In HA-DRS cluster, the enter maintenance mode task stalls and Virtual Macines are not migrated

VMware Infrastructure 3 Release Notes

In previous releases of VirtualCenter, virtual machines might not be automatically migrated off a host entering maintenance mode if there is not enough failover capacity in an HA-DRS cluster. The enter maintenance mode task stalls at 2% indefinitely, and is not completed even if HA admission control is disabled. This release resolves the issue by allowing the evacuations if HA admission control is disabled. Note that admission control is enabled by default (see Implications of enabling or disabling VMware HA strict admission control when using DRS and VMware DPM (KB 1007006) for more information). Note that the task might also stall if the virtual machines cannot be evacuated for other reasons.

Technorati-Tags: VMware HA, Virtual Center, HA-DRS, Cluster

Quick Migration for VMware - The Power of PowerShell - Mike D's Virtualization Blog

I found this very nice article on Mike D's Virtualization Blog and i´ll test it shortly.
Thanks for this PowerShell Script :-)


Mike D's Virtualization Blog: Quick Migration for VMware - The Power of PowerShell

Quick Migration for VMware - The Power of PowerShell

Earlier this year VMware released the VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows). This was a new PowerShell interface for VMware Infrastructure 3. I'm a big fan of the power and simplicity of PowerShell so I thought I'd try to create something with the script and show it off during my talk at VMworld on Deploying VMware in a Microsoft Shop. The question is what do I create? Well, there has been some great debate of Microsoft's Quick Migration and VMware's VMotion and are they equal or not, do they solve the same problems, etc. This post isn't to go back into that debate. One of the things that was also brought up over and over again in the debate was the fact that Quick Migration was free and came with Hyper-V since it was based on Microsoft Clustering whereas VMware VMotion was only available in the most expensive Enterprise SKU of VMware Infrastructure. So there it was - I need to create Quick Migration for the lower priced and free VMware solutions. I went off, built my little script, and showed it off at VMworld. There was a GREAT response to it so I'm posting it here for others to use or improve upon however you see fit.

The script works just like Microsoft Quick Migration - the virtual disk is stored on shared storage, the VM is suspended to disk, and the VM is then resumed on the destination. Presto! Here's a quick video:

Click To Play

To set this up in your environment you'll need a few things:

1. 2 VMware Infrastructure 3 hosts
2. Windows PowerShell (and all of the pre-requirements for that if needed)
3. VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows)
4. The VM Migrator script from me
5. A VM you want to migrate - it doesn't matter what the guest OS is

Once you've got all of that you're ready to go. Assuming you have Microsoft PowerShell installed and the VMware Toolkit installed on top of that you should be ready to run the script. PowerShell has some built-in security so you might have to either (a) answer yes when it prompts you to run unsigned scripts, (b) sign this script and make it yours, or (c) Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted. After you've got all of that sorted out just run the script by opening a new PowerShell window, changing to the path of the file, and running it using ./vmmigrator-1.0.ps1. The script will prompt you for the VirtualCenter address and an appropriate username and password to connect to it. You'll next prompted for which VM you want to migrate and where you want to migrate it to. The script does some rudimentary checking for network, datastore, and connected devices before it will let you migrate.

Some last minute notes:

* I'm not a developer or scripter by trade. This thing can probably be improved a lot. Feel free to do just that.
* You can post the script or your modifications wherever you want. I just ask for a courtesy link back to here as well.
* Unfortunately the free ESXi has a VERY limited API set enabled in the current 3.5 U2 release. This script won't work with it. I've brought this to the product manager's attention and I'm hoping we can open the API set up to everything shortly. Not really sure why it was restricted in the first place. For now you'll need at least the Foundation SKU of Virtual Infrastructure.

Some future things I'd like to do with this:

* I say the script requires shared storage right now but actually it doesn't. The PowerShell cmdlet that does the migration actually does a "Relocate VM" which will move the storage for the VM from one internal datastore to another. That process is SLOW but it does work. Right now the script is hard coded to keep things on the same datastore. With some slight modifications it can do a Quick Migration with 2 standalone hosts. I'll probably make a version 2 that will do that.
* I'd like to integrate this into PowerGUI so you can just right-click on a VM in Virtual Center and run this script which will do a Quick Migration to a host of your choice. That project is a little further down my to-do list.

