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ESXi: ESXi is a software developed by VMware Company, Which converts hardware servers into multiple
software servers.

Hardware Requirements:

∙ 2GB RAM
∙ 2GB Hard disk
∙ 2 GHz Processor
∙ One or more gigabit Ethernet controllers.

ESX Versions:

ESX 1.0

ESX 1.5

ESX 2.0

ESX 2.5

ESX 3.0

ESX/ESXi 3.5

ESX/ESXi 4.0

ESX/ESXi 4.1

ESXi 5.0

ESXi 5.1

ESXi 5.5

ESXi 6.0

VCenter server: it is a windows based application . It is used to manage multiple ESX servers and
provides additional features like clusters and datacenters.

Hardware requirements:

∙ Two 64-bit bit CPUs

∙ 2.0 GHz Processor
∙ 2 GB RAM
∙ 2GB Hard disk
∙ DATABASE: Microsoft SQL Server 2005,oracle 10gR1,oracle 11g
∙ One gigabit Ethernet controllers.

Software Requirements:

∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter SP2 64bit

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∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter R2 64bit

∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter SP2 64bit
∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter R2 SP1 64bit
∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter R2 64bit
∙ Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter SP1 64bit
VSphere Client:​ Vsphere client is a windows based application is used to manage ESX server and

VCenter server.

​requirements:

CPU – 1 CPU

Processor – 1 GHz Processor

RAM – 1 GB RAM

Hard disk – 2 GB

Microsoft .net 2.0

Microsoft .net 3.0 SP1

Microsoft Visual J#

Virtualization: It is a software which allows to create virtual hardware and multiple Virtual machines
and allows to run multiple OS on a single Physical server.

Virtual Machine: ​Virtual machine is a software machine that likes a physical machine. It can runs
operating system and applications.

Uses:

∙ It is used to reduce the cost and manpower.

∙ It allows multiple operating system on one vm
∙ It removes the dependency of heavy hardware to run the applications
∙ It reduce the amount of space being taken datacenters .

VM files :

.vmx: ​it is configuration file with out this file we con't power on virtual machine

.vmdk : ​This is VM disk file which stores the content of the VM hard disk.

.log :​This file can be useful in troubleshoot parts when encounter the problem.

.nvram : ​This file is used to store machine BIOS.

.vswp : ​This file will be automatically created when VM will power on and automatically deleted
when VM will power off.
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Ways to access a VM:

∙ Direct from ESX Host

∙ By using Clone
∙ Deploying from Template
∙ P2V conversion
∙ V2V
∙ OVF( Open Virtual machine format)

Datacenter:​ A datacenter is the primary container of inventory objects such as hosts and virtual
machine. From the datacenter ,you can add organize inventory objects. Typically, you add host, folders,
and clusters to a datacenters.

Host:​ A host is a computer that uses virtualization software such as esx or esxi, to run virtual machine.
hosts provide the CPU memory resources that virtual machine use and give virtual machine access to
storage and network connectivity.

Ways to access Host :

-> Direct through VC

-> By using putty

-> Directly enter the ip of host in Internet Explorer

-> By using Vsphere client.

Cluster​: Cluster is a group of hosts. when you add a host to a cluster, the host resource become part of
the clusters resources. The cluster manages the resource of all hosts within it.

Hypervisor:

​Hypervisor is a program that manage the virtual machine. it also act like virtual machine manager that
manages many virtual machine from one place. it allow multiple operating system to share single
hardware host. Each operating system appears to have the host's processor, memory, and other
resources all to itself.

Hypervisor have two types

1.Baremetal Hypervisor : In this application we can directly install the esx in brand new machine.

2. Host Hypervisor
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Vmotion:​ It used to migrate virtual machines from one host to another host while it is running.

Pre requisites:

∙ Shared storage (multiple hosts are connected to same storage).

∙ Same CPU family and Vendor
∙ Vmotion must be enabled on source and destination
∙ It should be accessed by same management network
∙ No CD/DVD mount.
∙ No snapshot.

Background Process:

∙ All running state of virtual machines will be captured as Bitmap images that bitmaps

Move from source to destination.

∙ Suspend vms access at source and Resume vms access at destination.

∙ Once vmotion will be completed all temporary files will be deleted at source.

