Some Basic Interview Questions and

Answers
Date: August 10, 2014 Author: Anjani Kumar

VMWare Top Interview Questions with Answers

1) Explain about your production environment? How many clusters, ESX, Data Centers, H/w etc ?
2) How does VMotion works? Whats the port number used for it?
ANS> TCP port 8000
3) Prerequisites for VMotion?
Ans>
1)ESX Servers must be configured with VMkenerl ports enabled for vmotion and on the same network
segment
2)ESX Servers must be managed by the same Virtual Center server
3)ESX Must have compatible CPUs
4)ESX Servers muct have consisten Networks and NEtwroks labels
5)The VMs must be stored on shared storage iSCSI or FC SAN or NAS/NFS
6)The VMs can not use localcd/floppy or internal only vrtual switches on the ESX server
Check out http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_admin_guide.pdf for more
information
4) How does HA works? Port number? How many host failure allowed and why?
ANS> Maximum allowed host failures within a HA cluster is 4. What happens if 4 hosts have failed and a
5th one also fails.
I have still enough free resources to start up the virtual machines on the remaining hosts. Will HA start
these virtual machines from the 5th failed host on the remaining hosts?
ANS) That depends. If you have admission control enabled, if there are any resource constraints some
VMs may not restart. If you have admission control disabled, the VMs will get restarted on any host left in
the cluster. However, that doesnt mean they will be functional. Make sure you have enough port groups
configured on your vSwitch for your Virtual Machine port group to accommodate
Host Firewalls. On ESX/ESXi hosts, VMware HA needs and automatically opens the following firewall
ports.
Incoming port: TCP/UDP 8042-8045
Outgoing port: TCP/UDP 2050-2250
5) What are active host / primary host in HA? Explain it?
ANS>
When you add a host to a VMware HA cluster, an agent is uploaded to the host and configured to
communicate
with other agents in the cluster. The first five hosts added to the cluster are designated as primary hosts,
and

all subsequent hosts are designated as secondary hosts. The primary hosts maintain and replicate all
cluster
state and are used to initiate failover actions. If a primary host is removed from the cluster, VMware HA
promotes another host to primary status.
Any host that joins the cluster must communicate with an existing primary host to complete its
configuration
(except when you are adding the first host to the cluster). At least one primary host must be functional for
VMware HA to operate correctly. If all primary hosts are unavailable (not responding), no hosts can be
successfully configured for VMware HA.
One of the primary hosts is also designated as the active primary host and its responsibilities include:
n Deciding where to restart virtual machines.
n Keeping track of failed restart attempts.
n Determining when it is appropriate to keep trying to restart a virtual machine.
If the active primary host fails, another primary host replaces it.
6) Prerequisites for HA ?
First, for clusters enabled for VMware HA, all virtual machines and their configuration files must
reside on shared storage (Fibre Channel SAN, iSCSI SAN, or SAN iSCI NAS), because you need to
be able to power on the virtual machine on any host in the cluster.
Second, VMware HA monitors heartbeat between hosts on the console network for failure
detection. So, to have reliable failure detection for HA clusters, the console network should have
redundant network paths. That way, if a hosts first network connection fails, the second
connection can broadcast heartbeats to other hosts.
Last, if you want to use DRS with HA for load balancing, the hosts in your cluster must be part of
a VMotion network. If the hosts are not in the VMotion network, however, DRS can still make
initial placement recommendations.
7) How do DRS works? Which technology used? What are the priority counts to migrate the VMs?
8) How does snap shots works?
9) What are the files will be created while creating a VM and after powering on the VM?
10) If the VMDK header file corrupt what will happen? How do you troubleshoot?
11) Prerequisites VC, Update manager?
12) Have you ever patched the ESX host? What are the steps involved in that?
13) Have you ever installed an ESX host? What are the pre and post conversion steps involved in that?
What would be the portions listed? What would be the max size of it?
14) I turned on Maintenance mode in an ESX host, all the VMs has been migrated to another host, but
only one VM failed to migrate? What are the possible reasons?
15) How will you turn start / stop a VM through command prompt?
16) I have upgraded a VM from 4 to 8 GB RAM; its getting failed at 90% of powering on? How do you
troubleshoot?
17) Storage team provided the new LUN ID to you? How will you configure the LUN in VC? What would be
the block size (say for 500 GB volume size)?
18) I want to add a new VLAN to the production network? What are the steps involved in that? And how
do you enable it?

19) Explain about VCB? What it the minimum priority (*) to consolidate a machine?
20) How VDR works?
21) Whats the difference between Top and ESXTOP command?
22) How will you check the network bandwidth utilization in an ESXS host through command prompt?
23) How will you generate a report for list of ESX, VMs, RAM and CPU used in your Vsphere
environment?
24) What the difference between connecting the ESX host through VC and Vsphere? What are the
services involved in that? What are the port numberss used?
25) How does FT works? Prerequisites? Port used?
26) Can I VMotion between 2 different data centers? Why?
27) Can I deploy a VM by template in different data centers ?
28) I want to increase the system partition size (windows 2003 server- Guest OS) of a VM? How will you
do it without any interruption to the end user?
29) Which port number used while 2 ESX transfer the data in between?
30) Unable to connect to a VC through Vsphere client? What could be the reason? How do you
troubleshoot?
31) Have you ever upgraded the ESX 3.5 to 4.0? How did you do it?
32) What are the Vsphere 4.0, VC 4.0, ESX 4.0, VM 7.0 special features?
33) What is AAM? Where is it used? How do you start or stop through command prompt?
ANS) VMware-aam = HA.
VMware purchased the HA technology from Legato, who originally coined it as Automated Availability
Manager.
34) Have you ever called VMWare support? Etc
35) Explain about Vsphere Licensing? License server?
36) How will you change the service console IP?
Note: ESX 4.0 Update 2 introduces a new tool that simplifies the process of creating or restoring
networking in the ESX service console. For more information, see Configuring or restoring networking
from the ESX service console using console-setup (1022078).
Changing settings from the physical or remote console connection
Changing the IP for the Service Console must be done from the physical console or through a remote
console session. If you make changes through a network connection such as SSH, network connectivity
to the Service Console disconnects because the Service Consoles network interface changes.
1.Run this command to set the IP address:
[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswif -i -n vswif0
where is the IP address and is the subnet mask.
Note: In this example, vswif0 is the Service Console adapter that is the interface to which you are applying
the IP address change.
2.Open the /etc/hosts file with a text editor and modify it so that it reflects the correct IP address and

hostname.
3.To change the default gateway address and the hostname, edit the /etc/sysconfig/network file and
change the GATEWAY and HOSTNAME parameters to the proper values.
4.For the changes to take place, restart the network service with the command:
[root@server root]# service network restart
Note: If you are required to edit the hostname, then you must reboot the host.
Note: This command breaks any current network connections to the Service Console, but virtual
machines continue to have network connection. If the ESX host is managed by VirtualCenter or vCenter
Server, you may have to remove and re-add the host to the inventory. For more information, see ESX not
working properly in VirtualCenter after IP address change (1005633).
Note: Making changes to IP and DNS server settings can have a negative impact on the normal operation
of ESX/ESXi, particularly in HA clustered environments. For more information, see Identifying issues with
and setting up name resolution on ESX/ESXi Server (1003735).
Note: If the changed IP does not persist across a reboot, try deleting and recreating the Service Console
vswif management interface. For more information, see Recreating Service Console networking from the
command line (1000266).
Changing the hostname without rebooting
To dynamically change the hostname, run the command:
[root@server root]# hostname newname
Note: This command creates a temporary hostname change. This change is lost when the system is
rebooted.
Changing the DNS server settings
To change the DNS server settings, update the nameserver IPs and search domain in the /etc/resolv.conf
file.
Changing settings in VMware vSphere or Infrastructure Client
To change the hostname, domain, DNS servers, and default gateway in VMware vSphere or Infrastructure
Client:
1.Highlight the ESX host and click the Configuration tab.
2.Click DNS and Routing.
3.Click Properties.
4.To change the hostname, domain, and DNS servers, click the DNS Configuration tab and enter the
appropriate values.
Note: Disable VMware High Availability if you do not want virtual machines to failover during the hostname
IP change.

5.To change the default gateway, click the Routing tab and enter the appropriate value.
6.Reboot the ESX host for the changes to take effect .
7.Reconnect the ESX host to vCenter Server with the new IP address.
Generating new certificates for the ESX host
The ESX host generates certificates the first time the system is started. Under certain circumstances, it
might be required to force the host to generate new certificates. Typically new certificates only need to be
generated if the hostname has been changed or the certificates have been deleted accidentally.
Each time you restart the vmware-hostd process, the mgmt-vmware script searches for existing certificate
files ( rui.crt and rui.key). If the files cannot be found, new certificate files are generated.
To generate new certificates:
1.Put the host into Maintenance Mode.
2.In the directory /etc/vmware/ssl, back up any existing certificates by renaming them with these
commands:
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.crt
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.key
Note: If you are regenerating certificates because you accidentally deleted them, you do not have to
rename them.
3.Reboot your host to allow it to begin using the new certificate, or restart the host services:
a.Restart hostd, using this command:
service mgmt-vmware restart
b.Restart vmkauthd, using this command:
service vmware-vmkauthd restart
4.Exit Maintenance Mode.
5.Confirm that the ESX host successfully generated new certificates by running this command and
comparing the time stamps of the new certificate files with orig.rui.crt and orig.rui.key:
[root@server root]# ls -la /etc/vmware/ssl/rui*
Notes:
Disable VMware High Availability if you do not want virtual machines to failover during the hostname IP
change. If you are using vSphere 4.x you can just disable host monitoring in the HA settings.
For related information, see Verifying ESX Server host networking configuration on the service console
(1003796).
You may be required to regenerate your SSL certificate. For more information, see Replacing or
Regenerating an SSL Certificate for the Management Interface (1843).
You are required to edit files on an ESX host. For more information, see Editing files on an ESX host

using vi or nano (1020302).

