VM /ETC

Posts Tagged ‘virtualcenter’

John Troyer has announced that the VMware website has been updated to reflect new product line names first introduced back in September at VMworld 2008. In the VMTN post Do they smell as sweet? New product line names: vCenter, View, John explains that the VirtualCenter and VDM products have are now referred to as vCenter and VMware View. Several VC add ons such as Update Manager and Converter are included along with Site Recovery Manager (SRM), Lab Manager, Lifecycle Manager, and even the file system VMFS now have slightly new names.

John provides a complete list of all products impacted by the name change which I have copied here. Read the rest of this entry »

The problem surfaced from a ESX 3.5 U2 host fiber connected (FC) to a NetApp filer. An AutoSupport email was generated (NetApp’s filer “phone home” feature) with the following information:

This AutoSupport indicates that there is a configuration issue in the FCP partner path.

Information:
============

[hostname: scsitarget.partnerPath.misconfigured:error]: FCP Partner Path Misconfigured.
[hostname: scsitarget.partnerPath.misconfigured:error]: FCP Partner Path Misconfigured – Host I/O access through a non-primary and non-optimal path was detected.

The AutoSupport email even explained what causes the misconfigured path.

This message occurs when the system detects that host I/O access to logical units (LUNs) is not through a primary path. NetApp clustered storage controllers allow access to LUNs through primary, optimized paths, and secondary, non-optimized paths.  Secondary(non-primary) paths provide access to LUNs through the partner storage controller’s FCP target ports. Under normal operating conditions, a host should not perform I/O to LUNs using a non-primary path. Access through a non-primary path should only occur when a host’s MPIO software detects a failure of all primary paths.

The mystery for me was “what caused a failure of the primary path?“. Believe it or not, Read the rest of this entry »

I first heard that the new VMware Administrator Portal (VCAP) for consolidated management of multiple VirtualCenter Servers (VC) would soon be released as a free product during VMworld 2008. True to their promise, VMware provided a technology preview version for download at the end of last week. I found out it was released when Yellow-bricks.com posted about it and then the VMTN Blog and Mike D posted about the Yellow-bricks.com update. So, I downloaded the virtual appliance and did some basic testing this weekend. Although I do not have multiple VCs or a lot of VMs to test with, the following is a summary of my notes and thoughts while setting it up. Read the rest of this entry »

VMware’s VI Client is the remote management tool for VirtualCenter Server, ESX hosts, and Virtual Machines. In a default installation of VI 3.5 it can be downloaded without user authentication from the web interface of any ESX host or instance of VirtualCenter. Assuming restricted desktop permissions are in place, users may already be prohibited from installing the VI Client, and even if the client can be installed VirtualCenter and ESX permissions prevent unauthorized user access. But what if you want to prevent users from downloading the client in the first place?

Maybe you don’t want to manage multiple copies of the VI Client on your network. Maybe you don’t want support calls from users who are trying to get rogue administrative access. Perhaps you are just trying to ensure that your users who do have access to VI components always use the web interface. Whatever your reason, there are multiple methods for disabling the VI Client download from the ESX and VC 2.5 web interfaces. Some alternatives are:

• Close the web ports on the local firewall of each VMware Server
• Restrict access from non admin computers on your network
• Stop the web services on the VMware servers

The problem with doing any of the above is that you either end up breaking or limiting other features of your virtual infrastructure solution or it could require significant planning and configuration to implement.

This post explains how to leave the default VMware web ports and services open and active, and instead modify the web interface page content so that the unwanted links are no longer available. When finished with the steps below the “Log in to Web Access” link is the only content available from the web interface. It’s a simple alternative that doesn’t have any of the “gotchas” of the previously mentioned possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

My attempt to perform a fresh VirtualCenter (VC) 2.5 Update 3 installation on Windows 2003 R2 failed with the following error:

“Warning 25098. Setup has detected that the VirtualCenter Service is not running on this system. Please wait for the service to start and then try installing VMware Update Manager and/or VMware converter again.”

Troubleshooting the ODBC connection using the SQL Native Client to the remote SQL 2005 Server and removing and reinstalling without Update Manager or VMware Converter did not help.  Turns out the problem was Read the rest of this entry »

I ran into an issue at a client several weeks ago where the web interface for VirtualCenter 2.0.2 wasn’t working. They had just upgraded from version 2.0 where it was previously working fine. It’s not a common issue, but if you decide to upgrade to VirtualCenter version 2.02 before going to VirtualCenter 2.5 you might run into it. I had never experienced the problem so it was a surprise to me. Luckily it is well documented and easy to resolve.

After upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.0.2, Update 1, Update 2 or Update 3, the VMware VirtualCenter 2 Welcome page does not render completely is the title of KB 100285 which describes the problem. I was able to folow the instructions in the KB and restore the web interface with no problems. The rest if this post is taken straight from the VMware KB. Read the rest of this entry »

I had to miss my 9:30 am scheduled session because I was delayed finishing up the General Session post. Luckily VMworld has different sessions on the top and bottom of each hour this year. I think the staggered availability of sessions is a great idea, and it was perfect for my scenario this morning. I am actually more interested in VMware’s Linux strategy anyways. My power is low on my notebook, so this may start as a live blog but my battery might not make it.

Once again the legal disclaimer about forward technologies, but the presenter tells us he can’t give dates … hmmm.

VMware’s Linux strategy is focused along 2 vectors:

• Ensure it is the best platform for linux workloads
• Ensure customers have a wide variety of platform choices to deploy VMware

Here’s the Linux Initiatives at VMware Read the rest of this entry »