VMware Update Manager Performance and Best Practices
Patching an ESX server with Update Manager
May 2009 archive
May 10 2009
Update Manager Links
May 10 2009
Troubleshooting Links
General
Troubleshooting Vmware ESX Server 3 and Vmware VirtualCenter 2 (VMworld 2006)
VI3 Advanced Diagnostics Logs Analysis (VMworld 2007)
Tips for Troubleshooting VMware ESX Server Faults (VMworld 2006)
When disaster strikes VMware
VMware Technical Support Guide
Top Support Issues and How to Solve Them – Batch 1 (VMworld 2007)
Top Support Issues and How to Solve Them – Batch 2 (VMworld 2007)
VI3 Advanced Diagnostics Logs Analysis (VMworld 2007)
Troubleshooting VMware Infrastructure 3 (VMworld 2007 Lab)
Common System Management issues in VMware Infrastructure
Common Licensing issues in VMware Infrastructure
Collecting diagnostic information for VMware products
VI Problem Resolution Paths
Converter
Best practices for troubleshooting VMware Converter
Converter Problem Resolution Paths
ESX/ESXi
Troubleshooting common VMware ESX host server problems
Tips for Troubleshooting ESX Server 3.x Faults (VMworld 2007)
Troubleshooting ESX
Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX Server
Troubleshooting a VMware ESX Server Upgrade Failure
Troubleshooting permissions errors when connecting to an ESX Server host with the Virtual Infrastructure client
Troubleshooting host architecture incompatibility
Troubleshooting a VMFS that is out of heap memory
Network
Network Problem Resolution Paths
Troubleshooting VMware ESX network performance
VI3 Networking:Advanced Troubleshooting
Common Network issues in VMware Infrastructure
VI3 Networking – Advanced Configurations and Troubleshooting (VMworld 2007)
VI3 Network Scenarios and Troubleshooting (VMworld 2006)
TCP/IP Troubleshooting: A Structured Approach
Performance
Using esxtop to troubleshoot performance problems
Storage
Troubleshooting SCSI Reservation failures on Virtual Infrastructure 3 and 3.5
Storage Problem Resolution Path
Identifying shared storage issues with ESX 3.x
Troubleshooting VMFS-3 datastore issues
Troubleshooting fibre channel storage connectivity
Troubleshooting ESX and ESXi connectivity to fibre channel arrays
Troubleshooting LUN connectivity issues
Troubleshooting iSCSI array connectivity
Troubleshooting ESX Server and ESXi connectivity to iSCSI arrays using software initiator
Troubleshooting ESX and ESXi connectivity to iSCSI arrays using hardware initiators
Troubleshooting NFS server connectivity
Troubleshooting ESX Server and ESXi host connectivity to an NFS Server
Troubleshooting connectivity issues to an NFS data store
Troubleshooting the failed process of adding a data store from a Windows Services NFS device
Troubleshooting a LUN that is extended in size past the 2TB/2047GB limit
Troubleshooting a virtual machine outage across multiple hosts connected to the same array
vCenter Server
Preventing a VirtualCenter predicament
VirtualCenter 2 Diagnostics (VMworld 2007)
Troubleshooting Adding an ESX Server Host to a VMware High Availability Cluster
Diagnosing an ESX Server that is Disconnected or Not Responding in VirtualCenter
Diagnosing a VMware High Availability cluster configuration failure
Collecting diagnostic information for VMware VirtualCenter 2.x
Troubleshooting a virtual machine that fails to clone from VirtualCenter
Troubleshooting the VMware VirtualCenter Server service when it does not start or fails
Virtual Machines
Resolving VMware ESX problems without pulling the plug
Troubleshooting a virtual machine that has stopped responding
Troubleshooting unresponsive guest operating system issues
Troubleshooting a virtual machine that has no network connectivity
Troubleshooting a failed VMware Tools Installation in a Windows Operating System
Troubleshooting a failed installation of VMware Tools in Linux
Troubleshooting the installation of 64bit guest operating systems
Cannot power on a virtual machine because the virtual disk cannot be opened
Investigating if an ESX virtual machine is powered on
Verifying ESX virtual machine file integrity & how to rename a virtual machine
Verifying ESX virtual machine file names
Verifying that ESX virtual machine storage is accessible
Virtual Machine seems to install VMware Tools but Tools never get installed
May 07 2009
Time Sync Links
Configuring windows time service (not in ESX)
VMware time sync and windows time service (understand windows time first)
Timekeeping in VMware virtual machines
Clock in a Linux guest runs more slowly or quickly than real time
How to configure an authoritative time server in Windows Server 2003
How Windows Time Service Works
Adjusting ESX Server Time Zone
Script to setup NTP on ESX
VM Time (reporting)
Time falls behind in a virtual machine when the memory of the virtual machine is paged from disk by the VMkernel
Time falls behind in a virtual machine when the guest operating system writes to previously unwritten regions of its virtual disk
Time runs too fast in a Windows virtual machine when the Multimedia Timer interface is used
Determining and changing the rate of timer interrupts a guest operating system requests
Time in virtual machine drifts due to hardware timer drift
Timekeeping best practices for Linux
May 07 2009
Storage vMotion Links
Storage VMotion Script
VI 2.5 Client Plug-in for Storage vMotion
SVMotion graphical user interface
Storage VMotion Fails With Error Message “Failed to unstun VM after disk reparent”
What is storage vMotion and how do you perform a svMotion using the VI Plug-in
Technology Preview – Storage vMotion (VMworld 2007)
Real World Experiences Using Storage VMotion
May 07 2009
Storage Links
General
All-in-one Storage and Virtualization Learning Guide
Layers of Virtual Storage in VMware VI3: Configuration without Confusion
Choosing and Architecting Storage for your Environment (VMworld 2006)
iSCSI , NAS and IP Storage Configuration for Vmware ESX Server (VMworld 2006)
A look at the ESX I/O Stack
Improving system performance cost effectively (10 vs. 15K drives)
Network Appliance and VMware ESX Server 3.0 Storage Best Practices
Network Appliance and VMware ESX Server 3.0 Building a Virtual Infrastructure from Server to Storage
Get to know RAID levels
What is new in Storage in VI3 Release 3.5
Comparison of Storage Protocol Performance
Performance Report: Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware ESX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems
Design, Build and Manage your SAN Environment using VI3 (Vmword 2007)
NFS & iSCSI – Performance Characterization and Best Practices (VMworld 2007)
Tuning ESX Server 3.5 for Better Storage Performance by Modifying the Maximum I/O Block Size
Easy and Efficient Disk I/O Workload Characterization in VMware ESX Server
Which storage protocol is best?
