- Explains you the major difference between VMFS 3 and VMFS 5. VM FS 5 is available as part of vSphere 5. VMFS 5 is introduced with lot of performance enhancements.
- Newly installed ESXi 5 will be formatted with VMFS 5 version but if you have upgraded the ESX 4 or ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5, then datastore version will be VMFS 3 only.
- You will able to upgrade the VMFS 3 to VMFS 5 via vSphere client once ESXi upgrade is Complete. This posts tells you some major differences between VMFS 3 and VMFS 5
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Difference between VMFS 3 and VMFS 5 -- Part1
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
How to Identify the virtual machines with Raw Device Mappings (RDMs) using PowerCLI
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
Open the vSphere PowerCLI command-line.
Run the command:
Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl
This command produces a list of virtual machines with RDMs, along with the backing SCSI device for the RDMs.
An output looks similar to:
Parent Virtual Machine Display Name
Name Hard Disk n
DiskType RawVirtual
ScsiCanonicalName naa.646892957789abcdef0892957789abcde
DeviceName vml.020000000060912873645abcdef0123456789abcde9128736450ab
If you need to save the output to a file the command can be modified:
Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl | Out-File –FilePath RDM-list.txt
Identify the backing SCSI device from either the ScsiCanonicalName or DeviceName identifiers.
Run the command:
Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl
This command produces a list of virtual machines with RDMs, along with the backing SCSI device for the RDMs.
An output looks similar to:
Parent Virtual Machine Display Name
Name Hard Disk n
DiskType RawVirtual
ScsiCanonicalName naa.646892957789abcdef0892957789abcde
DeviceName vml.020000000060912873645abcdef0123456789abcde9128736450ab
If you need to save the output to a file the command can be modified:
Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl | Out-File –FilePath RDM-list.txt
Identify the backing SCSI device from either the ScsiCanonicalName or DeviceName identifiers.
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
Snapshot consolidation "error: maximum consolidate retries was exceeded for scsix:x"
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
Whenever you cannot perform snapshot consolidation in VMware ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.x.Performing a snapshot consolidation in ESXi 5.5 fails.
or
When attempting to consolidate snapshots using the vSphere Client, you see the error:
maximum consolidate retries was exceeded for scsix:x
Consolidate Disks message: The virtual machine has exceeded the maximum downtime of 12 seconds for disk consolidation.
This issue occurs because ESXi 5.5 introduced a different behavior to prevent the virtual machine from being stunned for an extended period of time.
This message is reported if the virtual machine is powered on and the asynchronous consolidation fails after 10 iterations. An additional iteration is performed if the estimated stun time is over 12 seconds.This occurs when the virtual machine generates data faster than the consolidated rate.
To resolve this issue, turn off the snapshots consolidation enhancement in ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.x, so that it works like earlier versions of ESX/ESXi. This can be done by setting the snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE.
Note: If the parameter is set to true, the virtual machine is stunned for long time to perform the snapshot consolidation, and it may not respond to ping during the consolidation.
To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE using the vSphere client:
Shut down the virtual machine.
Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit settings.
Click the Options tab.
Under Advanced, right-click General
Click Configuration Parameters, then click Add Row.
In the left pane, add this parameter:
snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync
In the right pane, add this value:
TRUE
Click OK to save your change, and power on the virtual machine.
To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE without shutting down the virtual machine, run this Powercli command:
get-vm virtual_machine_name | New-AdvancedSetting -Name snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync -Value TRUE -Confirm:$False
or
When attempting to consolidate snapshots using the vSphere Client, you see the error:
maximum consolidate retries was exceeded for scsix:x
Consolidate Disks message: The virtual machine has exceeded the maximum downtime of 12 seconds for disk consolidation.
This issue occurs because ESXi 5.5 introduced a different behavior to prevent the virtual machine from being stunned for an extended period of time.
This message is reported if the virtual machine is powered on and the asynchronous consolidation fails after 10 iterations. An additional iteration is performed if the estimated stun time is over 12 seconds.This occurs when the virtual machine generates data faster than the consolidated rate.
To resolve this issue, turn off the snapshots consolidation enhancement in ESXi 5.5 and ESXi 6.0.x, so that it works like earlier versions of ESX/ESXi. This can be done by setting the snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE.
