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Is it possible to upgrade to ESX 3.5 without leaving your desk? By downloading the headless upgrade package and using the esxupdate utility with an http depot, absolutely!

I’ve done a handful of upgrades at different companies over the last few weeks without even opening the data center door. One client still has another 15 ESX hosts they will be upgrading in the upcoming weeks that are each at different branch offices. That means that the data center door won’t even be in the same city! The client plans on using the same process for their remaining ESX hosts.

Can you do it too? Probably, but that’s for you to decide based on whether or not your VI3 infrastructure, your blood pressure, and your boss will allow you.

First things first. Get to know the VMware upgrade guide and carefully read the VI3.5 Release Notes. Better yet, ask your favorite VMware Partner to assist you with the planning and implementation, and leverage their training and VMware expertise. Using a Partner will definitely help with your blood pressure and your boss. Now let’s discuss the VI3 infrastructure and the upgrade process.

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While doing some research to get ready to implement the new ESX 3.5 storage vmotion feature I came across some helpful blog posts, and a script that will be a real time saver.

Unlike the vmotion we are used to, you can not right click on a vm in the vi client and initiate a storage vmotion. You have to download VMware-VIRemoteCLI and install it. The VIRemoteCLI can be downloaded as:

* a virtual appliance
* a windows installer
* a linux installer

Once the RemoteCLI is installed in Windows for example,

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Changing the ip address of your ESX host, or specifically the ip address of the ESX Service Console, can be done on the console using the esxcfg commands. The esxcfg- utilities are the console commands for many ESX configuration options. To see all these commands at the console prompt simply enter “esxcfg-” and hit the tab button.

To change the IP address of the ESX 3.x host, you need to use the esxcfg-vswif command. To see the options and syntax of the esxcfg-vswif command you can enter:

#esxcfg-vswif -?

To change the ip address of the ESX host:

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Here’s another upgrade to ESX 3.5 issue reported to me by Mohammad, a UK VMware professional and VM /ETC reader. This issue is specific to ESX hosts that have 4 or more CPU sockets and are using a host based license. VMware has now released a patch to resolve this issue - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1003214

From our email conversation:

Mohammad:

Just a quick question on ESX 3.5 note.. Have you come across using 4x CPU (quad core, so 16cores total) host-based license with ESX 3.5 yet? One of my customers got an issue with that and VMware’s response was that they need a patch to fix the issue which sounds little strange.

Me:

I have not come across this yet. Just so I understand, your customer has a 4 physical socket ESX server that is also quad core and ESX host based licensing won’t work? Meaning what, that they have at least a 4 cpu license but ESX can’t read it correctly on this particular platform? It was not a problem in ESX 3.0.2 or earlier?

Mohammad:

Yes thats right, 4 sockets, 4 CPUs and all quad core, ESX 3.5, hostbased lic. On Vi Client, when pointing to lic file, ESX shows licensed, but when clicking on ESX edition to select lic type starter or standard, clicking on standard and OK, still shows ESX unlicensed. Lic file is correct. Apparantly VMware has just said there this is an issue (ESX 3.5 with 4 or more CPUs, host-based lic) which they will fix in patch release..

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One of the cool things about this blog is I am communicating with and learning from virtualization professionals all over the world. Recently I received an email from a reader in the UK, Mohammad, who notified me of a couple ESX 3.5 upgrade issues he has experienced. One of his issues, and the topic of this post, is a painful example of the need to understand the compatibility matrixes published by VMware before upgrading to VI3.5.

From Mohammad’s email:

“.. I also found some quirks in ESX 3.5 with backward compatibility. I built some Blades BL460c/ESX 3.5 with eva 3000 SAN. Later I put ESX 302 Update1 Build on blades but left VMFS partition (ESX 3.5 Build) intact as it had some VMs on them. These VMs threw some terrible issues with networking in Windows 2003 environment (despite working ok with normal day to day networking ) and it wasn’t until few days after when I discovered that the VMware tools installed from ESX3.5 build were the culprit although no apparantly networking issues were there. Reverting back the Tools versions sorted the problem out.

