Thanks everyone!

Upgrade ok but patches for esx VSphere wont go?

Formatter — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:03:52 GMT

Upgraded a host from 3.5 to VSphere great all is ok. Is there a reason the vSphere host update utility wont patch the esx version?

what happens to existing snapshots after VM Hardware upgrades?

kklueber — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:29:27 GMT

we are in the process of upgrading our ESX environment ot ESX4. we have several VMs with multiple Snapshots. we rollback to different Snapshots periodically to test different configurations.

what will happen to these snapshots when i upgrade the VMtools and VM hardware on these VMs? will i be able to rollback to these existing snapshots? what state will the VM be in if I do rollback? will it still be version 7? or will it rollback to version 4?

EVC Cluster after Virtual Center 2.5 - vCenter 4.0 Upgrade

bgushue — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:08:47 GMT

We had one EVC-enabled cluster configured with 3 Penryn and 2 Nehalem Intel cpus (HP blades). I had to create a new cluster to do this, but when it was configured I was able to vMotion vms without issue.

This past weekend I upgraded to vCenter 4.0 (no host/vm upgrades yet). HA did not configure properly the first time, so we disconnected the hosts from the cluster and tried to re-add them. I received errors about CPU compatibility.

To make a long story short, I ended up creating 2 clusters for now: one that holds the three old hosts (Penryn), and one that holds the two new hosts (Nehalem). When I try to add one of the old hosts to the new cluster and configure EVC to the lowest baseline, I receive the following message:

"Incompatible CPU: The following hosts have CPUs that are not compatible with
the selected EVC mode (highest supported EVC mode is Intel® Xeon® Core^TM^2).
Remove these hosts from the cluster or select a compatible EVC mode"

I've been working with VMware and thus far the solution is to power down all the vms (in Production) and restore the CPUID defaults and migrate the vms off the hosts. Create a new cluster and add the hosts to it, then migrate the vms to that new cluster.

So, firstly: Has anyone been able to upgrade an EVC cluster to vCenter 4 without issue? Secondly, does anyone have any ideas to explore so I don't have to power down all my production vms?

Thank you.

VSphere 4 can work with ESX 3.5 Server

smakhdoom — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:33:02 GMT

Hi,

I need to know there is any way I can work on both VSphere 4 and ESX 3.5 Server ? If any one has an experience then please let me know, please also inform me what kind of problems or issue you are facing.

regards,

Siraj

Upgrade '

R2B — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:31:26 GMT

In doing an upgrade from 3.5 to 4.0 using the Host Update Utility, it asks for the size of the service console disk size. It defaults to 8.3GB in size. I have 140GB free. Is there any advantage or need to make this setting bigger? What exactly is that asking? Can someone explain?

Thanks.

vSphere 4 Advanced Accelerator Kit upgradable to vSphere 4 Enterprise Accelerator Kit ?

Broadsaint — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:59:08 GMT

Is vSphere 4 Advanced Accelerator Kit upgradable to vSphere 4 Enterprise Accelerator Kit ?

Also,

Can I upgrade ESX or vCenter in Accelerator kit?

Can I add more ESX to Accelerator kit?

Thanks.

Po Shan.

vCenter Server 2.5U4 to vCenter Server 4.0 (but with retained performance stats)

wallabyfan2 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:32:42 GMT

Hello Community -

Is there a way to upgrade vCenter Server 2.5 Update 4 in-place to vCenter Server 4.0 (vSphere) and retain the performance stats under ESX3.5U4?

If easier, I have additional servers and able to install vCenter Server 4.0 onto separate server and then import performance stats.

Please offer some advice on options for proceeding with upgrades to vCenter Server 40 with Performance Metrics. No roles or permissions, nor Alerting present.

Thanks,
red_hat

ESXi 3.5 and vShpere 4.0.

Samyboy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:52:12 GMT

I have ESXi Server 3i 3.5.0 build -199239. I have installed vSphere 4.0 but am not able to connect ESXi host in Vshpere 4.0. Please some one help. It is very frustrating. Also I have Site recovery Manger installed but since I could not connnect to ESXi host where all my vm's are. I get error message in SRM.

