There are various places that tell you you cannot resize a thick disk to a thin disk using vmkfstools.

When you do it wrong, you get this error:

DiskLib_Check() failed for source disk. The file specified is not a virtual disk (15).

This happens when you directly try to resize the physical disk image:

# vmkfstools -i msmxp-flat.vmdk -d thin msmxp-flat.thin.vmdk
DiskLib_Check() failed for source disk The file specified is not a virtual disk (15).

Whereas you should point vmkfstools to the disk descriptor file which has the shortest name:

# vmkfstools -i msmxp.vmdk -d thin msmxp.thin.vmdk
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk 'msmxp.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.

For performance, it doesn’t matter much if your disk is thick or thin as explained by Death to false myths: The type of virtual disk used determines your performance.

But various people issues expanding a thick disk. With thin disks, that usually works fine.

This post explains the correct steps of resizing: VMWare ESXi 5.1–convert virtual disk (vmdk) from thick to thin provision.

Here is a summary:

Step zero: shutdown the VM and ensure you have a backup!

For instance with rsync is great for making a local backup:

# time ./850EVO1TBR1B/bin/rsync -aiv --info=progress2 --progress ./850EVO1TBR1B/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp/ ./850EVO1TBR1A/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp/

Step one: show the disk files:

/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk

There are two: msmxp.vmdk describes the disk and msmxp-flat.vmdk has the data.

Step two: ensure you have enough free space on the volume:

# ls -al /vmfs/volumes | grep "552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed"
drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root          2660 Aug  5 04:35 552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed
lrwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            35 Aug  5 06:11 850EVO1TBR1B -> 552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed
# df -h | grep "850EVO1TBR1B\|Use%"
Filesystem   Size   Used Available Use% Mounted on
VMFS-5     930.8G 736.8G    194.0G  79% /vmfs/volumes/850EVO1TBR1B

Convert the disk (you can replace -d with --diskformat):

# vmkfstools -i msmxp.vmdk -d thin msmxp.thin.vmdk
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk 'msmxp.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.

Observe the size (in my case the flat disk was almost full and fragmented, so the thin disk is not smaller):

/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp.thin-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.thin.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk

Rename both disks using vmkfstools (do not use mv as that will not keep the descriptor/data vmdk files bound together) and check the rename.

You can replace -E with --renamevirtualdisk:

/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -E msmxp.vmdk msmxp.thick.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools --renamevirtualdisk msmxp.thin.vmdk msmxp.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp.thick-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.thick.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk

Turn on the Virtual Machine to verify it still works.

If it does, then delete it (you can replace -U with --deletevirtualdisk) which will remove both both the descriptor and data vmdk file:

/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -U msmxp.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk

After shutting down the VM again and making a new backup, you can now expand the disk as described in VMware KB: Adding space to an ESXi/ESX host virtual disk. You can replace -X with --extendvirtualdisk.

/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -X 14G msmxp.vmdk
Grow: 100% done.
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk


/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -E msmxp.vmdk msmxp.thick.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -i msmxp.thick.vmdk msmxp.vmdk -d thin
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk 'msmxp.thick.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # diff msmxp.thick.vmdk msmxp.vmdk
--- msmxp.thick.vmdk
+++ msmxp.vmdk
@@ -7,18 +7,18 @@
 createType="vmfs"

