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 trail. It's a good security measure.
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VMware License Server

Beginning with VirtualCenter 2.0.1 Patch 2, VMware License Server (typically installed during VirtualCenter Server installation) no longer requires server-based licenses to be concatenated into a single file. Simply copy server-based licenses to the license directory. See KB 7252734, “ License Server Directory Support for Simplified License Management” for more information.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/7252734
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grub.conf

/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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Why not virtual?

Your hardware platform standard for new deployments, especially with vSphere, should be virtual hardware as a first choice. Based on where virtualization is today, you should be pushing hard with the "why not virtual?" question.

Workloads that are not virtualization candidates, & this is becoming increasingly rare, should traverse the route of selecting dense blade configurations, & lastly full size rack mount servers.
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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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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Hardware Acceleration with vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) - ESX can offload specific storage operations to compliant storage hardware. With storage hardware assistance, ESX performs these operations faster and consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth.

http://bit.ly/bNrQRZ
http://bit.ly/9a2NoE
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VMFS-3

Both VI3 and vSphere utilize VMFS-3 as a block datastore format. Making the jump from VI3 to vSphere requires no VMFS upgrade.

While the native vSphere VMFS datastore version does increment from VMFS 3.31, there is currently no known advantage, as of this writing, to upgrading to the newer VMFS version. In short, it would be counterproductive and a waste of valuable time.
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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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vCenter Server 4.x installation

During a vCenter Server 4.x installation, verify the vCenter SQL account has DBO rights to the MSDB, vCenter, & 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 & empty Datacenter when all is said & done.
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VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Start saying goodbye to ESX and Service Console only dependent tools. VMware vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases are the last releases to include both ESX and ESXi hypervisor architectures. Future major releases of VMware vSphere will include only the VMware ESXi architecture.

http://bit.ly/9S97Ic
http://www.vmware.com/go/upgradetoesxi
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Native partitions

When configuring ESX(i) host hardware, if you're forced to make a decision on how to populate card slots when only a limited number of PCIe slots are available, you are best suited to place storage controllers (ie. HBAs) in the PCIe slots and NIC cards in the slower slots (ie. PCI-X). Storage needs the burst in I/O performance whereas the bus speed of a NIC will rarely be an issue.
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VM boot order

The default vSphere VM boot order is:
1. Removable Devices
2. Hard Disk (virtual)
3. CD-ROM
4. Network
A VM with no OS will attempt to boot from Removable Devices, CD-ROM, or Network, in that order. During POST, you may change the boot order temporarily with [ESC] or [F12] and permanently with [F2]
You can also modify the VM settings (Options tab|Boot Options) to force the VM to boot into the BIOS or delay the boot.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Enhanced Network Logging Performance - Fault Tolerance (FT) network logging performance allows improved throughput and reduced CPU usage. In addition, you can use VMXNET3 vNICs in FT-enabled virtual machines.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_availability.pdf
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Adding an ESX(i) host

When adding an ESX(i) host to vCenter Server, the specified root credentials are used temporarily for the purpose of adding the host only. Once the host is added, vCenter establishes its own set of credentials (vpxuser + 32-character complex password) for host communication. This allows the root password on hosts to be changed regularly (a security best practice) without disrupting vCenter management of the host.
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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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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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vSphere Upgrade Prerequisites

VMware vSphere Upgrade Prerequisites Checklist

If you're in the design or pre-deployment phase of vSphere, this handy checklist can save your bacon. It brings to light many considerations which might otherwise be forgotten due to obscurity during a vSphere deployment. This would be a key document for a vSphere consultant to carry from site to site.

http://bit.ly/HwNJY
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VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Expanded List of Supported Processors - The list of supported processors has been expanded for ESX 4.1. To determine which processors are compatible with this release, use the Hardware Compatibility Guide. Among the supported processors is the Intel Xeon 7500 Series processor, code-named Nehalem-EX (up to 8 sockets).
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Player 1.0

On this day in 2005, VMware released 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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vSphere

One source reports that, in testing, vSphere was able to drive 9Gbps of iSCSI traffic through a single ESX host. It is unknown if the initiator used during the test was hardware or the VMware supplied swiSCSI adapter.
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On this day in 2007

On this day in 2007, VMware released ESX 3.5/VC 2.5 & introduced ESXi, the industry's first ultra-thin hypervisor. More than 2 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

@kculw's birthday also
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N+1 cluster architecture

N+1 cluster architecture allows workload demands to be met while 1 host is non-operational. Capacity plan or scale your high availability virtual infrastructure for minimally N+1 based on a balance of peak and average load numbers. At no time do you want to dip below N+1 availability. That is a very difficult position to be in.
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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 chewbacca root: Hello there!
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VMware vMotion

In the past, VMware vMotion was licensed for use only at the Enterprise tier. Starting with vSphere, vMotion is also included in the Essentials Plus and Advanced tiers (and of course Enterprise Plus).
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Sysprep

Sysprep file locations and versions

VMware has published KB 1005593 which provides the download URL & destination directory
placement on VMware vCenter Server for Microsoft Sysprep files required for Windows guest customization. General installation instructions are provided as well.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005593
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Shared storage issues

If you are experiencing shared storage issues, whether it be SAN, iSCSI, or NFS, take a look at VMware KB article 1003659 entitled Identifying shared storage issues with ESX 3.x. This article contains several links to troubleshoot shared storage issues, as well as a handy flowchart.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003659
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vCenter 2.5 to vCenter Server 4.x

If you are upgrading from vCenter 2.5 to vCenter Server 4.x and you had previously implemented SSL certificates, be sure to preserve the certificates files because they will be needed during the vCenter Server 4.x upgrade. The files are located at:

C:\documents and settings\all users\Application Data\vmware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\

The three SSL files are:
rui.crt
rui.key
rui.pfx
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ESX(i) standard vSwitch

The ESX(i) standard vSwitch allows Egress (outbound) Traffic Shaping.

The vSphere Network Distributed Switch (vDS) allows both Egress (outbound) and Ingress (inbound) Traffic Shaping.

Egress & Ingress are relative to the VM - not the vDS. Egress filtering is applied to traffic from VM to vDS, & Ingress filtering is applied to traffic from vDS to VM. There is no filtering of any traffic between vDS & VMNIC.
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Vreference.com

Whether you're studying for a VMware exam or looking for a good desk reference, you owe it to yourself to check out the reference cards from Forbes Guthrie. Each cheat sheet is jam packed with an incredible amount of information. Print it in duplex mode and laminate it.

http://www.vreference.com/
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New ESX builds

When deploying new ESX builds, save a lot of time by deploying from the newest build version of ESX available & patch from there. Avoid using VUM to remediate across major updates because it takes an extraordinarily long time. For example, remediating Update 3 on an ESX 3.5.0 ESX host takes 1.5 hours on IBM x3850 hardware (including reboots).

