Tag: vSphere

Is your server hardware capable of running vSphere?

With VI3 you could run on either 32-bit or 64-bit server hardware but vSphere requires 64-bit hardware because the VMkernel and Service Console are now 64-bit. I did a tip a while ago for searchvmware.com that talks about this in detail and shows how you can test your hardware to see if the CPU supports 64-bit and has some of the other CPU features that vSphere needs for certain features. To briefly summarize that tip:

  • Long mode is required to be able to install vSphere, it will not install without it.
  • To be able to run 64-bit VM’s on vSphere either the AMD-V or Intel-VT feature is required. Without it you can still run vSphere but are limited to using 32-bit VM’s.
  • For the Fault Tolerance feature to work you need specific processors that support Lockstep technology, you can read this KB article to find out which ones have this feature.

Here are some links to various information that can help you better understand all this:

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Unleash the hounds! vSphere is now available!

vSphere is now available! Get it while’s it hot (or until their ftp servers collapse from the overload). Be sure and check out my huge collection of vSphere links so you can get the information you need to implement it.

  1. Get licenses here
  2. Download it here
  3. Read documentation here
  4. Or get it all here
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vSphere: The Missing Links – Every vSphere Link You Need to Get Started

I have posted hundreds of vSphere links on this website but some of my categories have been empty because the official documentation, licensing and download links have not yet been published. Now that vSphere is officially released I can finally include those links on my link pages along with every vSphere link that you will need to get started with vSphere:

Upgrade:

VMware vSphere Upgrade Center
VMware vSphere: Got 64-bit hardware?
vSphere Pre-requisites Checklist
vSphere 4.0 Software Compatibility Matrix
vSphere Upgrade Center Blog
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 1 – VMware VirtualCenter Management Components
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 2 – VMware ESX Host Migration Methods
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 3 – Virtual Machine Upgrades (VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware)
The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 4 – Implementing VMware vSphere Licensing
How to Upgrade from VMware Infrastructure 3 to VMware vSphere 4 (May 27th)
Upgrading to ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 best practices (KB Article)
Upgrading an ESX 3.x virtual machine to ESX 4.0 (KB Article)
Upgrading ESXi 3.5 hosts with OEM server vendor’s specific components to ESXi 4.0 (KB Article)
How to create default alarms when upgrading to vSphere 4.0 (KB Article)
When you use VMware vSphere to perform an ESX host upgrade, the upgrade might fail (KB Article)
Sometimes the upgrade from ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 4.0 fails when the host is trying to reboot (KB Article)
Performing an offline upgrade from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0 on a local ESX host (KB Article)

Install:

VMware ESX 4.0 installation video
Video: vSphere4 Unleashed: 01 – Installing ESX4
Installing VMware ESX 4 in Text Mode
ESX 4 Quick Install Guide
ESXi 4 Quick Install Guide
ESX3i to ESX4i Update

Documentation:

Great first read:

VMware vSphere 4 Evaluator’s Guide

Main and Documentation sets:

Main doc link
Download the complete ESXi 4.0 Embedded and vCenter Server 4.0 Documentation Set
Download the complete ESXi 4.0 Installable and vCenter Server 4.0 Documentation Set
Download the complete ESX 4.0 and vCenter Server 4.0 Documentation Set

Individual Docs:

Documentation Roadmap
What’s New in vSphere 4.0
Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere 4.0
VMware vSphere Compatibility Matrixes
Introduction to VMware vSphere
Getting Started with ESX
ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide
Upgrade Guide
Basic System Administration
vSphere Web Access Administrator’s Guide
ESX Configuration Guide
Resource Management Guide
Availability Guide
Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide
iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide

ESXi:

Getting Started with ESXi Installable
Getting Started with ESXi Embedded
ESXi Installable and vCenter Server Setup Guide
ESXi Embedded and vCenter Server Setup Guide
ESXi Configuration Guide

Other:

Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Service
vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide
License Server Configuration for vCenter Server 4.0
ESX 4 Patch Management Guide
Guest Operating System Installation Guide

Update Manager:

vCenter Update Manager Release Notes
vCenter Update Manager Administration Guide
vCenter Update Manager Sizing Estimator

Converter:

vCenter Converter Release Notes
vCenter Converter Administration Guide

Orchestrator:

vCenter Orchestrator 4.0 Release Notes
vCenter Orchestrator Installation and Configuration Guide
vCenter Orchestrator Administration Guide
vCenter Orchestrator Developer’s Guide
vCenter Orchestrator Example Applications