Note: If the parameter is set to true, the virtual machine is stunned for long time to perform the snapshot consolidation, and it may not respond to ping during the consolidation.
To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE using the vSphere client:
Shut down the virtual machine.
Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit settings.
Click the Options tab.
Under Advanced, right-click General
Click Configuration Parameters, then click Add Row.
In the left pane, add this parameter:
snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync
In the right pane, add this value:
TRUE
Click OK to save your change, and power on the virtual machine.
To set the parameter snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync to TRUE without shutting down the virtual machine, run this Powercli command:
get-vm virtual_machine_name | New-AdvancedSetting -Name snapshot.asyncConsolidate.forceSync -Value TRUE -Confirm:$False
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
How to resolve : Cannot take a quiesced snapshot of Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
When creating a snapshot on a Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine on ESXi/ESX 4.1 and later versions, you may experience these symptoms:
Backup applications, such as VMware Data Recovery, fails.You see the error:
Alternatively, un-register the virtual machine from the vCenter Server inventory. To un-register, right-click the virtual machine and click Remove from Inventory.
Re-register the virtual machine back to the inventory.
Disable VSS application quiescing using VMware Tools:
vss.disableAppQuiescing = true
- The snapshot operation fails to complete.
- Unable to create a quiesced snapshot of the virtual machine.
- Unable to back up the virtual machine.
- Cloning a Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine fails.
- In the Application section of the Event Viewer in virtual machine, Windows guest operating system reports an VSS error similar to:
- Any process that creates a quiesced snapshot fails.
- You see the error:
Backup applications, such as VMware Data Recovery, fails.You see the error:
- Failed to create snapshot for vmname, error -3960 (cannot quiesce virtual machine)
- This is a known issue with VSS application snapshots which is not caused by VMware software. It affects ESXi/ESX 4.1 and later versions.
- Currently, there is no resolution.
- To work around this issue, disable VSS quiesced application-based snapshots and revert to file system quiesced snapshots. You can disable VSS applications quiescing with either the VMware vSphere Client or with VMware Tools. Use one of these procedures:
- Power off the virtual machine.
- Log in to the vCenter Server or the ESXi/ESX host through the vSphere Client.
- Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit settings.
- Click the Options tab.
- Navigate to Advanced > General > Configuration Parameters.
- Add or modify the row disk.EnableUUID with the value FALSE.
- Click OK to save.
- Click OK to exit.
- Reboot the virtual machine for changes to take in effect.
Alternatively, un-register the virtual machine from the vCenter Server inventory. To un-register, right-click the virtual machine and click Remove from Inventory.
Re-register the virtual machine back to the inventory.
Disable VSS application quiescing using VMware Tools:
- Open the C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\Tools.conf file in a text editor, such as Notepad. If the file does not exist, create it.
- Add these lines to the file
vss.disableAppQuiescing = true
- Save and close the file.
- Restart the VMware Tools Service for the changes to take effect.
- Click Start > Run, type services.msc, and click OK.
- Right-click the VMware Tools Service and click Restart.
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
Taking a snapshot fails with the Error "Failed to take a memory snapshot, since the virtual machine is configured with independent disks"
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
When attempting to take a snapshot of a powered on virtual machine, you experience these symptoms:
You cannot take a snapshot with the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory option selected.
You see this error:
Failed to take a memory snapshot, since the virtual machine is configured with independent disks.
Resolution
This is an expected behavior, virtual machines with Independent disks cannot use memory or quiesced snapshots.
To resolve this issue, use one of these options:
When taking a snapshot of a virtual machine, deselect the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory and Quiesce Snapshot options.
Deselect the independent option in the virtual disk options.
To change the options for the virtual disk(s):
You cannot take a snapshot with the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory option selected.
You see this error:
Failed to take a memory snapshot, since the virtual machine is configured with independent disks.
Resolution
This is an expected behavior, virtual machines with Independent disks cannot use memory or quiesced snapshots.
To resolve this issue, use one of these options:
When taking a snapshot of a virtual machine, deselect the Snapshot the virtual machine's memory and Quiesce Snapshot options.