Second questions how do you download and installed plug-ins in Vmware infrastructure client V2.5. When you click the Plug-in button it is empty. Thanks

vCenter server license 1 instance. What does it mean?

mtee — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:54:10 GMT

This might sound like a silly question, but I am not able to get a clear picture.

My vCenter license says vCenter Server 4 Standard 1 instance. What do you precisely mean by "1 instance"?

If I install vCenter server on 2 VM's, does that mean I cannot install the same license I have on both vCenter servers?

What are the implications on linked mode configuration?

Thanks in advance.

Installation problem ESXi 4.0: *Failed to load lvmdriver

Micke_O — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:45:35 GMT

I'm trying to boot the installation for ESXi 4.0 just to make sure it works on this box since the plan is to use it as my lab server and buy a new workstation. I've tried using both DVD-ROMs but with the same result.

All SATA devices are running in AHCI mode if that matters.

Asus P5B Deluxe Wifi/AP
C2D E6600
4x1GB RAM
2x300GB SATA2
2x120GB SATA
1xDVD SATA
1xDVD EIDE

CD was verified by Nero after burning so I assume it's OK.

Cannot login user @127.0.0.1: no permission - vShere Client

jasongegere — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:54:06 GMT

I recently logged in to my vSphere Client with a user other than root and decided to check the Events log to see if another odd has been happening since my last login. About every 4 seconds an attempt to login via 127.0.0.1 is being made and I can't figure out what would be trying to login. Any suggestions?

Screenshot attached of the Event log.

Opening the third console closes one of the first two.

wdbarker — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:14:37 GMT

When I upgraded my ESXi 3.5 to 4.0, it installed vSphere Client 4.0.0 build 162856 on my Windows 7, 64-bit workstation. I can only open two consoles at a time. When I open the third, one of the other two closes. I set Edit | Client Settings ... | Maximum console connections from it's default of 25 (starts with a "2") to 5 and see the same symptom. Luckily, RDP is working for these hosts, but shouldn't vSphere Client allow more than two open consoles?

Migration of VMware Infrastructure from VI3 Ent to vSphere 4 Ent including VC Server Standard

anindya.ghoshal — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:21:50 GMT

Hi,

Our Present VMware Infrastructure : Presently we are managing our infrastructure by using one Virtual Center Server (2.5) standard for all our ESX 3.5 Ent Servers which are placed in different security zones.

Our Proposed Infrastructure : We have received required vSphere 4 Ent licenses alongwith required vCenter Server 4 Standard upgraded licenses.

We would like to know the step by step plan for the folloiwng :

1. How to upgrade our present Virtual Center Server Standard (2.5) to vCenter Server 4 Standard.

2. How to upgrade our present ESX 3.5 Ent Server to vSphere 4 Ent Server.

3. What are the methods we should maintain for the licenses.

If somebody can provide the required step by step document to me (anindya.ghoshal@itc.in) if possible.

Linux P2V fails with "FAILED: MethodFault.summary"

blindspot — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:27:22 GMT

Hi all, I am trying to p2v a linux machine and it failes at 1% with... "FAILED: MethodFault.summary" i have tried to convert the machine as is with no changes and with some changes like modifying the drive controller from keep source to the LSI SCSI controller and it still continues to fail. Has anyone else run in to this error and have any insight?

Networking Setup with new cluster

Mattries — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:30:10 GMT

I am setting up a new VMWare vSphere 4.0 (Advanced) cluster with 3 hosts and a Dell MD3000i SAN. Each host has 8 NICs and we have 2 switches for a fault tolerant cluster. I am currently using (on each host):

2 NICS for VMotion (one NIC to each switch)
2 NICS for iSCS (one NIC to each switch)
1 NIC for the Service Console

I am getting warnings from vCenter saying that my Management Console is not fault tolerant. My plan is to dedicate another NIC on each server to the same vSwitch as my Service Console to have that fault tolerant, but what should I use the other 2 NICs on each server for? We only have one server that is Fault Tolerant, so I am hesitant to dedicate 2 NICs soley to FT Logging.