I hope you enjoy the script. Feel free to leave comments to let me know if this is useful or not.

Technorati-Tags: Migration, vmware, PowerShell, Infrastructure, Toolkit, VMotion, cold migration

Hyper-V with Server Core -- Too Dry and Crunchy for our Taste -- ESXi is easiest to install, even if you're a Windows expert

VMware: VMware: Virtual Reality: Hyper-V with Server Core -- Too Dry and Crunchy for our Taste

We wouldn't be doing our jobs at VMware if we didn't regularly compare our products with the competition to ensure our customers get the best technology and user experience possible. In keeping with that practice, we recently set up Microsoft's Hyper-V to get a first hand look. We made sure to follow Microsoft's documentation and best practices guidance to get a fair comparison and to understand exactly what a Hyper-V user experiences as he or she attempts to deploy and configure Microsoft's new product.

One key best practice we heard Microsoft's Hyper-V team stress in sessions at June's TechEd conference and again last week at VMworld was a strong recommendation to run Hyper-V using the Server Core variant of Windows Server 2008. Using the smaller Server Core as the Hyper-V parent partition, instead of a full blown instance of Windows Server 2008, strips out Windows features and services not needed to run Hyper-V. With Server Core, Microsoft is attempting to minimize the attack surface and patching requirements for Windows to make it a safer platform for virtual machines. I would agree that as Hyper-V requires a general purpose operating system, you might as well make it as small as possible. The Server Core concept seems like a good idea. So, following Microsoft's recommendations, we deployed Hyper-V with Server Core.

Server Core -- "The Windows You Know"??

One aim in evaluating Hyper-V was to test its end-user experience, as Microsoft execs repeated over and over at their Sept. 8 virtualization event that Hyper-V would be eagerly adopted because it uses, "the Windows you know." The insinuation is that Hyper-V is easy -- and of course that somehow VMware is not. Microsoft is claiming that with Hyper-V there is no added learning required, no training, no classrooms, because you already know Windows, you can jump right into Hyper-V. They are also claiming that VMware ESX requires you to take the time to learn a whole new system. But is this accurate? Is the recommended Server Core flavor of Windows 2008 really, "the Windows you know"? Is it easier than ESX? We wanted to find out.

Windows Server Core = MS-DOS 2008

If you haven't seen Server Core yet, here's the UI in its entirety. It doesn't look like the Windows I know, in fact it looks like DOS! Are we stepping back in time? Who knows DOS anymore? Actually, it makes you wonder why Microsoft didn't just call it MS-DOS 2008, especially since anyone using Server Core will need to resurrect some long lost command line skills to get any work done.

Is Hyper-V with Recommended Server Core, In Fact, Easy?

So, how does the Hyper-V and DOS -- err, I mean Server Core -- combination stack up when compared to the user experience of VMware ESXi? To try it out, we did side-by-side installations of Microsoft Server Core/Hyper-V and VMware ESXi 3.5 on identical servers. To let you see the details of each setup process, we recorded the entire sequence in a pair of videos.

This first video shows every step required to install Hyper-V and ESXi on a fresh machine.  We kept count of the elapsed time, reboots, mouse clicks and keystrokes each product needed and it clearly shows the huge advantage the truly thin and OS-free ESXi architecture has in installation speed and simplicity.  ESXi goes from bare-metal to fully installed in one-third the time, half the mouse clicks, hundreds fewer keystrokes and just one reboot vs. seven compared to Hyper-V.  The simplicity of the ESXi wizard-driven installation is striking compared to the arduous process needed to first get the Server Core OS installed and then configure Hyper-V in a command line environment.

Our second video starts where the first left off and takes Hyper-V and ESXi through the steps needed to configure two iSCSI datastores for VM use.  iSCSI setup is a standard task for any virtualization user that wants to take advantage of shared storage for VM migration and high availability.  ESXi's Windows-based Virtual Infrastructure client makes the iSCSI setup quick and easy.  For Hyper-V, the "Windows you know" is nowhere to be seen.  Instead, working with Server Core requires you to key in a long sequence of obscure commands to configure iSCSI initiators and targets, partitions and file systems.  We generously showed the Hyper-V setup executed with no delays, although it took us hours of digging through Microsoft documents and knowledgebase articles to find the right commands to use when configuring iSCSI in Server Core.

