Some bash parameter propagation links that hopefully will work with ash/dash too
For my link archive; I started with [Wayback] dash get all parameters quoted – Google Search: [Wayback] Handling positional parameters [Bash Hackers Wiki] has this handy table: Parameter(s) Description...
View ArticleVFrontDe/ESXi-Customizer-PS: PowerCLI script that greatly simplifies and...
On my list of things to try, as it allows me to have an ISO at hand in case I ever need to quickly re-install a machine to the current patch level (for instance when the USB boot stick breaks down:...
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Some ESXi 7.x notes
Yes, I know this is late in the game, but I’m still catching up with some of the things after from autumn 2019 to spring 2021 spending most of my time on rectum cancer treatment and other core things....
View ArticleESXi: editing /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml to fix the datastore UUID for...
In case I ever need this on ESXi: Insights into the VMware inventory files (vmAutoStart.xml and vmInventory.xml on ESXi; inventory.vmls on VMware Workstation/Player): [Wayback/Archive.is]...
View ArticleSome notes on ESXi `smartinfo` throwing `error Cannot open device`
I wrote about the built-in smartinfo command before at NVMe and SATA health data on ESXi: some links to investigate. It is at /usr/lib/vmware/vm-support/bin/smartinfo, which is not in the path. I used...
View ArticleOn my research list: “ESXi 7”“kickstart”– Google Search
On my research list [Wayback] “ESXi 7” “kickstart” – Google Search. Some links from it: [Wayback/Archive.is] sysadmintutorials/vmware-esxi-7-kickstart-install: This kickstart script is used to automate...
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“Solution” on ESXi 6.7 `smartinfo` throwing `error Cannot open device`
After writing Some notes on ESXi smartinfo throwing error Cannot open device, I bit the bullet and experimented with disabling the vmw_ahci driver (shown as ahci in the storage adapters view), which...
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Some links and graphs on ESXi capping/throtteling disk speeds
As promised in “Solution” on ESXi 6.7 smartinfo throwing error Cannot open device, here are a few links in capping throttling disk speeds by ESXi followed by a few graphs of my own: GUI operations...
View ArticleSome notes on ESXi and SMART information from HDD/SSD devices
For my link archive: [WayBack] VMware ESXi S.M.A.R.T Health Monitoring | ESX Virtualization based on the built-in tooling, showing how /usr/lib/vmware/vm-support/bin/smartinfo works (contrary to the...
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VMware ESXi and vSphere: vmNIC speeds are limited by your CPU and RAM speeds,...
Still a lot of people think that network speed depends on the vNIC driver and vNIC speed settings. This is not true: it mainly depends on CPU and RAM speeds as that is where the bottleneck of virtual...
View ArticleOn my research list: “ESXi”“Secure Boot”– Google Search
On my research list: [Wayback] “ESXi” “Secure Boot” – Google Search. Some links about it: [Wayback] Using ESXi Kickstart %firstboot with Secure Boot [Wayback] ESXi 6.7 – Secure Boot and startup script...
View ArticlePatching ESXi so you can boot a MacOS virtual machine from it
This is totally opposite to yesterday’s Secure Boot post: [Wayback/Archive.is] shanyungyang/esxi-unlocker: VMware ESXi macOS macOS Unlocker V3.0.2 for VMware ESXi =====================================...
View ArticleESXi ash/dash/busybox shell getting current timestamp in UTC ISO8601 format...
On VMware ESXi, with the Busybox ash/dash shell, I wanted to get the current UTC timestamp in ISO 8601 format without dashes (-) or especially colons (:) and plus-signs (+) you have to back-slash...
View ArticleESXi: persistent files you can edit to apply settings during boot
Since ESXi boots from RAM, most files in /etc are not persisted after modification. The files that are persisted, are only persisted once every hour by auto-backup.sh, so better run auto-backup.sh by...
View ArticleESXi: getting and setting the host name, domain and fqdn
A few links and notes: [Wayback] Changing the hostname of an ESX or ESXi host (1010821) Run these commands to change the hostname in ESXi 5.x, ESXi 6.x,ESXi 7.x, using the command line: esxcli system...
View ArticleSome links on Chrome not prompting to save passwords (when Firefox and Safari...
For quite some time now, Chrome (think years) refuses to prompt for saving passwords whereas Firefox and Safari do prompt and save them, even for site types that it used to save passwords for in the...
