drheim's Posts

Thanks Nicolas - I just wanted to be sure that selecting an active datastore with VMDKs in it, etc would not cause any issues.
This should be an easy one.  I am running 6.7u2 and need a new content library.  I am adding additional disks into my vSAN datastore and was planning on just expanding the current VMFS6 datastore... See more...
This should be an easy one.  I am running 6.7u2 and need a new content library.  I am adding additional disks into my vSAN datastore and was planning on just expanding the current VMFS6 datastore, that has running VMDKs in it, and putting the content library into that same datastore.  The datastore is not too big, but let me know if anyone thinks this should be handled differently and I should have a separate datastore only for content library, etc.  The content library data is not critical, but it is just a few ISO and should be less than 50GB so I am more concerned about any VM impact it could cause by adding it into an existing vmdk datastore.
Do most of you guys simply apply the built-in dynamic baselines of critical and non-critical patches that cover all versions, etc? or do you create you own baseline and try to add in what you thi... See more...
Do most of you guys simply apply the built-in dynamic baselines of critical and non-critical patches that cover all versions, etc? or do you create you own baseline and try to add in what you think is needed for your version of vsphere?  I have always hated applying the critical and non-critical baselines in vmware because there are just so many patches for different version of ESXi(6.0, 6.5, etc).  It would be nice to hear of anyone has ever seen any issues with that taking longer, etc. I was just applying host patches to 6.7u2 and specifically did not select the complete update 3 in my patch because my vcenter was still 6.7u2, but somehow through the other patches my host went to 6.7u3.  I thought I had always read you should keep your hosts behind your vcenter.  I went ahead and updated my vcenter after, but the entire reason I did not want to go to 6.7u3 is because HP said my hosts were only supporting up to 6.7u2 without updating the firmware on my Synergy frame first, etc. I have read updates are improved in 7.0 and think it has to be an improvement, but would like to hear how any of you guys normally apply your baselines and if you ever have any issues, etc.
I created my own baseline, specifically did not select 6.7 complete update 3, but it still went to 6.7u3 from the other updates(before my vcenter was on 6.7u3).  Not even sure how I could have st... See more...
I created my own baseline, specifically did not select 6.7 complete update 3, but it still went to 6.7u3 from the other updates(before my vcenter was on 6.7u3).  Not even sure how I could have stopped it.
I am running 6.7u2 vCenter and ESXi hosts.  have a HP G10 server and when I last updated the SPP(firmware) it came back and flagged secure boot not being enabled as a security problem.  VMWare se... See more...
I am running 6.7u2 vCenter and ESXi hosts.  have a HP G10 server and when I last updated the SPP(firmware) it came back and flagged secure boot not being enabled as a security problem.  VMWare seemed to pick up on that as well after that. I have read that secure boot is support by VMWare since 6.5 so I was going to enable it as long as I do not have to reinstall my OS, etc.  Has anyone ever had any issues simply enabling secure boot on a disk(actually flash) that already has ESXi installed?
Hey guys, I have a 6.7u2 vSphere environment(vCSA and hosts) and I have a HPE Synergy frame/SPP combination that only supports 6.7u2.  It does not support 6.7u3 until we upgrade(VCSA 1st, HPE ... See more...
Hey guys, I have a 6.7u2 vSphere environment(vCSA and hosts) and I have a HPE Synergy frame/SPP combination that only supports 6.7u2.  It does not support 6.7u3 until we upgrade(VCSA 1st, HPE Synergy Frame Composer 2nd, HPE Synergy Frame Hardware 3rd, and Synergy Server SPPs 4th) later this year.  I want to apply vSphere security patches through VUM, but noticed the default critical baseline automatically include 6.7 complete update 3, which both my vCenter server and hardware are not ready for yet.  Is there a simple way to exclude the 6.7 complete update 3, and also any of its included componenets that might cause issues from a VUM baseline? I have always had concerns about remaining in a supported configuration and following the correct upgrade path.  Because of that, typically it has been easier to wait until we run all HPE updates first,  confirm what version of VMWare they support, and then apply all VMWare updates after.  I know I can try to piece together a baseline without 6.7 complete update 3, but figuring out what should and should not go in there can be tough.  If anyone has a good process for updating a VMWare environment, or how to comfortably apply needed updates without u3 and the modules that go in it, etc. it would really be appreciated
Thank-you for this response.  It was perfect. I hate adding disks before they are really needed because to me it just increases the chance that one thing breaks to knock one node completely offli... See more...
