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    <title>dabson Tracker</title>
    <link>https://communities.vmware.com/wbsdv95928/tracker</link>
    <description>dabson Tracker</description>
    <pubDate>Wed, 15 Nov 2023 08:10:13 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:date>2023-11-15T08:10:13Z</dc:date>
    <item>
      <title>Re: What is the correct permission for the below file under ESXi 7.x</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/What-is-the-correct-permission-for-the-below-file-under-ESXi-7-x/m-p/2975027#M288766</link>
      <description>&lt;P&gt;While ESXi's shell is very Linux-like, one shouldn't follow typical Linux hardening guidelines.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;For options on how to secure your ESXi 7 hosts, consult VMware's vSphere 7 Security Configuration &amp;amp; Hardening Guide:&amp;nbsp;&lt;A href="https://core.vmware.com/vmware-vsphere-7-security-configuration-guide" target="_blank"&gt;https://core.vmware.com/vmware-vsphere-7-security-configuration-guide&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jun 2023 08:50:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/What-is-the-correct-permission-for-the-below-file-under-ESXi-7-x/m-p/2975027#M288766</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2023-06-29T08:50:07Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Can't install ESXi on HPDL380 G6 - Stops at vmkibft loaded successfully</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Can-t-install-ESXi-on-HPDL380-G6-Stops-at-vmkibft-loaded/m-p/1818991#M178838</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;According to HPE the DL980 G7 does not support vSphere 6.5 or 6.7. The last supported version of vSphere is 6.0 U3. You're likely going to encounter driver compatibility issues, especially considering HPE is not likely going to provide updated firmware where there are new driver dependencies.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you do opt to try to incorporate some sort of custom or adapted drivers into a 6.5/6.7 build, that could be interesting from an academic/lab standpoint. I wouldn't recommend it for production workloads though. Good luck!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2019 18:56:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Can-t-install-ESXi-on-HPDL380-G6-Stops-at-vmkibft-loaded/m-p/1818991#M178838</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2019-02-22T18:56:01Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VMware Validated Design for SDDC 4.3 Architecture Reference Poster</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Documents/VMware-Validated-Design-for-SDDC-4-3-Architecture-Reference/m-p/2797127#M22</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Finally a good excuse to use the plotter!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jan 2019 23:28:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Documents/VMware-Validated-Design-for-SDDC-4-3-Architecture-Reference/m-p/2797127#M22</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2019-01-24T23:28:45Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Can't install ESXi on HPDL380 G6 - Stops at vmkibft loaded successfully</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Can-t-install-ESXi-on-HPDL380-G6-Stops-at-vmkibft-loaded/m-p/1818986#M178833</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;As &lt;B&gt;douglasarcidino&lt;/B&gt; mentioned, ESX 5.5 and 6 should work on your DL380 G6 with varying levels of support. As you've mentioned you are using the HP image, tried 5.5, and updated the firmware, all of which I would have tried too.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;There's always a chance that it's hardware related. Try running HP Insight Diagnostics or even MemTest86+ to see if there are any issues. The recommendation to try booting from USB would isolate any potential HDD issues as well.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2016 19:07:23 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Can-t-install-ESXi-on-HPDL380-G6-Stops-at-vmkibft-loaded/m-p/1818986#M178833</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2016-01-26T19:07:23Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: cfdisk / parted larger disks than provisioned</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/cfdisk-parted-larger-disks-than-provisioned/m-p/1792401#M174431</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Many tools, such as "cfdisk", use the International System of Units (SI) prefixes in order to be consistent with how hard drive manufacturers convey size. For example a kilobyte is considered to equal 1,000 bytes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;vSphere/vCenter uses binary prefixes to indicate size. For example a kilobyte is considered to equal 1,024 bytes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Why do the tools show 34 GB and vSphere 32 GB?&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;vSphere:&lt;/STRONG&gt; &lt;SPAN style="color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;EM&gt;32 GiB&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt; = 32,768 MiB = 33,554,432 KiB = 34,359,738,368 B (note the lower case "i" conveys binary units)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;cfdisk:&lt;/STRONG&gt; 34,359,738,368 B = 34,359,739 kB = 34,360 MB = &lt;SPAN style="color: #000000;"&gt;&lt;EM&gt;34 GB&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So yes, what you are seeing is expected. Nothing's wrong. Doesn't make things any less confusing though. &lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://communities.vmware.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:13:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/cfdisk-parted-larger-disks-than-provisioned/m-p/1792401#M174431</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-10-07T01:13:45Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Makes sense to keep a spare USB boot drive plugged in?</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Makes-sense-to-keep-a-spare-USB-boot-drive-plugged-in/m-p/395793#M26501</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Conceptually, as long as you're comfortable that your system will always boot from the primary, you could even consider making your secondary USB drive a clone of the primary. You'd have to ignore the VMFS partition from this drive, assuming you provision one, during normal operation. In this case then if your primary fails to boot then potentially your server may be able to automatically boot from the second.