For information on replacing VirtualCenter Server ceritificates, see:
?Replacing VirtualCenter Server Certificates in Virtual Infrastructure 3
?Replacing VirtualCenter Server Certificates in vSphere 4
The iSCSI Qualified Name used for iSCSI storage configuration is based on the hostname of the ESX
host. If you change the hostname of the ESX host, ensure to review your iSCSI software initiator
configuration. For more information on iSCSI troubleshooting, see Configuring and troubleshooting basic
software iSCSI setup (1008083).
For more information on changing the hostname, see Changing the name of an ESX host (1010821).
37) Whats the difference between ESX and ESXi?
38) Whats the difference between ESX 3.5 and ESX 4.0?
39) P2V Prt Number and Log file location?
TCP/IP Ports Required by VMware Converter
Table lists the ports Converter uses in the conversion process.
If your VirtualCenter Servers or ESX Servers are configured to listen on port 905, you will have to make
adjustments accordingly.
Communication Paths | Port
Converter application to remote physical machine | 445 and 139
Converter application to VirtualCenter Server | 902
Converter application to ESX Server 3.x | 902
Physical machine to VirtualCenter Server | 902
Physical machine to ESX Server 3.x | 902
Log File Locations:
UFAD logs:
%WINDIR%\Temp\vmware-temp\vmware-converter*
%WINDIR%\vmware-temp\vmware-converter* (in Windows NT)
Client logs:
%TEMP%\vmware-temp\vmware-client*
Send these in to support using File > Export Logs. For Converter Boot CD, map a network drive using the
network configuration tool (see Chapter 5, Using the Converter Boot CD for Local Cold Cloning, on page
37)
and use File > Export Logs.
40) Micro vMotion
41)

Q: How is VMware more stable than, say, a new physical server?

A: The idealized hardware provided by VMware provides a consistent virtual hardware environment that
increases that stability of your virtual machines independent of the underlying physical hardware.
Q: Is any installation method better than any other?

A: No. Whichever installation method youre comfortable with and that produces a good build is the one
for you.
Q: Im having problems with my installation. What should I do?
A: Ensure that the hardware youre loading ESX Server on is supported. The same goes for the
configuration. If you are certain the hardware and configuration are supported, then run the vm-support
script mentioned previously.
Q: Why does this chapter include only the graphical installer method?
A: Its the recommended installation method from VMware and one that many in the x86-world are the
most comfortable with. If you wish to try it another way, VMware offers a very complete installation
document covering the various installation methodologies.
Q: When I copy my virtual machine and try to run it on my network, I get hostname already exists and IP
address already exists errors. I thought I could simply copy my virtual machine. What is the problem?
A: You can copy your virtual machine, which is why youre running into this problem. The copy is an exact
copy. Thus, you need to change the hostname, IP address, and even the computers SID (if it has one).
Q: Can I move my Gold Master to my other ESX Servers?
A: Yes, its a recommended time-saver. If your ESX Servers share a LUN, that too is a way to access your
Gold Master or your VMlibrary for that matter.
Q: Are there any limitations to the number of virtual machines I can run on my ESX Server?
A: Yes. Each ESX Server allows for only 80 virtual CPUs and 200 registered virtual machines.
Q: Can I take a virtual machine running on VMware Workstation or GSX and run it in ESX?
A: It depends. The process is not as simple as cutting and pasting. There is a specific import process
required for migrating virtual machines from either Workstation or GSX into ESX. Access the following link
for the exact instructions: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/mobility_guide.pdf.
Q: Do you need to tweak the settings of your virtual machines after youve built them?
A: No. VMware has configured the defaults of your build to suit most server loads. However, depending on
the profile of your server and the resource intensiveness of the service its providing, you may want to
consider tweaking some of the default settings to better ensure service stability and reliability.
Q: Are there more advanced features than the ones detailed in this chapter?
A: Yes a lot more.
Q: Is clustering more stable in VMware?

A: We find that the idealized hardware, in combination with VMwares improvements in clustering support,
has made virtual clustering very stable.
Q: Can you Vmotion a cluster?
A: That depends on the cluster type and how it is configured. Clusters using Raw Device Mapping in
virtual mode can be moved with Vmotion according to VMware documentation.
Q: Does VMware support NIC teaming?
A: Yes, and its a very good idea to configure your ESX Server, especially if its for production, with
teamed NICs. This will provide hardware fault tolerance in case one NIC fails.
Q: How many physical NICs do I need on my ESX Server?
A: That depends on the number of virtual machines and the network traffic they produce. You should have
a minimum of two: one for your Service Console and one dedicated to your virtual machines.
Q: If Im building a cluster using Microsoft Clustering Service, whats the best configuration for my
heartbeat NIC?
A:For a Cluster in a Box, create a VMnet that your nodes of your cluster can attach their heartbeat NICs.
Q: Can you attach virtual machines on any ESX Server to a VMnet?
A: No. Only virtual machines on the ESX Server that the VMnet resides can attach to it.
Q: Why should you pay for a p-to-v toll when there are a number of ways to do it for free?
A: If you dont have the time or inclination to learn the manual process or need the assurance of a vendor
for your physical-to-virtual migrations, then a tool that comes with support is a very reasonable option.
Q: What takes the longest in the p-to-v process?
A: Transferring the data of the physical server into either an image file or the virtual server itself. Thats
why tweaking your network settings for optimal throughput is essential when p-to-ving a server.
Q: Can you create complete backups of your physical servers and then recover them into virtuals?
A: Ive used NTBackup to back up Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP, and created virtuals out
of .bkf files. It works but theres a bit of futzing around with the virtual once it is running. Try it.
Q: Whats the most essential part of creating a smooth migration plan?
A: Practice. No matter what the tool or process, practice it and learn its gotchas and the workarounds. No
matter what method you use, there will be times when it wont go as planned. Practicing your p-to-v
process on a number of physical platforms and disk configurations allows you to become more adept
once youre doing it for real.
Q: Will my software vendor support my application in a VMware environment?

A: Youll need to contact your specific software or applications vendor to find out; however, an increasing
number of software vendors support virtualized environments. Once youve migrated your application
from a physical to virtual environment its very easy to migrate back to a physical environment for vendor
support. An excellent document provided by VMware can be found at the following link:
www.vmware.com/pdf/ms_support_statement.pdf.
Q: What are the best enablers to help ensure our server consolidation is a success?
A: Engaging with the lines of business and application owners not only assists in attaining an actionable
schedule, but also develops a highly collaborative environment that facilitates buy-in and support for your
project. In addition it will be difficult to incorporate rationalization into your project unless you are working
directly with the business or application owners.
Q: What tools do you recommend for a server consolidation or virtualization project?
A: Its imperative to have a robust and comprehensive tool for capacity planning, including historical data.
This tool can be utilized in every phase of your project. Other tools to support the project include modeling
tools used in test consolidation scenarios. Finally, youll need to evaluate and document tools and
processes for each technology you wish to consolidate. The migration tools will need to support all the
platforms you wish to use in your migration scenarios.
Q: What is the VMlibrary?
A: The VMlibrary (/vmlib) is simply a directory on your ESX Server that lets you organize the tools and
files you need to manage and maintain your virtual infrastructure,
Q: Can ISOs be shared between ESX Servers?
A: If you place your VMlibrary on a LUN thats shared amongst your ESX Servers, you can share your
ISO images or anything else you place in your VMlibrary.
Q: Why is Vmotion so cool?
A: Try itand then imagine the possibilities and applications. Youll be a convert soon enough.
Q: You mentioned that additional ISVs were creating management capabilities for virtual infrastructures in
their products. Which ones?
A: Look at HP Insight Manager, Dell OpenManage, IBM Director, BMCs Patrol product line, Computer
Associates Unicenter, and many others.
Q: I cant add a new virtual hard drive to my virtual machine. What should I do?
A: You may not have the appropriate permissions to add virtual hardware to the VM, or the VM may be
powered on and wont allow the addition of virtual hardware while powered on.
Q: I just created a new virtual machine and attached to an existing disk. Every time I power on the VM, I
get a blue screen. What could the problem be?