Vsphere 4.0 we can do the vmotion across clusters and we can't do the vmotion across data centers

in 4.0 vmotion does not support multiple NIC's.

Vsphere 5.0 we can do the vmotion across clusters and data centers and in 5.0 Vmotion support
multiple NIC's.

How can Enable vmotion:

->Host -> configuration -> Networking -> Vswitch properties -> management network -> edit ->

-> r/c on vm -> migrate -> change host -> select destination -> finish.

SVmotion:​ It used to migrate virtual machine files and disks from one data store to another while It is
running.

Pre requisites:

∙ Destination LUN should be enough free space.

∙ Source and Destination datastore must be accessed by host.
∙ All hosts should be licensed for sVmotion.

Background process:

∙ Virtual machine files and disks will be created as Blocks that blocks move from source and
destination.
∙ Esxi host performs fast suspend and resumes of the vm.
∙ VM will continuously running on the destination data store and source files will be deleted.

In Vsphere 4.0, if you have a snapshot we can't do the SVmotion.

In Vsphere 5.0 With snapshot we can do the SVmotion.

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Configuration:

r/c on vm -> migrate -> change datastore -> select destination -> finish.

E1000 –​ which will emulate a 1 Gbit Intel 82545EM card, and is available for most operating systems
since the generation of Windows Server 2003. This card is the default when creating almost all virtual
machines and is by that widely used.

E1000E –​ emulates a newer real network adapter, the 1 Gbit Intel 82574, and is available for Windows
2012 and later. The E1000E needs VM hardware version 8 or later.

VMXNET3-​The paravirtualized network card does not exist as a physical NIC, but is a device “made up”
entirely by VMware. For the guest operating system this will mean that it typically during the OS
installation phase only senses that an unknown device is located in a PCI slot on the (virtual)
motherboard, but it has no driver to actually use it.

Snapshot:​ Snapshot is a copy of running state of virtual machine. You can create a snapshot while it is
power on, power off, suspend mode.

When you create a snapshot of vm it will occupies the same size of the .vmdk file in data store. If you
take more snapshots more space willbe occupied. But it is useful when we apply patches or install
updates make upgrades on the OS in the VM. If anything goes wrong with the VMafter doing these
tasks, we can immediately revert back to the current working state. In this way we can save our time
without recreating VM and reimaging the os on to vm.

Snapshot files are

.vmsn : ​This file stores the running state of VM when you will take a snapshot.

.vmsd : ​This is a centralized file for storing information and meta data about snapshot.

delta.vmdk :

Clone:​ Clone is an Exact copy of vm with same configuration and installation without perform any
additional settings.

You can create a clone by R/C on VM and select Clone. Clone can power on and can make any changes.
By using customized guest operating system We can change some properties of clone such as Computer
name, network and ip address. Clone is used for testing and development environments where you
want create, test and with an exact copy of vm without disturbing production server to crete a clone of
production vm.

Template:

Template is a master copy of virtual machine. By using template we can deploy multiple virtual
machines . Template cannot be power on and we cont make changes. Template can be created by clone
to template and convert a vm to template. template can be used for production environment.

HA High Availability:
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HA is a cluster level feature. If one esx server will be failed then all vms on the host will automatically
reboot to another host with minimum downtime.

Prerequisites:

∙ HA enabled in cluster.
∙ Atleast two hosts in a cluster.
∙ Shared storage.
∙ All hosts should be configured with static ip address.
∙ All hosts must be accessed by same management network.
∙ All hosts should have Enterprise licence for ha.

Background process:

In a cluster first 5 hosts will be act as primary hosts and remaining hosts will act as a secondary hosts.
HA continuously monitors all esx servers in a cluster and detect the server failures. When you enable HA
in cluster an agent will be installed on each host that agent is called AAM(FDM IN 5) Automated
availability manager. An agent placed on each that maintains the heart beats with another host that
agent will communicate with the other agent in ahost every 5 seconds and loss of heart beats initiate
restart process of all affected vm’s on another host.

Differences of HA in Vsphere 4 and 5:

Vsphere 4.0 Vsphere 5.0

∙ HA agent is AAM (Automatic availability manager)

FDM (Fault domain manager)

∙ Host Approach is Primary and secondary -> Master and Slave

∙ First 5 hosts are primary and remaining secondary -> first host is master and remaining

will be slave

∙ Max failover will allow 4 hosts -> 3 hosts

∙ HA election Based on First come first out -> Election will happen which has
max no. of datastores

Admission Controls in HA:

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If select Enable = disallows Virtual machines to power on when violates availability constraints.

If select Disable = allows Virtual machines to power on when violates availability constraints.

Maximum host failures allowed in a cluster is 4.

Because we have max 5 primary hosts in a cluster, if 4 primary hosts will be failed at the time one
primary host to take care of the secondary host.

Configuration: R/C on cluster -> edit settings -> Enable HA.

Distributed Resource Scheduler(DRS):

DRS is a Distributed Resource Scheduler. It is a cluster level feature. It continuously monitors high
utilization and load balancing between esx servers in a cluster.

Prerequisites:

∙ DRS enable in a cluster.

∙ Shared storage
∙ Same CPU family and generations.
∙ Same vendor
∙ No CD/DVD mount to vm
∙ No snapshots
∙ Should be in sane management network.

Background process:

DRS continuously monitors all servers in a cluster. If one host have heavy utilization then some Virtual
machines on the host will be migrated to another host. DRS can be performed by using Vmotion and
mathematical algorithms.

Automation Levels:

Are three types

∙ Manual
∙ Partial automated
∙ Fully automated

Manual: VC suggests the migration recommendation on a VM.

Partial Automated: VM are placed on host at power on then VC suggests the migration recommendation
on a VM.

Fully Automated: VM are placed on host at power on then automatically migrated to another host.

DRS rules:
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∙ Affinity Rule : Two or more VM’s are always running on same host
∙ Anti Affinity rule: Two or more vms should not be running on same host.

Difference between HA and DRS:

HA DRS

∙ If host will fails then all VM’s on the host will -> if one host has high utilization then s

be reboot to another host some VM’s are migrate to other host.

∙ HA is Reactive -> DRS is Proactive

∙ HA has minimum Downtime -> DRS has no downtime

∙ HA will works when VC fails -> DRS will not work when VC fails.

SDRS:

SDRS is automation process of SVmotion.​ Storage DRS is a new feature introduced in VSphere 5.0
providing smart virtual machine placement and load balancing mechanism based on I/O and space
capacity. Storage DRS will helps decreasing operational effort associated with the provisioning of virtual
machine and monitoring of the storage environment.

Fault tolerance (FT):

It continuously Provide 0% loss of data and 0% downtime of VM's in a host.

Prerequisites:

∙ HA enabled in cluster.
∙ DRS disabled in cluster.
∙ Shared storage.
∙ It has enterprise plus licence
∙ Its not support thin provision disk.
∙ No snapshot
∙ 1 vm with 1 cpu

Background Process:

FT can be performed by using lockstep Technology. When you enable FT on primary virtual
machine a duplicate copy of another vm will be created in another host. FT then runs the primary and
secondary VM’s in lockstep with each other. If primary virtual machine will be failed ,the secondary
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virtual machine will immediately active where the primary virtual machine left off, and continuous to
run without loss of data, network connections and transactions.

MultiPathing​: Multipathing is a path selection policy where the data will flow more than one way
between ESX server and storage.

Multipathing can be classified into three types, They are

∙ Fixed
∙ MRU(Most Recently Used)
∙ Round Robin

Fixed: The data flow through path A then path B in sleep mode If path A will be failed then Path B will
activate. Whenever Path A will be repaired then path B again goes to sleep mode.

MRU: In this The data flow through path A then path B in sleep mode If path A will be failed then Path B
will activate. Whenever Path A will be repaired but in sleep mode when ever path B fails then path A will
active.

Round robin: In this the data flow from both ways parallel.

Resource pool​: Resource pool is a pool of CPU and Memory allocation from a single host or a cluster.
Resource pool can be hierarchical and nested. You can partition any resource pool into smaller resource
pools to divide and assign resource to different groups or different purpose .

