VMware Guest Operating System Installation Guide gets an Online Facelift
At some point in your VMware administrator career you discover you need information around the correct settings to deploy a VM properly.
You find that you need to answer questions like –
What is the supported network adapter for my Guest OS?
Are Paravirtualization adapters supported for my Guest OS?
Can I do Hot memory add?
A few years ago the default standard was the Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
It gave you all the information you needed to setup the virtual hardware or confirm what recommend virtual hardware should be by the OS Type.
Recently the compatibility and OS installation guides have come online and they can lead you to best practices around settings and KB’s too.
In this blog post I’m going to step you through how to find basic information around a Windows 2008 server.
Start here – http://partnerweb.vmware.com/GOSIG/home.html#other
This link will take you to the Guest Operating System Installation Guide.
Select your OS – In this case I choose Windows 2008 Server
Here are the base install instructions for the Guest OS, note at the bottom the KB Articles and Guest OS Compatibility Guide.
The Guest OS Compatibility Guide can tell you what network drivers etc are support for the guest OS..
Click here to go to the VMware Compatibility Guide, Select your OS Family, OS Type and choose Update & Review…
Then select your ESX / ESXi version to see the details…
Here are the results… Also from this page you can choose a different product like ESXi 5.0U1 or other…
Home Lab – Adding a Layer 3 Switch to my growing Home Lab
Most recently I expanded my home lab to include a Layer 3 switch.
Why would I choose a Layer 3 switch and what/how would I use it is the topic of this blog post.
Here are my requirements for my home lab –
I would like to setup my home network to support multiple VLANs and control how they route.
This will enable me to control the network traffic and segment my network to allow for different types of testing.
I’d also like to be able to run all of these VM’s on Workstation 9, support remote access, and ESXi Hosts.
Frist thing I did was come up with a drawing of what I wanted. It included all my wants and needs…
This was my chance to brain storm a bit and I just wrote down everything I wanted or really needed.
From this drawing I came up with this list…
- Support Remote Access
- VLANS
- VLAN Routing
- VLAN Tagging
- ESXi Host with 5 NICs
- Workstation 9 Host with 5 NICs
- Support 5 Different VLANs
- Support Internet Access for VM’s
- Local Storage support for home files
- Printer / Scanner need to be on the network
- I’m going to need a switch with 24 Ports or better
- Design the network so that I can power down the test lab and allow home devices to print and access the Inet.
Second thing – What do I currently have to work with…
- Windows 7×64, Workstation 9, 32GB RAM, iCore 7, 2 x SATA3 2TB 6gbs HD, 2 x SATA3 SSD (60 & 120), 1 NIC
- IO Mega IX4 with Dual NICs
- Older Netgear 16 Port Gig Layer 2 Switch unmanaged
- Netgear N900 with Guest Network Support
Based on these lists I came up with my shopping list…
- I need a Layer 3 Switch to support all this
- I need some Multiport Giga Bit NICs
Let’s start with the switch…Here is what I looked for in a Switch –
Must Have –
- Layer 3 Routing
- VLANs
- VLAN Routing
- Managed
- Quiet – It is a must for home networking as I work from home and am frequently on calls.
- Cost effective – keep it below a few hundred
Nice to have –
- Quality Brand
- Support
- Community behind the product
- Non-Blocking Switch
- OSPF or RIP
Basically most good Layer 3 switches achieve the requirements for 1-4. However these switches usually run in a Data center or Networking closet and are quite loud
I did some looking around for different switches, mostly used Cisco and Extreme Networks. These are switches that I am familiar with and would fit my home lab. However I’ve seen my share of their innards, I know their fans are loud and cannot easily be replaced. When I was at VMworld 2012 I chatted quite a bit with the Netgear folk about their products and I remember talking with them about their products and how they fit SMB to Enterprise quite nicely. I started to look on Ebay and I found an affordable Netgear Switch. I did some research on line and found how others were modifying the fans to help them run more quietly.
My choice was the Netgear GSM7324. It is a 24 Port Layer 3 Managed Switch from 2008. It meets all my must have needs and it fulfilled all of the “Nice To haves”
I also bought the following to support this switch –
Startech Null Modem DB9 to USB to run the CLI on the Switch
Sunon MagLev HA40201V4-0000-C99, 40x20mm,Super Silent FAN for $10 apiece, they fit perfectly and they run the switch at a tolerable noise level
TIP – And this is important… I had to move the PIN outs on these fans to meet the PIN outs on the Switch. If I didn’t it could have damaged the switch…
Next I started looking for Multi-Port Gigabit NICS…
What do I have to work with?
