Vsphere Esxi Vcenter Server 501 Host Management Guide
Vsphere Esxi Vcenter Server 501 Host Management Guide
Vsphere Esxi Vcenter Server 501 Host Management Guide
Update 1
ESXi 5.0
vCenter Server 5.0
EN-000775-01
vCenter Server and Host Management
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
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Contents
Updated Information 9
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vCenter Server and Host Management
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Contents
Index 141
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About VMware vCenter Server™ and Host
Management
®
vCenter Server and Host Management describes how to start and stop the VMware vSphere Client components,
build your vSphere environment, monitor and manage the information generated about the components, and
set up roles and permissions for users and groups using the vSphere environment.
In addition, vCenter Server and Host Management provides brief introductions to the various tasks you can
perform within the system as well as cross-references to the documentation that describes all the tasks in detail.
vCenter Server and Host Management covers ESXi and vCenter Server.
Intended Audience
vCenter Server and Host Management is intended for system administrators who are experienced Windows or
Linux system administrators and who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
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Updated Information
This vCenter Server and Host Management documentation is updated with each release of the product or when
necessary.
This table provides the update history of the vCenter Server and Host Management documentation.
Revision Description
000775-01 n Removed obsolete options for import and export of virtual machines in “Schedule Tasks,” on page 97.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
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vSphere Concepts and Features 1
VMware vSphere™ leverages the power of virtualization to transform datacenters into simplified cloud
computing infrastructures and enables IT organizations to deliver flexible and reliable IT services.
The two core components of vSphere are VMware ESXi™ and VMware vCenter Server™. ESXi is the
virtualization platform on which you create and run virtual machines. vCenter Server is a service that acts as
a central administrator for ESXi hosts that are connected on a network. vCenter Server allows you to pool and
manage the resources of multiple hosts. vCenter Server provides many features that allow you to monitor and
manage your physical and virtual infrastructure.
Additional vSphere components are available as plugins that extend the functionality of the vSphere product.
Virtualization Basics
A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and
applications. The hypervisor serves as a platform for running virtual machines and allows for the consolidation
of computing resources.
Each virtual machine contains its own virtual, or software-based, hardware, including a virtual CPU, memory,
hard disk, and network interface card.
Software called the hypervisor is installed on the physical hardware in a virtualized datacenter, and acts as a
platform for virtual machines. ESXi is the hypervisor in a vSphere environment. The hypervisor provides
physical hardware resources dynamically to virtual machines as needed to support the operation of the virtual
machines. The hypervisor allows virtual machines to operate with a degree of independence from the
underlying physical hardware. For example, a virtual machine can be moved from one physical host to another,
or its virtual disks can be moved from one type of storage to another, without affecting the functioning of the
virtual machine.
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Because virtual machines are decoupled from specific underlying physical hardware, virtualization allows you
to consolidate physical computing resources such as CPUs, memory, storage, and networking into pools of
resources that can be dynamically and flexibly made available to virtual machines. With appropriate
management software, such as vCenter Server, you can also use a number of features that increase the
availability and security of your virtual infrastructure.
Compute servers Industry standard x86 servers that run ESXi on the bare metal. ESXi software
provides resources for and runs the virtual machines. Each computing server
is referred to as a standalone host in the virtual environment. You can group a
number of similarly configured x86 servers with connections to the same
network and storage subsystems to provide an aggregate set of resources in
the virtual environment, called a cluster.
Storage networks and Fibre Channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and NAS arrays are widely used
arrays storage technologies supported by VMware vSphere to meet different
datacenter storage needs. The storage arrays are connected to and shared
between groups of servers through storage area networks. This arrangement
allows aggregation of the storage resources and provides more flexibility in
provisioning them to virtual machines.
IP networks Each compute server can have multiplephysical network adapters to provide
high bandwidth and reliable networking to the entire VMware vSphere
datacenter.
vCenter Server vCenter Server provides a single point of control to the datacenter. It provides
essential datacenter services such as access control, performance monitoring,
and configuration. It unifies the resources from the individual computing
servers to be shared among virtual machines in the entire datacenter. It does
this by managing the assignment of virtual machines to the computing servers
and the assignment of resources to the virtual machines within a given
computing server based on the policies that the system administrator sets.
Management clients VMware vSphere provides several interfaces for datacenter management and
virtual machine access. These interfaces include VMware vSphere Client
(vSphere Client), vSphere Web Client for access through a web browser, or
vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI).
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Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
virtual machines
VM VM VM
VM VM VM
ESXi
fibre channel switch fabric / IP network
ESXi A virtualization platform that you use to create the virtual machines as a set of
configuration and disk files that together perform all the functions of a physical
machine.
Through ESXi, you run the virtual machines, install operating systems, run
applications, and configure the virtual machines. Configuration includes
identifying the virtual machine’s resources, such as storage devices.
Each ESXi host has a vSphere Client available for your management use. If your
ESXi host is registered with vCenter Server, a vSphere Client that
accommodates vCenter Server features is available.
vCenter Server A service that acts as a central administrator for VMware ESXi hosts that are
connected on a network. vCenter Server directs actions on the virtual machines
and the virtual machine hosts (the ESXi hosts).
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You can install vCenter Server in a Windows virtual machine on an ESXi host,
allowing it to take advantage of the high-availability that is provided by
VMware HA. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation for details
about setting up this configuration.
You can join multiple vCenter Server systems using Linked Mode to allow them
to be managed using a single vSphere Client connection.
vCenter Server plug-ins Applications that provide additional features and functionality to
vCenter Server. Typically, plug-ins consist of a server component and a client
component. After the plug-in server is installed, it is registered with
vCenter Server and the plug-in client is available to vSphere clients for
download. After a plug-in is installed on a vSphere client, it might alter the
interface by adding views, tabs, toolbar buttons, or menu options related to the
added functionality.
vCenter Server database A persistent storage area for maintaining the status of each virtual machine,
host, and user managed in the vCenter Serverenvironment. The
vCenter Server database can be remote or local to the vCenter Server system.
If you are accessing your ESXi host directly through a vSphere Client, and not
through a vCenter Server system and associated vSphere Client, you do not
use a vCenter Server database.
Tomcat Web server Many vCenter Server functions are implemented as Web services that require
the Tomcat Web server. The Tomcat Web server is installed on the vCenter
Server machine as part of the vCenter Server installation.
Features that require the Tomcat Web server to be running include: Linked
Mode, CIM/Hardware Status tab, Performance charts, WebAccess, vCenter
Storage Monitoring/Storage Views tab, and vCenter Service status.
vCenter Server agent On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and executes
the actions received from vCenter Server. The vCenter Server agent is installed
the first time any host is added to the vCenter Server inventory.
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Chapter 1 vSphere Concepts and Features
Host agent On each managed host, the software that collects, communicates, and executes
the actions received through the vSphere Client. It is installed as part of the
ESXi installation.
All inventory objects, with the exception of hosts, can be renamed to represent their purposes. For example,
they can be named after company departments or locations or functions. vCenter Server monitors and manages
the following components of your virtual and physical infrastructure:
Clusters A collection of ESXi hosts and associated virtual machines intended to work
together as a unit. When you add a host to a cluster, the host’s resources become
part of the cluster’s resources. The cluster manages the resources of all hosts.
If you enable VMware EVC on a cluster, you can ensure that migrations with
vMotion do not fail because of CPU compatibility errors. If you enable vSphere
DRS on a cluster, the resources of the hosts in the cluster are merged to allow
resource balancing for the hosts in the cluster. If you enable vSphere HA on a
cluster, the resources of the cluster are managed as a pool of capacity to allow
rapid recovery from host hardware failures.
Datacenters Unlike a folder, which is used to organize a specific object type, a datacenter is
an aggregation of all the different types of objects needed to do work in virtual
infrastructure: hosts, virtual machines, networks, and datastores.
The datacenter defines the namespace for networks and datastores. The names
for these objects must be unique within a datacenter. For example, you cannot
have two datastores with the same name within a single datacenter, but you
can have two datastores with the same name in two different datacenters.
Virtual machines, templates, and clusters need not be unique within the
datacenter, but must be unique within their folder.
Objects with the same name in two different datacenters are not necessarily the
same object. Because of this, moving objects between datacenters can create
unpredictable results. For example, a network named networkA in
datacenterA might not be the same network as a network named networkA in
datacenterB. Moving a virtual machine connected to networkA from
datacenterA to datacenterB results in the virtual machine changing the network
it is connected to.
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Folders Folders allow you to group objects of the same type so you can easily manage
them. For example, you can use folders to set permissions across objects, to set
alarms across objects, and to organize objects in a meaningful way.
A folder can contain other folders, or a group of objects of the same type:
datacenters, clusters, datastores, networks, virtual machines, templates, or
hosts. For example, one folder can contain hosts and a folder containing hosts,
but it cannot contain hosts and a folder containing virtual machines.
Datacenter folders form a hierarchy directly under the root vCenter Server and
allow users to group their datacenters in any convenient way. Within each
datacenter is one hierarchy of folders with virtual machines and templates, one
with hosts and clusters, one with datastores, and one with networks.
Hosts The physical computer on which ESXi is installed. All virtual machines run on
hosts. If the vSphere Client is connected directly to an ESXi host, only that host
is available for management.
Networks A set of virtual network interface cards (virtual NICs), distributed switches or
vSphere Distributed Switches, and port groups or distributed port groups that
connect virtual machines to each other or to the physical network outside of
the virtual datacenter. All virtual machines that connect to the same port group
belong to the same network in the virtual environment, even if they are on
different physical servers. You can monitor networks and set permissions and
alarms on port groups and distributed port groups.
Resource pools Resource pools are used to compartmentalize the CPU and memory resources
of a host or cluster. Virtual machines execute in, and draw their resources from,
resource pools. You can create multiple resource pools as direct children of a
standalone host or cluster and then delegate control over them to other
individuals or organizations.
vCenter Server provides, through the DRS components, various options in
monitoring the status of the resources and adjusting or suggesting adjustments
to the virtual machines using the resources. You can monitor resources and set
alarms on them.
Templates A master copy of a virtual machine that can be used to create and provision
new virtual machines. Templates can have a guest operating system and
application software installed, and can be customized during deployment to
ensure that the new virtual machine has a unique name and network settings.
Virtual machines A virtualized computer environment in which a guest operating system and
associated application software can run. Multiple virtual machines can operate
on the same managed host machine concurrently.
vApps vSphere vApp is a format for packaging and managing applications. A vApp
can contain multiple virtual machines.
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vMotion A feature that enables you to move running virtual machines from one ESXi
host to another ESXi host without service interruption. It requires licensing on
both the source and target host. vCenter Server centrally coordinates all
vMotion activities.
Storage vMotion A feature that allows you to move the disks and configuration file of a running
virtual machine from one datastore to another without service interruption. It
requires licensing on the virtual machine's host.
vSphere HA A feature that enables a cluster with High Availability. If a host goes down, all
virtual machines that were running on the host are promptly restarted on
different hosts in the same cluster.
When you enable the cluster for vSphere HA, you specify the number of hosts
you want to be able to recover. If you specify the number of host failures
allowed as 1, vSphere HA maintains enough capacity across the cluster to
tolerate the failure of one host. All running virtual machines on that host can
be restarted on remaining hosts. By default, you cannot turn on a virtual
machine if doing so violates required failover capacity. See the vSphere
Availability documentation for more information.
vSphere DRS A feature that helps improve resource allocation and power consumption
across all hosts and resource pools. vSphere DRS collects resource usage
information for all hosts and virtual machines in the cluster and gives
recommendations (or migrates virtual machines) in one of two situations:
n Initial placement – When you first power on a virtual machine in the
cluster, DRS either places the virtual machine or makes a recommendation.
n Load balancing – DRS attempts to improve resource utilization across the
cluster by performing automatic migrations of virtual machines (vMotion)
or by providing a recommendation for virtual machine migrations.
Storage DRS A feature that enables you to manage multiple datastores as a single compute
resource, called a datastore cluster. A datastore cluster is an aggregation of
multiple datastores into a single logical, load-balanced pool. You can treat the
datastore cluster as a single flexible storage resource for resource management
purposes. You can assign a virtual disk to a datastore cluster, and Storage DRS
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finds an appropriate datastore for it. The load balancer takes care of initial
placement and future migrations based on workload measurements. Storage
space balancing and I/O balancing minimize the risk of running out of space
and the risk of I/O bottlenecks slowing the performance of virtual machines.
vSphere Fault Tolerance vSphere Fault Tolerance provides continuous availability for virtual machines
by creating and maintaining a Secondary VM that is identical to, and
continuously available to replace, the Primary VM in the event of a failover
situation.
Some plug-ins are installed as part of the base vCenter Server product.
vCenter Storage Allows you to review information on storage usage and to visually map
Monitoring relationships between all storage entities available in vCenter Server.
vCenter Hardware Uses CIM monitoring to display the hardware status of hosts that
Status vCenter Server manages.
Some plug-ins are packaged separately from the base product and require separate installation. You can update
plug-ins and the base product independently of each other. VMware modules include:
vSphere Update Enables administrators to apply updates and patches across ESXi hosts and all
Manager (VUM) managed virtual machines. Administrators can create user-defined security
baselines that represent a set of security standards. Security administrators can
compare hosts and virtual machines against these baselines to identify and
remediate systems that are not in compliance.
vShield Zones An application-aware firewall built for vCenter Server integration. vShield
Zones inspects client-server communications and communications between
virtual machines to provide detailed traffic analytics and application-aware
firewall partitioning. vShield Zones is a critical security component for
protecting virtualized datacenters from network-based attacks and misuse.
vCenter Orchestrator A workflow engine that enables you to create and run automated workflows
in your vSphere environment. vCenter Orchestrator coordinates workflow
tasks across multiple VMware products and third-party management and
administration solutions through its open plug-in architecture. vCenter
Orchestrator provides a library of workflows that are extensible. You can use
any operation available in the vCenter Server API to customize vCenter
Orchestrator workflows.
Data Recovery A disk-based backup and recovery solution that provides complete data
protection for virtual machines. Data Recovery is fully integrated with
vCenter Server to enable centralized and efficient management of backup jobs
and includes data deduplication to minimize disk usage.
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vSphere Client Interfaces 2
You have several ways to access vSphere components through vSphere interface options.
vSphere interface options include:
vSphere Client A required component and the primary interface for creating, managing, and
monitoring virtual machines, their resources, and their hosts. It also provides
console access to virtual machines.
vSphere Web Client The vSphere Web Client is a Web application installed on a machine with
network access to your vCenter Server installation. In this release, the
vSphere Web Client includes a subset of the functionality included in the
Windows-based vSphere Client, primarily related to inventory display and
virtual machine deployment and configuration.
vSphere Command-Line A command-line interface for configuring an ESXi host. The vSphere
Interface Command-Line Interface can also be used to perform Storage vMotion
operations on both ESXi hosts.