 # Extent description
-RW 29360128 VMFS "msmxp.thick-flat.vmdk"
+RW 29360128 VMFS "msmxp-flat.vmdk"

 # The Disk Data Base
 #DDB

-ddb.adapterType = "ide"
-ddb.thinProvisioned = "1"
-ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
-ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
-ddb.geometry.cylinders = "29127"
-ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9f 5e f8 33 76-6e c5 48 3c f2 84 d8 1e"
-ddb.longContentID = "5659579edebed2ebdd8e0c8fda15abd4"
 ddb.toolsVersion = "9221"
 ddb.virtualHWVersion = "8"
 ddb.deletable = "true"
+ddb.longContentID = "5659579edebed2ebdd8e0c8fda15abd4"
+ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 95 66 1b cf 7a-e3 db 3f 30 17 7e 00 2d"
+ddb.geometry.cylinders = "29127"
+ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
+ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"
+ddb.thinProvisioned = "1"
+ddb.adapterType = "ide"
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp.thick-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.thick.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -X 14G msmxp.vmdk
Failed to extend disk : One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1).
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -X 14G msmxp.vmdk
Failed to extend disk : One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1).
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -X 14G msmxp.vmdk
Failed to extend disk : One of the parameters supplied is invalid (1).
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -X 15G msmxp.vmdk
Grow: 100% done.
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp.thick-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.thick.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # vmkfstools -U msmxp.thick.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp # du -h *.vmdk
12.0G   msmxp-flat.vmdk
0   msmxp.vmdk
/vmfs/volumes/552f5788-33e30274-8dba-001f29022aed/Raid6SSD-VM/msmxp #

–jeroen

via: vmware esxi – vmkfstools returns error when trying to copy thin vmdk – Server Fault.

On my research list: Determine TBW from SSDs with S.M.A.R.T Values in ESXi (smartctl) | Virten.net

Via Matthijs ter Woord.

–jeroen

To grow you must first change the size of the container: the partition, the LV, or arraydevice. Then you can resize the file system. It’s the same with XFS, and NTFS. I’m only aware of Apple’sdiskutil resizevolume command that resizes the flavors of HFS+ and at the same time sets the new end valuefor the partition entry.

Source: Development of the BTRFS linux file system (not yet archived at the WayBack machine)

I will need the above for a single disk device having a BTRFS partition sandwiched between a swap and xfs partition:

# parted -l
Model: VMware Virtual disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 21.5GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  1562MB  1561MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)  type=82
 2      1562MB  17.7GB  16.1GB  primary  btrfs           boot, type=83
 3      17.7GB  21.5GB  3799MB  primary  xfs             type=83

I’ll likekly be:

1. extend the disk inin ESXi
2. use gparted to move the xfs partition to the end of the disk
3. use gparted to extend the btrfs partition
4. use btrfs to extend the volume inside the btrfs partition

I might be able to do all this from the gparted live CD as moving xfs and growing btrfs is on the GParted — Features list.

Fingers crossed. Luckily I’ve backups (:

–jeroen

Interesting: Ghetto Mod: xw6400 xw6600 front case fans – HP Enterprise Business Community.

Very silent 92mm fans for the front of an HP XW6600. Be sure to use the non PWM fan type.

–jeroen

Boy, I totally forgot to post this. It runs also ESXi 5.x; I’ve not tried more recent ESXi versions as they just run fine.

As a follow-up on [WayBack] VMware Communities: ESX 3.5 Whitebox on HP xw6600 …, I have installed ESXi 4.0.0.Update01-208167 on a HP XW6600 workstation.

Good news: the generic ESXi 4 installation works, whereas the HP specific ESXi 4 fails (you get a nice purple screen of death).

[WayBack] http://www.vm-help.com//esx40i/esx40_whitebox_HCL.php

–jeroen

What directories to backup on ESXi apart from the VMs? – Server Fault [WayBack]:

You may want to look at purpose-built VMware backup tools. You will be very disappointed if you treat an ESXi host like a Linux/Unix server.

Use the VMware backup commands [WayBack] from a separate station, and you’ll be left with a nice configuration tarball. I would find another approach for the actual VM backups.

Edit: Host-based example

vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/sync_config
vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config

This stores the config in /scratch/downloads:

# vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config
Bundle can be downloaded at : http://ip.of.esxi.host/downloads/52fd67ba-2fdf-9876-6651-46c3da638f1a/configBundle-centaur.ewwhite.net.tgz

Also see: http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2013/02/how-to-backup-restore-free-esxi-host.html [WayBack]

–jeroen

Anyone that knows how to edit the port groups of ESXi 6.5 Update 1 live VMs?