Our Conclusion: Server Core plus Hyper-V is for Experts Only

VMware has put great effort into making ESXi the easiest and fastest hypervisor to install and configure and these videos clearly show the results.  Getting the OS out of the hypervisor plays a big part in the streamlined simplicity of ESXi as there is no general purpose OS to configure and manage and the reliability and security issues accompanying the tens of millions of lines of code an OS brings along are eliminated.  Microsoft's OS-centric Hyper-V architecture adds many steps to the setup and puts their users in a quandary: either A) they install Hyper-V on a full Windows Server 2008 OS and deal with the frequent patching and security fixes Windows requires; or, B) they follow Microsoft's best practice guidelines and suffer with the limitations of Server Core.  As the videos show, the tradeoffs with Server Core are daunting -- Windows administrators will find their familiar GUI tools are missing and they'll be left to spend a lot of quality time with search engines tracking down documentation on Microsoft's obscure command line utilities.

Take a look at the side-by-side comparison videos and let us know if you agree that ESXi provides a far faster and easier (or maybe we should say, "moister and chewier") setup experience.  Better yet, try ESXi and Hyper-V with Server Core on your own machines and tell us how it went.

Via: VMware: Virtual Reality: Hyper-V with Server Core -- Too Dry and Crunchy for our Taste


Technorati-Tags: Vmware, Microsoft, virtualization, Hyper-V, ESXi, Experts, Windows 2008, server Core

Symantec stellt Backup Exec 12.5 für virtuelle Umgebungen vor

Symantec stellt Backup Exec 12.5 für virtuelle Umgebungen vor - Windows IT Pro

Symantec hat auf der VMWorld 2008 die neue Version der Produktfamilie Backup Exec 12.5 angekündigt: Mit Daten- und Systemwiederherstellung von virtuellen und physikalischen Systemen bieten die Produkte Unterstützung für das gesamte Windows Server 2008 Portfolio und auch für VMware Virtual Infrastructure. Benutzer haben die Möglichkeit, eine unbegrenzte Anzahl von Gastrechnern innerhalb einer VMware oder Microsoft Hyper-V Host-Umgebung von einem einzigen Agenten aus auf Festplatte oder Band zu sichern. Des Weiteren nutzt die Software die granulare Wiederherstellungstechnologie (Granular Recovery Technology) von Symantec, um eine individuelle Wiederherstellung von einzelnen Dateien oder der kompletten VM aus einer Sicherung zu ermöglichen.

Ferner bietet Backup Exec eine Integration mit dem virtuellen Management Framework von VMware und Microsoft. Benutzer können außerdem eine automatisierte Konfiguration aufsetzen und VMware Consolidated Backups (VCB) einrichten, wobei keine manuellen Skripts erzeugt werden müssen. Backup Exec ermöglicht eine Wiederherstellung virtueller Systeme ganzer Gastrechner, können einen virtuellen Rechner umbenennen, eine LAN-Konfiguration ändern und optional Gastrechner nach einer Wiederherstellung einschalten.

Mit Unterstützung von Altiris gibt es auch den Backup Exec Infrastructure Manager 12.5. Dieser soll den Upgrade-Prozess und das Patch-Management von Backup Exec Installationen vereinfachen Eine Web-gestützte Schnittstelle ermöglicht Zugang und das Management von einem beliebigen Ort aus und präsentiert dem IT-Administrator eine grafische Darstellung der gesamten Implementierung von Backup Exec.

Technorati-Tags: Altiris, Symantec, Backup Exec, VCB, VMware

VMware-Umgebungen effizient schützen und nutzen

VMware-Umgebungen effizient schützen und nutzen | Netzwerk - News | TecChannel.de

VMware-Umgebungen effizient schützen und nutzen
gateProtect hat Virtual Appliances für den Einsatz in VMware-Umgebungen angekündigt. Das neue Angebot umfasst die von VMware zertifizierten Produkte VMO 125, VMA 400 und VMX 1000.
Die Unified-Threat-Management-Lösungen (UTM) richten sich an Unternehmen, die über virtuelle Umgebungen eine optimale Hardware-Auslastung erreichen wollen. Durch das einfachere Security-Management physischer und virtueller Netze werden zudem Vorgaben für Risikomanagement und Business Continuity leichter eingehalten.

