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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Virtualization Quote of the Day

The maximum number of virtual machines supported in a vSphere High Availability cluster is 1,280 VMs.

However, to achieve this maximum requires a specific configuration of 32 ESX(i) HA hosts with exactly 40 virtual machines per host.
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Service Console

One trick I picked up early on when navigating the Service Console was to use ll -h for directory listings. The key is the -h which tells the Linux command interpreter to provide a long list directory listing while displaying file sizes in human readable format with suffixes (ie. 1.2KB, 5.0MB, 3.7GB, etc.). Leaving off the -h yields a list of file sizes in Bytes with no comma separators. Drives me nuts!
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Hottest skills

VMware is among the 9 hottest skills for 2009 according to Computerworld

"Few companies are recruiting specifically for data center skills. Instead, they’re retraining existing staff in VMware and other virtualization technologies."

Read more here:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Management&articleId=330106&taxonomyId=14&pageNumber=1
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Logical processors per host:
ESX(i) 4.0: 64 logical processors per host
ESX(i) 3.5 Update 4: 32 logical processors per host
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Converter ports

Required VMware vCenter Converter ports
22 TCP, 139 TCP, 443 TCP, 445 TCP,
902 TCP, 903 TCP, 9089 TCP,
137 UDP, 138 UDP

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010056
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Cheat sheet

Virtu-Al (Alan Renouf) posted a great two-page cheat sheet for the VMware VI Toolkit version 1.5. http://www.virtu-al.net/2009/02/23/vi-toolkit-quick-reference-guide/

This gem of a document is similar to VI3 card created by Forbes Guthrie over at vReference.com. http://vreference.com/vi3-card/

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Virtualization Quote of the Day

/usr/sbin/esxcfg-swiscsi is used to manage VMkernel software iSCSI (swISCSI)
/usr/sbin/vmkiscsi-tool is used to manage a hardware iSCSI initiator device
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