Any help? Thanks in advance!!

vsphere client on windows server 2008 enterprise R2?

vmkarthik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:39:16 GMT

Hi ,

Is vsphere client is supported on windows server 2008 enterprise R2?
because I ended with error

"The type initializer for VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy' threw an exception."

when trying to connect to vcenter or esx.....

the KB for similar error "http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011329" speaks abt the Win 7 ?

Any help? or alternate or patch to fix?

VC Server Service Permissions Issue

JasonV — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:11:11 GMT

Hi,

We have vSphere setup and running on Windows 2008 R2 Server. The server is in a Windows domain. I was running the virtual center service as the local administrator and was able to access local groups for adding permissions to vSphere objects. I was unable to access users within the domain so I switched to using a domain service account for running the VC service and I was then able to access users within the Windows domain, but unable to access local users on the server due to permissions. I do have the service account in the local administrators group. From what I understand Windows 2008 may have some UAC controls that prevent users, even though they are in the administrators group from accessing the local user/group directory and possible other Windows management functions. Does this make sense? Is there a way to allow users within the local administrators group to have the same rights as the local administrator on Windows 2K8 R2? All I found was Windows 7 references concerning this.This maybe more of a Windows questions, but maybe someone on this forum has worked through the same issue.

Thanks.

How do I convert VMs running on VMware Server 2.x over to my ESXi server?

Acton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:40:24 GMT

I am sure this is covered somewhere but I have searched and can not find the info. The migration guide describes this process as a "cold migration" although it stops short to telling me how to actually perform the task.

I move VMs around manually with VMware Server running on Windows all the time for our test environment. Now I need to move them to our proof of concept ESXi server. Can someone point me to a doc with instructions?

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

Mike

Performance chart error after upgrade.

ephillipsme — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:14:56 GMT

After upgradeing a clients host from 3.5 to 4 via vcenter the performance charts for all the vm's are erroroing with the following message.

Perf Charts service experienced and internal error.

Messgae : Report application initilization in not completed successfully. Rettry after 60 Seconds.

~Ernie

VCP3,VCP4, MCSE, CCA

Installing vSphere on SATA RAID

adamhodgkins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:03:34 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to install vSphere on a HP ML110 G5 server. It will install fine on these servers as I have done it in the past, but this time I'm trying to install it on a SATA RAID 1 array......

I used the onboard RAID controller, created the RAID fine but when installing vSphere it still shows up as 2 drives not 1. I've been in touch with VMware support who initially told me that it was possible but I would need to get a 3rd party SATA RAID card and they were going to sort me a list of compatible ones. They gave me the link to the HCL website and said to search for SATA RAID which I did, and got some results, but I also read on there that vSphere doesn't support SATA RAID because of it using VMFS.

I've emailed support with this and they agree that it isn't possible to install vSphere on a SATA RAID, but it is possible to install ESX3 using SATA. I had a look around the Internet and found the following site:

http://www.tweaktown.com/pressrelease/1224/adaptec_unveils_s5_raid_w_vmware_vsphere_support/index.html

This explains that the new Adaptec cards will support vSphere..................

I'm starting to get very confused with all the conflicting information from VMware support and the Internet, and am wondering if anyone has done this / knows anyone who has done this and more to the point is it possible???

Thanks for your help

Adam

VMware Tools upgrade issue with Symantec Endpoint Protection

rcustersp — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:41:30 GMT

We have upgraded our 3 hosts to ESX 4.0 and it is great. We now started upgrading vmware tools on each vm and are having a small issue. Each time we upgraded a vm it completely hoses the Symantec Endpoint Protection client and it needs to be reinstalled. Is anyone else experiencing these issues?

Why is ESXi upgrade so slow?

HenrikElm — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:18:27 GMT

I have upgraded some installs to vSphere now. It usually goes quite well, but why does the ESXi 3.5 -> 4.0 upgrade take about half an hour? Swap out the VMKernel, retain the settings and reboot? Should be over in under a minute?

Does anyone know why it takes such a long time?