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If it's not a full USB drive failure and, such as you suggest, you encounter a PSOD or similar, then this automatic fail over won't occur of course. You'd still have to manipulate the boot order. For the situation you're describing a secondary clone may do the trick and save you from going through the install process. Just boot to secondary, patch and continue.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Assuming this works then maybe you add a step to your regular system maintenance to ensure the secondary drive is cloned from the primary (or installed and patched from DRAC) on a reasonable schedule.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Still, this approach holds some promise. I'd suggest giving it a try.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:03:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Makes-sense-to-keep-a-spare-USB-boot-drive-plugged-in/m-p/395793#M26501</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-10-07T01:03:42Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Makes sense to keep a spare USB boot drive plugged in?</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Makes-sense-to-keep-a-spare-USB-boot-drive-plugged-in/m-p/395791#M26499</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;A second USB boot drive is a novel idea. I'd probably ask myself a few questions before deciding on whether it fit any needs. You didn't mention which version of vSphere you're using, so I'll cast a wide net.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Am I confident that the failure of the primary boot drive can and will be detected so that it can addressed?&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;If not, is it acceptable to not know if a host has failed over to the secondary drive?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Do I have HA enabled on my (presumably clustered) ESXi hosts?&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;If yes, can resolution of the failed host wait until next business day?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Can two USB drives physically coexist connected to the same server?&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Sounds silly on the surface, but depending on USB port placement and USB drive shape, you may encounter issues.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Is there an alternative available during a USB drive failure, for example vSphere Auto Deploy?&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Mind you, if you have vSphere Auto Deploy, why not consider it instead of USB drives? &lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://communities.vmware.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I'll be curious to see if anyone else chimes in that is actually doing this in the wild since, as I mentioned, it does seem a novel idea.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Please make sure to come back and let us know if you decide to roll out secondary USB drives and how it goes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:46:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Makes-sense-to-keep-a-spare-USB-boot-drive-plugged-in/m-p/395791#M26499</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-10-07T00:46:21Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Running ESXi 5.1 and want to upgrade to 5.5</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Running-ESXi-5-1-and-want-to-upgrade-to-5-5/m-p/2691828#M262527</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;According to &lt;A href="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2058352" title="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2058352"&gt;VMware KB: Methods for upgrading to ESXi 5.5 &lt;/A&gt; upgrading (meaning upgrade "in place" using CD/DVD/USB or upgrade via VUM) from ESXi 5.1 to ESXi 5.5 does maintain custom VIBs, so you may be in luck and the driver may be "migrated" during the upgrade such that you don't have to install it again.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Just in case the driver isn't kept or you decide to reinstall rather than upgrade in place, there are a few options you can look into to determine how to proceed with the ESXi 5.5 reinstall.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;OL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Check the VMware Compatibility Guide to see if your particular NIC has been added since ESXi 5.1.&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Go to: &lt;A href="http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io" title="http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=io"&gt;VMware Compatibility Guide: I/O Device Search&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Fill out the form for your network card, making sure to select "Network" for the "I/O Device Type", "Intel" for the "Brand Name", etc.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;If it's on the list then you should be able to use either the stock ISO or the Driver Rollup ISO.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Add your driver to the ESXi 5.5 ISO like you did last time.&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;The steps you used before should still work with ESXi 5.5.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Alternatively, if you didn't use these tools before, you may be able to save some time and headache by using Andreas Peetz's &lt;A href="http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer.html" title="http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer.html"&gt;VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer&lt;/A&gt; or &lt;A href="http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html" title="http://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html"&gt;VMware Front Experience: ESXi-Customizer-PS&lt;/A&gt; tools.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/OL&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Good luck! Please let us know how it goes.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:29:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Running-ESXi-5-1-and-want-to-upgrade-to-5-5/m-p/2691828#M262527</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-10-07T00:29:04Z</dc:date>
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    <item>