Prerequisites:

∙ Verify Vsphere client is connected to the Vcenter. If the client is connected directly to the esx
server you cannot create a resource pool.
∙ Make sure you have a permissions sufficient to create a resource pool.
∙ Verify the cluster, vapps or other resource pool object is parent to the resource pool.
 Raw Device Mapping (RDM) use cases & Limitations:

Raw device mapping (RDM) is method to provide direct access to a LUN on a iscsi or fibre channel
storage system for a virtual machine. RDM is basically a Mapping file acts as a proxy for a raw physical
storage device placed in a VMFS volume. Virtual Machine can directly access the storage device using
RDM and RDM contains metadata which controls the disk access to the physical device.

Use cases for Raw Device Mapping:

1.For Microsoft cluster configuration in Virtual machine (Virtual-to-virtual or physical-to-virtual)

2.For configuring a virtual machine to use NPort ID Virtualization (NPIV)

3.For running SAN management software (Storage resource management software, storage array
snapshot software, replication software, etc) inside a virtual machine

4.For any application running in a virtual machine that needs to access a device using hardware-specific
SCSI commands
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5.RDM is useful in physical-to-virtual conversion operations by avoiding migration of a large data LUN to
a VMDK.

Types of Raw Device Mapping:

1. virtual compatibility mode

2. physical compatibility mode

Virtual compatibility mode preserves the ability to perform virtual machine snapshots.

Limitations of physical compatibility mode​

-> VMware snapshots are not allowed

-> VCB (VMware consolidated backup) support is not possible, because VCB requires VMware snapshots

-> Cloning of VMs that use physical mode RDMs is not possible

-> Converting VMs into templates that use physical mode RDMs is not possible

-> Migration of VMs with physical mode RDMs if the migration involves copying the disk is not possible.
-> No VMotion with physical mode RDMs

Alarms/Events:

Alarms: it is used to know the status of the resource usage for a VM.

Events: used to monitor the tasks that are taken place on the ESX server or in VC.

Vswitch:​ Vswitch is a software switch and each host has one vswitch. One side of the Vswitch are port
groups that are connected to virtual machine

And other side are uplinks that are connected to the physical adapters on esx server.

Vswitch can be classified into two types

∙ Standard switch
∙ Distributed switch

Standard switch:

Standard switch is a software switch used to connect multiple hosts at host level.

Distributed switch:

Distributed switch is a software switch. it is used to manage multiple hosts at datacenter level.
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Uplink:​ Uplinks are associate with physical adapters that provides connection between physical network
and virtual network.

Port groups:​ Port group segregates the network traffic over esx server.

Port group can be classified into three types they are

∙ VM network port group

∙ VM Kernel port group
∙ Service console port group

VM network: It is used for virtual machine communication

VM Kernel : It is used to access Vmotion, storage and NFS communication.

Service console: It is developed based on red hat Linux operating system used to manage esx servers.

Security policies:

Security policies can be classified into three types

∙ Promiscuous mode
∙ MAC address change
∙ Forged transmits

Promiscuous mode: If promiscuous mode set to accept segregates the network traffic to all Virtual
machines then all VM’s were able to see the communication. If promiscuous mode set to reject only one
VM was able to see the communication.

MAC address change: when you create a new virtual machine the configuration wizard generates the
MAC address for that machine, you can see it in .vmx file. if it doesn’t matches with the MAC address in
the OS this setting doesn’t allow incoming traffic to the VM. So by setting reject option both MAC
address will be remain same, and the incoming traffic will be allowed to the VM.

Forged Transmits: when you create a new virtual machine the configuration wizard generates the MAC
address for that machine, you can see it in .vmx file. if it doesn’t matches with the MAC address in the
OS this setting doesn’t allow outgoing traffic from the VM. So by setting reject option both MAC address
will be remain same, and the outgoing traffic will be allowed from the VM.

VLAN:​ A VLAN is a logical configuration on the switch port to segment the IP traffic. for this to happen,
the port must be trunked with the correct VLAN ID

Nic Teaming:​ A group of nic cards are called Nic teaming. If the data flow from one nic card another nic
card in standby mode. if the one nic card will fail immediately another nic card will active.

Update Manager​: Update manager is a tool. It is windows based application. it is used to update
patches and make upgrade versions.

