yes

see here please

http://kb2.vmware.com/kb/1006716.html

Ya know, I spent hours this morning troubleshooting this bug.

A kind soul IMed me this link:
http://www.deploylinux.net/matt/2008/08/all-your-vms-belong-to-us.html

That link led me here only to find out that I am not alone.

THANK YOU VMWARE!
You spam my inbox every freakin day with crap you are selling or to tell me about some VM conference.

Did VMware think enough about me to send me an email telling me about this nice time bomb they built into ESXi that screwed up my day?
Hell no!
Even though you have my email from when I registered and downloaded ESXi, YOU DIDNT USE IT TO TELL ME YOU STINK!

Shhhhhhh.
Be very QUIET and maybe nobody will notice?
Make sure that you (VMware) does not send an email to all the people who registered and downloaded ESXi 3.5 U2.
I REPEAT - DO NOT SEND AN EMAIL
I want all these people to suffer and and hate VMware just like me!

Oh, I get it now, VMware couldn't send email this morning to alert me and the rest of the planet...
They must be running their email server and desktops on top of ESXi 3.5 U2!

MicroAdmin,

ESX3i is effected by this as well. Update 2 was released for ESX 3.5x and ESXi 3.5.x

Unfortunately it does. Again - the licensed features stop working only. i.e. DRS, vmotion, powering on a vm

A VM that's already powered on isn't affected. Regardless I think people just want to flame.

You're incredibly wrong...it impacts all versions of 3.5u2 including ESX 3.5 Server, ESXi Embedded, and ESXi Installable.

The bashing was unnecessary, but understandable - everyone's frustration level is VERY high right now

Ken Cline
Technical Director, Virtualization
Wells Landers
VMware Communities User Moderator

Well I guess I need to brush up on ESX and ESXi differences some more. From my understanding ESXi is supposed to be on a completely different upgrade structure and ugprades "Like firmware would" so I wouldn't assume they'd both be using the SAME udpates. The differences between the two are incredibly confusing to me.Thanks Ken.

As an IT professional it is your job to protect the infrastucture and regardless of what VMWare missed it is ultimately your responsibility. Implementing updates without regard for the content is suicide. Compliance isn't about having ALL the patches in place as quickly as you can. It is having the necessary patches in place but ONLY after you are fully satisfied that the patches are necessary. Will the upgrade solve a problem that YOU were experiencing. Did you test it to find out if the patch solved YOUR problem. Even security patches aren't necessary if it isn't something that affects you. As for the "you can't plan for something like this" argument, well two weeks is hardly long enough to have a thorough test and leaving yourself so vulnerable means there are other things in your process that will get you down the road. Time to sit down and re-evaluate your patch process.

I remember several service packs in NT 3.5 and 4 that left you with a BSOD. Really sad when those things happen and you can revert to a snapshot. Back then Microsot took a lot of heat. It was also really tough to recover.

Dear VMware Customers,

Please find the latest update about the product expiration issue. From this point on, we'll provide an update every two hours.

Problem:

An issue has been discovered by many VMware customers and partners with ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 where Virtual Machines fail to power on or VMotion successfully. This problem began to occur on August 12, 2008 for customers that had upgraded to ESX 3.5 Update 2. The problem is caused by a build timeout that was mistakenly left enabled for the release build.

Affected Products:

• VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 & ESXi 3.5 Update 2.

• Reports of problems with ESX 3.5 U1 with the following 3.5 Update 2 patches applied: ESX350-200806201-UG

• No other VMware products are affected.

What has been done?:

• Product and Web teams pulled the ESX 3.5 Update 2 bits from the download pages last night so no more customers will be able to download the broken build.

• VMware Engineering teams have isolated the cause of the problem and are working around the clock to deliver updated builds and patches for impacted customers.

• A Knowledgebase article has been published (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006716), but traffic to the knowledgebase is causing time outs. A new static page has been published at http://www.vmware.com/support/esx35u2_supportalert.html that customers and partners will be able to view.

• The phone system has been updated to advise customers of the problem

• Vmware partners have been notified of the issue.

Workarounds:

1) Do not install ESX 3.5 U2 if it has been downloaded from VMware's website or elsewhere prior to August 12, 2008.

2) Set the host time to a date prior to August 12, 2008. This workaround has a number of very serious side affects that could impact product environments. Any Virtual Machines that sync time with the ESX host and serve time sensitive applications would be broken. These include, but are not limited to database servers, mail servers, & domain administration systems.

Next Steps:

VMware to notify customers who have downloaded this version and provide an update every two hours.

Resolution:

VMware Engineering has isolated the root cause and is working to produce an express patch for impacted customers today. The target timeframe is 6pm, August 12, 2008 PST.

FAQ:

More information will be provided in subsequent communication updates.

• Will VMware still reissue the upgrade media and patch bundles in the timeframe that has been communicated?
  
  
  Yes. We still plan to reissue upgrade media by 6pm, August 13 PST (instead of noon, August 13 PST) and all update patch bundles later in the week. We will provide an ETA for the update patch bundles subsequently. NOTE: the "patch bundles" referred to here are for the patches listed above under "Affected Products" and the other bundles released at GA. They are not the same as the express patch which is targeted for 6pm, August 12, 2008 PST as stated above.
• Why does VMware plan to reissue the upgrade media before the patch bundles? That is a wrong priority call!
  
  
  This is not a matter of priority. Since we can get done building and testing the upgrade media before the patch bundles, we want to make that available to customers first instead of reissuing all the binaries later in the week.
• Can VMware issue a patch that opens the licensing backdoor in the next hour as a critical measure?

There is no licensing backdoor in our code.

• Does this issue affect VC 2.5 Update 2?

No.

• What is VMware doing to make sure that the problem won't happen again?

We are making improvements on all fronts. The product team had endeavored to deliver a release with support customers deem important. But we fell short and we are deeply sorry about all the disruption and inconveniences we have caused. We have identified where the holes are and they will be addressed to restore customers' confidence.

The VMware ESX Product Team