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
More vQuotes

"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
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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).
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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”
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

ESX version and build number

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

vmware -v
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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]
More vQuotes

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.
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Virtual NICs per VM:
ESX(i) 4.0: 10 NICs
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 4 NICs
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes

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
More vQuotes