Troubleshoot ESXi memory performance

Troubleshoot the ESXi memory performance with esxtop.

You can troubleshoot memory issues on the ESXi host with the esxtop commando. Then press "m" for memory. then you will see the active memory from the VM's on the ESXi host.

If you perform this look at the counters at the left. This will represent the values for TPS, memctl, zip and swap.

This due the fact that if the host is using memory reclamation technique the state is fairly not changing.



esxtop + m

Source: lab pratices VMware cource Optimize and Scale

New features in VMware 5.5

The're some neat features here in VMware version 5.5

A real video about the new features: Watch me

It's also supported to cluster the SQL server that's containing your vCenter database.

vSphere ESXi Hypervisor Enhancements

• Hot-Pluggable SSD PCI Express (PCIe) Devices
• Support for Reliable Memory Technology
• Enhancements for CPU C-States

Virtual Machine Enhancements

• Virtual Machine Compatibility with VMware ESXi 5.5
• Expanded vGPU Support
• Graphic Acceleration for Linux Guests

Vmware vCenter Server Enhancements

• VMware vCenter Single Sign-On
• VMware vSphere Web Client
• VMware vCenter Server Appliance
• vSphere App HA
• vSphere HA and VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (vSphere DRS)
• Virtual Machine–Virtual Machine Affinity Rules Enhancements
• vSphere Big Data Extensions

vSphere Storage Enhancements

• Support for 62TB VMDK
• MSCS Updates
• vSphere 5.1 Feature Updates
• 16GB E2E support
• PDL AutoRemove
• vSphere Replication Interoperability
• vSphere Replication Multi-Point-in-Time Snapshot Retention
• vSphere Flash Read Cache

vSphere Networking Enhancements

• Link Aggregation Control Protocol Enhancements
• Traffic Filtering
• Quality of Service Tagging
• SR-IOV Enhancements
• Enhanced Host-Level Packet Capture
• 40GB NIC support

Source: Click me

VMware VirtualCenter Server service fails randomly when using EVault backup solution

Are you using Evault software for your backup? And having the symptoms that your VMware Server Service is crashing....

Then upgrade to VMware vCenter version 5.5 or contact Evault for the latest Hot-Fix for this issue.

Source VMware: Click me


Do you have got a good idea for the VMware Knowledge Base?

Report it here: Click me

From IDE disk to SCSI disk in VMware

From IDE to SCSi in 8 steps. VMware supported.

I found out that IDE is trouble in performance and the disk cannot be extended. 

So i searched google and found out that there's a supported way to proceed.

Source VMware: Click me

To convert the IDE disk to SCSI:

1. Locate the datastore path where the virtual machine resides.For example:# cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<vm_name>/
2. From the ESX Service Console, open the primary disk (.vmdk) using the vi editor. 
3. Look for the line:ddb.adapterType = "ide"
4. To change the adapter type to LSI Logic change the line to:
   ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
   
   To change the adapter type to Bus Logic change the line to:
   
   ddb.adapterType = "buslogic"
5. Save the file.
6. From VMware Infrastructure/vSphere Client:
   1. Click Edit Settings for the virtual machine.
   2. Select the IDE virtual disk.
   3. Choose to Remove the Disk from the virtual machine.
   4. Click OK.
      
      Caution: Make sure that you do not choose delete from disk.
7. From the Edit Settings menu for this virtual machine:
   1. Click Add > Hard Disk > Use Existing Virtual Disk.
   2. Navigate to the location of the disk and select to add it into the virtual machine.
   3. Choose the same controller as in Step 3 as the adapter type. The SCSI ID should read SCSI 0:0.
8. If a CDROM device exists in the virtual machine it may need to have the IDE channel adjusted from IDE 0:1 to IDE 0:0. If this option is greyed out, remove the CD-ROM from the virtual machine and add it back. This sets it to IDE 0:0. 

Updating your Dell server a hassle or maybe not?

This week I tried to update our company Dell Server. They're all running in a Datacenter, so i tried to perform it remotely with a bootable iso....

Running updates on a HP isn't a hassle, just download the disk and run it on your system trough the iLo.

But now try a Dell Poweredge. hhmmmm strange no *.ISO download, they have the SUU and the SBU.

But the SBU is the only one who's bootable, you expect some patches in it. But no way. You have to connect the SUU disk. But remotely.... soo dull Dell thanks.

So it's now Dell from hell..... or not.

Even called support they only would give me a quote for supporting me. This is new since 2 months that if your products are OWR, this according the technician I spoke with.

When i worked @Dell you'll always got support when trying to update the server or system. So something is changed but not in my/our profit.

So when you come to the point of giving up.....

I found out that they have Dell Repository Manager Client/Datacenter edition.

You can find it here:

Download it here 

Then you can install it on a windows guest OS like windows 7 or 8. Or to an 2008 R2 server installation. But i installed it on my windows 8 desktop.

After installing the software, that's pretty straight forwarded. Next, Next > Finish.

Then here it comes.

At the home screen got to:




Then type in the server type and description:


Select like below:


Select your server type: ( i will select "Rack Mount" for this example)


Select like below:





Select your server model here: (I select R710 for this example)


Select like below (default)



Select like below (default)


Select "Finish"


After this the repository is indexed and done:



After this the go to the tab "Your server type"


Then click the "System Bundle" you prefeer. I clicked Linux, my server is a ESXi host.

Then you go to the components tab, after the Bundle is clicked.

Here you see the applicable patches/firmware/bios whatever you prefeer to install.

After selected the patches/firmware/bios that you want. I selected here all the patches, but this is just for example. Take your time to select whatever you want/like or need.

Ten go back to the Bundles tab.

On the Bundles tab select "Export":



Then the export phase:


Select the bootable Linux option here:


If the plugin is found press Next:




 Select your location for the *.ISO (no screenshot made your local computer is showed)
Press Next:









Just press Finish:


After this step the creation of the *.ISO will begin. You're able to follow it in the que below in the screen of the management console.

After this is done, load the *.ISO in the Drac console "Launch Virtual Media."

You have to perform multiple runs of the *.ISO due it's not performing all of the updates at once.

If you experiencing some problems check below:

If this is failing due you cannot connect, go to the Console/Media tab >  Configuration



Then select the following: