Virtual Machine 3D Support Option is Greyed Out for Windows 2008 and 2012 on VMware

The solution is taken from Enable 3D Support option is greyed out in virtual machine video card settings (2092210) Modify the VMX file of the Virtual Machine

1. Take backup of the virtual machines VMX file

2. Open the VMX file, using text editor and add this line in the end

mks.enable3d = TRUE

*You can use the vi to edit the VMX file

 3. Check the VMID of the Guest OS you are reloading

# vim-cmd "vmsvc/getallvms"
Vmid        Name .........
2

 4. Reload the virtual machines configuration file by running this command:

# vim-cmd vmsvc/reload VMID

NetApp Visual Storage Console (VSC)5.0 Plugin for VCentre 5.5

VSC 5.0 is a major change that includes a new look and seamless integration with the VMware vSphere Web Client. New features in this release include support for the following:

• The VMware vSphere Web Client
• VASA Provider for clustered Data ONTAP®
• SnapVault integration as a backup job option for clustered Data ONTAP
• Adding a virtual machine or datastore to an existing backup job
• Numerous bug fixes

VSC 5.0 discontinues support for the following:

• vCenter 5.1 and earlier
• VMware Desktop client
• 32-bit Windows installations
• mbralign
• Single File Restore
• Datastore Remote Replication
• Flash Accel

To download, see  http://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/vsc_win/5.0/

VMWARE had release product updates to address the BASH security vulnerabilities

VMWARE had release product updates to address the BASH security vulnerabilities on 01/10/14 .

It is found at http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2014-0010.html

Reports have shown using their honeypots system  that Malicious individuals are currently actively scanning for vulnerable and un-patch system and what commands they are attempting  to execute by simply passing URL/command  parameters.

https://www.alienvault.com/open-threat-exchange/blog/attackers-exploiting-shell-shock-cve-2014-6721-in-the-wild
http://blog.sucuri.net/2014/09/bash-shellshocker-attacks-increase-in-the-wild-day-1.html

Configuring vSphere Flash Read Cache

This article Configuring vSphere Flash Read Cache is taken from  virtualizationreview.com. It is definitely a good read. One of good features of VSphere 5.5 is the Flash Read Cache.

According to the article,

This capability allows a VMDK (the VMware virtual disk format) to have a "slice" of higher performing SSD storage without putting the entire contents on the SSD. This only applies to reads, but it can be a great way to get a big boost in I/O that is shared across multiple VMs.

The picture summarise it so well

 

Do read the article for an in-depth explanation. 

NFS Share getting a (1) appended when adding NFS storage at VCentre

I seems to get be getting this (1) appended to the NFS Share when I enter the NFS storage and volume and Datastore Name at the VCentre "Add Storage" dialogue box. I was using VSphere 5.1 and VCentre 5.1

There are 2 scenarios

Scenario 1 - Case Sensitive for the ServerName
Do look at NFS share getting a (1) appended when adding to a new host in existing datacenter . The solution is due to different caps for the storage name


Scenario 2- Missing "/" for the Storage Folder

For example ( I have this in my existing host):

Server: 192.168.1.1
Folder: vol/vol1
DataStore Name: MyDataStore 

Do note that the volume has already mapped in other hosts. I realized that the correction error was very simple. I missed the "/" in front on the vol/vol1

Server: 192.168.1.1
Folder: /vol/vol1
DataStore Name: MyDataStore 

Adding and Removing the 2nd Mellanox Ethernet Port as an uplink to an Existing Vswitch using the CLI

At VSphere 5.1 Client. I was able to see the Dual-Port Network Adapter (vmnic22.p1, vmnic22.p2) after I install the Vmware Installing Mellanox ConnectX® EN 10GbE Drivers for VMware® ESX 5.x Server.

But somehow I am not able to use the 2nd port of the Mellanox ConnectX 10G on the VSphere Client > Configuration > Networking. It will not be visible. However at the VSphere Client > Configuration > Networking > Add Networking, I not able to see the 2nd Port being available.

I found the document from Mellanox (MellanoxMLX4_ENDriverforVMwareESXi-5.xREADME) which is useful to resolve the issue.

At Page 10, Adding the Device as an uplink to an Existing Vswitch using the CLI

Step 1: Log into the ESXi server with root permission

Step 2: Add an uplink to a vswitch, run:

# esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add –u <uplink_name> -v <vswitch_name>

* Uplink_name refer to the name used by ESX for the network Adapter. For example, vmnic22.p2 is the uplink name

Step 3: Check that uplink was added successfully. Run:

# esxcli network vswitch standard list -v <vswitch_name>

Removing the Device an an uplink to an Existing Vswitch using the CLI

Step 1: Log into the ESXi server with root permissions Step 2: Remove an uplink from a vswitch, run:

# esxcli network vswitch standard uplink remove -u <uplink_name> -v <vswitch_name>

Upgrading Mellanox ConnectX® EN 10GbE Drivers for VMware® ESX 5.x Server

Do read the Blog Entry Installing Mellanox ConnectX® EN 10GbE Drivers for VMware® ESX 5.x Server

