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VMware Product Updates – April 2013

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VMware UpdatesVMware has released updates to several products over the past couple weeks.  Many of the updates take the version 5.1 products announced at VMworld 2012 to Update 1 (i.e. the first major service pack).  The updates, spanning vSphere (ESXi and vCenter), vCloud Director, vCenter Operations, vCenter Orchestrator, vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere Data Protection, and the vSphere Storage Appliance, include bug fixes, security fixes, and functionality changes.  Here’s what you need to know about the updates, including a few upgrade bugs that you need to know about before you pull the upgrade trigger.

ESXi 5.1 Update 1

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 Update 1 contains some functionality changes, a bunch of bug fixes, and some administrative changes.

First, ESXi support for several guest operating systems will be deprecated after this release.  Those guest OSs include:

  • Windows NT
  • All 16-bit Windows and DOS releases (Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows 3.1)
  • Debian 4.0 and 5.0
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 8
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 prior to SP4
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 prior to SP3
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Prior to SP1
  • Ubuntu releases 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10 and 10.10
  • All releases of Novell Netware
  • All releases of IBM OS/2
  • Guest customization of Windows 2000 will also be deprecated in releases after Update 1, but running Windows 2000 guests will still be supported for a bit longer.

In ESXi 5.1 U1, support for certain host server CPU models will be eliminated with the requirement of SAHF and LAHF support on the CPU.  While most processors produced after 2006 will support these instruction sets, it is possible that your test/dev or home labs could not run ESXi.  For more on LAHF/SAHF, read here: https://vsphere-land.com/news/what-is-sahf-and-lahf-and-why-do-i-need-it-to-install-vsphere-51.html.

Fixes and resolved issues in ESXi 5.1 U1 include improved SNMP trap handling, better support for Mac OS X VMs running hardware version 9, purple screen and guest blue screen fixes, a unicast flooding condition with long running vMotion operations, improved Host Profiles functionality, and improved ESXi Upgrades.

Added functionality in Update 1 includes Component-based logging to enhance log detail for simplified troubleshooting, and an increased VMFS Heap size to allow ESXi hosts to address more than 60TB of open files on VMFS5 (more on that in this post: https://vmtoday.com/2013/04/is-spanning-vmdks-using-windows-dynamic-disks-a-good-idea/).

You can find the release notes for ESXi 5.1 Update 1 here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-esxi-51u1-release-notes.html

vCenter 5.1 Update 1

vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 supports installation on Windows Server 2012 with SQL Server 2012 and 2008 R2.

Guest customization of Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Ubuntu 12.04, and RHEL 5.9 are no also supported.

This release (release notes here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-vcenter-server-51u1-release-notes.html) has a ton of bug fixes for everything from a minor VMs display a red warning icon in the VM inventory list when there is no alarm triggered, to more substantial issues like vCenter and SSO services failing to start.

There is a known issue with this release that causes account lockouts when a vCenter SSO enabled user who is in many domain groups attempts to log in.  If you might be in this situation, hold off on the upgrade until VMware releases a fix.  More on the issue here: https://blogs.vmware.com/kb/2013/04/alert-login-issue-after-updating-to-vcenter-5-1-update-1.html

If you are planning to upgrade to vSphere (ESXi and vCenter) 5.1 Update1, VMware has published a knowledgebase article at https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2037630 that covers the complete upgrade sequence and product compatibility.  Not all solutions are compatible with the new 5.1 Update 1 release.  VMware View 5.1.x, for example, is not compatible with vSphere 5.1 Update 1.  If you run Horizon View and want to go to vSphere 5.1 Update 1, you’ll have to first update View to v5.2  You should also review the VMware Compatibility Matrix at https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php and the Product Interoperability Matrix at https://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php to verify that your hardware and VMware software elements are compatible with this release.  If you run into problems or have questions, drop us a comment and we’ll be happy to help!

vCloud Director 5.1.2

vCloud Director was rev’d to version 5.1.2.  Among the functional changes in vCloud Director 5.1.2 are:

  • Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 databases
  • Support for guest customization of Microsoft Windows Server 2012
  • vCloud Director can now be installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3
  • Enhancements to the role based permissions to allow administrators to grant vCloud users rights for working with vApp snapshots (creating, reverting and removing).
  • Changes to resource allocation models for Organization Virtual Datacenters to control how elastic Allocation Policies function.  See this post for more information on this topic: https://fojta.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/allocation-pool-organization-vdc-changes-in-vcloud-director-5-1-2/.

Bug fixes in 5.1.2 include database error fixes, networking fixes, and virtual machine/vApp.  Full release notes for vCloud Director 5.1.2 can be found here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vcd/doc/rel_notes_vcloud_director_512.html.

