VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘patch’

I Received this patch notification email from VMware on 5/2/08.

To update your subscription, please visit VMware Patch/Maintenance Alerts Subscriptions [http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/subscription/]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: ESX Server 3.5 / 3i – New Patches Available
Release Date: 04/30/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New patches are available for ESX Server 3.5/3i.

Please follow the instructions on the appropriate patch download page. Read the rest of this entry »

I was not aware that you could not install WinXP SP2 or earlier versions as a VM on Microsoft’s Hyper-V servers. I haven’t had the opportunity to play with Hyper-V yet, so I I’ll attribute missing this fact to not having the need to know. I’m sure there are a bunch of administrators in the same stage of evaluation as me. Hopefully this post will not be old news to most. XP SP3 will become available for download this week as an optional update. Microsoft will begin pushing XP SP3 to everyone that has Windows Update set to Automatic in early June.

The problem with installing XP SP2 on Hyper-V is that you can not install Integration Services (also called VM Additions or VMtools by other vendors), and without Integration Services you do not have network adapters in the VM. Christian Saborío sums up the problem in his post titled How to Install Integration Services on a Virtual Machine without Windows XP SP3.

“The problem happened when importing a Virtual hard disk that I had that had Windows XP SP2. See, in order for a VM to take full advantage of Hyper-V, you need to have the Integration Services installed (these are the new Virtual Machine Additions, in Virtual Server lingo). In order to install the Integration Services, I needed to have Windows XP SP3 – which I could easily download; but the VM did not had network support. Why? Because it needed Integration Services…see where I am getting at here?”

Christian explains that he was able to slipstream an .iso of XP with SP3 and, after a new install he had a running VM.

Microsoft announced that XP SP3 will be generally available this week. I found the following useful info Read the rest of this entry »

New ESX 3.0.1 /3.0.2 patches released on 03/06/08. Here’s the email notification I received:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subject: ESX Server 3.0.1 / 3.0.2 – New Patches Available
Release Date: 03/06/08
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New patches are available for ESX Server 3.0.1 and ESX Server 3.0.2. Please follow the instructions on the Read the rest of this entry »

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..

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, Read the rest of this entry »

Even though VI 3.5 is now generally available you may not be ready to upgrade from version 3 just yet. You should, however, make sure all patches and updates are applied to your VI3 infrastructure. This post explains the upgrading and patching methods I have standardized on and provides some tips for avoiding common issues like HA agent configuration and auto applying numerous ESX patches. All scripts and files referenced are linked at the bottom of this post.

Prepare

Preparing for the upgrade and patching is critical to minimizing what can go wrong.

Upgrade Virtual Center

Read the rest of this entry »