Step 1: At VMware ESX 5.x Hypervisor,

• Click the F2 button
• Select "Troubleshoot Options"
• "Enable ESXi Shell" and "Enable SSH"

Step 2: Download the VMware ESXi 5.0 Driver for Mellanox ConnectX Ethernet Adapters

Step 3: Unzip the mlx4_en-mlnx-1.6.1.2-offline_bundle-471530.zip

Step 4: The upgrade process is similar to a new install, except the command that should be issued is the following:

#   esxcli software vib upgrade -v {VIBFILE}

In the example above, this would be:

#  esxcli software vib upgrade -v 
/tmp/net-mlx4-en-1.6.1.2-1OEM.500.0.0.406165.x86_64.vib

Installing Mellanox ConnectX® EN 10GbE Drivers for VMware® ESX 5.x Server

If you have Mellanox Technologies MT27500 Family [ConnectX-3] 10G Ethernet Card, it may not be automatically detected by VMware ESX 5.x Hypervisor. You have to install the driver manually into Vmware 5.x

Step 1: At VMware ESX 5.x Hypervisor,

• Click the F2 button
• Select "Troubleshoot Options"
• "Enable ESXi Shell" and "Enable SSH"

Step 2: Download the VMware ESXi 5.0 Driver for Mellanox ConnectX Ethernet Adapters

Step 3: Unzip the mlx4_en-mlnx-1.6.1.2-offline_bundle-471530.zip

Step 4: Read the README file
VMware uses a file package called a VIB (VMware Installation Bundle) as the  mechanism for installing or upgrading software packages on an ESX server.

The file may be installed directly on an ESX server from the command line, or through the VMware Update Manager (VUM).

Step 5:  For New Installation (From README and modified)

For new installs, you should perform the following steps:

Step 5a: Copy the VIB to the ESX server.  Technically, you can place the file anywhere that is accessible to the ESX console shell, but for these instructions, we'll assume the location is in '/tmp'.

Here's an example of using the Linux 'scp' utility to copy the file from a local system to an ESX server located at 10.10.10.10:

# scp net-mlx4-en-1.6.1.2-1OEM.500.0.0.406165.x86_64.vib root@10.10.10.10:/tmp

Step 5b: Issue the following command (full path to the VIB must be specified):

# esxcli software vib install -v {VIBFILE}

In the example above, this would be:

# esxcli software vib install -v 
/tmp/net-mlx4-en-1.6.1.2-1OEM.500.0.0.406165.x86_64.vib

Installing and upgrading to VSphere 5.1

I was upgradingfrom VCentre 4.1 to VCentre 5.1. I found this online video particular useful in quickly get to start of upgrading VCentre

The blog of the youtuber can be found at Plain Visualization

Free Instructional Video from Vmware

Free Instructional Videos Delivered by our Education Instructors . These short instructional videos provide you with helpful product overviews and detailed demonstrations installing, configuring, deploying Vmware related producted. These includes

1. vSphere 5.x
2. ESXi
3. Site Recovery Manager
4. vCenter Operations, Orchestrator, Protect
5. vCloud Director
6. vFabric/Spring
7. View
8. vSphere Storage Appliance
9. Zimbra

Performance Tuning of Latency-Sensitive Workloads in Vmware vSphere VMs

This article Best Practices for Performance Tuning of Latency-Sensitive Workloads in vSphere VMs (pdf). This article covers and recommends the tuning of differnt layers of an application's environment for latency-sensitive workloads. A word of caution in the article, is that the recommendations in the paper the tweaking may hurt the performance that are tolerant of higher latency

Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware EX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems

This paper "Performance Report: Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware® ESX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems" by NetApp and Vmware was written in 2008 is a interesting comparison with 3 protocols, FC, iSCSI and NFS. The variation between the protocols is about maximum 9%. With the advent of the new Vmmare VSphere, 10G with TOE etc, the performance gap may be close that in 2008.

The summary of the pro and cons as mentioned in the article is summarised at Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware EX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems

Goodbye to VSphere vRAM licensing

With the upcoming release of VSphere 5.1, Vmware is removing the vRAM licensing requirements and returning to previously CPU-based licensing model. You may want to read this interesting article on what is coming up beside removing vTax as MS coined it.

Information:

1. For a good summary of the new features in VSphere 5.1, do look at VMware releases vSphere 5.1
2.  Wave good-bye to VMware's unloved vSphere vRAM 'vTax'

VSphere Edition Comparison

 Since the advent of the VSphere 5, there were some changes in which vmware work out its licenses. I find this chart from VMware Compare Edition helpful when you intend to select the

Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host with Chelsio T4

If you are using Chelsio and you wish to configure VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host with  Chelsio T4, you may want to take a look at this article

1. Installing Chelsio driver CD on an ESX 4.x host
2. Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host with Chelsio T4 Card (Part 1)
3. Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host with Chelsio T4 Card (Part 2)

"Device eth0 does not seem to be present" on cloned CentOS VM

After cloning the a CentOS 6 Virtual Machine from a VMware VM Template. On powering, I encountered the error "Device eth0 does not seem to be present".