Deselect the independent option in the virtual disk options.
To change the options for the virtual disk(s):
- Open the vSphere Client.
- Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
- Find the affected virtual disk(s) and deselect the Independent option.
- Click OK to apply and save the changes to the virtual machine configuration.
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
How to Troubleshoot the NTP issue on ESX and ESXi 4.x / 5.x
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
Validate network connectivity between the ESXi/ESX host and the NTP server using the ping command.
Query ntpd service using ntpq
Use the NTP Query utility program ntpq to remotely query the ESXi/ESX host's ntpd service.
The ntpq utility is commonly installed on Linux clients and is also available in the ESX service console and the vSphere Management Assistant. For more information on the installation and use of the ntpq utility program on a given Linux distribution, see your Linux distribution's documentation.
For an ESXi 5.x host, the ntpq utility is included by default and does not need to be installed. It can be run locally from the ESXi 5.x host.
The ntpq utility is not available on ESXi 3.x/4.x. To query an ESXi host's NTP service ntpd, install ntpq on a remote Linux client and query the ESXi host's ntpd service from the Linux client.
To use the NTP Query utility ntpq to remotely query the ESX host's NTP service (ntpd) and determine whether it is successfully synchronizing with the upstream NTP server:
When using a Linux client, open a console session on the client where ntpq is installed.
Run this command:
When using an SSH shell or local console session on ESXi 5.5 and 5.1:
# "watch ntpq -p localhost_or_127.0.0.1"
When using a Linux client for ESXi/ESX 4.x:
# watch "ntpq -p ESX_host_IP_or_domain_name"
Monitor the output for 30 seconds and press Ctrl+C on your keyboard to stop the watch command.
Note: In ESXi 5.5 and 5.1, the output you see either localhost or loopback (127.0.0.1).
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
======================================================
*10.11.12.130 1.0.0.0 1 u 46 64 377 43.76 5.58 40000
Query ntpd service using ntpq
Use the NTP Query utility program ntpq to remotely query the ESXi/ESX host's ntpd service.
The ntpq utility is commonly installed on Linux clients and is also available in the ESX service console and the vSphere Management Assistant. For more information on the installation and use of the ntpq utility program on a given Linux distribution, see your Linux distribution's documentation.
For an ESXi 5.x host, the ntpq utility is included by default and does not need to be installed. It can be run locally from the ESXi 5.x host.
The ntpq utility is not available on ESXi 3.x/4.x. To query an ESXi host's NTP service ntpd, install ntpq on a remote Linux client and query the ESXi host's ntpd service from the Linux client.
To use the NTP Query utility ntpq to remotely query the ESX host's NTP service (ntpd) and determine whether it is successfully synchronizing with the upstream NTP server:
When using a Linux client, open a console session on the client where ntpq is installed.
Run this command:
When using an SSH shell or local console session on ESXi 5.5 and 5.1:
# "watch ntpq -p localhost_or_127.0.0.1"
When using a Linux client for ESXi/ESX 4.x:
# watch "ntpq -p ESX_host_IP_or_domain_name"
Monitor the output for 30 seconds and press Ctrl+C on your keyboard to stop the watch command.
Note: In ESXi 5.5 and 5.1, the output you see either localhost or loopback (127.0.0.1).
remote refid st t when poll reach delay offset jitter
======================================================
*10.11.12.130 1.0.0.0 1 u 46 64 377 43.76 5.58 40000
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading
How to resolve : vMotion fails with network errors
NAGARAJU AVALA
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
0
Network misconfiguration can cause random vMotion failure. Retrying the vMotion operation may be successful, then to isolate and correct the problem please check as suggested by VMware.
To resolve this issue:
To resolve this issue:
- Check for IP address conflicts on the vMotion network. Each host in the cluster should have a vMotion vmknic, assigned a unique IP address.
- Check for packet loss over the vMotion network. Try having the source host ping (vmkping) the destination host's vMotion vmknic IP address for the duration of the vMotion.
- Check for connectivity between the two hosts (use the same ping test as above).
- Check for potential interaction with firewall hardware or software that prevents connectivity between the source and the destination TCP port 8000.
Tags
# VMware
Continue Reading