Note: Jumbo Frames on software iSCSI for ESX 3.x is an experimental feature and is not a fully supported configuration. Jumbo Frames are fully supported in ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.0.

Ensure that you read this important information about Jumbo Frames before working with them:

• ESX/ESXi supports a maximum MTU size of 9000. Note: Some switch configurations for Jumbo Frames need to have an MTU set more than 9000. For more information, see Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS Software Configuration Guide.
• Any packet larger than 1500 MTU is a Jumbo Frame. ESX/ESXi supports frames up to 9Kb (9000 Bytes).
• Jumbo Frames are limited to data networking only (virtual machines and the vMotion network).
• It is possible to configure Jumbo Frames for an iSCSI network. It is not a fully supported configuration in ESX 3.5, but it is supported in ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.0.
• You can enable Jumbo Frames for each vSwitch or VMkernel interface through the command line interface on your ESX host.
• To allow ESX host to send larger frames out onto the physical network, the network must support Jumbo Frames end to end.
• Ensure that your NIC or LOM supports Jumbo Frames.
• For experimental support of Jumbo Frames in ESX 3.5, these NICs are supported:
• Intel (82546, 82571)
• Broadcom (5708, 5706, 5709, 57710, 57711)
• Netxen (NXB-10GXxR, NXB-10GCX4)
• Neterion (Xframe, Xframe II, Xframe E)
• For ESX/ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.0, contact your NIC hardware vendor regarding support for Jumbo Frames.
• You cannot use Jumbo Frames on a Broadcom card that is configured as a hardware initiator performing iSCSI offload functions. You can either use Jumbo Frames or iSCSI Offload and you cannot use both together with the Broadcom adapters.

Creating a Jumbo Frames-enabled vSwitch

To create a Jumbo Frames-enabled vSwitch:

1. Log in directly to the ESX host console.
2. To set the MTU size for the vSwitch:
1. Run this command for ESX 3.5 and ESX/ESXi 4.x:esxcfg-vswitch -m MTU vSwitch#

    

2. Run this command for ESXi 5.0:esxcli network vswitch standard set -m MTU -v vSwitch#

   Note: This command sets the MTU for all uplinks on that vSwitch. Set the MTU size to the largest MTU size among all the virtual network adapters connected to the vSwitch.

3. To display a list of vSwitches on the host, and to check that the configuration of the vSwitch is correct:
• Run this command for ESX 3.5 and ESX/ESXi 4.x:esxcfg-vswitch -l

   

• Run this command for ESXi 5.0:esxcli network vswitch standard list

Creating a Jumbo Frames-enabled VMkernel interface

To create a Jumbo Frames-enabled VMkernel interface:

1. Log in directly to the ESX host console.
2. To create a VMkernel connection with Jumbo Frames support, run this command to create the port group on an existing switch:esxcfg-vswitch -A vmkernel_port_group_name vSwitch#

   Note:If you plan to have a vSwitch which just contains the iSCSI port group you can specify the MTU for the vSwitch to be 9000 and not specify the MTU when creating the vmkernel port in the next step.

   esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitch#

    

3. To create a VMkernel connection with Jumbo Frame support:
• Run this command for ESX 3.5 and ESX/ESXi 4.x:esxcfg-vmknic -a -i ip_address -n netmask -m MTU portgroup_name

  Note:If the vmnic port is already created, use the command for ESX/ESXi 4.1 only:

  esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 portgroup_name

   

• Run this command for ESXi 5.0:esxcli network ip interface set -m 9000 -i vmk_interface

   

4. To display a list of VMkernel interfaces, and to check that the configuration of the Jumbo Frame‐enabled interface is correct:
• Run this command for ESX 3.5 and ESX/ESXi 4.x:esxcfg-vmknic -l

   

• Run this command for ESXi 5.0:esxcli network ip interface list

Related posts:

1. How to Upgrade from ESX/ESXi 4.1 to ESX/ESXi 4.1 Update 1
2. VMware vSphere ESXi Migration Flowchart
3. Installing Drivers for Additional NICs in VMware ESXi Server

When datastore housing the VM runs out of diskspace, you will not be able to create new VMs, power on existing VMs, and may notice performance issues with the VMs that are running.

Here is how to fix the error and successfully vMotion the VM:

Turning OFF or reducing the memory size on VM will reduce the amount of space required for memory swap file and that will free up disk space on the datastore (housing other VMs).

