Looking for VMware Tools?

Looking for VMware Tools? Look no further than your ESX host under /vmimages/tools-isoimages. There you’ll find the .iso files that mount as images into the virtual CD-ROM tray when the “Install/Upgrade VMware Tools” command is passed to the ESX host for a VM. Under the floppies folder you’ll find vmscsi-1.2.0.2.flp which is the optimized BusLogic SCSI driver for legacy Windows guests.
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VMbook

VMbook: Practical Guide to Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery with VMware Infrastructure featuring Hardware and Software Solutions from:
AMD, Cisco, Dell, Emulex, Intel, NetApp, Sun Microsystems

Once you have VI installed, this is a fantastic 230 page manual for jumpstarting your VI BCP/DR planning and execution.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/practical_guide_bcdr_vmb.pdf
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su command

At the ESX Service Console, use the su command to change users. su is short for substitute user or switch user and is typically used for the elevation of privileges. I liken it much to Windows Fast User Switching. The bottom line is that su provides a method for admins to log on with their own accounts and to use su - for root privileges when needed, while providing an audit trial. It's a good security measure.
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Power Management — ESX/ESXi 4.0 supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® and Enhanced AMD PowerNow! CPU power management technologies. With dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), ESX/ESXi can save power consumed by ESX hosts when they are not operating at maximum capacity. See the vSphere Resource Management Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf
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Clearing The Air On Shares

Clearing The Air On Shares

Share values are a method of allocating CPU and memory resources to VMs with preference in an over commit situation. Shares can be assigned individually in the VM configuration, or more globally at the resource pool level. What's often forgotten is that shares only come into play when a shortage of CPU or memory actually occurs. Outside of a resource shortage, shares don't do a darned thing.
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Fence A Configuration

Lab Manager: When To Fence A Configuration?

-You have a configuration with one or more servers and you anticipate cloning the configuration numerous times
-You have a configuration involving a difficult and complex setup, and cloning the configuration is an easier solution than repeating the setup process
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Performance Overview Plug-In

Installing the Performance Overview Plug-In in vCenter 2.5 Update 4

VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 4 introduced new Performance Overview charts which resemble the old vmkusage/vmktree of the ESX2 days. However, the plugin is not installed automatically. Follow the KB below for the many required steps. Fortunately, the new charts are installed automatically in vSphere with no manual steps.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008296
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Why ESXi?

Why ESXi?
-Smaller hypervisor means faster deployment times
-Smaller hypervisor means less code vulnerability, risk to the environment, and time spent patching the hypervisor
-Smaller hypervisors can be embedded in server hardware
-ESXi free edition lends itself well to rapid and wide spread implementation
-Automation efforts are moving away from the COS (PowerShell, Host Profiles, Distributed Virtual Switch, etc.)
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VMUG

Join A VMware User Group (VMUG)
VMUGs are run by the users, for the users. This isn’t corporate propaganda jammed down our throats. These are peer level meetings with a wide range of expertise and experience. It’s straight talk about VMware virtualization benefits, strategies and related 3rd party products, and we don’t sugar coat, overlook, or ignore VMware issues.
http://www.vmware.com/communities/content/vmug/
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VMware Tools

Before attempting to install the VMware Tools on a Linux VM, be sure to have the GCC Compiler and Kernel Source installed. More often than not, these components are required during the VMware Tools vmware-config-tools.pl configuration script.
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Native partitions

Native partitions can not be manually created or sized during ESXi 3 installation. The short ESXi 3 installation routine consumes approximately 4.7GB of disk spanning six partitions which are automatically created based on VMware best practices. The remaining disk space is allocated as block unaligned VMFS for use with virtual machines and VMkernel swap.
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vStorage VMFS Volume Grow — Allows dynamic expansion of a VMFS volume extent to add capacity to an existing datastore without disrupting running VMs. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
VMkernel Protection — Mechanisms were introduced to assure the integrity of the VMkernel and loaded modules as they reside on disk and in memory. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf
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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

RAM per VM:
ESX(i) 4.0: 255GB
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 65,532MB (64GB - 4BM)
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On this day in 2003

On this day in 2003, Hopkinton, Mass. based EMC Corporation announced its plans to purchase VMware, Inc. for $635 million. The purchase was completed January 9th 2004 for $625 million in cash.
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Display the full path

ESX script to display the full path in the Service Console
Example:
In your ESX console, instead of seeing this:
[root@host vmware]#
You’ll see this:
[root@host /etc/vmware]#
Paste the following into PuTTY on your ESX host:
mv /etc/bashrc /etc/bashrc.old
sed -e “s/\\h \\\W/\\h \\\w/g” /etc/bashrc.old > /etc/bashrc
Close your PuTTY session and re-open to see the change take effect.
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Cost Per Application Calculator

VMware offers an online Cost Per Application Calculator. The tool was designed to accurately estimate and compare acquisition cost of a virtualization solution. VMware has labeled this metric Cost Per Application.

