Posted by Brian on Jul 15, 2010 in vCenter Server, VMware, vSphere | 0 comments
With this weeks release of vSphere 4.1 from VMware the operating system requirements have been raised to 64 bit. What this means is that all management consoles and related tools have moved or will be moving soon to 64 bit only systems. Most importantly is that vCenter server 4.1 is now dependent on a 64 bit OS to run. This means that before you rush to upgrade you will need to make sure if your running on a physical server that it is 64 bit capable. If not then you will require a new server or you could elect to move it to a 64 bit virtual machine.
Currently only the operating systems listed below are the only 64 bit options support by the new vCenter 4.1 server.
- Windows XP Pro SP2 (SP2 required, 64 bit )
- Windows Server 2003 (SP1 required, 64 bit )
- Windows Server 2008 (64 bit )
Something new with this release is the vCenter Server Data Migration Tool. This new tool will help to migrate some of your data and settings over to a new server depending on what your configuration was. There are some very rigid rules on what it will and wont move across. The list below is the only options that it will migrate. Judging from that list every production setup I’ve ever seen is going to require the usual manual steps to be done. Since I don’t think anyone out there is using SQL express as their DB in anything other than maybe a small lab environment. Your gonna need to configure 64 bit DSN’s for your vCenter and Update Manger Databases on the new server yourself.
You can use the vCenter Data Migration Tool to automatically migrate the following to a new server:
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vCenter Server Software and its configuration
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vCenter Update Manager Software and its configuration
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VMware Orchestrator Software and its configuration
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The default SQL Express 2005 database that comes installed with vCenter Server.
To see the full details from VMware on this process refer to this article.
Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.
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Posted by Brian on Jun 28, 2010 in Tools, VMware, vSphere, Workstation | 0 comments
I’ve seen a few other guides for this same type of install. I just wanted to put something together to save for myself. I will show you how to use the EDA deployment appliance to install vSphere in VMware Workstation. You can follow most of the same steps for a physical machine install with just a few changes.
For this I was testing things for my home lab and created this on my laptop just using Workstation 7.0. I created two virtual machines, one for the EDA appliance and one blank that will get ESX 4.0 installed from the Deployment script.
Step 1: Download the EDA appliance http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/va/89313/download
Step 2: Import the EDA virtual appliance into VMware workstation.
Step 3: After the input I had to add in a CD-Rom to the VM and attached the vSphere .iso file to the CD drive.
Step 4: You can then start up the EDA appliance and choose Reconfigure.
Step 5: Fill out your network information on the screen shown below. Then press enter or click on OK.
Step 6: You can now log into the configuration web page for the EDA appliance. In my configuration it was http://192.168.1.19
The default login for the page is root - root. You will be presented with several sections that will allow you to configure options for the install. I will briefly cover these parts as I did not change much on them for this test. The Post installation commands section allows you to script any custom changes or adds that you want to make for your install. The General settings section is used for basic network and disk settings for each install, this section is pretty easy to understand.
Step 7: Now you are ready to prepare the Host specific details. Refer to the image below as I describe the steps. You can either modify the sample host that is loaded by default. By clicking on the host name or selecting “new host” you will get a screen like the 2nd picture below. This will allow you to specify host name and IP addresses needed for your base install. Once created if you click on the “ks” link for the hostname you will see what the kick start file contains for commands.
Step 8: Now you will need to setup the options for the DHCP server. Upon clicking on the “configure DHCP server” link from the top menu you will be presented with the following configuration file. I highlighted a few of the important lines that I changed to work for my setup. You will need to make sure all of the normal DHCP options are set in this file.
Step 9: Now you will need to “import PXE files” so that you can boot the server that you will be installing ESX onto. You need to make sure that the ESX CD or .iso file is mounted to your EDA appliance. If the ESX disc or file is properly mounted you will see the confirmation in the top right just like the image below. Then you select the “Import PXE bootfiles” from the menu and you will see a screen like the second image below.
Step 10: If you are using a physical server to install onto you can start now and have the machine PXE boot.
If you are going to use a virtual machine you need to create a VM with the proper OS select, disk size, memory and number of Nic’s that you wish to use. Once this is done you will see a screen like the one below you start the install. I trust that you know what settings need to be used for installing ESX into VMware workstation, if not there are plenty of good guides for it. If you are using Workstation 7.x the process is now built in and very easy to select from the OS choices.
Note: If you created multiple host install names you will get presented with the options and can type the name of the one you wish to install. I circled in red above as an example.
Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.
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Posted by Brian on Jun 3, 2010 in Troubleshooting, vCenter Server, VMware | 2 comments
While I was upgrading my vCenter server to Server 2008 I came across the following issue. I was trying to install VMware License Server on a Window Server 2008 32bit server and the install would fail saying it cannot start system services. After checking to make sure that I had not made some dumb mistake with my account I hit the intertubes and found that others had the same issue.
I was able to get pass this issue by downloading the latest copy of Virtual Center server 2.5 update 6 and then extracting the License server install file from the VPX folder. Seems that the copy from the install .iso file is newer than the file available for direct downloading. Maybe VMware can fix this soon. I did not try it but according to some other posts the version in VC 2.5 U5 might also work. Once I installed this version it worked the first time.
Error 1920.Service VMware License Server failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.
Brian is a Technical Architect for a VMware partner and owner of this website. He is active in the VMware community and is helps lead the Chicago VMUG group. This blog Virtualize Tips was started to document and remember things that I come across while working with tech.
Mail | Web | Twitter | LinkedIn | More Posts (169)
