Tag: ESX

RVTools version 3.8 is now available

RVTools is a windows .NET 2.0 application which uses the VI SDK to display information about your virtual machines and ESX hosts. Interacting with VirtualCenter. RVTools is able to list information about VMs, CPU, Memory, Disks, Partitions, Network, Floppy drives, CD drives, Snapshots, VMware tools, Resource pools, Clusters, ESX hosts, HBAs, Nics, Switches, Ports, Distributed Switches, Distributed Ports, Service consoles, VM Kernels, Datastores, Multipath info and health checks. With RVTools you can disconnect the cd-rom or floppy drives from the virtual machines and RVTools is able to update the VMware Tools installed inside each virtual machine to the latest version.
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Version 3.8 (March, 2016)

  • VI SDK reference changed from 5.5 to 6.0
  • on vInfo tab page new field: ChangeVersion unique identifier for a given version of the configuration
  • on vInfo tab page new field: HA VM Monitoring status
  • on vInfo tab page new fields: Number of supported monitors and Video RAM in KB.
  • on vInfo tab page new field: Config status.
  • Config issues are visible on the vHealth tab page
  • on vInfo tab page new field: OS according to the VMware Tools
  • on vTools tab page new fields: App state, App heartbeat status and Kernel crash state
  • on vTools tab page new fields: Operations availability, State change support and
  • Interactive Guest Operations availability
  • on vHost tab page new field: NTPD running state.
  • NTP issues are visible on the vHealth tab page
  • on vHost tab page new field: Config status.
  • Config issues are visible on the vHealth tab page
  • on vCluster tab page new field: Config status.
  • Config issues are visible on the vHealth tab page
  • on vDatastore tab page new field: Config status.
  • Config issues are visible on the vHealth tab page
  • on vSC+VMK tab page new fields: IP 6 Address and IP 6 Gateway
  • all VM related tab pages now have a VM Object ID and VM UUID columnsall VM related tab pages now have powerstate and template columns
  • all tab pages. Now have a vCenter UUID column (= unique identifier for a vCenterServer)
  • all VM related tab pages. The Custom Attributes columns are now ordered alphabetically
  • all tab pages. A select is now a full row select so it is easier to follow the information across many columns
  • bug fix: Refresh data issue on vRP and vCluster tab pages solved
  • bug fix: Filter issue on vCluster tab page solved
  • bug fix: On vInfo tab page the HA information was not filled with cluster default values
  • bug fix: Content Libraries vmdk files are no longer reported as possible zombie files
  • bug fix: msi installer sometimes installs RVTools in root of c:\ drive. This is solved now.

Part 1: Running XPEnology under Hyper-V

Some times you find a cool feature on the internet.

XPEnology is an operating system based on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM). This is possible because Synology DSM has developed under the GPL license . As a result, it is free to use and adapt by third parties. The advantage of XPEnology is that it is compatible with many different hardware and so you almost any old PC / server can use as a NAS. Also you can also XPEnology as a virtual machine (VM) running on ESXi for example, Hyper-V, VirtualBox.

With this flexibility, functionality and ease XPEnology offers a good alternative to a Synology NAS or other NAS solutions.

On XPenology.nl you will find great articles how to run the Software on Hyper-V, ESXi, Workstation and on dedictad hardware.

So i followed this guide: http://www.xpenology.nl/hyper-v-installatie/

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Awesome!!! Open-mouthed smile Open-mouthed smileOpen-mouthed smile

Things to do:
1. Hyper-V Harddisk Pass Through
2. Install & Config SABnzbd
3. Install  &Config Sickbeard
4. Install & Config Couchpotato
5. Config my Diskstation with DNLA to my TV

Keep you posted!!!

New release RVTools, version 3.6

Rob de Veij released today TVTools version 3.6, the release notes:

  • New tabpage with cluster information
  • New tabpage with multipath information
  • On vInfo tabpage new fields HA Isolation response and HA restart priority
  • On vInfo tabpage new fields Cluster affinity rule information
  • On vInfo tabpage new fields connection state and suspend time
  • On vInfo tabpage new field The vSphere HA protection state for a virtual machine (DAS Protection)
  • On vInfo tabpage new field quest state.
  • On vCPU tabpage new fields Hot Add and Hot Remove information
  • On vCPU tabpage cpu/socket/cores information adapted
  • On vHost tabpage new fields VMotion support and storage VMotion support
  • On vMemory tabpage new field Hot Add
  • On vNetwork tabpage new field VM folder.
  • On vSC_VMK tabpage new field MTU
  • RVToolsSendMail: you can now also set the mail subject
  • Fixed a datastore bug for ESX version 3.5
  • Fixed a vmFolder bug when started from the commandline
  • Improved documentation for the commandline options

Latest Version: 3.6 | February, 2014
Download | Documentation

Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters

PVSCSI adapters are high-performance storage adapters that can result in greater throughput and lower CPU utilization. PVSCSI adapters are best suited for environments, especially SAN environments, where hardware or applications drive a very high amount of I/O throughput. PVSCSI adapters are not suited for DAS environments.