See Chapter 10, “Starting and Stopping the vSphere Components,” on page 105 for information and
instructions about starting and stopping ESXi hosts and vCenter Server.
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A login screen appears when you start the vSphere Client. After you log in, the client displays the objects and
functionality appropriate to the server you are accessing and the permissions available to the user you logged
in as.
Procedure
2 Double-click a shortcut or select the vSphere Client from Start > Programs > VMware > vSphere Client.
3 Enter the server name, your user name, and your password.
If you are logging in to a vCenter Server system that is part of a Connected Group, logging in to that server
connects you to all servers in that group.
NOTE Only previously entered server names appear in the Server drop-down menu.
NOTE Closing a vSphere Client session does not stop the server.
Procedure
u Click the close box (X) , or select File > Exit.
The vSphere Client shuts down. The vSphere Client is logged out of the vCenter Server system. The server
continues to run all its normal activities in the background. Any scheduled tasks are saved and performed by
vCenter Server.
You can register multiple vCenter Server systems with a single vSphere Web Client. However, the
vSphere Web Client can connect only to one vCenter Server system at a time, unless those vCenter Server
systems are joined together in Linked Mode.
VMware recommends that you register a given vCenter Server system with only one vSphere Web Client
instance, rather than using multiple vSphere Web Client instances to manage that vCenter Server system.
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The vCenter Server system in a vCenter Server appliance is preregistered with the vSphere Web Client installed
in the appliance. To register another vCenter Server system with the vSphere Web Client installed as part of a
vCenter Server Appliance, you must use the admin-app command-line script rather than the Web-based
administration tool.
Prerequisites
n Log-in to the system on which the vSphere Web Client is installed. You cannot register a vCenter Server
system with the client from a remote system.
n Ensure that you have login credentials with Administrator privileges for the vCenter Server system that
you are registering.
n If you will use the server IP address to access the vSphere Web Client and your browser uses a proxy, add
the server IP address to the list of proxy exceptions.
Procedure
1 Open a Web browser and enter the URL for the administration tool: https://localhost:port/admin-app
or https://127.0.0.1:port/admin-app.
Use the localhost or loopback address to access the administration tool instead of using the server IP
address. Replace port with the port used by the vSphere Web Client. By default, this is 9443, but can be
changed during installation.
3 In the vCenter Server name or IP text box, enter the server name or IP address of the vCenter Server
system.
4 In the User name text box, enter the user name that you will use to connect to the vCenter Server system.
6 In the vSphere Web Client server name or IP text box, enter the URL for the vSphere Web Client
application, using the IP address or host name of the machine where the vSphere Web Client is installed.
Do not use the localhost URL for the vSphere Web Client. If you enter the localhost URL, the license
reporting functionality will not be available in the vSphere Client unless the vSphere Web Client and
vCenter Server are installed on the same system.
7 Click Register.
You can now use this instance of the client to log in to the vCenter Server system.
What to do next
In the Web browser, open https://client-hostname:port/vsphere-client/ to access the vSphere Web Client and log
in to vCenter Server, where client-hostname is the host name or IP address of the client, and port is the port used
by the client.
Prerequisites
Verify that the vCenter Server system is registered with the client.
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Procedure
1 Open a Web browser and enter the URL for the vSphere Web Client:
https://client-hostname:port/vsphere-client.
By default the port is 9443, but this can be changed during vSphere Web Client installation.
2 In the Server drop-down menu, select the vCenter Server to which you want to connect.
3 In the Username text box, enter your user name on the vCenter Server system.
5 Click Login.
6 If a warning message about an untrusted SSL certificate appears, select the appropriate action based on
your security policy.
Option Action
Ignore the security warning for this Click Ignore.
login session only.
Ignore the security warning for this Select Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for
login session, and install the default this server and click Ignore.
certificate so that the warning does Select this option only if using the default certificate does not present a
not appear again. security problem in your environment.
Cancel and install a signed Click Cancel and ensure that a signed certificate is installed on the vCenter
certificate before proceeding. Server system before you attempt to connect again.
The vSphere Web Client connects to the vCenter Server system, allowing you to view and manage your
inventory.
Procedure
u Click the username at the top of the vSphere Web Client window and select Logout.
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Using the vSphere Client 3
The vSphere Client is the principal interface for administering vCenter Server and ESXi.
The vSphere Client user interface is configured based on the server to which it is connected:
n When the server is a vCenter Server system, the vSphere Client displays all the options available to the
vSphere environment, according to the licensing configuration and the user permissions.
n When the server is an ESXi host, the vSphere Client displays only the options appropriate to single host
management.
When you first log in to the vSphere Client, it displays a Home page with icons that you select to access
vSphere Client functions. When you log out of the vSphere Client, the client application retains the view that
was displayed when it closed, and returns you to that view when you next log in.
You perform many management tasks from the Inventory view, which consists of a single window containing
a menu bar, a navigation bar, a toolbar, a status bar, a panel section, and pop-up menus.
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Procedure
n Click the Close Tab link to disable Getting Started tabs for the type of object selected.
n Change the vSphere Client settings to hide all Getting Started tabs.
c Deselect the Show Getting Started Tabs check box and click OK.
Procedure
The status bar appears at the bottom of the window. It contains icons to view triggered alarms or recent tasks.
The Tasks button displays any currently running or recently completed active tasks. Included is a progress
bar indicating the percentage complete of each task. The recent tasks and the triggered alarm panels display
across the bottom of the vSphere Client window.
Panel Sections
The body of the vSphere Client page has a panel section. Most views have a left and a right panel: the Inventory
panel and the Information panel.
Inventory panel Displays a hierarchical list of vSphere objects when an Inventory or Maps view
appears.
Information panels Display lists and charts. Depending on the navigation items or Inventory item
selected, the Information panel is divided into tabbed elements.
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Chapter 3 Using the vSphere Client
Procedure
If the vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system that is part of a connected group in vCenter
Linked Mode, you can search the inventories of all vCenter Server systems in that group. You can view and
search only for inventory objects that you have permission to view. Because the search service queries Active
Directory for information about user permissions, you must be logged in to a domain account to search all
vCenter Server systems in Linked Mode. If you log in using a local account, searches return results only for
the local vCenter Server system, even if it is joined to other servers in Linked Mode.
NOTE If your permissions change while you are logged in, the search service might not immediately recognize
these changes. To ensure that your search is performed with up-to-date permissions, log out of all your open
sessions and log in again before performing the search.
Procedure
1 Click the icon in the search field at the top right of the vSphere Client window and select the type of
inventory item to search for.
n Virtual Machines
n Folders
n Hosts
n Datastores
n Networks
n Inventory, which finds matches to the search criteria in any of the available managed object types.
2 Type one or more search terms into the search field and press Enter.
3 (Optional) If more items are found than can be displayed in the results pane, click Show all.
What to do next
If you are not satisfied with the results of the simple search, perform an advanced search.
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For example, you can search for virtual machines matching a search string. The virtual machines reside on
hosts whose names match a second search string.
Procedure
1 Select View > Inventory > Search to display the advanced search page.
2 Click the icon in the search field at the top right of the vSphere Client window and select the type of
inventory item to search for.
n Virtual Machines
n Folders
n Hosts
n Datastores
n Networks
n Inventory, which finds matches to the search criteria in any of the available managed object types.
b From the drop-down menu, select the additional property that you want to use to restrict the search
results.
The available properties depend on the type of object you are searching for.
c Select or type the appropriate options for the property you have selected.
d To add more properties, click Add and repeat steps Step 4b through Step 4c.
An advanced search always finds objects that match all the properties in the list.
5 Click Search.
Using Lists
Many vSphere Client inventory tabs display lists of information.
For example, the Virtual Machines tab displays a list of all the virtual machines associated with a host or a
cluster. Sort any list in the vSphere Client by clicking the column label heading. A triangle in the column head
shows the sort order as ascending or descending.
You can also filter a list, sorting and including only selected items. A filter is sorted by a keyword. Select the
columns to include in the search for the keyword.
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Chapter 3 Using the vSphere Client
The list is updated based on whether filtering is on or off. For example, if you are in the Virtual Machines tab,
you have filtered the list and the filtered text is “powered on." You see a list of virtual machines whose state
is set to powered on. If the state of any virtual machine changes, the virtual machine is removed from the list.
Virtual machines that are added to the list are also filtered.
Procedure
1 On any inventory panel that displays a list, click the arrow next to the filter box at the top right of the pane.
The search automatically starts after a pause of more than one second. Neither boolean expressions nor
special characters are supported. Filtering is not case-sensitive.
Export a List
You can export a list to a file.
Procedure
4 Click Save.
Custom Attributes
You can use custom attributes to associate user-specific meta-information with virtual machines and managed
hosts.
Attributes are the resources that are monitored and managed for all the managed hosts and virtual machines
in your vSphere environment. Attributes’ status and states appear on the inventory panels.
After you create the attributes, set the value for the attribute on each virtual machine or managed host, as
appropriate. This value is stored with vCenter Server and not with the virtual machine or managed host. Use
the new attribute to filter information about your virtual machines and managed hosts. If you no longer need
the custom attribute, remove it. A custom attribute is always a string.
For example, suppose you have a set of products and you want to sort them by sales representative. Create a
custom attribute for sales person name, Name. Add the custom attribute, Name, column to one of the list views.
Add the appropriate name to each product entry. Click the column title Name to sort alphabetically.
The custom attributes feature is available only when you are connected to a vCenter Server system.
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Procedure
2 Click Add.
3 Enter the values for the custom attribute.
b Select the attribute type from the Type drop-down menu:Virtual Machine, Host, or Global.
c In the Value text box, type the value you want to give to the attribute for the currently selected object.
d Click OK.
After you have defined an attribute on a single virtual machine or host, it is available to all objects of
that type in the inventory. However, the value you specify is applied only to the currently selected
object.
4 (Optional) To change the attribute name, click in the Name field and type the name you want to assign to
the attribute.
5 Click OK.
Procedure
4 To edit the value of an attribute that is already defined, double-click the Value field for that attribute and
enter the new value.
Select Objects
vCenter Server objects are datacenters, networks, datastores, resource pools, clusters, hosts, and virtual
machines. Selecting an object allows you to view the status of the object and enables the menus so you can
select actions to take on the object.
Procedure
u Locate the object by browsing or search.
n From the vSphere Client Home page, click the icon for the appropriate inventory view, and browse
through the inventory hierarchy to select the object.
n Perform a search for the object, and double-click it in the search results.
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Chapter 3 Using the vSphere Client
Install Plug-Ins
You can install plug-ins using the Plug-in Manager.
Procedure
6 After installation is complete, verify that the plug-in is listed under the Installed tab and that it is enabled.
There might be short delay between the completion of the installation and the plug-in appearing in the
list of installed plug-ins.
Disabling a plug-in does not remove it from the client. You must uninstall the plug-in to remove it.
Procedure
Remove Plug-Ins
You can remove plug-ins through the operating system’s control panel.
Procedure
u Consult your operating system’s documentation for instructions on how to use the Add/Remove Programs
control panel.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
vCenter Server plug-ins that run on the Tomcat server have extension.xml files, which contain the URL where
the corresponding Web application can be accessed. These files are located in C:\Program
Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\extensions. Extension installers populate these XML
files using the DNS name for the machine.
vCenter Server, plug-in servers, and the vSphere Clients that use them must be located on systems under the
same domain. If they are not under the same domain, or if the DNS of the plug-in server is changed, the plug-
in clients will not be able to access the URL, and the plug-in will not work.
You can edit the XML files manually by replacing the DNS name with an IP address. Reregister the plug-in
after you edit its extension.xml file.
Procedure
u You can save the client data by either printing a copy of the window or exporting the server data.
Option Description
Copy the window Use the Microsoft Windows Print Screen option to print a copy of the
vSphere Client window.
Export server data Select File > Export and select a format in which to save the vCenter Server
data. Open the data in an appropriate application and print from that
application.
These features are not available when your vSphere Client is connected to an ESXi host.
Procedure
u From the Home page of a vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, click the Sessions button.
Procedure
1 On the Home page of a vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, click the Sessions button.
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Chapter 3 Using the vSphere Client
The Message of the day text is sent as a notice message to all active session users and to new users when they
log in.
Procedure
1 On the Home page of a vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, click the Sessions button.
3 Click Change.
The message is broadcast to all users logged into the vSphere Client.
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32 VMware, Inc.
Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server 4
Configuring ESXi hosts, vCenter Server systems, and the vSphere Client involves several tasks.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n “Host Configuration,” on page 33
n “Configuring vCenter Server,” on page 33
n “Configuring the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 43
n “Configuring Communication Among ESXi, vCenter Server, and the vSphere Client,” on page 50
Host Configuration
Before you create virtual machines on your hosts, you must configure the hosts to ensure that they have correct
licensing, network and storage access, and security settings. Each type of host has a manual that provides
information on the configuration for that host.
For information on configuring a host, see the configuration information for the specific vSphere component
in the vSphere Security documentation, the vSphere Storage documentation, or the vSphere Networking
documentation.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Prerequisites
To configure licenses, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
NOTE To enter ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 keys, select Home > Administration > Licensing.
4 (Optional) Enter the fully qualified domain name or the IP address of a license server and, optionally, a
port.
A license server is required if this vCenter Server system manages ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts or if you have
additional vCenter modules that require a license server.
For example, with the default license server port 27000 on a license server called license, your entry might
look like this:
27000@license.example.com
If you do not use the fully qualified domain name or the IP address of the license server, legacy hosts
might not be able to resolve the license server host name.
5 (Optional) Select Reconfigure ESX 3 hosts using license servers to use this server if you want each
ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 host that you add to the vCenter Server inventory to use the same license server as this
vCenter Server system.
The settings on the host are altered by vCenter Server only when the host is added or when the license
server used by vCenter Server is changed. If you leave this option unselected, you can either configure
another license server for the ESX 3.x/ESXi 3.5 hosts or configure the hosts to use host-based license files.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Prerequisites
To configure statistics settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > Settings to open the vCenter Server Settings dialog
boxvCenter Server.
2 If your environment uses multiple vCenter Servers, in Current vCenter Server, select the server.
5 To change a collection interval attribute, select its row in the Statistics Interval section and click Edit to
open the Edit Collection Interval dialog box.
This option is configurable only for the Day and Year intervals.
Level 4 uses the highest number of statistics counters. Use it only for debugging purposes.
The statistics level must be less than or equal to the statistics level set for the preceeding statistics
interval. This is a vCenter Server dependency.
6 (Optional) In the Database Size section, estimate the effect of the statistics settings on the database.
The estimated space required and number of database rows required are calculated and displayed.
7 Click OK.
Prerequisites
To configure statistics settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
2 Click OK.
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
Prerequisites
To configure statistics settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
2 In the database calculator pane, specify the number of hosts and virtual machines in your datacenter.
The estimated space required and number of database rows required are calculated and displayed.