Internal vs. external guest virtual machine storage
Storage IO crash consistency with VMware products
Fibre Channel/SAN
SAN Configuration Guide
Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide
SAN Conceptual and Design Basics
SAN System Design and Deployment Guide
Using VMware ESX Server with Hitachi Data Systems NSC or USP Storage
VMware Infrastructure 3, HP StorageWorks Best Practices
Using multi-pathing in ESX Server
Round Robin Load Balancing
Obtaining LUN pathing information for ESX Server 3
Queue Depth
How to check if a LUN is locked by a host
Scripting Queue Depth in a QLogic/EMC environment
EnableResignature and/or DisallowSnapshotLUN
Script for Balancing Multipathing in ESX 3.x
Increasing the queue depth?
Understanding MRU behavior in VMware ESX 3.x
Are You Stuck with a Single REALLY busy array port when using ESX?? Script for Balancing Multipathing in ESX 3.x
iSCSI
Ethernet-based Storage Configuration
Configuring iSCSI in a Vmware 3 environment
How to create an inexpensive iSCSI SAN for VMware ESX
iSCSI Design Considerations and Deployment Guide
Best Practices in an EqualLogic iSCSI Virtualized SAN
Virtualized iSCSI SANS: Flexible, Scalable Enterprise Storage for Virtual Infrastructures
iSCSI in VMware ESX 3
Connect VMware ESX Server to a free iSCSI SAN using Openfiler
Use OpenFiler as your Free VMware ESX SAN Server
iSCSI: Superior Storage for Virtualization
How to configure OpenFiler v2.3 iSCSI Storage for use with VMware ESX
A “Multivendor Post” to help our mutual iSCSI customers using VMware
Installing LeftHand’s virtual storage appliance in VMware ESX
Connecting VMware ESX to LeftHand’s virtual storage appliance
Configuring and troubleshooting basic Software iSCSI setup
NFS
VMware over NFS
Why VMware over NetApp NFS
Important Note Regarding VMware over NFS
VMware and NFS on NetApp Filers
NFS Datastores and what was their BIG issue…
NFS.LockDisable what should it be 1 or 0
Advisory for advanced VMkernel parameter NFS.LockDisabled
Mythbusters – NFS for VMware
VMFS vs. NFS for VMware Infreastructure?
May 07 2009
Stencil & Graphic Links
Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional Add-In for Rack Server Virtualization
VI3 Visio Action Pack
Veeam Stencils for Microsoft Visio 2003 and 2007
Virtualization Visio Stencils
Various Hardware Vendor Visio Stencils
Library VMware Icons and Diagrams
VMware Logos and product screenshots & diagrams
VMware Icons and Diagrams – Visio Stencils
VMware Icons, Graphics & Diagrams
May 07 2009
Snapshot Links
How VMware Snapshots work (Part 1)
Deleting virtual machine snapshots without wasting disk space (Part 2)
Troubleshooting VMware Snapshots (Part 3)
Recover from expanded disk with existing snapshot or corrupted snapshots
Snapshot Technology Overview
Implementation and Performance Evaluation of Two Snapshot Methods on iSCSI Target Storages
Troubleshooting timeout issue when committing a large snapshot
After cold migration on ESX Server, virtual disk with snapshot has the wrong CID
Consolidating snapshots
Why snapshot removal can stop a virtual machine for long time
May 07 2009
Service Console Links
Common Linux commands on the service console
Command Line Interface Tips and Tricks for Vmware ESX Server 2 and 3 (VMworld 2006)
Third-Party Software in the Service Console
Send email from Service Console
Enabling Root SSH Logins on ESX Server 3
Guide to ESX 3 Service Console
B2V Guide to VMware ESX Server3
Customised Security Banner for Console Login
VMware ESX 3 Security with SSH and SUDO
Command Line Tools for Scripting and Snapshots
VIMSH for ESX 3.5
VIMSH for ESX 3.0
VIMSH for ESX 3.0 Networking Examples
VMware’s undocumented VIMSH
Checking for resource starvation of the ESX Server service console
Increasing the amount of RAM assigned to the ESX Server service console
Verifying that the Secure Shell Daemon is running on an ESX Server host
Unable to connect to an ESX Server host using Secure Shell (SSH)