I’m using the Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 for Workstation 9 and MSI Z68MA-G45B3 for my ESXi 5.x Host.
What are the Must haves for the NIC’s?
- Dual Gigabit
- VLAN support
- Jumbo Frames
- Support for ESXi and Windows 7×64
- I need about 4 of these cards
I choose the SYBA SY-PEX24028. It’s a Dual NIC Gigabit card that meets my requirements. I found it for $39 on Newegg .
Tip – When choosing a network card I needed to ensure the card will fit into my motherboards, not all x1 PCIe slots are the same and when looking at Dual Gigabit NICs most only work in server class hardware.
Summary –
I achieved what I was looking to accomplish and with some good design work I should have a top notch home lab. All in all I spent about ~$400 to upgrade my home lab. Which is not a bad deal considering most Layer 3 switches cost $400+. All my toys have now come in and I’m off to rework my lab…. But that my friend is a different blog post…
Thank you Computer Gods for your divine intervention and BIOS Settings
I’ve been in IT for over 20 years now and in my time I’ve seen some crazy stuff like –
- Grass growing in a Unisys Green Screen terminal that was sent in for repair by a Lumber yard
- A Disney Goofy screen saver on a IBM PS/2 running OS/2 kept bringing down Token Ring every time it went in to screen saver mode.
But this friend is one of the more weird issues I’ve come across….
This all started last March 2012. I bought some more RAM and a pair of 2TB Hitachi HD’s for my Workstation 8 PC. I needed to expand my system and Newegg had a great deal on them. I imaged up my existing Windows 7 OS and pushed it down to the new HD. When the system booted I noticed that is was running very slow. I figured this to be an issue with the image process. So I decided to install from Windows 7 from scratch but I ran into various installation issues and slowness problems. I put my old Samsung HD back in my system and it booted fine. When I plugged the new Hitachi HD as a second HD via SATA or USB the problems started again, basically it was decreased performance, programs not loading, and choppy video. I repeated these same steps with the 2nd Hitachi HD that I bought and it had the same issues.
A bit perplexed at this point I figure I have a pair of bad HD’s or bad HD BIOS. Newegg would not take back the HD’s, so I start working with Hitachi. I tried a firmware HD update, I RMA both HD’s and I still have the same issue. Hitachi sends me different model but slower HD and it works fine. So now I know there is something up with this model of HD.
I start working with Gigabyte – Same deal as Hitachi BIOS Update, RMA for a new System board Revision (Now I’m at a Rev 1.3) and I still have the same issue. I send an HD to Gigabyte in California and they cannot reproduce the problem. I’ll spare you all the details but trust me I try every combination I can think of. At this point I’m now at this for 5 Months, I still cannot use my new HD, and then I discover the following – I put in a PCI (Not PCIe) VGA video card into my system and it works and then it hit me – “I wonder if this is some weird HDMI Video HD conflict problem”
I asked Gigabyte if disabling onboard HDMI video might help. They were unsure but I try it anyway and sure enough I found the solution!
It felt like the computer gods had finally shone down on me from above and preformed a PC miracle – hallelujah. 5 plus months of troubleshooting and I finally have a solution.
Here are the overall symptoms….
Observation 1) Windows 7 x64 Enterprise or Professional the installer fails to load or fully complete OR, the installation does complete, but mouse movements are choppy, and then the system locks up or will not boot.
Observation 2) When booting from a different drive I attach the new Hitachi HD to a booted system via USB, then the PC will start to exhibit performance issues.
Here is what I found out….
Any Combination of the following products will result with these symptoms. Change any one out and it works!
1 x Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 (Rev 1.0 and 1.3)
1 x Hitachi GST Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632
1 x PCIe Video Card with HDMI Output (I tried the following card with the same Results – ZOTAC ZT-40604-10L GeForce GT 430 and EVGA – GeForce GT 610)
Here is the solution to making them work together….
In the system board BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Settings – Change On Board VGA to ‘Enable if No Ext PEG’
This simple setting disabled the on board HDMI Video and resolved the conflicts with the products not working together.
Summary….