This doesn't apply to ESXi which remediates via a single firmware update.
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Status of all 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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Memory Compression

Memory Compression was introduced in vSphere 4.1. Utilization of compression falls between Ballooning & VMkernel Swap. Pages which would have been swapped out are instead compressed & stored in a compression cache (10% of VM memory) located in the main memory. Access to the page only causes a page decompression which can be an order of magnitude faster than the disk access. This is cool technology!

http://bit.ly/dvGHsp
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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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Protect VM 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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Licensing In a Virtual Environment

Microsoft Windows Licensing In a Virtual Environment

Windows licenses are tied to physical host hardware, not the VM. This applies to any hypervisor.
-A Windows 2008 Datacenter Edition license entitles an unlimited number of Windows VMs on the host.
-A Windows 2008 Enterprise Edition license entitles up to 4 Windows VMs on the host.
-A Windows 2008 Standard Edition license entitles up to 1 Windows VM on the host.
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@VMwareKB on Twitter

Be the first to see new and 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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Daemons/Services

The maximum size allowed in a vSphere virtual machine is 2TB minus 512B. This is true even for VMs living on NFS volumes which aren't restricted by the 2TB -512B VMFS volume size limit. This true for RDMs as well.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
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Network Communication Port

Network Communication Ports for VMware Virtual Infrastructure
443, 902, 903, 2049, 2050-2250,
3260, 8000, 8042-8045, 27000, 27010

For a few different diagrams, see: http://bit.ly/bd7vXC
Here's another great one, the most thorough yet: http://bit.ly/cgzAbx
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vSphere Host Profiles

vSphere Host Profiles cannot be created from scratch and only two methods exist to create a Host Profile:

1. A Host Profile can be generated from an existing ESX or ESXi host
2. A Host Profile can be imported from a .VPF file which was previously exported

However, once created, Host Profiles can be fine tuned in an editor.
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Journaling

By default, VMs which are bound to an internal vSwitch (that is, a vSwitch with no pNIC uplinks) cannot be vMotioned. This behavior can be altered by adding the following to the config flag in the vCenter vpxd.cfg file:
[migrate]
[test]
[CompatibleNetworks]
[VMOnVirtualIntranet]false[/VMOnVirtualIntranet]
[/CompatibleNetworks]
[/test]
[/migrate]
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006701
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Linked Mode for vCenter Server 4.1:
Linked vCenter Server system: 10 vCenter Servers
ESX(i) hosts in Linked Mode environment: 3,000 ESX(i) hosts
Powered-on VMs in Linked Mode environment: 30,000 VMs
Registered VMs in Linked Mode environment: 50,000 VMs

vCenter Server 2.5 and below does not support Linked Mode
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Windows Failover Clustering with VMware HA - Clustered Virtual Machines that utilize Windows Failover Clustering/Microsoft Cluster Service are now fully supported in conjunction with VMware HA.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_mscs.pdf
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RAID rebuild

A RAID rebuild is the most stressful time period in the life of a drive. This is because the drive is busy servicing IO requests to rebuild the RAID set, while also servicing normal read/write IO requests. A drive is more likely to fail during a RAID rebuild. For this reason, it's a good idea to think about smaller RAID 5 sets, use RAID 6 or RAID-DP, or employ the use of a hot spare drive along with RAID protection.
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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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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Virtual NICs per VM:
ESX(i) 4.1: 10 NICs
ESX(i) 4.0u1: 10 NICs
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 5: 4 NICs
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vSphere 4.1

With vSphere 4.1 being the last version with a Service Console, you will need to learn how to use vMA Appliance 4.1 efficiently. Get to know vi-fastpass & its commands which are used to bind to hosts & execute commands without having to supply a server name & credentials with each command issued. vMA 4.1 eliminates the sudo requirement:

vifp addserver host
vifp removeserver host
vifptarget -s host

http://bit.ly/dp5GTL
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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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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Number of virtual machines per host:
ESX(i) 4.1: 320 VMs per host (all cluster feature restrictions lifted)
ESX(i) 4.0u1: 320 VMs per standalone host
ESX(i) 4.0u1: 256 VMs per host in a DRS cluster
ESX(i) 4.0u1: 160 VMs per host in an HA cluster of 8 or less hosts
ESX(i) 4.0u1: 40 VMs per host in an HA cluster of 9 or more hosts
ESX(i) 3.5u5: 170 VMs per host
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ESX snapshots

vSphere's vDS is comprised of two components: The Control Plane (the brain) and the Data Plane (the brawn). vDS configuration and control sits the vCenter Server. This is the Control Plane. The Data Plane performs the actual frame forwarding and resides on each ESX(i) host.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere-vnetwork-deployment-wp.pdf
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Right Sizing

Virtual Machine / P2V Right Sizing (from Merriam-Webster)

Main Entry: right·size
Pronunciation: \ˈrīt-ˌsīz\
Function: verb
Date: 1989
transitive verb
: to reduce (as a workforce) to an optimal size
intransitive verb
: to undergo a reduction to an optimal size

http://east.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rightsizing
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On this day in 2006

On this day in 2006, VMware announced 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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Why EMC PowerPath/VE?

Why EMC PowerPath/VE?
Better availability through:
-active management of intermittent path behavior
-more rapid path state detection
-automated path discovery behavior w/o manual rescan
Better performance:
-through better path selection
-by monitoring & adjusting to ESX host queue depth
-by predictive optimization based on the array port queues
Why not?
-Incompatibilities between PowerPath & non-EMC arrays.
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

vCenter Server 4.1 can support three times more virtual machines and hosts per system, as well as more concurrent instances of the vSphere Client and a larger number of virtual machines per cluster than vCenter Server 4.0. The scalability limits of Linked Mode, vMotion, and vNetwork Distributed Switch have also increased.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
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Virtual Computing Environment coalition

On this day in 2009, VMware, Cisco & EMC introduced the Virtual Computing Environment coalition, a collaboration of 3 IT industry leaders. The VCE is created to accelerate customers’ ability to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility, & lower IT, energy & real estate costs through pervasive data center virtualization & a transition to private cloud infrastructures.

http://bit.ly/4vm7GX
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vGingerbread Hypervisor

vGingerbread Hypervisor

vSphere 4.0 was released on 5/21/09 and introduced ~150 new features.
vSphere 4.1 was released on 7/13/10 and introduced 150+ new features.
That's 300+ features in 418 days...
or 1 new feature developed every 1.4 days.

