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Performance issues with a Realtek NIC and W2K3 VM?

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:12:06 GMT

If you've having performance issue with a W2K3 VM on a system with a Realtek NIC check out this forum thread - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2319.

Newest ESXi drivers

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:48:43 GMT

Drivers have been added recently for these devices.
JMicron PATA (179b:2361)
Adaptec 2940 (aic7xxx)
VIA (VT6130) NIC
Realtek 8211 NIC
Check out the customizing oem.tgz page for download links.

Mount a VMFS datastore with the ESXi install CD.

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:37:40 GMT

This process could be used to mount a datastore for recovery purposes. In most cases if one has an ESXi install that can't boot, using the repair option on the install CD or booting ESXi with from a USB stick may be the way to go. But if you need a quick way to access a VMFS datastore to copy files from it, you can use this process.

VMDirectPath Unofficial HCL

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:34:16 GMT

Check out user submitted devices and servers on the VMDirectPath Unsupported HCL. Submit your own device or server here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI) - Part 7

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:35:12 GMT

Remove a virtual disk and configure VM settings.

Troubleshooting host VMDirectPath issues

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:29:07 GMT

Troubleshooting host VMDirectPath issues

Where is the VMDirectPath configuration stored?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:26:52 GMT

The configuration of VMDirectPath is stored is esx.conf which makes it possible for direct editing with vifs.pl or at the console.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI) - Part 6

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:14:36 GMT

Add a VMDK to a running VM and reset your ESXi host back to evaluation mode.

Reset your ESXI configuration

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:58:13 GMT

Reset your ESXi host's configuration back to factory defaults while reserving existing VMs.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI) - Part 5

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:27:01 GMT

This article covers the process to create a new datastore and to migrate VMs from one datastore to another.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI) - Part 4

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:25:49 GMT

This part covers the process to download and install an ESXi firmware patch.

Create a Raw Device Mapping (RDM) with a SATA (or SCSI) drive

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:49:00 GMT

With this process you can create an RDM on a local SATA (or SCSI) drive. With a RDM a VM will read / write data directly on the disk. This is helpful if you want to import data from an existing physical server or want to use RAID from within the VM if your SATA controller does not support RAID at the host level.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI) - Part 3

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:10:35 GMT

In this part I add a Internet connected virtual Switch to ESXi and then import a m0n0wall firewall VM appliance.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or vCLI) - Part 2

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:18:16 GMT

The part describes how to add a license serial number, enable auto startup and shutdown options for a VM and how to unregister a VM

Add a local USB device to a VM with VMDirectPath

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:31:59 GMT

The ability to add a USB device to a VM has been a long sought after feature. With VMDirectPath you can add a USB controller directly to a VM to provide the VM with access to locally attached USB devices. This provides an alternative to using USB over IP devices.

The Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:42:16 GMT

I've started an unofficial HCL for VMDirectPath server and PCI cards. If you have tested a system or card, please post about it here - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

Managing ESXi without the VI client (or the vCLI)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:28:58 GMT

The purpose of this experiment was to see if ESXi could be managed without the VI client or the vCLI for that matter. Over the next 30 days I'll setup and manage an ESXi host without any client. The exception will be using a VNC client to connect to the remote console of any VMs that I'll create. Otherwise, all setup and management will be done at the console.

Change the password complexity settings for ESXi

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:50:12 GMT

Some have noticed that the password requirements for ESXi 4.0 logins have become more stringent. In some cases, it may be desirable to edit those settings to make the password standards for ESXi 4.0 either stronger or weaker. Password requirements for ESXi are controlled by the file /etc/pam.d/common-password ...

Fix common issues for ESXi 3.5/ 4.0

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:23:35 GMT

Extend performance data to 36 hours with a stand alone host

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:22:52 GMT

Transfer files to and from ESXi with FTP (and enable enhanced wget and use rsync)

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:22:32 GMT

After an upgrade to ESXi 4.0 your VMs are marked as unknown (inaccessible) and your datastore has been renamed to snap-xxxxxxxx-

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:21:58 GMT

I recently upgraded an Asus P5V-EM DO from ESXi 3.5 to 4.0 that had a local datastore, and found after the upgrade that my VMs were all marked as unknown / inaccessible and that datastore1 was now called snap-7ac07d75-datastore1 as shown below. To correct this problem I took the following steps.