Take the tool for a spin and see how much you can save with VMware:
http://www.vmware.com/technology/whyvmware/calculator/
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Lab Manager Garbage Collection

Lab Manager Garbage Collection is the automatic detection and freeing of images that are no longer in use in a disk chain or otherwise. Lab Manager does not immediately delete files associated with a deleted VM. Each pass of the garbage collector involves an attempt to delete nodes without dependencies. Several passes over time may be required. The default Garbage Collection frequency is 120 seconds.
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On this day in 2005

On this day in 2005, VMware releases Player 1.0, a FREE desktop hypervisor for Windows and Linux platforms. It's purpose was the running of existing VMs, however it lacked the ability to create VMs and as such it was often likened to Adobe Acrobat Reader. Shortly after its release, users engineered clever ways to create VMs to be used in Player without paying VMware for a licensed VM creation product.
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

Lab Manager virtual machines are more or less pinned to the datastores they were originally created on which brings the importance datastore capacity management and planning to the forefront. However, the Lab Manager utility SSMove.exe (located in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Lab Manager\Tools\SSMove) can be used to move an entire datastore, or a specific tree of virtual machines to another datastore.
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On this day in 2007

On this day in 2007, VMware releases ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 and introduces ESXi, the industry's first ultra-thin hypervisor. More than two months later it was discovered that a corrupted ESX 3.5 ISO image (as indicated by a false MD5SUM hash) had been released into the wild causing issues in some customer datacenters. VMware released a new ISO correcting the problem on 2/20/08.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003801
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Who command

At the ESX Service Console, the who command will display a list of users who are currently logged on to the host, as well as the network host they are connecting from in the case of a remote session.

i.e.
[root@esx3l /etc]# who
root pts/0 Jul 26 14:53 (workstation.boche.mcse)
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vCenter Statistics Rollups

vCenter Statistics Rollups

Real Time = 1 hour of real time stats refreshed every 20 seconds. Not stored in the vCenter database
Past Day = Real Time stats rolled up w/ 1 data point for every 5 minutes
Past Week = Past Day stats rolled up w/ 1 data point for every 30 minutes
Past Month = Past Week stats rolled up w/ 1 data point for ever 2 hours
Past Year = Past Month stats rolled up w/ 1 data point per day
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Use a "one-two punch" approach

Use a "one-two punch" approach to backing up your virtual infrastructure by implementing both file level and image level (.vmdk) backups. File level backups will facilitate the day to day restore requests. Image level backups offer rapid recovery options in disaster recovery scenario. The best backup products available will offer both types of protection.
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

Features no longer supported in the ESX4.0 Service Console:
Service Console net-snmp no longer supported; Deprecated /proc/vmware nodes; Migration from /proc to /sys file system; Custom IPMI drivers no longer supported; Booting into Linux or debug mode no longer supported; ESX4.0 Service Console is not a development environment (no longer ships with development packages and libraries)
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ESX3

Starting with ESX3, virtualized Citrix Presentation Server (XenApp) workloads with a reasonable amount of users became a reality. I've virtualized many Citrix servers in production with great success. The content based page sharing mechanism really shines here. Following is a great 'Citrix on VMware' best practices article from Sven Huisman:

http://virtualfuture.info/2008/10/more-xenapp-45-on-vmware-recommendations/
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MAC address prefixes

The following OUIs (MAC address prefixes) are registered to VMware through the IEEE. These are the possible MAC address prefixes you will see assigned in the first three octets of VMware virtual network adapters:

00:05:69
00:0c:29
00:1c:14
00:50:56
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Enhanced ESX Error Reporting — Per-host network, storage and VMFS issues reported to the vSphere Client in the Events tab. Each error event also provides a link to a specific Knowledge Base article that explains the event and provides detailed remediation steps to resolve the error. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Native SATA — Support for internal SATA disks that are connected through the SATA interface. This choice allows administrators to reduce storage costs by supporting the lowest cost type of disk storage available. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf
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@VMwareKB on Twitter

Be the first to see new an updated VMware KB articles by following @VMwareKB on Twitter and subscribing to the following RSS feed:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/VMwareKnowledgebaseWeeklyDigest

Or visit the VMware Weekly KB Digest with your browser at:
http://blogs.vmware.com/kbdigest/
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

NFS datastores:
ESX(i) 4.0: 64 NFS datastores (requires change in advanced settings)
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 32 NFS datastores (requires change in advanced settings)
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Virtualized Exchange 2007

How VMware Virtualized Exchange 2007
I often hear questions or concerns about virtualizing Exchange. E-Oasis Network Specialists found a new VMware white paper and provides a nice lead in explaining how VMware corporate took their physical servers and migrated to virtual, reducing aggregate hardware usage.
http://e-oasis.com/vmware/exchangeonvmware/
See also http://bit.ly/NBYFZ for more Exchange virtualization resources
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DAS

For those new to ESX, you may be curious as to why many of the advanced HA configuration settings contain the acronym "DAS". What is DAS? DAS was the acronym for HA during the VI3 beta, before it was changed to HA. DAS stood for Dynamic Available Service. VMware killed the DAS acronym just before the VI3 launch, but apparently it was too difficult to change in the code tree, so DAS lives today (behind the scenes).
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Logger command

Use the logger command to write log entries to the /var/log/messages log file. This can be useful for scripted installations to confirm sections of the script completed successfully.

i.e.
logger Hello there!

