Dell PowerEdge and VMware Compatibility Matrix

Dell PowerEdge Systems VMware compatibility Matrix

 https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000178967/dell-poweredge-systems-vmware-compatibility-matrix

VMware Compatibility Matrix

 VMware Compatibility Matrix

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

VMware VSphere ESXi and VCenter Versions and Build Numbers

 VMware VSphere ESXi Versions and Build Numbers

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2143832

VMware VCenter Versions and Build Numbers

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2143838

Netagear ReadyNAS, NFS datastore, VMware VSphere ESXi and VCenter

How to create an NFS volume to be used as a datastore for VMware environment with a NetGear Ready NAS

Login to the Netgear Ready NAS as the admin
Under Settings – Enable NFS
Create a Share - and name it
Then select the Settings of the Share
Select Network Access select NFS- check off read/write
                Note: You can also limit the host by IP that can have access to this share
File Access - check off read/write
Make sure that you note the volume name. You will need this when you are entering the folder name in the NFS mount process. Note the volume name may differ depending on the version of your Netgear ReadyNAS firmware version, etc. in this example it is Data

Open VCenter VSphere client or VSphere Web Client to create a new datastore for your VMware environment. Make sure that include the volume name and the folder share name when you are entering the folder name in the VMware NFS datastore mount process. The key point is to use the proper syntax for the folder name when you are putting in the information for the folder name In my example I used /Data/VMs

Note: Caps and correct spelling really, really count and of course the correct syntax as you see above J

For Server you can enter an IP address or the FQDN

Type in a name for the VMware datastore name

WIndows Server 2016 VMTools installaiton with VSphere 5.5 host

How to get the VMTools properly installed on W2K16 Server running onVSphere.5.5
First of all yes I know that VSphere 5.5. is not officially supported anymore. However, for lab purposes I often have to do what I have to do :-) to do my testing. I am also aware that this may be old news but as I run into new scenarios I like to post a simple fix if I can.
When you install the new Windows 2016 VM you will have to choose Windows 2012 (64bit) as your operating system. Note: You do not have a choice to select 2016 as the server OS>
VCenter will show that the VMTools are not running on your Windows 2016 server however, you have already installed them -What to do?
No worries it is a simple thing-
Uninstall VMTools and Reboot the Windows 2016 Server
Install the VMTools as Administrator another words right-click on the VMTools setup64.exe and select Administrator and then reboot the Windows 2016 server. VCenter will now display that the VMTools are running on the Windows 2016 server- Success!.

VMRC console has disconnected attempting to reconnect

I received this error below today while attempting to open the Console of a VM with VMware VSphere 5.5 Client.

The VMRC console has disconnected attempting to reconnect

I have seen this issue before so I decided to post the resolution this time.
Close all of the VMware vSphere Clients that you have running on your machine. Then open Task Manager and make sure all processes with the vmware-vmrc.exe and vpxclient.exe are not running. If they close all of those processes. Note: you may have several of these tasks running. In my case I was using the VCenter server as my client and it had several clients open in the background that was causing my issue.

One more thing if all fails above you may also need to reboot the machine you are using as a client.

"The operation is not allowed in the current state of the host"

You receive this Error below withing VCenter when trying to either create a snapshot, run a backup or start a VM, etc.
"The operation is not allowed in the current state of the host"

Resolution in the order that I used to resolve it
Disabled HA and DRS- same issue
Restart VCenter - same issue
Disconnect Hosts and then ReConnect - same issue
Disable Auto Start and Shutdown of Hosts- same issue
Login to the hosts with a Putty SSH connection
Type in Services.sh restart- This resolved the issue
I think that a restart of the hosts would have resolved the issue as well

I then Enabled the Auto Start and Shutdown of Hosts. I also verified that I could take another VM Snapshot, start a VM, etc..
I also ran a successful VM backup which also takes a snapshot of the VM before the backup

What to do when SQL Express VIM database has exceeded the 4GB limit

Problem -Event ID: 1827, MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM

CREATE DATABASE or ALTER DATABASE failed because the resulting cumulative database size would exceed your licensed limit of 4096 MB per database.

