Using TSM 6.4 or 7.1 to backup VMs? Take a look at IBM KB “TSM data mover...
If you use TSM 6.4 or 7.1 for your VMware guest backup, you should take care of IBM KB Ref# 1684022 “TSM data mover backups of VMware guests might be unrecoverable“. Under certain conditions the backup...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Error loading operating system
After a restore a virtual machine failed to start, the screen remained black and the following error was displayed: “Error loading operating system” All standard solutions like “chkdsk /r”, “chkdsk...
View ArticleBug in Changed Block Tracking (CBT) may affect your backups – take care of...
End of October 2014 VMware published a KB that describes a major bug affecting Changed Block Tracking (CBT): QueryChangedDiskAreas API returns incorrect sectors after extending virtual machine vmdk...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to – kill / power off a virtual machine using esxcli command
If you want to power off or kill a virtual machine running on an ESXi host you can do this using the following esxcli command: connect a console to your ESXi host (eg. SSH or ESXi Shell) To get a list...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ESXi 5.5 Update 2: Storage vMotion no longer resets CBT!
Just noticed that the behaviour of Storage vMotion with CBT (changed block tracking) has changed since ESXi 5.5 Update 2. Using vSphere prior to version 5.5 U2, a Storage vMotion resets CBT. This is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Error loading operating system
After a restore a virtual machine failed to start, the screen remained black and the following error was displayed: “Error loading operating system” All standard solutions like “chkdsk /r”, “chkdsk...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Are you using Hitachi HAM (High availability Manager): ever noticed this...
If you are using Hitachi HAM (High Availability Manager) with HUS VM I would like to ask you to read this. The post is about an issue/impact we have noticed and that we were able to reproduce in a lab...
View ArticleESXi 5.0 and 5.1 installation – fatal error: 32 (syntax)
You get one of the following error messages when you try to install ESXi 5.0 or ESXi 5.1: fatal error: 32 (Syntax) fatal error: 4 (unsupported) command line is empty One workaround is to disable UEFI...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ESXTOP VAAI counters
While working on the vSphere 6 ESXTOP quick Overview for Troubleshooting poster, I came across the VAAI counters that are available with ESXTOP. Finally I did not include them to the poster, because I...
View ArticleWhat happens when the ESXi boot device (SD card or USB device) fails?
Have you ever asked yourself what happens when the USB device / SD card where you have installed ESXi fails? The good news is: nothing (in the short run) ESXi is loaded into memory while booting – so...
View ArticleUSB device stops working during ESXi 5.5 installation
If your USB devices (eg. USB key, USB keyboard -> „no keyboard detected“,…) stop working during the installation of ESXi 5.5 you can try to change the following UEFI BIOS setting: enable EHCI...
View ArticleUsing a Windows NFS share with ESXi 5 – error: the mount request was denied
You get one of the errors below when you try to add a windows 2008 or 2012 server NFS share to your ESXi 5 host? Take care that your NFS server supports NFSv3 over TCP: The mount request was denied by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
vSphere 6 ESXi memory states and reclamation techniques
vSphere 6 uses the well known memory reclamation techniques you may already know from previous versions: transparent page sharing (TPS) memory ballooning memory compression memory swapping The memory...
View ArticleSnapwatcher – free tool to manage snapshots (and fix snapshot problems)
Snapshots are a great, useful and indispensable feature. You can use them to preserve the state of a virtual machine and return to the same state repeatedly if you want. Also backup solutions are based...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to exclude a dedicated virtual disk from snapshots
It is possible to exclude a dedicated virtual disk (vmdk) from snapshot operations. A usecase for this is eg. an IO intensive SQL server you want to backup, but where there are so many changes that it...
View Article„Unsupported hardware family vmx-10″ during OVF import
When you deploy an OVF Template you get the following error: The OVF package requires unsupported hardware Unsupported hardware family vmx-10 This error is related to the virtual hardware version...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to reset HP Proliant memory sensor in vCenter after HW replacement
After replacing a memory DIMM in an ESXi host because of a hardware problem, the hardware memory sensor in vCenter was not reseting back from warning to normal. It took me some time till I noticed that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
create snapshot and consolidate fails: file „vm.vmx“ line 0:5 (Input/Output...
After a storage failure some VMs had troubles. Creating a snapshot or to consolidate the VM fails with the following error every time: An error occured while taking a snapshot:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Internal Error 28173 during vCenter/vSphere Client installation
The installation fails and you see an internal error 28173 when you install vCenter 5.5 or vSphere Client 5.5? To resolve just install .NET Framework 3.5 – this is a Minimum requirement for vCenter...
View ArticleAttention: new CBT bug in vSphere ESXi 6.0
Update 26.11.2015: This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi 6.0 patch ESXi600-201511001. For more information, see VMware ESXi 6.0, Patch Release ESXi600-201511001 (2137545). — Not long ago VMware fixed a...
View Article