Results in the following entry in /var/log/messages
Jul 26 16:07:23 esx3l root: Hello there!
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Virtual disk to an RDM

Convert a standard virtual disk to an RDM with the following commands:
For virtual compatibility mode: vmkfstools -I [srcfile] -d rdm: /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhbaW:X:Y:Z /vmfs/volumes/[datastore]/[vmdir]/[vmname].vmdk
For physical compatibility mode: vmkfstools -I [srcfile] -d rdmp: /vmfs/devices/disks/vmhbaW:X:Y:Z /vmfs/volumes/[datastore]/[vmdir]/[vmname].vmdk
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/3443266
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

A Service Console vSwitch with only 1 PNIC will result in a constant yellow warning banner in vCenter indicating the lack of network redundancy for the Service Console. This warning can be disabled by changing the advanced HA setting das.ignoreRedundantNetWarning from false to true. However, do understand the negative implications of no Service Console redundancy.
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Text editors

There are three text editors I know of in the ESX Service Console

nano - By far the easiest editor to use. Windows admins will gravitate to it's notepad like feel.
vi - The old school editor used in *nix platforms. Complex.
visudo - A dedicated vi editor designed for the sudoers file. Has the ability to check for errors.
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The right network adapter

Choosing the right network adapter for your virtual machine

The network adapter choices that are available depend on the virtual machine version number and the guest operating system running on the virtual machine.
The Choose Networks window makes available only those network adapters that make sense for the virtual machine you are creating. Continue reading at the following KB article:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001805
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Daemons/Services

Check the status of all daemons/services in the ESX Service Console with the following command:

service --status-all
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Freeing space

Freeing space when the /var/ partition is full
To free some space on the /var/ partition, you can safely remove the cached RPM package saved on /var/cache/yum/update.
To remove the RPM package:
Log into the ESX host as root using an SSH client.
Run the command:
yum clean all
Rerun the command:
df -h
The output indicates that the amount of free space on the /var partition has increased. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005768
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Run ESXTOP in batch mode

Run ESXTOP in batch mode using the -b switch along with a .csv file name. ie. esxtop -b > my_file.csv. The esxtop utility does not enforce a .csv file extension, however, post-processing tools require it. Tools such as MS Perfmon and Excel can be used to view the .csv file after the capture.
Somewhat related, you can also run esxtop in replay mode on vm-support collection data with the command: esxtop -R [vm-support_path]
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Lab Manager 3 Datastore Requirements

Lab Manager 3 Datastore Requirements

The datastore must have ample available space as chains cannot span datastores.
A VMFS (or NFS) datastore must first be configured in ESX outside of Lab Manager.
To use a datastore for media, you must configure it as a media store in Lab Manager. You can use the same datastore for media and virtual machine storage, as long as you use different directories.
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Journaling

Modern versions of the VMFS file system (VMFS-3 and newer) include journaling. Journaling logs changes to a journal (typically a circular log in a dedicated area) before committing them to the main file system. Journaling file systems are less likely to become corrupted in the event of a power failure or system crash.
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Lab Manager User/Group Legend

Lab Manager User/Group Legend
-A gray icon indicates the user is disabled
-A blue and yellow icon indicates the user is enabled
-A blue and yellow icon with a key indicates an administrator user
-A blue and yellow icon with a group indicates the user was added as part of an LDAP group import
-A green check mark indicates a group is in sync with LDAP
-A red X indicates a group is disabled, deleted, or not in sync with LDAP
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CHAP for swiSCSI security

ESX can be configured to use CHAP for swiSCSI security. CHAP authenticates with a 3-way handshake at the time of the initial link, and may happen again any random time afterwards. The verification is based on a shared secret (essentially, the CHAP password). CHAP provides protection against playback attacks by incrementally changing the identifier and by using a variable challenge value.
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svmotion.pl

svmotion.pl is the tool that is used for Storage VMotion in VI3 and it can be found in the RCLI (Remote Command Line Interface) as well as the newer VIMA or vMA (vSphere Management Assistant) which includes the RCLI. svmotion.pl has 2 modes: scripted (with all the necessary switches) and interactive (invoked with the --interactive switch). However, anyone who is anyone uses Andrew Kutz's svmotion plugin in VI3.
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Tail Wagging The Dog

Tail Wagging The Dog

One sensible recommendation I've read from respected authors on ESX(i) host hardware selection is to not dive in head first with server models. Instead, you need to think about the infrastructure storage and network design which will dictate the number of HBA and NICs you'll need. From that point you look at available card slots in the various hardware models to narrow down the selection.
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ESX package build numbers

Find your individual ESX package build numbers by running the following command in the service console:

esxupdate -l query

or

rpm -qa
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vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Granular Permissions for Network and Datastores — vCenter Server 4.0 supports permissions at the datastore and network level. Administrators can grant or deny access to a datastore or network for a specific set of users. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Virtual Machine Communication Interface Sockets API — VMCI Sockets is a convenience Application Programming Interface (API) for the Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) which provides fast communication between a virtual machine and the hypervisor as well as between virtual machines. See the VMCI landing page http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vmci-sdk/
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vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vSphere Host Update Utility — Upgrade ESX hosts (versions 3.0 and later) to ESX 4.0 remotely by using the vSphere Host Update Utility. The intuitive user interface provides real-time status of a remote upgrade and allows you to specify custom post-upgrade scripts. See the vSphere Upgrade Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf
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ESXTOP Statistics

Interpreting ESXTOP Statistics

ESXTOP is an essential troubleshooting and performance monitoring tool for ESX platforms. Master the meanings behind the numbers in ESXTOP by downloading this great document. Another great resource is Appendix B of the Resource Management Guide aptly titled "Using the ESXTOP Utility"

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9279
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf
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ESX snapshots

ESX snapshots by default are created in the virtual machine directory, even if the virtual machine directory and virtual disks are located on different datastores.

