Possible bug in VMware Client
KB ID 0000413 Problem Unable to use multiple console sessions in Windows 7. 1. Seen on Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, with and without aero enabled, on two separate machines. 2. Happens if connected to VCenter OR directly to ESXi (build 4.1.0, 260247) 3. Does NOT happen with the same software from Server 2003. (Same systems, same vesion of the VI client). 4. Does NOT happen on Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 (Same systems, same version of the VI...
vSphere – Guest VM is shown as (Orphaned)
KB ID 0000414 Problem I’ve seen this happen a few times now, while looking at your Virtual infrastructure, one or more client machines is greyed out and shown as (Orphaned). Solution If you have many guests VM’s on one host with this problem, you can cure this by removing the parent host and re-adding it to the cluster, then right clicking it and select “Reconfigure for HA”. Or you can do the following, on a...
Enabling Tape Drives on vSphere Hosts
KB ID 0000417 Problem Over the next few weeks I’ve got a couple of Hewlett Packard LTO Ultrium 5 Tape drives to deploy with ESXi 4.1 U1. These will work just fine, there is however a problem presenting SCSI U320 drives now, so thanks to my colleague (Andrew Dorrian) for giving me the heads up on the problems I would face with older drives. Make sure you have enabled SSH access on your ESX Host. Note: With the release of vSphere...
VMware error on HP Proliant “Host Baseboard Management Controller status”
KB ID 0000418 Problem Saw this today on a HP Proliant DL380 G7 Server. Solution 1. It’s a simple one to solve, the server was built with the HP ESXi build, and the management agents are complaining because the iLO is not connected to the network. 2. When you connect the iLO socket to the network the alarm should change as shown below. 3. Once you have connected or disabled it you can reset the alarm. 4. Take the opportunity to...
VMware VIM (vCenter) Where to put the sysprep files in Server 2008?
KB ID 0000420 Problem For newer servers I don’t really use templates anymore, but if you are deploying a lot of 2003 Windows servers in vSphere, then they can save you some time. Back in the days of vCenter 2.5 you just uploaded those sysprep files to the relevant folder in, C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataVmwareVmware Virtual Centersysprep But that location no longer exists (since Server 2008). Solution The...
VMware – {hostname} could not reach isolation address: none specified
KB ID 0000445 Problem Seen on vSphere: Error Host {hostname} could not reach isolation address:none specified. Solution 1. In my case the host did NOT have a default gateway, (this had occurred because the subnet mask of the server had been entered incorrectly when the server was built. So the default gateway appeared to be on a different network). 2. With the offending host selected, Configuration > DNS and Routing >...
vSphere – Virtual Center Server Service Stops
KB ID 0000479 Problem If your VC Database reaches 4GB, the VMware Virtual Centre Server service will stop. A restart of it will result in the service stopping again within a minute. You will also see see this event logged. Description: Could not allocate space for object ‘dbo.VPX_HOST_VM_CONFIG_OPTION’.’PK_VPX_HOST_VM_CONFIG_OPTION’ in database ‘VIM_VCDB’ because the ‘PRIMARY’ filegroup...
ESX 4 to ESX 5 Upgrade Warning ‘Custom VIB Warning’
KB ID 0000500 Problem Seen when upgrading ESXi 4.1 U1 to ESX 5. Error: <3RD_PARTY_SOFTWARE_WARNING: Host contains third-party VIB(s) that have no substitute on the ISO. [‘oem-vmware-esx-drivers-net-vxge’, ‘oem-vmware-esx-drivers-scsi-3w-9xxx’]> If attempting to upgrade with VMware update manager you will see the following; Solution Luckily this was on a test box so I was somewhat more cavalier in my...
vSphere – The ‘VMware VirtualCenter Service’ will not start
KB ID 0000526 Problem I tried to logon to my vCenter this afternoon (Server 2008 R2) and could not get on, I connected to the server to find it was up but the “VMware VirtualCenter Server” service was not running. So I tried to start it and got the following error, Error: Windows could not start the VMware VirtualCenter Server on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft...
Upgrade vSphere 4 Environment to vSphere 5
KB ID 0000543 Problem I will probably have a ton of these to do next year! The following process runs right through the entire migration process of vCenter, the ESX/ESXi hosts, The Datastores, The VM Tools, VMHardware, and finally re licencing everything with your new vSphere 5 keys. Solution Step 1 Verify your Software and Hardware Requirements 1. vCenter 5 Hardware Requirements: CPU: Requires Dual CPU (At least 2GHz – IA64...