3 Click OK.
Prerequisites
To configure runtime settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
You can change this value to a number from 0 through 63 to uniquely identify each vCenter Server system
running in a common environment. By default, an ID value is generated randomly.
5 In vCenter Server Managed IP, enter the vCenter Server system IP address.
6 In vCenter Server Name, enter the name of the vCenter Server system.
If you change the DNS name of the vCenter Server, use this option to modify the vCenter Server name to
match.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
What to do next
If you made changes to the vCenter Server system Unique ID, you must restart the vCenter Server system for
these changes to take effect.
Prerequisites
To configure active directory settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Server drop-down menu.
4 In Active Directory Timeout, enter the timeout interval in seconds for connecting to the Active Directory
server.
5 Select Enable Query Limit to limit the number of users and groups displayed in the Add Permissions
dialog box.
6 In Users & Groups, enter the maximum number of users and groups to display.
7 Select Enable Validation to have vCenter Server periodically check its known users and groups against
the Active Directory server.
Prerequisites
To configure SMTP notifications, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
The SMTP Server is the DNS name or IP address of the SMTP gateway to use for sending email messages
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
NOTE The full email address must be entered, including the domain name (the information after the @
sign).
6 Click OK.
What to do next
To test the mail settings, create an alarm that can be triggered by a user action, such as an alarm triggered by
powering off a virtual machine, and verify that you receive an email when the alarm is triggered.
Prerequisites
To configure SNMP settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
4 In Receiver URL, enter the host name or IP address of the SNMP receiver.
5 In the field next to the Receiver URL field, enter the port number of the receiver.
7 Click OK.
The Web Service is installed as part of the VMware vCenter Server installation. The Web Service is a required
component for third-party applications that use the VMware SDK application programming interface (API).
For information about Web Service installation, see the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
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4 Click OK.
Prerequisites
To configure timeout settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
4 In Normal Operations, enter the timeout interval in seconds for normal operations.
5 In Long Operations, enter the timeout interval in minutes for long operations.
6 Click OK.
7 Restart the vCenter Server system for the changes to take effect.
Prerequisites
To configure statistics settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
Option Description
None (Disable logging) Turn off logging
Error (Errors only) Display only error log entries
Warning (Errors and warnings) Display warning and error log entries
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
Option Description
Info (Normal logging) Displays information, error, and warning log entries
Verbose (Verbose) Displays information, error, warning, and verbose log entries
Trivia (Extended verbose) Displays information, error, warning, verbose, and trivia log entries
5 Click OK.
Changes to the logging settings take effect immediately. You do not need to restart vCenter Server system.
Prerequisites
To configure database settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Serverdrop-down menu.
Generally, you do not need to change this value. You might want to increase this number if your
vCenter Server system frequently performs many operations and performance is critical. You might want
to decrease this number, if the database is shared and connections to the database are costly. VMware
recommends that you not change this value unless one of these issues pertains to your system.
5 Click OK.
Do not use these options if you want to retain a complete history of tasks and events for your vCenter Server.
Prerequisites
To configure the database retention policy, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
3 (Optional) SelectTasks retained for, and enter a value in days in the text box.
Information about tasks performed on this vCenter Server system will be discarded after the specified
number of days.
4 (Optional) SelectEvents retained for, and enter a value in days in the text box.
Information about events for this vCenter Server system will be discarded after the specified number of
days.
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Prerequisites
To configure SSL settings, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Server drop-down menu.
If there are hosts that require manual validation, these hosts appear in the host list at the bottom of the
dialog box.
6 Determine the host thumbprint for each host that requires validation.
7 Compare the thumbprint you obtained from the host with the thumbprint listed in the vCenter Server
Settings dialog box.
8 If the thumbprints match, select the check box for the host.
Hosts that are not selected will be disconnected after you click OK.
9 Click OK.
This page can be used to add entries to the vpxd.cfg file, but not to edit or delete them. VMware recommends
that you change these settings only when instructed to do so by VMware technical support or when you are
following specific instructions in VMware documentation.
Prerequisites
To configure statistics settings, the VI Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 If necessary, select Administration > vCenter Server Settings to display the vCenter Server Settings dialog
box.
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
2 If the vCenter Server system is part of a connected group, select the server you want to configure from the
Current vCenter Server drop-down menu.
5 In the Value field, type the value for the specified key.
6 Click Add.
7 Click OK.
What to do next
Many advanced options changes require that the vCenter Server system be restarted before they take effect.
Consult VMware technical support to determine if your changes require a restart.
For VMware vCenter Server Appliance installation, see the vSphere Installation and Setup publication.
The following features are not supported by the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
n Linked Mode
n Microsot SQL Server as a supported local or remote database
n DB2 as a supported remote database
The vCenter Sever Appliance is supported only on ESX/ESXi 4.0 and 4.1 andESXi 5.0.
n Log In to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Web Console on page 44
Log in to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Web console to access VMware vCenter Server
Appliance configuration settings.
n Configure Database Settings for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 44
Configure database settings, such as database type and log in, for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
n Configure Network Settings for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 45
Configure network settings for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance to specify static IP and proxy
settings.
n Start vCenter Server in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 46
Start vCenter Server from the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
n Stop vCenter Server in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 46
Stop vCenter Server from the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. A restart of vCenter Server is required
for some setting changes to take effect.
n Start or Stop ESXi Services in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 46
Some VMware vCenter Server Appliance configuration changes require a restart of ESXi services to take
effect.
n Change the Administrator Password for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 46
You can change the vCenter Server administrator password in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
n Enable or Disable SSH Administrator Login on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 47
You can enable or disable the ability to log in to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance using SSH.
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n Configure Inventory Size for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 47
Set the inventory size of the VMware vCenter Server Appliance based on the number of hosts and virtual
machines that you plan to have in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
n Configure ESXi Dump Collector on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 48
You can use ESXi Dump Collector to configure and dump a host's kernel core to a network server on the
datacenter when the system fails. ESXi Dump Collector is installed and enabled by default on the VMware
vCenter Server Appliance.
n Configure ESXi Auto Deploy Settings on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 48
If you are using the VMware vCenter Server appliance for Auto Deploy, you can change the server port
and maximum repository size for Auto Deploy.
n Configure NFS Storage on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 49
Enable storing VMware vCenter Server Appliance log and core files on NFS to store VMware vCenter
Server Appliance files on an NFS datastore.
n Configure Syslog Collector Ports on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 49
The VMware vCenter Server Appliance acts as a syslog server, receiving system logs from hosts
provisioned with Auto Deploy. You can change the system and SSL ports on the VMware vCenter Server
Appliance to which hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy send log files.
n Configure Authentication Settings on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance on page 50
You can configure authentication settings, such as enabling an NIS or Active Directory server, on the
VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
1 Go to the configuration address that your VMware vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine provides:
https://VMware vCenter Server Appliance IP address:5480.
2 Type your user name and password, and click Login.
The initial default user name is root, and the default password is vmware.
What to do next
The first time you log in to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance, accept the End-User License Agreement
by clicking Accept EULA and set the database type. See “Configure Database Settings for the VMware vCenter
Server Appliance,” on page 44.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. See the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
44 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
Option Description
embedded Use the embedded database. This option is available only for a small
inventory size, with fewer than 5 hosts and 50 virtual machines.
oracle Use an external Oracle database.
7 Click Test Settings to verify that the settings you entered are valid.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
Option Description
DHCP vCenter Server obtains IP settings from a DHCP server. This is the default
setting.
Static vCenter Server uses static IP settings. Specify the IP address, netmask, and
gateway.
6 (Optional) Select Proxy, and select Use a proxy server to use a proxy server for vCenter Server.
8 (Optional) Specify a proxy username and proxy password if your proxy server requires them.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
You can now connect to vCenter Server using either the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client.
Procedure
Procedure
Change the Administrator Password for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance
You can change the vCenter Server administrator password in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
Procedure
3 Type your current password in the Current administrator password text box.
4 Type the new password in the New administrator password and Retype new administrator password
text boxes.
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Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
Procedure
4 (Optional) Click Disable SSH login to prevent log in to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance using SSH.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
1 In the VI Client, power off the VMware vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine.
2 Right-click the VMware vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine in the inventory pane and select Edit
Settings.
Option Description
4 GB or higher Memory requirement for fewer than 10 hosts and 100 virtual machines in the
VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
8 GB or higher Memory requirement for between 10 and 100 hosts or between 100 and 1000
virtual machines in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
13 GB or higher Memory requirement for between 100 and 400 hosts or between 1000 and
4000 virtual machines in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
17 GB or higher Memory requirement for over 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines in the
VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
5 Click OK.
6 Power on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine.
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Option Description
small For fewer than 100 hosts and 1000 virtual machines in the VMware vCenter
Server Appliance inventory.
medium For between 100 and 400 hosts or between 1000 and 4000 virtual machines
in the VMware vCenter Server Appliance inventory.
large For over 400 hosts or 4000 virtual machines in the VMware vCenter Server
Appliance inventory.
ESXi Dump Collector does not support vSphere distributed switches in ESXi 5.0.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
3 Type the port number in the Network Coredump Server (UDP) Port text box.
4 Type the size in the Network Coredump repository max size text box to specify the maximum core dump
repository size in GB.
What to do next
Configure hosts to dump kernel memory to the network server. See the vSphere Installation and Setup
documentation.
Configure ESXi Auto Deploy Settings on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance
If you are using the VMware vCenter Server appliance for Auto Deploy, you can change the server port and
maximum repository size for Auto Deploy.
Prerequisites
Enable the Auto Deploy server on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. See the vSphere Installation and
Setup documentation.
Procedure
48 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 4 Configuring Hosts and vCenter Server
4 In the Autodeploy repository max size field, type the maximum Auto Deploy repository size in GB.
5 (Optional) Click Test Settings to verify that the specified settings are valid.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Disable root squashing on the NFS server. For example, use the command exportfs -vo
rw,no_root_squash,sync :/share.
Procedure
4 (Optional) Select Enable storing log files on NFS and type the NFS share on which to store VMware
vCenter Server Appliance log files.
5 (Optional) Select Enable storing core files on NFS and type the NFS share on which to store VMware
vCenter Server Appliance core files.
6 (Optional) Click Test Settings to verify that the VMware vCenter Server Appliance can successfully store
files to the specified NFS shares.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
3 Type the Syslog collector server port and the Syslog collector server SSL port and click Save Settings.
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vCenter Server and Host Management
Hosts provisioned with Auto Deploy send log files to the specified ports. Although the VMware vCenter Server
Appliance acts as a syslog server, it does not appear as a syslog server in the vSphere Client.
What to do next
You must restart ESXi services for these changes to take effect.
Prerequisites
Install the VMware vCenter Server Appliance and configure the database. See “Configure Database Settings
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance,” on page 44 and the vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Procedure
1 Log in to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance Web console and navigate to the Authentication tab.
2 (Optional) Click NIS and select NIS Enabled to enable an NIS server for the VMware vCenter Server
Appliance.
3 (Optional) Type the NIS domain and NIS server and click Save Settings.
4 (Optional) ClickActive Directory and select Active Directory Enabled to enable an Active Directory server
for the VMware vCenter Server Appliance.
5 (Optional) Type the domain, administrator user name, and administrator password for the Active
Directory server and click Save Settings.
Configure your firewall to allow communication between the vSphere Client and vCenter Server by opening
ports 80 and 443.
vCenter Server acts as a web service. If your environment requires the use of a web proxy, vCenter Server can
be proxied like any other web service.
50 VMware, Inc.
Using vCenter Server in Linked Mode 5
You can join multiple vCenter Server systems using vCenter Linked Mode to allow them to share information.
When a server is connected to other vCenter Server systems using Linked Mode, you can connect to that
vCenter Server system and view and manage the inventories of the linked vCenter Server systems.
Linked Mode uses Microsoft Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) to store and synchronize data across
multiple vCenter Server systems. ADAM is installed as part of vCenter Server installation. Each ADAM
instance stores data from the vCenter Server systems in the group, including information about roles and
licenses. This information is replicated across all of the ADAM instances in the connected group to keep them
in sync.
When vCenter Server systems are connected in Linked Mode, you can perform the following actions:
n Log in simultaneously to vCenter Server systems for which you have valid credentials.
n Search the inventories of the vCenter Server systems in the group.
n View the inventories of the vCenter Server systems in the group in a single inventory view.
You cannot migrate hosts or virtual machines between vCenter Server systems connected in Linked Mode.
For more information on troubleshooting Linked Mode groups, see the vSphere Troubleshooting documentation.
Before joining a vCenter Server to a Linked Mode group, review “Linked Mode Considerations for vCenter
Server,” on page 52.
All the requirements for standalone vCenter Server systems apply to Linked Mode systems.
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The following requirements apply to each vCenter Server system that is a member of a Linked Mode group:
n Linked Mode groups that contain both vCenter Server 5.0 and earlier versions of vCenter Server are not
supported. The vSphere Client does not function correctly with vCenter Servers in groups that have both
version 5.0 and earlier versions of vCenter Server. Do not join a version 5.0 vCenter Server to earlier
versions of vCenter Server, or an earlier version of vCenter Server to a version 5.0 vCenter Server. Upgrade
any vCenter Server instance to version 5.0 before joining it to a version 5.0 vCenter Server.
n To join a Linked Mode group the vCenter Server must be in evaluation mode or licensed as a Standard
edition. vCenter Server Foundation and vCenter Server Essentials editions do not support Linked Mode.
n DNS must be operational for Linked Mode replication to work.
n The vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a
two-way trust relationship. Each domain must trust the other domains on which vCenter Server instances
are installed.
n When adding a vCenter Server instance to a Linked Mode group, the installer must be run by a domain
user who is an administrator on both the machine where vCenter Server is installed and the target machine
of the Linked Mode group.
n All vCenter Server instances must have network time synchronization. The vCenter Server installer
validates that the machine clocks are not more than five minutes apart.
Before you configure a Linked Mode group, consider the following issues.
n If you upgrade a vCenter Server that is part of a Linked Mode group, it will be removed from the group.
vCenter Server does not support Linked Mode groups that contain both version 5.0 and earlier versions
of vCenter Servers. After all vCenter Servers in the group are upgraded to version 5.0, you can rejoin them.
n Each vCenter Server user sees the vCenter Server instances on which they have valid permissions.
n When you set up your vCenter Server Linked Mode group, you must install the first vCenter Server as a
standalone instance because you do not yet have a remote vCenter Server machine to join. Subsequent
vCenter Server instances can join the first vCenter Server or other vCenter Server instances that have joined
the Linked Mode group.
n If you join a vCenter Server to a standalone instance that is not part of a domain, you must add the
standalone instance to a domain and add a domain user as an administrator.
n The vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group do not need to have the same domain user login.