Prerequisites:

∙ Processor: 2GHz Processor

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∙ Memory: 2GB RAM if vCenter Update Manager and vCenter Server are on different machines

4GB RAM, if vCenter Update Manager and vCenter Server are on the same machine
∙ Network: 1 GB

Database Requirements:
∙ SQL Server 2005
∙ SQL Server 2008
∙ SQL Server 2008 Express 32/64bit ​(Experimental support in Update 1 only)
∙ Oracle 10g
∙ Oracle 11g
Software Requirements:

∙ Windows XP Pro SP2 (SP2 required, 64bit)

∙ Windows Server 2003 (SP1 required, 64bit)
∙ Windows Server 2008 (64bit)

Storage: ​Storage is a device which is used to store the virtual machine files and disks.

Fibre Channel (FC)

Stores virtual machine files remotely on an FC storage area network (SAN). FC SAN is a specialized
high-speed network that connects your hosts to high-performance storage devices. The network uses
Fibre Channel protocol to transport SCSI traffic from virtual machines to the FC SAN devices.

To connect to the FC SAN, your host should be equipped with Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs).
Unless you use Fibre Channel direct connect storage, you need Fibre Channel switches to route storage
traffic. If your host contains FCOE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) HBAs, you can connect to your shared
Fibre Channel devices using an IP network.

Internet SCSI (iSCSI)

Stores virtual machine files on remote iSCSI storage devices. iSCSI packages SCSI storage traffic into the
TCP/IP protocol so that it can travel through standard TCP/IP networks instead of the specialized FC
network. With an iSCSI connection, your host serves as the initiator that communicates with a target,
located in remote iSCSI storage systems.

ESXi offers the following types of iSCSI connections:

Hardware iSCSI

Your host connects to storage through a third-party adapter capable of offloading the iSCSI and network
processing.
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Software iSCSI

Your host uses a software-based iSCSI initiator in the VMkernel to connect to storage. With this type of
ISCSI connection, your host needs only a standard network adapter for network connectivity.

Network-attached Storage (NAS)

Stores virtual machine files on remote file servers accessed over a standard TCP/IP network. The NFS
client built into ESXi uses Network File System (NFS) protocol version 3 to communicate with the
NAS/NFS servers. For network connectivity, the host requires a standard network adapter.

Shared Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

Stores virtual machines on direct-attached SAS storage systems that offer shared access to multiple
hosts. This type of access permits multiple hosts to access the same VMFS datastore on a LUN.

Data store​: A Lun partition formatted with VMFS file system.

WWN: ​it is worldwide network. Every HBA has one unique name that is called WWN.

Lock down mode:

When you enabled lockdown mode prevents remote users from logging directly into Host

Linked mode : ​Linked mode is used to connect two or more Vcenter servers at a time.

Ballooning​: it is used when the host is running out of machine memory or VM hits a limit then kernel
needs to reclaim the memory. Ballooning drivers installed inside the guest operating system as part of
the VMware installation tools and it is also known as VM memctl driver . when there is available
memory in the machine the guest operating system will returns the memory from its free lists. when
there is memory is not available the guest operating system has its own memory management
technique which decided to which page need to reclaim.

Conversions​:

Conversions are two types

1. ​P2V (Physical 2 Virtual)

2. V2V ( Virtual to Virtual)

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Converters:

1. Standard alone Converter

2. Vcenter Enterprise Converter

P2V Prerequisites:

P2V check lists are

-> Minimum 250 MB free space in Physical machine drive

-> Any Antivirus running on physical machine, disable antivirus

-> Stop critical Services and applications

-> Run CHKDSK and defragment the driver.

-> An agent must be installed physical machine

Post Conversions:

-> Update VMware tools

-> Upgrade Hardware version

-> Remove Monitoring tools, nic cards and power adapters

-> Start antivirus, services and database

-> Reboot.

V2V: ​It is used to makes non ESX readable virtual machines to ESX readable virtual machines.

VMware tools:

Vmware tool is a set of drivers for virtual machine. It is VM level feature used to improve the
performance of virtual machine.