Can any competitor catch VMware?
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VMware vSphere Cheat Sheet

Many people stumble on the accurate definition of a VLAN. Although a convenient analogy, a VLAN is really more than just a subnet. Following is a good summary:

"A VLAN is a logical LAN that provides efficient segmentation, security, & broadcast control while allowing traffic to share the same physical LAN segments or same physical switches."
-Scott Lowe, Mastering VMware vSphere 4

http://amzn.to/17CEzy
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Enhanced vMotion Compatibility

Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) processor support

Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) simplifies vMotion compatibility issues across CPU generations. EVC automatically configures server CPUs with Intel FlexMigration or AMD-V Extended Migration technologies to be compatible with older servers. Requires ESX Server 3.5 Update 2 or higher with Virtual Center 2.5 Update 2 or higher.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003212
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Unattended Authentication in vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) - vMA 4.1 offers improved authentication capability, including integration with Active Directory and commands to configure the connection.

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vima/
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Linux

ESX is not Linux.
ESXi isn't Linux either.
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ESX script to 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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Workstation 7

On this day in 2009, VMware released Workstation 7 - the gold standard in desktop virtualization for technical professionals. Features include Best in class Windows 7 support, Superior 3D graphics, up to 4 vCPUs and 32GB of RAM per virtual machine.

Read more at: http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/wkstn7-ga.html
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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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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere is my favorite VMware document. It answers many of the "How many", "How much" type questions about VI capabilities. This is one of the documents that will most often be updated as new releases of VMware VI are released so it's a good one to keep tabs on.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

NFS datastores:
ESX(i) 4.1: 64 NFS datastores
ESX(i) 4.0 Update 1: 64 NFS datastores (requires change in advanced settings)
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 5: 32 NFS datastores (requires change in advanced settings)
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Multiple TCP sessions

One of the big improvements to iSCSI in vSphere is that multiple TCP sessions can be aggregated to a single iSCSI target. Although vSphere allows just 1 TCP connection per iSCSI session, the key enabler is that vSphere allows multiple iSCSI sessions per target.

Previous versions of ESX(i) allowed just one TCP connection per iSCSI session & 1 iSCSI session per target.
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VMFS volumes blocks

Are your VMFS volumes block aligned? For optimal disk I/O utilization & performance they should be. You can find out in the ESX Service Console with the following command:

fdisk -lu /vmfs/devices/disks/[vmhba_path]

A start value of 63 indicates no VMFS alignment (not optimized)
A start value of 128 indicates VMFS alignment (optimized)
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ESX and ESXi comparisons

ESX & ESXi comparisons & ESXi maturity evolution over the years:

VMware ESX and ESXi 4.1 Comparison: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1023990
VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015000
VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006543
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Transparent Page Sharing

Transparent 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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vSMP

vSMP

Scheduling 2+ vCPUs in a VM, ESX2 used a "Strict Co-Scheduling" technique where a skew value for each vCPU was tracked & increased when vCPUs were at different progress levels. With enough skew, the entire VM was descheduled. The co-scheduling algorithm was improved to a "Relaxed Co-Scheduling" scheme in ESX3 (and vSphere) resulting in a significant reduction of co-scheduling fragmentation.
See http://bit.ly/yplYU
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Reduced Overhead Memory - vSphere 4.1 reduces the amount of overhead memory required, especially when running large virtual machines on systems with CPUs that provide hardware MMU support (AMD RVI or Intel EPT).
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Disk timeout

One of the configurations that the VMware Tools installation performs on a Windows VM is the increase of the disk timeout value to 60 seconds. This helps the OS tolerate a storage path failover which may not be instant. The registry value is located at:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk\TimeOutValue
The value is set to 60 Decimal/x03c Hex
MSCS installation will change this value to 20
Windows default is 10
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

DRS Virtual Machine Host Affinity Rules - DRS provides the ability to set constraints that restrict placement of a virtual machine to a subset of hosts in a cluster. This is useful for enforcing host-based ISV licensing models, as well as keeping sets of virtual machines on different racks or blade systems for availability reasons.

http://bit.ly/d16N7f
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Unable to add an ESX host

If you are unable to add an ESX host to a cluster due to HA issues, take a look at VMware KB article 1001596 entitled Troubleshooting VMware High Availability (HA). This article contains several steps to troubleshoot HA issues.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1001596
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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).

Use the following command to view the man page detailing log rotation:
man logrotate
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Setting CPU Affinity

Setting CPU Affinity on a per VM basis is not a great idea. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Administrative burden to configure, track, and document
2) Not compatible with vMotion
3) Not compatible with DRS
4) It makes the scheduler's job more difficult when scheduling CPU time for VMs
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

iSCSI Hardware Offloads - Enables 10Gb iSCSI hardware offloads (Broadcom 57711) and 1Gb iSCSI hardware offloads (Broadcom 5709).

http://bit.ly/bNrQRZ
http://bit.ly/9a2NoE
http://bit.ly/cIzuuK
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VMFS-3 Maximum File Sizes

VMFS-3 Maximum File Sizes
The maximum file size allowable on a VMFS-3 volume is determined by the block size when the VMFS volume was created. Since the block size cannot be changed without destroying the VMFS volume and all the data on it, plan accordingly.
Block Size Max File Size
1MB------------256GB
2MB------------512GB
4MB------------1TB
8MB------------2TB - 512B
http://bit.ly/d8ku5Y
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Guest VM folders

Guest VM folders do not exist on a standalone ESX(i) host without vCenter Server. As an alternative, consider using resource pools to organize virtual machines. If you do so, understand the resource management impacts which resource pools deliver and configure the resource pool settings accordingly (reservations, limits, and shares).
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vCenter Server

SQL Server 2000 is a supported database back end for vCenter Server versions through 2.5 Update 6. Oracle 9iR2 through 11g is also supported.

vCenter Server 4.x requires SQL Server 2005 SP1-3 or SQL Server 2008 no SP. Oracle 10gR2 & 11g is also supported. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition has limited support (5 hosts, 50 VMs).

Check the following document for specific SPs & frequent support updates: http://bit.ly/19Zbgm
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CPU utilization

Server administrators were taught to believe 90% CPU utilization is over utilized. The truth of the matter is that any server not running at 100% CPU utilization is wasting time executing idle threads. This is one of the reasons we virtualize. To contrast that statement a bit, some CPU headroom should exist for HA failover and N+1 configurations. Find a good balance.
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Hyper-Threading

Hyper-Threading (HT) has been supported in ESX since version 2.x. The ESX scheduler is aware of HT & treats logical & physical cores differently. vCPUs requesting resources are assigned first to physical cores until all physical cores are loaded. Future vCPU requests are assigned to logical (HT) cores. By this method, HT has no impact on performance until more vCPUs are concurrently executing than exist physical cores.
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vSphere ESX(i) hosts

vSphere ESX(i) hosts can have up to:

32 e1000 pNICs
32 Broadcom TG3 Gb ports
16 Broadcom BNX2 Gb ports
4 10GbE pNICs
32 vSwitch uplinks (pNICs)

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
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Shared storage arrays

