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Posts Tagged ‘Patch’

One more post to wrap up the nonsense with my DL380 G3 ESX servers….

Vincent Vlieghe noted that you must make a couple changes to your DL380 G3′s for ESX to work correctly.  His post was written back in 2006 when we were still working with ESX 2.x, but the same appears to be true of ESX 3.5 RTM (Updates are not supported on this hardware per the HCL).  The changes you must make to BIOS are:

For stable operation on these systems, ESX Server requires a BIOS MPS Table Mode setting of Full Table APIC. With the exception of the specific systems referenced below, the following BIOS settings must be applied in order if available:

1. System Options > OS Selection: Select Windows 2000.
2. Advanced Options > MPS Table Mode: Select Full Table APIC.
3. When presented with multiple Windows options (Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows .NET, and so on) select Windows 2000. If both BIOS settings are available and can be modified, both must be set correctly. You should confirm these settings after any BIOS upgrade operation.

I have seen other references that say that you should also disable hyperthreading on this platform, but I was able to successfully run with Hyperthreading enabled with no performance degradation or stability issues.  I hope this information is helpful to those of you still running these dinosaurs!

I wrote some time back about networking problems with a clean install of ESX 3.5 U3 on a HP DL380 G3 server in a lab environment.  A simple downgrade to ESX 3.5 RTM corrected the issue and I didn’t think much about it.  One of the servers in the lab died and I went about the business of rebuilding it.  Having learned my lesson, I started with an ESX 3.5 RTM install and then patched to Update 3 plus other applicable updates.  Much to my chagrin, the server began crapping out on me randomly.  Some reboots, some networking issues, and other assorted not so good things.  Now the DL380 G3 is not the spring chicken it used to be, so I assumed some faulty hardware was probably to blame.  Some diagnostics and log reviews yielded no hardware issues.

On a whim, I decided to check the VMware HCL to see if the DL380 G3 was still on the list of compatible servers for ESX.  Now, I had checked, or rather ‘remembered’ checking, the HCL before that first problematic install, but a recheck never hurts.  When I arrived at the VMware HCL page I saw the same old trusty PDF link with a slightly newer revision date than my previous visit.  I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked the PDF link to find that I was redirected to a searchable, filterable forms-based version of the HCL.  Nice!  Let’s do this thing….

I’m a little lazy, so I simply used a keyword search to look up ‘DL380 G3′.  Presto-chango: I’ve got results, and I like what I see:

Search Results for DL380 G3 on the VMware HCL

My eyes jump right to ESX 3.5 – Supported, on my platform, no further questions your honor.  Close the old browser window and move on with my life, my life being troubleshooting this darn server.

A few hours later I am still struggling with the server and turn to Ebay for salvation.  “If you can’t beat em, cheat em,” my grandfather used to say.  I’ll find new hardware for my lab.  I identified some other hunk of junk that just might work and decided to check the HCL for it.  That’s when it jumped out at me: there are Update versions included in the HCL and I had been to quick to see it on my DL380 G3 search.  Back to the HCL.

This time I just do a search for ‘DL380′, leaving off the Generational notation and get the following:

Search Results for DL380 from the VMware HCL

The ProLiant DL380 G5 with Quad-core Intel Xeon processors lists ESX 3.5 U3, ESX 3.5 U2, and ESX 3.5 U1 as supported releases, along with the RTM ESX 3.5.  The Update versions are not listed for the G3 or G4.  After some self-deprecating curses and a reinstall of ESX 3.5 Update-nada, stability returned.

The lesson learned, double-check the HCL (or if you are a little slow like me, a triple-check doesn’t hurt).  The HCL is major version and Update-revision sensitive.  And, not all models are treated equally.  You’ll notice in the picture to the left that the DL380 G5 has different supported releases depending on the CPU Model.

Also, keep in mind that you need to verify that all components of your VMware infrastructure are on the HCL from Servers and Systems to IO Devices, and Storage/SAN.  The VMware HCL site offers some basic tips for searching here: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/help.php.

Here’s the real take-away: The VMware HCL is there for a reason.  Sure, you might be able to get something that is not on the HCL to work, but you may experience instability along the way.  In the event that you are running a non-HCL system you may also find that VMware Support may be limited in what they can do for you.

Microsoft released version 2 of their Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool (OVMSTv2) yesterday.  The updated version of the tool, a component of Microsoft’s Solution Accelerator family of ‘best-practice-meets-tools’ adds integration with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and support for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, and Windows Server® Update Services 3.0 SP1.  The tool works in much the same way as VMware’s Update Manager product updates Windows guest VM’s. Support for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 obviously means that this product could supplement, replace or conflict with VMware’s Update Manager’s ability to patch Windows guests hosted on a VMware Virtual Infrastructure.

There is not yet much information on this version of the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool.  A MSDN blog post from May 2008 includes some information on the beta version of the product.  The Getting Started guide included in the OVMSTv2 .zip download reveals a bit more about the requirements and footprint required to implement the solution.  The solution requires a good deal of Microsoft software, including (depending on your environment and requirements) Microsoft Active Directory, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Configuration Manager 2007, and Virtual Machine Manager 2007, and an appropriately designed Group Policy (GPO) environment.  Another requirement is that the target VM’s have DHCP assigned IP addresses.

I did not read anywhere in the documentation that the OVMSTv2 integrates snapshot capabilities to provide simple roll-back of guests that suffer problems on Patch Tuesday, as VMware Update Manager does.  I also did not see a reference to network isolation capabilites in OVMSTv2.  VMware Update Manager keeps offline VM’s offline during the patching process.  OVMSTv2 has to reach out to a WSUS or Configuration Manager server, so I suspect that the guest is not isolated during that patching process.

I have not had a chance to build up all of the requirements of this tool in the lab, so I don’t have any practical advise for using the tool.  Have any of you used the beta or release versions of the tool?  Post a comment to let everyone know your experiences.

The Microsoft Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool v2 could be a good tool to add to your Microsoft patch management arsenal, but the small footprint and simplicity of VMware Update Manager will most likely keep all but the most dedicated Microsoft shops from implementing OVMSTv2.