UCS Manager + VM-FEX - Not compatible with VMWare vCenter appliance

Just come across an issue during the VM-FEX proof of concept test with customer, I am using UCSM 2.0 and trying to configure VM-FEX with VMWare ESXi 5.0 and vCenter 5.0.  We are using vCenter appliance 5.0, not installing the vCenter on Windows, for this test.  The result is after the integration, all VM can't be powered up.

After a quick search and found this KB:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2004079

UCS Manager with VM-FEX does not support the vCenter Server Appliance in any available release.


After we build a new vCenter on Windows (not appliance), everything is working fine.  :)

Restart VMWare processes on VMWare Fusion 3

My environment:  VMWare Fusion 3 on Mac OS X 10.6

I've encountered a weird problem that the bridged VM can't access the outside world as well as the host as well.  When the VM boots up I received several ping reply and all ping are lost after it fully boots up.  After troubleshooting for hours, a process restart solved the problem.  To restart the process on Mac:

sudo /Library/Application\ Support/VMware\ Fusion/boot.sh --restart

Tricks of integrating XenDesktop DDC with VMWare vCenter

My environment:  VMWare vCenter 4.1 on Windows 2008 server, ESXi 4.1, Citrix XenDesktop DDC 4

Citrix XenDesktop is the VDI products from Citrix, and it is flexible that the desktop client VM can run on Citrix XenServer and VMWare ESXi.  You can choose your preferred hypervisor for your client VMs.  In my testing I am using ESXi as the hypervisor for the client VMs. 

Integration is needed between Citrix DDC and VMWare vCenter because you need to know which VMs on your ESXi server hosting the client VMs.  During my integration work I have got the following error message in the Create Desktop Group wizard in DDC:

‘Invalid Address – The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address.’

The workaround is to allow both HTTP and HTTPS for SDK access on vCenter, to do this you can:

1. Edit C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\proxy.xml with your wordpad, and change the access mode of /sdk from httpsWithRedirect to httpAndHttps

<e id="5">
      <_type>vim.ProxyService.LocalServiceSpec</_type>
      <accessMode>httpAndHttps</accessMode>
      <port>8085</port>
      <serverNamespace>/sdk</serverNamespace>
    </e>

2. In DDC, when you are creating integration with vCenter, you can use the URL http://1.2.3.4/sdk where 1.2.3.4 is your vCenter IP address.  You can now allow HTTP access to your vCenter SDK.

Have fun!

Nexus 1000v Setup and Configuration

My environment:  Nexus1000v.4.0.4.SV1.3b, VMWare ESXi 4.1, vCenter 4.1

Nexus 1000v consists of VSM (control plane) and VEM (data plane).  VSM can run as a VM or in a standalone appliance.  In my setup I run it as a VM on one of my ESXi hosts.  The Nexus1000v software comes with both VSM and VEM within a zip file.

1. To install the VSM, locate the .ova file in the VSM folder.  In your vSphere client, click File > “Deploy OVF template”

2. During the deployment, you need to provide the following information:

• Control VLAN ID
• Packet VLAN ID
• Domain ID
• Management IP address

3. You can use the same vlan for control, packet and management, and do not place data traffic on this VLAN.  The wizard is quite straight forward so the details will not be covered here.

4. Next step is to create Nexus 1000v plug-in.  Browse the page http://vsm-ip-address and download the cisco_nexus1000v_extension.xml file

5. In vSphere Client, Plug-Ins menu, choose “Manage Plug-Ins”.  Click “Register Plug-In” and import the XML file downloaded from the VSM page.

6. Then connect your VSM to the vCenter

conf t

svs connection VC

protocol vmware-vim

remote ip address 1.2.3.4

vmware dvs datacenter-name panda-DC

connect

7. Then you can create system port-profile and data port-profile. 

port-profile type ethernet system-uplink
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode trunk
  switchport trunk allowed vlan all
  no shutdown
  system vlan 2010
  state enabled

port-profile type vethernet cciev-server
  vmware port-group
  switchport mode access
  switchport access vlan 100
  no shutdown
  state enabled

8. Next step is to install VEM, the easiest way is to do it via VMWare Update Manager.  In vSphere client > Update Manager > Patch Repository, click “Import Patch”, then choose the VEM module in the Nexus 1000v VEM folder.

9. Then create a new baseline.  Under Baseline and Groups, click create baselines.  Choose VEM under extensions. 

10.  You can now apply the baseline to the host.  In vSphere Client > Hosts and Clusters, choose the host you want to install VEM.  Click the Update Manager tab which is usually the last tab.  Click “Attach” to attach the baseline you’ve just created, then click Remediate to apply.

