VMware HA

Assuming a healthy installation and configuration of the agents, VMware HA will continue to function and limit Virtual Machine downtime even when vCenter Server is down or unavailable.
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VM 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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EtherChannel / Link

Sample configuration of EtherChannel / Link aggregation with ESX and Cisco/HP switches

VMware has published KB 1004048 which describes concepts, limitations and sample configurations of link aggregation / NIC Teaming / LACP / Ether-Channel connectivity between ESX and Physical Network Switches, in particular, Cisco and HP.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004048
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VMware VPP

On this day in 2010, VMware announced a new VMware Volume Purchasing Program (VPP). VMware VPP provides customers with consistent, accumulative software license discounting through a tier-based points system. The program helps maximize the value derived from volume purchases of VMware software, including cost savings on VMware solutions and increased budget predictability for future purchases.

http://bit.ly/cAHZx5
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VMware memory hot add

VMware vSphere supports memory hot add for the following Windows OSs:
Win2k3 ENT x86/x64
Win2k8 & R2 STD x86*/x64*
Win2k8 & R2 ENT x86/x64
VMware vSphere supports CPU hot plug for the following Windows OSs:
Win2k8 & R2 STD x64*
Win2k8 ENT x64*
Win2k8 R2 ENT x64
Memory and CPU hot remove is not supported for Windows OSs.
* = Reboot of guest OS required to recognize added hardware
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Esxtop focus

You may already know that while in esxtop, interactively pressing the c, m, d, and n keys changes the esxtop focus to each of the 4 food groups. Did you know there are additional views for disk? Compare the following 3 disk views: d, u, v. Also, f allows adding/removing columns, & V displays VM rows only.

To view the complete documentation for esxtop (known as man pages in the *nix world), use the command:
man esxtop
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A vSwitch NIC team

A vSwitch NIC team should be constructed from pNIC uplinks which do not share the same bus path on the host. In other words, don't tie redundant paths to a dual or quad port NIC. Ideally, NIC team cabling will also go to different physical switches, switch blades, or switch asics, in that order, to avoid a single point of failure (SPOF).
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SCSI reservation conflicts

Scan your ESX logs for SCSI reservation conflicts with the following command at the Service Console:

grep -i reservation /var/log/vmkernel*
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Update Manager plugin failures

VMware Update Manager Baseline Groups are new in vSphere. The Baseline Group feature allows multiple VUM Baselines to be aggregated into a Baseline Group. In turn, the Baseline Group can be applied to an object in the vSphere inventory. A benefit is that a single remediation task is performed against an inventory object using the Baseline Group instead of multiple scheduled remediation tasks with individual Baselines.
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Tme zone in ESX

The time zone in ESX is set through via a symbolic link to /etc/localtime, which is a file located in the /usr/share/zoneinfo directory. The symbolic link relates to the time zone that the ESX host is in. Check the current configuration with ll /etc/localtime and cat /etc/sysconfig/clock. To set the time zone, create the correct symbolic link:

ie. ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/[country]/[location] /etc/localtime
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Last version of ESX

The announcement has been made by VMware that 4.1 will be the last version of ESX. 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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vSphere Client shortcut

Modify your vSphere Client shortcut to provide frequently used parameters & limit repetitive typing. This can be particularly useful if you cannot utilize the "Use Windows session credentials" check box.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"
-s server
-u domain\user id
-p password

http://vdestination.com/2010/07/29/vsphere-client-caching/
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VMware VirtualCenter Management

Is your vSphere Storage Views tab or host Hardware Status tab not functioning or missing? Make sure the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service is running on the vCenter Server.
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Freeing space

Freeing space when the /var/ partition is full
To free some space on the /var/ partition, you can safely remove the cached RPM package saved on /var/cache/yum/update.
To remove the RPM package:
Log into the ESX host as root using an SSH client.
Run the command:
yum clean all
Rerun the command:
df -h
The output indicates that the amount of free space on the /var partition has increased. http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005768
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Girl Power!

Girl Power!

VMware VCP #1 is Susan Gudenkauf, who is a Senior Manager in the VMware TAM Program, a Minnesota resident, & a lover of Vikings football & golf. Susan recalls that when she sat the VCP exam, the format was pencil and paper. This is far removed from standard computerized testing we are familiar with today.

