VMware vCenter 4.1 crashes with Error[VdbODBCError] (-1)

It happened to me few days ago when I tried to reconnect ESX 4.1 host with some running VMs back to the vCenter.

vCenter server service crashed with the following error:

A general system error occured: Error[VdbODBCError] (-1) "ODBC error: (HY000) - [Oracle][ODBC][Ora]ORA-01400: cannot insert NULL into ("VPXADMIN"."VPX_VM_FLE_FILE_INFO"."NAME")
" is returned when executing SQL statement "INSERT INTO VPX_VM_FLE_FILE_INFO (VM_ID, KEY_VAL, NAME, FILE_SIZE, TYPE) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)"

VMware discribed this issue at KB1032726

To solve it they recommend to change database schema with ALTER TABLE VPX_VM_FLE_FILE_INFO MODIFY NAME NULL;


Do you have your DBA on call 24/7...?? If not its simpler to just use the vSphere client to connect directly to the ESX host and check your VMs for any inconsistency.


You will find disk described as /vmfs/devices/machine.vmdk instead of [Datastorename]/VMname/machine.vmdk


You can simply remove the disk from the VM or unregister the VM from the ESX inventory and then reconnect the host to the vCenter.

Worked for me...

Renew ESX(i) evaluation period

60 days trial period offered by the VMware for all its products is, in my opinion, to short to completely test and assess new platforms.

Below you will find simple procedure to reset the evaluation period without reinstalling the host.
It is even possible to do it with running VMs but of course it isn't the recommended way..:)


For ESX host:

1. Login through SSH to the host's service console 
2. su - and enter the root password
3. go to /etc/vmware
4. rm -r vmware.lic and answer the prompt with y
5. rm -r licence.cfg  and answer the prompt with y 
6. Restart the vpxa agent: service vmware-vpxa restart

Procedure for the ESXi host is almost identical and its greatly described here.

As I tested those procedures works for every 4.x or 5.0 hosts.

Dynamic Binding in distributed vSwitch is depreciated in vSphere 5.0

As of vSphere 5.0 the dynamic binding option in dvSwitch port groups earned the "Depreciated Status"
Why..??
I am not really sure...:)

VMware recommends using Static Binding for performance gain:

But as described in the KB 1010593 and KB 1022312 the only difference is in the way the ports are assigned to VMs. With static binding the port are assigned "once and forever" until removal from inventory or changing port group. With dynamic binding port are assigned every time during powering up.

Personally I haven't noticed any performance issues with the dynamic ports. However it is strongly recommend to change it - so its time to plan some downtime...:)

Once caveat -> all VMs with particular Port Group must be powered off to change its binding type...:) 

VMware Update Manager: The session is not authenticated

Today I ran into strange issue with the VMware Update Manager 4.

Whenever I tried to enable plug-in I received following error:
There was an error connecting to the VMware vCenter Update Manager [VUM server name:443].
: Vmomi.Fault.NotAuthenticated : The session is not authenticated.

Also the C:\Users\All Users\VMware\VMware Update Manager\Logs\vmware-vum-server-log4cpp.log logged only the "Not Authenticated" error.

------------------------------------------------------
Invoking login on integrity.SessionManager:Integrity.SessionMgr session "SessionID"
Arg userName: "DOMAIN\Username"
Arg sessionId: "Session ID"
Arg locale: "en_US"
------------------------------------------------------
[2011-11-02 08:42:01:123 'Activation.trace' 3388 DEBUG] [activationValidator, 1094] Throw vim.fault.NotAuthenticated
Result:
(vim.fault.NotAuthenticated) {
dynamicType = ,
faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
object = 'vim.Folder:group-d1',
privilegeId = "Sessions.ValidateSession",
msg = "The session is not authenticated.",
}
[2011-11-02 08:42:08:699 'JobDispatcher' 1852 DEBUG] [JobDispatcher, 391] The number of tasks: 0



The only one change which occurred since my last logon was the time change from Summer to Winter...:) 



To solve this issue you just need to restart the VUM service:

And re-enable the vCenter Plug-in:

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.