Consolidated Backup:

Consolidated Backup Release Notes
Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Administration Automation:

vSphere Management Assistant Guide
vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) 4.0 Release Notes
vSphere Command-Line Interface manual
vSphere Command-Line Interface 4.0 Release Notes
vSphere SDK for Perl Installation Guide
vSphere SDK for Perl Programming Guide
vSphere SDK for Perl Release Notes
vSphere PowerCLI Installation Guide
vSphere PowerCLI Administration Guide
vSphere SDK for .NET Developer’s Guide
vSphere PowerCLI 4.0 Release Notes
vCenter Update Manager – PowerShell Library 1.0

vShield Zones:

vShield Zones 1.0 Release Notes
vShield Zones 1.0 FAQ
Introduction to vShield Zones
vShield Zones Quick Start Guide
vShield Zones Administration Guide

Data Recovery:

Data Recovery 1.0 Release Notes
Data Recovery Administration Guide

vCenter Server Heartbeat:

vCenter Server Heartbeat 5.5 Update 1 Release Notes
vCenter Server Heartbeat Quick Start
vCenter Server Heartbeat Reference Guide

Downloads:

Main Download Page
ESX 4.0 Download
ESXi 4.0 Download
vCenter Server 4.0 Download
Consolidated Backup 1.5 Update 1 Download
Data Recovery 1.0 Download
vShield Zones 1.0 Download
Cisco Nexus 1000v Virtual Ethernet Module 1.0 Download
vCenter Converter Standalone 4.0.1 Download
SiteSurvey 1.0 Windows Download
SiteSurvey 1.0 Linux Download
CPU Identification Utility Download

Licensing:

Main Licensing Page
vSphere Licensing Portal
VMware vSphere Licensing FAQs
VMware vSphere 4 Licensing Troubleshooting Guide
VMware vSphere Upgrade Center – Licensing
vSphere 4 Pricing, Packaging and Licensing Overview
vSphere Editions Comparison
vSphere Key Features & Benefits Summary
vSphere 4 Essentials Editions
Comparison of product offerings for vSphere 4.0 and VMware Infrastructure 3.X (KB Article)
vSphere – What’s New in Licensing
vSphere Upgrade Entitlement Mapping

Hardware Compatibility Guide:

Main Search Page
Systems Search Page
Storage/SAN Search Page
I/O Devices Search Page
Full Compatibility Guide

Release Notes:

VMware vSphere 4.0 Release Notes – ESX Edition
VMware vSphere 4.0 Release Notes – ESXi Edition

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Some must read vSphere KB Articles

As Duncan just reported the vSphere KB Articles have all gone public in preparation for vSphere going GA tonight. The VMware knowledgebase is always a source of great information and not just for solving problems and issues and there are a number of articles that you should check out before upgrading to vSphere. Here’s a few of the best out of the 75+ that have been published on vSphere so far. This will also be published on my vSphere Links page in their respective categories.

Fault Tolerance:

Processors and guest operating systems that support VMware Fault Tolerance
VMware Fault Tolerance migration transition states
Understanding VMware Fault Tolerance

General:

Comparison of product offerings for vSphere 4.0 and VMware Infrastructure 3.X
Configuring a Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) on a vSphere ESX host
Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters

Licensing:

Licensing ESX 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter 4.0
Split and Combine license keys on vSphere
Enabling license downgrade by disabling features
Downgrading vSphere 4.0 License to ESX 3.5 version

Upgrade:

Upgrading to ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 best practices
Upgrading an ESX 3.x virtual machine to ESX 4.0
Upgrading ESXi 3.5 hosts with OEM server vendor’s specific components to ESXi 4.0
How to create default alarms when upgrading to vSphere 4.0
When you use VMware vSphere to perform an ESX host upgrade, the upgrade might fail
Sometimes the upgrade from ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 4.0 fails when the host is trying to reboot
Performing an offline upgrade from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0 on a local ESX host

vSphere Client:

vSphere Client installation might fail with Error 1603 if you do not have an active internet connection
vSphere Client Help is not accessible on systems using Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration
vSphere Client might fail to connect to the vCenter Server

vCenter:

vCenter Required Ports
Creating a 32bit DSN on a 64bit Windows machine

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vSphere Release Date

vSphere officially goes on sale on Thursday May 21st according to the information that VMware has published, but will it actually be available on that date for customers to download? Nobody knows for sure (except VMware and they’re not saying) but if I had to bet I would say that it will also be available on May 21st. Why? Several reasons:

  • The first reason is why would you sell something if you can’t deliver it, it’s not like VMware to take pre-orders for a product. If they are taking orders for vSphere, customers are going to want the product and they should have it available.
  • The second reason is that vSphere is already GA as stated and shown at the April 21st launch event, that means it’s done, no more changes, it’s a final build. Since it’s GA already it’s ready to use, it’s not like VMware has to burn DVD’s and package the product, they simply need to post it to their website for customers to download.
  • The third reason is that Cisco announced the Nexus 1000V will be available in early June, they wouldn’t release it unless vSphere was GA, after all why sell something that nobody can use yet.
  • Finally VMware had all their SE’s down in San Francisco at the beginning of May, presumably to learn about vSphere. There is nothing preventing them from releasing it, they have had a month since the announcement to prep for the release so they can do things like updating their website, documentation, licensing portal and more. Time to pull the trigger and release the product.

So I guess we’ll find out on Thursday if it’s available or not. If it’s not released then I’ll be surprised and and would expect it shortly afterwards. Everyone is really looking forward to this release so bring it on VMware!

vmw_09q1_bxsht_vspheretm4_ess_lores

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Great white paper on vSphere enhancements

Just came across this great 21 page white paper on vSphere enhancements and the differences compared to VI3. It’s written by Steve Kaplan and Steve Jones from INX, if I had seen this last week it would definitely be on my vSphere Top 10 list.

vsphere-wp

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Top 10 things you must read about VMware vSphere

  1. VMware vSphere 4 Cheat Sheet – A cheat sheet document from VMware on vSphere that outlines new features, editions, entitlements and comparison tables to other virtualization products.
  2. vSphere 4 Pricing, Packaging and Licensing Overview – A white paper from VMware that outlines the various vSphere and VMware vCenter Server editions and the latest changes to pricing, licensing, upgrade paths and Support and Subscription (SnS) entitlements.
  3. vSphere Key Features & Benefits Summary – A table that outlines all the different features in vSphere and which ones are included in the different vSphere editions.
  4. vSphere Editions Comparison – A simple comparison checklist that shows all seven editions of vSphere and which of the larger features are included in each one.
  5. vSphere Pre-requisites Checklist – A checklist from VMware that describes the requirements and pre-requisites necessary to begin planning for the upgrade of an existing VMware Infrastructure to VMware vSphere.
  6. VMware vSphere: Got 64-bit hardware? – Unlike VI3 which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit server hardware, vSphere will only support 64-bit server hardware. This article explains what 64-bit hardware is and how to tell if your servers are 64-bit capable or not.
  7. What’s New in VMware vSphere 4: Virtual Networking – A white paper from VMware that provides an overview of the new features and capabilities to virtual networking under VMware vNetwork which is the new name to describe the collection of networking technologies for optimally integrating networking and I/O functionality into vSphere.
  8. What’s New in VMware vSphere 4: Performance Enhancements – A white paper from VMware that outlines the key performance enhancements of vSphere, organized into following categories: Scalability Enhancements, CPU/Memory/Storage/Networking, Resource Management and Performance Management.
  9. What Is New in VMware vSphere 4: Storage – A white paper from VMware that provides information about the storage enhancements in vSphere including the following: Virtual Disk Thin Provisioning, Improved iSCSI Software Initiator Efficiency, New vCenter Storage Capabilities, Dynamic Expansion of VMFS Volumes, Enhanced Storage VMotion, Pluggable Storage Architecture and PV SCSI and Direct Path I/O
  10. The Path to vSphere Unleashed – A four part video series that details the transition to VMware vSphere from VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3), covering the VMware VirtualCenter management components, the VMware ESX host migration methods, the virtual machine upgrades (VMware Tools and virtual hardware) and implementing the VMware vSphere licensing.
    1. The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 1 – VMware VirtualCenter Management Components
    2. The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 2 – VMware ESX Host Migration Methods
    3. The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 3 – Virtual Machine Upgrades (VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware)
    4. The Path to vSphere Unleashed Pt 4 – Implementing VMware vSphere Licensing
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