Release: Final patch rollup for ESX 3.0.2

 Software Releases, Support Updates  1 Response »
Aug 162009
 

My apologies to my readers as I tried to put out a quick blog on the final 3.0.2 patch rollup on Saturday morning.  I posted an article on 3.0.3 as I scanned the downloads quickly without reading slowly.  3.0.3 has been out a year.  Nice one.

What I wanted to post was that 3.0.2 had it’s final patch rollup released.  You can find all of the details here.  You can also find the 713MB download here.

You can find the support matrix for End of Life here.  If you are still on 3.0.2 on any of your hosts, now is the time to plan on getting to 3.0.3 , 3.5 or 4.0.  The patches are now done for 3.0.2.  Minor releases (like 3.0.2) are supported for 1 year after the next minor release (3.0.3 was released 8/8/08).

Making the Safe Passage from Virtual Iron

 Administration, Support Updates, Tips and Tricks  Comments Off
Aug 042009
 

By now you’ve probably heard of the Virtual Iron Safe Passage program from VMware (which has been very successful so far).  A request was emailed to me (thanks Alan!) for more information on how to actually convert those VM’s from Virtual Iron once you purchase the VMware software.  As luck would have it, there’s a KB article for that.

You can use standalone converter or converter in vCenter.  There are two main points to remember:

  1. The source VM cannot be para-virtualized.
  2. You must disable the VS Tools Installed setting on the configuration tab within the source VM before starting.

At this point you can do cold cloning or hot cloning (depending on your software versions).  The conversion works about the same as a standard physical machine at this point.  Please make sure to review the KB article fully, it will allow you Safe Passage from Virtual Iron.

New Technical White Papers from the week

 Administration, Support Updates  Comments Off
Jun 292009
 

Some new technical whitepapers this past week.  Here’s a listing and their breakdown:

  • Managing Custom ESXi Extensions – A short paper on tips on how to add or remove or troubleshoot customer ESXi Extensions.  These can be things like VMKernel module, driver, or Common Interface Module (CIM) Providers.
  • DMZ Virtualization Using VMware vSphere 4 and the Cisco Nexus 1000V Virtual Switch – The title indicates this Paper is for a DMZ deployment but in reality this is a very good overall paper on many of the capabilities of the Nexus 1000v Software switch from Cisco.  If you are thinking about the 1000v, definately take a read thru this.
  • Software and Hardware Techniques for x86 Virtualization – This is an outstanding history lesson about how virtualization has evolved from the early days to today.  It’s very technical in nature describing Binary Translation to Paravirtualization and hardware extensions.  These are things we, as VMware engineers, have known for a long time.  This gives our technical customers and partners a better understanding of many of the concepts around virtualization and where they come from.

New Technical Papers posted last week

 Administration, Desktop Virtualization, Storage, Support Updates  Comments Off
Jun 152009
 

There were 5 new technical papers published last week.  Some really good reading for administrators and architects.

New website section added: KB Bookmarks

 Administration, Support Updates  1 Response »
Jun 142009
 

In going thru the KB articles for the week this week, I noticed something that I say alot: “Definately an article all admins should bookmark.”  So I decided to add a new page to the website that has bookmarks to all of the KB articles that if I were an admin, I have those in my bookmark folders to reference when I need them.  I apologize, the list is somewhat small at this point but I will continue to add to it every week when I go thru the KB articles and I will also break it into catagories as the list grows..  If you have a KB article that you use regularly, please send it to me on the email page and I’ll get it added to the list.  Go here to check out the new page.

 Older Entries