Using VMware converter to copy the VM to another host or datastore, the new VM will not have a snapshot.

For Future or NEW VMs, you also have an option to store the swap files with the VM or another datastore on non-replicated LUN. In vCenter, click on a HOST, go to CONFIGURATION tab and then "Swap file location" then click on EDIT for list of options.

In order to avoid dealing with .vswp file (allocating extra space for those files), you may make reservation for the virtual machine that is equal to amount of RAM assigned to it. For example, if you have a VM with 4GB RAM assigned, you can edit the VM settings > Resource tab to get to the reservation settings for memory, CPU of a VM.

I hope above helps you avoid future out of space or missing snapshot errors. If you have questions or comments or another virtualization support issue, please post in our discussion forums.

Related posts:

1. Unable to connect to MKS: Virtual machine config file does not exist
2. Invalid configuration for device 4 Error When Cloning or vMotion a Virtual Machine
3. Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 5.0

I experienced this error in my lab over the weekend and removing the VM from the vDS portgroup fixed the issue. According to VMware, the cause of this issue is that during the clone procedure, a vDS port requires a reservation. This issue occurs if the reservation expires too quickly.

Here is step by step how to (applies to vSphere 4.0/4.1, may also work for 5.0):

1. Launch the vSphere Client
2. RIGHT click on the VM which is producing this error and click on EDIT SETTINGS.
3. Under the Hardware tab, check the settings for all the Network Adapter devices.
4. Click on Network Adapter 1 and then change the Network Connection-Network Label from vDS portgroup to Standard vSwitch.
5. Perform the vMotion or clone again
6. After the task in #5 completes, add the VM back to the vDS portgroup.

You should be all done. One thing worth mentioning here is that when you start the vmotion/clone process on a VM, vsphere client does give you an 'warning' under the compatibility:

Network interface 'Network Adapter 1' uses newtork 'Distributed Virtual Switch (uuid), which is not accessible.

But for some reason still allows the user to click "next" only to fail later in the task.

If you have any questions, comments or support issues, be sure to join us in our Virtualization Forum and register in order to ask any queries.

Related posts:

1. Maximizing Virtual Machine Scalability with iSCSI Storage
2. VMware vConverter: A fatal error occurred Message
3. Mapped direct-access LUN that is not accessible error

A fatal error occurred. The reason for this might be a Network connection failure. The wizard will close now.
Please check your network connection and try again.

The error itself doesn't tell you anything useful other than the fact that its from vConverter but RESTARTING services below will fix your problem:

• VMware vCenter Converter Integrated Server
• VMware vCenter Converter Integrated Worker

Related posts:

1. vSphere Client: Call “Service Instance Retrieve Content” for object “Service Instance”
2. Poll: VMware vCenter Database Requirements and Issues
3. ManageEngine Applications Manager Deepens VMware Monitoring

View Aliases

Connect to your vSphere ESXi or vCenter server using the "connect-viserver" cmdlet.

Once connected, issue the follow cmdlet to get list of all of the configured aliases:

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> get-alias

You can also use "gal" (alias for get-alias) cmdlet to get list of aliases.

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> gal

Create Aliases

In this example, we will create two aliases for existing cmdlets: get-vm and get-host

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> New-Item Alias:gvm -Value Get-VM
• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> gvm

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> New-Item Alias:gvh -value Get-VMHost
• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> gvh

Export and Import Aliases

When you configure aliases in PowerShell, they are only available for that particular session and are deleted once the session ends. You may export aliases using the export cmdlet or edit your PowerShell profile script file to add your additions. To see location of your profile, issue $profile at the command prompt:

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> $profile

C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Use the Export-Alias cmdlet to export aliases into the PowerShell script file above:

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> export-alias
  cmdlet Export-Alias at command pipeline position 1
  Supply values for the following parameters:
  Path: C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\>

You can also edit the "Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1" file directly, add your aliases and import using the import-alias cmdlet

• [vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> import-alias

The process is similar to export-alias cmdlet, you may encounter errors for aliases which were already imported when you started the PowerShell/PowerCLI session.

You can learn more about PowerCLI, at Vmware's PowerCLI documentation page.

I hope this helps you manage your VMware vsphere environment better and saves you time. Please keep in mind that above cmdlets may or may not work in your environment, so always test in non-production environment first as I am not responsible for your mistakes.

Discuss this and other virtualization management ideas, techniques in our virtualization forum.