Thank-you for this response.  It was perfect. I hate adding disks before they are really needed because to me it just increases the chance that one thing breaks to knock one node completely offline.  Especially when these are HDD and not SSD. I had read somewhere else that if you have a 2 node vSan cluster with FTT=1 and you lose a disk on one of those nodes, but the data will still fit on the remaining working disks it would somehow keep the node online(FTT=1) even though there is a bad disk.  Thank-you for confirming that is not the case.
That 2nd URL you sent over above is extremely helpful.   Looking through it now.
So I guess I have 2 issues 1 - Finding persistent disk to store system logs as everything is currently going to vSAN.  Guessing I will probably try and set up some network attached NFS 2 - Ad... See more...
So I guess I have 2 issues 1 - Finding persistent disk to store system logs as everything is currently going to vSAN.  Guessing I will probably try and set up some network attached NFS 2 - Adding additional disks to current vSAN For 2nd issue, If I have a 1TB of used space(total of all vmdks) on 2TB vSAN, and I add an additional disk to each node to increase vSAN to 4TB, will a host go down if 1 host loses one disk and goes back down to 2TB?  In other words, will the vSAN be smart enough to stop striping across the additional disk, when 1 disk fails, and move all of the data to a single disk on one of the nodes(when the data will fit) in order to continue to keep both nodes online while the failed disk is waiting for replacement? I do not want to fail down to a single node unless it is absolutely critical.  If the answer of this is yes, I might try to add additional disks to each node and try to partition some of the space for system logs, and the rest for vSAN(if possible) Thanks, Dan
Hi guys, I have a 6.7u2 cluster with an error on the hosts that "system logs are stored on non-persistent storage."  ESXi was installed on a flash and when I SSH in and run df, I am only seein... See more...
Hi guys, I have a 6.7u2 cluster with an error on the hosts that "system logs are stored on non-persistent storage."  ESXi was installed on a flash and when I SSH in and run df, I am only seeing 108MB free on the largest of the local volumes.  Everything else is vSAN.  Where is the best place to store the system logs?  I can also pop in some additional disks to the hosts, but hate to waste large disks for this, and would try to partition them for logging/vSAN. I do not like extending the vSAN across extra disks when they are not needed as not sure if vSAN is smart enough to consolidate the data down to a less disks, when possible, in the event of a single disk failure.  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147541
8 years later and I inherit an older 2008R2 cluster and had 100% the exact same problem.  Offline nodes can run updates reboot, etc., but when updating vmware tools the entire cluster goes down w... See more...
8 years later and I inherit an older 2008R2 cluster and had 100% the exact same problem.  Offline nodes can run updates reboot, etc., but when updating vmware tools the entire cluster goes down with the same errors you described.  Hopefully it goes away when we upgrade
Thanks Pragg.  - It took a lot to figure out the exact details of this problem, but your published KB is better than the published KB that vmware support gave me.
VMWare is saying this is the problem VMware Knowledge Base
Here is the problem in the logs when it goes to update, and have not heard of the cause as of yet 2019-08-05T20:32:53.657Z| vcpu-0| I125: Guest: Installing VMware Tools 10.3.5.7752 (build-1043... See more...
Here is the problem in the logs when it goes to update, and have not heard of the cause as of yet 2019-08-05T20:32:53.657Z| vcpu-0| I125: Guest: Installing VMware Tools 10.3.5.7752 (build-10430147) 2019-08-05T20:32:55.820Z| svga| I125: MKSScreenShotMgr: Taking a screenshot 2019-08-05T20:33:02.657Z| vmx| I125: TOOLS autoupgrade protocol version 0 2019-08-05T20:33:02.661Z| vmx| I125: GuestRpc: Got error for channel 0 connection 7: Remote disconnected 2019-08-05T20:33:02.661Z| vmx| I125: GuestRpc: Closing channel 0 connection 7 2019-08-05T20:33:02.661Z| vcpu-1| I125: GuestRpc: Reinitializing Channel 0(toolbox) 2019-08-05T20:33:05.719Z| svga| I125: MKSScreenShotMgr: Taking a screenshot 2019-08-05T20:33:10.582Z| vcpu-0| I125: TOOLS Received tools.set.version rpc call, version = TOOLS_VERSION_NONE (uninstalled), type is unset 2019-08-05T20:33:10.582Z| vcpu-0| I125: TOOLS Setting toolsVersionStatus = TOOLS_STATUS_NO_TOOLS
Do you mean you are seeing this when Windows Updates installs KB4507460 and our VMWare tools get upgrqaded to the version that comes with 6.0u3? Or did it occur with the same updates/versions,... See more...