To change the location of the snapshot, add (or edit) the following line to the .vmx file of the VM:
workingDir="[new_path_location]"

Force a re-read of the virtual machine configuration by issuing the command:
vimsh -ne "vmsvc/reload [VmId]"
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
CIM Storage Management API - Common Information Model (CIM) interface to monitor datacenter storage resources. The implementation is based on the Storage Management Initiative-Specification (SMI-S) defined by SNIA. See the VMware CIM APIs documentation page for more information http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/cim-sdk/index.html
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Lab Manager

On this day in 2006, VMware announces Lab Manager, which enables enterprise software development organizations to more efficiently utilize software development and test lab assets, accelerate software development cycles and increase the quality of delivered software products. Two years later on the same date, version 3.0.1 is released with support for ESX3.5 Updates 3 and 4
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Detailed build number information

Determining detailed build number information for VMware ESX hosts:

In some cases, after patches have been installed on an ESX host, different build numbers are reported for different components of ESX Server. These KB articles provide details of the build information for ESX:

ESX 4.x: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1012514

ESX 3.x: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001179
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Two Route Commands

A Tale Of Two Route Commands

The route command is used to manage the Service Console routing table.

The esxcfg-route command is used to manage the VMkernel routing table.
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Configurations and VM Templates

In Lab Manager 4, configurations and VM Templates can be imported. Configurations are imported from an SMB share and can be exported to an SMB share or vCenter server inventory. VM Templates can be imported from an SMB share or from the vCenter inventory where you may select one of your "golden master images". Importing/exporting saves time over the creation of net new configurations or templates.
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VM networking issues

If you are experiencing host or VM networking issues, take a look at VMware KB article 1004109 entitled ESX Server host or virtual machines have intermittent or no network connectivity. This article contains several links to troubleshoot networking issues.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004109
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VMware vSphere Cheat Sheet

VMware vSphere Cheat Sheet

The document summarizes vSphere features, licensing, tiers, and more. The product comparison charts really help answer the questions “Why VMware?” “Why not MS or Citrix?” “Is VMware’s price point worth it?” You bet it is. The data in the download speaks for itself.

http://www.boche.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/VsphereData.pdf
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3 VLAN strategies

VMware ESX supports 3 VLAN strategies:
1) External Switch Tagging (EST) = Traditional VLANning performed at the physical switch. No trunking to the ESX host
2) ESX Virtual Switch Tagging (VST) = Trunks run to the ESX host which can support many VLANs
3) Virtual Machine Guest Tagging (VGT) = Trunks run to the ESX host. 802.1Q VLAN trunking driver installed in the guest VM where the packets are tagged
http://bit.ly/Irmqr
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"eagerzeroedthick" disk format

An "eagerzeroedthick" disk format in ESX guarantees the greatest file security and is also required in certain configurations such as Microsoft Cluster Services. Two drawbacks to using eagerzeroedthick disks are that they take the most amount of up front time during the creation process and they cannot be created with the Virtual Infrastructure Client. They are created using vmkfstools.
See http://bit.ly/s31Cm
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On this day in 2008

On this day in 2008, VMware releases Server 2.0, the next major release after Server 1.0. Key features included a new Tomcat based and ESX-like VI Web Access, Remote Console, USB 2.0 device support, 8GB RAM per VM, and hot add/remove of SCSI disks.
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Lab Manager VM

If a Lab Manager VM is removed via vCenter or an ESX host goes offline, the Lab Manager database will be out of sync resulting in an orphan or stuck object in the database and in Lab Manager. To resolve this matter and bring the database back into sync, undeploy the VM with force by choosing the "Force Undeploy" menu item (which by the way produces the same results as Undeploy-Discard State does in normal situations).
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Guest Operating System Customization Improvements — vCenter Server now supports the ability to customize the following new guest OS platforms:
-Windows Server 2008 (32-bit & 64-bit)
-Ubuntu 8.04
-Debian 4.0
Administrators can now customize time-zone information for Linux guests. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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VMware virtualization news

Use an RSS feed aggregator/reader to stay informed with up to the minute VMware virtualization news. Import the OPML file at the following location into your favorite reader.
http://www.boche.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/rss_subscriptions.opml

Twitter has also become a popular communication channel. I use Twitter to engage in virtualization discussions. You can "follow" me on Twitter, my ID is @jasonboche
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Minimum Service Console memory

The minimum Service Console memory that can be assigned to an ESX4 host is 256MB. The default is 400MB. The maximum is 800MB.

The values for an ESX3 host are the same, except for the out of box default amount of memory which for ESX3 is 272MB. With the added features and bolt on products in vSphere, it's easy to see why VMware found it necessary to up the default amount.
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Bandwidth control

The VMware VCB proxy server lacks bandwidth control. It is possible to saturate the VCB proxy with too much I/O such that it becomes crippled and causes jobs to fail.

Stagger backup job schedules accordingly.
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Force a DHCP lease renewal

Force a DHCP lease renewal in ESX and ESXi

If you are running your ESX or ESXi management console on DHCP and need to force a DHCP lease renewal, here is how it can be done in both ESX and ESXi.

ESX: Run the following two commands locally in the service console (COS):

ifdown vswif0
ifup vswif0

ESXi: Use the local console menu to “Restart Management Network”
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

VMs inherit privileges from two sources because their objects are shown in 2 different vCenter views (Virtual Machines & Templates and Hosts & Clusters). That said, certain actions or roles require a set of permissions on each side of the hierarchy. The 2 views and hierarchies become unified at the Datacenter level. If a permission is applied at the Datacenter level, it propagates down both sides of the hierarchy.
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Virtualization

Virtualization is among the most exciting and lucrative careers to have today. If you are looking for a virtualization job or perhaps trying to find the right candidate for an open position in your organization, try VMPeople.net, a leading source of virtualization networking for job seekers, contractors, consultants, hiring managers, and recruiters.
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LDAP servers

By default, Lab Manager synchronizes with configured LDAP servers every 15 minutes. Synchronizing updates Lab Manager user and group information based on changes to the LDAP directory.