This worked fine in the C# based Windows vSphere Client, but not in the web-client.

When pressing Save, you get this error: Failed to reconfigure virtual machine [[vmname]]. The attempted operation cannot be performed in the current state (Powered on). - dismiss.

You have to edit because of This VM is attached to a network portgroup VM Network Fiber xs4all that doesn't exist. Edit this VM and attach it to a different network. Actions.

If seems a known issue at [Archive.is] ESXi Embedded Host Client – Bugs: #88 Error while editing a VM more than once, but it is unclear how these bugs are tracked and in which of the labs versions any of the bus are fixed ([Archive.is] ).

Screenshots:

Press Actions, then Edit Settings:

Press Save:

 

–jeroen

Fixed in 6.5u1: [WayBack] VM Memory Usage heuristic over-reporting on ESXi 6.5

Via: [WayBack] Incorrect memory utlization for 1 VM Web Client… |VMware Communities

Hi – After upgrading my host to ESXi 6.5 and VCSA to 6.5 I have found that one of my VM’s shows all memory being utilized in the summary screen and when

–jeroen

[WayBack] VMware ESXi 6.5.0 Patch History – 2017-10-05 Imageprofile ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard (Build 6765664):

# Cut and paste these commands into an ESXi shell to update your host with this Imageprofile
# See the Help page for more instructions
#
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard \
-d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient
#
# Reboot to complete the upgrade

It has the patches for KB2151082: [WayBack] VMware ESXi 6.5, Patch Release ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard (2151082) | VMware KB

Via https://feedly.com//i/subscription/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FEsxi650PatchTracker or http://feeds.feedburner.com/Esxi650PatchTracker

–jeroen

# esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard \
> -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml

Update Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.5.0-1.29.6765664, VMware_bootbank_esx-tboot_6.5.0-1.29.6765664, VMware_bootbank_vsan_6.5.0-1.29.6765666, VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_6.5.0-1.29.6765667
   VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-base_6.5.0-1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_esx-tboot_6.5.0-1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_vsan_6.5.0-1.26.5912915, VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_6.5.0-1.26.5912974
   VIBs Skipped: VMW_bootbank_ata-libata-92_3.00.9.2-16vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-amd_0.3.10-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-atiixp_0.4.6-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-cmd64x_0.2.5-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-hpt3x2n_0.3.4-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-pdc2027x_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-serverworks_0.4.3-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-sil680_0.4.8-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ata-pata-via_0.3.3-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_block-cciss_3.6.14-10vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_char-random_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ehci-ehci-hcd_1.0-4vmw.650.0.14.5146846, VMW_bootbank_elxnet_11.1.91.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_hid-hid_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_i40en_1.3.1-5vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_igbn_0.1.0.0-14vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_ima-qla4xxx_2.02.18-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-devintf_39.1-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-msghandler_39.1-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ipmi-ipmi-si-drv_39.1-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ixgben_1.4.1-2vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_lpfc_11.1.0.6-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_lsi-mr3_6.910.18.00-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_lsi-msgpt2_20.00.01.00-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_lsi-msgpt3_12.00.02.00-11vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_misc-cnic-register_1.78.75.v60.7-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_misc-drivers_6.5.0-1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_mtip32xx-native_3.9.5-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ne1000_0.8.0-16vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_nenic_1.0.0.2-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-bnx2_2.2.4f.v60.10-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-bnx2x_1.78.80.v60.12-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-cdc-ether_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-cnic_1.78.76.v60.13-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-e1000_8.0.3.1-5vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-e1000e_3.2.2.1-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-enic_2.1.2.38-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-fcoe_1.0.29.9.3-7vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-forcedeth_0.61-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-igb_5.0.5.1.1-5vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-ixgbe_3.7.13.7.14iov-20vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-libfcoe-92_1.0.24.9.4-8vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-mlx4-core_1.9.7.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-mlx4-en_1.9.7.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-nx-nic_5.0.621-5vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-tg3_3.131d.v60.4-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-usbnet_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_net-vmxnet3_1.1.3.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_nhpsa_2.0.6-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-core_3.16.0.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-en_3.16.0.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_nmlx4-rdma_3.16.0.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_nmlx5-core_4.16.0.0-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ntg3_4.1.2.0-1vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_nvme_1.2.0.32-4vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_nvmxnet3_2.0.0.22-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_ohci-usb-ohci_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_pvscsi_0.1-1vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_qedentv_2.0.3.29-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_qfle3_1.0.2.7-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_qflge_1.1.0.3-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_qlnativefc_2.1.50.0-1vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_sata-ahci_3.0-26vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_sata-ata-piix_2.12-10vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_sata-sata-nv_3.5-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_sata-sata-promise_2.12-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_sata-sata-sil24_1.1-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_sata-sata-sil_2.3-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_sata-sata-svw_2.3-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-aacraid_1.1.5.1-9vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-adp94xx_1.0.8.12-6vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-aic79xx_3.1-5vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-bnx2fc_1.78.78.v60.8-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-bnx2i_2.78.76.v60.8-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-fnic_1.5.0.45-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-hpsa_6.0.0.84-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-ips_7.12.05-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-iscsi-linux-92_1.0.0.2-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-libfc-92_1.0.40.9.3-5vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-mbox_2.20.5.1-6vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-megaraid-sas_6.603.55.00-2vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-megaraid2_2.00.4-9vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-mpt2sas_19.00.00.00-1vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-mptsas_4.23.01.00-10vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-mptspi_4.23.01.00-10vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_scsi-qla4xxx_5.01.03.2-7vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-iscsi-linux-9-2-1-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-iscsi-linux-9-2-2-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libata-9-2-1-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libata-9-2-2-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libfc-9-2-1-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libfc-9-2-2-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libfcoe-9-2-1-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-libfcoe-9-2-2-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-1-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-2-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_shim-vmklinux-9-2-3-0_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_uhci-usb-uhci_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_usb-storage-usb-storage_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_usbcore-usb_1.0-3vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_vmkata_0.1-1vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_vmkplexer-vmkplexer_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMW_bootbank_vmkusb_0.1-1vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_vmw-ahci_1.0.0-39vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMW_bootbank_xhci-xhci_1.0-3vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_emulex-esx-elxnetcli_11.1.28.0-0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_1.21.0-5724747, VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_6.5.0-0.23.5969300, VMware_bootbank_lsu-hp-hpsa-plugin_2.0.0-5vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-lsi-mr3-plugin_1.0.0-10vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-lsi-msgpt3-plugin_1.0.0-7vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-megaraid-sas-plugin_1.0.0-8vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_lsu-lsi-mpt2sas-plugin_2.0.0-6vmw.650.1.26.5969303, VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_6.5.0-0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_rste_2.0.2.0088-4vmw.650.0.0.4564106, VMware_bootbank_vmware-esx-esxcli-nvme-plugin_1.2.0.10-1.26.5969303, VMware_locker_tools-light_6.5.0-0.23.5969300

This happened to me when the USB stick that I ran ESXi 5.5 off broke down: [WayBack/Archive.is] HOW TO: Fix the Error loading /s.v00 Fatal error: 33 (Inconsistent data) in the VMware vSphere Hypervisor.

I didn’t follow the steps as I moved on to new hardware that required ESXi 6.5 update 1. In retrospect, I probably should have fixed ESXi 5.5 as the ESXi 6.5 Web vSphere UI – apart of having far less features than the classic Windows vSphere Client UI )is ridden with bugs. More on those bugs later.

