watson4664's Posts

I will test this today. Thanks! Lee
I looked thru this document before starting this testing and decided I wanted to move the converted machines to a repository were they could be accessed at any later date. This is what I have ... See more...
I looked thru this document before starting this testing and decided I wanted to move the converted machines to a repository were they could be accessed at any later date. This is what I have been testing with some success. I will look thru the document again and see if sending the conversion directly to the ESXi server will make any difference but my guess is not.  What I did should have worked and regardless of which method I use the vmkfstools will have to be run to inflate the vmdk drive.  If this is not done then the disk type 7 error occurs. Oddly enough when in Vsphere client  I right click on the imported vmdk file in the data base and try to use the inflate option there is fails.  Can't remember the error message.  Yet when I run the inflate command from the command line using vmkfstools it completes OK??  Wonder why? From my Google searches VMware converter was just recently made compatible with ESXi 5.1so it seems there still some issues that need addressed.  I will update this thread next week as I am done for the weekend.  I want to know if the XP SP3 test cycle will work or not. Thanks for your reply! Lee
Also if I move the converted file to workstation 9 it runs with no issues.  I don't think sending the file directly to ESXi will make any difference as the file is verifed as good by the fact the... See more...
Also if I move the converted file to workstation 9 it runs with no issues.  I don't think sending the file directly to ESXi will make any difference as the file is verifed as good by the fact the Workstation 9 can create the VM and run it without any detected corruption. Lee
The VMware converter requires a UNC path name as a destination. At first I tried a UNC path to a local drive on the vSphere client machine which is on the same subnet as the target. Every tim... See more...
The VMware converter requires a UNC path name as a destination. At first I tried a UNC path to a local drive on the vSphere client machine which is on the same subnet as the target. Every time I started the transfer I would get a message saying the authentication failed but yet I am positive that I provided the correct user name and password.   I set up shared drives, folders, added everyone with full permissions but nothing worked. I kept getting an authentication error. When I used a UNC path to a mapped drive on a server that we use as a data repository then it transfers worked OK.  This is how I finished the first test cycle and had no issues. If you have a procedure or general instructions I can try it but I think that VMconverter is not going to let me push the conversion directly to the ESXi server due to the UNC issues that I have had. Thanks! Lee
I tried the same procedure on a 2008R2 Server and it will not convert. to ESXi  Appears that ESXi thinks the disk is corrupt event though Workstation 9 has no problems or issues with the same vmd... See more...
I tried the same procedure on a 2008R2 Server and it will not convert. to ESXi  Appears that ESXi thinks the disk is corrupt event though Workstation 9 has no problems or issues with the same vmdk file. This is a huge dissapointment as I was planning on moving away from workstation 9 and into ESXi 5.1 Vmware needs to address this problem as P2V conversions are something I think many large labs like mine would like to use.  I tried the new Vmconverter beta version but it was more or less DOA.  Is anyone at VMware looking at this area? For now I will have to hold up on future purchases untill this has either been resolved or someone can tell me how to reliable do P2V conversions on Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 SP1, Server 2003 R2 seemed to work and Server 2008 R2 no luck. I am testing XP SP3 now and kind of suspect it might work.  Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 will probably be the problem areas.
Thought I would try the beta versions but it seems DOA.  I am currently using version 5.0.1-875114.  When I started the executable it went thru an upgrade install.  When I tried to start converte... See more...
Thought I would try the beta versions but it seems DOA.  I am currently using version 5.0.1-875114.  When I started the executable it went thru an upgrade install.  When I tried to start converter is threw a “converter.exe-Entry Point Not found error.  I will attach the error message to this thread. Next I completely uninstalled converter and installed the beta version 5.1.0-10233810 from scratch.  It installed OK and started correctly but when I got to the step where it was pushing the client to the target it timed out.  This is also in the attached file. I uninstalled the beta version and reinstalled the 5.0.1 version and it worked OK and did not time out during this step in the wizard.
I could use some help in P2V conversions. I have been using Workstation 9 and just purchased ESXi 4.1 for hopefully better performance.  I installed ESXi 5.1 on a Supermicro and vSphere client 5... See more...
I could use some help in P2V conversions. I have been using Workstation 9 and just purchased ESXi 4.1 for hopefully better performance.  I installed ESXi 5.1 on a Supermicro and vSphere client 5.1.0 on a HP Z600 workstation. Creating new VM's from OS media seems to work with no issues on ESXi  but P2V imports using VMware Converter 5.0.1 is another matter. When I run VMware Converter and save off the vmdk file I see the following.  If I import the vmdk file into Workstation 9 is runs as expected. When I import the VMDK file into the ESXi database and then try to run it the following error is seen trying to start the machine.  "Failed to open disk scsi0:0: Unsupported and/or invalid disk type 7."  Looking up this error on Google suggested that I needed to run the following command.  vmkfstools -i mydisk.vmdk -d zeroedthick mydisk1.vmdk.  Then removed the original mydisk.vmdk and rename mydisk1.vmdk to mydisk.vmdk. Well this worked but there mus be a easier way.  Does anyone know how to force this during the conversion?
After trial and error I found that WinSCP will allow access to the file structure on the ESXi server and copying files is as simple as drag and drop. The application Putty will then allow y... See more...
After trial and error I found that WinSCP will allow access to the file structure on the ESXi server and copying files is as simple as drag and drop. The application Putty will then allow you to execute the necessary script to update the raid drivers on the ESXi server:   esxcli software vib install -v {VIBFILE} After doing this Vsphere was then able to access the 2TB of raid 5 disk drives on the SuperMicro server that ESXi was installed on.  Too bad this is so difficult but I guess it is what it is and requires some trial and error learning curve.  VMware should really document these types of procedures that are somewhat out of the normal realm of everyday use.  A nice library of "how to" references.  I literally spent two days trying to come up with a method. Also I wasn't familiar with the suggestions of those who replied to my question.  I do appreciate those suggestions and now will spend some time trying to see if they would have worked.
I was trying to use the SCP command which I found in a VMware Knowledge Base document that is titled 'Using SCP to copy files to or from an ESX host. I was trying to run this from the Vsphere ... See more...
I was trying to use the SCP command which I found in a VMware Knowledge Base document that is titled 'Using SCP to copy files to or from an ESX host. I was trying to run this from the Vsphere CLI command prompt but it said the command was not recognized. From my google snooping it looks like I will need to use Winscp and putty to get this done.  This is not an easy task for a general VMware user and does not seem to be documented anywhere.  I am still trying to figure out these apps since I have never used either one before. What I need to do is copy the raid driver which is a .vib file from the Vsphere workstation onto the ESXi server /temp directory and then run the command: esxcli software vib install -v <filename>  It would be nice if this was a documented procedure ( VMware???)  Sooner or later driver updates will be neccessary on almost any ESXi server and this is not an easy task.  Until the driver update is done Vshpere 5.1 will not see the disk drives in my ESXi Server. Thanks!
Can alnyone tell me the process for transfering a file from a network share to the ESXi Server?  I need to update the raid controller bios. the informaiton I have found so far says to use the ... See more...
Can alnyone tell me the process for transfering a file from a network share to the ESXi Server?  I need to update the raid controller bios. the informaiton I have found so far says to use the following command but I can't seem to get it to work. scp <file name> root@10.10.10.10:/tmp  where  10.10.10.10 is the IP address of the ESXi server. Thanks!