VM /ETC

Archive for January, 2009

VMware announced specific Linux packages are now available for it’s VM Tools not too long ago. They also introduced the  Operating System Specific Packages (OSP) Home Page where “you will be able to search, browse and download VMware Tools software packaged in the native package format (e.g. rpm, deb etc) for select supported Operating Systems.” At VMworld 2008 I attended a session about VMware’s Roadmap for Linux that promised distribution packages were on the horizon, so it’s great to see them so quickly.

VMware currently has Linux packages for:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (including GA and Update Releases 1 through 7)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (including GA and Update Releases 1 and 2)
• Suse Linux Enterprise Server 9 (including GA and Service Pack releases 1 through 4)
• Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 (including GA and Service Pack releases 1 and 2)
• Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (including GA and Update Release 8.04.1)

VMware has created a guide for installing the OSPs (http://www.vmware.com/pdf/osp_install_guide.pdf), but after reading this PDF I was a little disappointed in the complicated process described inside. It made me curious if it could really be that hard, for Ubuntu for example, when so many packages are readily available via the Synaptic Package Manager. So, I decided to check for myself and the result was the screen shot image in this post. Click it for a larger view.

I haven’t actually tried an install from Synaptic yet, but I am definitely excited about the package availability! Let me know if you’ve already used Synaptic, Yum, apt-get, or any other native Linux package management tool to successfully install VMware Tools.

In my opinion, this is a huge advancement in the automation of Linux guest administration, and it will make installing and  keeping VMware Tools updated for Linux operating systems almost as easy as in Windows guests!

Microsoft has updated it’s licensing policies regarding virtual machines hosted on all versions of Hyper-V again. Available for download via the Licensing: Virtual Environments and Technologies web page, 2 key Microsoft virtualization policy documents now have Jan ’09 revisions. A description of these documents is provided in the page’s Overview section:

Licensing Microsoft Server Products in Virtual Environments (Word file, 2.25 MB) is an overview of Microsoft licensing models for the server operating system and server applications under virtual environments. Licensing Microsoft Windows Server 2008 to Run with Virtualization Technologies (Word file, 1.39 MB) describes how Windows Server 2008 and other Microsoft server products are licensed when they are used with other virtualization technologies.

Here are some quick notes on the changes from these documents that caught my attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Not too long ago I published a visual how to guide for installing Windows 7 Beta on VMware Workstation 6.5. In this post I am illustrating how to install Windows 7 in a VirtualBox 2.1 virtual machine hosted on a 32 bit Ubuntu 8.10 desktop. Once again the installation is straightforward, but I’ve taken the time to record screen shots of the process. Judging by the traffic from the first post, the topic of running Windows 7 in a VM has been very popular, so now this post provides a Linux open source alternative to the previous Windows Vista VMware Workstation post. Like before I’ve added some basic notes along with my impressions during the process.

There’s nothing really too complicated or tricky, but nonetheless use this guide to get an idea how simple the VirtualBox Windows 7 installation process really is. Read the rest of this entry »

A few virtualization bloggers have reported that they received an alert email from VMware about an I/O failure issue involving iSCSI or Fiber Channel (FC) SANs. There is also an alert currently dispalyed at http://www.vmware.com/support. In summary, an indefinite block occurs between ESXi/ESX 3.5 Update 3 hosts and VMFS 3 Luns which results in all paths to the storage entering a standby state. The issue is apparently isolated to the Update 3 version only.

Eric Sloof is one blogger that received the email and he has published his copy on his NTPro.nl blog. Here’s a brief quote from the email about the issue:

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND SYMPTONS:

• ESX or ESXi Host may get disconnected from Virtual Center
• All paths to the LUNs are in standby state
• Esxcfg-rescan might take a long tome to complete or never complete (hung)
• VMKernel logs show entries similar to the following:
• Queue for device vml.02001600006006016086741d00c6a0bc934902dd115241 49442035 has been blocked for 6399 seconds.
• Please refer to KB 1008130.

SOLUTION:

A reboot is required to clear this condition.

VMware is working on a patch to address this issue. The knowledge base article for this issue will be updated after the patch is available.