–jeroen

Please do not install the below patches: they have been pulled because of an Intel Microcode problem.

See:

[WayBack] Intel Sightings in ESXi Bundled Microcode Patches for VMSA-2018-0004 (52345)

In case you have not installed this yet: hurry, as it contains the Spectre/Meltdown patches [WayBack] VMware ESXi 6.5, Patch Release ESXi650-201801401-BG: Updates esx-base, esx-tboot, vsan, and vsanhealth VIBs (52198) containing [WayBack] CVE – CVE-2017-5715.

[WayBack] VMware ESXi 6.5.0 Patch History: Keep track of VMware ESXi patches, subscribe by RSS, Twitter and E-Mail! – Brought to you by @VFrontDe

# Cut and paste these commands into an ESXi shell to update your host with this Imageprofile
# See the Help page for more instructions
#
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient
esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.5.0-20180104001-standard \
-d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient
#
# Reboot to complete the upgrade

–jeroen

On my watch list. Hopefully by now they have more recent Kibana support:

[WayBack] Any plans for Kibana 5 support? · Issue #43 · sexibytes/sexilog · GitHub

• [WayBack] SexiLog
• [WayBack] QuickStart | SexiLog
• [WayBack] SexiBoards | SexiLog
• [WayBack] #RTFM | SexiLog
• [WayBack] GitHub – sexibytes/sexilog: SexiLog is a specific ELK virtual appliance designed for vSphere environment

–jeroen

via: Matthijs ter Woord

If you’ve installed this patch [WayBack] Intel Sightings in ESXi Bundled Microcode Patches for VMSA-2018-0004 (52345), then please read the article if your processor is affected by microcode updates in it.

To inspect which processor is in your machine, please see:

• [WayBack] How to get ESXi CPU model through command line?? |VMware Communities
• [WayBack] Checking cpuinfo information on an ESXi host (1031785)

On my system, this was enough:

vim-cmd hostsvc/hostsummary | grep cpuModel
vim-cmd hostsvc/hosthardware | grep -w -A7 "cpuPkg\|cpuFeature" | grep "description\|eax\|ebx\|ecx\|edx\|vendor"

The above statements are based on:

• [WayBack] How to get ESXi CPU model through command line?? |VMware Communities
• [WayBack] get vmware esxi cpu info | ForDoDone

I was lucky, but for now, ESXi has retracted it.

So please disregard my previous post VMware ESXi 6.5.0 Patch History.

–jeroen

I wonder with the current memory pricing and amounts of memory that host machines have: is memory ballooning a thing from the past?

–jeroen

[Archive.is] Virtualization: What is memory ballooning? – Quora

One day I am going to try to extend this for a few other virtualisation environments and Linux distributions: [WayBack] Check If A Linux System Is Physical Or Virtual Machine

Via: [WayBack] Check If A Linux System Is Physical Or Virtual Machine #Linux – Joe C. Hecht – Google+

–jeroen

Cool repository, but contact your cloud provider before trying…: [WayBack] airbus-seclab/crashos.

via:

• [WayBack] Shit found on github: crashos – The Isoblog.
• [WayBack] Shit found on github: CrashOS is a minimalist Operating System which aims to lead to hypervisor crashs, hence its name. – Kristian Köhntopp – Google+

–jeroen

I still like this board: [WayBack] Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X10SRH-CF.

It’s in my main virtualisation workhorse, uses little power, has loads of disk (SAS/SATA) ports, IPMI, two network connections and enough slots for memory and I/O to be extensible.

I use it for most of my software development even when on the road: VPN home over one of the fiber connections and it screams.

–jeroen

VMware and USB sticks have two aspects:

1. Creating an installable USB stick
2. Boot from it and install on another USB stick

Some motherboard and servers offer an internal USB socket to plug in the second stick.

If not, search for “usb 3” motherboard header adapter “usb a”.

