Re: Linux version..

rakem · ‎05-26-2008

Hi,

Sorta of a silly question but i how do i find out what version of Linux we are running on our ESX servers. We have ESX version 3i 3.5.0

I think its Red Hat 5 but i'm not 100% sure... can anyone help..

thanks

mcowger · ‎05-26-2008

Are you talking about the Service COnsole OS? Its a variant (and I mean VARIANT) of RHEL3 update 8.

If you are talking about your VMs, the best way to check would be (for redhat) 'cat /etc/redhat-release'

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us

rakem · ‎05-26-2008

thanks for the quick response!

I'm talking about the physical Dell servers that VMWare is installed on. I need to update the drivers / bios etc and i'm just not sure what versions i should be downloading..

that cat /etc/redhad-release command does not work, i get "redhat-release: not found"

kjb007 · ‎05-26-2008

The 3i version does not include a service console and/or RedHat console that the full-blown 3.5 version does. It is a custom hypervisor from which VMware has taken out the Red Hat OS. Hence, those patches are no longer required on the 3i versions, as there is no OS to patch.

-KjB

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB

rakem · ‎05-26-2008

ok how does one update things like NIC drivers and the BIOS?

kjb007 · ‎05-26-2008

ESX vmkernel drivers are included in the build, and you can't simply update your NIC drivers. The VMware provided patches are what updates individual features of the hypervisor, as and when needed.

-KjB

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB

jhanekom · ‎05-27-2008

You should still update Firmware/BIOS level of the system board and devices such as Broadcom NICs (which have upgradable firmware), DRAC boards and RAID controllers. As pointed out, device drivers are provided by the ESXi operating system and cannot be updated other than by updating the ESXi operating system, when a new one becomes available.

Hardware vendors do not currently (and hopefully never will) have separate streams of firmware for different operating systems. So you can usually download whatever is available, provided it's in a format that you can perform the update without an installed operating system (i.e. you won't be able to perform "on-line" updates - download an update that you can do from a bootable floppy/CD).

Alternatively, if you're not one for struggling with creating bootable CD's from floppy images, you can use environments such as BartPE (Windows) or some of the various Linux Live CD's to start up an OS environment from which you can perform the BIOS/Firmware updates. (Just don't boot these up inside a VM to perform the updates )

Texiwill · ‎05-27-2008

Hello,

This is a common misconception.... ESX is NOT LINUX.... Nor is ESX running on top of Linux. ESX boots first and the 'service console' is a linux management appliance for ESX. Any management appliance would have worked, VMware chose Linux for various reasons. Since ESX is not Linux applying patches that are from Linux to ESX will minimally do no harm but the other end of the spectrum could make ESX unstable.... Either way it will directly affect your supportability. All patches for ESX must come from VMware.

As for updating firmware with 3i, using a boot cdrom as Jhanekom has stated is the best way to go.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education. CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354, As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill

rakem · ‎06-04-2008

Guys,

Im still having trouble understanding how i update the hardware on the server

Forget for a moment that it is running VMWare. I need to update Dell BIOS, Broadcom network drivers, Adaptec RAID drivers etc etc.

Do i need to go through VMWare to get these type of updates or do i go to the Dell website and download them from there. If so for what version??

thanks.

mcowger · ‎06-04-2008

You need whatever version dell gives that comes on a bootable disk or CD, not an OS specific one.

--Matt

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us

dominic7 · ‎06-04-2008

You're asking 2 different questions in the same sentence. First part is drivers which are a part of the operating system, as it has been explained before you can't use any 3rd party drives ( including dell/hp/anyone other than VMware ). Everything you need in the way of drivers is already included with ESX and get updated when ESX gets updated/patched. Firmware on the other hand is provided by your hardware provider. I know that HP offers a bootable CD that can update all of your firmware in one sweel foop, but I haven't worked with Dell enough to comment. You may need to boot from some other media to use the firmware update utilites ( absoultely will need to with ESXi ).

Hope that makes it easier.

Texiwill · ‎06-05-2008

Hello,

Re: FIRMWARE

As Dominic pointed out you need to upgrade your firmware/BIOS using bootable media supplied by the vendor.

Re: DRIVERS

As for drivers, do not apply any updates unless they come direct from VMware. I know people who did this and their systems became seriously unstable and died miserable deaths.