Basically, in a nutshell, the OS remembers the old NIC of the template and new NIC provided after the clone are assigns as though they were new NICs. To solve the problem, remove the "SUBSYSTEM" entry that contains the old entry and change the eth1 to eth0 accordingly.

# vim /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

# PCI device 0x15ad:0x07b0 (vmxnet3)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", 
ATTR{address}=="00:50:56:ae:00:1a", 
ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

# PCI device 0x15ad:0x07b0 (vmxnet3)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", 
ATTR{address}=="00:50:56:ae:00:1b", 
ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth1"

# PCI device 0x15ad:0x07b0 (vmxnet3)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", 
ATTR{address}=="00:50:56:ae:00:1b", 
ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

Remember to modify the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to reflect the correct changes.

Once you are done, reload the udev configuration. See Updating the udev configuration on CentOS

There is a very good and complete information written on this whole issue.
Cloned Red Hat/CentOS/Scientific Linux Virtual Machines and “Device eth0 does not seem to be present” Message

Best Practices for VMware vSphere 5 on NetApp Data ONTAP

This updated technical report Best Practices for Vmware vSphere 5 covers 3 main areas

1. How the new and updated technologies from VMware and NetApp enable you to virtualize demanding business-critical applications
2. The role of the best practice TR as it relates to the rest of the joint VMware and NetApp solutions documents in the NetApp technical library
3. How to enable coordinated and automated cross-domain operations where resources are consumed dynamically while complying with operational standards

 Interesting Extraction from the article


With VMware vSphere 5 you can deploy “monster VMs”—virtual machines configured with a maximum of 32 virtual CPUs and 1TB of memory. To put the new configurations of a “monster VM” in perspective, in vSphere 4.1 a virtual machine was limited to 8 virtual CPUs and 255GB of memory. The VMware engineering team has outdone itself in delivering such an increase in computing capacity.

NetApp has also enhanced the performance of the dedupe intelligence within the storage caches of its arrays. Dedupe-aware storage controller cache is unique to NetApp and is a feature that we developed and brought to market specifically for use with server virtualization. If you’re familiar with the performance benefits of VMware Transparent Page Sharing, then just imagine that technology in the cache of a storage array. NetApp is the only array that allows data cached from one VM to be accessed when servicing a subsequent request by another VM......

Interesting related technical report "NetApp Storage Best Practices for VMware vSphere" (pdf)

Set higher MTU for vSwitch and Virtual Distributed Switch

 Refer to KB: iSCSI and Jumbo Frames configuration on ESX 3.x and ESX 4.x for more details

**Any packet larger than 1500 MTU is a Jumbo Frame. ESX supports frames up to 9Kb (9000 Bytes).

 To set the MTU size for the vSwitch, run the command:

# esxcfg-vswitch -m (MTU_Number) (Vswitch)

where MTU_Number = 9000, Vswitch = Name of the Vswitch

This command sets the MTU for all uplinks on that vSwitch. Set the MTU size to the largest MTU size among all the virtual network adapters connected to the vSwitch.

---

Refer to KB: Enabling Jumbo Frames for VMkernel ports in a virtual distributed switch


Run this command to change the MTU size for the individual port group:

# esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 -v (port number) -s (dvs Switch name) 

For Example:

# esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 -v 115 -s "NewLAN-DVS"

To enable Jumbo Frames on a VMkernel port from vCenter Server:

1) Click Home > Hosts and Clusters > Host > Configuration > Networking.
2) Navigate to the vSphere Distributed Switch tab.
3) Click the VMkernel port (eg: vmk1)
4) Click Manage Virtual Adapters.
5) Select the vmk interface and click Edit.
6) Under the NIC settings, change the MTU value to 9000.
7) Click OK.

Extend LVM on Vmware Linux Guest

One of my mirror ran out of space today. I've come across an excellent article on How to extend LVM on Vmware Guest running Linux by Edward's Blog. Tried his tutorial and it work without a hitch.

Video interview - Vmware CTO Steve Herrod and Arista Founder, CDO, Chairman Andy Bechstolsheim

Video interview - Vmware CTO Steve Herrod andArista Founder, CDO, Chairman Andy Bechstolsheim

1. Introduction to the CTO Video Series with Steve Herrod
2. Part I: The State of Cloud Computing: Applications as a Service
3. Part II: The Semantics of Cloud
4. Part III: Moore's Law and its Impact on Software Infrastructure and Network Capacity
5. Part IV: Storage: From Mechanics to Silicon and Network Scalability
6. Part V: Andy's Current Software Focus at Arista
7. Part VI: Power Efficiency and Chip Design
8. Part VII: Power and the Datacenter: The Impact of Software Improvments
9. Part VIII: Private vs Public Cloud: Transparency and Economics
10. Part IX: Security and the Cloud
11. Part X: Arista and the Importance of Low Latency
12. Part XI: Today's Financial Trading Model
13. Part XII: What Technologies are Interesting to Andy?
14. Part XIII: Who Does Andy Admire: Einstein vs The Hardy Boys
15. Part XIV: The Importance of Science Education
16. Part XV: Wrap-up