Install Dell OM on PE R720

OS: ESXi 5.1 - no previous editions of OM was installed

1. Enter the host to maintenance mode in vSphere client


2. Download vib file (OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-7.1.0-6339.VIB-ESX51i_A00.zip)


3. Upload vib file to tmp directory by using WinSCP


4. In Putty, run command: "esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/cross_oem-dell-openmanage-esxi_7.1-0000.vib"


5. Reboot the server and the vib file will be removed from the tmp directory automatically


6. in vSphere client, exit maintenance mode


7. Go to Configuration tab, Advanced Settings under Software, UserVars and make sure CIMvmw_OpenManageProviderEnabled set to 1


8.  Download "OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-WIN-7.1.0-5304_A00" and install on the Windows client to access OM.

Exch on VMDK or RDM and backup

• This is a good article talking about using either VMDK or RDM for Exchange storage.

On the other hand, as far as the VM backup:
Backup software such as vRanger can only back up disks that VMware can snapshot. This includes Thick provisioned VMDK, Thin provisioned VMDK, or Virtual mode Raw Device Mapping.

It can not back up VMDK files that are marked as Independent, Physical Raw Device mappings, or disks presented via an iSCSI initiator from within the Guest OS.

Modify CPU mask on individual VM for vMotion

After setting up the lab with two ESXi 4.1 hosts, I failed to vMotion VMs from one host (Dell PE2950 Xeon E5335 @2GHz) to the other (Dell PE2950 Xeon 3.20GHz). The first error I got is below on 'eax'.



Then I shut down the VM and went to change the eax value in Level1 to the exactly the same value in the image.

Tried to vMotion again and got the 2nd error on ecx. Then I repeated the process to change the value on ecx in level1.

Then vMotion worked!!!!

VMFS vs RDM

originated from http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Exchange_2010_on_VMware_-_Best_Practices_Guide.pdf

 

Install XP in VMWare

See the solution of getting no-disk error when installing XP in ESX.
http://youtu.be/ku-Q6MMwJoM

http://www.vladan.fr/windows-xp-installation-as-a-vm-trouble-to-see-the-disk-or-not/

 

VMware Lab Setup

Without spending any $$$, I utilized our spare desktops to set up a ESXi 4.1.0 lab. My goal is to having two ESXi hosts and one iSCSI SAN.

Hardwares:

• Hosts: Two Dell Precision T5400. 4GB memory each.
  It came with the Intel E5405 processor which supports VT and 64-bit. I was using Precision T3400 first and didn't check if it supports VT. Of course, it does not. Check if Intel CPU supports VT here. 


• For configuraiton: check this article. (read the section of  Volumes – Important Information (for the clarity of mind)


• Downloaded and installed OpenFiler. A little bit hard time getting it configured properly till reading this good white paper by John Borhek, VMsources.

 

Notes:

1. Install ESXi 4.1.0 Build 260247 on each T5400.
   
   
   
   1. Create a VMKerner on the same switch for iSCSI connection.
   
   
   2. Select iSCSI Software Adapter in Storage Adapters, go to Properties. Enable "Software Initiator"
   
   
   3. Then go to Dynamic Discover and add OpenFiler's IP address as the target.
   
   
   4. Go to Storage, you should see the new LUN. If not, click on Add Storage wizard.
   
   
   
   


2. Install OpenFiler on Precision 390.


3. 
   
   
   
   1. Using auto partition option which is not recommended by the instruction.
   
   
   2. Add a secondary hard drive for iSCSI shared storage.
   
   
   
   


4. Install vCenter 4.1.0 Build 258902

Tested to migrate vCenter VM between hosts. No problem.

Problems backing up VM with vRanger Pro

Here are the issues I have with vRanger PRO. v5.0.0

• vRanger cannot back up the non “Raw Device Mappings” drives on SAN storage: I understood this and still placed the order even though 60% of our mission critical servers would not work with vRanger. However, I thought I can still use it to back up 40% of mission critical servers and the rest of non critical servers but there’re more issues…


• vRanger is not a ‘out-of-box’ solution on application-level quiescing: well I had to spend extra time deploying ‘vzShadow.exe’ to all our servers running databases…it’s not the deal breaker yet.


• vRanger does not support “File Level Restore” for the drives configured as GPT or dynamic. That mean I cannot restore any single file. This is the big problem. All our VM disks are configured as GPT and dynamic. If I could reformat all the disks, I would but I cannot.