Best regards

Henrik

Error when selecting Storage Views in vCenter

jsehmi — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:21:34 GMT

I get an error "Storage Service is not yet initialized' when I click on 'Storage Views' of any host or VM in vCenter. Also, the services listed under vCenter indicates the Vmware Storage Management Service has failed to initialize. Rebooted the vCenter server a few times. No luck.. Any ideas ??

CPU requirements in vcenter 4

wmug — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:47:53 GMT

I am planning to upgrade our VMware 3.5 to vsphere 4. In the vCenter 4 guide it says you need 2 CPU's to install this product? Our current vcenter is installed on a single quad core Xeon processor. Do I really need 2 physical CPU's to upgrade? Has anyone installed this on a single multi-core processor?

Thanks for any help anyone has..

Esx 3.5 host SSL certificate is not verified using vSphere 4.5

smileyogurt — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:19:51 GMT

I upgraded my VC from 4.0 to 4.5 and I added my 3.5 esx host
as before. I got the host SSL certificate error as attached screenshot. I didn't get this error while using vc 4.0

Any ideas?

LUN mask advanced option

Penic Albin — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:15:52 GMT

Can anyone tell me where LUN mask option is hidden?

ESX 4.0 Reboot failed with IBM x3650 M2

athlon_crazy — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:26:19 GMT

Just successfully installed 2x ESX 4.0 Build 171294 on 2x IBM x3650 M2 yesterday and both system was running very well so far. Anyway currently having one issue identically happened on both hardware. Everytime I reboot the system, it's failed to boot into ESX with error message "boot failed hdisk0". But when I boot using ESX 4.0 installation DVD and choosed boot from first hardisk, it's continue to boot into installed ESX successfully without error.

From vi-client and storage adapter configuration, I can see 4x scsi adapter as below :

ICH10 - vmhba3
ICH10 - vmhba33
ISP2432 - HBA vmhba1 & vmhba2
LSI Logic Megarade - vmhba0

vmhba0 is where the local disk (73x2=RAID1) currently being attached & installed with ESX 4.0

any idea?

vcbMC-1.0.6 Beta
vcbMC-1.0.7 Lite
http://www.no-x.org

Error 26000

mvp1 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:16:58 GMT

I have a porblem with my vmware.When i turn on my computer as my vista loads a massage comes that say somthing wants to be installed by windows installer.

and after a mopment this message apeares."Error 26000. Setup failed to set permissions for key HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware Inc."

I don't know how to deal with this?plz help me

Many vSphere Upgrade Questions

proden20 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:51:09 GMT

I am evaluating the upgrade of my VI3 environment. I have some questions for the community:

- If I choose the upgrade process as opposed to clean install, do I need to disconnect my fibre channel connections?

If I choose the upgrade process as opposed to clean install, does local storage receive a new paritioning scheme, or will the COS vmdk get written to the existing /vmfs partition on the 3.5 host?

I would like to move my Virtual Center instance to a VM (currently physical). In addition, because the new vCenter will be version 4, will I need to immediately upgrade all of my 3.5 hosts or apply any hostd or similar patches? (A reason for asking follows....)

I am hoping to break my current cluster into two:

vSphere4_Desktops: This 3-host cluster will run all of my virtual desktops, which will run on ESX4 or 4i hosts with VM's on hw version 7. This cluster will be suitable for UAT.
VI3_Servers: This 2-host cluster will run all of my virtual servers on existing 3.5U4 hosts. When UAT is complete the environment will be upgraded to vSphere4. (HA is not an issue as this is a dev environment).

I am studying vSphere but have not completed my networking and storage sections yet. I'll throw in these 2 questions to hold me over:

Will my vswitches / port groups remain intact on upgrade? Will they need any modification?

Will my vmfs3 volumes require any modification?

Thanks!

Dennis.

If you found this question to be correct or helpful, please remember to award points.

Dennis Procopio - VCP

Upgrade vs Reinstall

R2B — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:57:01 GMT

We have two ESX 3.5 hosts at a division that I would like to get to vSphere. vCenter is already upgraded. It seems to me it might be easier to just vmotion the guest machines from one host, install vsphere on that host from scratch, vmotion back to in and then reinstall the other host?