The instances can run under different domain accounts. By default, they run as the LocalSystem account
of the machine on which they are running, which means that they are different accounts.
n During vCenter Server installation, if you enter an IP address for the remote instance of vCenter Server,
the installer converts it into a fully qualified domain name.
n You cannot join a Linked Mode group during the upgrade procedure when you are upgrading from
VirtualCenter 25 to vCenter Server 5.0. You can join after the upgrade to vCenter Server is complete.
n CAUTION If you need to uninstall and reinstall vCenter Server on more than one member of a Linked
Mode group, do so with a single vCenter Server at a time. Uninstalling and reinstalling multiple linked
vCenter Servers at the same time is not supported, and can cause errors that prevent vCenter Server from
connecting to vCenter Inventory Service. If it is necessary to uninstall and reinstall multiple linked vCenter
Servers at the same time, isolate them from the Linked Mode group first, and rejoin them to the Linked
Mode group after the reinstallation is complete.
52 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 5 Using vCenter Server in Linked Mode
Prerequisites
NOTE Joining a version 5.0 vCenter Server to older versions of vCenter Server is not supported.
Procedure
1 Select Start > All Programs > VMware > vCenter Server Linked Mode Configuration.
2 Click Next.
4 Click Join this vCenter Server instance to an existing linked mode group or another instance and click
Next.
5 Enter the server name and LDAP port number of a remote vCenter Server instance that is a member of
the group and click Next.
If you enter an IP address for the remote server, the installer converts it into a fully qualified domain name.
6 If the vCenter Server installer detects a role conflict, select how to resolve the conflict.
Option Action
Yes, let VMware vCenter Server Click Next.
resolve the conflicts for me The role on the joining system is renamed to vcenter_namerole_name, where
vcenter_name is the name of the vCenter Server system that is joining the
Linked Mode group, and role_name is the name of the original role.
No, I'll resolve the conflicts myself To resolve the conflicts manually:
a Using the vSphere Client, log in to one of the vCenter Server systems
using an account with Administrator privileges.
b Rename the conflicting role.
c Close the vSphere Client session and return to the vCenter Server
installer.
d Click Back and click Next.
The installation continues without conflicts.
A conflict results if the joining system and the Linked Mode group each contain a role with the same name
but with different privileges.
7 Click Finish.
vCenter Server restarts. Depending on the size of your inventory, the change to Linked Mode might take
from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete.
The vCenter Server instance is now part of a Linked Mode group. After you form a Linked Mode group, you
can log in to any single instance of vCenter Server and view and manage the inventories of all the vCenter
Servers in the group. It might take several seconds for the global data (such as user roles) that are changed on
one machine to be visible on the other machines. The delay is usually 15 seconds or less. It might take a few
minutes for a new vCenter Server instance to be recognized and published by the existing instances, because
group members do not read the global data very often.
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If the roles defined on each vCenter Server system are different, the roles lists of the systems are combined into
a single common list. For example, if vCenter Server 1 has a role named Role A and vCenter Server 2 has a role
named Role B, then both servers will have both Role A and Role B after they are joined in a linked mode group.
If two vCenter Server systems have roles with the same name, the roles are combined into a single role if they
contain the same privileges on each vCenter Server system. If two vCenter Server systems have roles with the
same name that contain different privileges, this conflict must be resolved by renaming at least one of the roles.
You can choose to resolve the conflicting roles either automatically or manually.
If you choose to reconcile the roles automatically, the role on the joining system is renamed to
vcenter_namerole_name where vcenter_name is the name of the vCenter Server system that is joining the Linked
Mode group and role_name is the name of the original role.
If you choose to reconcile the roles manually, connect to one of the vCenter Server systems with the vSphere
Client and rename one instance of the role before proceeding to join the vCenter Server system to the Linked
Mode group.
If you remove a vCenter Server system from a linked mode group, the vCenter Server system retains all the
roles it had as part of the group.
Procedure
1 Select Start > All Programs > VMware > vCenter Server Linked Mode Configuration.
3 Click Isolate this vCenter Server instance from linked mode group and click Next.
vCenter Server restarts. Depending on the size of your inventory, the change to Linked Mode configuration
might take from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete.
The vCenter Server instance is no longer part of the Linked Mode group.
vCenter Server systems in a Linked Mode group can be in different domains if the domains have a trust
relationship.
Procedure
1 Isolate the vCenter Server system from the Linked Mode group.
Refer to the documentation for the operating system on which vCenter Server is installed for more
information on changing the domain.
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Chapter 5 Using vCenter Server in Linked Mode
If you do not update the URLs, remote instances of vCenter Server cannot reach the vCenter Server system,
because the default vCenter Server URL entries are no longer accurate. The vCenter Server installer configures
default URL entries as follows:
n For the Virtualcenter.VimApiUrl key, the default value is http(s)://Fully qualified domain name
(FQDN) of vCenter Server machine/sdkvCenter Server.
n For the Virtualcenter.VimWebServicesUrl key, the default value is https://FQDN of vCenter Server
machine:installed-webservices-port/vwsvCenter Server.
Procedure
1 Isolate the vCenter Server system from the Linked Mode group.
See “Isolate a vCenter Server Instance from a Linked Mode Group,” on page 54
2 Change the domain name or the machine name to make them match.
3 From the vSphere Client, connect directly to the vCenter Server instance on which you have changed the
domain or machine name.
4 Select Administration > vCenter Server Settings and click Advanced Settings.
5 For the Virtualcenter.VimApiUrl key, change the value to point to the location where the vSphere Client
and SDK clients can access the vCenter Server system.
6 For the Virtualcenter.VimWebServicesUrl key, change the value to point to the location where vCenter
Server Webservices is installed.
7 For the Virtualcenter.Instancename key, change the value so that the modified name appears in the
vCenter Server inventory view.
Procedure
u From the vSphere Client Home page, click vCenter Service Status.
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Organizing Your Inventory 6
Plan how you will set up your virtual infrastructure. A large vSphere implementation might contain several
virtual datacenters with a complex arrangement of hosts, clusters, resource pools, and networks. It might
involve multiple vSphere Servers operating in Linked Mode. Smaller implementations might require a single
virtual datacenter with a much less complex topology. Regardless of the scale of your virtual infrastructure,
consider how the virtual machines it will support are going to be used and administered.
Here are questions you should answer as you create and organize an inventory of virtual objects:
n Will some virtual machines require dedicated resources?
n Will some virtual machines experience periodic spikes in workload?
n Will some virtual machines need to be administered as a group?
n Do you want to use multiple Distributed Switches?
n Do you want to use vMotion and Distributed Resource Management with certain virtual machines but
not others?
n Will some virtual objects require one set of system permissions, while other objects will require a different
set of permissions?
The left pane of the vSphere Client displays your vSphere inventory. You can add and arrange objects in any
way with the following restrictions:
n The name of an inventory object must be unique with its parent.
n vApp names must be unique within the Virtual Machines and Templates view.
n System permissions are inherited and cascade.
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Create Datacenters
A virtual datacenter is a container for all the inventory objects required to complete a fully functional
environment for operating virtual machines. You can create multiple datacenters to organize sets of
environments. For example, you might create a datacenter for each organizational unit in your enterprise or
create some datacenters for high performance environments and others for less demanding virtual machines.
Prerequisites
n Open a vSphere Client session to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a datacenter object.
NOTE Inventory objects can interact within a datacenter, but interaction across datacenters is limited. For
example, you can hot migrate virtual machines from one host to another host in the same datacenter, but not
from a host in one datacenter to a host in a different datacenter.
Procedure
What to do next
Add hosts, clusters, resource pools, vApps, networking, datastores, and virtual machines to the datacenter.
Add Hosts
You can add hosts under a datacenter object, folder object, or cluster object. If a host contains virtual machines,
those virtual machines are added to the inventory together with the host. Information about configuring hosts
is located in the vSphere Networking, vSphere Storage, vSphere Security, and vSphere Host Profiles documentation.
Prerequisites
n Open a vSphere Client session to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a host object.
n Verify that a Datacenter, folder, or cluster exists in the inventory.
n Obtain the user name and password for an account with administrative privileges on the host.
n Verify that hosts behind a firewall are able to communicate with the vCenter Server system and all other
hosts through port 902 or other custom-configured port.
n Verify that all NFS mounts on the host are active.
Procedure
4 Enter host name or IP address and administrator credentials and click Next.
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5 (Optional) Select Enable Lockdown Mode to disable remote access for the administrator account after
vCenter Server takes control of this host.
Selecting this check box ensures that the host is managed only through vCenter Server. You can perform
certain management tasks while in lockdown mode by logging into the local console on the host.
7 (Optional) Assign a license key to the host if needed and click Next.
Option Description
If you are adding the host to a cluster Select a resource pool option and click Next.
If you are not adding the host to a Select a location where you want to place virtual machines that already exist
cluster on the host and click Next.
The host and its virtual machines are added to the inventory.
Create Clusters
A cluster is a group of hosts. When a host is added to a cluster, the host's resources become part of the cluster's
resources. The cluster manages the resources of all hosts within it. Clusters enable the vSphere High
Availability (HA) and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) solutions.
Prerequisites
n Open vSphere Client session to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a cluster object.
n Verify that a Datacenter, or folder within a datacenter, exists in the inventory.
Procedure
1 Right-click a datacenter or folder in the vSphere Client and select New Cluster.
Option Description
If you chose to use DRS with this a Click the vSphere DRS box.
cluster b Select an automation level and a migration level and click Next.
c Select a default power management setting and a DPM threshold, and
click Next.
If you chose to use HA with this a Click vSphere HA.
cluster b Select whether to enable host monitoring and admission control.
c If admission control is enabled, specify a policy.
d Click Next.
e Specify cluster default behavior and click Next.
f Specify virtual machine monitoring settings and click Next.
EVC ensures that all hosts in a cluster present the same CPU feature set to virtual machines, even if the
actual CPUs on the hosts differ. This prevents migrations with vMotion from failing due to incompatible
CPUs.
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6 Review the options you selected for the cluster and click Finish.
What to do next
Prerequisites
n Verify that the vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system. If the client is connected directly
to a host, you cannot create a resource pool.
n Make sure you have permissions sufficient to create a resource pool object.
n Verify that a cluster, vApp, or other resource pool object is parent to the resource pool.
Procedure
5 Click OK.
What to do next
You can create a child resource pool of a standalone host, resource pool, vApp, or DRS cluster. You cannot
create resource pools in a cluster that is not enabled for DRS.
Prerequisites
Required privilege: Resource.Create resource pool on the parent object for the resource pool.
Procedure
1 In the Hosts and Clusters view of the vSphere Web Client inventory tree, select the parent object for the
resource pool.
2
Click the All Actions icon ( ) and select Inventory > New Resource Pool.
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Chapter 6 Organizing Your Inventory
Option Description
Shares Specify shares for this resource pool with respect to the parent’s total
resources. Sibling resource pools share resources according to their relative
share values bounded by the reservation and limit.
n Select Low, Normal, or High to specify share values respectively in a
1:2:4 ratio.
n Select Custom to give each virtual machine a specific number of shares,
which expresses a proportional weight.
Reservation Specify a guaranteed CPU or memory allocation for this resource pool and
select the units for this reservation from the drop-down menu.
A nonzero reservation is subtracted from the unreserved resources of the
parent (host or resource pool). The resources are considered reserved,
regardless of whether virtual machines are associated with the resource pool.
Reservation Type When the Expandable check box is selected (default), expandable
reservations are considered during admission control.
If you power on a virtual machine in this resource pool, and the combined
reservations of the virtual machines are larger than the reservation of the
resource pool, the resource pool can use resources from its parent or
ancestors.
Limit Specify the upper limit for this resource pool's CPU or memory allocation by
typing a value or selecting a value from the drop-down menu.
5 Click OK.
A folder can contain other folders, or a group of objects of the same type. For example, a single folder can
contain virtual machines and another folder containing virtual machines, but it cannot contain hosts and a
folder containing virtual machines.
Only virtual machine folders can be created in the vSphere Web Client.
Procedure
1 In the Virtual Machines and Templates view of the vSphere Web Client inventory tree, select the parent
location for the folder.
2
Click the All Actions icon ( ) and select Inventory > New Folder.
3 Click the new folder, type the name for the folder, and press Enter.
Create Datastores
A datastore is a logical container that holds virtual machine files and other files necessary for virtual machine
operations. Datastores can exist on different types of physical storage, including local storage, iSCSI, Fibre
Channel SAN, or NFS. A datastore can be VMFS-based or NFS-based.
Prerequisites
n Open a vSphere Client session to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a datastore object.
n Verify that at least one host in the inventory has access to physical storage.
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Procedure
Option Description
Disk or LUN a Select a disk or LUN and click Next.
b Review the disk layout information and click Next.
c Enter a name for the datastore and click Next.
d Specify maximum file and block sizes.
e Specify disk or LUN capacity and click Next.
Network File System a Enter server and folder information.
b Select whether clients should mount the NFS as read-only.
c Enter a name and click Next.
Prerequisites
n Open a vSphere Client connection to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a standard switch.
n Verify that a host exists in the inventory.
Procedure
3 Click Networking.
If you chose to use an existing standard switch, a new port group is added to it. If you chose to create a standard
switch, it is added with a port group.
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Prerequisites
n Open a vSphere Client connection to a vCenter Server.
n Verify that you have sufficient permissions to create a standard switch.
n Verify that a host exists in the inventory.
Procedure
1 Select Home > Inventory > Networking view, and select a datacenter.
5 Specify the maximum number of physical adapters per host (uplink ports) and click Next.
6 Add hosts and their physical network adapters to the switch and click Next.
7 Choose whether you want vSphere to automatically create a port group and click Finish.
A vSphere Distributed Switch, with its associated uplink ports and port groups, is added to the inventory.
What to do next
n Add hosts to the switch.
n Add port groups to the switch.
n Edit switch properties.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Right-click the vSphere distributed switch in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings.
Option Description
Name Type the name for the distributed switch.
Number of Uplink Ports Select the number of uplink ports for the distributed switch.
Notes Type any notes for the distributed switch.
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c Click OK.
5 Click OK.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Right-click the vSphere distributed switch in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings.
Option Description
Maximum MTU Maximum MTU size for the vSphere distributed switch.
Discovery Protocol Status Choose the status for discovery protocol on the vSphere distributed switch.
n Enabled. Enabled discovery protocol for the vSphere distributed switch.
1 Select Cisco Discovery Protocol or Link Layer Discovery Protocol
from the Type drop-down menu.
2 Set Operation to Listen, Advertise, or Both.
n Disabled.
Admin Contact Info Enter the Name and Other Details for the vSphere distributed switch
administrator.
4 ClickOK.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Right-click the vSphere distributed switch in the inventory pane, and select Add Host.