A: Make sure the OS type that you selected when you created the VM matches the OS type installed on
the virtual disk. For example, if you selected Windows 2003 Standard for the VM when you created it, but
the existing virtual disk has Windows 2000 Standard installed, youll probably encounter issues.
Q: I followed the directions for Active Directory authentication, and I still cant log in using an account and
password in AD. What should I do?
A: Check the time on your ESX Server and Active Directory and make sure theyre synced up. Kerberos is
very sensitive to being out of sync and could reject credentials if the time is not within specific limits. You
can also review the System event logs for clues.
Q: What is the most important aspect of deploying ESX Server and virtual machines?
A: The ability to provide service at least as good as that which you had with physical servers. With
adherence to best practices, you should easily be able to provide this and exceed it by a phenomenal
degree.
Q: ISOs have been mentioned in several of the chapters. Why are they so important?
A: Good administrators strive to never leave their chairs, cubes, or offices. If they do, they may just run
into a user (were kidding, of course). Having a library of ISOs can help you in this endeavor. In addition,
they run a lot faster than regular CDs.
Q: What will happen if I deploy systems management software on the ESX Server itself?
A: If youre going to do this, make sure you allocate enough memory so that the application doesnt impact
the performance of your ESX Server and thus your virtual machines. Also, use a system management
package that is supported and test your installation on your ESX Server thoroughly. If you notice a
degradation of performance, contact the systems management software vendor. The major vendors have
instructions and best practices for deploying their products onto ESX Server.
Q: What is the most important best practice to follow?
A: The one that ensures your smooth evolution into a virtual infrastructure education. Learn every aspect
of a virtual environment to the best of your ability. Be passionate about it and youll reap the rewards. See
the recommended reading list, troll the VMware Web site regularly, as well as other Web sites dedicated
to virtualization such as p2v.net, vmguru.com, and virtual-strategy.com.
Q: Which version of VMware ESX Server supports Boot from SAN?
A: ESX Server 2.5 supports Boot from SAN but has the following limitations: ESX server had to be
installed in boot from SAN mode, the HBA can only be used by the Service Console, LUN masking should
be used to restrict other ESX servers from the boot LUN, the HBA of the boot LUN must be a QLogic
HBA, and the boot LUN must be the lowest numbered LUN controlled by the storage processor.
Q: Where are log files for VMware ESX Server written to?
A: /var/logs/vmware

Q: What do you do if you forget the root password of the Service Console?
A: You will need to boot into single-user mode from the Service Console by selecting linux from the LILO
boot menu and appending -s to your boot choice. This will boot the console into single-user mode and will
allow you to use the passwd command to change the root user password.
Q: Why do I still see processes for my virtual machine when running the ps command on the Service
Console even though my virtual machine is powered down?
A: If there is still a virtual console session running for your VM, you will still see processes associated with
it for mouse, keyboard, and screen (MKS) even though it is powered off.
Q: I accidently unmounted the VMFS volume on my ESX Server. How can I re-mount the volume without
re-booting
A: You can type mount t vmfs vmfs /vmfs
Q: What software is qualified for use with VMware 2.5.1?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_backup_guide.pdf for an up-to-date list of software thats
compatible with ESX.
Q: What SANs are compatible with ESX Server?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_SAN_guide.pdf for details on ESX-to-SAN server compatibility.
Q: What are the certified backup tools for ESX?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/backup_tools_links.html.
Q: Can I back up my entire virtual machine from the Service Console?
A: Yes, but it is not advised. The console services should be left alone to manage the entire virtual
machine infrastructure. Its best that backups be performed by separating the applications and data from
the operating systems because backups can become quite large very quickly. You should consider a
backup of the environments that change frequently (data and applications) with an agent specifically
designed to perform this function. A backup of those virtual disks that change infrequently and need
VMFS formats should be backed up from the Service Console. These console-based backups should be
performed in a powered-down or suspended approach (preferred), or a suspended environment using
redo logs as an alternative. All backups performed from a systems console mode must be restored in an
all-or-nothing approach. Recovery for a single file or directory can only be accomplished via a backup
agent or from a backup to a SAN environment using a variety of different recovery/restoral techniques.
Q: Im not able to connect to the Service Console over the network. What could the issue be?
A: You may have allocated the Service Console NIC to the VMkernel. Use vmkpcidivyi to reassign the NIC
to the Service Console.

Q: I have a virtual machine that did not start up correctly, but now I cant power it down from the MUI or
Virtual Center. How can I get this VM to shut down?
A: You can use the vmware-cmd utility to force a hard power down. The following syntax should work:
vmware-cmd /path-to-vm/vm-directory/vm.vmx stop hard
Q: I find using commands to be very difficult. Why cant I use X Windows on the Service Console?
A: You actually could run the X Windows system on the Service Console, but it will eat up valuable
resources that are needed by the system to manage all the processes related to Virtualization. VMware
specifically says not to run X Windows on the Service Console. So, its best to just buck up and deal with
it.
Q: Is there a way to mount the vmfs volumes if they accidentally get unmounted without having to reboot?
A: Yes. You can run mountt vmfs vmfs /vmfs.
Q: How do I check the speed and duplex setting of the Service Console NIC? Also, how do I change it if
needed?
A: Youll need to cat out the eth0.info file for your type of adapter. This file can be found at /proc/net/typeof-nic/eth0.info. To give you an example, our server has an Intel Pro 100 Nic for the Service Console, so
for us to find the speed and duplex information we would type: cat
/proc/net/PRO_LAN_Adapters/eth0.info.
Q: How long has Xen been around?
A: Since 2004, and theyre located in Palo Alto, California. Hmmwhat other virtualization company is in
Palo Alto?
Q: What is a hypervisor?
A: In VMware parlance, its the virtualization layer.
Q: Why did VMware limit its beta of ESX Server 3.0 to so few?
A: Good questionWe dont know, and we hope that VMwares future beta programs are opened up to a
larger audience.
Q: If I cant get a SAN, will local storage with a RAID device be sufficient?
A: Absolutely. You wont get some of the cooler tools like VMotion, but being virtual on local storage is
better than remaining physical.

Fault Tolerence
What is VMware Fault Tolerance?
VMware Fault Tolerance is a component of VMware vSphere and it provides continuous availability to
applications by preventing downtime and data loss of Virtual machines in the event of ESXi server
failures.

What is the name of the technology used by VMware FT?

VMware FT using a technology called vLockstep technology
What are requirements and Limitattions for ESX hosts & infrastructure components to run FT
protected virtual machines in Vsphere 4 & 4.1?
1. VMware FT is available after versions of vSphere Advanced version (Advanced, Enterprise, Enterprise
Plus)
2.Hardware Virtualization should be enabled in the BIOS
3.CPU should be compatible with FT. Please refer VMware site for supported processors.
4.FT enabled virtual machines should be placed in Shared storage (FC,ISCSI or NFS)
5. FT virtual machines should be placed in HA enabled cluster
6. FT cannot be used with DRS in vsphere 4.0 but FT is fully now integrated with DRS from vSphere 4.1
7. In vsphere 4.0, primary and secondary ESX should have same ESX version and patch level. This
limitation is no more from vSphere 4.1. The primary and secondary ESX need not be at same build and
patch level because FT has its own version associated with it.
8. Only 4 FT protetcted virtual machines is allowed per ESX/ESXi host.
9. vMotion and FT Logging should be enabled in vmkernel portgroup of the virtual machine (Separate
NIC for vMotion & FT logging is recommeneded along with NIC teaming)
10. Host certificate checking should be enabled (enabled by default)

11. Dedicated 10 GB ethrenet card between ESX servers will give best performance results.
12. FT ports 8100, 8200 (Outgoing TCP, incoming and outgoing UDP) must be open if any firewall exist
between ESX hosts
13. Minimum of 3 hosts in HA enabled cluster is the requirement for running FT protected virtual
machines but 2 hosts is the strong requirement.
14. FT virtual Machines cannot be backed up using the backup technology like (VCB, vmware data
recovery),which uses snapshot feature.
15. NPIV (N-PortID Virtualization) is not supported with vmware FT
16. USe Redundancy at all layers(like NIC teaming, multiple network switches, and storage
multipathing) to fully utilize the FT features.
17. MSCS clustering is not supported with VMware Fault Tolerance.
18. In vSphere 4.0, Manual vmotion is allowed but automatic load balance using vmotion by DRS is fully
supported from vSphere 4.1
19. We cannot use storage vmotion (SVmotion) to migrate FT protected virtual machines from one
datastore to another.
20. EVC (enhanced vmotion compatibility) should be enabled in DRS cluster to utilize the automatic
load balancing feature provided by DRS for the FT protected virtual machine.

What are Requirements and Limitations for Virtual Machine to Enable FT ?

1. FT protected virtual machine should be running on the supported Guest operating system
2. FT protected virtual machines guest operating system and processor combination must be supported
by Fault Tolerance. Please refer VMware Site for Supported Guest OS and CPU combination
3.Physical RDM is not supported for FT protected virtual machines but virtual mode RDM is supported
4.FT protected virtual machine should have eagerzeroed Thick disks. Virtual machine with thin
provisioned disk will be automatically converted to thick disk, while enabling FT for the virtual
machine. Make sure enough free space is avaialble in the datastore for this operation.
5.SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) is not supported. Only 1 VCPU per virtual mahcine is allowed.

6.Only 64 GB of maximum RAM is allowed for the FT VMs.

7.Hot add and remove devices are not allowed for FT protected VMs.
8.NPIV is not supported for FT VMs.
9.USB Passthough and VMDirectPath should not be enabled for FT VMs and it is not supported.
10. USB and Sound devices are not supported for FT VMs.
11.Virtual Machine snapshot is not supported for FT protected VMs.FT virtual Machines cannot be
backed up using the backup technology like (VCB, vmware data recovery),which uses snapshot feature.
12. Virtual machine hardware version should be 7 and above
13.Paravirtualized Guest OS and paravirtualized scsi adapter for FT protected virtual machine is not
supported.
14.Windows Guest OS should not be using MSCS (Microsoft Cluster services) to Protect the Virtual
Machine using FT.
15.FT Protected virtual machines should not be HA disbaled by Virtual Machine level HA settings.
16. FT protected virtual machines cannot be migrated using svmotion. If want to migrate FT protected
virtual machine, disable the FT on the VM, Migrate the VM using svmotion and re-enable the FT.
17. IPv6 is not supported by VMware HA so, it is not supported for FT.

What is FT Logging Traffic?

FT logging is the one of option in VMkernel port setting which is similar to enable vmotion option in the
vmkernel port. when FT is enabled for the virtual machine, all the inputs (disk read.. wirte,etc..) of
the primary virtual machine are recorded and sent to the secondary VM over via FT logging enabled
VMkernel port.