Shared storage arrays and High Availability: As a general rule of thumb, NAS (NFS) device failover generally takes longer than block (FC, iSCSI) device failover. Advantage block storage if your applications or operating system thresholds can tolerate only short storage interruptions.
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Direct and virtualization mode

ESX has 2 execution modes: Direct Execution Mode & Virtualization Mode. Direct Execution Mode is much more efficient because it has direct access to the host hardware, thus it is the most preferred method of instruction execution. Virtualization Mode is used when Direct Execution Mode is not possible, primarily when an instruction needs access to CPU Ring 0. The VMkernel handles each of these requests, thus it's slower.
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Fibre Channel LUN size:
ESX(i) 4.x: 2TB minus 512B
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 2TB
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VMbook: Practical Guide

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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NFS datastores

One of the advantages to using NFS datastores in ESX(i) is that newly created VMs on the NFS storage default to creating .vmdk files in a thin format. This a type of thin provisioning and storage virtualization.
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Snapshot on ESX(i)

When creating a snapshot on ESX(i), consider not snapshotting the virtual machine's memory. By default the virtual machine memory will be included in the snapshot. Snapshotting a VM without the memory state will take a lot less time and disk storage. Understand, however, that you cannot revert to a live running VM without the saved memory state. The snapshot will be crash consistent.
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Storage vMotion failure

If you have encountered a Storage vMotion failure, take a look at the following 2 resources for recovery procedures:

http://www.van-lieshout.com/2009/03/how-to-recover-from-failed-svmotion/
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1009113
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Cisco Nexus 1000V

The Cisco Nexus 1000V is made up of two pieces:

1. The Virtual Ethernet Module (VEM) - A drop in replacement of the standard vSwitch or vDS. VM vNIC traffic traverses this.
2. The Virtual Supervisor Module (VSM) - A VM running Cisco's NX-OS which controls the VEMs. Configurations are performed here and pushed to the VEMs.
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Disconnected template?

Got a disconnected template? Several solutions exist to resolve the problem:
-Disconnect and reconnect the ESX host which owns the template
-Restart the mgmt-vmware service in the ESX Service Console
-Restart the vCenter service
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

VMware HA Scalability Improvements - VMware HA has the same limits for virtual machines per host, hosts per cluster, and virtual machines per cluster as vSphere. This lifts restrictions from the past which were dependent on variables such as number of hosts in a cluster, DRS, and HA enablement.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
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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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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

ESX(i) hosts manageable by a vCenter Server:
vCenter Server 4.1: 1,000 ESX(i) hosts
vCenter Server 4.0 32-bit: 200 ESX(i) hosts
vCenter Server 4.0 64-bit: 300 ESX(i) hosts
vCenter Server 2.5 Update 6: 200 ESX(i) hosts
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Cached Virtual Infrastructure

Cached Virtual Infrastructure Client host connection entries are stored in the Windows registry and are tied to each individual user profile (HKU). You’ll find the comma delimited list of entries in the following registry key:

HKU\[User SID]\Software\VMware\VMware Infrastructure Client\Preferences\
The value name is RecentConnections and the type is REG_SZ
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DRS 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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VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Enhancements to Host Profiles - You can now use Host Profiles to roll out administrator password changes in vSphere 4.1. Enhancements also include improved Cisco Nexus 1000V support and PCI device ordering configuration.

http://bit.ly/bNrQRZ
http://bit.ly/9a2NoE
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

License Reporting Manager - Provides a centralized interface for all license keys for vSphere 4.1 products in a virtual IT infrastructure & their respective usage. You can view & generate reports on license keys & usage for different time periods with the LRM. A historical record of the utilization per license key is maintained in the vCenter Server database.

http://bit.ly/9q9HW8
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

VMware HA Healthcheck and Operational Status - The VMware HA dashboard in the vSphere Client provides a new detailed window called Cluster Operational Status. This window displays more information about the current VMware HA operational status, including the specific status and errors for each host in the VMware HA cluster.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_availability.pdf
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vSwitch Security Attributes

vSwitch Security Attributes & Defaults

Forged Transmits - Allows the guest VM OS to change its MAC address; impacts outbound frames - default: Allow
MAC Address Changes - Allows the guest VM OS to change its MAC address; impacts inbound frames - default: Allow
Promiscuous Mode - Allows the guest VM to listen to (capture) packets destined for other vSwitch ports - default: Reject
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Kill a hung or stuck VM

5 methods to kill a hung or stuck VM:
1. vmware-cmd -l
vmware-cmd [.vmx config filename] stop trysoft
2. vm-support -x or cat /proc/vmware/vm/*/names
vm-support -X [vmid]
3. vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/poweroff [vm id]
4. ps -auxwww | grep [vm name]
kill [process id]
5. ps -auxwww | grep [vm name]
kill -9 [process id]
ESX: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004340
ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1014165
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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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ESX Service Console "last" command

In the ESX Service Console, the "last" command parses recent entries in the /var/log/wtmp binary log which is a log of all logins and logouts to the system.
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Beacon Probing

When using Beacon Probing to detect vSwitch uplink path failures, 3+ uplinks are needed to accurately detect a bad path. In the event that ESX(i) cannot detect with guaranteed certainty which path has gone bad, such as in the case of using only 2 pNICs with Beacon Probing, the hypervisor will "shotgun" traffic down all pNIC uplinks, hoping the frames will reach their intended destination on at least 1 of the paths.
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Microsoft Cluster Server

Microsoft Cluster Server can be virtualized on VMware Virtual Infrastructure. Although MSCS can be deployed several ways on VMware, a precise set of configurations and conditions exist which must be met in order to be supported by VMware. You can view them at the links below:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_mscs.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40_u1/vsp_40_u1_mscs.pdf
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VMware Infrastructure Operations

VMware Infrastructure Operations (VIOPS) is an incredibly technical community resource containing VMware Virtual Infrastructure proven practices and advanced solutions. Topics include strategy, applications, security, management, and availability.

http://communities.vmware.com/community/viops
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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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Troubleshooting Options

The new "Troubleshooting Options" menu item in the ESXi 4.1 Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) features 3 new items not seen before:

Enable Local Tech Support - Toggles access to the Tech Support Mode (TSM) console with ALT + F1
Enable Remote Tech Support (SSH) - Toggles remote SSH access (PuTTY)
Modify Tech Support timeout - Time (minutes) before TSM logins are automatically disabled (default=0 disabled, max=1440)
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Esxcfg-module

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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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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Best Practices

VMware vCenter Server Performance and Best Practices for vSphere 4.1

vCenter is a core dependency in the virtual data center for many of vSphere's key features. This whitepaper covers 4 areas concerning vCenter performance:

1. Performance improvements in vSphere 4.1
2. vCenter sizing guidelines and software requirements
3. Monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting
4. Performance improvement case studies

http://bit.ly/96ggV8
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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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5 methods to kill a hung VM

5 methods to kill a hung or stuck VM:
1. vmware-cmd -l
vmware-cmd [.vmx config filename] stop trysoft
2. vm-support -x or cat /proc/vmware/vm/*/names
vm-support -X [vmid]
3. vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
vmware-vim-cmd vmsvc/poweroff [vm id]
4. ps -auxwww | grep [vm name]
kill [process id]
5. ps -auxwww | grep [vm name]
kill -9 [process id]
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004340
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Second root user account

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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Extensive path errors

If you receive extensive path errors when trying to run the vmware-cmd command at the ESX Service Console, try running the command vmware-config.pl which rebuilds/reinstalls the VMware VmPerl Scripting API.

