VMWare questions

[Kaleidescope]

Hi,

Recently I have installed VMWare Esxi 3 with one of my HP Proliant server with 72GB of physical HDD and 2GB of physical memory. The server was configured to use mirroring (RAID 1) that resulted to a small amount of disk space. Later, I have upgraded/installed VMWare Esxi 4 to the same server and another HP Proliant server, so now I have two (2) hosts of Esxi. Both servers were configured not to use any fault tolerance, so I was able to utilize the full hard disk space amounting to 131.75GB of HDD each for the two (2) servers. Below are my questions.

1. Which VMware vCenter will I download/use to manage my two (2) VMware Esxi 4 hosts?

2. During the creation of VM, what is the impact of choosing the correct, version of OS for the guest operating system? say, I chose, Windows XP (64-bit) and install only (32-bit), is it right to do so?

3. During my installation of Windows 2003 server with my vm, I received a message saying that there is no such hard disk found, thats why I was not able to do the installation.

4. Is VMWare Esxi 4 free to use? how do I use the activated license for my installed VMware Esxi4 ?

5. what is this VMware vSphere 4? how is it differ with VMWare Esxi 4?

6. What features have been added with VMWare Esxi 4?

7. Can I assigned ip address to my vm connected to a different VLAN? is there any routing I need to configure so that my vm can communicate with each other?

cheers!

Revilo

[ctrople]

I can't address all your questions, but WRT to #2, my understanding is that setting the correct guest OS allows VMware to properly optimize the virtual hardware. Not sure you'd see much, if any, performance impact by using 64 instead of 32 bit Windows.

Cheers,

Chyna Trople

Monitor. Correlate. Act. |

[AntonVZhbankov]

1. Which VMware vCenter will I download/use to manage my two (2) VMware Esxi 4 hosts?

vCenter 4

2. During the creation of VM, what is the impact of choosing the correct, version of OS for the guest operating system? say, I chose, Windows XP (64-bit) and install only (32-bit), is it right to do so?

You won't be able to install 64bit if you choose that guest OS is 32bit. This setting tells ESX how to treat VM.

3. During my installation of Windows 2003 server with my vm, I received a message saying that there is no such hard disk found, thats why I was not able to do the installation.

What SCSI contoller type did you choose, and is there virtaul hard disk for this VM?

4. Is VMWare Esxi 4 free to use? how do I use the activated license for my installed VMware Esxi4 ?

Yes, it's free to use, but you can't manage free ESXi with vCenter. If you want centralized management you have to buy business licenses.

5. what is this VMware vSphere 4? how is it differ with VMWare Esxi 4?

ESXi 4 is a part of vSphere 4. vSphere 4 is sum of vCenter 4 + ESX(i) 4 and a bunch of other productsworking with it.

6. What features have been added with VMWare Esxi 4?

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_40_new_feat.html

7. Can I assigned ip address to my vm connected to a different VLAN? is there any routing I need to configure so that my vm can communicate with each other?

You should configure your physical switches to pass all VLANs to ESX, and create portgroups on vSwitch for each VLAN you want to use. VMs are to be connected to corresponding portgoups.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Kaleidescope]

Thanks Anton for enlightening me with my questions, for answer no. 3, Im not sure of what SCSI controller I have choosed or just accepts the default. Is this during the vm creation or the server bios setup or RAID setup? i have mentioned from my queries that I changed the setting of my server with no fault tolerant at all to fully utilize the 2x74GB of HDD installed, which I also mentioned that prior in doing so, I am using RAID 1 (mirroring) that affects the available size of my storage which falls down to 65GB.

My VMWare Esxi 4 tells me that it can only be use for 60 days period, how can I rule out this 60 days period? I have activated my free license tell me how to use it.

If Esxi 4 is part of vSphere 4, can I just use vSPhere 4 rather than Esxi4? Is it also free to download?

cheers!

Kaleidescope

[AntonVZhbankov]

My VMWare Esxi 4 tells me that it can only be use for 60 days period, how can I rule out this 60 days period? I have activated my free license tell me how to use it.

Just enter serial number you've got in Configuration / Licensing.

If Esxi 4 is part of vSphere 4, can I just use vSPhere 4 rather than Esxi4? Is it also free to download?

vSphere 4 = ESXi 4 + vCenter 4 (Management Suite). So you're already using vSphere 4.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[DSTAVERT]

XP does not have needed scsi drivers. You will need to download the vmware[floppy image|http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp]. Copy it to the server using the datastore browser. Edit the XP settings and point the floppy drive to the image. Restart the install and press F6 to add additional drivers. You will need to be somewhat quick. When prompted to insert a floppy press the Connect floppy button in the VI cient. The installer will read the disk image.

You can also write the image to a floppy and use local floppy drive if you have one but copying the image is convenient.

[Kaleidescope]

Hi

I think I've lost my license, can you tell how to get one for VMWare Esxi 4? I cant see from the web site.

My hosts ip address is 10.205.27. 67, which is a member of my VLAN 2 configured on my physical switch. If my VM ip address belongs to VLAN 3 configured on the same physical switch, will it work, or how to do networking with VMs?

thanks,