Do you mean you are seeing this when Windows Updates installs KB4507460 and our VMWare tools get upgrqaded to the version that comes with 6.0u3? Or did it occur with the same updates/versions, when upgrading tools from 6.0u3 version?
Exactly, but that is the better of the 3 options if you are taking it offline for a few hours.  My guess is that it is probably better to increase Repair Delay Timer, and then choose "Ensure Acce... See more...
Exactly, but that is the better of the 3 options if you are taking it offline for a few hours.  My guess is that it is probably better to increase Repair Delay Timer, and then choose "Ensure Accessibility", but trying to get some feedback on the differences in a 2-node cluster.
Hey guys, We have a 6.5u2 cluster(disk format 5) that needs to be upgraded to 6.7u2(vsan on disk format 7).  There are only 2 nodes in the cluster and I need to upgrade them to 6.7u2, which al... See more...
Hey guys, We have a 6.5u2 cluster(disk format 5) that needs to be upgraded to 6.7u2(vsan on disk format 7).  There are only 2 nodes in the cluster and I need to upgrade them to 6.7u2, which also involves some firmware upgrades after, etc.  When putting a 2-node vsan cluster into maintenance mode, is there any reason you should not choose "full data migration" every time?  If it was more than 2 nodes, I know it might cause it to start re-striping the array, etc. which might not be needed if the server is only going offline for a few minutes, but with only 2 nodes I was thinking it should just be a copy(raid 1) between the 2 nodes, so why not always mark if as "full data migration"? That way you can shut it down as long as needed without having to worry about the Repair Delay Timer, etc? The reason I ask is because a few months ago I put one host into maintenance mode and took it offline for an hour or so for hardware maintenance and when I brought it back up the entire environment crashed as soon as it came up.  It hit us hard.  I never even brought the offline server out of maintenance mode and the primary node dropped all storage for some reason when it started to re-sync or something.  I got it back online, but spent hours with VMWare Support on this and they never knew why.  My best guess was that I chose "Ensure Accessibility" and went over the default 60 minute repair delay timer, but VMWare support never had any ideas after 12 hours of looking through everything. Thanks, Dave
My confidence level with VMWare support was not 100% on this one as I started asking, should I apply this? when looking at other additional updates that were also showing. and she just kept sayin... See more...
My confidence level with VMWare support was not 100% on this one as I started asking, should I apply this? when looking at other additional updates that were also showing. and she just kept saying "no", but I think she was putting me on mute and asking someone else.  I think the basic message was I did not need to apply any additional updates for the HP customized 6.7u2 image yet, but she was not reconciling each one and obviously at some point that has to change. If anyone else reads this and has a better suggestion/method for applying vmware updates on top of the VMWare HP 6.7u2 customized image let me know.  Currently, I am thinking that we might just wait until next year and then upgrade with the latest HP customized image then(after it has been released for several weeks), and hopefully it only shows the needed additional vmware updates.
I will.  Case is still open, but has been stalled for a week waiting to hear back.  I can replicate the issue on demand and if that option is unchecked, no issues.  If that option is checked, the... See more...
I will.  Case is still open, but has been stalled for a week waiting to hear back.  I can replicate the issue on demand and if that option is unchecked, no issues.  If that option is checked, then we will have an outage on the server when those conditions occur.
I have tested this several times to confirm.  If I install the tools manually, or if they install automatically at any other time besides when KB4507460 is getting installed, everything works 100... See more...
I have tested this several times to confirm.  If I install the tools manually, or if they install automatically at any other time besides when KB4507460 is getting installed, everything works 100%.  If I leave my VMs set to "Check and Upgrade VMWare Tools before each power-on" and the VM happens to install KB4507460 and reboot, I will have an outage. We have never had an issue with having our VMs set like that, but I am now concerned there might be other updates similar to KB4507460 that can also cause an outage when combined with the VM option "Check and Upgrade VMWare Tools before each power-on." We have now disabled that option on all of our VMs and opened a case with VMWare.