Die Virtual Appliances eignen sich für den Einsatz auf VMware Player, VMware Workstation, VMware Server oder VMware ESX Server. Die Steuerung erfolgt wie bei den hardwarebasierten Appliances über die gateProtect Oberfläche eGUI.

 

„Virtualisierung ist ein großer Trend, doch bekommen wir immer wieder mit, dass die virtuellen Systeme oft nur ungenügend in das Sicherheitskonzept eines Unternehmens integriert sind. Grund ist ein mangelndes Bewusstsein dafür, dass diese Infrastrukturen durchaus reale Sicherheitsanforderungen mitbringen. gateProtect Virtual Appliances werden direkt in der VMware-Umgebung installiert, ohne dass zusätzliche Hardware benötigt wird, und kontrollieren von dort den internen und externen Datenverkehr“, sagt Dennis Monner, CEO von gateProtect.

Die virtuellen Anwendungen lassen sich mit dem gateProtect Command Center verwalten. Dadurch verschwinden Barrieren zwischen virtuellen und physischen Netzwerken. Zudem können Sicherheitsrichtlinien im gesamten Unternehmen konsequent umgesetzt werden.

Die Virtual Appliances bestehen aus vorkonfigurierten, aufeinander abgestimmten und sofort einsetzbaren Sicherheitsanwendungen für den Netzwerkschutz. Je nach Ausführung umfassen die Funktionen Deep Packet Inspection-Firewall, Intrusion Detection/Intrusion Prevention System und Extended User Authentication. Außerdem sind der Schutz verschlüsselter Webseiten (HTTPS Scanning), VPN (SSL mit x.509-Zertifikaten, IPSec), Traffic Shaping & Load Balancing, VoIP-Schutz sowie High Availability auf Wunsch mit dabei. Optional erhältlich sind der Spam-, Virus- und Web-Content Filter. Die Durchsatzraten betragen je nach eingesetzter Hardware bis zu 10 Gbit/s.

gateProtec stellt seine Produkte auf der Systems (21. – 24.10. 08, München) aus. Der Stand befindet sich in der IT-Security Area in Halle B3, Stand Nr. 703.

Via: http://www.tecchannel.de/netzwerk/news/1772745/index.html?qle=rssfeed_

Technorati-Tags: Gateprotect, Virtualisierung, Vmware, Virtual Appliances

VMWorld 2008 - Opening Video

VMWorld 2008 Opening Video - Intro

Technorati-Tags: VMWorld 2008, Opening, Video, Intro, Vmware

VMware aktualisiert kostenlosen Server-Virtualisierer

Via: heise online - 24.09.08 - VMware aktualisiert kostenlosen Server-Virtualisierer

Nach längerer Testphase hat VMware die finale Version des kostenlosen VMware Server freigegeben. Das Produkt dient dazu, mehrere Hardware-Server in virtuellen Maschinen (VM) auf einem einzelnen Rechner zu konsolidieren. Per Web-Browser lassen sich die VMs verwalten.
Version 2 unterstützt nun Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Ubuntu 8.04, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Business und Ultimate Edition als Betriebssystem, letzteres jedoch nur als Gastsystem in einer VM. Auf 64-Bit-Hardware dürfen auch 64-Bit-Gastsysteme zum Einsatz kommen. Eine virtuelle Maschine darf bis zu 8 GByte Speicher und zwei Prozessoren (Virtual SMP) nutzen.

Der Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) erlaubt es, den Zustand einer virtuellen Maschine einzufrieren, ohne dabei die Integrität der Daten in laufenden Anwendungen zu gefährden. Für die Kommunkation von VM und Wirtssystem oder virtuellen Maschinen untereinander gibt es das Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI).

Auch das Produkt VMware Workstation liegt in einer neuen Version vor. Version 6.5 kann nun – wie bereits VMware Fusion für Mac OS X – den Windows-Desktop einer virtuellen Maschine ausblenden und die laufenden Anwendungen unter die des Wirtssystems mischen. Diesen Modus nennt VMware Unity. Unter Windows XP als Gastsystem dürfen Anwendungen nun DirectX-9-beschleunigte Grafik mit dem Shader-2.0-Modell einsetzen.

Die VMware Workstation 6.5 kostet als Download 189 US-Dollar, das Update von Version 5 kostet 99 US-Dollar. Der deutsche Preis dürfte bei etwa 170 Euro liegen.