Is there a problem with that plan? Or would you upgrade the existing 3.5 install to 4.0 instead.

Any help and advise would be greatle appreciated.

vmware vsphere client error parsing server"IP" client.xml on windows 7

wadihmurr — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:10:48 GMT

i need working vsphere client for windows 7

any solution?

Test Disk Redundant on IBM HS22 failed

uma_kits — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:33:18 GMT

I'm currently implementing VMware vSphere on IBM Blade HS22 in Blade Center S.
I must do UAT or User Acceptance Test. In the past I used to test unplug one hard disk on VMware ESX 3 server that was configured RAID 1 Mirror and was running. The server still read and write on one disk.
But right now, I test in the same way with IBM Blade HS22 that is installed VMware ESX4. The result is server can't response me by typing any key. It shows error like it fail to attempt failover data to another disk
I have to power off and on again.
Have anybody tested HDD fail on IBM HS22? Please Help me!!!!

UPGRADE 3.5 to vSphere 4 --- error:The "/" partition needs to be at least 3040 MB

novakk_AH — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:33:57 GMT

Hello,

I use VMware vSphere Host Update Utility with ISO esx-DVD-4.0.0-164009.iso all is OK ,but when restart ESX 3.5 and upgrading vSphere 4 process Loading modules

at about 60% finish upgrade with error

Error during upgrade from ESX 3.x to 4

wililupy — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:44:18 GMT

Hello,

I was on the phone with VMWare for 2 hours about this problem and no one can seem to figure this out.

We want to upgrade our existing ESX clusters from 3.0.2 to 4. In the test environment, we had no problems, however, when we tried to do this on production, we have hit a huge snag.

We have already upgraded Virtual Center from 2.0.2 to 4 with no real hiccups. It took a little longer becuase of some manual changes we had to make to the database, but overall it was pretty straight forward.

Today, we tried to upgrade on of the ESX servers. So I evacuated all the running VM's on the server and manually placed it in Maintenance mode. I ran the Host Update Utility instead of the Update Manager becuase I didn't want to upload the ESX DVD ISO across our WAN. (The Virtual Center Server is in another City, with 5 esx servers there, 3 in my site and 2 in another city's site.) I started the Host Update Utility, and everything seemed to be going well until I got an error saying that the upgrade failed. Looking at the console on the ESX server I got an error saying the following:

Driver's Successfully Loaded

Cannot find device with UUID: xxxxxxxxxxx

Error: Cannot find device with UUID: xxxxxxxxxx

Press <return> to reboot

When I reboot the server, it starts the upgrade again, and fails at the same point. I managed to get the server to start back up in ESX 3.0.2 successfully, and I found out what the UUID was for. It goes to the /boot partition. I looked in there and looked in the /boot/grub/grub.conf and everything is matches up fine.

I then modified the grub.conf so that it booted up ESX Server instead of ESX Upgrade and contacted VMWare support. We tried multiple things including an upgrade script that you run directly from the ESX Server, but all it does is what the Host Update Utility does.

The technician then recommended that I upgrade to ESX 3.5 and try it again, so I did that and I still get the same error.

If I remove the bootpart=xxxxxxxxx and reboot, it then says it can't find the UUID xxxxxxxx which is my root partition. I haven't tried removing both lines, but I assume if I do that, then the upgrade will have no idea what to upgrade.

We can't do a clean install on these servers becuase of the configurations on the ESX Servers for some of the VM's. We have a VM Cluster that is tied specifically to two of my ESX servers and communicate with a SAN directly, not through the ESX Server (we had to do this for the company to support the software, not my call. I would have done it right.) If it wasn't for that one restriction, I would have no problem rebuilding the entire ESX server and installing all my SAN software and drivers so that it can communicate with my LUN's I have carved out for it.

My hardware for my ESX Servers is the same across all the sites. They are Dell PowerEdge 2950 with 2 Quad Core Xeon Processors and 16GB of ram with 6 72GB SAS hard drives attached at the PERC 5/i controller. I have two sets of mirrors and two hot spares in the servers. They are connected to my Dell CX-310c SAN via the qlogic FC card.

I am at a loss right now. Does anyone have any ideas?