Synchronization can be immediately forced by clicking the Synchronize LDAP button.
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vCenter Security Primer

vCenter Security Primer:

Similar to Windows security, a user granted permission to an object via 2 or more group memberships will in effect have the sum of all group membership privileges.

Dissimilar to Windows security, a user granted permission to an object explicitly (not through a group) will result in the explicit permission being effective. It's similar to the way the "deny" permission works in Windows.
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Boot loader configuration file

/boot/grub/grub.conf is the boot loader configuration file in ESX3 and ESX4 which replaced /etc/lilo.conf in older ESX2 environments.
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Installation of VMware

During the installation of VMware vCenter Server 4.0, the NETWORK SERVICE account must have READ NTFS permissions at the root of the installation drive letter or else the installation of the local ADAM instance will fail and the entire installation process will roll back.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010938
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vApps — vApps simplify the deployment and ongoing management of an n-tier application in multiple virtual machines by encapsulating the n-tier application into a single vApp entity. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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Context view

Lab Manager Context view is a visual representation of how each VM looks on disk, which exposes the disk chains (which can get extremely complex and impressive). Unfortunately the Context view can be difficult to find in the Lab Manager menus. Here's where you find Context:

Resources|Datastores tab|View Datastore Usage button|Hover over the VM name and click Context
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Content Based Page Sharing

Content Based Page Sharing is an incredible VMware invention that allows 2 or more VMs to share identical pages in host memory. This allows an over commit of VM guest memory and a cost savings of host memory. Take a technical deep dive by reading Carl Waldspurger's ESX Memory Resource Management white paper at:

http://www.waldspurger.org/carl/papers/esx-mem-osdi02.pdf

One day this paper should be in museum.
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Active Directory

If you plan on integrating Active Directory authentication with ESX Service Console access using esxcfg-auth, you need to control any existing root account in Active Directory. A root account in Active Directory will natively grant root access to the ESX Service Console to whoever knows the AD root password regardless of what the root password is on the ESX host.
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ESX version and build number

Find your ESX version and build number by running the following command in the service console:

vmware -v
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VMware ThinApp

Make Portable Applications with VMware ThinApp

The following URL provides a tutorial in packaging applications with ThinApp. It's very easy. All you need is a pristine Windows machine (I highly recommend a VM with non-persistent disk so upon power off, the VM is pristine once again).

http://hacktolive.org/wiki/Make_portable_applications_with_VMware_ThinApp
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3 Modes of VMFS Volume Resignaturing

3 Modes of VMFS Volume Resignaturing

1) EnableResignature=0,DisallowSnapshotLUN=1 - ESX 3.x default. Snapshots/replicas can't be brought online
2) EnableResignature=1,DisallowSnapshotLUN n/a - Safely bring snapshots/replicas online when host has access to the original
3) EnableResignature=0,DisallowSnapshotLUN=0 - ESX 2.x behavior. Ideal for DR to bring snapshot/replica online when host has no access to the original
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Microsoft SQL Server and VMware

Whitepaper: Microsoft SQL Server and VMware Virtual Infrastructure

This is a great whitepaper that will help you understand how to characterize your SQL Server databases for virtualization and outlines important best practices for designing VMware Infrastructure to support SQL Server.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/solutions/sql_server_virtual_bp.pdf
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Cisco Discovery Protocol

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) has 4 modes in ESX:
Down = CDP is fully disabled
Listen (default in ESX3.5) = Receives and displays information from other CDP enabled network devices. Does not Advertise
Advertise = Broadcasts the ESX host's network configuration. Does not listen
Both = CDP is fully enabled. Listen & Advertise are both enabled

Configure CDP on a per vSwitch basis with the command
esxcfg-vswitch -B[mode]
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Player 2.5

On this day in 2008, VMware releases Player 2.5. Key features include Unity view, Accelerated 3-D graphics on Windows XP guests, Full screen mode, and experimental support for smart cards.
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The vmreference card

Whether you're studying for a VMware exam or looking for a good desk reference, you owe it to yourself to check out the vmreference card from Forbes Guthrie. This 2 page reference is jam packed with an incredible amount of Virtual Infrastructure information. Print it in duplex mode and laminate it.

http://vmreference.com
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
VMware HA Maintenance Mode — VMware HA now supports Maintenance mode that suspends failover actions during maintenance operations. See the vSphere Availability Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_availability.pdf
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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Virtual NICs per VM:
ESX(i) 4.0: 10 NICs
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 4 NICs
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VM guest partitions

For optimal performance VM guest partitions should be block aligned. Methods for determining this inside the guest vary by guest OS type (Windows msinfo32.exe) but the value by which it is gauged is constant for all: the partition starting offset should be evenly divisible by 4,096. NetApp's mbrscan script (http://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-2563) will check at the .vmdk level.
See also http://bit.ly/15f4VI
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Time zone in ESX

The time zone in ESX is set via a symbolic link to /etc/localtime, which is a file located in the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory. The symbolic link relates to the time zone that the ESX host is in. Check the current configuration with ll /etc/localtime and cat /etc/sysconfig/clock. To set the time zone, create the correct symbolic link:

ie. ln –sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/[country]/[location] /etc/localtime
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Shared storage in ESX(i) environments

When using SAN for shared storage in ESX(i) environments, be sure to set the following advanced options:

Disk.UseLunReset=1 (1 is the default)
Disk.UseDeviceReset=0 (1 is the default)

The reason for disabling DeviceReset is because it can perform a complete SCSI bus reset, clearing all SCSI reservations, which can disrupt the SAN fabric.
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DRS Affinity and Anti-Affinity rules

DRS Affinity and Anti-Affinity rules are automated mechanisms to keep VMs on separate clustered hosts or to keep them together on the same host. This is a great unsung technology with one caveat: Only 2 VMs may be included per rule. In other words, if you need a rule for 3 VMs, create multiple rules which grow exponentially as VMs are added.

