Last week I created a little “how-to” for some system engineers to install/upgrade VMware Tools in their test environment. Here’s the translated (public) version:

– VM Summary: VMware Tools – Running (unsupported)

– Select VM > Guest > VMware Tools Install. The Infrastructure Client will mount VMware Tools ISO inside the VM

– Create a directory, type in: mkdir /mnt/cdrom next you need to mount the CD-Rom drive, type in:
mount /dec/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
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Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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After trying to install vCenter Server I received a warning from Windows Installer:
This installation package could not be opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installed package

With some troubleshooting at the VMware vCenter Server MSI package to start this package with a logfile, command:
msiexec /l*vx c:\install.log /i "E\vCenter-Server\VMware vCenter Server.msi"
I received this installer Install.log output:
=== Verbose logging started: 2/21/2012 4:23:12 Build type: SHIP UNICODE 5.00.7600.00 Calling process: C:\Windows\system32\msiexec.exe ===
MSI (c) (DC:D8) [04:23:12:689]: Font created. Charset: Req=0, Ret=0, Font: Req=MS Shell Dlg, Ret=MS Shell Dlg
MSI (c) (DC:D8) [04:23:12:689]: Font created. Charset: Req=0, Ret=0, Font: Req=MS Shell Dlg, Ret=MS Shell Dlg
MSI (c) (DC:60) [04:23:12:704]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (c) (DC:60) [04:23:12:704]: Machine policy value ‘Debug’ is 0
MSI (c) (DC:60) [04:23:12:704]: ******* RunEngine:
******* Product: D:\vpx\VMware vCenter Server.msi
******* Action:
******* CommandLine: **********
MSI (c) (DC:60) [04:23:12:704]: Note: 1: 2203 2: E\vCenter-Server\VMware vCenter Server.msi 3: -2147287039
MSI (c) (DC:60) [04:23:12:704]: MainEngineThread is returning 1620
=== Verbose logging stopped: 2/21/2012 4:23:12 ===
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Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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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]
Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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I saw it’s possible since vSphere 5 to configure the MTU size via the VI Client, sometimes it would be handy to do this with a GUI. In vSphere 4 you configure this at the console (vicfg-vswitch –m 9000 vswitch0 & esxcfg-vmknic –l )
vSwitch MTU Advanced Properties:

VMkernel MTU NIC settings:

Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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Last night I did an upgrade from vSphere ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 5.0 using the ESXi 5 installation CD. The upgrade process was very easy.. elapsed time: 10 minutes!

^ Current installed OS: VMware ESXi 4.1.0 build 260247
– Mount the vSphere 5.0 cd-rom in the host
– Boot from CD-Rom drive
.
– Choose: ESX-5.0.0 Installer in the menu
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Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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I was trying to configure my central storage (StarWind iSCSI SAN) in my homelab, but couldn’t find the software iSCSI Adapter.. huh.. it’s removed?
Storage Adapter:

Nope.. by default it’s not installed, you must manual add the adapter by clicking Configuration > Storage Adapter > Add Storage Adapter

– Select: Add Software iSCSI Adapter

A new software iSCSI adapter will be added to the Storage Adapters list. After it has been added, select the software iSCSI adapter in the list and click on Properties to complete the configuration
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Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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I just finished the (first) installation of the new release: vSphere 5.0 , in this post I show you the complete installation of a VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0.0 host.
Installation process:

– Setup is loading files

– Setup is checking hardware

– Press [Enter] to continue
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Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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Today VMware announced the release of VMware vSphere 5.0. This is a huge release! Some of the key features of this release include:
- Convergence. vSphere 5.0 is the first vSphere release built exclusively on the vSphere ESXi 5.0 hypervisor architecture as the host platform.
- VMware vSphere Auto Deploy. VMware vSphere Auto Deploy simplifies the task of managing ESXi installation and upgrade for hundreds of machines.
- New Virtual machine capabilities. 32-way virtual SMP, 1TB virtual machine RAM, Software support for 3D graphics, and more.
- Expanded support for VMware Tools versions. VMware Tools from vSphere 4.x is supported in virtual machines running on vSphere 5.0 hosts.
- Storage DRS. This feature delivers the DRS benefits of resource aggregation, automated initial placement, and bottleneck avoidance to storage.
- Profile-driven storage. This solution allows you to have greater control and insight into characteristics of your storage resources.
- VMFS5. VMFS5 is a new version of vSphere Virtual Machine File System that offers improved scalability and performance, and provides Internationalization support.
- Storage vMotion snapshot support. Allows Storage vMotion of a virtual machine in snapshot mode with associated snapshots.
- vSphere Web Client. A new browser-based user interface that works across Linux and Windows platforms.
- vCenter Server Appliance. A vCenter Server implementation running on a pre-configured Linux-based virtual appliance.
- vSphere High Availability. VMware High Availability has been transformed into a cloud-optimized availability platform.
Sander Daems is founder and author of this blog and working as a Lead (Sr.) Consultant by UNICA ICT Solutions. Sander has over 15 years experience in IT, primary focus: virtualization and modern worksplace.
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