Getting the ISO installer on a USB stick to install from

1. Download Rufus (I’ve used the portable version from)
2. Run Rufus, select ISO image type
   
3. Choose the image (the button on the right of the image type), in my case VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201701001-4887370.x86_64.iso from https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6 which Rufus recognises as ESXI-6.5.0-20170104001-STANDARD:
   
4. Confirm the menu file replacement (note they forgot to translate the Ja button to Yes and Nee to No):
   

   ---------------------------
   Replace menu.c32?
   ---------------------------
   This ISO image seems to use an obsolete version of 'menu.c32'.
   Boot menus may not display properly because of this.
   
   A newer version can be downloaded by Rufus to fix this issue:
   - Choose 'Yes' to connect to the internet and download the file
   - Choose 'No' to leave the existing ISO file unmodified
   If you don't know what to do, you should select 'Yes'.
   
   Note: The new file will be downloaded in the current directory and once a 'menu.c32' exists there, it will be reused automatically.
   ---------------------------
   Ja Nee
   ---------------------------

5. If you get this, then just choose No in the previous dialog:
   
   ---------------------------
File download
---------------------------
Unknown internet error 0x00002F0D
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------
6. Confirm erasure of the USB device data (here the Cancel button is still Dutch Annuleren:
   
   ---------------------------
Rufus
---------------------------
WARNING: ALL DATA ON DEVICE 'NO_LABEL (F:) [4.1GB]' WILL BE DESTROYED.
To continue with this operation, click OK. To quit click CANCEL.
---------------------------
OK Annuleren
---------------------------

Installing from the USB based installer onto another target USB stick

Yes, you need a second USB to install onto. Which means that it’s best if the two sticks are different models or different brands so it is easier to set them apart.

1. Insert both sticks in your machine
2. Power on the  machine and go into BIOS settings
3. Boot from the first

With the removal of the C# based Windows vSphere Client in ESXi 6.5, the vSphere HTML5 Web Client is the way to go.

It doesn’t cover all functionality yet, and some functionality is in different places in the UI, so below the steps to change the hostname.

Since I prefer a central location of name and address management, I’ve also documented on how to do this with DHCP option 12.

Oh: I’m not alone in finding the changed place

Before I begin, some background reading on DHCP Options as I plan to do more with that in the future:

• • [WayBack] Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) Parameters
  • [WayBack] RFC 2131 – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
    • based on [WayBack] RFC 1533 – DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions
  • [WayBack] BOOTP / DHCP options
  • [WayBack] BOOTP / DHCP option 12, Host Name
  • [WayBack] BOOTP / DHCP option 15, Domain Name

A bit of history

The HTML5 client started a long time ago as [WayBack] vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling – VMware vSphere Blog which by now is named [WayBack] vSphere HTML5 Web Client and continues to be available as a separate OVA outside of the ESXi release cycle:

“We will continue delivering this Fling on a regular basis even with the released supported version of the vSphere Client, so we hope that most of you will continue to use the Fling and update it weekly so that we can get your feedback about our direction.”

I like the new direction as it’s way more portable than both the Windows only C# vSphere Client and the other web client which is still there but based on Flash.

Some of the historic links:

• [WayBack] Goodbye vSphere Client for Windows (C#) – Hello HTML5 – VMware vSphere Blog
• [WayBack] Download URLs for VMware vSphere Client (2089791) | VMware KB
  This article provides vSphere Client download URLs. Note: The vSphere Client is no longer available starting with vSphere 6.5.
• [WayBack] In VMware vSphere 6.5, missing functions in speedy HTML5 Web UI leaves us saddled with vSphere Web Client (Flash), C# Client still connects to hosts, but not to vSphere | TinkerTry IT @ Home
  Note the trick there to use the Windows vSphere Client 6.0.0.2 to connect to ESXi 6.5 fails on my ESXi 6.5.0update1 installation:
  

Change the hostname

Note: if you have a cluster, remove the ESXi machine from it first!