I'm not a big user of the word FAIL, but it applies here.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Fault Tolerance - Fault Tolerance provides zero downtime & zero data loss availability for all virtual machines during server hardware failures. Enabling FT for a specific virtual machine allows a secondary copy of that virtual machine to run in lockstep synchronization on another ESX host. See the vSphere Availability Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_availability.pdf
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Temporarily disable the ESX firewall

*Temporarily disable the ESX firewall with service firewall stop or the following commands:
-esxcfg-firewall -allowIncoming
-esxcfg-firewall -allowOutgoing
*Permanently disable the firewall with chmod 644 /etc/init.d/firewall
(re-enable with chmod 744)
*Enable the ESX firewall with the following commands:
-service firewall start (if it was stopped)
-esxcfg-firewall -blockIncoming
-esxcfg-firewall -blockOutgoing
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Maintenance Mode

Lab Manager Host Maintenance Mode

Performing maintenance on a Lab Manager host requires more than placing the host into maintenance mode in vCenter. All Lab Manager Configurations must be undeployed from the host (Resources|Hosts tab|Hover over host and choose Undeploy All VMs). The host should also be disabled in Lab Manager to prevent new deployments from landing on it. When finished, use the Redeploy All VMs option.
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Protect data

During the installation of ESX, it is extremely important to protect VM data stored on existing volumes. Early versions of ESX would actually destroy LUN data which it discovered during installation. Dominic Rivera outlines several options to protect data, a few of which are automated for unattended installs. Follow the link below and check it out:

http://vmprofessional.com/2009/06/protecting-your-san-luns-during.html
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vSwitch

By default in ESX(i), a vSwitch Portgroup will automatically inherit configuration policies of the vSwitch it is created on, however, portgroup policies can be tuned to override the vSwitch policies.
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Visual indicator

ESX3.5 introduced a visual indicator to the VMware Tools system tray icon to notify when tools are old. This new behavior can be disabled manually in the VMware Tools applet, or it can be packaged with the following registry change:
HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware Tools
Change the default value to a DWORD value of 0

To script:
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Tools" /V "" /T REG_DWORD /D "0x0" /F
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Storage Awareness Enhancements — VMware gives you increased visibility into vSphere 4.0 interaction with shared storage through customizable reports and topology maps. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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VMware Virtual Resource

http://viops.vmware.com/ is an incredibly technical community resource containing VMware Virtual Infrastructure proven practices and advanced solutions. Topics include strategy, applications, security, management, and availability.
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VM console connections

Both vCenter 2.5 and 4.0 support up to 100 concurrent VM console connections (the default is 25). It is recommended to limit the number of vCenter and console connections to as few as possible. Remember 3rd party utils will use vCenter connections. With vSphere 32 and 64 bit client connections limited to 15 and 30 respectively, it's implied that a large number of console connections would come through the web interface.
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SAN Zoning

SAN Zoning Best Practices

Take a look at Brocade's Secure SAN Zoning Best Practices document. Although it contains the Brocade name throughout, the principles can be applied to any vendor’s fabric. Please keep these best practices in mind when designing and configuring SAN fabrics for your VMware virtual infrastructure.

Download it here:
http://www.boche.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/Zoning_Best_Practices_WP-00.pdf
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Add an existing user

To add an existing user to an existing group in the ESX Service Console, use the following command and syntax:

usermod -a -G [group_name] [user_name]

ie. usermod -a -G wheel joe -- adds user joe to the wheel group.
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Lab Manager configuration

When a Lab Manager configuration is deployed on a VMware HA cluster, Lab Manager uses the same calculation that vCenter has for assessing free slots available in the cluster. In addition, fenced configurations in Lab Manager 3 must all go on the same host. In Lab Manager 4, fenced configurations can be spread across hosts with the use of vNDS (Network Distributed Switch).
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vCenter Server 4.0 installation

During a vCenter Server 4.0 installation, verify the vCenter SQL account has DBO rights to the MSDB, vCenter, and Update Manager databases.

During the vCenter 2.5 upgrade process, DBO is needed on the MSDB database only. Granting DBO on the vCenter database in VC 2.5 would typically result in a new parallel set of tables being created in the database and empty datacenter when all is said and done.
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Native log file rotation

The native log file rotation behavior can be tweaked by logging into the ESX Service Console and modifying the file /etc/logrotate.conf (I very much prefer the nano editor to the VI editor).

There exists a man page detailing log rotation. Use the following command to view the man page:
man logrotate
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Syslog Tidbits

Syslog Tidbits

The centralization of log files using Syslog requires UDP port 514 open between the ESX host and the Syslog server. Open a Syslog port in the ESX firewall with the following command:
esxcfg-firewall -o 514,udp,out,"syslog"

Syslog is configured on the ESX host in /etc/syslog.conf

Splunk is a very popular Syslog server solution.
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VM Disk Alignment

VM Disk Alignment
NetApp released a few scripts (mbralign & mbrscan) that will automate the disk alignment & verification processes at the guest VM OS level without destroying data.

