V blog

MSCS nodes with RDM LUNs slow to boot

April 20, 2011 at 10:50 pm | ESX, ESXi
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This was one of the frustrating thing to wait for the node to boot.  Finally found a solution I was looking for.

For ESX and ESXi 4.0 hosts

The Scsi.UWConflictRetries parameter for ESX/ESXi 4 Update 1 hosts have a default value of 1000. This increases the time spent enumerating LUN and VMFS volumes.
To resolve this issue and to speed up the boot process, modify this value to 80.
To modify the Scsi.UWConflictRetries parameter from the GUI:
  1. Go to Host > Configuration > Advanced settings.
  2. In the Advanced settings window, select SCSI.
  3. Change the Scsi.UWConflictRetries value to 80.

For ESX and ESXi 4.1 hosts

To resolve this issue in ESX/ESXi 4.1 hosts, you must modify the Scsi.CRTimeoutDuringBoot parameter from the GUI.
To modify the Scsi.CRTimeoutDuringBoot parameter:
  1. Go to Host > Configuration > Advanced Settings.
  2. Select SCSI.
  3. Change the Scsi.CRTimeoutDuringBoot value to 1.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1016106

vSphere ESXi 4 on a usb flash drive

January 12, 2010 at 8:57 pm | ESXi
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  • Create a new VM using VMware Player or Workstation  that is capable of running ESX — make sure it has a USB controller
  • Insert USB flash drive
  • Boot the ESXi 4 ISO image
  • Connect the USB drive to the VM
  • Run through the ESXi installer and select the USB drive as the installation destination
  • Wait for installation to complete
  • Plug the flash drives into the server to test

How to Update ESXi

October 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm | ESXi, Howto
- Posted by admin | 2 Comments, Add Yours

ESXi patches and updates can be downloaded from here.

The Quick & Easy way to Install the patches are..

If VMware Infrastructure Update(VIU) is not installed, reinstall VMware Infrastructure Client and select (VIU) during the install. Its part of that.

Shutdown all the VM’s. The Update will reboot the ESXi host

Read the rest of this entry »

VMware ESX and ESXi Comparison

September 5, 2008 at 9:31 pm | ESX, ESXi
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What’s the difference between ESX and ESXi.  Check out this link here. The article provides detailed comparison between VMware ESX and ESXi

SSH ESXi

August 16, 2008 at 9:40 pm | ESXi, Virtualisation, VMware
- Posted by admin | 2 Comments, Add Yours

By default SSH is not enabled in ESXi. Follow the steps below to enable it

  1. At the ESXi console, press alt+F1
  2. Type: unsupported
  3. Enter the root password
  4. At the prompt type “vi /etc/inetd.conf”
  5. Look for the line that starts with “#ssh”
  6. Remove the “#” (press the “x” if the cursor is on the character)
  7. Save “/etc/inetd.conf” by typing “:wq!” or “ZZ“
  8. Restart the management service “/sbin/services.sh restart” or reboot the host

This works with ESX3i & ESX4i.