4 Under the selected hosts, select the physical adapters to add and click Next.
You can select physical adapters that are not being used and physical adapters that are being used.
NOTE Moving a physical adapter to a distributed switch without moving any associated virtual adapters
can cause those virtual adapters to lose network connectivity.
5 For each virtual adapter, select Destination port group and select a port group from the drop-down menu
to migrate the virtual adapter to the distributed switch or select Do not migrate.
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Chapter 6 Organizing Your Inventory
b Select the maximum number of ports for the host from the drop-down menu.
c Click OK.
7 Click Next.
9 Click Next.
10 (Optional) If you need to make any changes, click Back to the appropriate screen.
11 Review the settings for the distributed switch and click Finish.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Select Inventory > vSphere Distributed Switch > New Port Group.
3 Enter a Name and the Number of Ports for your new distributed port group.
Option Description
None Do not use VLAN.
VLAN In the VLAN ID field, enter a number between 1 and 4094.
VLAN Trunking Enter a VLAN trunk range.
Private VLAN Select a private VLAN entry. If you did not create any private VLANs, this
menu is empty.
5 Click Next.
6 Click Finish.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Right-click the distributed port group in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings.
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Option Action
Name Type the name for the distributed port group.
Description Type a brief description of the distributed port group.
Number of Ports Type the number of ports on the distributed port group.
Port binding Choose when ports are assigned to virtual machines connected to this
distributed port group.
n Select Static binding to assign a port to a virtual machine when the
virtual machine connects to the distributed port group. This option is not
available when the vSphere Client is connected directly to ESXi.
n Select Dynamic binding to assign a port to a virtual machine the first
time the virtual machine powers on after it is connected to the distributed
port group. Dynamic binding is depricated in ESXi 5.0.
n Select Ephemeral for no port binding. This option is not available when
the vSphere Client is connected directly to ESXi.
4 Click OK.
Procedure
1 Log in to the vSphere Client and select the Networking inventory view.
2 Right-click the distributed port group in the inventory pane, and select Edit Settings.
Option Description
Allow override of port policies Select this option to allow distributed port group policies to be overridden
on a per-port level. Click Edit Override Settingsto select which policies can
be overridden at the port level.
Edit Override Settings Select which policies can be overridden at the port level.
Configure reset at disconnect When a distributed port is disconnected from a virtual machine, the
configuration of the distributed port is reset to the distributed port group
setting. Any per-port overrides are discarded.
4 Click OK.
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License Management and Reporting 7
vCenter Server provides licensing infrastructure that you can use for management and reporting of licenses
that apply to ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and certain solutions such as vCenter Site Recovery Manager, vCenter
CapacityIQ, vCenter Chargeback, and so on.
Licensing in vCenter Server is implemented using license keys. You can assign one license key to multiple
licensable objects of the same type if the key has enough capacity. However, you cannot assign multiple license
keys to a single licensable object. For example, you can assign one license key to multiple vCenter Server
systems in a Linked Mode group, but you cannot assign multiple license keys to a single vCenter Server system.
ESXi 5.0 hosts, vCenter Server 5.0, and solutions have different licensing models.
n ESXi 5.0 hosts are licensed with vSphere 5.0 license keys that have per-processor capacity with pooled
vRAM entitlements. You can assign a vSphere 5.0 license key to multiple ESXi 5.0 hosts if the key has large
enough processor capacity to cover all physical processors in the hosts. When you assign a vSphere 5.0
license key to an ESXi 5.0 host, the amount of processor capacity of the key that is consumed is equal to
the number of physical processors in the host. vRAM is defined as the memory that is configured to a
virtual machine. vRAM entitlements are pooled across all in-use vSphere 5.0 license keys of the same
product edition for a single vCenter Server system or a Linked Mode group. A license key is in use if it is
assigned to at least one host. The amount of vRAM capacity that each in-use license key contributes to the
pool of its vSphere edition is equal to the processor capacity of the key multiplied by the base vRAM
entitlement of the corresponding vSphere edition. The vRAM capacity of the pool is consumed only by
powered-on virtual machines that run on ESXi 5.0 hosts. Each powered-on virtual machine consumes an
amount of vRAM that is equal to its configured memory. If a virtual machine is configured with memory
greater than 96GB, the vRAM usage for the virtual machine equals to 96GB. For details about vRAM and
how to apply the licensing model for ESXi 5.0 hosts, see “Licensing for ESXi 5.0 Hosts,” on page 69.
n vCenter Server 5.0 systems are licensed with vCenter Server 5.0 license keys that have per-instance capacity
type. A license key for vCenter Server determines the number of vCenter Server instances that you can
license with the key.
n Solutions are licensed depending on the specific usage and licensing needs of each solution. For example,
vCenter Site Recovery Manager, vCenter Capacity IQ, and vCenter Chargeback are licensed on a per-
virtual-machine basis.
The licensing infrastructure in vCenter Server provides functions that you can use to implement and monitor
the licensing models of ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and solutions.
n Licensing Terminology and Definitions on page 68
The licensing infrastructure in vCenter Server uses specific terminology and definitions to refer to
different licensing-related objects.
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License Key An alphanumeric sequence of 25 characters in groups of five that are separated
by dashes. The license key encodes details for the product it is associated with,
the license expiration date, the license capacity, and other information. The
license key is entered in the system to activate the product it is associated with.
Product A set of functionality that you can purchase together as a group. Examples of
products are vCenter Server, vSphere, and solutions.
Product Edition A set of specific features that are associated with a unique license key. When
assigned, the license key unlocks the features in the product edition. Examples
of product editions are vSphere Enterprise, vSphere Standard, vCenter Server
Essentials, and so on.
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Solution A product that is packed and distributed independently from vSphere. You
install a solution in vSphere to take advantage of certain functionality. Every
solution has a licensing model specific for the solution, but can use the licensing
infrastructure of vCenter Server for license management and reporting.
Examples of solutions are vCenter CapacityIQ, vCenter Site Recovery
Manager, vCenter Chargeback, and so on.
Asset Any licensable object in vSphere. The license administrator in vSphere can
assign one license key to one or multiple assets of the same type if the key has
sufficient capacity. Assets are vCenter Server systems, ESXi hosts, and solution
instances.
License Key Capacity Amount of units that you can assign to assets. The units of a license key capacity
can be of different types depending on the product that the license key is
associated with. For example, a license key for vCenter Server determines the
number of vCenter Server instances that you can license with the key.
License Use The number of units that an asset uses from the capacity of a license key. For
example, if you assign a per-virtual-machine license key to vCenter Site
Recovery Manager, the license use for Site Recovery Manager is the number of
protected virtual machines.
vRAM The memory that is configured for virtual machines. vSphere 5.0 licenses entitle
a certain amount of vRAM capacity. vRAM entitlements are pooled across all
assigned vSphere 5.0 license keys of the same product edition for a vCenter
Server system or for a Linked Mode group. Only powered-on virtual machines
consume vRAM capacity from a vRAM pool. For details about vRAM and
vRAM pooling, see “vRAM Entitlement and Pooling,” on page 70.
To license an ESXi 5.0 host, you need to assign it a vSphere 5.0 license key with processor capacity that is
sufficient to license all physical processors on the host. For example, to license two ESXi 5.0 hosts that have
four processors each, you need to assign a vSphere 5.0 license key with a minimum capacity of 8 processors to
the hosts.
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If you try to assign a license key that has insufficient capacity to license all physical processors on the host, the
license assignment is unsuccessful. In such case, you need to assign a different license key with a larger
processor capacity. You need to use a different license key in your inventory or combine your license key with
another license key to create a new license key with a larger processor capacity.
You can assign and reassign the processor capacity of a vSphere 5.0 license key to any combination of ESXi 5.0
hosts. For example, suppose that you purchase a vSphere 5.0 license key for 10 processors. You can assign the
license key to any of the following combinations of hosts:
n Five 2-processor hosts.
n Three 2-processor hosts and one 4-processor host.
n Two 4-processor hosts and one 2-processor host.
n One 8-processor host and one 2-processor host.
Dual-core and quad-core processors, such as Intel processors that combine two or four independent processors
on a single chip, count as one processor.
The vRAM capacity of a vSphere 5.0 license key equals the vRAM entitlement of the license edition multiplied
by the processor capacity of the license key. For example, vSphere 5.0 Standard entitles to a 32GB of vRAM. A
license key of vSphere 5.0 Standard with capacity for 10 processor entitles to a vRAM capacity of 320GB.
n vRAM Pooling on page 70
The amount of vRAM that vSphere 5.0 license keys provide is aggregated into vRAM pools for every
license edition when the license keys are assigned to ESXi 5.0 hosts.
n Calculating the vRAM Usage on page 71
The vRAM usage equals the sum of memory that is configured on powered-on virtual machines that run
on ESXi 5.0 hosts. The vRAM usage is calculated for every vRAM pool that is available in a vCenter
Server system or a Linked Mode group.
n Compliance Rules on page 71
No restriction exist for the number of virtual machines that can consume the available capacity in a vRAM
pool. No restriction exists on how virtual machines are distributed across all hosts in a vRAM pool either.
However, you must maintain the ESXi 5.0 in your environment in compliance with the vSphere 5.0
licensing model.
n Extending a vRAM Pool on page 72
If the amount of vRAM that is available in the vRAM pools in your virtual environment is insufficient,
you can extend the vRAM pools to keep them in compliance with the licensing model of vSphere 5.0
products.
vRAM Pooling
The amount of vRAM that vSphere 5.0 license keys provide is aggregated into vRAM pools for every license
edition when the license keys are assigned to ESXi 5.0 hosts.
When you assign a vSphere 5.0 license key to one or more ESXi 5.0 hosts, the key adds its vRAM capacity to a
vRAM pool. For example, if you assign a license key of vSphere 5.0 Standard with a capacity of 10 processors
and vRAM capacity of 320GB, the key adds 320GB of vRAM to the pool for vSphere Standard.
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A vRAM pool aggregates all vRAM entitlements of vSphere 5.0 license keys of one edition that are assigned
to ESXi 5.0 hosts. A vRAM pool for one license edition is available for one vCenter Server or a Linked Mode
group. The amount of vRAM that is available in a vRAM pool for a license edition determines the total amount
of memory that you can provision on powered-on virtual machines running on ESXi 5.0 hosts.
For example, you assign license key A of vSphere 5.0 Standard to an ESXi 5.0 host. The key has a capacity of
six processors and entitles 32GB of vRAM. The vRAM pool that is created for vSphere Standard contains 192GB
of vRAM that license key A provides. Later, you assign license key B of vSphere Standard to another ESXi 5.0
host. License key B has a capacity for 10 processors and entitles 32GB of vRAM. License key B adds 320GB of
vRAM to the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard. The total amount of vRAM that is available in the vRAM pool
for vSphere Standard is the sum from the vRAM entitlements of license key A and license key B, which is
512GB. In this example, you can provision up to 512GB of memory on the virtual machines that run on the
ESXi 5.0 hosts that are licensed with vSphere 5.0 Standard license keys.
For example, suppose that the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard contains 320GB of vRAM. On the ESXi 5.0
hosts that are licensed with vSphere 5.0 Standard, you can create and power on 50 virtual machines each with
4GB of configured memory. The total amount of memory that is provisioned on the new virtual machines is
200GB, and the vRAM usage for the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard is 200GB.
NOTE If any of your virtual machines have more than 96GB of configured memory, the amount of memory
above 96GB does not count against vRAM. For example, if you power on two virtual machines each with 100GB
of configured memory, the vRAM usage for the virtual machines is 192GB.
Compliance Rules
No restriction exist for the number of virtual machines that can consume the available capacity in a vRAM
pool. No restriction exists on how virtual machines are distributed across all hosts in a vRAM pool either.
However, you must maintain the ESXi 5.0 in your environment in compliance with the vSphere 5.0 licensing
model.
Two requirements must be satisfied to maintain compliance with the vSphere 5.0 licensing model.
n Every physical processor in an ESXi host that runs vSphere 5.0 must be licensed.
n The 365-day moving average of daily high watermark of the vRAM usage for a vRAM pool must be equal
to or less than the amount of available vRAM capacity in the pool.
The 365-day moving average of daily high watermark for a vRAM pool is calculated by using the maximum
usage for the pool for each of the past 365 days to calculate the average value. You can track the 365-day moving
average by using the license reporting function in vCenter Server. To view the value of the 365-day moving
average for a vRAM pool, you can view the vRAM usage for the corresponding vSphere product edition for
a period of one year. Using the license reporting function, you can also set custom thresholds for the license
usage of particular products to get notifications when the license usage for the products exceeds certain limits.
For details about using the license reporting function in vCenter Server, see “Viewing License Use,” on
page 81
Because licensing compliance for vSphere 5.0 is based on the 365-day moving average, temporary peeks of
vRAM usage might exceed the total capacity that is available in a vRAM pool without making the pool out of
compliance. For example, suppose the vRAM usage for vSphere 5.0 Standard on the current date is 210GB,
and the available vRAM in the pool for vSphere 5.0 Standard is 200BG. However, the 365-day of moving
average for vSphere 5.0 Standard is 195GB and the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard is in compliance.
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If you have vSphere 5.0 Essentials or Essential Plus kits, you cannot use more than 192GB of vRAM for powered-
on virtual machines. If the memory that is configured to powered-on virtual machines reaches 192GB, you
cannot power on any new virtual machines or hot add memory to already powered-on virtual machines.
You can extend a vRAM pool of a certain license edition in three ways.
n Assign new license keys of the same edition to unlicensed ESXi 5.0 hosts. To increase the vRAM pool for
vSphere Standard, you can assign another license key of vSphere Standard to an unlicensed ESXi 5.0 host.
In this case, the key adds its vRAM capacity to the vRAM pool for vSphere Standard.
n Assign a license key of the same edition and a larger processor capacity to ESXi 5.0 hosts. You can use the
VMware License Portal to create a license key with a larger processor capacity by combining the capacities
of an already assigned license key and a new key. You can combine the capacities of only license keys that
are of the same vSphere 5.0 edition. To extend the vRAM pool for the corresponding license edition, you
can remove the old license key from the ESXi 5.x hosts and license them with the key that you created by
using the License Portal. For example, suppose that you license a group of ESXi 5.0 hosts with license key
A of vSphere Standard. License key A has a capacity of 10 processors and adds 320GB of vRAM to the
pool for vSphere Standard. The 365-day moving average for the vRAM usage reaches 320GB. You purchase
license key B of vSphere Standard that has a capacity of 5 processors corresponding to a vRAM entitlement
of 160GB. You use the VMware Licensing Portal to combine the capacities of license key A and B to create
license key C of vSphere Standard that has a capacity of 15 processors. You remove license key A from
the ESXi 5.0 hosts and assign them the new license key C. Respectively, the vRAM pool for vSphere
Standard is extended to 480GB.
n Upgrade the editions of the license keys that are assigned to ESXi 5.0 hosts. For example, you can upgrade
the license keys from vSphere Standard to vSphere Enterprise. License keys of vSphere Enterprise entitle
64GB of vRAM.