I got to meet some really talented engineers at Hitachi and Gigabyte. All were friendly and worked with me to solve my issue. One person Danny from Gigabyte was the most responsive and talented MoBo engineer I’ve meet. Even though in the end I found my own solution, I wouldn’t have made it there without some of their expert guidance!
ESXi Q&A Boot Options – USB, SD, & HD
Here are some of my notes around boot options for ESXi.
The post covers a lot of information especially around booting to SD or USB.
Enjoy!
What are the Options to install ESXi?
- Interactive ESXi Installation
- Scripted ESXi Installation
- vSphere Auto Deploy ESXi Installation Option – vSphere 5 Only
- Customizing Installations with ESXi Image Builder CLI – vSphere 5 Only
What are the boot media options for ESXi Installs?
The following boot media are supported for the ESXi installer:
- Boot from a CD/DVD
- Boot from a USB flash drive.
- PXE boot from the network. PXE Booting the ESXi Installer
-
Boot from a remote location using a remote management application.
What are the acceptable targets to install/boot ESXi to and are there any dependencies?
ESXi 5.0 supports installing on and booting from the following storage systems:
-
SATA disk drives – SATA disk drives connected behind supported SAS controllers or supported on-board SATA controllers.
- Note -ESXi does not support using local, internal SATA drives on the host server to create VMFS datastores that are shared across multiple ESXi hosts.
- Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives. Supported for installing ESXi 5.0 and for storing virtual machines on VMFS partitions.
- Dedicated SAN disk on Fibre Channel or iSCSI
- USB devices. Supported for installing ESXi 5.0. For a list of supported USB devices, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
Storage Requirements for ESXi 5.0 Installation
- Installing ESXi 5.0 requires a boot device that is a minimum of 1GB in size.
- When booting from a local disk or SAN/iSCSI LUN, a 5.2GB disk is required to allow for the creation of the VMFS volume and a 4GB scratch partition on the boot device.
- If a smaller disk or LUN is used, the installer will attempt to allocate a scratch region on a separate local disk.
- If a local disk cannot be found the scratch partition, /scratch, will be located on the ESXi host ramdisk, linked to /tmp/scratch.
-
You can reconfigure /scratch to use a separate disk or LUN. For best performance and memory optimization, VMware recommends that you do not leave /scratch on the ESXi host ramdisk.
- To reconfigure /scratch, see Set the Scratch Partition from the vSphere Client.
- Due to the I/O sensitivity of USB and SD devices the installer does not create a scratch partition on these devices. As such, there is no tangible benefit to using large USB/SD devices as ESXi uses only the first 1GB.
- When installing on USB or SD devices, the installer attempts to allocate a scratch region on an available local disk or datastore.
- If no local disk or datastore is found, /scratch is placed on the ramdisk. You should reconfigure /scratch to use a persistent datastore following the installation.
10 Great things to know about Booting ESXi from USB – http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2011/09/booting-esxi-off-usbsd.html <<< This is worth a read should clear up a LOT of questions….
How do we update a USB Boot Key?
It would follow the same procedure as any install or upgrades, to the infrastructure it acts all the same.
Can an ESXi Host access USB devices ie. Can an External USB Hard Disk be connected directly to the ESXi Host for copying of data?
- Yes this can be done, see the KB below – ‘Accessing USB storage and other USB devices from the service console’
- However the technology that supports USB device pass-through from an ESX/ESXi host to a virtual machine does not support simultaneous USB device connections from USB pass-through and from the service console.
- This means the host is in either Pass Through (to the VM) or service console mode.
References –
vSphere 5 Documentation Center (Mainly Under ‘vSphere Installation and Setup’)
Installing ESXi Installable onto a USB drive or SD flash card
USB support for ESX/ESXi 4.1 and ESXi 5.0
VMware support for USB/SD devices used for installing VMware ESXi
Installing ESXi 5.0 on a supported USB flash drive or SD flash card
Accessing USB storage and other USB devices from the service console
Whitebox ESXi 5.x Diskless install
I wanted to build a simple diskless ESXi 5.x server that I could use as an extension to my Workstations 8 LAB.
Here’s the build I completed today….