      <title>Re: Help sought for upgrade free ESXi 5.0 to 5.5</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/Help-sought-for-upgrade-free-ESXi-5-0-to-5-5/m-p/1820513#M4367</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Well ideally you want to keep your backups away from the environment being backed up. So I would look to store the Windows Server backups "somewhere else", and preferably offsite for DR purposes. Depending on your backup solution that could be as simple as a file share. If you're concerned with backup speed, disk usually trumps other options. Once your backup's on disk though, you should get it onto something portable, whether that's an external drive, tape, or cloud based backup solution. Note that those options are listed in order of "recoverability" where each option is more likely to be viable in the long run.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;This, of course, speaks to backups as more of an ongoing operational requirement and not a one-off such as your requirement to backup the VMs during a host upgrade.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:58:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/Help-sought-for-upgrade-free-ESXi-5-0-to-5-5/m-p/1820513#M4367</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-07-02T16:58:07Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: amazing concept for Server-side Read/write caching &amp; Hardware Independent on Vsan</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-vSAN-Discussions/amazing-concept-for-Server-side-Read-write-caching-Hardware/m-p/1346525#M4062</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I'm guessing that this might be for CloudCred points... &lt;img id="smileywink" class="emoticon emoticon-smileywink" src="https://communities.vmware.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.png" alt="Smiley Wink" title="Smiley Wink" /&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Jun 2014 00:11:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-vSAN-Discussions/amazing-concept-for-Server-side-Read-write-caching-Hardware/m-p/1346525#M4062</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-28T00:11:32Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Prevent Virtual Machines with Floppy Disks</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Prevent-Virtual-Machines-with-Floppy-Disks/m-p/2715402#M267030</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;You didn't specify whether you see the floppy disk as part of the virtual hardware associated with the VM, or if it shows up within the guest OS. zXi_Gamer and vfk's recommendations address the issue if it's showing up with the rest of the virtual hardware. If you &lt;EM&gt;don't&lt;/EM&gt; have a floppy drive as part of your VM configuration but it still shows up in your guest OS, you may have to go into the VM's BIOS to disable the floppy disk controller.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 23:35:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Prevent-Virtual-Machines-with-Floppy-Disks/m-p/2715402#M267030</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-27T23:35:59Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: VCAP5-DTA/DTD - will it be updated to VCAP6-DTA/DTD ???</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VCAP-VMware-Certified-Advanced/VCAP5-DTA-DTD-will-it-be-updated-to-VCAP6-DTA-DTD/m-p/2166731#M3641</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;I don't believe there's any official word yet, however if history is anything to go by there's typically a lag between release of a new product version and an update to the associated certification. As a rule of thumb, it's always better to write the certification for the version of the product you know best. If it were me, I'd write the the VCAP5 versions now and decide what to do about the VCAP6 versions in the future.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;With certifications it's almost always inevitable that a newer version will come along. That future version doesn't make the current version any less valuable.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 21:06:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VCAP-VMware-Certified-Advanced/VCAP5-DTA-DTD-will-it-be-updated-to-VCAP6-DTA-DTD/m-p/2166731#M3641</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-27T21:06:45Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Sync time from Domain Controller on isolation network</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Sync-time-from-Domain-Controller-on-isolation-network/m-p/2715065#M266977</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Further to your comments, we also actively synchronize our production ESXi servers against our Active Directory domain controllers. We haven't experienced drift. You shouldn't have to make changes to the ntp.conf on your hosts for it to work properly.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As a.p. mentions, there are issues if your DC happens to be virtual. VMware and Microsoft's best practice is to not have any domain controllers synch time with the vSphere hosts. Best practice is to have the DC with the Primary Domain Controller role synchronize directly with the appropriate NTP source and have any additional DC's synchronize with the PDC-role DC.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;You may want to check the support site of the vendor of your host hardware. Sometimes there are known issues with particular server models and clock drift. Sometimes a firmware update can sort things out. I remember a problem with particular HP blades losing time until a firmware update was released to fix the issue.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 01:36:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Sync-time-from-Domain-Controller-on-isolation-network/m-p/2715065#M266977</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-27T01:36:09Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: How to monitor Raid on a Hypervisor server?</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/How-to-monitor-Raid-on-a-Hypervisor-server/m-p/1300942#M2726</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;You should be able to use Dell OpenManage Server Administrator. &lt;A href="http://www.dell.com/support/contents/us/en/19/article/Product-Support/Self-support-Knowledgebase/enterprise-resource-center/Enterprise-Tools/OMSA" title="http://www.dell.com/support/contents/us/en/19/article/Product-Support/Self-support-Knowledgebase/enterprise-resource-center/Enterprise-Tools/OMSA"&gt;Dell OpenManage Server Administrator&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I don't run a Dell shop, so I can't confirm, but it looks like the steps are something along the lines of:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Install the appropriate Dell OpenManage Server VIB on your ESXi hosts.