To license a single vCenter Server 5.0, you need a vCenter Server 5.0 license key with a capacity for one instance.
If you have vCenter Server systems in a Linked Mode group, you can purchase a vCenter Server license key
with a larger capacity and assign the key to all vCenter Server systems in the group.
NOTE If you license vCenter Server 5.0 with vCenter Server Standard or Foundation licenses, vCenter Server
restricts managing hosts that are licensed with vSphere Essentials or Essentials Plus license keys.
Solution Licensing
Solutions can have different licensing models depending on the specifics of every solution.
Every solution that integrates its license management in vCenter Server is licensed on a different basis. Some
solutions can be licensed on per-instance basis, others can be licensed on per-virtual machine basis. For
example, vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 is licensed on per-virtual machine basis. A license key for Site
Recovery Manager 5.0 defines the number of virtual machines that you can protect.
For information about the licensing model of a certain solution, see the documentation for that solution.
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When you apply a minor upgrade or patch to the ESXi or vCenter Server software, you do not need to replace
the existing license key with a new one. If you apply a major upgrade to ESXi or vCenter Server, you need to
apply a new license key. For example, if you upgrade an ESXi host from 4.x to 5.x, you need to license the host
with a vSphere 5.x license. Similarly, if you upgrade vCenter Server from 4.x to 5.x, you must assign a vCenter
Server 5.x license.
If you upgrade the edition of the license, for example, from vSphere Standard to vSphere Enterprise, you must
replace the existing license key on the assets with the upgraded license key.
ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts require a license server to manage host-based license files. If you upgrade all your ESX/ESXi
3.5 hosts to 4.0 and later, you do not need a license server.
The license inventories in the vCenter Server systems maintain work slightly differently, depending on whether
you have Linked Mode groups or standalone systems.
These examples are specific to ESXi hosts and might not apply to solutions.
2 You reinstall vCenter Server and make it part of a different Linked Mode group.
3 The host license keys from the previous group are not transferred to the new group.
4 You add hosts that were licensed by the previous vCenter Server group to the new group.
6 The host license keys now belong to two Linked Mode groups. If the total assignment of the key exceeds
the key's capacity, this scenario is not supported and causes your license usage to be out of compliance.
3 You add the host to another vCenter Server instance and retain the license when you add a host.
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4 The host license key belongs to two separate license inventories. If the total assignment of the key exceeds
the key's capacity, this scenario is not supported and causes your license use to be out of compliance.
4 When you add a license key, the key becomes available to all the vCenter Server systems within the same
Linked Mode group. The license keys are shared, and each system in the group has the same inventory
view, although this might not always seem so because of replication delays.
Global.Licenses If you have global permission at the root folder, you can view and modify all
licenses in the vCenter Server inventory. This permission includes other
vCenter Server systems in a Linked Mode group.
Read-only If you have read-only permission on a host, the vCenter Server displays the
first and last five characters of the license key assigned to the host, the features
present in the license, and the expiration date for the license.
If you have neither of these permissions but you have the permission to add a host to vCenter Server, you can
add a license to the inventory and assign a license to the host when you perform the add host operation.
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After you use the license portal to combine license keys, you must add the new license key to the vCenter Server
license inventory and remove the old license keys.
Managing Licenses
License management is centralized. You can use the vSphere Client to manage all licenses that are available in
the license inventory of a vCenter Server system or a Linked Mode group.
n View License Information on page 76
You can view the license keys available in the vCenter Server license inventory from the Licensing page
in the vSphere Client.
n Add a License Key and Assign It to an Asset on page 76
After you obtain a license key, you can add it to the vCenter Server license inventory and assign the
license key to assets.
n Add License Keys to the License Inventory on page 77
After you obtain license keys, you can add them to the vCenter Server license inventory. You can add
multiple license keys at the same time.
n Assign a License Key to Assets on page 78
You can assign license keys to single or multiple assets, individually, or in batches.
n Export License Information on page 78
You can export license information in a file that you can later open with third-party applications.
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Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
You can view and manage the license keys available in the vCenter Server inventory from the
Management tab.
3 In the Management tab, select a sorting option for the license information.
Option Description
Product Displays the available license keys listed by product.
License key Displays the available license keys listed by license key.
Asset Displays the available license keys listed by the asset to which they are
assigned: host, vCenter Server, or solution.
The Management tab displays the available license keys listed by product, license key, or asset. You can right-
click any of the listed items to add, assign, and remove license keys and copy license information to your
clipboard.
What to do next
If you have a license key with zero assigned capacity, you can:
n Assign the license key to assets that require licensing.
n Remove the license key if the key is no longer required.
You should not keep unassigned license keys in the vCenter Server license inventory.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
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Procedure
2 In the Management tab, select Asset as a primary entity for sorting the license information.
5 Specify the license key, type an optional label for the key, and click OK.
6 Click OK.
The license key is added to the vCenter Server license inventory and assigned to the corresponding asset. If
vCenter Server is part of a Linked Mode group, the license key is added to the shared inventory of the group.
What to do next
Assign the license key to other assets of the same type in case the license key has available capacity.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
3 In the Add License Keys text area, specify license keys one per line.
6 If you are not ready to assign the license keys to assets, click Next through the remaining wizard screens
and click Finish to save your changes.
The license keys are added to the vCenter Server license inventory. If vCenter Server is in a Linked Mode
group, the license keys are added to the shared inventory of the Linked Mode group.
What to do next
Assign the license keys to assets that require licensing. You should not keep unassigned license keys in the
vCenter Server license inventory.
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NOTE If an ESXi host disconnects from vCenter Server immediately after you assign a license key, the license
assignment operation does not complete but the host appears as licensed. The host is licensed after it reconnects
to vCenter Server.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
4 Click the ESX, vCenter Server, or Solutions tab to display the available assets.
7 In the Product window, select an appropriate license key and click Next.
If the license key you assign has a strong limit, the license capacity must be greater than or equal to the
required license use for the asset. Otherwise, you cannot assign the license key. Check the EULA of the
license to determine whether it has a strong limit.
8 (Optional) If you are not ready to remove any license keys, click Next to skip the Remove License Keys
page and click Finish to save your changes.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
2 In the Management tab, select the view that you want to export.
n Product
n License key
n Asset
4 In the Save As dialog box, select a folder, a filename, and a format for the exported license data and click
Save.
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Prerequisites
You must have a communication channel through a firewall before you add a host.
NOTE Verify that the edition of the license key you assign to the host matches the currently configured features
and resources. Otherwise, you cannot assign the license key.
Procedure
2 Expand the inventory as needed and click the appropriate datacenter, folder, or cluster.
4 At the prompt, assign an existing vSphere license key or add a new vSphere license key.
NOTE Verify that the edition of the license key you assign to the host matches the currently configured features
and resources. Otherwise, you cannot assign the license key.
Procedure
3 Click Edit.
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5 Click OK.
If you try to configure features that are not included in the host license, the vSphere Client displays an error
message.
Procedure
The list appears of features that you can configure on the host.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server, select the host in the inventory.
The host is in evaluation mode and you can explore the entire set of features for ESXi. If you have already used
the host in evaluation mode, the time that remains in the evaluation period is decreased by the time already
used. For example, suppose you have used the host in evaluation mode for 20 days and then assigned a vSphere
Standard license key to the host. If you set the host back in evaluation mode, you can explore the entire set of
features that are available for the host for the remaining evaluation period of 40 days. You can track the
remaining days from the evaluation period of a host in the host's page in the vSphere Client.
NOTE After the evaluation period of the host expires, you receive a warning message, and the host disconnects
from vCenter Server. All powered-on virtual machines continue to work, but you cannot power on any new
virtual machines. You cannot change the current configuration of the features that are already in use. You
cannot use the features that remained unused while the host was in evaluation mode.
If you do not have a license server installed and you need one, download the VMware License Server from the
VMware Web site.
The license server installation requires no downtime. No virtual machines, servers, hosts, or clients need to be
powered off for the installation of the license server.
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Prerequisites
You must have a license server installed. You can download the VMware License Server from the VMware
Web site.
Procedure
2 In the License Server text box, enter the port number and license server machine name, as in port@host.
3 If you want the hosts and vCenter Server to use the same license server, select the Reconfigure ESX 3
hosts using license servers to use this server check box.
4 Click OK.
You can use the Reporting tab of the Licensing page in the vSphere Client to perform the following tasks:
n View statistics for the license use and capacity of products filtered by a vCenter Server system and time
period.
n Export license use reports in CSV format for further analysis and processing.
n Set a threshold for the license use of products with use-based licensing models, such as per-virtual machine
and vRAM. License use thresholds allow you to receive notifications if a certain use is exceeded.
The License Usage History service on vCenter Server takes snapshots of the license use every hour. The license
use snapshots are stored in the vCenter Server database. A license use snapshot contains data about the current
license assignment and use for assets. The license use information that you can view on the Reporting tab
contains aggregated statistics from the snapshots that are collected in the period that you select.
The license use reports that you can export in CSV format contain the raw data from the license use snapshots
that are collected in the period that you select.
NOTE The license reporting function is part of the vSphere Web Client and is integrated as a plug-in to the
vSphere Client. To have the license reporting in the vSphere Client, you must install the vSphere Web Client
and register the vCenter Server system with the vSphere Web Client.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with
it.
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Procedure
3 (Optional) If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave
the default All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu.
You should leave the default All vCenter Server instances value to view the license use for the entire
group. If you view the license use for a single vCenter Server instance and not the entire group, you do
not receive information about the total use of license keys assigned to more than one asset in the group.
4 From the Time period drop-down menu, select a preconfigured or a custom time period for which you
want to view the license use for products.
a (Optional) If you select a custom time period, specify the start and end dates, and click Recalculate.
The Products Chart shows the license use for each product as a percentage of the license capacity for the product
over the period that you select. If a threshold exists for the license use of a product, the percentage of the
threshold use appears in the chart.
The vRAM use for vSphere 5.0 products is reported separately from the CPU use for every product edition.
For example, if you have license keys of vSphere 5.0 Enterprise Plus that are assigned to ESXi 5.0 hosts, the
vRAM use for vSphere 5.0 Enterprise Plus is reported as VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus (vRAM) in the
Products Chart.
Certain products in the Products Chart might have one or two asterisk (*) symbols next to their names. The
asterisks have a special meaning.
Table 7-1. Interpreting Chart Results for Products Marked With Asterisks
vCenter Server Configuration Description
Single vCenter Server instance or all vCenter Server instances An asterisk (*) next to a product in the Products Chart
in a Linked Mode group indicates that the licenses for the product are hard-enforced.
You cannot use more than 100 percent from the license
capacity.
All vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group Two asterisks (**) next to a product in the Products Chart
indicate that the license use that is reported for the product
includes data from vCenter Server instances that no longer
participate in the Linked Mode group.
Single vCenter Server instance from a Linked Mode group Two asterisks (**) next to a solution in the Products Chart
indicate that the license use that is reported for the solution
includes data for the entire Linked Mode group.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with
it.
Procedure
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3 If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave the default
All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu.
You should leave the default All vCenter Server Instances value to view the license use for a product for
the entire group. If you view the license use for a single vCenter Server instance and not the entire group,
you do not receive information about the total use of license keys that are assigned to more than one asset
in the group.
4 Select a preconfigured or a custom period for the license use details from the Time period drop-down
menu.
a (Optional) If you select a custom time period, specify the start and end dates, and click Recalculate.
The vRAM use for vSphere 5.0 products is reported separately from the CPU use for the every product
edition. For example, the vRAM use for vSphere 5.0 Standard is reported as VMware vSphere 5 Standard
(vRAM) in the Prodcuts Chart.
Details about the license use of the product that you select appear in the Product Details pane. The table in the
Product Details pane lists all the license keys for the product that are assigned to assets in the selected period.
The table can list license keys that are not used currently but were assigned to assets in the selected period.
What to do next
To view licensing details for a product, you select the product from the Products Chart pane and the licensing
details for the product appear in the Product Details pane.
Above the table in the Product Details pane, you can view the license use and capacity for the product over
the selected period and on the current date. The value for the license use that you view is the total use for all
license keys that belong to the product and that are assigned to assets. If a threshold exists for the license use
of the product, you can view the threshold limit.
Licenses used (selected period) Number of units from the purchased license capacity that assets use over the selected
period.
Purchased capacity (selected Latest amount of license capacity that is purchased for the selected period.
period)
Licenses used % (selected Percentage from the purchased license capacity that assets use over the selected period.
period)
Licenses used (today) Number of units from the purchased license capacity that assets use on the current date.
Purchased capacity (today) Amount of license capacity that is purchased for the product on the current date.
Licenses used % (today) Percentage from the purchased license capacity that assets use on the current date.
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The table in the Product Details pane lists all license keys that belong to the selected product and that are
assigned to assets over the selected period. The table contains details for the use and capacity of every key.
The license use on the Product Details pane is an aggregated value from the row data in the license use
snapshots that are stored in vCenter Server. The License Usage History service in every vCenter Server system
collects license use snapshots every hour.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with
it.
Procedure
3 If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave the default
All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu.
You should leave the default All vCenter Server instances value to view the use for a license key for the
entire group. If you select a single vCenter Server instance and the license key is assigned to more than
one asset in the group, you do not receive information about the total use of the license key.
4 From the Time period drop-down menu, select the time period for which you want to view details for a
license key.
a (Optional) If you select a custom time period, specify the start and end dates, and click Recalculate.
5 To view the license keys that belong to a product, select the product from the Products Chart pane.
6 To view the details for a license key, select the key from the Product Details pane.
To view the details for a license key, select the key from the Product Details pane.
Asset Assets licensed with the license key over the selected period.
Licenses used (selected Amount of units from the license capacity that the asset uses over the selected period. The
period) value is aggregated from the data in the license use snapshots that are available in the vCenter
Server database for the selected period. The License Usage History service in every vCenter
Server system collects license use snapshots every hour.
Licenses used (today) Amount of units from the license capacity that the asset uses on the current date.
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NOTE A tamper-detection feature in vCenter Server protects the license use information. If the licensing data
in the vCenter Server database has been edited, you cannot export a license use report.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with
it.
Procedure
3 Click export.
4 (Optional) If the vCenter Server instance that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, leave
the default All vCenter Server instances value in the vCenter Server drop-down menu.
You should leave the default All vCenter Server instances value to export the license use for the entire
group. By exporting the license use for a single vCenter Server instance and not the entire group, you do
not receive information about the total use of license keys that are assigned to more than one asset in the
group.
5 Select a preconfigured or a custom time period for the license use report from the Time period drop-down
menu.
6 Click Export.
The license use for products over the selected time period is exported in an CSV file. The CSV file is contained
in a .zip file that you can find in the location you specified.