Vmotion
1.What is vMotion?
Live migration of a virtual machine from one ESX server to another with Zero downtime called vMotion.
VMs disk files stay where they are (on shared storage)

2. What are the use cases of vMotion ?

Balance the load on ESX servers (DRS)

Save power by shutting down ESX using DPM

Perform patching and maintenance on ESX server (Update Manager or HW maintenance)

3. What are Pre-requisites for the vMotion to Work?

ESX host must be licensed for VMotion

ESX servers must be configured with vMotion Enabled VMkernel Ports.

ESX servers must have compatible CPUs for the vMotion to work

ESX servers should have Shared storage (FB, iSCSI or NFS) and VMs should be stored on that

storage.

ESX servers should have exact similar network & network names

4. What are the Limitations of vMotion?

Virtual Machine cannot be migrated with VMotion unless the destination swapfile location is the
Same as the source swapfile location. As a best practice, Place the virtual machine swap files

with
the virtual machine configuration file.

Virtual machines configured with the Raw Device Mapping(RDM) for clustering features using
vMotion

VM cannot be connected to a CD-ROM or floppy drive that is using an ISO or floppy image
restored on a drive that is local to the host server. The device should be disconnected before
initiating the vMotion.

Virtual Machine affinity must not be set (aka, bound to physical CPUs).

5. Steps involved in VMWare vMotion ?

A request has been made that VM-1 should be migrated (or VMotioned) from ESX A to ESX B.
VM-1s memory is pre-copied from ESX A to ESX B while ongoing changes are written to a memory
bitmap on ESX A.
VM-1 is quiesced on ESX A and VM-1s memory bitmap is copied to ESX B.
VM-1 is started on ESX B and all access to VM-1 is now directed to the copy running on ESX B.
The rest of VM-1s memory is copied from ESX A all the while memory is being read and written from
VM-1 on ESX A when applications attempt to access that memory on VM-1 on ESX B.
If the migration is successful, VM-1 is unregistered on ESX A.

Difference Between Clone And Template

Date: August 10, 2014 Author: Anjani Kumar

Hi all,
Sometimes we got confused about difference between clone and template. So I consolidated all and
representing here for you. hope you will like it.

Clone

Template

Clone creates an exact copy of a running

Virtual Machine at the time of cloning
process

Template acts as a baseline image with

the predefined configuration as per
organization standards

Cloning a virtual machine creates a exact

duplicate copy of the virtual machine with the
same configuration and installed software
without performing any additional settings.

Create a template to create a master

image of a virtual machine from which
you can deploy multiple virtual
machines

You can create a clone of existing installed

and Configured running virtual machine by
right clicking the VM and Clone.

You can create a template by

converting a virtual machine

VM clones are best suited in test and

development environments where you want
to create, test and work with exact copies of
production servers without disturbing
production servers by creating clone of the
production virtual machine.

Templates are best suited for

production environments where you
want the mass deployment of virtual
machines along with the installed OS
and basic software, configured policy
as per the security policy of your
organization as a base Machine. Once
template is deployed, you can install
software depend on the role of the
server like IIS,Database

VM Clones are not suited for mass

deployment of Virtual Machines

Templates are best suited for Mass

Deployment of Virtual Machines

We Cannot Convert back the Cloned Machine

You can convert the template back to

virtual machine to update the base
template with the latest released
patches and updates and to install or
upgrade any software and again
convert back to template to be used
for deployment of virtual machines

with latest patches.

Cloned Virtual Machine Can be powered on

Templates cannot be powered on

You cannot Clone a Virtual Machine if you

have connected directly to ESX/ESXi host
using vSphere Client

You cannot create a template of a

Virtual Machine if you have connected
directly to ESX/ESXi host using
vSphere Client

You can customize the guest operating

system of the clone to change the virtual
machine name, network settings, and other
properties. This prevents conflicts that can
occur if a virtual machine and a clone with
identical guest operating system settings are
deployed simultaneously.

You can also Customize the guest

operating system while deploying from
template

Clone of a virtual machine can be created

when the virtual machine is powered on

Convert virtual Machine to template

cannot be performed, when Virtual
machine is powered on. Only Clone to
Template can be performed when VM
is powered on

Interview Cracker Question : Vmware

vSphere ..
Date: June 11, 2013 Author: Anjani Kumar

Hi All,
I was thinking to upload something really interesting and useful to everyone from last some days..
And today i came up with something which is really meant for the people who want to crack the interviews
or want to enhance there knowledge so they can use it to troubleshoot there operations..
I collected some of the .htm files which have the step by step troubleshooting steps from Vmware
Knowledge base. Just try it once, and i am sure you will gonna love it..;)

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Migrate VMS from vCloud to vCenter.

Date: September 17, 2014 Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

The migration from vcenter to vcloud is quite easy and documented in many websites and blogs. I was searching for
vCloud to vCenter migration of vms and unluckily I didnt find it anywhere. After scratching my head and did some
research I got a easy solution, which I am sharing with all of you.Lets Understand the concept of working.
Every VM which is created or moved to vcloud is associated with the cloud is assigned with a vcloud UUID. Which
communicate with the cloud instead talking to all of the vms vcloud only sees the vms which are known to it with
vcloud specific uuid.
Lets do it :
Step 1: Go to the Datastore where vm resides. And download the .vmx file of that particular vm which you want to
move to your vcenter.
Step 2. Download Notepad++ or Editpad to open the vmx file in text editor.
Step 3. Search cloud.uuid= in that file and remove that complete line .

Step 4.Search DisplayName = in the file and rename it to identify more proper.

Step 5. Save the file and replace it in the same VM Folder in the datastore.
Step 6. Right click on it and select Add to the inventory now and give the name and other details to complete the
wizard
Step 6. To verify the settings are correct, now go to vcloud and power on the vm for which vmx file you just
modified. It will not start and error will be cannot start.
Step 7. Stop the vApp and Delete it from the mycloud now.
And you are done. These easy steps will make sure that your vm is safely in the old mention now .

Restricted Edit of Hardware Version 10 VMs is now

available with vSphere Client 5.5 U2
Date: September 16, 2014 Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

A virtual machines virtual hardware version defines the constraints around

which physical resources can be presented and consumed by a VM. This value is

expressed in a number of different ways: the virtual hardware version, the VM

Version, a vmx-# value, or the compatibility version.
For example, hardware version 10 VMs often show up as being compatible with
ESXi 5.5 and later (VM version 10) in the vSphere Web Clients summary tab.
Ive provided a sample screenshot below.

You cant easily work with VMs that are using this version unless you have
access to the Web Client. If you ever find yourself in a situation where the Web
Client is offline or so slow, youre reduced to the legacy vSphere C# Client (the
Windows vSphere Client that has been used for years, sometimes called the
Thick Client). The vSphere Client cannot edit VMs using Hardware Version 10.

Now move to the

VMware website and search for the VMware vSphere Client 5.5 Update 2.
Specifically VMware-viclient-all-5.5.0-1993072.exe (build 1993072).

This means that all infrastructure VMs that power your vSphere management
should never been upgraded beyond Hardware Version 9. Until now. The
vSphere Client bundled with ESXi 5.5 Update 2 is able to edit Hardware Version
10 VMs. You dont even have to upgrade your hosts to ESXi 5.5 Update 2; you
only need the updated vSphere Client. After upgrading your VIclient when
you try to edit that Hardware Version 10 machine, a different popup appears.

The vSphere
Client is now exposing all Hardware Version 8 and below features, which is
plenty to do some minor troubleshooting such as changing the network adapter,

editing the vCPUs and memory, or edit a virtual hard drive.

Here is the screenshot which is showing its HW version and you can edit it via
default vi Client.

Some Basic Interview Questions and Answers

Date: August 10, 2014 Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

VMWare Top Interview Questions with Answers

1) Explain about your production environment? How many clusters, ESX, Data Centers, H/w etc ?
2) How does VMotion works? Whats the port number used for it?
ANS> TCP port 8000
3) Prerequisites for VMotion?
Ans>
1)ESX Servers must be configured with VMkenerl ports enabled for vmotion and on the same network segment
2)ESX Servers must be managed by the same Virtual Center server
3)ESX Must have compatible CPUs
4)ESX Servers muct have consisten Networks and NEtwroks labels

