VMware vSphere 4.1 Update 2 Released -> ESX, ESXi, vCenter

VMware just release Update 2 for its 4.1 ESX(i) hypervisor and vCenter Server.

What's new section of this release covers following features:

• Support for new AMD Processors ->Opteron 6200 (Interlagos) and 4200 (Valencia)
• Support for additional guest OS -> Ubuntu 11.10
• Support for MS SQL 2008/2008R2 Express as the vCenter database.
• Dozens of bugfixes.. :)

You can check all the details at following announcements:
ESX
ESXi
vCenter

Happy upgrading... :)

VMware Update Manager had a failure when scanning ESX 3.5 hosts

Update ESX 3.5 host, which does not have ESX350-201012410-BG patch applied, through VMware Update manager after 1 June 2011 will end in:

This patch only updates security key at the ESX host and does not require restart nor machine migration to apply and has only one dependency which also can be applied without downtime.


Below you will find simple procedure, which always perfectly works for me:

1. Download patches from VMware   :

• ESX350-201012404-BG: KB and Download
• ESX350-201012410-BG: KB and Download

2. Unzip them to local drive to ESX-201012404-BG and ESX-201012410-BG folders
3. Login trough SSH and create folder: mkdir /patches
4. Login trough WinSCP and upload unzipped folders to the /patches
5. At the ESX console execute following commands:

• cd /pachtes/ESX350-201012404-BG
• esxupdate -b=/patches/ESX350-201012404-BG/ --nosig update
• cd /pachtes/ESX350-201012410-BG
• esxupdate -b=/patches/ESX350-201012410-BG/ --nosig update

6. Scan with update manager and update with recent baselines

HP ProLiant servers and VMware compatibility

How often do you wonder if your HP server is compatible and supported by both HP and VMware with your current ESX(i) version...?? Or maybe it is only supported by HP and it is not certified by VMware...??

Did you ever checked if your physical host is compatible with particular Fault Tolerance and vLockstep version...??

You can easily check detailed compatibility list at HP Support Matrix -> All in One. Really good job done by HP. Congratulations.

HP Onboard Administrator 3.32 Released

HP just released new firmware for the c-class enclosure's Onboard Administrator v. 3.32, which can be directly downloaded for the HP website.

There is only one change since OA 3.31. It fixes security vulnerability described as CVE-2011-3155 in the HP security bulletin no. c03048779.

Admission Control and HA initiated restarts

Today I attended the vSphere 5.0: Overview training. This is the course where you can learn all the basic stuff that is necessary to operate vSphere Cluster. One of the discussed things was the Admission Control and its influence on powering up machines in our virtual infrastructure.

Now I can see how much misunderstanding arose around this mechanism and its connection with High Availability and possible hosts failures. Responsibility for Admission Control lies in the vCenter server and it is role is to not power up new machines when the configured constraints are violated. In case of the host failure the restarts are initiated by the host, not the vCenter server so all restarts, even if resources are low, will occur.

Let’s make a short quote from one of the best books about VMware HA written by Frank Denneman and Duncan Epping where they describe this mechanism in details:

“Admission Control will not disallow HA initiated restarts. HA initiated restarts are done on a host level and not through vCenter.”