You may have guessed by now that vmware-cmd is actually a Perl script which lives in /usr/bin/.
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Recover the root password

How to recover the root password on an ESX 3.x host in single user mode

Reboot the host.
At the ESX boot menu, highlight the Service Console Only mode and press the A key.
Type a space followed by the world 'single' and hit enter.
At the bash prompt, type the command 'passwd' to reset the root password.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898
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vCenter Lab Manager 4

On this date in 2009, VMware releases the next generation vCenter Lab Manager 4, and two new brand products vCenter AppSpeed and vCenter Chargeback. The releases hit the streets with list prices of $1,495/cpu, $1,250/cpu, and $750/cpu respectively.
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CPU Affinity

Setting CPU Affinity on a per VM basis is not a great idea. Here are three reasons why:

1) Administrative burden to configure, track, and document
2) Not compatible with VMotion
3) Not compatible with DRS
4) It makes the scheduler's job more difficult when scheduling CPU time for VMs
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vCenter Versions

vCenter Server 2.0 and later may be upgraded to vCenter Server 4.0. Earlier versions of vCenter Server must first be upgraded to 2.0 prior to making the jump to 4.0.
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Expiration

When a Lab Manager deployment lease expires, Lab Manager automatically undeploys the Configuration or VM Template.

When a storage lease expires, Lab Manager either deletes the expired VM Template or Configuration, or marks the VM Template or Configuration for deletion. This decision depends on whether or not there are child dependencies involved which should not be deleted.
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Decrease VM evacuation times

Decrease VM evacuation times by increasing the amount of concurrent VMotion migrations per host (unsupported):
-On your vCenter server, edit c:\docs & settings\all users\application data\vmware\vmware virtualcenter\vpdx.cfg
-Insert the following lines between the [vpdx] XML tags:
[ResourceManager]
[maxCostPerHost]24[/maxCostPerHost]
[/ResourceManager]
Cold Migration has a cost of 1. Hot Migration has a cost of 4.
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vSphere VM boot order

The default vSphere VM boot order is:
1. Removable Devices
2. Hard Disk (virtual)
3. CD-ROM
4. Network
A VM with no OS will attempt to boot from Removable Devices, CD-ROM, or Network, in that order. During POST, you may change the boot order temporarily with [ESC] or [F12] and permanently with [F2]
You can also modify the VM settings (Options tab|Boot Options) to force the VM to boot into the BIOS or delay the boot.
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Decoding PSOD Messages

Decoding PSOD (Purple Screen Of Death) Messages

If you work with ESX long enough, you may encounter a PSOD. It's the equivalent to the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) in Windows. Use the following VMware KB article, Decoding Purple Screens, to help make sense of the problem:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004250
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Lab Manager Configuration

When a user creates a Configuration in Lab Manager, that user becomes its owner. The owner, or a user with the Administrator View and Control right, can give other users access to the configuration.

Configuration ownership can be assigned to another user in the same organization as the current owner by navigating to the Configuration property sheet and clicking the Change Owner button.
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vSMP

vSMP

For scheduling a VM with multiple vCPUs, ESX2 used the "Strict Co-Scheduling" technique where a skew value for each vCPU was tracked & increased when vCPUs were at different progress levels. With enough skew, the entire VM was descheduled.

The co-scheduling algorithm was improved to a "Relaxed Co-Scheduling" scheme in ESX3 resulting in a significant reduction of co-scheduling fragmentation.
See http://bit.ly/yplYU
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Memory and processors

Identify the relationship between memory and processors in an ESX host. A good rule of thumb is 4-6 vCPUs per host processor. A good rule of thumb for 32-bit VMs is 4GB RAM per processor, however, I find this isn't nearly enough when virtualizing 64-bit operating systems. It also depends on your desired consolidation ratios.
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Microsoft Cluster Services

Make vCenter 2.5 highly available by using Microsoft Cluster Services (MSCS) by following VMware's documentation here: http://viops.vmware.com/home/docs/DOC-1111.pdf

There is a vCenter 2.0 version of the document as well here:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/VC_MSCS.pdf

To cluster vCenter 4.0, there are several additional steps to follow.
See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010550
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Update Manager plugin failures

Update Manager plugin failures
Users of vCenter 2.5.x and VUM may find this familiar. Your VUM plugin becomes disabled and as a result your ability to manage VUM from the Virtual Infrastructure Client ceases to exist. Make sure your VUM datastore is available as well as not scanning the VUM download repository with anti-virus software. vCenter 2.5.0 Update 4 seems to have cured the problem altogether. KB1007099
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Access a CD/DVD

Access a CD/DVD from the ESX COS
Find your CD/DVD ROM device by issuing the command: ll /dev |grep cdrom
Mount the CD/DVD ROM device by issuing the command (as an example): mount /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom
-=or=- mount /dev/hda /mnt/cdrom
You should now see your CD/DVD media mounted at /mnt/cdrom. View its contents by issuing the command ll /mnt/cdrom
Unmount the device with the command umount /mnt/cdrom
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Update Manager patches

To change the download location for Update Manager patches:
Open C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Update Manager\vci-integrity.xml.
Search for [patchStore] XML tags. You'll see something similar to:
[patchStore]C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Data\[/patchStore]
Replace the path with the preferred path.
Save, close the file, and reboot.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004152
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Why Choose VMware?

Why Choose VMware?
Make an informed decision on what virtualization solution is best for you and/or your business.
The "Why Choose VMware" web page:
http://www.vmware.com/technology/whyvmware/

6 reasons to choose VMware fact sheet - Good discussion points for use in your manager's office, on the bus or train, waiting at the airport, at a VMUG, or on a first date: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmware_advantage.pdf
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Disk timeout

One of the items that the VMware Tools installation performs on a Windows VM is the increase of the disk timeout value to 60 seconds. This helps the OS tolerate a storage path failover which is not instant. The registry value is located at:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk\TimeOutValue
The value is set to 60 Decimal/x03c Hex
MSCS installation will change this value to 20
Windows default is 10
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FT Problem Decoder

FT Problem Decoder Chart

Receiving errors while trying to configure FT on a VM and stumped as to the reason why? Examine the vCenter server log in your vSphere Client and find the entry when the FT error occurred. Note the "reason = " line and cross reference it in the following URL:

http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/vim.fault.VmFaultToleranceConfigIssue.ReasonForIssue.html
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Configuration Maximums

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Number of vCPUs per host:
ESX(i) 4.0: 512 vCPUs per host
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 192 vCPUs per host
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IOMETER

The mostly widely used and accepted standard for disk I/O performance, benchmarking, and comparisons is a free tool named IOMETER (ESXTOP would also be used for ESX environments).