Download the scripts:
http://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-2563

See also: NetApp - Storage Nuts & Bolts: mbrscan/mbralign
http://blogs.netapp.com/storage_nuts_n_bolts/2009/01/mbrscanmbralign.html
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Fusion 2.0

On this day in 2008, VMware releases Fusion 2.0. Key features include Multiple snapshots and AutoProtect, URL handling, Application sharing, True multiple display support, Driverless printing, VMware importer, 3D graphics improvement, and much more.
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Timekeeping articles

A collection of timekeeping articles from VMware:

http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/2009/02/new-timekeeping-articles.html
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VM displayName != Name on disk

VM displayName != Name on disk

In some situations, the display name of a VM may not match the folder where its files live. This can make life difficult when trying to identify a VM by its folder name. Dominic Rivera wrote a nice script that identifies these instances for which you should proactively correct. Follow the link below and check it out:

http://vmprofessional.com/2009/06/displayname-name-on-disk.html
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Virtual Machine Hot Add Support— The new virtual hardware introduced in ESX(i) 4.0 supports hot plug for virtual devices and supports addition of virtual CPUs and memory to a virtual machine without powering off the VM. See the Guest Operating System Installation Guide for the list of operating systems for which this functionality is supported http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf
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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Size of RAM per host:
ESX(i) 4.0: 1TB RAM per host
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 256GB RAM per host
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Layer 2 switches

VMware switches are layer 2 switches. They do not perform routing or other traditional layer 3 switch tasks. In the case of Lab Manager network fencing, there is no exception. A VMware vSwitch is not routing packets in and out of the fence. A Lab Manager fence is actually a small Linux VM that performs the routing.
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Configurable Advanced HA Options

Configurable Advanced HA Options:

das.AllowNetwork = Used to specify an additional portgroup to use for failure detection
das.isolationAddress = Used to specify additional addresses to check for isolation detection
das.failureDetectionTime = Time in milliseconds before isolation response action. Default=15000
das.failureDetectionInterval = HA heartbeat interval in milliseconds. Default=1000
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VMware ESX is NUMA

VMware ESX is NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) aware and employs a handful of enhancements to take advantage of NUMA. While these settings can generally be left at their defaults in the hypervisor, you should make sure your ESX host hardware is configured optimally for ESX NUMA operation, which in short means you should disable node interleaving in the BIOS.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vNetwork Distributed Switch — The vDS spans many ESX(i) hosts enabling customers to significantly reduce ongoing network maintenance activities and quickly scale up networking capacity.
See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf
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vCenter

Make vCenter highly available. Deploy vCenter in a Windows VM hosted on a VMware VI cluster. Here are a few reasons why:
-It’s supported by VMware.
-You may already have a VI cluster in your environment you can leverage.
-Avoiding Microsoft Cluster Services removes a 3rd party infrastructure complexity, additional licensing costs, and dependency which requires an advanced skill set to support.
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Full control of the virtual infrastructure

Any user or group who is a member of the local Administrators group of the Windows Server running vCenter, will by default have full administrative control of vCenter Server and thus full control of the virtual infrastructure.

After the installation of vCenter Server, this should be one of the first areas to address. Ideally it was already planned for in the design stage.
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esxcfg and vmkload_mod

esxcfg-module and the older school vmkload_mod both provide about the same information when listing loaded VMkernel modules. However, a few of the differences that set the tools apart are:

Only esxcfg-module can enable/disable modules
Only vmkload_mod can interactively load/unload modules
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Build a network boot disk

Build a network boot disk for VMware guest VMs
Save time and effort by using Bart’s Network Boot Disk. This especially holds true if you're not interested in modifying network boot disk files by hand which was one of the purposes behind Bart’s solution. You must own a Microsoft Windows 98 operating system license.

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2008/11/25/build-a-network-boot-disk-for-vmware-guest-vms/
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Performance Charts Enhancements — Performance charts are now enhanced to provide a single view of all performance metrics, such as CPU, memory, disk, and network without navigating through multiple charts. See the Performance Charts Online Help and vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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License per CPU

Applications that license per CPU will cost extra money in a vSMP VM. The following unsupported tweak may allow the application to see logical CPUs instead of physical CPUs:
1. Power off the VM & Edit the VM settings
2. Options tab
3. General (in the Advanced options section)
4. Configuration Parameters
5. Add Row
6. Enter "cpuid.coresPerSocket" in the Name column
7. Enter a value of 2 or 4 in the Value column
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Lab Manager Media Library

Files that are uploaded to the Lab Manager Media Library are not automatically seen by the Lab Manager users. The Media Library must be synchronized first. Synchronization updates the Lab Manager database with the files that exist on the datastore. One of the purposes behind this is so that files become objects in the Lab Manager database and Lab Manager can control permissions to the objects.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
VMware Data Recovery — VMware Data Recovery leverages virtual machine snapshots to make a precise copy in a short amount of time, and it includes data deduplication to save on disk storage that is consumed by backups. See the VMware Data Recovery Administrator’s Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vdr_10_admin.pdf
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VMware network communication ports

VMware Network Communication Ports (ESX 3.5 & VC 2.5)
443, 902, 903, 2049, 2050-2250,
3260, 8000, 8042-8045, 27000, 27010

For a few different diagrams, see:
http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2008/12/12/new-vmware-vi-network-port-diagram-request-for-comments/
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vCenter 4.0 license keys

vCenter 4.0 license keys do not license VI3 legacy hosts. A VI3 license server or host based license keys must be plugged into vCenter 4.0 in order to properly license VI3 legacy hosts.
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How to recover the root password

