VMXNET 3: Supported Guest Operating Systems

VMXNET 3 is the newest NIC driver for VMs (requries VM HW v7). It should be chosen as default for all supported guest operating systems. Windows Server 2000, however, is not supported. Here's link to VMware KB with more info. Remember, that when you delete the old NIC and add a new one, then all IP info is wiped and should be reconfigured (mostly relevant for static IPs).

P2V with VMware Converter Standalone 5 and sync feature

For this blog post number 100 (uh la laa) I decided to spice things up a bit with video tutorial showing some of the new features in VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5 including the enhanced synchronize feature (it also existed in v4 but it didn't work too well..).

The video guides you through the migration wizard and discusses some relevant use cases for the sync feature.

Here's a link to Converter Standalone 5

Remember that as of v4.3 Windows Server 2000 is no longer supported as a source OS, so to convert win2k use Converter Standalone v4.01 in stead. In the release notes you can see supported guest operating systems.

Downloading VMware tools seperately from VMware site

The other day I had to extract the VMware tools ISO for a customer. One way to do it is to log on to a VM that has not updated VMware tools to latest version, choose to upgrade VMware tools manually and then copy all of the files on the mounted ISO and make a new ISO.

However, the different versions of VMware tools can also be downloaded directly from VMware's website on http://packages.vmware.com/tools. There are also tools version for Windows servers.

I found some more info on it on this site

Got the new book by Scott Lowe - Mastering VMware vSphere 5

At the last day of VMworld in Copenhagen they finally managed to get a number of copies home of Scott Lowe's new book - Mastering VMware vSphere 5 (they said they would have it by Tuesday at first). I got myself one and I'm really looking forward to reading it. One question, though, is how the book will be able to include best practices and operational experiences when the final product has 'just' come out and most of the book must have been written during the beta? But we'll see.

VMworld Europe 2012 announced - Barcelona

Here at VMworld in Copenhagen, VMware has announced the location for next years 2012 VMworld Europe. It will take place in Barcelona from 16-18 October. I have to give cudos to Copehagen and the Bella Center for hosting two extremely well organised VMworlds (2010 and 2011) but I'm also looking forward to a bit warmer climate next October - providing the boss can be persuaded to buy a ticket.

How to run XenServer 6.0 on vSphere 5 - with nested Windows Server 2008 R2 VM

It is possible to install XenServer 6.0 in a virtual machine on vSphere ESXi 5 and then with a few tweaks you can even run a nested Windows Server 2008 R2 VM on the virtual XenServer 6.0.

To install XenServer 6.0 in a VM, first follow this guide to configure ESXi 5.0 (or watch this youtube video).

One important step is to execute the following command from the console:

echo 'vhv.allow = "TRUE"' >> /etc/vmware/config

Otherwise, configure like the guide. Once the custom VM has been created, to be able to choose ESXi 5 as operating system, go to Edit Settings -> Options -> Guest Operating System choose 'Other' and then choose VMware ESXi 5.x. This will ensure that you won't receive the "HVM is required for this operation" error when trying to boot the win2k8R2 vm (it is possible to change this after the install of XenServer as well).

Download the install .iso from citrix.com 

Mount iso and install XenServer

When done, you will get startup screen as below

Download XenCenter from citrix.com and install

Add the the XenServer to XenCenter

Create a new VM, choose win2k8 R2 64-bit, mount ISO, install.

Done.

Upgrading vCenter v4.1 to v5.0

I just upgraded my home lab vCenter server the other day from v4.1 to v5 and took some screen dumps of the installation process. The steps look fairly familiar compared to earlier versions. At one point in the installation I had an error stating that:

"The Fully Qualified Domain Name cannot be resolved. If you continue the installation, some features might not work correctly"

The reason for this error is that I had not created a reverse lookup on the DNS server. By following this guide, the issue was resolved and installation process could continue without further warnings.

Here are the screen dumps:

It was at this step that the DNS error ocurred. Below image shows how a reverse lookup zone was created on the DNS server.