Contact her on Twitter @susangude
(and wish her a happy birthday today!)
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Hyper-Threading

One of the big improvements to swiSCSI in vSphere is that it is no longer dependent on a Service Console portgroup. Overhead communication such as CHAP authentication and session control occurs over the VMkernel portgroup. This is key because, in the past, utilizing CHAP meant requiring a Service Console portgroup on the iSCSI network, or worse, putting iSCSI traffic on the Service Console network.
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On this day in 2010

On this day in 2010, VMware released vSphere 4.1, the second generation of vSphere. This version touts an array of new and enhanced features as well as significant increases in configuration maximums for unparalleled hypervisor scaling. 4.1 advances the foundation for the vCloud initiative, VMware's approach to Cloud Computing.

Read more at: http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vsphere-4-1.html
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ESXi

Roll back to a prior firmware version of ESXi using SHIFT + R at black bootup screen which displays the white progress bar. This can be useful for recovering from a patching incident.
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

Improvements in Enhanced vMotion Compatibility - A new AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode that prepares clusters for vMotion compatibility with future AMD processors. EVC also provides numerous usability improvements, including the display of EVC modes for VMs, more timely error detection, better error messages, & the reduced need to restart VMs.

http://bit.ly/9q9HW8
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On this day in 2006

On this day in 2006, VMware released 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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VMware Update Manager

VMware Update Manager and the vSphere Host Update Utility share a common problem which may impact ESX environments depending on how the hypervisor upgrade is performed. Neither utility honors custom Service Console partitioning schemes. Custom partitions will be ignored and the new Service Console will have a single partition mounted in the root (/) directory.

http://bit.ly/a5IjIp
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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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Visual indicator

ESX3.5 introduced a visual indicator to the VMware Tools system tray icon to notify when tools are old. This new behavior can be disabled manually in the VMware Tools applet, or it can be packaged with the following registry change:
HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware Tools
Change the default value to a DWORD value of 0

To script:
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Tools" /V "" /T REG_DWORD /D "0x0" /F
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New Update Manager

Up until vSphere, ESX(i) supported both SCSI-2 & SCSI-3 storage devices. This changed in vSphere, where ESX(i) 4.x supports only SCSI-3 storage devices.

That said, vSphere still utilizes SCSI-2 reservations which should be minimized as much as possible to minimize impact on running guest VMs. vSphere SCSI-3 VM persistent reservations are used to support Win2k8 WSFC (Windows Server Failover Clustering).
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Templates, Hosts and Clusters

VMs inherit privileges from two sources because their objects are shown in 2 different vCenter views (VMs & Templates and Hosts & Clusters). That said, certain actions or roles require a set of permissions on each side of the hierarchy. The 2 views and hierarchies become unified at the Datacenter level. If a permission is applied at the Datacenter level, it propagates down both sides of the hierarchy.
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Configurable Advanced HA Options

Configurable Advanced HA Options:

das.AllowNetwork = Used to specify an additional portgroup to use for failure detection
das.isolationAddress = Used to specify additional addresses to check for isolation detection
das.failureDetectionTime = Time in milliseconds before isolation response action. Default=15000
das.failureDetectionInterval = HA heartbeat interval in milliseconds. Default=1000

http://bit.ly/U3P2F
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Upgrading

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) has 4 modes in ESX:
Down = CDP is fully disabled
Listen (default in ESX4.1) = Receives and displays information from other CDP enabled network devices. Does not Advertise
Advertise = Broadcasts the ESX host's network configuration. Does not listen
Both = CDP is fully enabled. Listen & Advertise are both enabled

Configure CDP on a per vSwitch basis with the command
esxcfg-vswitch -B[mode]
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New in VMware vSphere 4.1

What's New in VMware vSphere 4.1

User-configurable Number of Virtual CPUs per Virtual Socket - Configure VMs to have multiple virtual CPUs reside in a single virtual socket, with each virtual CPU appearing to the guest operating system as a single core. Previously, VMs were restricted to having only one virtual CPU per virtual socket.

http://vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_vm_admin_guide.pdf
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SQL Whitepapers

SQL Whitepapers

Learn a good methodology for testing SQL server workloads to determine VM candidacy and placement. Understand how to characterize your SQL Server databases for virtualization and outlines important best practices for designing VMware Infrastructure to support SQL Server. Download the whitepapers below:

http://bit.ly/9eJf45
http://bit.ly/9AUolG
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