From the console

This is easy, as explained by [WayBack] Changing the name of an ESX or ESXi host (1010821) | VMware KB:

esxcli system hostname get # verify existing name and domain
esxcli system hostname set --host=hostname
esxcli system hostname set --fqdn=domainname

From the Windows vSphereClient

This has been working until ESXi 6.0; these are the steps:

1. Attach and logon to a host
2. Select the Configuration tab
3. Select DNS and Routing under Software
4. Click on the Properties... in the top right
5. In the dialog, edit the value for Name for hostname (and maybe Domain for domainname)
6. Press the OK button to close the dialog

From the  vSphere HTML5 Web Client

This works on ESXi 6.5 and up:

1. Attach and logon to the host
2. From the Navigator on the left, choose the Networking entry
3. On the top, choose the TCP/IP stacks tab
4. In the Name column, choose the Default TCP/IP Stack entry
5. Click the Actions button, then the Edit Settings option
6. Choose the entry Manually configure the settings for this TCP/IP stack
7. Configure the values Host name (and maybe Domain name)
8. Press the Save button

Note you can shortcut steps 1-4 by going to this URL on your ESXi host: https://192.168.71.91/ui/#/host/networking/netstacks/defaultTcpipStack (just replace the IP address): one of the big benefits of this kind of web-interface is bookmarkable URLs.

Through DHCP

I didn’t realise you could this until I read [WayBack] Configure hostname via DHCP – Ingmar Verheij, and remembered I did a similar thing to be able to configure DHCP at all for my APC managed power distribution units: APC 7xxx models, DHCP Option 43 and Mikrotik DHCP servers.

If your router supports DHCP Option 12, then you can configure it to return the hostname based on the MAC address of the management network interface at the ESXi host.

In addition, you can do the same for your domain name using DHCP option 15:

Sometimes makes sense, for instance if you have more fixed DHCP leases, or if you use your DHCP server as a central place to configure IP addresses.

In my case, this goes through [WayBack] Manual:IP/DHCP Server – DHCP Options – MikroTik Wiki.

So I added this option in the Winbox GUI:

Note you need single quotes around the ESXi-X10SRH-CF as otherwise you get the “Unknown data type! (6)” error (you get the same error when using double quotes"ESXi-X10SRH-CF"):

Then I added that option to the static DHCP entry for the MAC address

Now it was just waiting for the lease to refresh, then the ESXi server like magic changes its name at https://192.168.71.91/ui/#/host/networking/netstacks/defaultTcpipStack

I could have done the Mikrotik shell as well:

/ip dhcp-server option
add code=12 name=Option-X10SRH-CF value="'ESXi-X10SRH-CF'"
/ip dhcp-server lease
add address=192.168.71.91 client-id=1:c:c4:7a:aa:97:42 comment=\
"SuperMicro X10SRH-CF - LAN1" dhcp-option=Option-X10SRH-CF mac-address=\
0C:C4:7A:AA:97:42 server=dhcp_lan


–jeroen

Steps to get it working on ESXi 6.x with p7zip 16.02:

1. Copy the output of https://sourceforge.net/projects/p7zip/files/p7zip/16.02/p7zip_16.02_x86_linux_bin.tar.bz2/download to a place where you can reach it through http (as wget on ESXi does not understand https)
2. Follow the script below

mkdir -p /local/bin
cd /local bin
wget http://192.168.71.62/esxi/netcologne.dl.sourceforge.net/project/p7zip/p7zip/16.02/p7zip_16.02_x86_linux_bin.tar.bz2
bzip2 -d p7zip_16.02_x86_linux_bin.tar.bz2
mv p7zip_16.02/bin/7z* .
chmod 755 7z 7za 7zra

Based on much longer steps involving Windows and an older version of p7zip: 7zip on ESXi through p7zip.

–jeroen