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Install OpenManage Server Administrator on a Windows Server box.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Configure OMSA to Manage the Remote Nodes, providing the ESXi server information.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Monitor your servers through OMSA.&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;There are a few YouTube videos that detail the installation and I'd recommend watching one or two to get the idea of how it works.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 01:15:19 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/How-to-monitor-Raid-on-a-Hypervisor-server/m-p/1300942#M2726</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-27T01:15:19Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Help sought for upgrade free ESXi 5.0 to 5.5</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/Help-sought-for-upgrade-free-ESXi-5-0-to-5-5/m-p/1820511#M4365</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you can get the "Powers That Be" to agree to a vSphere Essentials license, then Veeam Backup Free Edition could deal with your migration situation.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html" title="http://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html"&gt;Veeam Backup Free Edition for virtual machines (VeeamZIP)&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;It has a feature called Quick Migration that, in the case of vSphere Essentials where you don't have vMotion, would use Veeam's SmartSwitch functionality to migrate the VMs between hosts. It's not quite like vMotion and it does temporarily suspend the VMs, however it minimizes the time required to migration them as much as possible.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Further to a.p.'s comment about you being in a 24/7 critical shop, vSphere Essentials Plus would get you vMotion, HA and DP as well. Good luck!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:48:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/vSphere-Hypervisor-Discussions/Help-sought-for-upgrade-free-ESXi-5-0-to-5-5/m-p/1820511#M4365</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-27T00:48:07Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: esx5i backup best practise for remote locations</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Backup-Recovery-Discussions/esx5i-backup-best-practise-for-remote-locations/m-p/392806#M1884</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Hi mag2sub,&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Thanks for answering the questions, that helps provide a picture of your scenario.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;First you will need to make sure that you have a backup copy of the configuration for the ESXi hosts you're shipping to the remote locations. Here's is a VMware Knowledge Base article that provides examples of backing up and restoring ESXi configuration: &lt;A href="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2042141" title="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2042141"&gt;VMware KB:&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Backing up and restoring ESXi configuration using the vSphere Command-Line Interface and vSphere PowerCLI…&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;My impression is that all of your IT services are based out of the centralized location, so I would recommend that you backup the ESXi configuration for your system before you ship it, and store it securely in your central location. For example put it on a file server that has had the appropriate permissions established as well as making sure that it gets backed up to cloud, disk, tape, whatever your backup preference is. With these backup files safely stored, you can then follow the restore procedures using the existing backup file on new ESXi host hardware prior to sending out the replacement unit. Of course, you will have to take care that the existing host you are replacing is removed from the network before bringing the new host online as they will have identical networking configuration.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you end up providing support at the remote location you can email the backup file or access it across your network connection in order to restore the existing server. For example if your disk drives crashed and you have them replaced at the remote location.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;As you mentioned you are just looking for information on restoring your ESXi server configuration and not how to protect the VMs so we'll leave it at this point.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you want to look into further enhancing this process or making it more efficient you could consider (semi-)automated deployment alternatives like unattended installs, PXE boot installs, or stateful vSphere Auto Deploy. Here are some resources if you're interested:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;UL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;&lt;A href="https://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10401" title="https://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10401"&gt;Command-Line Installation and Upgrade of vCenter Server 5.5&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;&lt;A href="http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-B9DB94CA-4857-458B-B6F1-6A688726AED0.html" title="http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-B9DB94CA-4857-458B-B6F1-6A688726AED0.html"&gt;vSphere Documentation Center: &lt;/A&gt;PXE Booting the ESXi Installer&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;&lt;A href="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2005131" title="http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&amp;amp;cmd=displayKC&amp;amp;externalId=2005131"&gt;VMware KB: Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2014 19:57:03 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Backup-Recovery-Discussions/esx5i-backup-best-practise-for-remote-locations/m-p/392806#M1884</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-26T19:57:03Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: always ESXI Purple diagnostic screen</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/always-ESXI-Purple-diagnostic-screen/m-p/392643#M25994</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;In