5)The VMs must be stored on shared storage iSCSI or FC SAN or NAS/NFS

6)The VMs can not use localcd/floppy or internal only vrtual switches on the ESX server
Check out http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_admin_guide.pdf for more information
4) How does HA works? Port number? How many host failure allowed and why?
ANS> Maximum allowed host failures within a HA cluster is 4. What happens if 4 hosts have failed and a 5th one
also fails.
I have still enough free resources to start up the virtual machines on the remaining hosts. Will HA start these virtual
machines from the 5th failed host on the remaining hosts?
ANS) That depends. If you have admission control enabled, if there are any resource constraints some VMs may
not restart. If you have admission control disabled, the VMs will get restarted on any host left in the cluster.
However, that doesnt mean they will be functional. Make sure you have enough port groups configured on your
vSwitch for your Virtual Machine port group to accommodate
Host Firewalls. On ESX/ESXi hosts, VMware HA needs and automatically opens the following firewall ports.
Incoming port: TCP/UDP 8042-8045
Outgoing port: TCP/UDP 2050-2250
5) What are active host / primary host in HA? Explain it?
ANS>
When you add a host to a VMware HA cluster, an agent is uploaded to the host and configured to communicate
with other agents in the cluster. The first five hosts added to the cluster are designated as primary hosts, and
all subsequent hosts are designated as secondary hosts. The primary hosts maintain and replicate all cluster
state and are used to initiate failover actions. If a primary host is removed from the cluster, VMware HA
promotes another host to primary status.
Any host that joins the cluster must communicate with an existing primary host to complete its configuration
(except when you are adding the first host to the cluster). At least one primary host must be functional for
VMware HA to operate correctly. If all primary hosts are unavailable (not responding), no hosts can be
successfully configured for VMware HA.
One of the primary hosts is also designated as the active primary host and its responsibilities include:
n Deciding where to restart virtual machines.
n Keeping track of failed restart attempts.
n Determining when it is appropriate to keep trying to restart a virtual machine.
If the active primary host fails, another primary host replaces it.
6) Prerequisites for HA ?
First, for clusters enabled for VMware HA, all virtual machines and their configuration files must
reside on shared storage (Fibre Channel SAN, iSCSI SAN, or SAN iSCI NAS), because you need to
be able to power on the virtual machine on any host in the cluster.
Second, VMware HA monitors heartbeat between hosts on the console network for failure
detection. So, to have reliable failure detection for HA clusters, the console network should have
redundant network paths. That way, if a hosts first network connection fails, the second
connection can broadcast heartbeats to other hosts.
Last, if you want to use DRS with HA for load balancing, the hosts in your cluster must be part of
a VMotion network. If the hosts are not in the VMotion network, however, DRS can still make
initial placement recommendations.
7) How do DRS works? Which technology used? What are the priority counts to migrate the VMs?
8) How does snap shots works?
9) What are the files will be created while creating a VM and after powering on the VM?
10) If the VMDK header file corrupt what will happen? How do you troubleshoot?
11) Prerequisites VC, Update manager?
12) Have you ever patched the ESX host? What are the steps involved in that?
13) Have you ever installed an ESX host? What are the pre and post conversion steps involved in that? What would

be the portions listed? What would be the max size of it?

14) I turned on Maintenance mode in an ESX host, all the VMs has been migrated to another host, but only one VM
failed to migrate? What are the possible reasons?
15) How will you turn start / stop a VM through command prompt?
16) I have upgraded a VM from 4 to 8 GB RAM; its getting failed at 90% of powering on? How do you
troubleshoot?
17) Storage team provided the new LUN ID to you? How will you configure the LUN in VC? What would be the
block size (say for 500 GB volume size)?
18) I want to add a new VLAN to the production network? What are the steps involved in that? And how do you
enable it?
19) Explain about VCB? What it the minimum priority (*) to consolidate a machine?
20) How VDR works?
21) Whats the difference between Top and ESXTOP command?
22) How will you check the network bandwidth utilization in an ESXS host through command prompt?
23) How will you generate a report for list of ESX, VMs, RAM and CPU used in your Vsphere environment?
24) What the difference between connecting the ESX host through VC and Vsphere? What are the services involved
in that? What are the port numberss used?
25) How does FT works? Prerequisites? Port used?
26) Can I VMotion between 2 different data centers? Why?
27) Can I deploy a VM by template in different data centers ?
28) I want to increase the system partition size (windows 2003 server- Guest OS) of a VM? How will you do it
without any interruption to the end user?
29) Which port number used while 2 ESX transfer the data in between?
30) Unable to connect to a VC through Vsphere client? What could be the reason? How do you troubleshoot?
31) Have you ever upgraded the ESX 3.5 to 4.0? How did you do it?
32) What are the Vsphere 4.0, VC 4.0, ESX 4.0, VM 7.0 special features?
33) What is AAM? Where is it used? How do you start or stop through command prompt?
ANS) VMware-aam = HA.
VMware purchased the HA technology from Legato, who originally coined it as Automated Availability Manager.
34) Have you ever called VMWare support? Etc
35) Explain about Vsphere Licensing? License server?
36) How will you change the service console IP?
Note: ESX 4.0 Update 2 introduces a new tool that simplifies the process of creating or restoring networking in the
ESX service console. For more information, see Configuring or restoring networking from the ESX service console
using console-setup (1022078).
Changing settings from the physical or remote console connection
Changing the IP for the Service Console must be done from the physical console or through a remote console
session. If you make changes through a network connection such as SSH, network connectivity to the Service
Console disconnects because the Service Consoles network interface changes.
1.Run this command to set the IP address:
[root@server root]# esxcfg-vswif -i -n vswif0
where is the IP address and is the subnet mask.
Note: In this example, vswif0 is the Service Console adapter that is the interface to which you are applying the IP
address change.
2.Open the /etc/hosts file with a text editor and modify it so that it reflects the correct IP address and hostname.
3.To change the default gateway address and the hostname, edit the /etc/sysconfig/network file and change the
GATEWAY and HOSTNAME parameters to the proper values.
4.For the changes to take place, restart the network service with the command:

[root@server root]# service network restart

Note: If you are required to edit the hostname, then you must reboot the host.
Note: This command breaks any current network connections to the Service Console, but virtual machines continue
to have network connection. If the ESX host is managed by VirtualCenter or vCenter Server, you may have to
remove and re-add the host to the inventory. For more information, see ESX not working properly in VirtualCenter
after IP address change (1005633).
Note: Making changes to IP and DNS server settings can have a negative impact on the normal operation of
ESX/ESXi, particularly in HA clustered environments. For more information, see Identifying issues with and setting
up name resolution on ESX/ESXi Server (1003735).
Note: If the changed IP does not persist across a reboot, try deleting and recreating the Service Console vswif
management interface. For more information, see Recreating Service Console networking from the command line
(1000266).
Changing the hostname without rebooting
To dynamically change the hostname, run the command:
[root@server root]# hostname newname
Note: This command creates a temporary hostname change. This change is lost when the system is rebooted.
Changing the DNS server settings
To change the DNS server settings, update the nameserver IPs and search domain in the /etc/resolv.conf file.
Changing settings in VMware vSphere or Infrastructure Client
To change the hostname, domain, DNS servers, and default gateway in VMware vSphere or Infrastructure Client:
1.Highlight the ESX host and click the Configuration tab.
2.Click DNS and Routing.
3.Click Properties.
4.To change the hostname, domain, and DNS servers, click the DNS Configuration tab and enter the appropriate
values.
Note: Disable VMware High Availability if you do not want virtual machines to failover during the hostname IP
change.
5.To change the default gateway, click the Routing tab and enter the appropriate value.
6.Reboot the ESX host for the changes to take effect .
7.Reconnect the ESX host to vCenter Server with the new IP address.
Generating new certificates for the ESX host
The ESX host generates certificates the first time the system is started. Under certain circumstances, it might be
required to force the host to generate new certificates. Typically new certificates only need to be generated if the
hostname has been changed or the certificates have been deleted accidentally.
Each time you restart the vmware-hostd process, the mgmt-vmware script searches for existing certificate files
( rui.crt and rui.key). If the files cannot be found, new certificate files are generated.
To generate new certificates:
1.Put the host into Maintenance Mode.
2.In the directory /etc/vmware/ssl, back up any existing certificates by renaming them with these commands:
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.crt
[root@server root]# mv /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key /etc/vmware/ssl/orig.rui.key

Note: If you are regenerating certificates because you accidentally deleted them, you do not have to rename them.
3.Reboot your host to allow it to begin using the new certificate, or restart the host services:
a.Restart hostd, using this command:
service mgmt-vmware restart
b.Restart vmkauthd, using this command:
service vmware-vmkauthd restart
4.Exit Maintenance Mode.
5.Confirm that the ESX host successfully generated new certificates by running this command and comparing the
time stamps of the new certificate files with orig.rui.crt and orig.rui.key:
[root@server root]# ls -la /etc/vmware/ssl/rui*
Notes:
Disable VMware High Availability if you do not want virtual machines to failover during the hostname IP change.
If you are using vSphere 4.x you can just disable host monitoring in the HA settings.
For related information, see Verifying ESX Server host networking configuration on the service console (1003796).
You may be required to regenerate your SSL certificate. For more information, see Replacing or Regenerating an
SSL Certificate for the Management Interface (1843).
You are required to edit files on an ESX host. For more information, see Editing files on an ESX host using vi or
nano (1020302).
For information on replacing VirtualCenter Server ceritificates, see:
?Replacing VirtualCenter Server Certificates in Virtual Infrastructure 3
?Replacing VirtualCenter Server Certificates in vSphere 4
The iSCSI Qualified Name used for iSCSI storage configuration is based on the hostname of the ESX host. If you
change the hostname of the ESX host, ensure to review your iSCSI software initiator configuration. For more
information on iSCSI troubleshooting, see Configuring and troubleshooting basic software iSCSI setup (1008083).
For more information on changing the hostname, see Changing the name of an ESX host (1010821).
37) Whats the difference between ESX and ESXi?
38) Whats the difference between ESX 3.5 and ESX 4.0?
39) P2V Prt Number and Log file location?
TCP/IP Ports Required by VMware Converter
Table lists the ports Converter uses in the conversion process.
If your VirtualCenter Servers or ESX Servers are configured to listen on port 905, you will have to make
adjustments accordingly.
Communication Paths | Port
Converter application to remote physical machine | 445 and 139
Converter application to VirtualCenter Server | 902
Converter application to ESX Server 3.x | 902
Physical machine to VirtualCenter Server | 902
Physical machine to ESX Server 3.x | 902
Log File Locations:
UFAD logs:
%WINDIR%\Temp\vmware-temp\vmware-converter*
%WINDIR%\vmware-temp\vmware-converter* (in Windows NT)
Client logs:
%TEMP%\vmware-temp\vmware-client*

Send these in to support using File > Export Logs. For Converter Boot CD, map a network drive using the
network configuration tool (see Chapter 5, Using the Converter Boot CD for Local Cold Cloning, on page 37)
and use File > Export Logs.
40) Micro vMotion
41)

Q: How is VMware more stable than, say, a new physical server?