IOMETER is available at: http://www.iometer.org/

How does your storage stack up against others in the community? Check out this thread and compare:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/584154
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Hyper-Threading

Hyper-Threading (HT) has been supported in ESX since version 2.x. The ESX scheduler is aware of HT & treats logical & physical cores differently. vCPUs requesting resources are assigned first to physical cores until all physical cores are loaded. Future vCPU requests are assigned to logical (HT) cores. By this method, HT has no impact on performance until more vCPUs are concurrently executing than exist physical cores.
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On this date in 2009

On this date in 2009, VMware releases the next generation vCenter Lab Manager 4, and two new brand products vCenter AppSpeed and vCenter Chargeback. The releases hit the streets with list prices of $1,495/cpu, $1,250/cpu, and $750/cpu respectively.

In addition, the Stage Manager product is retired as its own SKU and is rolled entirely into the Lab Manager 4 product. This is why the Lab Manager list price went up.
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
VMDirectPath for Virtual Machines - Enhances CPU efficiency in handling workloads that require constant access to I/O devices by allowing VMs to directly access physical hardware. 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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mountvm.exe

mountvm.exe is a VCB framework tool you can use to perform file level restores of VMs that were backed up using VCB. The tool is used to mount .vmdk virtual disk files on the VCB proxy host where the individual files can then be restored via file copy one at a time or many at a time.

mountvm.exe can be found on the VCB proxy host by default in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework
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On this day in 2006

On this day in 2006, VMware releases Server 1.0 which essentially replaced GSX Server. Key features included background snapshot technology and experimental support for 2-way vSMP. The fact that this product was released for FREE was rejoiced by many but upset a handful of customers who had just prior purchased GSX Server for thousands of dollars.
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On this day in 2008

On this day in 2008, VMware co-founder, President and CEO Diane Greene was unexpectedly fired by the VMware Board of Directors and replaced by Paul Maritz, a 14-year Microsoft veteran who was heading EMC's cloud computing business unit.
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Intra-vSwitch traffic

Network traffic between 2 VMs on the same vSwitch on the same ESX(i) host flows over the host hardware system bus and will not traverse the physical network. The processing of intra-vSwitch traffic is handled by CPU0 in the host. This is why it is possible for 2 VMs on the same vSwitch to communicate at greater than Gb speeds.

All of the above assumes there is no VLAN tagging involved.
See http://bit.ly/yZaG3
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New Update Manager

Brand New Update Manager not downloading host updates?

Be sure you've added at least one ESX/ESXi host to the inventory. Per VMware KB 1008308, ESX/ESXi hosts must be present in vCenter Server before Update Manager will download the update metadata and the updates themselves.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008308
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Consolidation

In Lab Manager, consolidating a virtual machine can take an extended period of time, depending on the disk size and storage performance. Consolidation may improve VM disk performance, however, it reduces the free space on datastores because the virtual machine no longer benefits from delta disks. VMs in both Workspace and Library configurations can be consolidated. Only undeployed VMs can be consolidated.
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Upgrading

If you are upgrading from vCenter 2.5 to vCenter Server 4.0 and you had previously implemented SSL certificates, be sure to preserve the certificates files because they will be needed during the vCenter Server 4.0 upgrade. The files are located at:

C:\documents and settings\all users\Application Data\vmware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\

The three SSL files are:
rui.crt
rui.key
rui.pfx
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Technical Resource documents

VMware Technical Resource documents listing

The following URL provides a comprehensive list of VMware technical documents with links compiled by Rodney Haywood. It's like a table of contents for VMware white papers.
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2590

For a searchable catalog of white papers from VMware and its partners, head to:
http://vmware.com/resources/techresources/cat/91
See also http://bit.ly/RJO9o
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
High Availability Clustering with Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008 — Support for MSCS with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003, and Failover Clustering for Windows 2008. For information concerning supported storage arrays, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrixes http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_mscs.pdf http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf
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New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
8-way Virtual SMP — ESX(i) 4.0 supports virtual machines with up to eight virtual CPUs allowing you to run larger CPU-intensive workloads on the VMware ESX platform. See the Guest Operating System Installation Guide for the guest operating systems that fully support SMP http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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Shared storage issues

If you are experiencing shared storage issues, whether it be SAN, iSCSI, or NFS, take a look at VMware KB article 1003659 entitled Identifying shared storage issues with ESX 3.x. This article contains several links to troubleshoot shared storage issues, as well as a handy flowchart.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003659
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Name services

/etc/nsswitch.conf

The name service switch file determines which name services a system uses to search for information, and in which order the name services are searched. Out of the box, ESX builds an nsswitch.conf file which is auto generated by esxcfg-auth.
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SQL Server Workload Consolidation

Whitepaper: SQL Server Workload Consolidation

While most database servers are lightly loaded, larger database workloads can be resource-intensive, exhibiting high I/O rates or consuming large amounts of memory. This whitepaper provides a good methodology for testing SQL server workloads to determine VM candidacy and placement:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/SQL_Server_consolidation.pdf
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VMware Tools for Linux

VMware Tools for Linux comes in the form of two available packages: The RPM Installer (has an .RPM file extension) and the TAR Installer (has a .tar.gz extension). Some will argue that the RPM installer is easier to use, however, not all Linux distros can take advantage of the RPM installer.

http://pubs.vmware.com/server1/vm/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=vm&file=tools_server.4.12.html
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Lab Manager Media library

By default, when files are added to the Lab Manager Media library, the media is shared with all Lab Manager users in all organizations. However, user access can be restricted to media files by Organizations (controlled by Lab Manager Administrators or Organization Administrators) or through Sharing rights which the media owner controls.
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VCB framework logs

The location of the VCB framework logs can be a bit of a mystery if you've searched in the usual locations such as Program Files or Documents and Settings. They are actually located in %windir%\temp
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LDAP connections

VMware recommends making Lab Manager LDAP connections at the root of Active Directory (ie. DC=domain,DC=com). The reason for this is that if specifying an explicit OU in the binding string may later end up blocking access to users or groups outside of that OU and a binding string change will be required which could be disruptive to the existing Lab Manager environment.
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Lab Manager Terminology