VMware tools are 1. Video drivers

2. NIC drivers

3. SCSI drivers

4. Ballooning Drivers
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5. Time synchronization.

Difference between Vsphere 4.0 and 5.0

Vsphere 4.0 Vsphere 5.0

-> ​it support both ESX and ESXi -> it support only ESXi

-> HA agent is Automatic Availability Manager

-> HA agent is Fault Domain Manager

->HA host approach is Primary and secondary -> HA host approach is Master and
Slave
-> HA logs are etc/opt/VMware/AAM -> HA logs are etc/opt/VMware/FDM

-> VMFS - 3 -> VMFS - 5

-> VM hardware version - 7 -> VM hardware version - 8

-> SDRS not available -> SDRS available

-> Vcpu per VM - 8 -> Vcpu per VM - 32

-> RAM per VM - 255 GB -> RAM per VM- 1 TB

-> RAM per host - 1 TB -> RAM per host - 2 TB

-> Maximum LUN size - 2 TB -> Maximum LUN size - 64 TB

-> LUNs per ESX server - 256 -> LUNs per ESX server - 256

-> VM swap file size - 255 GB -> VM swap file size - 1 TB

Difference between ESX 3.5 and 4.0

ESX 3.5 ESX 4.0

-> VMFS version - 3 -> VMFS version -3

-> Distributed switch is not availble -> Distribute switch is available

-> Fault tolarence is not available -> Fault tolerance is available

-> VM hardware version - 4 -> VM hardware version - 7

-> Max RAM per VM - 64 GB -> Max RAM per VM - 255 GB

-> Max RAM per host - 256 GB -> Max RAM per host - 1 TB
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-> No.of VM per host - 170 -> No.of VM per host - 320

-> SVmotion is available with CLI -> SVmotion is available with GUI

Difference between ESX and ESXi

ESX ESXi

-> ESX has service console and use CLI -> ESXi has no service console but instead
of service console it uses VCLI -> ESX supports
thickest version -> ESXi supports thinnest version

-> ESX requires more patches -> ESXi requires fewer patches.

-> ESX provide greate security -> ESXi provide lesser security.

-> ESX cost is very high like $ 1500 -> ESXi cost is low like $495

-> ESX partition size is 800 MB -> ESXi partition size is 32 MB

s-> ESX supports scriptable installations -> ESXi doesn't support scriptable through
utilities like kickstart installations

-> ESX support active directory integrations -> ESXi doesn't support active directory
through 3rd party agents installed on the authentication of local user at this time.
service console.

Template Clone

-> Template is a master image of VM from -> Clone is an exact copy of VM with same
Which you can deploy multiple VM configuration and installations without
​perform additional settings.

-> you can create a template by convert -> you can create a clone by R/C on VM and
a VM to template, clone VM to template. clone

-> Template cannot be powered on and can't -> Clone can be power on and can make
make any changes. changes.

-> Convert VM to template cannot be performed -> Clone of VM is created when the power on
​when VM power on

-> you can convert the template back to VM ->you can't convert the clone back to VM

->Template is useful for production environments. -> Clone is useful for testing and development
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purpose.

Add a LUN to host:

host -> configuration -> storage -> add storage -> select Disk/LUN -> select VMFS Version -> data
store name -> specify block size -> finish.

Thin​: In thin provisioned disks, the size of the VMDK (at any point in time) is as much as the amount of
data written out from the VM. So if you provision a 1 TB virtual drive and the VM only wrote 200GB then
the size of the vmdk on disk is 200GB. The key thing to note is that the storage is zeroed on demand and
data written out.

Lazy Zero Thick​ In Flat or Lazy Zero Thick format, the VMDK is provisioned and whenever a guest issues a
write it is zeroed first and then the data is written. The size of the VMDK on the datastore is same as the
size of the virtual disk that was created.

Eager Zero Thick:​ With Eager Zero Thick, the VMDK is pre-zeroed and assigned to the guest during
provisioning of the VMFS volume.

Update patches and Upgrade versions:

By using update manager tool, we can update patches and upgrade versions.

steps:

-> ​put ESX in maintenance mode

-> Create base line

-> Attach base line to ESX

-> Scan Base line patches

-> Staging patches

-> Remediate (installation)

-> Reboot.

Upgrade VM Hardware version:

-> Keep VMware tool up to date

-> power off VM

-> R/C on VM -> upgrade VM Hardware version.

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ESX server Disconnected from VC / Hung / PSOD

-> Check status in VC

-> Ping ESX host, If it is pinging

-> connect ESX to SSH

Restart management services

in 4,4.1

service mgmt-vmware restart

service vmware-vpxa restart

in 5.0

services.sh restart

If it is not pinging

connect to ESX direct through console ILO or DRAC or RSA

Reboot ESX server

it is not up

again two times reboot

if it is not reboot call VMware ( check the issue whether it is hardware or software).