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance 5.1.3

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance 5.1.3 provides a distributed shared storage solution that abstracts the computing and internal hard disk resources of two or three ESXi hosts to form a VSA cluster. The VSA cluster enables vSphere High Availability and vSphere vMotion.

If you are running VSA and upgrade to vCenter 5.1 Update 1, you must upgrade your VSA to 5.1.3 due to know compatibility issues.  Beyond making VSA compatible with vSphere 5.1 U1, VSA 5.1.3 adds functionality that improves performance and scalability of the solution.

Notable improvements include the ability to add storage capacity of an existing VSA cluster, the ability to manage multiple VSA clusters from a single vCenter, and the ability to install VSA on hosts that already have VMs running on their local storage.

Release notes for vSphere Storage Appliance 5.1.3 can be found here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsa/doc/vsphere-storage-appliance-513-release-notes.html

vSphere Data Protection (VDP) Version 5.1.10

vSphere Data Protection is VMware’s built-in full VM backup solution, based on EMC Avamar technology.  This release includes a bunch of usability improvements, with additional options presented for backup and restore operations, as well as additional options for VM configuration post-restore (connect the NIC, auto power on, etc.).

VDP 5.1.10 also includes a migration utility that automates the process of moving from the old vSphere Data Recovery (vDR) solution if you happen to be running that.

You can find the full release notes here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vdr/doc/vdp_5110_releasenotes.html

VMware vCenter Orchestrator 5.1 Update 1

vCenter Orchestrator is a automation tool that allows administrators to develop complex workflows for vSphere, as well as other systems.  Orchestrator is included with vCenter Server.  Orchestrator automates deployment and customization of VMs, as well as additional tasks like creating VMFS datastores, adding VMs to Active Directory, and updating third-party change management databases.  VCO is an incredibly powerful tool with hundreds of built-in workflows to get you started.

If you want to learn more about VCO, check out the documentation here: https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/orchestrator_pubs.html

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.1.1 & vSphere Replication 5.1.1

SRM 5.1.1 and VR both received minor updates.  While no new functionality was introduced in these releases, both include a host of stability and performance improvements.  Among the fixes are:

  • SRM 5.1.1 also includes logic that allows upgrades from SRM 5.0.2 – there was previously no logic written into the code to support upgrades.
  • Recovery of a Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller protected by VR is fixed.

Release notes for SRM 5.1.1 are here: https://www.vmware.com/support/srm/srm-releasenotes-5-1-1.html

Release notes for VR 5.1.1 are here: https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-replication-511-release-notes.html

VMware vCenter Operations 5.7

Jason Shiplett covered the release of vCenter Operations (vCOps) 5.7 in an earlier blog post here: https://blog.shiplett.org/vcenter-operations-manager-5-7-whats-new-and-how-to-upgrade/.  vCOps 5.7 includes new views, policies, and improved usability.  Read Jason’s post for more information on vCenter Operations 5.6.

VMware View 5.1.x Now Compatible with vSphere 5.1!

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View 5.1 and vSphere ESXi 5.1 Now CompatibleI wrote an article a couple of weeks ago about the incompatibility of VMware View 5.1 and vSphere 5.1, but mentioned a forthcoming patch based on an update to VMware knowledge base article 2035268 (https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2035268) that I saw through a RSS subscription to the article.  Good news as of last night – that patch is now available for download, making vSphere 5.1 compatible with View 5.1.  I am a bit surprised that the patch, ESXi510-201210401-BG, applies to ESXi 5.1 instead of View 5.1.  I would expect that the older View 5.1 (released in May 2012) would need to be patched to work with the newer ESXi 5.1 (released in September 2012).  The fix for ESXi 5.1 corrects an issue with the View Storage Accelerator’s use of the Content Based Read Cache (CBRC) functionality in ESXi.  Without the patch, multiple CBRC disable requests issued from View to hostd might cause View to lose connectivity to an ESXi host.

While this compatibility does not mean that you’ll be able to start using the new View-targeted features in vSphere 5.1 such as the new Space Efficient Sparse Disk vmdk format or virtual shared graphics acceleration (including 3D graphics), it does allow VMware admins to begin upgrading their environments to take advantage of the other new features in vSphere 5.1 such as 32-host clusters for Linked Clones (up from 8 hosts), the improved vSphere Distributed Switch, vSphere Data Protection for full clone or manual desktop backups, and the new vSphere Web Client.

As with any upgrades, be sure to first check the VMware Product Compatibility Matrix at https://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php to make sure the components you are putting together are compatible and there are no known caveats.

