vCenter 4.1

vCenter 4.1 uses a 64-bit DSN.
vCenter 4.0/VUM requires a 32-bit DSN. Even when installing on a 64-bit Windows operating system, a 32-bit DSN is still required. The ODBC Data Sources shortcut on a 64-bit Windows OS creates 64-bit DSNs only. To create a 32-bit DSN on a 64-bit OS, launch:

c:\windows\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

http://bit.ly/8NBxOw

Be aware that the SQL Native Client driver is required for SQL2005 & SQL2008
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Configuration Maximums Comparison

Configuration Maximums Comparison

Concurrent vSphere client connections:
vCenter Server 4.1: 100 client connections
vCenter Server 4.0 32-bit: 15 client connections
vCenter Server 4.0 64-bit: 30 client connections
vCenter Server 2.5: unpublished

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ESX 4.0 and ESXi 4.0

Networking Differences Between ESX 4.0 & ESXi 4.0

None. As of vSphere, VMware has closed the gap completely between ESX & ESXi network feature differences.

Just to clear up any confusion which may remain on this subject, both platforms fully support Jumbo Frames - that includes VMkernel portgroups.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015000
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

New optimizations have been implemented for AMD-V & Intel VT-x architectures, while memory utilization efficiency has been improved still further with Memory Compression. Storage enhancements lead to significant performance improvements in NFS environments. VDI operations, virtual machine provisioning & power operations, & vMotion have enhanced performance as well.

http://bit.ly/9Wyh40
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SQL Server authentication

vCenter Server 4.x supports both types of Microsoft SQL Server authentication: Windows and Mixed Mode.
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ESX shared storage

There are several solutions for ESX shared storage to take advantage of advanced ESX features. As far as free solutions, many Linux distributions natively ship with NFS & iSCSI Enterprise Target (IET) functionality including Fedora, Openfiler, & FreeNas. EMC Celerra VSA & NexentaStor is also nice. Pay solutions include StarWind, NexentaStor (ZFS based), Lefthand VSA, & Windows Services for Unix.
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vCenter 4.x license keys

vCenter 4.x license keys do not license VI3 legacy hosts. A VI3 license server or host based license keys must be plugged into vCenter 4.x in order to properly license VI3 legacy hosts.
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VMware Knowledge Base

When performing a cold migration (P2V, V2V) with VMware Converter, the source machine booting from the cold clone CD is required to have a minimum of 264MB RAM or the process will halt with an error. The recommended minimum is 364MB.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/VMware_Converter_manual301.pdf
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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. I suspect a lot of 32-bit lab hardware was retired as a result of this architecture change.
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ESXTOP in batch mode

Run ESXTOP in batch mode using the -b switch along with a .csv file name. ie. esxtop -b > my_file.csv. The esxtop utility does not enforce a .csv file extension, however, post-processing tools require it. MS Perfmon, Excel & esxplot http://bit.ly/7mlFly can be used to view the .csv file after capture.

You can also run esxtop in replay mode on vm-support collection data with the command: esxtop -R [vm-support_path]
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VMFS extents feature

When using the VMFS extents feature, VMFS metadata is stored in the first extent (LUN) of the VMFS volume. SCSI reservations are tied to VMFS metadata. The net effect of VMFS extents + SCSI reservations by metadata updates is that the SCSI reservations will only impact the first VMFS extent or LUN. Performance on the remaining extents or LUNs should not be impacted.
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vNIC MAC address

Manually assign a vNIC MAC address in vSphere within the following range:
00:50:56:00:00:00 - 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF

Assigning a value greater than 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF risks conflict with MAC addresses generated by VMware Workstation or VMware Server products.

Example in .vmx file:
ethernet1.address = 00:50:56:00:00:01
ethernet1.addressType="static"
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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://bit.ly/BiX2i
A great features comparison cheat sheet: http://bit.ly/VWsGe

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://bit.ly/Edx7O
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

vSphere Client Removal from ESX/ESXi Builds - It is no longer packaged with builds of ESX & ESXi. After installing ESX and ESXi, users are directed to the download page on the VMware web site to get the compatible vSphere Client for that release. The vSphere Client is still packaged with builds of vCenter Server.
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NTP offset

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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On this day in 2007

VMware ESX is NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) aware and employs a handful of enhancements to take advantage of NUMA. While these settings can generally be left at their defaults in the hypervisor, you should make sure your ESX host hardware is configured optimally for ESX NUMA operation, which in short means you should disable node interleaving in the BIOS.
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New to ESX

For those new to ESX, you may be curious as to why many of the advanced HA configuration settings contain the acronym "DAS". What is DAS? DAS was the acronym for HA during the VI3 beta, before it was changed to HA. DAS stood for Distributed Availability Service. VMware killed the DAS acronym just before the VI3 launch, but apparently it was too difficult to change in the code tree, so DAS lives today (behind the scenes).
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100% virtual memory

If you're running out of datastore disk space, consider configuring 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 - Reservation.

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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vSphere 4.1 client

The vSphere 4.1 client is compatible with and may be used to administer vCenter Server 2.0.x, 2.5 (all Updates), 4.0, and 4.1.

The vSphere 4.1 client is compatible with and may be used to administer ESX 3.0.x, 3.5 (all Updates), 4.0, and 4.1.
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Detailed build number information

Determining detailed build number information for VMware ESX 4.0.x hosts

Installing incremental patches on ESX hosts will change the build number of the host typically to an unfamiliar number that falls between two major ESX build numbers. This can make it difficult to determine the host's binary DNA. VMware KB 1012514 offers help in determining build details.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1012514
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SAN vs. NAS

SAN vs. NAS

Storage Area Network attaches remote computer storage devices (disk arrays, tape libraries, & optical jukeboxes) to servers in such a way that the devices appear as locally attached to the OS.

Network-attached Storage uses file-based protocols such as NFS or SMB/CIFS where it is clear that the storage is remote, & computers request a portion of an abstract file rather than a disk block.

http://bit.ly/dSBs
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Upgrading to a vSphere

When upgrading to a vSphere environment from VI3, VMware Tools in the guest must be upgraded before virtual machine hardware is upgraded. Generally speaking, the process is to upgrade VMware Tools of a powered on VM guest, shut down the guest gracefully, upgrade virtual machine hardware, then power on the guest VM. Some or all of this process can be handled by VUM and a baseline group depending on the guest OS.
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Administrators

Any user or group who is a member of the local Administrators group of the Windows Server running vCenter, will, by default, have full administrative control of vCenter Server and thus full control of the virtual infrastructure.

After the installation of vCenter Server, this should be one of the first areas to address. Ideally it was already planned for in the design stage.
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