Related posts:

1. How to use VMware PowerCLI to get All VM Mac Addresses?
2. Interview with Dimitar Hristov – VMware vSphere PowerCLI Engineering Team
3. The upcoming revolution of PowerCLI with VMware

I was trying to track down a VM and did not want to go through 100 VMs just to find out what MAC address its NICs had. I knew the IP address this particular mac address was mapped to and found that out using "show arp" command on cisco router:
#show arp

Protocol	Address	Age(min)	Hardware Address	Type	Interface
Internet	192.168.1.207	8	0050.56b8.65a1	ARPA	GigabitEthernet0/0

Once I knew the MAC address was in fact a VM (0050.56xx.xxxx mac addresses are used by VMware for its virtual NICs), I opened up Windows Powershell and executed this command (you will need PowerCLI installed and loaded):

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-VM | `
>> Select-Object -Property Name,@{N="MacAdresses";E={$_.NetworkAdapters | ForEach-Object {$_.MacAddress}}},VMHost
>>

Name	MacAddresses	VMHost
myTestVM	{00:50:56:b8:65:a1, 00:50:56:86:00:0b}	192.168.1.222

Both (from cisco router ARP and VMware PowerCLI) show same MAC address mapped to myTestVM on host 192.168.1.222. Now you can safely disable that NIC or change IP address on it (in case of duplicate IP issues, etc.)

On older version of powerCLI, you may get this warning message:
WARNING: 'NetworkAdapters' property is obsolete. Use 'Get-NetworkAdapter' cmdlet instead.

So, be sure to change the command if necessary. Your setup and deployment maybe different from mine so make sure you are aware of the risks and I take no responsibility for your wrong doing.

If you have any questions on this or other tutorials, post in our Virtualization Forum.

Related posts:

1. The upcoming revolution of PowerCLI with VMware
2. Interview with Dimitar Hristov – VMware vSphere PowerCLI Engineering Team
3. How to Upgrade from ESX/ESXi 4.1 to ESX/ESXi 4.1 Update 1

So let us begin and prepare the host for an upgrade:

1. vMotion all virtual machines from the host and put the host in Maintenance Mode.
2. Install vSphere CLI (more info and download here)

Upgrade the ESX/ESXi host from 4.1 to 4.1 Update 1:

1. Download the ZIP bundle to a location that is accessible by the vSphere CLI.
2. Run this command to install the esxupdate bulletin:
   • vihostupdate --server 192.168.1.222 -i -b c:/downloads/upgrade-from-esxi4.0-to-4.1-update01.zip -B ESXi410-GA-esxupdate
3. Run this command to install the upgrade bulletin:
   • vihostupdate --server 192.168.1.222 -i -b c:/downloads/upgrade-from-esxi4.0-to-4.1-update01.zip -B ESXi410-GA
4. Run this command to verify if the bulletins are installed:
   • vihostupdate.pl --server 192.168.1.222 --query
5. Reboot the host to complete the upgrade.
6. Upgrade VMware tools in the virtual machines.

Change IP address (DNS name) listed in the steps above to reflect your virtualization environment/IP scheme. Remember, virtualization setup maybe different in your environment than described here so please backup your virtual machines and ESXi host configuration as virtualization.net or myself are not responsible if you make any mistakes.

If you have any questions or need help, post in our Virtualization Forums.

Happy keeping your hosts up-to-date!

Related posts:

1. VMware Releases ESXi 4.1 Update 1
2. Parallels Desktop Upgrade to Windows 7 Makes It Simple to Upgrade from XP, Vista
3. Installing Drivers for Additional NICs in VMware ESXi Server

The server 'http://ip-address-of-the-server' could not interpret the client's request
(the remote server returned an error: (404) not found)

error stack:
Call "ServiceInstance.RetrieveContent" for object "ServiceInstance" on Server "ip-address-of-the-server" failed.

Screenshot of the Error:

The likely cause here is the HTTP:// in the IP Address / Name: field of the vSphere client. When using vSphere client, you should use the IP ADDRESS or the NAME of the server (if DNS is configured correctly) without the "http://"

If you prefer using http then you may use HTTPS://IP-Address-of-the-server to connect using vSphere client.

Related posts:

1. Data Virtualization for Customer Service and Call Centers
2. VMware vSphere Now Bundled with Intransa VDMR Appliances
3. New WES7 Thin Client Demo with Microsoft RemoteFX at Tech-Ed Atlanta

virtual disk 'hd1' is mapped direct-access LUN that is not accessible.

