The (un)Official VMWare ESXi thread.

jfish has kindly made an VM auditing script available here. Linking to it in this thread so it doesn't just disappear off the end of the forum over time.

RB
 
VMWare Training Material

Hi Guys,

I am not sure if this is the correct place to ask. I am currently working as an IT System Analsys and I am wanting to do get into VMWare course, which my employer hs rejected me to go on.

So I would like to know what is the best VMWare vSphere 5 training material to get, which has videos, books, etc included ?

Thanks in advanced Bashy.
 
Unmasked link for VMware communities posters here.

Look to be very helpful.

I have just put vSphere 5.1 Essentials on a client machine, setup the vCenter appliance and am now sorting out the vMA for use with GhettoVCBg2 although I notice vSphere 5.x is not listed as being supported where as GhettoVCB states that it is.

Anyone able to confirm GhettoVCBg2 does work ok with vSphere 5.x (pref 5.1 if possible).

Thanks.
RB
 
Hi all,

I've added a HP NC380T to my ESXI ITX server as the built in Realtek 8168 stopped working in ESXI 5.1. The HP NC380T I've added is working a treat but I've noticed that the adapter is listed as a Broadcom NetXtreme 5706 Gigabit Ethernet.

What should I do get it recognised as the correct adapter? Assuming its anything like windows surely running it without the correct driver will limit the performance?
 
Spooter said:
What should I do get it recognised as the correct adapter? Assuming its anything like windows surely running it without the correct driver will limit the performance?
Click to expand...

Sounds normal to me, as I see that on Dell servers. It shouldn't causes any performance problems as its a base VMware driver.


A quick google against the NIC sugguests this is the recommend driver for the NC380T. Click Here

However, if you're running 5.1, the driver maybe newer.
 
[RXP]Andy;22930021 said:
Sounds normal to me, as I see that on Dell servers. It shouldn't causes any performance problems as its a base VMware driver.


A quick google against the NIC sugguests this is the recommend driver for the NC380T. Click Here

However, if you're running 5.1, the driver maybe newer.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to answer. This leads me another question I will ask on another thread (Freenas performance).
 
Spooter said:
Hi all,

I've added a HP NC380T to my ESXI ITX server as the built in Realtek 8168 stopped working in ESXI 5.1. The HP NC380T I've added is working a treat but I've noticed that the adapter is listed as a Broadcom NetXtreme 5706 Gigabit Ethernet.

What should I do get it recognised as the correct adapter? Assuming its anything like windows surely running it without the correct driver will limit the performance?
Click to expand...

HP don't make network adapters, they assemble them only - therefore the NC380T has more than likely got a broadcom chipset in it.
 
Spooter said:
Hi all,

I've added a HP NC380T to my ESXI ITX server as the built in Realtek 8168 stopped working in ESXI 5.1. The HP NC380T I've added is working a treat but I've noticed that the adapter is listed as a Broadcom NetXtreme 5706 Gigabit Ethernet.

What should I do get it recognised as the correct adapter? Assuming its anything like windows surely running it without the correct driver will limit the performance?
Click to expand...

In the HP manual for the card, available here (pdf), under specifications it is listed as using a Broadcom 5706C chipset.

Regards
RB
 
I have question about resource pools. the previous admin of the site I am currently at set up the vmware to utilize resource pools. Other site that I visit do not use resource pools.

The question is realy the resource pool that is set up called development that has unused guests in it that are going to be deleted or are backup or future guests but are all powered off. Will that resource pool negatively affect the resource allocation available to the production resource pool?

Here is a screenshot to help explain my question.

http://oi49.tinypic.com/k1tocl.jpg

There was another resource pool that had no guests in it but it further reduced the % share of the production resource pool. Do you know if this is a bad idea? From what i understood resource pools are meant to be used when you specifically want to prioritise resource allocation and not generally for all guests. Any ideas ?
 
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Thought I'd post this up here:

I've written an article for my website looking a Raw Device Mappings (RDM) on ESXi 5.1 and the HP Microserver (mine is an N36L). Same should apply on the ML 110 since RDM is unsupported on that as standard too. I've done some speed tests both within the WHS 2011 VM itself using Crystal Disk Mark and with file copying over a gigabit network from a Win 7 machine.

Bottom line = RDM presented local storage is MUCH faster than local storage presented through a VMFS formatted datastore.

http://forza-it.co.uk/esxi-5-1-using-raw-device-mappings-rdm-on-an-hp-microserver/
 
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groen said:
Well done, very informative post.

When using the vmware workstation and adding a usb disk to vmware does it use the RDM then, do you know?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you are asking here. USB Disks attached to the ESXi host can use USB Passthrough to allow access to them. Not sure what speeds you can expect but since I have a USB HDD I'd be happy to test one for you and report back.
 
I have now added some more disks to my home server and have come to a point where I will no longer be using a dedicated controller to pass drives to my Windows Server VM I am using for sharing media.

This now gives me a bit of an issue.... How to give my Win Server VM storage and allow it to act as if it is a single large disk.

Setup.
Starting Config...
- 3x 2TB Seagate Barracudas in raid 5 on HP P812 SAS controller.
- 2x 2TB Seagate Barracudas (individual drives presented to WIn Server VM vi VT-d on a M1015).
- 1x 2TB WD green (individual drive presented to WIn Server VM vi VT-d on a M1015).

Intermediate Config...
4TB storage from Raid 5 array presented to Win Server VM so data can be copied over from the 2x 2TB Seagate drives.

Final Config...
8TB presented to the Win Server VM made up of a 5x 2TB Seagate Barracuda raid 5 array on the HP P812 controller.

Note the P812 also has other arrays on it so I cannot do a direct VT-d passthrough.

Thoughts.
1. Span 2TB VMDKs in Win Server to make one large drive.
- Possible to expand without loosing data ?.

2. Create a CentOS VM to act as a NFS server.
- Limited by Win Server only being able to use ET1000 network interface and if so is there a way around it.

3. Create an Openfiler VM much the same as CentOS in no 2.

4. Create a OpenIndiana VM for ZFS but the disks are already on a decent raid 5 controller with 1GB FBWC.

This is for a home setup so it does not have to be fully belt and braces but then again I am not adverse to looking at various solutions to gain knowledge.

I am using vSphere 5.1 free but I may move to vSphere 5.1 foundation is it helps.

Any other suggestions most welcome.

THanks
RB
 
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