Technorati-Tags: VMware, Server, VMware Server, Workstation, VSS, VMCI

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Microsoft validiert ESX-Server

Support für virtualisierte Microsoft-Anwendungen

Microsoft hat im Rahmen seines Server Virtualization Validation Program den ESX-Hypervisor von VMware validiert. Damit bekommen ESX-Anwender jetzt auch Support von Microsoft.

Die Zertifizierung bezieht sich auf VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2. VMware-Kunden können also Windows-Server und andere Microsoft-Anwendungen virtualisiert auf Basis des Hypervisors nutzen und bekommen Zugriff auf kooperativen Support von Microsoft und VMware. Voraussetzung ist ein gültiger Supportplan. Dann unterstützt Microsoft etwa Exchange Server, SQL Server sowie Sharepoint im virtualisierten Betrieb.

Im Rahmen des Virtualization Validation Program können Softwareanbieter ihre Virtualisierungslösungen auf Windows Server testen und validieren. Läuft dies erfolgreich ab, gewährt Microsoft Support. Früher hingegen waren Kunden häufig gezwungen, Probleme in einer physischen Umgebung zu reproduzieren, bevor sie Unterstützung durch den Hersteller erhielten.

Auch Novell beteiligt sich an dem Programm, allerdings umgekehrt: Hier wird garantiert, dass Windows Server 2003 und 2008 als Gast unter Suse Linux Enterprise Server laufen.




Via: http://www.golem.de

Technorati-Tags: Microsoft, esx, support

Importing OVF File From the Internet in VirtualCenter - VirtuallyCrazy

gefunden bei VirtuallyCrazy: Importing OVF File From the Internet in VirtualCenter

I'm sure many of you have seen the announcement of the SearchMyVM
from Vkernel. I was intrigued by the product, so I signed up to
download it. They mentioned a direct link to the OVF file, so I poked
around in Virtual Center and noticed the Virtual Appliance tab. I had
read about this function, but had no reason to actually use it in our
VMware environment at prior to now. Vkernel gave me a reason, so I
thought I would share the experience.

From this menu you can enter a url to directly download a OVF file from. In this example I used http://downloads.vkernel.com/downloads/vkernel/ovf/VK_Search_1.0_Beta/VK_Search_1.0_Beta.ovf

Before continuing you have they show you how big the download will be, and how much disk space it will consume.

Once
you have selected the name for the appliance, where you will store the
files, and what network you will be using Virtual Center will grab the
OVF file and import it

Once
this process is complete you have a virtual machine configured with the
manufacturer reccomended specifications with almost no effort.

I'm
really impressed with this process. Hopefully application vendors
will embrace this format as the new way to deploy test machines. If
this is embraced widely in the consumer level virtualization products,
this will be a boon for IT people studying for certification exams at
home as well.

I
also wanted to mention a new member of the virtualization blogging
family : Mark Bradley. Not only is Mark a good friend of mine, and an
expert consultant in the UK with a great technical mind especially when
it comes to scripting. I'm expecting some great stuff once he gets
underway with the VI PowerShell Toolkit for VMware. His site is http://www.ridethevirt.blogspot.com/

Neue PDF´s von VMware

Management and Automation Products: Deployment Approaches and Considerations

"VMware Management and Automation products provide datacenter automation solutions in IT service delivery and business continuity. These products can be deployed across a shared VMware Infrastructure platform. This paper presents technical guidance and considerations when deploying these products together on a shared VI platform."

A Practical Guide to Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery with VMware Infrastructure

"This VMware® VMbook focuses on business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) and is intended to guide the reader through the step-by-step process to set-up a multisite VMware Infrastructure that is capable of supporting BCDR services for designated virtual machines at time of test or during an actual event that necessitated the declaration of a disaster, resulting in the activation of services in a designated BCDR site."

Timekeeping in VMware Virtual Machines

"This paper describes how timekeeping hardware works in physical machines, how typical guest operating systems use this hardware to keep time, and how VMware products virtualize the hardware."