11.  Now the final step is to add the host to the Nexus 1000v switch.  Under Inventory > Networking, choose the Nexus 1000v switch and right click, click “Add host”.  Apply the system port-profile to the vmnic and apply appropriate data port profile to the VMs.

12.  After adding, you can type the command “show interface virtual” and “show module” on VSM to verify your work.

Installing UCCX 7 on VMWare

My environment:  VMWare ESXi 4.1, UCCX 7.0.1.168

One of the components in your CCIE lab is UCCX, and instead of install it on bare metal you might want to run it on VMWare so that it reduce your hardware investment.  I have just did that and would like to share some points that you need to aware when you are installing UCCX 7 on VMWare

• Ready the UCCX 7 media and license, as well as Windows 2003 server.  In my environment I am using Windows 2003 Enterprise edition, and Standard Edition will also work.
• You will need at least 2GB memory and 72GB vDisk for your UCCX 7 VM, otherwise you can’t continue the installation and the installer will prompt error.
• Don’t use thin provisioning for your VM vDisk.  Allocate all 72GB during the VM creation, otherwise again the installer will not let you to continue the installation
• Install IIS, that is required to run the UCCX appadmin pages.
• Don’t add this machine to a domain
• Add the following “String” to the Windows 2003 registry to cheat the system you are installing on a MCS
• HKLM\Software\Cisco Systems\Model
• Hardware = 7835H05
• Memory = 2048
• Speed = 2333
• Reboot the machine after finish all the above steps
• Mount the ISO with your vSphere client, then copy all the contents to a temporary folder on the UCCX VM.  Then double click CiscoUnifiedCCXAutorun.exe
• Reboot after finish installation
• Access the appadmin page http://uccx7/appadmin, where uccx7 is your hostname or IP address of the UCCX server.  The initial username and password is Administrator/ciscocisco.  Remember the “A” in “Administrator” is upper case.  If you are using lower case, it will show the error I/O AXL error.
• Ready the license and UCM credential for UCM and UCCX integration

Have fun!

VMWorld 2009 – Building the event Datacenter

 

Impressive saving on space and power with VMWare + Cisco UCS!

Vblock Journey - Cisco, EMC, VMware Virtual Computing Envionment

Installing VMWare Workstation 6.0.2 on 2.6.24 Kernel

My environment: Redhat Linux FC8 x86_64
VMWare version: Workstation 6.0.2

Tried to install VMWare workstation 6.0.2 on my Linux box with 2.6.24 kernel running and failed. Here is a quick how-to on how to resolve it:

1. Got your VMWare workstation tarball: VMware-workstation-6.0.2-59824.x86_64.tar.gz
2. Untar it
3. vmware-player-distrib/vmware-install.pl - when it asks you to run vmware-config.pl answer NO
4. Download VMWare patch vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz
All VMWare patch files here: http://groups.google.com/group/vmkernelnewbies/files
5. Untar your tarball
6. Run runme.pl, and when it asks you to run vmware-config.pl, answer YES
7. You know what to do after this step. If you don't know how to do, visit here.

Shared Folder in VMWare

When using a virtual machine, you will find inevitable for the guest OS accessing the host OS, mostly for file sharing. VMWare provides a great way to do.

My environment: VMWare Workstation 6.0.2
Guest OS: Windows XP SP2 32-bit
Host OS: Windows Vista SP1 64-bit

1. On your VMWare Workstation console, choose VM > Settings > Options > Shared Folders

2. Pick "Always Enabled" if you want to make your shared folder always on your guest OS, and add the folder you want to share.

3. Install VMWare tools on your host OS by choosing VM > Install VMWare Tools on your VMWare Workstation.

4. Then you can access your host OS shared folder by:
\\.host\Shared Folders

Installing VMWare Workstation on Linux

My environment: RH Fedora Core 8, 2.6.23.15-137.fc8, 32-bit

Before installing, make sure you have the kernel-headers and kernel-devel rpm installed. You'll need the kernel header files during the installation process.

1. To install VMWare workstation on Linux, the very first step is to download the VMWare rpm file from the vmware website:

http://www.vmware.com

2. After download the rpm, install it:

rpm -Uvh Vmware-workstation-6.0.2-59824.i386.rpm

3. Just one step to go, run the configuration perl script:

vmware-config.pl

Here is the output from my Linux box, paste it here for your reference:

Configuring fallback GTK+ 2.4 libraries.

In which directory do you want to install the theme icons?

[/usr/share/icons]

What directory contains your desktop menu entry files? These files have a

.desktop file extension. [/usr/share/applications]

In which directory do you want to install the application's icon?

[/usr/share/pixmaps]

Trying to find a suitable vmmon module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmmon modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for your

running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for

your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Using compiler "/usr/bin/gcc". Use environment variable CC to override.