The license use information that you view in the Reporting tab differs from the license use information that
you can export.
The license use information on the Reporting tab is aggregated data from the license use snapshots available
in the vCenter Server database for the period that you select.
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The exported report contains raw data about the license use of products for a single vCenter Server instance
or a Linked Mode group. The exported report includes all of the snapshots collected over the selected period.
The exported report can contain host, vCenter Server, or solution asset IDs, but does not include user-defined
names. The exported report is free of user and company-specific information.
Each row of the exported report CSV file lists a single license use snapshot, which includes an asset, its assigned
license key, and the use at the given timestamp.
Product Edition Edition of the product to which the license key belongs.
Cost Unit Capacity type of the license key (CPU, instance, virtual
machine, and so on).
Usage Amount of units from the license capacity that the asset uses
at the time of the timestamp. The unit of this value is
indicated in the Cost Unit column.
Capacity Capacity of the license key. The unit of this value is indicated
in the Cost Unit column.
vCenter Servers vCenter Server instances for which the usage is reported.
This column is useful when the report is generated for
multiple vCenter Server instances.
The last section of raw data in the file contains a signature that is a checksum of the file content. You can ignore
this section of the report.
You can apply thresholds only to products with use-based licensing models such as per-virtual machine or
vRAM. You can set thresholds below or above the purchased license capacity. You can use thresholds as an
additional means to receive notifications if the license use for a product exceeds certain limits. Thresholds do
not enforce license use limits.
NOTE You can set thresholds for the license use of products only for individual vCenter Server systems. You
cannot set thresholds for all vCenter Server systems in a Linked Mode group.
Prerequisites
n Verify that you have the Global.Licenses privilege.
n Ensure that the vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.
n Ensure that you have the vSphere Web Client installed and the vCenter Server system is registered with
it.
Procedure
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3 (Optional) If the vCenter Server that you are connected to is part of a Linked Mode group, from the vCenter
Server drop-down menu, select the vCenter Server system where you want to set a threshold for the license
use of a product.
7 Click OK.
You receive a message that the threshold is successfully set for the relevant product. The view in the Products
Chart refreshes after a few seconds and a bar appears that indicates the threshold value as a percent of the
license capacity of the product.
If the license use for the product exceeds the threshold amount, an alarm is triggered on the corresponding
vCenter Server, and a notice appears on the Reporting tab of the Licensing page. However, further use of the
product is not restricted.
NOTE The notifications might take several minutes to appear after a threshold is exceeded.
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System Log Files 8
In addition to lists of events and alarms, vSphere components generate assorted logs.
These logs contain additional information about activities in your vSphere environment.
Procedure
1 From the Home page of a vSphere Client connected to either a vCenter Server system or an ESXi host,
click System Logs.
2 From the drop-down menu, select the log and entry you want to view.
Procedure
vCenter Server agent (vpxa) logs appear if the host is managed by vCenter Server.
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c Press Enter
NOTE On Windows systems, several log files are stored in the Local Settings directory, which is located at
C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Local Settings\. This folder is hidden by default.
Table 8-1 lists log files associated with the vSphere Client machine.
vSphere Client \vpx directory in the Application Data directory on the vSphere Client machine.
Service log Example: C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Application
Data\vpx\viclient-x.log or C:\Users\user_name\Local Settings\Application
Data\vpx\viclient-x.log
x(=0, 1, ... 9)
To save diagnostic data for ESXi hosts and vCenter Server, the vSphere Client must be connected to the
vCenter Server system. If you are connected directly to an ESXi host, you can save diagnostic data only for that
specific ESXi host.
Required privileges:
n To view diagnostic data: Read-Only User
n To manage diagnostic data: Global.Licenses
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Procedure
2 If you are connected to vCenter Server, select the object for which you want to export data.
3 If you are connected to vCenter Server, select Include information from vCenter Server and vSphere
Client to download vCenter Server and vSphere Client log files and host log files, and click Next.
4 If the selected host supports manifest driven exports of system log files, select the system log files to collect.
Select the specific system log files to download.
If the host does not support manifest exports of log files, all system log files are exported.
5 Select Gather performance data to include performance data information in the log files. Click Next.
You can update the duration and interval time you want the data collected.
6 Click Next.
7 Click Browse and specify the location to which to save the log files.
The host or vCenter Server generates .zip bundles containing the log files. The Recent Tasks panel shows
the Generate diagnostic bundles task in progress.
8 Click Next.
The Downloading Log Bundles dialog box appears when the Generating Diagnostic Bundle task is
finished. The download status of each bundle appears in the dialog box.
Some network errors can cause download failures. When you select an individual download in the dialog
box, the error message for that operation appears under the name and location of the log bundle file.
9 Verify the information in the Summary and click Finish to download the log files.
10 If the download fails, click Retry to attempt to download the generated bundles again.
Diagnostic bundles containing log files for the specified objects are downloaded to the location specified.
For more information about using vCLI commands, see Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces.
Procedure
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5 To set up logging globally, click global and make changes to the fields on the right.
Option Description
Syslog.global.defaultRotate Sets the maximum number of archives to keep. You can set this number
globally and for individual subloggers.
Syslog.global.defaultSize Sets the default size of the log, in KB, before the system rotates logs. You can
set this number globally and for individual subloggers.
Syslog.global.LogDir Directory where logs are stored. The directory can be located on mounted
NFS or VMFS volumes. Only the /scratch directory on the local file system
is persistent across reboots. The directory should be specified as
[datastorename] path_to_file where the path is relative to the root of the volume
backing the datastore. For example, the path [storage1]
var/log/messages maps to the
path /vmfs/volumes/storage1/var/log/messages. If no path is
specified, all log files are sent to /var/log.
Syslog.global.logDirUnique Selecting this option creates a subdirectory with the name of the ESXi host
under the directory specified by Syslog.global.LogDir. A unique directory
is useful if the same NFS directory is used by multiple ESXi hosts.
Syslog.global.LogHost Remote host to which syslog messages are forwarded and port on which the
remote host receives syslog messages. You can include the protocol and the
port, for example, ssl://hostName1:514. UDP (default), TCP, and SSL are
supported. The remote host must have syslog installed and correctly
configured to receive the forwarded syslog messages. See the documentation
for the syslog service installed on the remote host for information on
configuration.
6 (Optional) To overwrite the default log size and log rotation for any of the logs.
a Click loggers.
b Click the name of the log you that want to customize and enter the number of rotations and log size
you want.
7 Click OK.
Procedure
4 Click OK.
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Chapter 8 System Log Files
Procedure
u View the log file using one of the following methods.
Task Description
View the viclient-*.log file Change to the directory, %temp%.
Download the log bundle from Select Administration > Export System Logs to download the log bundle.
vSphere Client connected to a The log bundle is generated as a .zip file. By default, the vpxd logs within
vCenter Server system the bundle are compressed as .gz files. You must use gunzip to uncompress
these files.
Generate vCenter Server log bundles Select Start > Programs > VMware > Generate vCenter Server log bundle.
from a vCenter Server system You can use this to generate vCenter Server log bundles even when you are
unable to connect to the vCenter Server using the vSphere Client.
The log bundle is generated as a .zip file. By default, the vpxd logs within
the bundle are compressed as .gz files. You must use gunzip to uncompress
these files.
Procedure
u Run the following script on the ESXi Shell: /usr/bin/vm-support
Procedure
More serious problems in the VMkernel can freeze the machine without an error message or core dump.
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Working with Tasks and Events 9
vSphere tasks and events are activities and actions that occur on an object within the vSphere inventory.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n “Managing Tasks,” on page 95
n “Managing Events,” on page 101
n “Report Errors to VMware,” on page 104
Managing Tasks
Tasks represent system activities that do not complete immediately, such as migrating a virtual machine. They
are initiated by high-level activities that you perform with the vSphere Client in real time and activities that
you schedule to occur at a later time or on a recurring basis.
For example, powering off a virtual machine is a task. You can perform this task manually every evening, or
you can set up a scheduled task to power off the virtual machine every evening for you.
NOTE The functionality available in the vSphere Client depends on whether the vSphere Client is connected
to a vCenter Server system or an ESXi host. Unless indicated, the process, task, or description applies to both
kinds of vSphere Client connections. When the vSphere Client is connected to an ESXihost, the Tasks option
is not available; however, you can view recent tasks in the Status Bar at the bottom of the vSphere Client.
Viewing Tasks
You can view tasks that are associated with a single object or all objects in the vSphere Client inventory. The
Tasks & Events tab lists completed tasks and tasks that are currently running.
By default, the tasks list for an object also includes tasks performed on its child objects. You can filter the list
by removing tasks performed on child objects and by using keywords to search for tasks.
If you are logged in to a vCenter Server system that is part of a Connected Group, a column in the task list
displays the name of the vCenter Server system on which the task was performed.
Procedure
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2 Display the tasks for a single object or the entire vCenter Server.
n To display the tasks for an object, select the object.
n To display the tasks in the vCenter Server, select the root folder.
The task list contains tasks performed on the object and its children.
4 (Optional) To view detailed information for a task, select the task in the list.
The Task Details pane displays details such as task status, any error messages in the error stack, and any
related events.
Procedure
3 If necessary, select View > Status to display the status bar at the bottom of the vSphere Client.
The list of completed tasks appears in the Recent Tasks pane of the Status Bar.
Procedure
u In the navigation bar, select Home > Management > Scheduled Tasks.
Procedure
1 Select the host or datacenter in the inventory and click the Tasks & Events tab.
3 If the Show all entries list and the search field are not displayed under the Tasks and Events buttons,
select View > Filtering.
4 Click Show all entries and select Show host entries or Show datacenter entries, depending on the object
selected.
Procedure
2 Select the object and click the Tasks & Events tab.
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Chapter 9 Working with Tasks and Events
3 If the Name, Target or Status contains search field is not displayed, select View > Filtering.
4 Click the search field arrow and select the attributes to include in the search.
Cancel a Task
Canceling a task stops a running task from occurring. Canceling a scheduled task does not cancel subsequent
runs. To cancel a scheduled task that has not run, reschedule it.
NOTE You can only cancel a subset of tasks by using the vSphere Client.
Required privileges:
n Manual tasks: Tasks.Update Task
n Scheduled tasks:Scheduled Task.Remove Task
n Appropriate permissions on the host where the task is running
Prerequisites
To cancel a task, the vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 Locate the task in the Recent Tasks pane of the Status Bar.
By default, the Status Baris displayed at the bottom of the vSphere Client. If it is not visible, select View
> Status Bar.
The vCenter Server system or ESXi host stops the progress of the task and returns the object to its previous
state. The vSphere Client displays the task with a Canceled status.
Schedule Tasks
You can schedule tasks to run once in the future or multiple times, at a recurring interval.
The vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system to create and manage scheduled tasks. The
tasks you can schedule are listed in the following table.
Change the power state of a virtual machine Powers on, powers off, suspends, or resets the state of the virtual machine.
Change cluster power settings Enable or disable DPM for hosts in a cluster.
Change resource settings of a resource pool Changes the following resource settings:
or virtual machine n CPU – Shares, Reservation, Limit.
n Memory – Shares, Reservation, Limit.
Check compliance of a profile Checks that a host's configuration matches the configuration specified in a
host profile.
Clone a virtual machine Makes a clone of the virtual machine and places it on the specified host or
cluster.
Create a virtual machine Creates a new virtual machine on the specified host.
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Deploy a virtual machine Creates a new virtual machine from a template on the specified host or
cluster.
Migrate a virtual machine Migrate a virtual machine to the specified host or datastore by using
migration or migration with vMotion.
Make a snapshot of a virtual machine Captures the entire state of the virtual machine at the time the snapshot is
taken.
Scan for Updates Scans templates, virtual machines, and hosts for available updates.
This task is available only when vSphere Update Manager is installed.
Remediate Downloads any new patches discovered during the scan operation and
applies the newly configured settings.
This task is available only when vSphere Update Manager is installed.
You create scheduled tasks by using the Scheduled Task wizard. For some scheduled tasks, this wizard opens
the wizard used specifically for that task. For example, if you create a scheduled task that migrates a virtual
machine, the Scheduled Task wizard opens the Migrate Virtual Machine wizard, which you use to set up the
migration details.
Scheduling one task to run on multiple objects is not possible. For example, you cannot create one scheduled
task on a host that powers on all virtual machines on that host. You must create a separate scheduled task for
each virtual machine.
After a scheduled task runs, you can reschedule it to run again at another time.
You can schedule a limited number of tasks by using the vSphere Client. If the task to schedule is not available,
use the vSphere API. See the vSphere SDK Programming Guide.
CAUTION Do not schedule multiple tasks to be performed at the same time on the same object. The results are
unpredictable.
Prerequisites
The vSphere Client must be connected to a vCenter Server system to schedule tasks.
Procedure
1 In the navigation bar, click Home > Management > Scheduled Tasks.
3 In the Select a Task to Schedule dialog box, select a task and click OK to open the wizard for that task.
NOTE For some scheduled tasks, the wizard opens the wizard used specifically for that task. For example,
to migrate a virtual machine, the Scheduled Task wizard opens the Migrate Virtual Machine Wizard,
which you use to set up the migration details.
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Chapter 9 Working with Tasks and Events
You can schedule a task to run only once during a day. To set up a task to run multiple times in one day,
set up additional scheduled tasks.
Once n To run the scheduled task immediately, select Now and click Next.
n To run the scheduled task at a later time and date, select Later and enter a Time. Click the
Date arrow to display the calendar and click a date.
After Startup n In Delay, enter the number of minutes to delay the task.
Hourly 1 In Start Time, enter the number of minutes after the hour to run the task.
2 In Interval, enter the number of hours after which to run the task.
For example, to start a task at the half-hour mark of every 5th hour, enter 30 and 5.
last runs the task on the last week in the month that the day occurs. For example, if
you select the last Monday of the month and the month ends on a Sunday, the task
runs six days before the end of the month.
3 In Interval, enter the number of months between each task run.
8 Click Next.
10 Click Finish.
The vCenter Server system adds the task to the list in the Scheduled Tasks window.
Tasks that aren’t running can be cleared when they are in a queued or scheduled state. In such cases, because
the cancel operation is not available, either remove the task or reschedule it to run at a different time. Removing
a scheduled task requires that you recreate it to run it in the future, rescheduling does not.
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If your vSphere uses virtual services, you can also cancel the following scheduled tasks:
n Change the power state of a virtual machine
n Make a snapshot of a virtual machine
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client navigation bar, click Home > Management > Scheduled Tasks.
6 Click Finish.
Prerequisites
To remove scheduled tasks, the vSphere Client must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client navigation bar, click Home > Management > Scheduled Tasks.