VMware KB 1008130 is titled VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 U3 I/O failure on SAN LUN(s) and LUN queue is blocked indefinitely and provides the pattern of vmkernel messages that identify you have this issue:

Error messages matching this pattern are repeated continually in vmkernel:
<date and time> <hostname> vmkernel: <server uptime> cpu6:1177)SCSI: 675: Queue for device vml.<Vol. Dev. ID> has been blocked for 7 seconds.
<date and time> <hostname> vmkernel: <server uptime> cpu7:1184)SCSI: 675: Queue for device vml.<Vol. Dev. ID> has been blocked for 6399 seconds.

As stated in both the email and the KB article, unfortunately the only solution is to reboot your ESXi/ESX 3.5 Update 3 hosts until VMware is able to provide a patch.

Mike Dipetrillo posted about an idea for pushing a Government wide virtualization initiative that was entered in the Citizen Briefing Book being assembled for Barack Obama. It may be too late since the book was being closed at 6 pm on January 19, but I wanted to help get the word out for support both now and in the future, and I am asking all VM /ETC readers to take less than 60 seconds to try to still move it higher on the list by clicking the Vote Up button.

The idea:

“Push a government-wide IT virtualization initiative to reduce the carbon-footprint of our planned digital health records system by 80+%.

Mandate a review of existing federal IT infrastructure to find opportunities for consolidating servers and reducing datacenter energy requirements with a minimum 10 to 1 consolidation ratio.“

Mike’s post is titled Help the US Government Go Green.

According to the Change.gov web site’s Newsroom Blog post Wrapping up the Citizen’s Briefing Book by Dan McSwain: Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, it’s been a week of announcing new virtualization awards so I had to chime in with my own announcement, right? VMware announced the vExpert reward, vinternals.com announced the humerous vIdiot awards, and now I am announcing the UGG (Ugly Green Guru) and UGH (Ugly Green Hero) awards.

Can you think of a better award for stressed out, overloaded, virtually insane virtualization professionals who take the time to help others?! Maybe you’re not a vExpert (and hopefully not a vIdiot!), but everyone should recognise the value of publicly announcing a good “UGH”!

The winners will be announced Quarterly and will get a special t-shirt so they can proudly display their accomplishment.

Here’s the details for determining the winners:

• Take the time to comment on posts here at VM /ETC. Help others, add information and links, answer questions, and keep me straight.
• If you’ve already commented in the past, claim your profile on DISQUS by creating a free account. (More on DISQUS comments later in this post) Otherwise open a new DISQUS account.
• Make sure I add you to my DISQUS Community Friends.
• Keep an eye on the Top Commenters via the PEOPLE tab of the multi widget in the VM /ETC left column.
• Award clout points to other comments. I willl do the same. Participate in the discussions.
• The top commenter wins the UGG Guru award, and the second and third place finishers get the UGH Hero award.
• The fine details of using clout points versus number of comments to determine the winners will be subjective and my call – it really depends how I well I can track my comments.
• I will mail the shirts to the winners.

I am not trying to become the next VMTN Communities or virtualization forum. I have no illusions about that! I just want to recognise and thank those that help make this blog informative and helpful for both myself and all subscribers and readers.

So, what is DISQUS? Why did I switch to it for VM /ETC and why should you sign up? Read the rest of this entry »

Back in December Scott Herold posted on the VMGuru.com web site that free chapters from the popular book “VMware Infrastructure 3: Advanced Technical Design Guide” would be available for download every 2 weeks. Eventually the entire book would also be available as a down loadable .pdf. That’s great news, but as of this writing I could not find any of the chapters on the page of downloads available from the VMGuru.com site.

Scott, Mike, Ron, consider this post a reminder that it’s mid January now (I know you guys have nothing else going on ), and hopefully this gives you some added promotion and excitement about your book. I’m sure a lot of VMware Admins will want personal copies.

Read Scott’s original post  titled Free Chapters Available Starting in January.

“Ron, Mike, and I have decided that starting in 2009, we will be giving out 2 free chapters of the VMware Infrastructure 3: Advanced Technical Design Guide every 2 weeks.  I am still in the process of collecting the source DOC and PDF files from the Publisher, but as of right now we are anticipating the first two chapters to be availabe during the first week of January. “

There are 0 comments on Scott’s post so maybe he thinks no one was listening? Help me show him we are all waiting!

If you can’t wait for the downloads then Read the rest of this entry »