- Antec Sonata Gen I Case (Own, Buy for ~$59)
- Antec Earth Watts 650 PS (Own, Buy for ~$70)
- MSI Z68MS-G45(B3) Rev 3.0 AKA MS-7676 (currently $59 at Fry’s)
- Intel i7-2600 CPU LGA 1155 (Own, Buy for ~$300)
- 16GB DDR3-1600 Corsair RAM (Own, Buy for ~$80)
- Intel PCIe NIC (Own, Buy for ~$20)
- Super Deluxe VMware 1GB USB Stick (Free!)
- Classy VMware Sticker on front (Free)
Total Build Cost New — $590
My total Cost as I already owned the Hardware – $60 J
ESXi Installation –
- Installed ESXi 5.0 via USB CD ROM to the VMware 1GB USB Stick
- No install issues
- All NIC’s and video recognized
- It’s a very quiet running system that I can use as an extension from my Workstation 8 Home lab…
| Front View with Nice VMware Sticker! |
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| Rear View with 1GB VMware USB Stick |
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| System Board with CPU, RAM and NIC – Look Mom no Hard Disks! |
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| Model Detail on the MSI System board, ESXi reports the Mobo as a MS-7676 |
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VMworld 2012 – Public Voting Now Open – Vote for my sessions!
For the first time I submitted sessions for VMworld 2012.
Please support me by going to vmworld.com and voting for my sessions…
Please visit VMworld 2012
vExpert 2012 – Four years in a row!
I was fortunate enough these past weeks to be elected as a vExpert for 2012 based on my blogging, virtualization community involvement, and leading the Advanced Technology Network Groups (ATNG).
Thank you very much to Alex Maier, John Troyer, and the internal vExpert staff for doing a fine job with this program. I’m proud and flatter to be part of this great program as it has so many prodigious virtualization folk as members.
Looking forward to 2012-2013:
Blog —
Recently (06/2011) my role has changed from end-user to employee at VMware and blogging material has become a bit more narrowed. I can’t exactly blog about my customers, that is strictly taboo and I have too much respect for them to do so. Finding good content to blog has proven to be a bit more of a challenge. However I still strive to keep an open mind and I know I will find my ultimate niche eventually.
ATNG —
ATNG has been a great group and it has been a blast running it. The foundation members have changed since the original charter and we’re finding it a bit harder to meet, but still there is a desire to be a group that meets regularly and talk technology not sales… (More info – www.atngroups.com)
This Year what will I be up to? —
I am asking myself what will next year bring for me in the way of sustaining a vExpert into 2013? I do know this… I will keep my blog up, I will keep ATNG growing, I will organize a give back event in Phoenix, and I’m always glad to help out Phoenix VMUG (if they need me). If this qualifies me as a vExpert for next 2013 then great, if not no worries I know I’ve done my part J
Thanks for reading… Feel free to comment as I always enjoy reading your feedback and suggestions!
PS – If you want to know more about the vExpert program, check it out here > http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-18314
Book Review – “Critical VMware Mistakes You Should Avoid – Larry Loucks”
On a plane flight to and from California (~4 Hours) I took some time to do a quick read. The book I read was “Critical VMware Mistakes You Should Avoid” by Larry Loucks, and the length 128 Pages. This book documents mistakes made by others and how to avoid them. It does a pretty decent job of this and it documents the issues and solutions in an orderly manner. I can see how this book is an eye opener for some. It gives you enough awareness to start looking for issues brought up and some references to follow.
Here is my take on this book…
Beginner – You’re going to love this book, it is a great primer into the main issues around virtualization. I would recommend it for beginners and even up to CxO’s.
Intermediate – You’ll find some “hey I didn’t know that” and occasionally you might think “I understand what they mean, but I have to tweak what he’s saying to match my environments design”. I would only recommend this book if you need a refresher or basic reference guide to remind you about issues.
Advanced – You will be bored by this book, recommend it to beginners and help the community grow.
The book makes great points about the types of users he has encountered – You get thrown into virtualization, you start out great, but then issues arise, consultants come in to solve issues, some write books about their experiences (hence this book), and everyone learns in the end. In running a VMUG for a few years I’ve talked with my fair share of new users. Occasionally thinking “You did what?” but the point is we all were there at one time, we all learned, and so did our knowledge around virtualization. If your one of those advanced users remember this and help others learn. I see this book as a helping hand and a beginners starting guide that is well written and will help others learn.
Great Job Larry… and thanks for giving back to the virtualization community!