This table shows the support matrix for use of Paravirtual SCSI adapters for data disks and boot disks for the various guest operating systems and ESX versions. Support shown in the table is from the listed ESX/ESXi version and later versions.

Guest operating system

Data Disk

Boot Disk

Windows Server 2012 (64 bit only)

ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1

ESXi 5.0 Update 1, ESXi 5.1

Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit only)

ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Windows Server 2008 (32 and 64 bit)

ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.0 Update 1, ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Windows Server 2003 (32 and 64 bit)

ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.x, ESXi 5.x

Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit)

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Windows XP (32 and 64 bit)

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

ESX/ESXi 4.1, ESXi 5.x

Because the default type of newly hot-added SCSI adapter depends on the type of primary (boot) SCSI controller, hot-adding a PVSCSI adapter is only supported for those versions that support booting from a PVSCSI adapter.

Paravirtual SCSI adapters also have these limitations:

  • Hot add or hot remove requires a bus rescan from within the guest.
  • Disks with snapshots might not experience performance gains when used on Paravirtual SCSI adapters if memory on the ESX host is overcommitted.

Upgraded my Home Lab and changed from ESXi5.1 to Hyper-V 2012

Last weekend I upgraded my Home Lab and changed from ESXi5.1 to Hyper-V 2012.

Hardware

AMD A8 3870K 3.00GHz 4MB FM1 Box  
Asus F1A75-V PRO AMD A75, SATA600 RAID, HDMI (ESXi5.1 Works to with extra E1000 nic) 
32GB 8×4 Kingston HyperX

Converted al my VM’s with StarWind V2V Converter

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It Rocks!!! Smile

VMware Workstation 9

Windows 8

Workstation 9 has been designed to run on Windows 8 and run Windows 8 virtual machines. Easy Install has been enhanced to recognize Windows 8. Workstation 9 has been enhanced to support the Windows 8 user interface (formerly known as Metro). Toggling between Metro and the Windows Desktop can be done by simply pressing the Windows key on the keyboard and Unity intelligently handles the Metro interface. Workstation 9 also includes multi-touch support for driving the Windows 8 Metro interface running in Workstation on a Windows 8 tablet.

Graphics Improvements

VMware has made substantial changes to Workstation 9 graphics virtualization infrastructure. The enhancements include a display-only graphics driver that can render 3D in Windows 8 without hardware acceleration, improvements to make graphics applications like AutoCAD and SolidWorks render more quickly and accurately, an improved Windows XP graphics driver and fundamental changes to improve performance and enable more advanced graphics capabilities in the future.

OpenGL for Linux Guests

VMware has developed an OpenGL graphics driver and up-streamed it to X.Org. This allows VMware’s customers to use the new graphics capabilities in current Linux distributions without needing to install VMware Tools. The version of X.Org that includes the driver is being shipped in Ubuntu 12.04 among other Linux new distributions. Workstation 9 includes enhancements to the virtual graphics device to improve the overall speed and accuracy of rendering OpenGL graphics in Linux virtual machines.

Restricted Virtual Machines

This new capability allows the author of an encrypted virtual machine to require users to enter an additional password to change their virtual machine settings. This feature enables IT professionals and educational institutions to create virtual machines to be used by their employees and students that prevent these users from enabling shared folders, dragging and dropping files, attaching USB devices, and overcommitting system resources. Restricted virtual machines can be run in VMware Workstation 9, VMware Player 5, and VMware Fusion 5 on Windows, Linux or Mac PCs.

WSX

WSX is a prototype of a new VMware Workstation web interface that enables users to access their Shared virtual machines via a web browser on a tablet, smart phone or PC without installing any additional applications or browser plug-ins. This service renders an HTML5 web page that can connect to your Workstation hosts, enumerate the available Shared virtual machines and allow you to power them on and interact with the desktop. Both the Windows .msi and Linux .bundle installations are available for download along with VMware Workstation 9.0

WSX is currently not supported for production environments. The number of devices and browsers available on the market make it extremely difficult to test this feature thoroughly to ensure it works well everywhere.

This feature requires a very modern browser that supports HTML5 with WebSockets. VMware recommends using the Google Chrome 17 browser on PCs and the Apple Safari 5 browser on Mac OS hosts and iPads. Currently there are issues using this feature with Microsoft Internet Explorer 10. WSX may work with other browsers and on Android tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich with the latest version of Google Chrome installed, but more testing is required.

Downloading Virtual Machines from vSphere

Workstation 8 enabled customers to upload virtual machines to vSphere. Workstation 9 now enables downloading virtual machines from vSphere by dragging them from the remote host to the My Computer section of the Virtual Machine Library.

USB 3.0

Workstation 9 supports attaching USB 3.0 devices to Windows 8 virtual machines. The latest portable devices use USB 3 (SuperSpeed) to achieve faster transfer rates for data. USB 3.0 devices such as portable storage devices and video equipment can be connected directly to Windows 8 and Linux virtual machines that contain in-box drivers USB 3.0 controllers.