VM hung:

1. R/C on VM -> Reset Guest If it is not up

2. R/C on VM -> Reset If it is not up

3.Through command prompt

In 5.0 vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.restart vmid

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off vmid

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid.

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C drive expansion:

-> ​Power off VM

-> R/C on VM -> edit settings

-> select Hard disk

-> copy disk path

-> Remove Hard disk

-> R/C on existing VM

-> Edit settings

-> Add hard disk

-> select existing virtual disk

-> paste disk path

-> ok

-> increase hard disk size

-> in 2003 By using Disk part tool we can extend

1. Type Diskpart in command prompt and enter

2. list volume and enter

3.Select volume like 0, 1, 2, and enter

4. Extend.

-> in 2008

R/C on My computer -> select manage -> storage -> Disk management -> R/C on disk -> click on extend
volume.

VC not Responding

-> First we have to restart services or

-> Check database connectivity

Control panel -> Administration tool -> system DSN.

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Enable Vmotion:

Host -> Configuration -> Networking -> Vswitch properties -> management networking -> edit ->
Enable Vmotion.

Add Hard disk to RDM:

R/C on VM -> Edit settings -> click on add -> select hard disk -> select disk type enable Raw device
mapping.

How can you Increase data store:

Host -> Configuration -> storage -> R/C on data store -> properties -> click on Extent.

Where you can configure Multi pathing:

Host -> configuration -> storage -> R/C on data store -> properties -> Manage paths -> select Fixed,
MRU, Round Robin.

Configure Time Synchronize with Host:

R/C on VM -> edit settings -> Option tab -> VMware tools -> Enable Synchronize guest time with Host.

One VM has two disks How can you move one disk to one data store and another disk to another
data store:

By using SVmotion we can do

R/C on VM -> Migrate -> Change data store -> select Advance option -> Browse select destination data
store -> finish.

Enable SSH:

Host -> configuration -> security profile in software -> firewall properties -> Enable SSH

How can convert Thin disk to Thick :

In two ways we can convert thin to thick disk.

​1. By using SVmotion (R/C on Vm -> Migrate -> Change datastore -> select Advance option -> )

2. By using P2V

VM not power on :

sol:
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-> First check the storage free space its ok

-> Try 2 times power on a VM from VC (its not up)

-> Connect ESX direct to Vsphere client and then try to power on (its not up)

-> Connect ESX to SSH

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid

How can Delete a LUN:

-> First we have to do the SVmotion

-> Unmount the datastore ( Host -> configuration -> storage -> R/C on datastore -> click on Unmount)

-> Then Delete the data store.

Configure NAS:

Host -> configuration -> storage -> add storage -> NFS -> Server name -> shared folder name -> datastore
name -> finish.

How can add a network to Switch:

Host -> configuration -> networking -> Add network -> select VM -> give the name and VLANID -> finish.

VM logs:

Summary -> R/C on data store -> Browse data store -> select VM

Port numbers

Port Protocol Description

80 TCP vCenter Server requires port 80 for direct HTTP connections. Port 80 redirects requests to
HTTPS port 443. This redirection is useful if you accidentally use​ ​http://server​ ​instead
ofhttps://server.

Note​: Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) also use port 80. For more information, see
the​Conflict Between vCenter Server and IIS for Port 80​ ​section​ ​in the​ ​vSphere
Installation and Setup guide​.

88 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Kdc Service

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389 TCP/UDP This port must be open in the local and all remote instances of vCenter Server. This is the LDAP
port number for the Directory Services for the vCenter Server group. The vCenter Server system
needs to bind to port 389, even if you are not joining this vCenter Server instance to a Linked
Mode group. If another service is running on this port, it might be preferable to remove it or
change its port to a different port. You can run the LDAP service on any port from 1025 through
65535.

If this instance is serving as the Microsoft Windows Active Directory, change the port number from
389 to an available port from 1025 through 65535.

443 TCP The default port that the vCenter Server system uses to listen for connections from the vSphere
Client. To enable the vCenter Server system to receive data from the vSphere Client, open port
443 in the firewall.