Never assume Windows 2008 is Aligned out of the box
I hear this topic come up from MANY and I mean MANY VMware folk. When I say VMware folk, I mean just about every person who interfaces with the product – Yes it’s that many
I believe it is a common misconception that Windows 2008 is aligned out of the box.
*The crowd goes silent as a distance ‘Ahh..’ and ‘No’ silently streams through the audience*
I also believe that Windows 2008 has a better chance of being aligned out of the box then most – But Don’t Trust it.
Still don’t believe me? Then read this from the horse’s mouth…
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814(v=sql.100).aspx << Look for the topic “Partition Alignment in Windows Operating Systems”
From the above Microsoft link about alignment –
Partition Alignment in Windows Operating Systems
The way partition alignment works depends on the version of Windows being used and the version in which the partition alignment was created. The following sections describe how partition alignment works in Windows Server 2008, the Windows Vista® operating system, and Windows Server 2003 and earlier.
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista: New Partitions
In Windows Vista as well as Windows Server 2008, partition alignment is usually performed by default. The default for disks larger than 4 GB is 1 MB; the setting is configurable and is found in the registry at the following location:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VDS\Alignment
However, if OEM setups are delivered (for example, with recovery partitions), even fresh installations of Windows Server 2008 having partitions with undesirable partition starting offsets have been observed.
Whatever the operating system, confirm that new partitions are properly aligned.
I’m guessing at this point you still have doubt… But wait here’s more proof… I’ve seen misalignment in production environments… *No Way – Yes Way*
https://vmexplorer.com/2011/03/11/vm-check-alignment-tool/
Do you believe now?
If so maybe the best approach to this topic is to start stating “Windows 2008 is a better aligned OS but it needs to be checked just like ever Windows OS out there.”
Update to my Home Lab with VMware Workstation 8 – Part 3 Installation of Workstation 8
Okay so now that we have a sound hardware and OS, its now time to install Workstation 8.
Here’s the brief version – Next, Custom, Next, Change, Next, Change, Next, Change, Next, Continue, Enter, Finish… Well it’s almost that simple there is a bit more thought behind this….
Pre-Plan –
Make sure you have Workstation 8 downloaded
Read the release notes https://www.vmware.com/support/ws80/doc/releasenotes_workstation_80.html
Why read them… Lots of goodies and gotcahs in there. I checked my hardware prior to purchase so I know I’m okay, you should check yours too
I needed to know two things to get the base Program installed:
- Where will I install Workstation 8? Do I choose one of my SATA disks or my SSD?
- Where will my default VM direction go? Do I choose one of my SATA disks or my SSD
The Steps I took –
First thing I did was check my network settings…
Why is this important, for most it’s probably not, but for me I always like to see the before and after effects
Workstation 8 will install “virtual” network adapters, below is the before and at the end is the after…
From this screen shot you can see ‘Ethernet Adapter Local Area Network’ is my primary single pNIC in my PC.
Download and install the Workstation 8 executable… Lunch it and click next…
I Choose Custom to see some options for directory customization.
This is a good screen and is something you should think about…
If you have some SSD drives and PLEANTY of space (for VM’s and Workstation) you might want to consider placing the install there.
TIP – I did install Workstation 8 on my SSD and the boot time for the program was very FAST!
However I really needed the SSD space so I moved it to my 500GB 3gb/s disk. It doesn’t boot as fast but once it’s loaded there really no difference.
This is another good screen and is something you should think about…
Where do you want your default VM’s to be stored?
For Me I had choices for 500GB, 300GB SATA disks or my 60GB SSD
At this point I clicked on change…
I choose the D: disk which was my 300GB SATA disk to get started…
By default your new VM will be placed in this folder and you can choose a different path if you wish.
Just like Fashion what’s in today is history tomorrow and so are default paths… you make a good choice now but want to change it later.
Don’t sweat this too much, changing the default VM path is easy in Workstation 8 and I do just that in an upcoming post.
Click Next…
Click Continue…
Enter your License Key…
TIP – Want a free copy of Workstation 8? When I got my VCP5 I got a free copy, get yours too, and get certified!
Click Finish and you’re done…
Going back to the network settings… you can now see Workstation 8 installed two new adapters.
VMware Network Adapter VMnet1 and VMnet8
Summary –
This went smooth no real issues; however as I later discovered some of the choices I made (Installation directories had to be changed)
vmexplorer 