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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