ESXi 5 Won’t Boot From USB

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I’ve been upgrading my home VMware lab to vSphere 5.1 today and ran into an issue that I thought I would share.  I had previously written about my home lab environment – I run HP xw8600 workstations, and because I’m using SATA disks behind a SAS controller they are being seen as ‘remote’ disks to the ESXi installer.  This means that I need another type of disk that will be seen as a ‘local’ disk so ESXi can create a scratch partition.  A USB thumb drive was the answer, but not without issues.

When I installed ESXi 5.0 on the thumb drive, the install completed without problem, but after the post-install reboot ESXi 5 failed to boot.  I received a non-system disk / no bootable device error.

When I installed ESXi 5.1 on the same thumb drive, the install completed without problem, and again, after the post-install reboot ESXi failed to load.  On ESXi 5.1, however, I didn’t receive an error, but just had a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of an otherwise blank screen.  The cursor just blinked endlessly – no ESXi loaded.

The fix was the same for both 5.0 and 5.1, even though the symptoms were different.  Because I’m running on vintage hardware, my BIOS does not support booting from GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitions.  As of vSphere 5.0, VMware changed the partitioning layout of the system disk from Master Boot Record (MBR) to GPT.  My motherboard does not have a UEFI option, so booting from GPT isn’t going to work.  A GPT is not necessary on a 4GB thumb drive (GPT is necessary for partitions over 2.20TB), so the fix was to simply format my system disk as MBR.  There is an install option in the ESXi installation routine to force the system disk to be formatted with MBR instead of GPT, enabling ESXi to boot correctly.  Here’s how to enable ESXi to format the installation disk with MBR:

1.) Boot server from ESXi installation media.

2.) Wait for prompt in lower left-hand corner that says <SHIFT+O: Edit boot options> .  Press SHIFT+O (that’s the letter O, not a zero).

SHIFT+O Edit Boot Options VMware ESXi

3.) In the lower-left hand corner, after the word ‘runweasel’ insert a space then type formatwithmbr.  Press enter to continue the installation process.

runweasel formatwithmbr

ESXi should now install as normal.  After the install, you should find that your server (workstation) boots into ESXi.  If it doesn’t, you may have to play with BIOS options a bit more.  I’ve heard of AHCI mode causing issues with boot from USB, as well as incorrect boot order, and simply enabling the boot from USB option in BIOS.  Aso, check to see if your server/workstation can support an EFI image instead of traditional BIOS.

If you are interested in some other ESXi boot options, see here: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-installation-setup-guide.pdf.

When using the formatwithmbr option, the VMFS paritition created on the boot disk will be formatted as MBR.  Any other VMFS partitions that are created on other disks in your system will be formatted with GPT per the vSphere Storage section in the official vSphere 5 documentation set.

Home Lab ESXi Install Problem on HP xw8600 with LSI1068

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I recently finished a big basement remodel project (gutted it and started from scratch!), leaving me with a new, bigger office space.   The Townsend Family Director of Standards and Practices (a.k.a. She Who Must Be Obeyed, a.k.a. my wife) thinks she’s got a nice new space to do some work in, but I’ve got better plans! My VMware Home Lab reborn!  I started the rebuild tonight with a pair of HP xw8600 workstations.  They are a nice system for a home lab – dual-socket CPU (Intel Xeon 5400 quad-core series), up to 128GB RAM, 14 channels of on-board LSI 1068 SATA/SAS RAID Controller, PCIe x16, Dual Broadcom Gigabit networks adapters.  Oh yeah, and a Fusion-IO ioDrive 320GB card 😉

But….  when I went to install VMware ESXi 5.x I ran into problems.  The install went fine, or so I thought (when you do enough of them you stop paying attention and just start banging on the Enter and F11 keys until it’s done ;-)).  First step was to put the Fusion-IO VIB into ESXi so I could start taking advantage of all that crazy fast, nano-second latent, IOP screaming goodness.  A little SCP action to copy the VIB to /tmp on the first host failed with an out-of-space type error.  Odd.  Last I knew I had 700GB of SATA at my command, and ‘df -h’ agreed with me.  A bad install?  I didn’t check the MD5 of the ISO before I burned it…

I reinstalled, and this time was met with a Purple Screen of Death (PSOD).  Bad hardware? I installed Windows 7 on the same box and had no issues at all – all storage seen, no crashes, stable as stable as Windows can be.  I’ll take this to mean that all the hardware is functional, SATA disks correctly presented off of the SAS controllers a single RAID5 array.  I’m thinking a driver issue at this point.

Re-install ESXi (and just maybe pour myself a bourbon).  Another PSOD.  This time I actually paused to read the PSOD details before kicking the box.  A few lines caught my eye:

Logs are stored on non-persistent storage. Consult product documentation to configure a syslog server or a scratch partition.