View ArticleESXi: storing an ISO 8601 time-stamped backup tarball locally
In Determining the ESXi installation type (2014558) | VMware KB, I also showed how to backup the configuration and download it. Sometimes you want an ISO 8601 time-stamped local tarball just in case...
View ArticleESXi: reloading all virtual machines from their (potentially) vmx files
I had to reload all registered virtual machine configurations after replacing an NVMe adapter in one of my ESXi hosts (see the posts next week). The below script is based on this series of April last...
View ArticleESXi: on the console/ssh, when a moved VM pauses during power-on: show which...
First the script that display messages for all virtual machines, vim-cmd-display-messages-for-all-VMs.sh: #!/bin/sh vmids=`vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | sed -n -E -e...
View ArticleSome links on using and updating Let’s Encrypt certificates for internal servers
Sometimes it is easier to have current and public CA signed TLS certificates for internal servers than to setup and maintain an internal CA and register it on all affected browsers (including mobile...
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ESXi: editing /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml to fix the datastore UUID for...
I started my post ESXi: editing /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml to fix the datastore UUID for unavailable VMs with In case I ever need this on ESXi: Insights into the VMware inventory files...
View ArticleESXi: searching for “vim-cmd vmsvc/message” lead me to the “Managing ESXi...
Last week, I wrote about ESXi: on the console/ssh, when a moved VM pauses during power-on: show which VMs have messages waiting, then answer them. The “vim-cmd vmsvc/message” – Google Search there lead...
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Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD serial in ESXi is in different byte order than the...
I installed three Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD devices in various ESXi rigs. This is the serial numbers that ESXi came up with: Local NVMe Disk...
View ArticleESXi: on my list to try VIC (VMware Infrastructure Client you say? Née...
On my research list: [Wayback] ESXi Host with No vCenter Server · VMware vSphere Integrated Containers 1.4 Documentation: Deploy a Virtual Container Host to an ESXi Host with No vCenter Server. It is a...
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ESXi: origin of the ESX and GSX names
Not sure how I bumped into the below info, as it was in one of the open tabs of a VM that I had not accessed for a long time. Tracing back, the links can be found via Wikipedia. Here is the post...
View ArticleESXi: for my link archive “Developing for VMware ESXi”
This post amends the post last week on rsync backup of your ESXi box: How to make a statically linked rsync binary « The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff. Two weeks ago, I posted about Source:...
View ArticleESXi: for my link archive – links about “vim-cmd vmsvc/message” (lots of...
In ESXi: on the console/ssh, when a moved VM pauses during power-on: show which VMs have messages waiting, then answer them, I searched for [Wayback] “vim-cmd vmsvc/message” – Google Search in order to...
View ArticleCreating a bootable USB installer for ESXi on other operating systems than...
I wrote about Creating a bootable USB installer for ESXi and use it to create a bootable ESXi installation. Just in case I ever need to do this on a non-Windows system, some links: [Wayback] Creating a...
View ArticleESXi: forcing VMKlinux drivers over native drivers, especially at boot time...
Note: the below holds for sure for ESXi 5.x and 6.5; as of ESXi 7.x, the VMKlinux stack is supposed to be gone for good. I still need to verify that as I’m still on ESXi 6.7. I wrote about ESXi...
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ESXi: some notes on .vswp files; there are actually two types of them!
Earlier this month, I ended ESXi: editing /etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml to fix the datastore UUID for unavailable VMs part 2 with this: A final note: I need to check out if .vswp files need to be...
View ArticleForce downloading Windows 10 ISOs instead of Media Creation Tool
When downloading Windows 10 builds, I usually want them as ISO files because I test them out as Virtual Machines before running on real hardware. Downloading can be done from [WayBack]...
View ArticleToo bad: ESXi busybox has `diff`, but not `patch`
On my ESXi boxes, I have a directory with local scripts that in part depend on the machine. So I contemplated patching the dending parts with patch. Then I found out that the BusyBox that VMware built...
View ArticleSome notes on replacing parts of a text file with template text using sed on...
Note before you think about putting stuff in /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh: that script will not be executed when UEFI booting. In a very lightweight Busybox system, I wanted to modify some configuration...
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Stop 0x0000007B after converting an existing XP machine to a Virtual Machine...
In 2015, I posted P2V of an existing XP machine to Hyper-V to have an emergency fallback when retiring old XP physical machines and did a short edit on 20210727 promising about a future article on...
