VMWare ESXi editing the Hostfile
Posted by VMbloggie on Jun 4, 2009
If you are as paranoid with redundancy as my team & I are, then entering the hostnames & IPs of all the server in a cluster into the VMware host file is a must. As your VMware HA is dependant on your servers being able to resolve the names of itself & other ESX server in the cluster, the DNS get to play a major role in HA. What if DNS fail? As many customers are using Microsoft DNS as their primary means of DNS, there is a chance it will fail a day or another. Would you like a way to ensure that your HA will work even if your DNS fail? then Adding these records to the host files of each of the ESXi server in the cluster will do the trick. What if you did not even have a DNS & still want to implement HA & other feature that depend on name resolution, then again adding the records to the host file is the solution.
VMware ESXi - Console Access (Unsupported)
Posted by virtualized1970 on Jun 4, 2009
Did the title bring your attention? Have you heard that one of the main reasons for VMware ESXi was to get rid of the service console? Are you sure there is no console in VMware ESXi? The true is there is still a very tiny console in VMware ESXi, though it has way smaller foot print than the one found in the ESX version. In addition, the usage of the VMware ESXi Console Access is not supported unless if instructed by VMware to do so. Please use this tip wisely & don’t try to do wild changes using your VMware ESXi console as that is not supported. Yeah, again I would repeat its not supported :).
VMware vSphere does not support VMware SRM & VMware View
Posted by VMbloggie on Jun 4, 2009
It had been asked so often lately, if VMware vSphere support SRM & VMware View yet. I had even got calls from customers who tried to integrate the two together. The VMware statement is quite clear in this regard, both VMware Site Recovery Manager(SRM) & VMware View are not supported yet by VMWare vSphere 4.0. They will be supported by sometime in the 2nd half of this year. To check the support matrix & when its going to happen for most VMware product with vSphere, please check out the below document:
VMware vSphere 4.0 Software Compatibility Matrix
MS Hyper-V Virtualization Myths Busting
Posted by virtualized1970 on May 31, 2009
I have just came across a video of Microsoft trying to bust VMware top Myths, but what is funny to me it seems Microsoft had just busted them selfes in the video than anything else. The link to the video is below:
http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/f8c3314f-c82d-4f8d-8b19-6a59733670f8
I have seen Gabe reply on his blog at his Gabes virtualization Blog which seems to be a great busting to this video. Below is what Gabe is saying on his blog or please read it directly on Gabe blog at http://www.gabesvirtualworld.com/?p=445. Please give credit to Gabes & read this on his blog :).
============== Directly from Gabes Virtualization Blog ===========
ESXi cmd addnode failed for secondary node: /opt/vmware/aam/bin/ft_startup failed to complete within three minutes
Posted by VMbloggie on May 24, 2009
In the past few weeks, I had been hit by many calls of many of my colleagues & customers being hit by the following error when trying to configure VMware ESXi HA:
“cmd addnode failed for secondary node: /opt/vmware/aam/bin/ft_startup failed to complete within three minutes”
After investigating the error for sometime & searching on the internet I found many misleading trial and error solutions for this error around Google results. The resolution which seems to work for everyone of my colleagues & customers is below.
1- Disable HA for the affected cluster
2- Delete the User Worlds Swap file called uwswap from all the nodes in the problematic cluster.
3- Enable HA for the affected cluster again.
MS Hyper-V Crashes under heavy load
Posted by virtualized1970 on May 3, 2009
This video is just what the title said, MS Hyper-V Crashes under heavy load. Watch out what a mess you are planning to go into!!!!!
I expect to see too many comments on this one, don’t get me disappointed :).
Changing the VLAN ID of a ESX Service Console using Command Line
Posted by virtualized1970 on May 3, 2009
A good amount of ESX admins ask on dialy basis how to change the VMware ESX Service Console Vlan using command line. As I decided to save time by writing the steps for these kind of questions to send it to others when asked. I will document these commands in here:
First of all check which vSwitch the Service Console is on (and the name of the Service Console) with esxcfg-vswitch -l (Note: The default service Console switch is vSwitch0 & default name is “Service Console”.)