No place on disk to dump data.

Interesting.  No scratch partition.  I thought those were included in the base options on this hot rod called ESXi.

Install, again.  This time, pay attention to the install routine.  I found that in my rush to get through the install, I ignored this screen:

VMware ESXi Install Select Disk To Install Or Upgrade Local Remote LSI Logical Volume

On the ‘Select a Disk to Install or Upgrade’ screen of the VMware ESXi 5.0 installer, there were no (none) Local disks detected, and my internal RAID volume on the LSILOGIC controller was detected as a Remote disk.  A little LMGTFY action led me to this page in VMware’s vSphere 5.0 Install documentation:

For Serial ATA (SATA), a disk connected through supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers. SATA disks will be considered remote, not local. These disks will not be used as a scratch partition by default because they are seen as remote.

So even through the LSI1068E controller is supported by ESXi, the SAS port attached SATA disks showed up as Remote, leaving my installation without a scratch partition and seemingly a bit unstable as a result.

My work-around is simple.  Install ESXi on a USB drive, then use the SATA and Fusion-IO for my VMFS datastores.  I’ve had good luck with the Verbatim TUFF ‘N’ TINY USB 2.0 Flash Drive – it is fast, good capacity, and tiny.  The small form factor makes it all but flush with the back of the server, keeping it from getting knocked out or broken off by the kids.

Hope this helps you if you are planning to install your VMware ESXi on an xw8600 or another system with an LSI1068E controller with SATA disks on a SAS controller!

And, as a bonus tip, PC2 5300F 555MHz RAM for the xw8600.  I was trying to cheap out and eBay some memory and got the wrong PC2-5300P DIMM’s.  Apparently there is a difference….  I now have some extra PC2-5300P 2GB DIMM’s for the highest bidder!

Installing PowerPath/VE using VMware Update Manager

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PowerPathVEI am finishing up an installation of an EMC Clariion CX4 SAN. One of the final steps of the installation is to configure PowerPath/VE on the ESXi hosts. PowerPath/VE is EMC’s multipathing extension module for VMware (and Hyper-V), designed to replace the Native Multipathing Plugin (NMP) for increased I/O performance and failover management.  To simplify and automate the installation of PowerPath/VE, I decided to use VMware Update Manager (VUM) to push the extension to the ESXi 4.x hosts in the environment.

The process of setting up an additional VUM patch repository to host PowerPath/VE (and other 3rd party extensions such as the Cisco Nexus 1000v) is pretty straight forward.  3rd party extensions are supported in VUM beginning with vSphere 4.0 Update 1.  Chad Sakac has posted a great video guide on YouTube that covers the setup:

I opted to use the tomcat installation on the environment’s vCenter server to host the PowerPath/VE repository.  To accomplish this, I simply created a new directory in the tomcat root directory.  The default path for the root directory on a vSphere vCenter Server is “C:Program FilesVMwareInfrastructuretomcatwebapps” (or C:Program Files (x86)VMwareInfrastructuretomcatwebapps on a 64-bit installation).

I created a directory named ‘depot’ and within that directory created a PowerPathVE folder.  I extracted the contents of the VUM folder from the PowerPath .zip file that I downloaded from https://powerlink.emc.com.  A screenshot of the directory is below:

PowerPath/VE Depot Directory Tree
PowerPath/VE Depot Directory Tree

After creating the directory for the patch repository, I simply added an Extension Repository to VMware Update Manager as Chad shows in his video.  I would like to call out one caveat – Because vCenter may not listen on standard HTTP/HTTPS ports, I used as the path to the source.

VUM Patch Source
VUM Patch Source

Once PowerPath was added to an Extension Baseline in VUM, I simply had to scan my hosts for updates and remediate.  Installation of PowerPath/VE requires the host to be in Maintenance Mode and concludes with a reboot.  Pretty simple.

Then all you have to do is fight through an overly-complex licensing setup (seriously, a 112 page PDF on how to install licenses???), a bit of configuration, and you are multi-pathing with the best of them.  If you are interested in learning more about PowerPath/VE, start with this whitepaper: EMC PowerPath/VE for VMware vSphere Best Practices Planning.  For a bit of real-world insight into the performance increase you might see with PowerPath/VE, check out this blog post from Eric Sloof: Massive I/O power increase using EMC PowerPath/VE.

Update – 3/27/09: VMware published a Knowledge Base article on this procedure a few weeks after I wrote this post.  You can find it in  article 1018740.

Update – 4/15/11: You may have to set the NTFS permissions on the ‘depot’ folder to allow ‘anonymous’ read access when running on a 2008 or 2008 R2 server before you can validate and download from the new repository.