Last week I received some warnings at some HP Proliant DL380 G7’s, the warning message:

Host Baseboard Management Controller status

The HP branded VMware vSphere 5 installation (build 474610) detected that my colleague disconnected the UTP cable at the ILO interface.. okay.. good to know

If you don’t use ILO (not recommended) you can disable the ILO interface at the ILO bios

Global iLO 3 Settings:

Lights-Out Functionality                        [DISABLED]

iLO 3 ROM-Based Setup Utility              [DISABLED]

Require iLO 3 RBSU Login                     [DISABLED]

Show iLO 3 IP during POST                   [DISABLED]

I’m working on a project to P2V a bunch of servers to a vSphere environment, In the list of servers to P2V I’ve one USB (Hasp Keys) based license server.. to P2V this server we need a TCP/IP USB Hub to connect remotely the Hasp Key. We bought Digi AnywhereUSB/5

AnywhereUSB Device configuration:

^ Setup a new root password

^ Setup a Static IP Address

^ Install the latest firmware

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VMware introduced the capability to register for NMI events in ESX/ESXi 4.1 kernel.

HP is providing the HP NMI Driver (hpnmi) that will work with ESX/ESXi 4.1 kernel to log NMI info to HP Integrated Management Log (IML). Also ESX 4.1 kernel halts the server with PSOD – “Panic requested by 3rd party NMI handlers” to capture a kernel crash dump on panic after an NMI event is received.

If ESX/ESXi 4.1 does not have the HP NMI driver installed and in the event of a hardware fault, HP ProLiant systems may not shutdown due to the NMI event. The NMI event will be logged in the kernel logs and the system will continue execution.

Installation:

esxupdate –bundle=hp-nmi-bundle-1.1.02.zip update

Download agent: HP

Last week I build a rack for a customer with some brand new HP DL380 G7’s, pre-sales decided (happy me) to install ESXi 4.1.. after creating a RAID10 (2x 72GB) configuration on HP SmartArray 410i I started the installation.

After the installation my first boot, ESXi keeps hanging on “multiextent loaded successfully” .. rebooted once again.. no result, waited more then 20 minutes.. still no result.

Watching some log files (ALT + F12) I saw some warnings/errors:

Could not detect setting of QErr for device naa.60a98000572d504c654a573236636b6c. Error Failure

ScsiDeviceIO: 4494: Could not detect settings of QErr for device naa.6005….

LinScsiLLD:

VMWARE SCSI Id: Could not get disk id for vmhba32:CO:TO:LO

Solution:

The current (out of the box) firmware for the  HP SmartArray 410i was 3.03 , upgrade to version 3.66 (latest).

But… to solve this issue you need to delete the current array configuration and create a new one. Run the ESXi 4.1 installation again and the problem is permanently solved.

I know.. before you plan to install a new server.. first install the latest firmware with the HP Firmware DVD (955 mb).. I thought.. I’ll do this later.. NOT!

Last week I bought a brand new OCZ Agility Series 60 GB SSD for my workstation as OS disk. I started a fresh Windows 7 64-bit installation and made some software tweaks for optimal performance. Down here some of those little settings to maximize your performance.

I already upgraded the firmware to the latest level v.1.5

My computer specs: click here

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Few days ago I read some information about memory tweaking on my PC / USB ESXi 4.0 whitebox. I got the this hardware configuration at home:

• Asus P6T SE (HCL)
• Intel Core I7 920 2.66 GHz, 4.8 GT/s, 4x 256kb, 8 MB, Boxed
• OCZ Gold 6 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 8, Non-ECC, Kit Of 3 
• OCZ Fatal1ty 700 Watt, 20+24 Pins, 80 Plus Rating
• Network Intel® PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Adapter
• 2x Samsung SpinPoint F1 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB, S-ATA II/300
• Antec Gamersgear Twelve Hundred Black
• XFX GeForce GTX 275
• Samsung SH-S222A DVD-writer 22x
• Storage ESXi: cheap NAS, nothing special, only too slow

The OCZ Gold 3 stripes with 2 GB each are default rated on 1066Mhz, but they can communicate with 1600Mhz (triple channel!). Time to change some settings in the bios of my Asus P6T SE motherboard.

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Some “blogging” colleagues posted their home lab configuration on the internet, see the list below:

• Simon S. – VMware ESX(i) Home Lab – Why, What and How? Considerations when building your own home lab
• Duncan – My Homelab
• Gabe – White box ESX home lab
• Jason Boche – EMC Celerra NS-120
• Bouke – v-Water: ESXi overclocked, watercooled
• Simon – vT.A.R.D.I.S – 10 ESXi node cluster on a trolley as demonstrated at London VMUG
• Dave – Whitebox HCL
• Eric’s articles on whiteboxes
• Maish – Install ESX on your Laptop – I had a Crazy Idea
• Ultimate ESX whitebox
• Iomega IX4-200D

I also give it a try and post my test lab on my blog.

I own 3 physical machines that I moved a few months ago to the datacenter at my work in Soest (the Netherlands). With a VPN tunnel from my Cisco ASA 5505 (at home) to the datacenter, my 50/50 mbit ISP, it feels like the systems are near me
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Description:

When a remote connection is established with Integrated Lights-Out/Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO/iLO2) using Internet Explorer 8, the browser may stop responding due to Internet Explorer 8 security features. The issue occurs while connecting to the iLO webpage and starting IRC or another iLO/iLO2 remote console client.

Scope:

Any ProLiant server using Integrated Lights-Out/Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO/iLO2) and connecting to a Remote Client using Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.

Resolution:

As a workaround, the iLO/iLO2 IP address or DNS name can be added to the Intranet Explorer 8 "Local Intranet" zone that lists Intranet websites.

Perform the following steps to add the DNS website name or IP address:

1. In Internet Explorer 8 click on "Tools->Internet Options" and the Internet Options pop-up will be displayed.
2. Click on the "Security" Tab.
3. Select the "Local Intranet" icon and click on the "Sites" button to the right and the "Local Intranet" pop-up will be displayed.
4. Click on "Advanced" and add the iLO/iLO2 IP address or DNS name into the blank text box and add the website to the local Intranet zone.
5. After adding the website, click on "Close" to save the website in the zone.

After adding the iLO/iLO2 IP address or DNS name in the Internet Explorer 8 local Intranet zone, all iLO/iLO2 clients will connect as expected.

Source: HP and for the tip Eric Gray

Jaja, eindelijk is het dan zover, vanmiddag kwam UPS mijn nieuwe (tweedehandse) server afleveren. Dit pakket kost me denk ik 3 weken ziektewet (40 kilo) maar het resultaat mag er zijn:

HP ProLiant DL585 G1

CPU TYPE : Quad (4) AMD Opteron 64-880 Dual Core

CPU Speed: 8 x 2,4 Ghz

Geheugen : 8 GB DDR PC2100 (8 x 1GB)

Schijven: 2 x 72 GB 2 x 36 GB (15K)

2 x HP NC7170 Dual Port PCI-X Gigabit Adapter

Kon natuurlijk niet wachten met installeren..

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