This error usually occurs when there is LUN ID mismatch across hosts. Here is solution from VMware KB:

One of the VMotion requirements is shared storage, this has to be seen from both hosts in the same way (physical ID) otherwise the VMotion checks will not allow you to proceed with the vMotion operation.

Warning: Before following the procedure below, check with your Hardware vendor to ensure the changes on step 3 will not affect the Datastores. If this cannot be avoided, you will need to power off all the virtual machines as changing the physical ID/presentation of the LUNs hosting Datastores may cause them to be recognised as snapshots and resigning may be required.

To fix the numbering mismatch on LUNs:

1. Power-down virtual machines with RDMs.
2. Select Virtual Machine > Edit Settings > Remove RDMs from the virtual machine (see screenshot of this option below).
3. Make presentation changes on your array
   • Check the Multipathing Checklist in the Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide for your version of ESX or ESXi.
   • Request storage configuration best practices from your hardware vendor. Many vendors have a document that explains the configuration settings for use in conjunction with ESX.
4. Rescan all ESX hosts.
5. Select Virtual Machine > Edit Settings > Re-add RDMs with new LUN numbers.
6. Power-up the virtual machines and verify they are accessing correct disks, and can now VMotion.

Screenshot of the Virtual Machine Edit Settings Options

Be sure to check out our virtualization forum for more solutions and to post any questions that you may have. If you are interested in blogging at Virtualization.net, please contact us.

Related posts:

1. Xen Virtualization & Intel VT-d: Direct Hardware Access to Graphics Card by Windows Virtual Machines

Virtualization offers organization a unique combination of value and reduced costs and no where is this combination more apparent than with disaster recovery and data protection. As IT crams more and more services on one server, the need to backup that data has become more important than ever before. Veeam backup and replication software addresses many concerns that virtualization administrators have and goes a step further to save time, reduce costs and allow faster recovery in case of a disaster. We've been using Veeam for past few months and very impressed with the way it goes about backing up virtual machines.

The biggest feature which attracted me to Veeam Backup and Replication v5 was the it combines agentless imagebased backup and replication in a single software. Other breakthrough features that are worth mentioning is the ability to run Virtual Machine (VM) directly from a backup file and the peace of mind of being able to replicate VMs to another host or datastore for instant recovery. A backup is only good when you can recover from a disaster, just because backup job completes successfully doesn't mean you can successfully restore it. Veeam Backup & Replication takes a different approach to that challenge, it changes the way image backups are done through new technology called SureBackup. Veeam's SureBackup tests and verifies recoverability of every backup job and the verification process takes minutes rather than hours and does not need to be done manually.

Moreover, Veeam Backup and replication offers an intuitive web based dashboard where you can view information regarding your Veeam backup servers, VMs and status and graphical reports on backup tasks. It gives you a central web interface to manage multiple servers, change settings, add and managing licensing, configure notifications and much more.

Veeam Backup & Replication Web Interface

Veeam Backup & Replication v5.0 main software overview pane

Here is list of some of Veeam Backup & Replication v5.0 features

• Instant VM Recovery
• U-AIR (Universal Application-Item Recovery)
• SureBackup Recovery Verification
• On-Demang Sandbox
• Instant File-Level recovery from any file system


Restoring from Backup pane

 

• instant indexing
• Guest file search
• Customizable block size
• Monthly schedules
• Continuous job schedule
• Unsupported disks are automatically skipped
• Incremental backup mode
• Previous full backup chain transformation
• VM level retention
• Delete individual VMs from a full backup file
• Thin disk support on replica
• on the fly disk transformation
• Connection free operation
• Granular application aware processing
• better transaction log handling
• VM search
• restore audit
• Service based retores
• and many more...

Supported environments

VMware Infrastructure Platforms:

• vSphere 4.x
• VMware Infrastructure 3.x (VI3)

Hosts:

• ESX 4.x and 3.x
• ESXi 4.x and 3.x (including replication to ESXi)

Software:

• vCenter Server 4.x (optional)
• Virtual Center 2.x (optional)

Virtual Machines:

• All operating systems supported by VMware
• Any application
• Any file system

In future blog articles, I will dive deep into basic and advance functionality of Veeam software and how you can use it to backup Vmware hosts.

Related posts:

1. New Veeam Backup & Replication v5 Released
2. Veeam Software Reports Record Third Quarter Results in 2010
3. Veeam v5 vs. Symantec: Best VMware Backup Solution?