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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