Technorati-Tags: PDF, vmware, deployment, time sync, disaster recovery

Upgrading to ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 Best Practices and Known issues when installing or upgrading VirtualCenter

The following are best practice procedures when upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5 and ESX Server 3.5:

To be done on VirtualCenter:

1. Backup your VirtualCenter database. VMware recommends detaching the database and copying it to somewhere safe.
2. Grant the System DSN user of the VirtualCenter Database db_owner privileges on the MSDB database as well as the VirtualCenter database.
3. Ensure that your ODBC System DSN is using the proper driver. You must have a SQL Server driver if your database is SQL 2000, and SQL Native Client driver if using SQL 2005.
4. Log in to your VirtualCenter server with a local Administrator account on your Windows system to run the installation, do not use a domain administrator or a domain account.
5. Perform the upgrade to VirtualCenter to 2.5 and ensure all your data is visible in VirtualCenter 2.5 after the upgrade.
6. Ensure no processes are running that conflict with the ports that VirtualCenter uses, such as IIS.
   

To be done on ESX Server host:

1. If there is a SAN connected to your ESX Server host detach the SAN before continuing with the upgrade.
2. Confirm that all the virtual machines are now migrated from the ESX Server host or powered down, and that ESX Server host is no longer part of an VMware High Availability or DRS cluster.
3. Download the newest version of the ESX operating system ISO image and burn it to CD.
4. Place the CD in the CD-ROM drive of the host and boot from the CD.
5. Install ESX Server 3.5 with a fresh install or upgrade.
   

Note: A fresh install wipes out all previous network configuration.

Via: http://kb.vmware.com

Known issues when installing or upgrading VirtualCenter

• VirtualCenter installation may error before completion.
• VirtualCenter installation fails to complete.
• Unable to complete VirtualCenter installation.
• VirtualCenter Web Service fails to Install.
• Unable to connect to the VirtualCenter remote database during the installation.
• Cannot install VirtualCenter Server with MSDE as the database.
• When upgrading the Oracle Database, an error message may indicate that database upgrade has failed.
• Bulk-logged option for SQL Server database needs to be enabled before upgrading.
• Database upgrade fails due to insufficient disk space.
• When upgrading from VirtualCenter 1.x to 2.0.1, the database upgrades can fail if the 1.x system has both an MSDE database and a production database.
• Administrative credentials are required for the Oracle and SQL database when installing or upgrading VirtualCenter.
• When you install Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition on a system where Microsoft SQL Native Client driver is present, the installation may fail with error.
• VirtualCenter Server installation fails or results in error if your system does not have MDAC 2.8 SP1 or later installed.
• Error message during installation: error 1603: error installing Windows installer engine.
• For SQL Server 2000, do not grant or revoke the System Administrators role to satisfy the database permission requirements when upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5.
• Upgrading VirtualCenter 1.4 using the unified installer with optional modules selected fails with an error.
• VirtualCenter database upgrade fails with an exception when a password that contains apostrophes or double quotes is used.
• Upgrades of VirtualCenter Server with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database require the SQL Native Client ODBC driver.

VirtualCenter 2.5

When installing VirtualCenter 2.5, be aware of the following issues:

• Administrative Credentials Are Required for Oracle and SQL Database When Installing or Upgrading VirtualCenter (1003052).
• When You Install Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition on a System Where Microsoft SQL Native Client Driver Is Present, the Installation Might Fail with Error (1003076).
• VirtualCenter Server Installation Fails or Results in Error if Your System Does Not Have MDAC 2.8 SP1 or Later Installer (1003160).
• Error Message During Installation: error 1603: error installing Windows installer engine (1003036).

When upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5, be aware of the following issues:

• Always backup your database before you proceed with an upgrade process.
• For SQL Server 2000, Do Not Grant or Revoke the System Administrators Role to Satisfy the Database Permission Requirements When Upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5 (1003346).
• Upgrading VirtualCenter 1.4 Using the Unified Installer with Optional Modules Selected Fails with an Error (1003078).
• VirtualCenter Database Upgrade Fails with an Exception When a Password that Contains Apostrophes or Double Quotes Is Use (1003049).
• Upgrades of VirtualCenter Server With Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database Require SQL Native Client ODBC Driver (1003391).
• Permissions previously set in VirtualCenter may be lost after upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5. These permissions need to be fixed manually.

These and other known issues can be found in the release notes. Read the release notes in full before attempting to install or upgrade to VirtualCenter 2.5.

Via: http://kb.vmware.com

Technorati-Tags: vmware, esx, vi 3.5, virtualcenter

Unable to access VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess if customized ports have been set

VIA: VMware Knowledge Base - View Document

Products: VMware VirtualCenter

Product Versions: VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x

Symptoms:

• When you try to log in to VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess when a custom HTTP port has been specified (whether during installation, before an upgrade, or after), the error Web service is unavailable is shown.