Lab Manager Terminology

A "Deployed" (powered on) "Configuration" (which from the surface looks somewhat like a vApp group of VMs) consists of one or more virtual machines (up to 20 in Lab Manager 3) that are based on a virtual machine "Template". Configurations are created only in the "Workspace" and a "Storage Lease" is specified. Configurations to be shared with other team members are saved to the "Library".
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vSwitch Security

vSwitch Security Attributes & Defaults

Forged Transmits - Allows the guest VM OS to change its MAC address; impacts outbound frames - default: Allow
Promiscuous Mode - Allows the guest VM to listen to (capture) packets destined for other vSwitch ports - default: Reject
MAC Address Changes - Allows the guest VM OS to change its MAC address; impacts inbound frames - default: Allow
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Virtualized Terminal/Citrix

Virtualized Terminal/Citrix servers may experience unwanted proliferation of user profile folders which are not removed after users log off. When VMware Tools is installed, it appends a value in the Windows registry to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order\ProviderOrder
The value of hgfs is appended. This causes an irremovable file in each user profile. Remove the hgfs value to resolve the issue.
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Default SSL certificate

You can replace the default SSL certificate which ships with vCenter with a certificate signed by a Microsoft Certificate Authority, however it is a fairly lengthy process. The steps can found in the following thread (follow the 11 steps from user 'astrolab'):

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/88053
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N+1 cluster

N+1 cluster architecture allows workload demands to be met while 1 host is dysfunctional. Capacity plan or scale your high availability virtual infrastructure for minimally N+1 based on peak load numbers, not average load numbers. At no time do you want to dip below N+1 availability. That is a very difficult position to be in.
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ESXTOP workspace

Saving your ESXTOP workspace
If there is a particular group of metrics you commonly add/remove in ESXTOP, you'll notice you have to configure them each time you run ESXTOP. You can save your workspace permanently by running ESXTOP, choosing your preferred settings, and then hit the 'W' key to save the settings to a configuration file located at ~/.esxtop3rc. Future ESXTOP sessions will be run with your preferred settings.
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Multivendor Post

A “Multivendor Post” to help iSCSI customers using VMware

Shared storage is the key to unlocking many of the VMware Virtual Infrastructure components. EMC, VMware, NetApp, Dell/EqualLogic, and HP/Lefthand all conspired to create one of the most informative VMware on iSCSI documents available.

http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2009/01/a-multivendor-post-to-help-our-mutual-iscsi-customers-using-vmware.html
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Virtual Infrastructure 3

On this day in 2006, VMware releases Virtual Infrastructure 3 which included ESX 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0. Key features included NAS and iSCSI shared storage support, clusters, DRS, HA, Resource Pools, VCB, and a FlexLM centralized license server.
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Enable SSH access to ESX3i

How to enable SSH access to ESX3i (unsupported):
1) On the ESXi console press ALT+F1
2) Type the word unsupported
3) Type the root password
4) Use the vi editor: vi /etc/inetd.conf
5) Find the line with #ssh and remove the # symbol
6) Save the file with the keystrokes :wq!
7a) ESX3.5 or U1: Restart the management service with /sbin/services.sh restart
7b) ESX3.5U2 & newer: Restart the host or kill the inetd process
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Virtual CPUs per VM:
ESX(i) 4.0: 8 vCPUs
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 4 vCPUs
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100% CPU

Server administrators were programmed to believe 90% CPU utilization was way over utilized. The truth of the matter is that any server not running at 100% CPU utilization is wasting time executing idle threads. This is one of the reasons we virtualize. To contrast that statement a bit, some CPU headroom should exist for HA failover and N+1 configurations. Find a good balance.
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Service Console on ESX

The Service Console on ESX is eventually going away. The writing is on the wall. I estimate the next major version of ESX won't offer a Service Console. While many of the tips in this calendar are geared towards administration via the Service Console, it would be beneficial for you start exploring alternative management and automation techniques (such as host profiles, vMA, and PowerShell) sooner rather than later.
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HA restart policy

It's important to note that the HA restart policy for VMs is designed to work only when the VMs are powered off. Technically this is due to file locking, but logically speaking, if the isolation policy for an HA host is configured to leave the VMs running, then for obvious reasons we don't want HA to come along and recycle the VMs.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
VMware Paravirtualized SCSI (PVSCSI) — Paravirtualized SCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that offer greater throughput and lower CPU utilization for virtual machines. These adapters are best suited for environments in which guest applications are very I/O intensive. See vSphere Basic System Administration http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf
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Running out of datastore disk space

If you're running out of datastore disk space, consider configuring your VMs with 100% virtual memory reservation as a short term solution. Doing so will zero the VMkernel swap file on the datastore which is equal to the amount of RAM assigned to the VM.

The good news is that this change can be made while the VM is running
The bad news is that the VMkernel swap file isn't deflated until the VM is powered off
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Enable daemons/services

Permanently enable daemons/services in the ESX Service Console with the following command (the numbers specify runlevels at which to start the daemons/services):

chkconfig --level 345 [daemon/service] on

ie.
chkconfig --level 345 snmpd on
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NFS datastores

One of the advantages to using NFS datastores in ESX(i) is that newly created VMs on the NFS storage default to creating .vmdk files in a thin format. This a type of thin provisioning and storage virtualization.
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Check your ESX host

Check your ESX host NTP offset, as well as gaining other valuable NTP daemon diagnostic information, at the Service Console with the following command:

ntpq -p

If you receive the error "ntpq: read: Connection refused", it means the NTP daemon isn't running or configured properly.
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning — Enables virtual machines to utilize storage space on an as-needed basis, further increasing utilization of storage for virtual 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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vCenter Server builds

Recent vCenter Server builds (English) and release dates
vCenter 4.0, 5/21/09, Build 162902
vCenter 2.5 Update 5, 7/10/09, Build 174768
vCenter 2.5 Update 4, 2/23/09, Build 147633
vCenter 2.5 Update 3, 10/3/08, Build 119598
vCenter 2.5 Update 2, 7/25/08, Build 104263
vCenter 2.5 Update 1, 4/10/08, Build 84767
vCenter 2.5, 12/10/07, Build 64201
See also http://bit.ly/aK8zQ
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Virtual machine

By default, when you add a virtual machine to a configuration in Lab Manager, the virtual machine is a linked clone that refers to the base disk of the virtual machine template and uses delta disks to describe the difference between the virtual machine template and the virtual machine. This amounts to a lot of disk savings but under certain conditions, linked clone performance can degrade over time.
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Disconnected template?

Got a disconnected template? Several solutions exist to resolve the problem:
-Disconnect and reconnect the ESX host which owns the template
-Restart the mgmt-vmware service in the ESX service console
-Restart the vCenter service
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"Verbose"

One might think the most verbose log file setting for vCenter is "verbose". It's not. It's actually "trivia (extended verbose)" and can be changed in the vCenter Administration pulldown menu, Logging Options section.