A: The idealized hardware provided by VMware provides a consistent virtual hardware environment that increases
that stability of your virtual machines independent of the underlying physical hardware.
Q: Is any installation method better than any other?
A: No. Whichever installation method youre comfortable with and that produces a good build is the one for you.
Q: Im having problems with my installation. What should I do?
A: Ensure that the hardware youre loading ESX Server on is supported. The same goes for the configuration. If you
are certain the hardware and configuration are supported, then run the vm-support script mentioned previously.
Q: Why does this chapter include only the graphical installer method?
A: Its the recommended installation method from VMware and one that many in the x86-world are the most
comfortable with. If you wish to try it another way, VMware offers a very complete installation document covering
the various installation methodologies.
Q: When I copy my virtual machine and try to run it on my network, I get hostname already exists and IP address
already exists errors. I thought I could simply copy my virtual machine. What is the problem?
A: You can copy your virtual machine, which is why youre running into this problem. The copy is an exact copy.
Thus, you need to change the hostname, IP address, and even the computers SID (if it has one).
Q: Can I move my Gold Master to my other ESX Servers?
A: Yes, its a recommended time-saver. If your ESX Servers share a LUN, that too is a way to access your Gold
Master or your VMlibrary for that matter.
Q: Are there any limitations to the number of virtual machines I can run on my ESX Server?
A: Yes. Each ESX Server allows for only 80 virtual CPUs and 200 registered virtual machines.
Q: Can I take a virtual machine running on VMware Workstation or GSX and run it in ESX?
A: It depends. The process is not as simple as cutting and pasting. There is a specific import process required for
migrating virtual machines from either Workstation or GSX into ESX. Access the following link for the exact
instructions: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/mobility_guide.pdf.
Q: Do you need to tweak the settings of your virtual machines after youve built them?
A: No. VMware has configured the defaults of your build to suit most server loads. However, depending on the
profile of your server and the resource intensiveness of the service its providing, you may want to consider
tweaking some of the default settings to better ensure service stability and reliability.
Q: Are there more advanced features than the ones detailed in this chapter?

A: Yes a lot more.

Q: Is clustering more stable in VMware?
A: We find that the idealized hardware, in combination with VMwares improvements in clustering support, has
made virtual clustering very stable.
Q: Can you Vmotion a cluster?
A: That depends on the cluster type and how it is configured. Clusters using Raw Device Mapping in virtual mode
can be moved with Vmotion according to VMware documentation.
Q: Does VMware support NIC teaming?
A: Yes, and its a very good idea to configure your ESX Server, especially if its for production, with teamed NICs.
This will provide hardware fault tolerance in case one NIC fails.
Q: How many physical NICs do I need on my ESX Server?
A: That depends on the number of virtual machines and the network traffic they produce. You should have a
minimum of two: one for your Service Console and one dedicated to your virtual machines.
Q: If Im building a cluster using Microsoft Clustering Service, whats the best configuration for my heartbeat NIC?
A:For a Cluster in a Box, create a VMnet that your nodes of your cluster can attach their heartbeat NICs.
Q: Can you attach virtual machines on any ESX Server to a VMnet?
A: No. Only virtual machines on the ESX Server that the VMnet resides can attach to it.
Q: Why should you pay for a p-to-v toll when there are a number of ways to do it for free?
A: If you dont have the time or inclination to learn the manual process or need the assurance of a vendor for your
physical-to-virtual migrations, then a tool that comes with support is a very reasonable option.
Q: What takes the longest in the p-to-v process?
A: Transferring the data of the physical server into either an image file or the virtual server itself. Thats why
tweaking your network settings for optimal throughput is essential when p-to-ving a server.
Q: Can you create complete backups of your physical servers and then recover them into virtuals?
A: Ive used NTBackup to back up Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP, and created virtuals out of .bkf
files. It works but theres a bit of futzing around with the virtual once it is running. Try it.
Q: Whats the most essential part of creating a smooth migration plan?
A: Practice. No matter what the tool or process, practice it and learn its gotchas and the workarounds. No matter
what method you use, there will be times when it wont go as planned. Practicing your p-to-v process on a number
of physical platforms and disk configurations allows you to become more adept once youre doing it for real.
Q: Will my software vendor support my application in a VMware environment?
A: Youll need to contact your specific software or applications vendor to find out; however, an increasing number
of software vendors support virtualized environments. Once youve migrated your application from a physical to
virtual environment its very easy to migrate back to a physical environment for vendor support. An excellent
document provided by VMware can be found at the following link:
www.vmware.com/pdf/ms_support_statement.pdf.

Q: What are the best enablers to help ensure our server consolidation is a success?
A: Engaging with the lines of business and application owners not only assists in attaining an actionable schedule,
but also develops a highly collaborative environment that facilitates buy-in and support for your project. In addition
it will be difficult to incorporate rationalization into your project unless you are working directly with the business
or application owners.
Q: What tools do you recommend for a server consolidation or virtualization project?
A: Its imperative to have a robust and comprehensive tool for capacity planning, including historical data. This tool
can be utilized in every phase of your project. Other tools to support the project include modeling tools used in test
consolidation scenarios. Finally, youll need to evaluate and document tools and processes for each technology you
wish to consolidate. The migration tools will need to support all the platforms you wish to use in your migration
scenarios.
Q: What is the VMlibrary?
A: The VMlibrary (/vmlib) is simply a directory on your ESX Server that lets you organize the tools and files you
need to manage and maintain your virtual infrastructure,
Q: Can ISOs be shared between ESX Servers?
A: If you place your VMlibrary on a LUN thats shared amongst your ESX Servers, you can share your ISO images
or anything else you place in your VMlibrary.
Q: Why is Vmotion so cool?
A: Try itand then imagine the possibilities and applications. Youll be a convert soon enough.
Q: You mentioned that additional ISVs were creating management capabilities for virtual infrastructures in their
products. Which ones?
A: Look at HP Insight Manager, Dell OpenManage, IBM Director, BMCs Patrol product line, Computer Associates
Unicenter, and many others.
Q: I cant add a new virtual hard drive to my virtual machine. What should I do?
A: You may not have the appropriate permissions to add virtual hardware to the VM, or the VM may be powered on
and wont allow the addition of virtual hardware while powered on.
Q: I just created a new virtual machine and attached to an existing disk. Every time I power on the VM, I get a blue
screen. What could the problem be?
A: Make sure the OS type that you selected when you created the VM matches the OS type installed on the virtual
disk. For example, if you selected Windows 2003 Standard for the VM when you created it, but the existing virtual
disk has Windows 2000 Standard installed, youll probably encounter issues.
Q: I followed the directions for Active Directory authentication, and I still cant log in using an account and
password in AD. What should I do?
A: Check the time on your ESX Server and Active Directory and make sure theyre synced up. Kerberos is very
sensitive to being out of sync and could reject credentials if the time is not within specific limits. You can also
review the System event logs for clues.
Q: What is the most important aspect of deploying ESX Server and virtual machines?
A: The ability to provide service at least as good as that which you had with physical servers. With adherence to best
practices, you should easily be able to provide this and exceed it by a phenomenal degree.

Q: ISOs have been mentioned in several of the chapters. Why are they so important?
A: Good administrators strive to never leave their chairs, cubes, or offices. If they do, they may just run into a user
(were kidding, of course). Having a library of ISOs can help you in this endeavor. In addition, they run a lot faster
than regular CDs.
Q: What will happen if I deploy systems management software on the ESX Server itself?
A: If youre going to do this, make sure you allocate enough memory so that the application doesnt impact the
performance of your ESX Server and thus your virtual machines. Also, use a system management package that is
supported and test your installation on your ESX Server thoroughly. If you notice a degradation of performance,
contact the systems management software vendor. The major vendors have instructions and best practices for
deploying their products onto ESX Server.
Q: What is the most important best practice to follow?
A: The one that ensures your smooth evolution into a virtual infrastructure education. Learn every aspect of a virtual
environment to the best of your ability. Be passionate about it and youll reap the rewards. See the recommended
reading list, troll the VMware Web site regularly, as well as other Web sites dedicated to virtualization such as
p2v.net, vmguru.com, and virtual-strategy.com.
Q: Which version of VMware ESX Server supports Boot from SAN?
A: ESX Server 2.5 supports Boot from SAN but has the following limitations: ESX server had to be installed in boot
from SAN mode, the HBA can only be used by the Service Console, LUN masking should be used to restrict other
ESX servers from the boot LUN, the HBA of the boot LUN must be a QLogic HBA, and the boot LUN must be the
lowest numbered LUN controlled by the storage processor.
Q: Where are log files for VMware ESX Server written to?
A: /var/logs/vmware
Q: What do you do if you forget the root password of the Service Console?
A: You will need to boot into single-user mode from the Service Console by selecting linux from the LILO boot
menu and appending -s to your boot choice. This will boot the console into single-user mode and will allow you to
use the passwd command to change the root user password.
Q: Why do I still see processes for my virtual machine when running the ps command on the Service Console even
though my virtual machine is powered down?
A: If there is still a virtual console session running for your VM, you will still see processes associated with it for
mouse, keyboard, and screen (MKS) even though it is powered off.
Q: I accidently unmounted the VMFS volume on my ESX Server. How can I re-mount the volume without rebooting
A: You can type mount t vmfs vmfs /vmfs
Q: What software is qualified for use with VMware 2.5.1?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_backup_guide.pdf for an up-to-date list of software thats compatible with
ESX.
Q: What SANs are compatible with ESX Server?
A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_SAN_guide.pdf for details on ESX-to-SAN server compatibility.

Q: What are the certified backup tools for ESX?