What's the difference between ping and vmkping with ESXi?

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:21:08 GMT

Passing options to the vmkernel when booting or installing ESXi

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:20:33 GMT

At times you many need to pass an option to the vmkernel when it first boots. To do that during an install, press tab on the initial boot screen and then add the desired option after vmkboot.gz as shown in the 2nd image. If you are booting ESXi after an install, press shift+o on the initial boot screen, enter your options and press enter as shown in the 3rd image. The options you can use can be found below.

Dealing with the error: Can't admit VM: Memory admission check failed

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:19:46 GMT

On a system with a lower amount of RAM you may find that ESXi allocates too much to run the vmkernel and system services not leaving sufficient memory for running VMs. In the below example, the host has 3 GB of memory. ESXi is showing about 2600 MB available for virtual machines. But an important number for virtual machines is the memory capacity shown on the Resource Allocation in the 2nd image below. This shows that my VMs have a total capacity of just over 1400 MB for VM memory overhead. A chart of memory overhead per vCPU / VM memory is shown below. VM memory overhead includes space for the VM frame buffer and virtualization data structures like shadow page tables. Once my running VMs have exhausted the 1400 MB of total capacity, I will not be able to start additional VMs even though ESXi may have plenty of free memory.

Enable SSH access to ESXi

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:18:58 GMT

Also you can change the port for SSH or enable Telnet.

Modify oem.tgz to add or modify files that ESXi will use

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:17:39 GMT

Add a boot delay to ESXi

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:17:04 GMT

This is handy if you need ESXi to wait for a SAN to come online after a power outage.

Go black and white with the DCUI

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:16:24 GMT

Passing options to the vmkernel when booting or installing ESXi

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:15:47 GMT

After your ESXi 4.0 upgrade, update your VM's virtual hardware to version 7

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:14:51 GMT

After you upgrade from ESXi 3.5 to 4.0, you'll want to upgrade the virtual hardware of your VMs to take advantage of new features in ESXi 4.0.

Common Install Issues for ESXi 4.0

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:13:47 GMT

Install ESXi from a USB flash drive

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:13:22 GMT

You can copy the install file from the ESXi 4.0 install CD to a USB flash drive. This method is handy if you plan to modify oem.tgz for the install.

Install ESXi from a PXE server

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:12:23 GMT

Booting ESXi 4.0 from a USB flash drive

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:12:03 GMT

With ESXi 4.0 you can extract the install image to a USB flash drive or have the install process install directly to a USB flash drive.

Upgrade your ESXi host to 4.0 without using vCenter Server

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:11:09 GMT

Install ESXi to an IDE drive (or to a drive on a SATA controller that ESXi is using an IDE driver for)

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:10:32 GMT

With ESXi you can make a simple change to an install file to get it to install to an IDE driver or SATA connected drive which ESXi is loading an IDE driver for. In either case, the controller still has to be on the list that ESXi can recognize - http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/Hardware_support.php.

Hardware support dropped in ESXi 4.0

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:07:57 GMT

Will ESXi 4.0 recognise my hardware

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:41:11 GMT

ESXi has a limited set of storage controllers and network cards that it will work with. Check out that list for ESXi 4.0

Create roles and assign permissions with a standalone host

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:23:25 GMT

As you expand your use of ESXi server, you may find that you need to delegate certain tasks to users who require only limited rights on the host. In the below example, we will grant user1 permissions on the VMs TEST1 and TEST2 and user2 permission on TEST3. When we start, we have the below VMs listed. Once this process is complete both users will only be able to access the VMs that they have permission to.

ESX / ESXi 4.0 Whitebox HCL

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:20:51 GMT