Morale: ESX 3.5 VMware Tools are not backward compatible on VMs that may [have] to run on [the] ESX 302 platform.”

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VMTN has posted some clarification to my recent post The Hidden Cost of VDI. Microsoft has also announced some VECD licensing changes.

From VMware’s VMTN Blog:

A clarification about VECD licensing from Warren Ponder at the Virtual Desktop Blog. Warren is referring to Rich Brambley’s posting over at VM /ETC about The hidden cost of VDI - VECD. Note that in all of yesterday’s sound-and-fury from Microsoft, they did reduce the VECD license cost from $78 to $23 dollars.

From Warren Ponder’s Virtual Desktop Blog:

Recently I read a blog explaining some of the early details of VECD. It described VECD as a hidden cost of VDI. There were also some snippets from a FAQ that was released by VMware, shortly after VECD was announced back in April. The blog makes some valid points, but there was one small detail that was not accurate.

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I realize I am a little late announcing my own employer has been acquired, but, hey, I’ve been busy!

Anyways, here’s a good write up about the deal from Channelweb Network. From the article:

The acquisition of $140 million Optimus would help Softchoice to provide advanced hardware technology solutions and services, including internetworking, server consolidation, and security solutions to U.S. mid-market, enterprise and public sector organizations. The deal broadens Softchoice’s geographic reach, extending its ability now to deliver hardware solutions across all U.S. market segments.

After talking to several of our customers I have heard nothing but positive comments. A lot of our clients have bought software licenses through Softchoice and are excited with the new potential to buy hardware and services through them as well.  I know there are a bunch of Softchoice customers all over the United States and Canada that Optimus has not done with business with so far. Who knows, I may be coming to a town near you soon …

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Last week I was helping a client upgrade to VI 3.5 and experienced some unexpected VM reboots. Unfortunately I did not discover the reason it happened until after the upgrade. I was reading blog.scottlowe.com when I found the post ESX Server 3.0.1 Patch Needed for VC 2.5. From the post:

According to this VMware KB document, any ESX Server running version 3.0.1 should have patch ESX-7557441 installed before VirtualCenter is upgraded to version 2.5. If this patch is not installed,

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The report from yellow-bricks.com that I posted on last week of a new VMware beta product called Stage Manager has officially been announced. I just received an email from VMware:

Dear Rich,

We’re pleased to announce the availability of VMware Stage Manager 1.0 Beta, the first management and automation system for pre-production infrastructure and operations.

VMware Stage Manager 1.0 allows IT organizations to visualize release processes, manage resources and system configuration changes, ensure consistency, and streamline the transition of IT services and business applications between life-cycle stages and into production.

VMware Stage Manager 1.0 empowers IT organizations to:

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Welcome to the new home of VM /ETC !!

Since I spent way too much time this weekend getting the site migrated, look for new posts to start later this week.

Thanks for reading my blog!

-Rich

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Try to see it once my way
Everything Zen
Everything Zen
I don’t think so

Bush - Everything Zen

Xen, XenSource, XenServer, and Zen. What are they? Which one do I use to virtualize my servers? What is Citrix’s product and how does it compare to VMware? These are my reasons for writing this post. Frankly, I was confused. After some intense meditation I decided to figure it out. Unfortunately, Lakers coach Phil Jackson was not available to help.

Wikipedia was where I started my journey. At first I was even more confused when I landed on the Xen (disambiguation) page:

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Did you know that if you deploy a VM with a Windows desktop OS on any virtualization server you are violating Microsoft licensing if you use your Volume Licensing key? Did you know that if you P2V a desktop OS that is using an OEM Windows License to a virtual server you are also in violation?

The only way Microsoft allows you to run virtual desktops on a virtual server is using an annual subscription license called Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktops (VECD), and VECD is only available if you buy Software Assurance. Microsoft announced VECD back in April 2007.

VMware published a .pdf that is a FAQ about VECD. Here’s some cut and pastes from the .pdf:

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