  
  

  

• When you try to log in to VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess when a custom Tomcat Webservice port has been specified (whether during installation, before an upgrade, or after), the error 503 Service Unavailable is shown.

  
  

  

• Changing the VMware Virtual Infrastructure ports worked prior to installation of (or upgrade to) VirtualCenter 2.5.

By default VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess uses several different ports when you connect. If a modification is made to the default ports that are used for VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess, the configuration is not properly saved and one (or both) of the errors above may be noticed when you try to connect.

To correct this behavior if a custom HTTP port has been specified:

1. Log in to the VirtualCenter Server as an administrator.

2. Click Start > Run.

3. Type services.msc.

4. Press Enter.

5. Stop the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.

6. Stop the VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess service.

7. Navigate to C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\tomcat\webapps\ui\WEB-INF\classes\

8. Make a copy of the proxy.properties file, and the login.properties file as a backup.

9. Open the proxy.properties file with a utility such as notepad.

10. Change the proxy.service.url = http://localhost:80/sdk parameter to proxy.service.url = http://localhost:<custom port>/sdk where <custom port> is the value of the port specified for VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess. This port must be the same as the HTTP port specified in Administration > VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration > Web Service.

11. Save and close the file.

12. Open the login.properties file with a utility such as notepad.

    
    

    Note: There is also a file called .login.properties, be sure to open the correct file.

    
    

13. Change the login.webServiceUrl.defaultValue = http://localhost/sdk parameter to login.webServiceUrl.defaultValue = http://localhost:<custom port>/sdk where <custom port> is the value of the port specified for VMware VirtualCenter WebAccess. This port needs to be the same as the HTTP port specified in Administration > VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration > Web Service.

14. Save and Close the file.

15. Navigate back to the services control panel and start the VMware VirtualCenter Server service

16. Start the VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess service.

To correct this behavior if a custom Tomcat Webservice port has been specified:

1. Log in to the VirtualCenter Server as an administrator.

2. Click Start > Run.

3. Type services.msc.

4. Press Enter.

5. Stop the VMware VirtualCenter Server service.

6. Stop the VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess service.

7. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\

8. Make a copy of the proxy.xml file as a backup.

9. Open the proxy.xml file with wordpad.

10. Locate the following xml code, and change <custom port> to the correct port for the Tomcat Webservice:

    
    

    <e id="2">
    <_type>vim.ProxyService.LocalServiceSpec</_type>
    <serverNamespace>/ui</serverNamespace>
    <accessMode>httpsWithRedirect</accessMode>
    <port><custom port></port>
    </e>

    
    

11. Save and Close the file.

12. Navigate back to the services control panel and start the VMware VirtualCenter Server service

13. Start the VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess service.

When one (or both) of these changes have been made, log in to VMware Virtual Infrastructure WebAccess is successful.

This behavior is currently being investigated by VMware Support, a more permanent fix is expected in a future release of the product.

Technorati-Tags: vmware, VI 3.5, VC, virtual center, webaccess, customized ports

VMware-Manager prognostiziert das Ende von Windows

In zehn Jahren soll Software auch auf Desktops vornehmlich als Appliances ausgeliefert werden - Speziell angepasste Anwendungen auf Linux-Basis statt großer Betriebssysteme

Geht es nach Paul Harapin, so sind die Tage von Windows bereits gezählt. Wie auch die anderen großen kommerziellen Betriebssysteme werde es innerhalb der nächsten zehn Jahre verschwinden, so der Managing Director für Australien und Neuseeland beim Virtualisierungsexperten VMware.

Verschwinden

Der Grund dafür sei, dass das Betriebssystem wie wir es bisher kennen, künftig nicht mehr die selbe Rolle einnehmen wird, so Harapin gegenüber ITWire. Künftig werde es lediglich eine dünne Schicht sein, die perfekt auf einzelne Anwendungen optimiert sei. Diese würden dann als Appliances direkt an die UserInnen ausgeliefert.

Angebote

Etwas, das es im Server-Bereich schon jetzt bei Unternehmen wie Cisco im Angebot gibt, Harapin geht aber davon aus, dass eine solche Art der Auslieferung auch im Consumer-Umfeld die Zukunft darstellt. Die KundInnen würden dann einfach ihre Hardware anschaffen und einzelne Anwendungen als Appliances dazukaufen, so die Vision.