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running

kernel? [/lib/modules/2.6.23.15-137.fc8/build/include]

Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

Building the vmmon module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.23.15-137.fc8/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/driver.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/comport.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/cpuid.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/hash.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/memtrack.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/phystrack.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/task.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciContext.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDatagram.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDriver.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciDs.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciGroup.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciHashtable.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciProcess.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciResource.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmciSharedMem.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/common/vmx86.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmcore/moduleloop.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.o

Building modules, stage 2.

MODPOST 1 modules

CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.mod.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only/vmmon.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

cp -f vmmon.ko ./../vmmon.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmmon-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Trying to find a suitable vmblock module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmblock modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for

your running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmblock

module for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your

system)? [yes]


Extracting the sources of the vmblock module.

Building the vmblock module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.23.15-137.fc8/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/block.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/control.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/dbllnklst.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/dentry.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/file.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/filesystem.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/inode.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/module.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/stubs.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/linux/super.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.o

Building modules, stage 2.

MODPOST 1 modules

CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.mod.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only/vmblock.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

cp -f vmblock.ko ./../vmblock.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmblock-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Do you want networking for your virtual machines? (yes/no/help) [yes]


Configuring a bridged network for vmnet0.

Your computer has multiple ethernet network interfaces available: eth0, eth1.

Which one do you want to bridge to vmnet0? [eth0] eth1

The following bridged networks have been defined:

. vmnet0 is bridged to eth1

Do you wish to configure another bridged network? (yes/no) [no]

Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machines? (yes/no)

[yes]

Configuring a NAT network for vmnet8.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)

[yes]

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...


The subnet 192.168.181.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following NAT networks have been defined:

. vmnet8 is a NAT network on private subnet 192.168.181.0.

Do you wish to configure another NAT network? (yes/no) [no]

Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machines?

[yes]

Configuring a host-only network for vmnet1.

Do you want this program to probe for an unused private subnet? (yes/no/help)

[yes]

Probing for an unused private subnet (this can take some time)...

The subnet 172.16.245.0/255.255.255.0 appears to be unused.

The following host-only networks have been defined:

. vmnet1 is a host-only network on private subnet 172.16.245.0.

Do you wish to configure another host-only network? (yes/no) [no]

Trying to find a suitable vmnet module for your running kernel.

None of the pre-built vmnet modules for VMware Workstation is suitable for your

running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmnet module for

your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)? [yes]

Extracting the sources of the vmnet module.

Building the vmnet module.

Using 2.6.x kernel build system.

make: Entering directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only'

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.23.15-137.fc8/build/include/.. SUBDIRS=$PWD SRCROOT=$PWD/. modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/driver.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/hub.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/userif.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/netif.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/bridge.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/filter.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/procfs.o

CC [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_compat.o

SHIPPED /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/smac_linux.x386.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.o

Building modules, stage 2.

MODPOST 1 modules

CC /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.mod.o

LD [M] /tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only/vmnet.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.23.15-137.fc8-i686'

cp -f vmnet.ko ./../vmnet.o

make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet-only'

The module loads perfectly in the running kernel.

Do you want to install the Eclipse Integrated Virtual Debugger? You must have

the Eclipse IDE installed. [no]

Creating a new VMware VIX API installer database using the tar4 format.

Installing VMware VIX API.

You must read and accept the VMware VIX API End User License Agreement to

continue.

Press enter to display it.



Do you accept? (yes/no) yes

Thank you.

In which directory do you want to install the VMware VIX API binary files?

[/usr/bin]

In which directory do you want to install the VMware VIX API library files?

[/usr/lib/vmware-vix/lib]

The path "/usr/lib/vmware-vix/lib" does not exist currently. This program is

going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?

[yes]

In which directory do you want to install the VMware VIX API document pages?

[/usr/share/doc/vmware-vix]

The path "/usr/share/doc/vmware-vix" does not exist currently. This program is

going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?

[yes]

The installation of VMware VIX API 1.1.2 build-59824 for Linux completed

successfully. You can decide to remove this software from your system at any

time by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-vix.pl".

Starting VMware services:

Virtual machine monitor [ 確定 ]

Blocking file system: [ 確定 ]

Virtual ethernet [ 確定 ]

Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 [ 確定 ]

Host network detection [ 確定 ]

Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet1 (background) [ 確定 ]

DHCP server on /dev/vmnet1 [ 確定 ]

Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) [ 確定 ]

DHCP server on /dev/vmnet8 [ 確定 ]

NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 [ 確定 ]

The configuration of VMware Workstation 6.0.2 build-59824 for Linux for this

running kernel completed successfully.

You can now run VMware Workstation by invoking the following command:

"/usr/bin/vmware".