"upgrade virtual hardware" and VMware tools installation..

[dieterj]

Hello..,

we've just finish upgrading our ESX2.5.3 to ESX3.5.0-82663, the upgrade went smooth.

first, we went to 3.5.0-64607 then goes to build 82663.

then we upgrade datastore from vmfs2 to vmfs3, and upgrade vistual hardware of all the VMs.

there are 15 VMs inside the host, 14 of them upgraded successfully, a mix of XP, W2K3, and W2K of all flavors (standard, advanced, enterprise)

there is this one Windows 2000 Advanced, when we upgrade virtual hardware, takes forever to finish, then report "operation time out, too long to finish"

the active task is empty, try again to upgrade virtual hardware, but report "Operation failed since another task is in progress."

then cannot do anything to the VM, cannot power on. cannot edit settings.. same message appear, "operation failed since another task is in progress".

tried to bring down the host, restart all over again, still the same result.

how to complete the "upgrade virtual hardware" of that VM?

another question, regarding VMware tools installation.

in the other ESX3.5.0 we have, when we "install/upgrade VMware tools" the interactive or automatic tools upgrade option appears.

but in this upgraded host (from ESX2.5.3) that option doesn't appear, it shows the old warning message box "you cannot install vmware tools package until the guest OS is running".

tried doing it manually after login to guest, still no luck. the vmware tools installation/upgrade never showup.

and this happens to all VMs inside this upgraded host..

please help..?

I'm really out of idea..

thanx!

[kjb007]

Are you connecting through virtual center or to the ESX host directly? If through VC, restart the virtual center service. If ESX, restart the hostd process, 'service mgmt-vmware restart'

When that's done, I would suggest removing the vm from inventory, and then browse the datastore it is in, and add back into inventory. Then, power on the vm, and then make sure the hardware has been udpated, and following, that the tools are re-installed.

-KjB

[azn2kew]

Restarting ESX host and VC server services will not cause your VM to reboot so try to run "service vmware-vpxa restart" or go through Services option in Windows and restart VirtualCenter Server services to clear out any processes that are hanging. I suppose you have upgraded VMFS2->VMFS3 as well. Can you manually remove VMware Tools and reinstall it again?

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[dieterj]

I'm connecting via a VC server.

I stop the VMware VirtualCenter Server service, but now the service won't start again.

in the system log it states event id:7024, The VMware VirtualCenter Server service terminated with service-specific error 2.

try to restart the physical server of the VC server, still no success.. the service will not start.

no clear explanation why it cannot be started...

additional info:

the VC server connects to a SQL2K server via ODBC, and yes.. the SQL server is up and running well.

[dieterj]

yes.., I have upgraded all datastore to vmfs3.

manually remove vmware tools from where? the VM clients?

I suppose I can do that.. but why?

I think the problem is in the host itself which doesn't give the correct response when asked to do vmware tools installation/upgrade to guests

[kjb007]

Let's figure out why your vc won't start. Log in to your vc server's windows os. Open a dos prompt, and cd into your vc install directory. Type vpxd -s to start vc in stand-alone mode. Post the output here, if vc does not start.

-KjB

[dieterj]

Hi..,

I add a "system administrators" server role for the VC account in the SQL server, then the service can start again.

strange...

what's the least role this account must have for the database access?

I have made it a db_owner for the VC database, but looks like it's not enough.

as for the original problem..

I restart the service in the ESX host as well, and the VC Server service restart.

I've created a new VM using vmdk files of the problematic VM.., upgrade virtual hardware successfully, and power-on successfully.

now I can remove the problematic VM from inventory.

Thank you.

what about the VMware Tools installation?

why does it give a different message box than the other ESX host?

[kjb007]

db_owner for vc database is all that is required. Usually, you can get by with less after the install, but typically I keep db_owner on mine as do others. When doing the install, you need db_owner for msdb as well, but after the install, the msdb permissions are no longer required.

Without seeing the log, I can only guess that maybe it couldn't get access to the config file or get a lock on the vm. Again, total guess.

Glad you got it working though.

-KjB

[dieterj]

well.. the VMware Tools installation/upgrade still has problem..

[dieterj]

solved the VMware Tools problem..

must go inside each VMs (that is login to console) then mount the iso tools manually.

install from there.. then restart.

all looks well for now.

thank you.