addition to considering your motherboard change, as Richardson suggested, it may also be worthwhile to test the new memory. You mentioned that you expanded the physical memory. I recommend testing the memory using MemTest86+ (www.memtest86.org). Download the latest ISO and boot your server from it, either by burning it to CD/DVD or connecting it to your remote management like DRAC or ILO. Run the test for some hours, I'd recommend 48 or 72 hours if you can, to see if there are any issues with the memory. Despite the memory manufacturer's best efforts some sticks ship with a defect or are affected during shipping. In this case, since you swapped out your MB any existing RAM that you reused may have been affected if you weren't properly following anti-static grounding procedures (heck, they could be affected even if you were). If anything shows up in MemTest86+ then replace the sticks, hopefully under warranty.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:32:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/always-ESXI-Purple-diagnostic-screen/m-p/392643#M25994</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-23T01:32:34Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: esx5i backup best practise for remote locations</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Backup-Recovery-Discussions/esx5i-backup-best-practise-for-remote-locations/m-p/392802#M1880</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;Hi mag2sub,&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;There's some information missing regarding your scenario in order to provide any advice. What we know from your post so far is that you are shipping rack-mounted servers running ESXi 5.x to remote locations. I'm assuming that these are the servers you refer to as the "primary server" as in each shipped server becomes the primary for that location. In addition you mention that you want to restore service using a newly shipped server, presumably sent to that same location.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The following questions will get us closer to understanding what you particular scenario is, and onto the path of identifying a direction for you to go with your backup strategy.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;OL&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Where do you store your VMs? On disk attached to the ESXi server, or on shared storage?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Do you currently have a backup solution in place such as vSphere Data Protection or Veeam Backup?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;What do you require from your backup? Do you just need the VMs to be restored or is there anything else?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;Are your remote locations connected back to your centralized locations or are they isolated, as in do they have any network connection back to the main location?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;LI&gt;How do you currently provision your ESXi hosts? Manually, unattended install, stateful Auto Deploy, or other?&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/OL&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Those should get us started. Any additional information you can provide about your scenario will help paint a better picture and tell a better story.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;PS - While helpful, the document Ethan44 pointed you to speaks to VMware Horizon View specifically. Your original post doesn't suggest to me that you're referring to a Horizon deployment, so you may not find that document suitable.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:22:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Backup-Recovery-Discussions/esx5i-backup-best-practise-for-remote-locations/m-p/392802#M1880</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-23T01:22:32Z</dc:date>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Re: Not really an error to specify, just a newbie to the vsphere hyperviser</title>
      <link>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Not-really-an-error-to-specify-just-a-newbie-to-the-vsphere/m-p/1821830#M179348</link>
      <description>&lt;HTML&gt;&lt;HEAD&gt;&lt;/HEAD&gt;&lt;BODY&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5em;"&gt;VMware has made no secret about their plan to move vSphere administration fully into the vSphere Web Client and to ultimately retire the good ol' vSphere Client.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5em;"&gt;&lt;BR /&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5em;"&gt;If I understand your question correctly, you are wanting to know what the vSphere Client ports are so that you can create an appropriate SSH tunnel. &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;The required vSphere Client ports can be found in the vSphere &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.5em;"&gt;documentation&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 10pt;"&gt;. In this case lets look at the vSphere 5.5. docs: &lt;A href="http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-5071C86E-FF1E-4E54-A424-A20917401160.html" title="http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-5071C86E-FF1E-4E54-A424-A20917401160.html"&gt;TCP and UDP Ports for the vSphere Client&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;According to the docs you need to tunnel ports 443 TCP, 902 TCP/UDP and 903 TCP. You'll need to establish this tunnel primarily between the system running vSphere client and the vCenter Server and vSphere Update Manager servers. You can also establish this tunnel with any ESXi hosts you need to administer using the vSphere Client, but ideally you should be relying on vCenter Server for managing the hosts.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;You haven't provided enough information about your specific network scenario to help determine whether you need to NAT any of this traffic, however in a typical business networking environment it's not likely required.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/BODY&gt;&lt;/HTML&gt;</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:06:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Not-really-an-error-to-specify-just-a-newbie-to-the-vsphere/m-p/1821830#M179348</guid>
      <dc:creator>dabson</dc:creator>
      <dc:date>2014-06-23T01:06:22Z</dc:date>
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