The vCenter Server system also uses port 443 to monitor data transfer from SDK clients.

This port is also used for the these services:

WS-Management (also requires port 80 to be open)

vSphere Client access to vSphere Update Manager

Third-party network management Client connections to vCenter Server

Third-party network management Clients access to hosts

902 TCP/UDP This is the default port used by the vCenter Server system to send data to managed hosts.
Managed hosts also send a regular heartbeat over UDP port 902 to the vCenter Server system.
This port must not be blocked by firewalls between the server and the hosts or between hosts.

903 TCP Access a virtual machine console from the vSphere Client when the vSphere Client is connected
directly to the ESXi host (no vCenter Server).

1234, TCP vSphere Replication

1235

2012 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Directory Service

2013 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Kdc Service

2014 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Certificate Service

8080 TCP Web Services HTTP. Used for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Web Services.

8443 TCP Web Services HTTPS. Used for the VMware VirtualCenter Management Web Services.

60099 TCP Web Service change service notification port

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6501 TCP Auto Deploy service

6502 TCP Auto Deploy management

7005 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On

7009 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On

7080 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On HTTP Port

7331 TCP vSphere Web Client - HTML5 Remote Console

7343 TCP vSphere Web Client - HTML5 Remote Console, HTTPS (vCenter 5.5 Update 2 and later)

7444 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Secure Token Service

8000 TCP Requests from vMotion

8009 TCP AJP connector port for vCenter Server Appliance communication with Tomcat

8100 TCP Traffic between ESXi hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT)

8182 TCP Traffic between ESXi hosts for vSphere High Availability (HA)

8200 TCP Traffic between ESXi hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT)

9000 TCP Port range used if 80 and 443 are unavailable for communication to the ESXi hosts.
-9010

9443 TCP vSphere Web Client HTTPS

9875 - TCP vSphere Web Client Java Management Extension (JMX). Dynamically acquired upon the vSphere
9877 Web Client service starting.

9090 TCP vSphere Web Client HTTP

10080 TCP vCenter Inventory Service HTTP

10111 TCP vCenter Inventory Service Linked Mode Communication

10443 TCP vCenter Inventory Service HTTPS

11711 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Directory Service (LDAP)

11712 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Directory Service (LDAPS)

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12721 TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Identity Management Service

49000 - TCP vCenter Single Sign-On - VMware Identity Management Service. Dynamically acquired upon the
65000 VMware Identity Management Service starting.

8190 TCP Storage Policy Server HTTP

8191 TCP Storage Policy Server HTTPS

22000 TCP vCenter Server Storage Monitoring Service HTTP

22100 TCP vCenter Server Storage Monitoring Service HTTPS

31010 TCP VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service HTTP

31100 TCP VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service HTTPS

32010 TCP VMware Storage Management Service HTTP

32100 TCP VMware Storage Management Service HTTPS

12443 TCP Log Browser

vCenter Server 5.5 Linked Mode specific ports:

Port Protoco Description

l

135 TCP/UDP Used by ADAM for RPC communications between vCenter Servers in Linked Mode.

389 TCP/UDP This port must be open in the local and all remote instances of vCenter Server. This is the LDAP port
number for the Directory Services for the vCenter Server group. The vCenter Server system needs
to bind to port 389, even if you are not joining this vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group.
If another service is running on this port, it might be preferable to remove it or change its port to a
different port. You can run the LDAP service on any port from 1025 through 65535.

If this instance is serving as the Microsoft Windows Active Directory, change the port number from
389 to an available port from 1025 through 65535.

636 TCP This is the SSL port of the local instance for vCenter Server Linked Mode. If another service is
running on this port, it might be preferable to remove it or change its port. You can run the SSL
service on any port from 1025 through 65535.
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1024 TCP RPC communication on dynamic TCP ports is required between all vCenters that need to replicate
(through ADAM).

7500 UDP vCenter Inventory Service Groups diagnostics port for Inventory Service instances.

8443 TCP VMware Web Management Services Linked Mode Communication port.

1011 TCP vCenter Inventory Service Linked Mode Communication.

1

1044 TCP vCenter Inventory Service Linked Mode Communication between Inventory Service instances.
3
This can be changed during the vCenter Server installation and should be adjusted in the firewall
settings as needed.