A: Please see http://vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/backup_tools_links.html.
Q: Can I back up my entire virtual machine from the Service Console?
A: Yes, but it is not advised. The console services should be left alone to manage the entire virtual machine
infrastructure. Its best that backups be performed by separating the applications and data from the operating systems
because backups can become quite large very quickly. You should consider a backup of the environments that
change frequently (data and applications) with an agent specifically designed to perform this function. A backup of
those virtual disks that change infrequently and need VMFS formats should be backed up from the Service Console.
These console-based backups should be performed in a powered-down or suspended approach (preferred), or a
suspended environment using redo logs as an alternative. All backups performed from a systems console mode must
be restored in an all-or-nothing approach. Recovery for a single file or directory can only be accomplished via a
backup agent or from a backup to a SAN environment using a variety of different recovery/restoral techniques.
Q: Im not able to connect to the Service Console over the network. What could the issue be?
A: You may have allocated the Service Console NIC to the VMkernel. Use vmkpcidivyi to reassign the NIC to the
Service Console.
Q: I have a virtual machine that did not start up correctly, but now I cant power it down from the MUI or Virtual
Center. How can I get this VM to shut down?
A: You can use the vmware-cmd utility to force a hard power down. The following syntax should work:
vmware-cmd /path-to-vm/vm-directory/vm.vmx stop hard
Q: I find using commands to be very difficult. Why cant I use X Windows on the Service Console?
A: You actually could run the X Windows system on the Service Console, but it will eat up valuable resources that
are needed by the system to manage all the processes related to Virtualization. VMware specifically says not to run
X Windows on the Service Console. So, its best to just buck up and deal with it.
Q: Is there a way to mount the vmfs volumes if they accidentally get unmounted without having to reboot?
A: Yes. You can run mountt vmfs vmfs /vmfs.
Q: How do I check the speed and duplex setting of the Service Console NIC? Also, how do I change it if needed?
A: Youll need to cat out the eth0.info file for your type of adapter. This file can be found at /proc/net/type-ofnic/eth0.info. To give you an example, our server has an Intel Pro 100 Nic for the Service Console, so for us to find
the speed and duplex information we would type: cat /proc/net/PRO_LAN_Adapters/eth0.info.
Q: How long has Xen been around?
A: Since 2004, and theyre located in Palo Alto, California. Hmmwhat other virtualization company is in Palo
Alto?
Q: What is a hypervisor?
A: In VMware parlance, its the virtualization layer.
Q: Why did VMware limit its beta of ESX Server 3.0 to so few?
A: Good questionWe dont know, and we hope that VMwares future beta programs are opened up to a larger
audience.

Q: If I cant get a SAN, will local storage with a RAID device be sufficient?
A: Absolutely. You wont get some of the cooler tools like VMotion, but being virtual on local storage is better than
remaining physical.

Difference Between Clone And Template

Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

Hi all,
Sometimes we got confused about difference between clone and template. So I consolidated all and representing
here for you. hope you will like it.

Clone

Template

Clone creates an exact copy of a running

Virtual Machine at the time of cloning
process

Template acts as a baseline image

with the predefined configuration as
per organization standards

Cloning a virtual machine creates a exact

duplicate copy of the virtual machine with the
same configuration and installed software
without performing any additional settings.

Create a template to create a

master image of a virtual machine
from which you can deploy multiple
virtual machines

You can create a clone of existing installed

and Configured running virtual machine by
right clicking the VM and Clone.

You can create a template by

converting a virtual machine

VM clones are best suited in test and

development environments where you want
to create, test and work with exact copies of
production servers without disturbing
production servers by creating clone of the
production virtual machine.

Templates are best suited for

production environments where you
want the mass deployment of virtual
machines along with the installed OS
and basic software, configured policy
as per the security policy of your
organization as a base Machine.
Once template is deployed, you can
install software depend on the role
of the server like IIS,Database

VM Clones are not suited for mass

deployment of Virtual Machines

Templates are best suited for Mass

Deployment of Virtual Machines

We Cannot Convert back the Cloned Machine

You can convert the template back

to virtual machine to update the
base template with the latest
released patches and updates and to
install or upgrade any software and
again convert back to template to be
used for deployment of virtual

machines with latest patches.

Cloned Virtual Machine Can be powered on

Templates cannot be powered on

You cannot Clone a Virtual Machine if you

have connected directly to ESX/ESXi host
using vSphere Client

You cannot create a template of a

Virtual Machine if you have
connected directly to ESX/ESXi host
using vSphere Client

You can customize the guest operating

system of the clone to change the virtual
machine name, network settings, and other
properties. This prevents conflicts that can
occur if a virtual machine and a clone with
identical guest operating system settings are
deployed simultaneously.

You can also Customize the guest

operating system while deploying
from template

Clone of a virtual machine can be created

when the virtual machine is powered on

Convert virtual Machine to template

cannot be performed, when Virtual
machine is powered on. Only Clone
to Template can be performed when
VM is powered on

What is sVmotion
Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

1. What is SvMotion?
Migration of a virtual machine files and disks from one datastore to another with Zero downtime.
2. What are the use cases of SvMotion ?Migrating from Old storage to new storage systems or migrating to different
vendor storage without downtimeto VMs.
Performing Scheduled activity like storage upgrades on the source Lun.
Converting VM disk type from Thick to Thin and Thin to Thick.
Migrating the critical virtual machines to high performance storage arrays to improve performance of virtual
Machine.

3. What are Pre-requisites for the SvMotion to Work?

ESX host in which virtual machine is running should have access to source and destination storage.
ESX host should have configured with the license for svMotion
4. What are the Limitations of SvMotion?
Virtual machines with snapshots cannot be migrated using Storage vMotion.
Virtual machine with virtual compatibility RDM can be migrated with svMotion.If you convert the mapping file, a
new virtual disk is created and the contents of the mapped LUN are copied to this disk.
For Physical compatibility RDM, only mapping file can be relocated.
Virtual Machines cannot be migrated while the VMware tools installation tools is in progress.
Virtual Machine should be in powered off state if you want to migrate the VM simultaneously to different host and
storage.
5. Steps involved in VMWare SvMotion ?
svMotion copies all the files expect virtual machine disk and create the directory as same the Virtual Machine name
on the destination storage.
It uses Changed Block tracking to track the virtual machine disk. The change block tracking knows which region
disk includes data. This data will be stored in bitmap and reside either in memory or in a file.
Pre-copies Virtual machine disk and swap file will start from the source to destination datastore as the first iteration.
once it is completed, It only transfers the region which were modified or written after the first iteration.
ESX performs fast suspend and resume of the virtual Machine. The final changed regions will be copied to the
destination before the virtual Machine is resumed on the destination datastore.
Virtual Machine will continue running on the destination datastore and source file and disk will be deleted.

How it works : Site Recovery Manager Recovery plan

Site Recovery Manager Recovery plan : Step by Step.

Hi All,
I want to share an really interesting things which will let you know really how the SRM works
when any Site Goes down.and how it recover to the other site in different location..

Didnt Get your Soft and Hard copy of Certification from

Vmware ??
Date: November 24, 2013 Author: Anjani Kumar Comments: Leave a reply

Hi All,
I am sharing this post for helping all others to not face the difficulties like i felt some. After completion of your
certification you need to follow some steps, to receive the certification on your vmware account portal and on your
given home address . Lets see what we forget to do and what we have to do now.
Step 1: Login in to your mylearn portal(http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/certification/ ) and provide your
credentials to login in to it.
Step 2: You will be redirected to the Dashboard after succesfully login . Now select My Enrollment on the Right
Side Menu.
Step 3: Now if you are seeing the Training Plan still available there And you already passed the exam .Click on it.

Step 4 : Now you will be redirected to the selected training plan. and you will see there are some options will be
available Checked Green Mark You need to selectthem and fill it one by one.

Step 5: After completion of this task in 1 hour you will receive an confirmation mail from Vmware that your
Certicate is released and you can find it in your Transcript.

VMFS vs. RDM

I was searching which cluster file system works best when you create any cluster server on
virtual machine
so i decided and search so me thing to select the best.: Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)
or Raw Device Mapping (RDM)

Raw Device Mapping

With RDM, the VMkernel doesnt format the LUN; instead, the VM guest OS formats the LUN.
Each RDM is a single VM hard disk and is usually attached to a single VM. An RDM takes the
place of a VMDK file for a VM. This is where the VMs disk contents are stored. But this is not
where the files that make up the VM are stored: These files need to be stored on a data store
separate from the RDM.
RDMs are sometimes deployed based on the belief that they offer better performance since
there is less file system overhead than VMDK files on VMFS. But, in some uses, RDMs are a
little slower than VMFS. If a VM needs top disk performance, then dedicate a data store to the
VMDK file.
The biggest limitation with RDMs is that the one LUN is only one VM disk. With a data store,
the LUN could hold 20 VM disks in VMDK files. RDM can be very limiting, since an ESXi server
can only handle 255 LUNs and the whole DRS and HA cluster should see the same LUNs.

Virtual Machine File System(VMFS)

A VMFS data store is the default way for the VMkernel to handle disks; the disk is partitioned and formatted by the
VMkernel and nothing but the VMkernel can read the disk, now called a data store. The advantage of VMFS is that
a single disk logical unit number(LUN) in storage-area network (SAN) terms can hold multiple virtual
machines.
How many virtual machines (VMs) to assign per LUN is an age-old debate, but an average number would be a
dozen VMs sharing one data store. Essentially, a data store can hold multiple VMs and can hold all of the files that
make up each VM. These files include the VMX file that lists the VM hardware configuration, the VMDK files that
are the VMs hard disks and the other sundry files that make up the VM.