You also may see Event ID 1105 in the Event Logs

Solution- Truncate the VCenter Tables to create free disk space

VPX_EVENT Table

·         Open Microsoft Server Management Studio Express

·         Connect to Servername\SQL Database

·         Expand databases- VIM_VCDB, Tables

·         Locate and Right-click on dbo.VPX_PARAMETER table and click Open

·         Modify the event.maxAge to 30, and modify the event.maxAgeEnabled value to true

·         Modify task.maxAge to 30, and modify the task.maxAgeEnabled value to true

·         Run the SQL built-in stored procedure:

·         Go  to the VIM_VCDB, Programability, Stored Procedures

·         Right-click on dbo.cleanup_events_tasks_proc and click Execute Stored Procedure and Select OK. - Note: This process may take a while. This process purges the data from the vpx_event, vpx_event_arg, and vpx_task tables based on the date specified for maxAge.

Solution- Shrink the VCenter VIM_VCDB database and files

To shrink the size of the vCenter Server SQL database and transaction logs:

·         Connect to the vCenter Server database using the SQL Management Studio Express.

·         Stop the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.

·         To Shrink the Database- Right-click the vCenter Server database

·         Select Tasks, Select Shrink Files

·         Select Tasks, Select Shrink Database. Note: This process can take a while based on how much space to shrink on the database

When these processes have completed successfully completed, close the SQL Management Studio Express and start the VMware Virtual VCenter Server service

Also make sure that the default Statistics Level is set to 1 in VCenter

·         Using the vSphere Client, log into vCenter Server as an administrator

·         Go to Administrator, VCenter Server Settings, Statistics

·         Under Statistics Intervals, ensure the Statistics Level column is set to 1

·         To change the value, select the Interval Duration, click Edit and select Level 1 from the dropdown

Note:  VCenter Server may also require a restart. Issues with VCenter and database size may also affect your backups.

VCenter Mobile Access- Manages your Virtual Infrastructure

This an old  post that I had started to write about quite a while ago... and forgot about it. So here it is an oldie but a goodie. Manage your VCenter Server and or VSphere Hosts from your iPad tablet. The VMware VSphere client for the iPad communicates with the VCenter Server or VSphere hosts and presents it a web-based user interface look to the iPad device.
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/server/vsphere/ipadclient
Download the VCenter Mobile Access Appliance
http://labs.vmware.com/flings/vcma

VMware View - the display protocol for this desktop is currently not available

This one drove me crazy and it also drove VMware support insane for about 6 hours as well.
When trying to connect to a VMware View desktop you receive this message "the display protocol for this desktop is currently not available" from the client. I tried all sorts of stuff and so did VMware support.
The bottom line is the problem was the View Agent version on the virtual machine DO NOT USE version 5.1.2 View Agent. Back it out to version 5.1.1. If you do this you will save yourself a lot of time and pain.

Veeam Free Backup

I am a little late getting this post out as Veeam has had this out for a little while now.
Veeam Free Backup Edition

This is the link to a comparison of features between the Veeam free edition and the Veeam paid for edition
http://veeampdf.s3.amazonaws.com/datasheet/veeam_backup_and_replication-free_vs_full.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJI4MX44AEVG3NBLA&Expires=1355544370&Signature=93AxtCcHOaJIi62JFFWzLl3n%2BiU%3D


http://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html

VMware Compatibility Guide

The VMware Compatibility Guide
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?rct=j&q=vmware%20compatibility%20list&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQFjAA&url=http://www.vmware.com/go/hcl&ei=Os_ZT6HeKe2A6QGPisHLAg&usg=AFQjCNEXuH3H1BNILfm7AMoBNO0jQXhT-g

VMware releases announcement of VSphere 5.0 and other new products and new versions

VMware announcement
http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-cloud-infrastructure-071211.html

Some of the new VMware products and new versions that will be available now or soon.