This can also be changed by editing the vpxd.cfg file, however, a vCenter service restart would be required using this method.
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SQL Server

SQL Server 2000 is a supported database back end for vCenter Server versions through 2.5 Update 4.

vCenter Server 4.0 requires SQL Server 2005. SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition 64-bit is also supported for vCenter Server 4.0 but not for Update Manager 4.0.
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View Manager 3.1

On this day in 2009, VMware releases View Manager 3.1. Key features include significantly reduced login times and server utilization, automated LDAP Data and View Composer database backup, client information, improved logging, USB improvements, Multimedia Redirection (MMR) for Windows Vista, Adobe Flash Bandwidth Reduction, and multi-protocol support including HP's Remote Graphics Software (RGS).
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Resize a .vmdk virtual disk file

Resize a .vmdk virtual disk file at the ESX Service Console with the following command:

vmkfstools -X 50G mydisk.vmdk

The numerical value represent the new size of the disk, not the relative change in size. Size can be specified in G,M, or K (guess what these mean?). In ESX 2.x, disks could be increased and decreased in size, however, as of ESX3 and beyond, disks can only be increased in size.
See http://bit.ly/X5Hoa
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ESXTOP in replay mode

Running ESXTOP in replay mode:

1. Capture statistics using vm-support in snapshot mode using the command:
vm-support -S -d duration -i interval
2. Unzip & untar the resulting tar file so that esxtop can use it in replay mode
3. To run esxtop in replay mode, enter the command:
esxtop -R [vm-support_directory_path]
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vCenter Server update

Force a vCenter Server update to reflect command line .vmx changes using 2 vimsh commands at the COS:
1. Run the command vimsh -ne “vmsvc/getallvms” |grep [vmname] to obtain the VmID of the VM.
2. Run the command vimsh -ne “vmsvc/reload [VmID]” using the VmID obtained in the previous step.
3. After a few seconds, the configuration change will be received by the vCenter Server and will be reflected in the VIC.
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Script to shut down

From the ESX Service Console, you can run a short script to shut down all running VMs that are registered on the host. The following script will enumerate the running VMs, try to first shut them down gracefully, and power them off if a graceful shutdown is unsuccessful:

vmware-cmd -l | xargs -i'{}' vmware-cmd '{}' stop trysoft hard
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VMware Knowledge Base

For an index of the entire VMware Knowledge Base, visit the following URL:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/google/searchpage.jsp
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VMware vSphere

On this day in 2009, VMware vSphere, the next generation datacenter virtualization product and successor to Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3), was released boasting approximately 150 new features, new license tiers, and an amazing 350,000 I/O operations per second (IOPS). vSphere is a 64-bit only ESX host OS.
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Virtualization Wiki

Virtualization Wiki
Rynardt Spies, proprietor of the VirtualVCP blog (http://www.virtualvcp.com/), has launched VI-Pedia, the Virtualization Open Wiki. The purpose for this wiki is to gather information on all virtualization technologies in one place. This is a community driven project and anyone can therefore update the wiki.

http://www.vi-pedia.com/
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ESX Service Console "last" command

In the ESX Service Console, the "last" command parses recent entries in the /var/log/wtmp binary log which is a log of all logins and logouts to the system.
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Jumbo Frames

Jumbo Frames

Any packet larger that 1500 MTU is a Jumbo Frame. ESX 3.5 and beyond supports frames up to 9,000 Bytes. No Jumbo Frames support for NAS or iSCSI traffic.

Configure a vSwitch for Jumbo Frames with the following command:
esxcfg-vswitch -m [MTU] [vSwitch_name]

Configure a VMkernel interface for Jumbo Frames with the following command:
esxcfg-vmknic -a -i [ip_address] -n [netmask] -m [MTU] [portgroup_name]
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VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
DPM Full Support with IPMI and iLO Remote Power On - DPM used with IPMI, iLO or Wake on LAN is now fully supported in DRS clusters that have been tested and configured in accordance with VMware guidelines. For more information on IPMI, iLO, and these guidelines, see the vSphere Resource Management Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf
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“Valid NIC Requirement”

Lab Manager “Valid NIC Requirement” prerequisite check fails

If you’re installing Lab Manager 3.x and the Valid NIC Requirement prerequisite check fails, verify your Lab Manager server has a static IP address configuration and not a configuration that is assigned by DHCP.

For other Lab Manager requirements, be sure to check out the Installation and Upgrade Guide at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/lm30_installation_guide.pdf
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Uptime command

At the ESX Service Console, quickly find out the uptime of the host with the uptime command.

i.e.
[root@esx3l /etc]# uptime
19:45:34 up 7 days, 20:01, 1 user, load average: 0.06, 0.05, 0.01
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Forgotten steps

I'll wager one of the most often forgotten steps in a vCenter installation is the installation of the Windows sysprep files. It's easy to forget because vCenter gives the false indication of functioning without them, until you try to perform a Windows guest customization.

Install the sysprep files to this location:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep
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Snapshots

Snapshots do not grow to infinity. Snapshots are a delta bitmap of the parent .vmdk file. Snapshots grow in 16MB increments up to a maximum size equal to the size of the parent disk. An update to an existing sector in the snapshot will be overwritten; it's not a continuous append or transaction log which grows forever.
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Microsoft SQL Server

Lab Manager versions 3 & 4 install an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition for the back end Lab Manager database. The database is installed on the Lab Manager Server. As of this writing, there appears to be no support for a client/server relationship to separate the database from the Lab Manager Server. Consider this carefully in your Lab Manager recovery strategy as the database is a very key component.
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Fibre channel SAN

For those who do not want to use fibre channel SAN, there are several alternatives for ESX shared storage to take advantage of advanced ESX features. For free solutions, many Linux distributions natively come with NFS and iSCSI Enterprise Target (IET) functionality including Fedora, Openfiler, and Freenas. Pay solutions include Starwind, NexentaStor (ZFS based), Lefthand VSA, and Windows Services for Unix.
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3rd party applications

Warning: Some 3rd party applications (such as chargeback applications) require the increasing of the vCenter statistics level. Increasing the vCenter statistics level wipes previous historical performance data from vCenter database without a warning from vCenter.
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What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0
vSphere Command-Line Interface — The vSphere CLI has a significant number of new commands, including vicfg-dns, vicfg-ntp, vicfg-user, vmware-cmd, and vicfg-iscsi. See the vSphere CLI product page for more information on the vSphere CLI http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer/vsphere_cli
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On this day in 2007

On this day in 2007, VMware releases Player 2.0. Features include Windows Vista support, USB 2.0, Shared folders, Appliance view, & experimental support for vSMP.
Also released: ACE (Assured Computing Environment) 2.0. Features include ACE Management Server, Instance View, Help Desk, Pocket ACE, Virtual Printer, Network Access, USB Device policy, integration with Linux hosts, and integration with VMware Workstation.
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