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VMware Release Build Information
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[vSphere 4.0 Update 2 is out which includes updates for ESX/ESXi hosts (build 261974) as well as the vCenter Server (build 258672).
This update primarily has more hardware support and guest OS support, and the ability to see more performance statistics for NFS datastores, along with the usual bug fixes.
To see the new NFS stats use (r)esxtop and hit "u" to see the NFS datastore stats like below:
esxtop
NOTE: If you are using VMware View, do NOT upgrade at this time. See this article for the latest info on this issue: 1022830
UPDATE June 14th: If you are using EMC CLARiiON, make sure and read This EMC Post Before upgrading.
Update July 9th: Another nice feature in this update is how “Delete All” snapshots is handled, reducing the amount of space required and lowering the chance you fill up the datastore. See Yellow Bricks for more details
To restart HPC Server 2008 specific processes on compute nodes using just Powershell:
$nodes = Get-HpcNode
$services = "HpcManagement", "HpcNodeManager", "msmpi"
foreach ($node in $nodes) {
foreach ($service in $services) {
(gwmi win32_service -filter "Name='$service'" -computername "$node").stopservice()
(gwmi win32_service -filter "Name='$service'" -computername "$node").startservice()
}
}
A customer was trying to back up a VM with a 20GB OS vmdk and a 1TB vmdk on two different VMFS datastores over iSCSI with a 1MB block size and 8MB data size respectively, and received the error below when trying to snapshot the VM:
File <unspecified filename> is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore <unspecified datastore>
To check the block size of a VMFS datastore go to the VI Client, with vSphere:
1.Select an ESX host that contains the datastore.
2.Click the Configuration tab.
3.Click Storage.
4.Click on the datastore.
5.The block size is identified in the Details window under the Formatting subheading
The basic block size to virtual disk size is below ( in vSphere, which is DIFFERENT than ESX 3.X )
| Block Size | VMDK Size |
|---|---|
| 1MB | 256GB-512 Bytes |
| 2MB | 512GB-512 Bytes |
| 4MB | 1TB-512 Bytes |
| 8MB | 2TB-512 Bytes |
To fix the issue, the OS VMDK residing on the 1MB block size VMFS datastore must be migrated to a datastore with a 8MB block size (It is a best practice is to have all VMFS datastores with the same block size to avoid such issues.)
Note this issue does not apply to NFS datastores.
Pano continues to make the simplest desktop virtualization solution on the planet, with their award winning “ZERO” client that has no operating system, moving parts, firmware, CPU, or other components that could fail.
The new Pano System 3.0 solution has the following new features:
1. Support for Windows 7 (32-bit)
2. Support for multiple desktops per user. A use can choose between their XP and Win7 desktop, or have different desktops for different projects.
3. Easily deploy desktops into their own OU without scripting.
4. Wizard driven Active/Passive Pano Manager configuration eliminates single point of failure.
5. Silent Install of Pano DAS
6. Tighter integration with VMware View 4 ( Optional )
6. Continued abstraction of the hypervisor, most administration can be done through Pano Manager.
Current customers contact HiperLogic for detailed information on upgrading from your current release, this release is free for all customers on current maintenance.
The following information provides highlights of some of the enhancements available in this release of VMware ESX:
VMware View 4.0 support – This release adds support for VMware View 4.0, a solution built specifically for delivering desktops as a managed service from the protocol to the platform.
Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support –This release adds support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 as well as 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 as guest OS platforms. In addition, the vSphere Client is now supported and can be installed on a Windows 7 platform. For a complete list of supported guest operating systems with this release, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.
Enhanced Clustering Support for Microsoft Windows – Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) for Windows 2000 and 2003 and Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering is now supported on an VMware High Availability (HA) and Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster in a limited configuration. HA and DRS functionality can be effectively disabled for individual MSCS virtual machines as opposed to disabling HA and DRS on the entire ESX/ESXi host. Refer to the Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Service guide for additional configuration guidelines.
Enhanced VMware Paravirtualized SCSI Support – Support for boot disk devices attached to a Paravirtualized SCSI ( PVSCSI) adapter has been added for Windows 2003 and 2008 guest operating systems. Floppy disk images are also available containing the driver for use during the Windows installation by selecting F6 to install additional drivers during setup. Floppy images can be found in the /vmimages/floppies/ folder.
Improved vNetwork Distributed Switch Performance – Several performance and usability issues have been resolved resulting in the following:
•Improved performance when making configuration changes to a vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) instance when the ESX/ESXi host is under a heavy load
•Improved performance when adding or removing an ESX/ESXi host to or from a vDS instance
Increase in vCPU per Core Limit – The limit on vCPUs per core has been increased from 20 to 25. This change raises the supported limit only. It does not include any additional performance optimizations. Raising the limit allows users more flexibility to configure systems based on specific workloads and to get the most advantage from increasingly faster processors. The achievable number of vCPUs per core depends on the workload and specifics of the hardware. For more information see the Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 4.0 guide.
Enablement of Intel Xeon Processor 3400 Series – Support for the Xeon processor 3400 series has been added. For a complete list of supported third party hardware and devices, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.
Tags: vSphere
VMware has a great new performance whitepaper on thin vs thick disk performance:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_thinprov_perf.pdf
The summary is there is no performance impact when using thin provisioned disks compared to thick disks with VMware.
NetApp has a great resource for Thin vs Thick Basics:
http://blogs.netapp.com/virtualstorageguy/2009/10/vce-101-thin-provisioning-part-1-the-basics.html )
and a followup article looking at the advantages of de-dup and thin provisioning at the array level:
http://blogs.netapp.com/virtualstorageguy/2009/10/vce-101-thin-provisioning-part-2-going-beyond.html )
Microsoft and RedHat now are doing cooperative tech-support with Windows Server 2003/2008/2008 R2 running on RedHat KVM, and Redhat 5.2 and later running on Hyper-V. Details are here. Microsoft definitely is improving Linux support on their Hypervisor, though still not at the same level as VMware. There is an updated version of the Microsoft Linux Integration Components for R2 here though I am not sure if this the same code slated for integration into the 2.6.32 Kernel