How to recover the root password on an ESX 2.x host in single user mode

Reboot the host.
At the LILO prompt select "linux" adding -s to the end of the line (it should read linux -s).
At the bash prompt, type the command 'passwd' to reset the root password.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898
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VMware VMotion & CPU Compatibility

VMware VMotion & CPU Compatibility
This document discusses CPU compatibility & outlines the checks performed by VMware vCenter before allowing migration with VMotion. It details differences in features amp; extensions in current CPUs & describes procedures that could be used to relax some CPU compatibility constraints to facilitate VMotion.
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmotion_info_guide.pdf
See also http://bit.ly/hgRRg
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Timekeeping best practices for Linux

Timekeeping best practices for Linux
The following recommendations include specifics on the kernel command line options to use for the Linux operating system. Descriptions are included for NTP time sync, configuration of VMware Tools time synchronization, and Virtual Hardware Clock configuration, to achieve best timekeeping results.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006427
See also: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011771
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

Each Lab Manager 3 installation should have a unique system name. The system name is used through various Lab Manager tasks. It is important to select an appropriate system name during installation because the system name cannot be changed later.
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Compressed tarball of files and sub-folders

At the ESX Service Console, to create a compressed tarball of files and sub-folders, use the following command:
tar -czf tarballname.tar.gz /directory/

To list the files in a compressed .tgz file:
tar -tzf tarballname.tgz

To extract a tarball:
tar -xzvf tarballname.tar.gz
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VI3 License File Locations

VI3 License File Locations

Centralized server based license files are located on the vCenter License Server in the default directory of C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server\Licenses

Decentralized host based server license files are located on the ESX host at /etc/vmware/vmware.lic
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
IPv6 Support — Adds support for IPv6 for the ESX/ESXi VMkernel, service console, and vCenter Server. Manage ESX and ESXi hosts through vCenter Server in mixed IPv4/IPv6 environments. See the ESX Configuration Guide and the ESXi Configuration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esx_server_config.pdf http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_esxi_server_config.pdf
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BIOS setting for stable operation

Virtrix blogger Vincent Vlieghe pulled some information together on running ESX on Compaq/Proliant servers. He talks about a recommend BIOS setting for stable operation.

System Options - OS Selection: Select Windows 2000
Advanced Options - MPS Table Mode: Select Full Table APIC
For DL740 & 760 servers, set the OS to Linux

Take a look:
http://virtrix.blogspot.com/2006/07/hp-proliant-and-compaq-mps-table-bios.html
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VMware IPO

On this day in 2006, EMC Corporation releases 10% of the company's shares in VMware in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock debuted at $29 per share and closed the day at $51 per share.
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VMware IPO

On this day in 2006, VMware, Inc. announced that the IPO of 33,000,000 shares of its Class A Common Stock has been priced at $29 per share. Shares will begin trading August 14, 2007 on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "VMW".
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vCenter Server Linked Mode - vCenter Server systems can be interconnected in Linked Mode, which allows administrators to share roles and licenses across multiple connected vCenter Servers. Administrators get an overview of all inventory by launching a single vSphere Client session. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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RDM versus a traditional non-RDM

In most cases, there are no performance benefits to using an RDM versus a traditional non-RDM virtual disk in a VM. There are 2 exceptions:

1) For sequential reads and writes, RDM provides slightly better I/O performance at smaller I/O block sizes.

2) As I/O block size increases, CPU cycles per I/O increases for VMFS compared to RDM.
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VMware ESX and ESXi Comparison

VMware ESX and ESXi Comparison

One of the most frequently asked questions and perhaps the most inconsistently or incompletely answered is "ESX and ESXi - what's the difference?". The following KB article explains on a feature by feature basis. The biggest differences are lack of a service console and generally thinner perception of ESXi, however, there exists many more subtle differences.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006543
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DRS: Decisions.. Decisions...

DRS: Decisions.. Decisions...

Virtual Infrastructure revolves around 4 core resources: CPU, Memory, Disk, & Network. DRS is a service that balances the workload of an ESX cluster based on resource utilization. However, DRS only evaluates 2 of the 4 core resources: CPU & Memory which are the 2 biggest bottlenecks, with Disk being a close 3rd.

DRS examines the cluster workload balance every 5 minutes, or 12 times per hour.
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Virtualizing Existing Domain Controllers

Virtualizing Existing Domain Controllers

Contrary to some beliefs, Domain Controllers make fine virtualization candidates with the right sizing and adherence to best practices. There are two approaches to DC virtualization: Creating new virtual DCs from scratch, and converting physical DCs to virtual. The following URL contains information for virtualizing existing domain controllers:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006996
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
3rd Party Distributed Switch Support — The vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) includes support for 3rd party distributed virtual switches. For more information on 3rd party distributed virtual switches, please visit the documentation page for Cisco Systems, Inc. at http://www.cisco.com/go/1000v
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Fusion 1.0

On this date in 2007, VMware releases Fusion 1.0, a VMware Workstation like product for the Apple Mac. Fusion was the first VMware product to introduce Unity view - a technology which takes the guest VM start menu and application windows and presents them as a seamless window the Mac as if it was running PC applications.
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Virtualization Quote of the Day

How to create a second root user account

1) Run the following command:
adduser -u 0 -o -g 0 -G 0,1,2,3,4,6,10 -M root2
(omit the -M if you want a home directory created)

2) Create a password for the new account with the following command:
passwd root2

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005278
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