View ArticleSome links on USB pass-through for ESXi
For my link archive (especially because when disconnecting USB devices, the path value needs to be uber-correct, while for connecting, the path value only needs to be a partial match): [Wayback]...
View Articlewindows xp – How to know which license version has an XP installed system –...
When virtualising your final physical Windows XP machines (just in case you need to hook up old hardware that is unsupported from newer Windows versions), you need to figure out the kind of license of...
View ArticleWhen some virtual machines cannot run VMware Tools: Graceful shutdown of an...
An interesting set of scripts from [Wayback/Archive.is] No Joke IT: Graceful shutdown of an ESXi 5.1 host and guest VMs (free edition) using the shell/command line/scripting (UPS friendly). If all ESXi...
View ArticleRun ESXi from a USB Flash Drive: A How-To-Guide
Guessing the [Wayback] Run ESXi from a USB Flash Drive: A How-To-Guide by just the abstract does not show the value enough: A USB flash drive can be used not only for installation media – you can also...
View ArticleESXi: various ways to find and view the log files
For my link archive: [Wayback] Viewing ESXi log files | 4sysops [Wayback] Via the ESXi console [Wayback] From the redirected log location [Wayback] Through the ESXi HTML 5 Host Client [Wayback] Via a...
View ArticleVMware ESXi: How to Kill an Unresponsive (Stuck) Virtual Machine | Windows OS...
For my link archive: [Wayback] VMware ESXi: How to Kill an Unresponsive (Stuck) Virtual Machine | Windows OS Hub Commands covered: esxcli vm process list esxcli vm process kill --type=[soft,hard,force]...
View Articlevirtualization – Convert a hard-drive into a VMWare machine – Server Fault
Sometimes machines die without one having had the chance of doing a proper bootable file-system backup instead of a file-by-file-backup. You can still P2V these machines (convert them from physical to...
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Converting an existing XP machine to a VMware ESXi Virtual Machine and...
A while ago I wrote about Stop 0x0000007B after converting an existing XP machine to a Virtual Machine (ESXi, Hyper-V, or other). After this, the machine still had boot issues (a grey or black screen...
View ArticleVMware ESXI: creating an eagerly zeroed thick disk
For my memory to create a 40 GiB (gibibytes, i.e. sizes in powers of 2 bytes): # vmkfstools --createvirtualdisk 40G --diskformat eagerzeroedthick ./X9SRI-3F-W10P-EN-MEDIA-DATA.vmdk Creating disk...
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Large (hundreds) CVE-2021-21974 ESXi VMware based ESXiArgs (Nevada?)...
[Wayback/Archive] Massive ESXiArgs ransomware attack targets VMware ESXi servers worldwide Admins, hosting providers, and the French Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-FR) warn that attackers...
View ArticleVMware ESXi: shell script to get uuid.bios and all Ethernet generatedAddress...
This is a sort of follow-up on ESXi: listing virtual machines with their IP addresses where we ended with this: I modified the above script to become this: #!/bin/sh vmids=`vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms |...
View ArticleDatastore Naming Rules – VMware Technology Network VMTN
I was looking for VMware ESXi Datastore Naming Rules, and this was the only really relevant post I could find: [Wayback/Archive] Datastore Naming Rules – VMware Technology Network VMTN I’m trying to...
View ArticleWhile migrating VMs, I keep forgetting ESXi likes the text .vmdk file with a...
I keep forgetting this, but ESXi likes the text .vmdk file with a binary -flat.vmdk, where Fusion/ Workstation/Player like binary .vmdk file. Most sites that mention how to solve it love the cryptic...
View ArticleScript to rename a virtual machine in ESXi 6
I bumped into [Wayback/Archive] Script to rename a virtual machine in ESXi 6: gist.github.com/Gremgoll/8bd91258d71fe895c0d416e2543ca2dc. Then I forked it with the intent to make usage more clear, as...
View ArticleESXi 8 licenses seem still available, if you might need it: register while...
This is where you can still register for a free ESXi 8 account (until Broadcom kills that): [Wayback/Archive] Download VMware vSphere Hypervisor for Free (free-esxi8) [Wayback/Archive] Download VMware...
View ArticleThe death of ESXi finally confirmed by Broadcom
Quite a few people already bumped into this the last two days (will add those links later), so today’s confirmation by Broadcom – who have a similar modus operandi as companies like Computer Associates...
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