Category Archives: vSphere

General Availability of VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5, 4.0, 4.1 and 5.0 Patches

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A new patch release notification from VMware was received today, it’s copied below.

We are pleased to inform you that new VMware ESX/ESXi Patches are available as of May 3, 2012.

These patches address several critical security issues. Detailed information regarding resolved and known issues and enhancements can be found in these Knowledge Base articles:

3.5 EP2 Patch Release Notes:
ESX: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019535
ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019537

4.0 EP7 Patch Release Notes:
ESX: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019853
ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019855

4.1 EP2-1 Patch Release Notes:
ESX: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019859
ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019860

5.0 EP3 Patch Release Notes:
ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2019857

VMware ESX/ESXi Patches are available for download at http://www.vmware.com/patch/download/.

Regards,

VMware vSphere Product Release Team

VMware vSphere 5 – No Jumbo frames on your Management Network!

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Found some very helpful information over on Duncan’s website Yellow Bricks.com regarding the management network and jumbo frames, on vSphere 5.

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/01/20/no-jumbo-frames-on-your-management-network/

For our reference, I’ve copied the content below:
“Another thing to check if you experience this error is to see if you have jumbo frames enabled on the management network, since this interferes with HA communication.”

This is document here in a note: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2006729

To make it crystal clear: disable jumbo frames on your management network with vSphere 5.0 as there’s a problem with it! This problem is currently being investigated by the HA engineering team and will hopefully be resolved.

August 25, 2011 VMware vSphere Performance Monitoring and Troubleshooting

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Thank you to everyone who came out today to join us at Sports Authority Field.  As a reminder, please let me/us know what we can do to help make you and your company successful.

  • VMware vSphere 5 architecture and design session, we’ve been part of the beta program now for many months and we’re ready to help you successfully upgrade or implement vSphere 5
  • vSphere Health Check, configuration drift happens, best practices changes, lets get your environment back on track
  • Onsite vSphere Performance Analysis session
  • POC or implementation of vCenter Operations, we’ve got it setup in our offices, you are all welcome to come poke around and see what it can do.
  • “Enlightened Enterprise”, not ready for cloud IAAS yet but interested in using some of the features being developed in public cloud infrastructures?
Thanks again for coming, follow me on twitter @dbrinkmann – see you all again soon!

http://www.slideshare.net/dbrinkmann/vmware-vsphere-performance-troubleshooting

Following patches must be applied to VMware ESXi and ESX3.5 before June 1st 2011

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If you are still using ESXi/ESX 3.5 and have not applied the appropriate patch listed below for your environment, we recommend that you install this patch:

· ESXi ESXe350-201012401-I-BG
· ESX ESX350-201012410-BG

This patch MUST be installed to continue patching hosts after June 1st. The patch updates the secure key.

You can find more information about the patch, and how to apply it, in these article:
· For ESXi, see 1030002.
· For ESX, see 1030001.

VMware – How to check the status of VMware Tools per virtual Machine

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Via a Perl Script, a very helpful post can be found here:
http://www.linuxdynasty.org/how-to-check-the-status-of-vmware-tools-per-virtual-machine-the-easy-way.html

If you’d rather use PowerShell, check out this helpful blog post which also references a follow-up VMware community post:
http://philthevirtualizer.com/2010/06/22/powercli-get-vmware-tools-versions/
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1722648

How to Upgrade to VMware vCenter 4.1 from vCenter 4.0 32 bit Using the Data Migration Tool

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Here is a very useful KB article on migrating an existing vCenter Server database to 4.1 using the Data Migration Tool:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1021635

Also, here’s a great blog post on VMware’s blog showing how to upgrade vCenter 4.0 32 bit to vCenter 4.1 64 bit by using the VMware Data Migration Tool.

http://blogs.vmware.com/kbtv/2010/07/how-to-upgrade-to-vmware-vcenter-server-41-using-the-data-migration-tool.html
Copied below for reference.

Our first video covering vSphere 4.1 is now live. The video compliments KB article 1022137 vSphere 4.1 upgrade pre-installation requirements and considerations. and describes the process for using our Data Migration tool to upgrade VMware vCenter Server 4.1

VMware vCenter 4.1 is part of the VMware vSphere 4.1 product suite and the Data Migration tool allows you to migrate your vCenter Server 4.0 configuration, since VMware has now entirely gone to a 64-bit platform. 64-bit brings significant performance benefits, but it also introduces some challenges that need to be considered before upgrading.

Sit back, grab that cup of java and take in a little KBTV.

How to upgrade to VMware vCenter Server 4.1 using the Data Migration tool

 

The Data Migration tool is provided with your vCenter Server 4.1 installation media.