How to choose between VMFS and RDM

There are a few things that require RDMs in vSphere:
1.
Microsoft Failover Cluster Services. MSCS uses shared disks to build a cluster out of VMs on different ESXi
hosts. The shared disks cannot be VMDK files; RDMs are required if your storage is Fibre Channel. Check
VMwares guidance on MSCS in VMs since it can be tricky to configure. Also, be sure you really need to use MSCS
when vSphere HA isnt enough.
2.
Storage-area network Quality of Service. For the SAN fabric to apply QoS to traffic from one VM not
the ESXi server the VM must use a unique Fibre Channel ID using a feature called N_Port Identity Virtualization
(NPIV). NPIV only applies when the VM disk is an RDM.
3.
Managing some Fibre Channel storage from a VM. Some storage arrays are controlled using LUNs over the
Fibre Channel network. To run the configuration software inside a VM, these control LUNs must be presented to the
VM as RDMs. (This is not common; Ive seen it only on high-end EMC storage.)
4.
Big VM disks. The largest VMDK file you can create is 2TB, but a single RDM can be up to 64TB. You need
to decide if a VM with a huge disk is a good choice when you factor the backup size and how long it would take to
do a restore.
Using all RDMs means there is only room for 254 RDM VM disks, plus one data store for the VM files. With
VMFS data stores, the 255 LUNs could hold thousands of VM disks.
The option to use an RDM may be necessary in some situations, but your default choice when possible should be to
use VMFS and store VM disks in VMDK files.

Whats New in VMware vSphere 5.5 One Page

QuickReference

Summary of new features and capabilities available in vSphere 5.5

Doubled Host-Level Configuration Maximums vSphere 5.5 is

capable of hosting any size workload; a fact that is punctuated by the doubling of
several host-level configuration maximums. The maximum number of logical
CPUs has doubled from 160 to 320, the number of NUMA nodes doubled from 8
to 16, the number of virtual CPUs has doubled from 2048 to 4096, and the amount
of RAM has also doubled from 2TB to 4TB. There is virtually no workload that is
too big for vSphere 5.5!
Hot-pluggable PCIe SSD Devices vSphere 5.5 provides the ability to
perform hot-add and remove of SSD devices to/from a vSphere 5.5 host. With the
increased adoption of SSD, having the ability to perform both orderly as well as
unplanned SSD hot-add/remove operations is essential to protecting against
downtime and improving host resiliency.
Improved Power Management ESXi 5.5 provides additional power
savings by leveraging CPU deep process power states (C-states). By leveraging
the deeper CPU sleep states ESXi can minimizes the amount of power consumed
by idle CPUs during periods of inactivity. Along with the improved power savings
comes additional performance boost on Intel chipsets as turbo mode frequencies
can be reached more quickly when CPU cores are in a deep C-State.
Virtual Machine Compatibility ESXi 5.5 (aka Virtual Hardware 10)
ESXi 5.5 provides a new Virtual Machine Compatibility level that includes support
for a new virtual-SATA Advance Host Controller Interface (AHCI) with support for
up to 120 virtual disk and CD-ROM devices per virtual machine. This new
controller is of particular benefit when virtualizing Mac OS X as it allows you to
present a SCSI based CD-ROM device to the guest.
VM Latency Sensitivity included with the new virtual machine
compatibility level comes a new Latency Sensitivity setting that can be tuned to
help reduce virtual machine latency. When the Latency sensitivity is set to high
the hypervisor will try to reduce latency in the virtual machine by reserving
memory, dedicating CPU cores and disabling network features that are prone to
high latency.
Expanded vGPU Support vSphere 5.5 extends VMwares hardwareaccelerated virtual 3D graphics support (vSGA) to include GPUs from AMD. The
multi-vendor approach provides customers with more flexibility in the data center
for Horizon View virtual desktop workloads. In addition 5.5 enhances the
Automatic rendering by enabling the migration of virtual machines with 3D
graphics enabled between hosts running GPUs from different hardware vendors
as well as between hosts that are limited to software backed graphics rendering.
Graphics Acceleration for Linux Guests vShere 5.5 also provides out
of the box graphics acceleration for modern GNU/Linux distributions that include
VMwares guest driver stack, which was developed by VMware and made
available to all Linux vendors at no additional cost.
vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) in vSphere 5.5 SSO comes with many
improvements. There is no longer an external database required for the SSO

server, which together with the vastly improved installation experience helps to
simplify the deployment of SSO for both new installations as well as upgrades
from earlier versions. This latest release of SSO provides enhanced active
directory integration to include support for multiple forest as well as one-way and
two-way trusts. In addition, a new multi-master architecture provides built in
availability that helps not only improve resiliency for the authentication service, but
also helps to simplify the overall SSO architecture.
vSphere Web Client the web client in vSphere 5.5 also comes with several
notable enhancements. The web client is now supported on Mac OS X, to include
the ability to access virtual machine consoles, attach client devices and deploy
OVF templates. In addition there have been several usability improvements to
include support for drag and drop operations, improved filters to help refine search
criteria and make it easy to find objects, and the introduction of a new Recent
Items icon that makes it easier to navigate between commonly used views.
vCenter Server Appliance with vSphere 5.5 the vCenter Server
Appliance (VCSA) now uses a reengineered, embedded vPostgres database that
offers improved scalability. I wasnt able to officially confirm the max number of
hosts and VMs that will be supported with the embedded DB. They are targeting
100 hosts and 3,000 VMs but well need to wait until 5.5 releases to confirm these
numbers. However, regardless what the final numbers are, with this improved
scalability the VCSA is a very attractive alternative for folks who may be looking to
move a way from a Windows based vCenter.
vSphere App HA App HA brings application awareness to vSphere HA
helping to further improve application uptime. vSphere App HA works together
with VMware vFabric Hyperic Server to monitor application services running inside
the virtual machine, and when issues are detected perform restart actions as
defined by the administrator in the vSphere App HA Policy.
vSphere HA Compatibility with DRS Anti-Affinity Rules vSphere
HA will now honor DRS anti-affinity rules when restarting virtual machines. If you
have anti-affinity rules defined in DRS that keep selected virtual machines on
separate hosts, VMware HA will now honor those rules when restarting virtual
machines following a host failure.
vSphere Big Data Extensions(BDE) Big Data Extensions is a new
addition to the VMware vSphere Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions. BDE is a
vSphere plug-in that enables administrators to deploy and manage Hadoop
clusters on vSphere using the vSphere web client.
Support for 62TB VMDK vSphere 5.5 increases the maximum size of a
virtual machine disk file (VMDK) to 62TB (note the maximum VMFS volume size is
64TB where the max VMDK file size is 62TB). The maximum size for a Raw
Device Mapping (RDM) has also been increased to 62TB.
Microsoft Cluster Server (MCSC) Updates MSCS clusters running on
vSphere 5.5 now support Microsoft Windows 2012, round-robin path policy for

shared storage, and iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) for shared
storage.
16Gb End-to-End Support In vsphere 5.5 16Gb end-to-end FC support is
now available. Both the HBAs and array controllers can run at 16Gb as long as
the FC switch between the initiator and target supports it.
Auto Remove of Devices on PDL This feature automatically removes a
device from a host when it enters a Permanent Device Loss (PDL) state. Each
vSphere host is limited to 255 disk devices, removing devices that are in a PDL
state prevents failed devices from occupying a device slot.
VAAI UNMAP Improvements vSphere 5.5 provides and new esxcli
storage vmfs unmap command with the ability to specify the reclaim size in
blocks, opposed to just a percentage, along with the ability to reclaim space in
increments rather than all at once.
VMFS Heap Improvements vSphere 5.5 introduces a much improved
heap eviction process, which eliminates the need for large heap sizes. With
vSphere 5.5 a maximum of 256MB of heap is needed to enable vSphere hosts to
access the entire address space of a 64TB VMFS.
vSphere Flash Read Cache a new flash-based storage solution that
enables the pooling of multiple flash-based devices into a single consumable
vSphere construct called a vSphere Flash Resource, which can be used to
enhance virtual machine performance by accelerating read-intensive workloads.
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) Enhancements with
the vSphere Distributed Switch in vSphere 5.5 LACP now supports 22 new
hashing algorithms, support for up to 64 Link Aggregation Groups (LAGs), and
new workflows to help configure LACP across large numbers of hosts.
Traffic Filtering Enhancements the vSphere Distributed Switch now
supports packet classification and filtering based on MAC SA and DA qualifiers,
traffic type qualifiers (i.e. vMotion, Management, FT), and IP qualifiers (i.e.
protocol, IP SA, IP DA, and port number).
Quality of Service Tagging vSphere 5.5 adds support for Differentiated
Service Code Point (DCSP) marking. DSCP marking support enables users to
insert tags in the IP header which helps in layer 3 environments where physical
routers function better with an IP header tag than with an Ethernet header tag.
Single-Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) Enhancements vSphere
5.5 provides improved workflows for configuring SR-IOV as well as the ability to
propagate port group properties to up to the virtual functions.
Enhanced Host-Level Packet Capture vSphere 5.5 provides an
enhanced host-level packet capture tool that is equivalent to the command-line
tcpdump tool available on the Linux platform.
40Gb NIC Support vSphere 5.5 provides support for 40Gb NICs. In 5.5 the
functionality is limited to the Mellanox ConnectX-3 VPI adapters configured in
Ethernet mode.

vSphere Data Protection (VDP) VDP has also been updated in 5.5 with
several great improvements to include the ability to replicate backup data to EMC
Avamar, direct-to-host emergency restore, the ability to backup and restore of
individual .vmdk files, more granular scheduling for backup and replication jobs,
and the ability to mount existing VDP backup data partitions when deploying a
new VDP appliance.