To set a vlan id on the service console use:
esxcfg-vswitch vSwitch0 -v X -p “Service Console” (Replace X with the desired VLAN number)
Cisco TelePresence - On-Stage Holographic Video Conferencing
Posted by VMbloggie on Apr 26, 2009
I know reading the title you wonder what does this has to do with Virtualizaiton, but if you look deep into it you will find out that some one has figured out how to virtualize human :). For example you have one instructur & he can do lecture in 20 different countries which is 100s maybe 1000s of miles away at the same time. Ah wow that can save a lot of travel cost & man power cost used for training. The same concept can be used for many other purposes, which get you to use 1 person to do 20 people job. Does not that sound like server virtualization when it started out!! To find out more about TelePresence & what I like to call Human virtualizaiton please look at the few videos below:
Vizioncore vRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Setting for database Virtual Machines
Posted by virtualizedfuture on Apr 20, 2009
This post is the third part of the “Vizioncore vRanger Quiescing & VSS Setting for image backup of Virtual Machines.” to start from the beginning of the series please start at:
Vizioncore VRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Recommended Settings. Or if you are looking for the recommendation for virtual machines which does not run a database application then check out the second part of this series:
Vizioncore vRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Setting for non-database Virtual Machines. If how to setup Vizioncore vRanger Quiescing & VSS for database virtual machines is your aim, then you are at the correct part of this series.
Vizioncore vRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Setting for non-database Virtual Machines:
Posted by virtualizedfuture on Apr 20, 2009
This post is the second part of the “Vizioncore vRanger Quiescing & VSS Setting for image backup of Virtual Machines.” to start from the beginning of the series please start at: Vizioncore VRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Recommended Settings. Or if you are looking for the recommendation for virtual machines which run a database application then check out the second part of this series: Vizioncore vRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Setting for database Virtual Machines. If how to setup Vizioncore vRanger Quiescing & VSS for none database virtual machines is your aim, then you are at the correct part of this series.
Vizioncore VRanger (Previously ESXRanger) Quiescing & VSS Recommended Settings:
Posted by virtualizedfuture on Apr 20, 2009
I have been always hit by customers who have a problem taking an image backup of virtual machines that run a database application. Another repeated question is “when & when not to use Quiescing & VSS with VCB & vRanger”. For that I have decided to write this set of posts hoping to answer these questions. The answer will have the instruction of how to do this as step by step for Vizioncore vRanger, which is a great & easy backup software for VMware, but the explanation apply for any other image level backup software used with VMware, though you will have to adapt the instructions to the backup tool of your choice.
VMware View manager problem when entering domain administrator for the View Composer setting
Posted by VMbloggie on Apr 19, 2009
While trying to add the domain administrator to my VMware View Composer settings in VMware View Manager, I was getting the following errors repeatedly:
Wrong Domain
Bad user name or Password
I have found out that the problem was caused by my Virtual Center where VMware View Composer reside was not a part of the domain, and was not using my domain controller as a DNS resolver. To resolve this problem I had came up with two solution:
1- Use your domain controller DNS as the DNS resolver on your VMware vCenter / VMware View Composer Server if possible.
2- On the View Composer server, add the domain name to the domain controller’s IP address mapping in the Windows hosts file: %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts.
111.345.333.235 <domain name>
VMware VCDX Enterprise Exam 3.5 Study Guide
Posted by virtualized1970 on Apr 16, 2009
As VMware the Virtualization market leader has released their new certification VCDX & More question started poping up of how to prepare for the exam. As there is almost no official study book for VCDX up to the moment. I thought I would share two valuable resources to prepare for the exam. Please note this exam is intended for VCPs who have gotten a great exposure in designing & setting up VMware VI3 enviornemnt.
Official VMware Enterprise Administration Exam Blueprint v3.5
VCDX Enterprise Exam 3.5 study guide by PetervandenBosch
I hope these guide help all of us start preparing for the VCDX Exam. If you had done the exam, or have another good resource for preperation please share it with us in the comments. Thanks.
VMWARE ESXi - Host in HA Cluster must have userworld swap enabled
Posted by VMbloggie on Apr 8, 2009
I had always been using the VMware ESX version in my implementation. As I noticed that VMware seems to be pushing toward the move to ESXi, I had decided to try the latest version for a full scale installation. Though when I was trying to configure HA for my VMware ESXi Cluster, I had been hit with the below error:
HA agent has an error : Host in HA Cluster must have userworld swap enabled
Luckily the VMware support was quite helpfull as the usual and gave me the simple solution for the problem in less than a minute, I was back up and running with HA configured. So I decided to share the solution with you. Read below the steps for the solution:
VMware ESX & USB & Parralel dongles
Posted by VMbloggie on Mar 27, 2009
When ever I attend a VMware presentation, one of the most common question “How would we handle our USB or parralel licenses dongles in VMware ESX.” Are they supported? Can I get them to work some how? What make the question more critical that most presenters are from a sale or pre-sale background and does not have the clear answer. The real answer to the question, yes its workable but you might need some third party utility to get the required setup to run. Some good resources to get you started are below:
VMware ESX Server Using AnywhereUSB to Connect USB Devices
VMware esx21admin_modvm_parallel_running
USB Device Support within VMware ESX 3.x and ESXi