Nested Virtualization

Workstation 9 improves the implementation of virtual Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI extensions. This allows users to run ESX as a guest OS and run a 64-bit operating system nested in ESX using less system resources.

Note: If you enabled the virtualization extensions in a virtual machine running on Workstation 8, you might need to disable the extensions, upgrade the virtual machine to the latest virtual hardware version (compatible with Workstation 9), and then re-enable the extensions.

Hyper-V

Hyper-V has been added to the Workstation 9 guest operating system list. This enables customers to run Windows 8 with Hyper-V enabled, or install Hyper-V Server. This can be used for educational purposes or for building prototype Hybrid Clouds. This feature is NOT SUPPORTED and probably never will be. Microsoft does not support nesting of their hypervisor which makes it extremely difficult – if not impossible for VMware to fix issues that may occur in this configuration. For this reason, this capability has been implemented purely to see if we could do it!

CAUTION: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RUN HYPER-V ON A VIRTUAL MACHINE IN PRODUCTION.

Virtual Performance Counters

VMware virtual processors now include the capability to enable virtual performance counters which will allow developers to run profiling applications, such as Intel’s vTune, in a virtual machine.

Remoting Improvements

The experience when remotely connecting to a virtual machine running in Workstation 9 with a VNC client or interacting with the desktop of a virtual machine running on vSphere from within Workstation has been significantly improved.

Disk Cleanup

Virtual machines consume a large amount of space on your hard drive. Workstation 9 includes a new management option to easily recover disk space.

Quick Switch II

Previous versions of VMware Workstation included a view mode called "Quick Switch" that displayed tabs along the top of the screen to easily switch between running virtual machines. We removed this functionality in Workstation 8. The feedback we received has encouraged us to introduce a similar feature. On Windows, hosts tabs have been included in the full screen toolbar.

Thumbnail Actions

Views of your virtual machine on the task bar now include controls to change the power state.

Saved Filters

Workstation 9 automatically saves recent virtual machine library searches as filters to easily apply them the next time you run Workstation.

Download Licensed Copy

VMware Workstation 2012 TechPreview

What’s new for Workstation?

  • Installation and operation of VMware Workstation on Windows 8 and Windows Server 8
  • Installation and operation of Windows 8 consumer preview and Windows Server 8 in a virtual machine
  • Rendering and graphics correctness issues on all platforms and applications
  • Linux 3D desktop experience, particularly when using the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta
  • Linux 3D application graphics correctness and performance
  • Stability in real-world scenarios including suspend/resume and display and device support
  • Nested Virtualization – running ESX and even trying Hyper-V* as a guest OS
  • VNC connection performance and stability

Download

VMware PowerCLI Configure Multipath Policy

Today i  needed to configure the Multipath Policy from “Most Recently Used” to “Round Robin (VMware) on our vSphere 4.1 and HP EVA4400 environment. After reading “Configuration best practices for HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) family and VMware vSphere 4” I decided to change the path status

To check the status of the Multipath Policy you can run the following PowerCLI script:

Per host:

Get-VMhost ESXHOST | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk
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Per Cluster:

Get-Cluster CLUSTERNAME| Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk

To change the Multipath Policy you can run the following command:

Per Host:

Get-VMHost ESXHOST | Get-ScsiLun -CanonicalName "naa.6005*" | Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy "roundrobin"

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Per Cluster:
get-cluster “Cluster Name” | Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk | Where-Object {$_.MultipathPolicy -ne “RoundRobin”} | Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

Special thanks to: VMPROS

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Performance on vSphere 5

A white paper has been published that examines how Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 performs on vSphere 5 in terms of scaling up (adding more virtual CPUs) and scaling out (adding more VMs). Having the choice to scale up or out while maintaining a positive user experience gives IT more flexibility to right-size system deployments and maximize total cost of ownership with respect to licensing and hardware purchases.

Testing shows the effectiveness of vSphere 5 to add compute power by scaling up Exchange Server VMs, in increments, from 2 to 12 virtual CPUs. This allowed the total number of very heavy Exchange users to increase from 2,000 to 12,000 while sendmail latency remained well within the range of acceptable user responsiveness. Processor utilization remained low, at about 15% of the total host processing capacity for 12,000 very heavy Exchange users.

Testing also shows that scaling out to eight Exchange Server VMs supports a workload of up to 16,000 very heavy users, with the load consuming only 32% of the ESXi host processing capacity.

Additional tests were undertaken to show the performance improvements of vMotion and Storage vMotion in vSphere 5. vMotion migration time for a 4-vCPU Exchange mailbox server VM showed a 34% reduction in vSphere 5 over vSphere 4.1. Storage vMotion migration time for a 350GB database VMDK showed an 11% reduction in vSphere 5 over vSphere 4.1.

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For the full paper, see Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Performance on vSphere 5.

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