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...
vSphere 5 – Install and Configure the Web Client
KB ID 0000551 Problem The ability to administer vCenter via a web browser is nothing new, vCenter has had a web console in previous versions. vCenter vSphere 4 Web Client (Web Access) The version with vSphere 5 is much more feature rich. Like the VMware vSphere client it talks directly to the vCenter vSphere API, but unlike previous web access, the component needs to be installed and configured before you can use it. What the Web...
VMware ESXi – Converting ‘Thick’ Provisioned Drives to ‘Thin’, and ‘Thin’ to ‘Thick’
KB ID 0000579 Problem Thin provisioning of hard drives is pretty cool stuff, full support for thin provisioning was brought in with vSphere version 4. Put simply a thin proviosioned drive is as big as it needs to be, and a thick provisioned drive is set to its maximum size when it’s created. The virtual machines that use these hard drives don’t know, and assume that their hard drive is a set size (even if it is thin...
VMware ESXi 5 – Applying Patches and Updates
(ESXi 5 Update 1 and Patches) KB ID 0000623 Problem When VMware released ESX 4.1, they took away the “Host update utility”, (which was a mistake!). For people without VMware Update Manager, you now have to either put in the CD/DVD and do an ‘in place upgrade’, or grow a ginger pony tail and put some socks/sandals on and do some Linux. Below I’ve got a build of ESX with no updates on it, I’m going to...
VMware VI Client – Remove Cached IP addresses and Hostnames
KB ID 0000644 Problem If you connect to a lot of ESX, ESXi and vCenter machines, the drop down list in your VI client can get a little cluttered. Solution 1. Start > Run > Regedit {enter} 2. Navigate to; HKEY_CURRENT_CURRENT_USERSoftwareVMwareVMware Infrastructure ClientPreferences Locate the ‘RecentConnections’ string value, and either delete them all, (or just the ones you no longer need). 3. Now things will be a...
Cannot Open a Console Session in the VMware VI Client on Windows 8
KB ID 0000677 Problem Mostly my conversion to Windows 8 has been pretty painless, the only thing that wont work is the VMware VI client cant open a console session to the VMs on my ESX server. Error The VMRC console has disconencted…attempting to reconnect This happens because the IE10 that comes with Windows 8 does NOT LIKE the requests the VI client is sending to the Internet Explorer plug-in. Update 08/03/13 – This...