VIA: http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1216325227371
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Citrix plant Tools für gemischte virtuelle Umgebungen

Der Virtualisierungsanbieter hat das Projekt Kensho vorgestellt. Es sollen eine Reihe von Werkzeugen entstehen, die virtuelle Umgebungen von den Hypervisors unabhängiger gestalten. Die Tools werden portable Anwendungs-Workloads erzeugen und über virtuelle Umgebungen mit dem Citrix Server, Microsoft Hyper-V sowie VMware ESX hinweg betreiben. Ein technisches Preview der Tools soll bis zum Ende des dritten Quartals zum Herunterladen bereit stehen.

Diese Art der Werkzeuge werden eine ganze Reihe von Interoperabilitätsproblemen zwischen verschiedenen Plattformen lösen und gleichzeitig die automatische Provisionierung von Anwendungen statt lediglich der virtuellen Maschinen erlauben, so Citrix.

Projekt Kensho soll es auch Microsofts System Center Virtual Machine Manager ermöglichen, den XenServer zu verwalten. IDC-Analyst Nathaniel Martinez beurteilt diese Entwicklung positiv, denn Unternehmen sind dadurch freier in ihrer Wahl und werden mehr als eine Plattform im Einsatz haben. Doch hält er es auch für fraglich, ob die Anbieter die Lizenzierung in den Griff bekommen, ohne sie für die Anwender zu kompliziert zu gestalten. Auch hat er Zweifel, dass dieselben Funktionen für die Zuverlässigkeit, Verfügbarkeit und Sicherheit vorhanden sein werden. Auch werden in der Citrix-Ankündigung die weiteren vorhandenen Plattformen und Anbieter, etwa Sun, Oracle oder Red Hat nicht genannt.

VIA: http://windowsitpro.de
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VMSA-2008-00011 Updated ESX service console packages for Samba and vmnix

- ——————————————————————-
VMware Security Advisory

Advisory ID: VMSA-2008-00011
Synopsis: Updated ESX service console packages for Samba
and vmnix
Issue date: 2008-07-28
Updated on: 2008-07-28 (initial release of advisory)
CVE numbers: CVE-2007-5001 CVE-2007-6151 CVE-2007-6206
CVE-2008-0007 CVE-2008-1367 CVE-2008-1375
CVE-2008-1669 CVE-2006-4814 CVE-2008-1105
- ——————————————————————-

1. Summary:

Updated ESX packages address several security issues.

2. Relevant releases:

VMware ESX 3.5 without patches ESX350-200806201-UG (vmnix) and
ESX350-200806218-UG (samba)

3. Problem description:

I Service Console rpm updates

a. Security Update to Service Console Kernel

This fix upgrades service console kernel version to 2.4.21-57.EL.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the names CVE-2007-5001, CVE-2007-6151, CVE-2007-6206,
CVE-2008-0007, CVE-2008-1367, CVE-2008-1375, CVE-2006-4814, and
CVE-2008-1669 to the security issues fixed in kernel-2.4.21-57.EL.

VMware Product Running Replace with/
Product Version on Apply Patch
============= ======== ======= =================
VirtualCenter any Windows not applicable

hosted any any not applicable

ESXi 3.5 ESXi not applicable

ESX 3.5 ESX patch ESX350-200806201-UG
ESX 3.0.2 ESX affected, no update planned
ESX 3.0.1 ESX affected, no update planned
ESX 2.5.5 ESX not applicable
ESX 2.5.4 ESX not applicable

b. Samba Security Update

This fix upgrades the service console rpm samba to version
3.0.9-1.3E.15vmw

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CVE-2008-1105 to this issue.

VMware Product Running Replace with/
Product Version on Apply Patch
============= ======== ======= =================
VirtualCenter any Windows not applicable

hosted any any not applicable

ESXi 3.5 ESXi not applicable

ESX 3.5 ESX patch ESX350-200806218-UG
ESX 3.0.2 ESX affected, patch pending
ESX 3.0.1 ESX affected, patch pending
ESX 2.5.5 ESX affected, patch pending
ESX 2.5.4 ESX affected, patch pending

Via: http://lists.vmware.com/pipermail/security-announce/2008/000023.html