VSphere 5.0 http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/overview.html

SRM 5.0 http://www.vmware.com/products/site-recovery-manager/overview.html

Storage Appliance for SMB's http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-cloud-infrastructure-smb-071211.html

W2K8 Std R2 with SP1 Problem using VMware Customization

I ran into an interesting problem at a client yesterday with W2K8 Std R2 Server with SP1.
The problem is when using the VMware Customization to sysprep the server you will get a blue screen and the server continues to reboot.
To fix this don't use SP1 and it works fine. I will post a bit more info on this when I get some time, I just wanted to get this out quickly to save someone else from going through this heartache we just did.

My top 5 VMware Tools

1. Putty http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
2. RVTools http://www.robware.net/
3. RDP Plugin http://xtravirt.com/vsphere-client-rdp-plug-in
4. FastSCP from Veeam http://www.veeam.com/
5. WinSCP http://winscp.net/eng/download.php

Installing VMtools on a Novell Sever VM

Power on the Novell Server VM
Select VM and then select Install VMware Tools
Open a console session on the Novell VM Server
Close the Novell GUI if it is running 
From the Novell Server : Prompt
: Load CDDVD
: vmwtools:\setup.ncf
Once the VMtools install has completed you can End the VMware Tools Install
Done!

VMware Introduces Enhanced Virtualization Offerings for Small and Midsize Businesses

On July 13th, 2010 VMware introduced VSphere 4.1 with supposedly over 150 new features.
Read the news here http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vsphere-4-1.html

Great news for SMB's VMotion in now available for Essentials Plus!
Read the news here http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vsphere-4-1-smb.html

How do I get my USB to be recognized on a VM?

First of all you need to be running VSpshere ESX 4 update 1
and your VSphere Host needs to support passthrough configuration
1. You can set this feature in the BIOS if it is a newer chipset if you do not have this option then it is most likely not going to work- Look in the BIOS for something like Intel vt-d or VT IO
2. If your machine has passthrough configured in the BIOS then go to the VI Client – Select the Host, select configuration tab then select the Advanced Settings under Hardware area.
3. You will then have to select the USB and check off for passthrough for the USB device
4. Also make sure you upgrade the virtual machine hardware to version 7 and upgrade the vm tools
5. Add a USB controller to VM- the VM needs to be powered off to add this device
You should now be able to see the USB device on the VM

How to Increase the VMFS datastore default 1MB block size of the local storage during the installation of ESX 4.0

I needed to create a VM with a 600GB vmdk. Therefore, I needed to increase the default 1MB block size of the local datastore during installation to support the block change of 4MB that I wanted. I found the VMware KB below as my reference and I was finally able to do what I needed.
I have modified the steps below that I took to make it a bit easier.

VMware KB Reference
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012683

1. Boot to the ESX installation DVD
2. Wait for the installation process to begin once it does Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 to switch to the shell
3. # ps grep Xorg
4. Kill the PID where 590 is the PID.For example: # kill 590 or kill 509
5. # cd /usr/lib/vmware/weasel
6. Edit the config file: # vi fsset.py
7. Locate class vmfs3FileSystem(FileSystemType):
8. Edit the blockSizeMB parameter to the block size that you want it to be. It is currently set to 1. The only values that work correctly are 1, 2, 4, and 8
9. Press i for insert mode
10. To save Esc, then :wq! and press Enter. The exclamation mark is required to save a file that is in red-only mode
11. You can verify that file has been modified by typing the following command bleow:
# grep -i blockSizeMB fsset.py
12. # cd /
13. Now launch the ESX4 installer with the new configuration of the new block size. # /bin/weasel
14. At this point you can continue your ESX4 installation
Done!

Problem adding an Extent in VCenter 4.0

I had a problem that I could not add an Extent to an exsiting VMFS datastore using VCenter 4
The extent is not visible when you attempt to increase the DataStore within VCenter 4.

The workaround is to use the VSpehere client and connect directly to the ESX server. The extent in visible when you connect to the ESX server directly. This is most likley a bug in VCenter which will be fixed with a patch or the next release.