4 Click OK.
vCenter Server and ESXi hosts use the following rules to process tasks:
n The user performing the task in the vSphere Client must have the correct permissions on the relevant
objects. After a scheduled task is created, it will be performed even if the user no longer has permission
to perform the task.
n When the operations required by manual tasks and scheduled tasks conflict, the activity due first is started
first.
n When a virtual machine or host is in an incorrect state to perform any activity, manual or scheduled,
vCenter Server or the ESXi host does not perform the task. A message is recorded in the log.
n When an object is removed from the vCenter Server or the ESXi host, all associated tasks are also removed.
n The vSphere Client and vCenter Server system use UTC time to determine the start time of a scheduled
task. This ensures vSphere Client users in different time zones see the task scheduled to run at their local
time.
Events are logged in the event log at start and completion of a task. Any errors that occur during a task are
also recorded in the event log.
CAUTION Do not schedule multiple tasks to be performed at the same time on the same object. The results are
unpredictable.
Managing Events
An event is an action that occurs on an object in vSphere Server or on a host.
Events include user actions and system actions that occur on managed objects in the vSphere Client inventory.
For example, events are created when a user logs in to a virtual machine and when a host connection is lost.
Each event records an event message. An event message is a predefined description of an event. Event messages
contain information such as the user who generated the event, the time the event occurred, and the type of
event message (information, error, or warning). Event messages are archived in vCenter Server.
Typically, event details include the name of the object on which the event occurred and describes the action
that occurred. The object of the event is a link to the object’s individual event page.
NOTE When actions occur on a folder, for example, when an alarm is created on a folder, the related event (in
this case the AlarmCreatedEvent) is visible only in the parent datacenter.
Viewing Events
You can view events associated with a single object or with all objects in the vSphere Client inventory.
The events listed for a selected object include events associated with the child objects. Detailed information
about a selected event appears in the Event Details panel below the event list.
NOTE When the vSphere Client is connected directly to a host, the Tasks & Events tab is labeled Events.
Procedure
1 Select the inventory object and click the Tasks & Events tab.
2 Click Events.
3 (Optional) Select an event in the list to see the Event Details, including a list of related events and errors
in the error stack.
Error messages that display in the Error Stack are shown by default.
4 (Optional) Click the icon next to Description to view further details and possible causes of the event.
View Events
You can view events associated with a single object or view all vSphere events. The events list for a selected
inventory object includes events associated with child objects.
Prerequisites
You must have a vSphere Web Client or a vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server.
Procedure
u Perform the actions that correspond with the client interface you are using.
Procedure
2 Select the host or datacenter and click the Tasks & Events tab.
4 If the Show all entries list and search field are not visible under the Tasks and Events buttons, select
View > Filtering.
5 Click Show all entries and select Show host entries or Show datacenter entries, depending on the object
selected.
Prerequisites
Procedure
2 If the Name, Target or Status contains search field is not visible, select View > Filtering.
3 Click the search field arrow and select the attributes to include in the search.
The events that match the search are retrieved and displayed in the events list.
Procedure
For example, to create an alarm for all hosts in a cluster, display the cluster. To create an alarm for a single
host, display the host.
b In Alarm Type, select the object to monitor and select Monitor for specific events occurring on this
object.
The vCenter Server verifies the configuration of the alarm and adds the alarm to the list of alarms for the
selected object.
Prerequisites
You must have a vSphere Web Client or a vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server.
Procedure
u Perform the actions that correspond with the client interface you are using.
Option Description
vSphere Client a Select File > Export > Export Events.
b (Linked-mode only) In thevCenter Server list, select the server where
the events occurred.
c Specify Events, Time, and Limits attributes for the events you want to
export.
d Specify a file name and location.
e Click OK.
vSphere Web Client a Switch console views to the Event Console view and click Export.
b Specify Events, Time, and Limits attributes for the events you want to
export.
c Click Proceed.
d Click Export.
e Specify a file name and location.
f Click OK.
vCenter Server creates the file in the specified location. The file contains the Type, Time, and Description of
the events.
Perform this task in the vSphere Client, within an error dialog, Task Details, or Event Details
Procedure
The Submit Error Report window displays details about the specific error.
2 (Optional) Click the printer icon to print the error log report.
3 (Optional) Click the disk icon to save the error log report.
The error log report can be saved as an HTML file. If you are working offlline, this allows you to use the
HTML file to submit the error report to VMware at a later time.
4 Click Submit.
The data is sent to VMware for analysis. Additionally, the data is compared to entries in the VMware
Knowledge Base and, if matches are found, the relevant articles are displayed.
Procedure
u On the physical box where ESXi is installed, press the power button until the power on sequence begins.
The ESXi host starts, locates its virtual machines, and proceeds with its normal ESXi functions.
Procedure
Procedure
For example, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and click VMware VirtualCenter
Server.
3 In the VMware vCenter Server Services Properties dialog box, click the General tab and view the service
status.
Procedure
For example, select Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services and click VMware vCenter
Server.
2 Right-click VMware vCenter Server, select Start, and wait for startup to complete.
You should not have to stop the vCenter Server service. The vCenter Server should operate without
interruption. Continuous operation ensures that all monitoring and task activities are performed as expected.
Procedure
For example, select Start > Control Panel > AdministrativeTools > Services.
3 Right-click VMware vCenter Server, select Stop, and wait for it to stop.
For information on configuration management of ESXihosts, see the vSphere Networking documentation, the
vSphere Storage documentation, or the vSphere Security documentation.
The views and capabilities displayed vary depending on whether the vSphere Client is connected to a
vCenter Server system or an ESXihost. Unless indicated, the process, task, or description applies to all kinds
of vSphere Client connections.
See “Add Hosts,” on page 58 for information and instructions about adding hosts to vCenter Server.
The managed host and its associated virtual machines remain in the vCenter Server inventory. By contrast,
removing a managed host from vCenter Server removes the managed host and all its associated virtual
machines from the vCenter Server inventory.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Serversystem, display the inventory and click the
managed host to disconnect.
2 Right-click the host and select Disconnect from the pop-up menu.
If the managed host is disconnected, the word “disconnected” is appended to the object name in
parentheses, and the object is dimmed. All associated virtual machines are similarly dimmed and labeled.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, display the inventory and click the
managed host to reconnect.
2 Right-click the host and select Connect from the pop-up menu.
When the managed host’s connection status to vCenter Server is changed, the statuses of the virtual
machines on that managed host are updated to reflect the change.
If vCenter Server fails to decrypt a host password, the host is disconnected from vCenter Server. You must
reconnect the host and supply the login credentials, which will be encrypted and stored in the database using
the new certificate.
You can remove hosts from a cluster by selecting them in the inventory and dragging them to a new location
within the inventory. The new location can be a folder as a standalone host or another cluster.
Prerequisites
Before you can remove a host from a cluster, you must power off all virtual machines that are running on the
host, or migrate the virtual machines to a new host using vMotion.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, display the inventory.
2 Right-click the appropriate managed host icon in the inventory panel, and select Enter Maintenance
Mode from the pop-up menu.
If all virtual machines on the host are not powered off, the host will not enter maintenance mode.
If the host is inside a DRS-enabled cluster, entering maintenance mode causes DRS to attempt to
automatically evacuate powered-on virtual machines from the host using vMotion.
The confirmation dialog also asks if you want to automatically evacuate virtual machines that are not
powered on from the host. This is useful if you want those virtual machines to remain registered to a host
within the cluster.
The host icon changes and the term “maintenance mode” is added to the name in parentheses.
4 Select the host icon in the inventory panel, and drag it to the new location.
The host can be moved to another cluster or another datacenter. When the new location is selected, a blue
box surrounds the cluster or datacenter name.
5 Right-click the host, and select Exit Maintenance Mode from the pop-up menu.
Historical data for removed hosts remains in the vCenter Server database.
Removing a managed host differs from disconnecting the managed host from vCenter Server. Disconnecting
a managed host does not remove it from vCenter Server; it temporarily suspends all vCenter Server monitoring
activities. The managed host and its associated virtual machines remain in the vCenter Server inventory.
Removing a managed host from vCenter Server does not remove the virtual machines from the managed host
or datastore. It removes only vCenter Server’s access to the managed host and virtual machines on that
managed host.
Figure 11-1 illustrates the process for removing a managed host from vCenter Server. In the example here,
notice the lost link between vCenter Server and the removed managed host, while the managed host files
remain on the datastore.
Figure 11-1. Removing a Host
1. Registered host and virtual machines
host A
VM1
VM2 VM1.dsk
VM2.dsk
vCenter
host B VM3.dsk
VM3
VM4.dsk
VM4
shared datastore
host A
VM1
vCenter
VM2 VM1.dsk
VM2.dsk
host B VM3.dsk
VM3
VM4.dsk
VM4
shared datastore
If possible, remove managed hosts while they are connected. Removing a disconnected managed host does
not remove the vCenter Server agent from the managed host.
Prerequisites
Make sure NFS mounts are active. If NFS mounts are unresponsive, the operation fails.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client connected to a vCenter Server system, display the inventory.
2 (Optional) If the host is part of a cluster, you must put it in maintenance mode.
a Right-click the managed host in the inventory and select Enter Maintenance Mode from the pop-up
menu.
The host icon changes and the term “maintenance mode” is added to the name in parentheses.
3 Right-click the appropriate host in the inventory panel, and select Remove from the pop-up menu.
4 In the confirmation dialog that appears, click Yes to remove the managed host.
vCenter Server removes the managed host and associated virtual machines from the vCenter Server
environment. vCenter Server then returns the status of all associated processor and migration licenses to
available.
Cold Migration Moving a powered-off virtual machine to a new host. Optionally, you can
relocate configuration and disk files to new storage locations. You can use cold
migration to move virtual machines from one datacenter to another.
Migrating a Suspended Moving a suspended virtual machine to a new host. Optionally, you can
Virtual Machine relocate configuration and disk files to new storage location. You can migrate
suspended virtual machines from one datacenter to another.
Migration with vMotion Moving a powered-on virtual machine to a new host. Migration with vMotion
allows you to move a virtual machine to a new host without any interruption
in the availability of the virtual machine. You cannot use vMotion to move
virtual machines from one datacenter to another. Some configurations include
Metro vMotion, a feature that enables reliable migrations between hosts
separated by high network round-trip latency times. Metro vMotion is
automatically enabled when the appropriate license is installed. No user
configuration is necessary.
Migration with Storage Moving the virtual disks or configuration file of a powered-on virtual machine
vMotion to a new datastore. Migration with Storage vMotion allows you to move a
virtual machine’s storage without any interruption in the availability of the
virtual machine.
Both migration of a suspended virtual machine and migration with vMotion are sometimes referred to as “hot
migration”, because they allow migration of a virtual machine without powering it off. Migration with vMotion
is sometimes referred to as "live migration".
You can move virtual machines manually or set up a scheduled task to perform the cold migration.
Cloning a virtual machine or copying its disks and configuration file creates a new virtual machine. Cloning
is not a form of migration.
Cold Migration
Cold migration is the migration of a powered-off virtual machine. With cold migration, you have the option
of moving the associated disks from one datastore to another. The virtual machines are not required to be on
shared storage.
The virtual machine you want to migrate must be powered off prior to beginning the cold migration process.
If a virtual machine is configured to have a 64-bit guest operating system, vCenter Server generates a warning
if you try to migrate it to a host that does not support 64-it operating systems. Otherwise, CPU compatibility
checks do not apply when you migrate a virtual machine with cold migration.
1 If the option to move to a different datastore was chosen, the configuration files, including the NVRAM
file (BIOS settings), and log files are moved from the source host to the destination host’s associated storage
area. If you chose to move the virtual machine's disks, these are also moved.
3 After the migration is completed, the old version of the virtual machine is deleted from the source host if
the option to move to a different datastore was chosen.
When you migrate a suspended virtual machine, the new host for the virtual machine must meet CPU
compatibility requirements, because the virtual machine must be able to resume executing instructions on the
new host.
1 The configuration files, including the NVRAM file (BIOS settings), log files, and the suspend file as well
as the disks of the virtual machine are moved from the source host to the destination host’s associated
storage area.
3 After the migration is completed, the old version of the virtual machine is deleted from the source host.
The entire state of the virtual machine, as well as its configuration file, if necessary, is moved to the new host,
while the associated virtual disk remains in the same location on storage that is shared between the two hosts.
After the virtual machine state is migrated to the alternate host, the virtual machine runs on the new host.
The state information includes the current memory content and all the information that defines and identifies
the virtual machine. The memory content includes transaction data and whatever bits of the operating system
and applications are in the memory. The defining and identification information stored in the state includes
all the data that maps to the virtual machine hardware elements, such as BIOS, devices, CPU, MAC addresses
for the Ethernet cards, chip set states, registers, and so forth.
When you migrate a virtual machine with vMotion, the new host for the virtual machine must meet
compatibility requirements in order for the migration to proceed.
1 When the migration with vMotion is requested, vCenter Server verifies that the existing virtual machine
is in a stable state with its current host.
2 The virtual machine state information (memory, registers, and network connections) is copied to the target
host.
If any error occurs during migration, the virtual machines revert to their original states and locations.
Migration of a suspended virtual machine and migration with vMotion can be referred to as hot migration,
because they allow migration of a virtual machine without powering it off.
Ensure that you have correctly configured your hosts in each of the following areas:
n Each host must be correctly licensed for vMotion.
n Each host must meet shared storage requirements for vMotion.
n Each host must meet the networking requirements for vMotion.
IMPORTANT The ESXi firewall in ESXi 5.0 does not allow per-network filtering of vMotion traffic. Therefore,
you must install rules on your external firewall to ensure that no incoming connections can be made to
the vMotion socket.
During a migration with vMotion, the migrating virtual machine must be on storage accessible to both the
source and target hosts. Ensure that the hosts configured for vMotion use shared storage. Shared storage is
typically on a storage area network (SAN), but can also be implemented using iSCSI and NAS shared storage.
See the VMware SAN Configuration Guide for additional information on SAN and the vSphere Storage for
information on other shared storage.
vMotion requires a Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) network between all vMotion-enabled hosts. Each host enabled
for vMotion must have a minimum of two Ethernet adapters, at least one of which must be a GigE adapter.
Recommended networking best practices are as follows:
n Use one dedicated GigE adapter for vMotion.
n If only two Ethernet adapters are available:
n For best security, dedicate the GigE adapter to vMotion, and use VLANs to divide the virtual machine
and management traffic on the other adapter.
n For best availability, combine both adapters into a bond, and use VLANs to divide traffic into
networks: one or more for virtual machine traffic and one for vMotion.
NOTE You cannot migrate virtual machines that are attached to a virtual intranet with vMotion, even if
the destination host has a virtual intranet configured with the same network label.
n If you are using vSphere Distributed Switches for networking, ensure that source and destination hosts
are members of all vSphere Distributed Switches that virtual machines use for networking.
n Use of Jumbo Frames is recommended for best vMotion performance.
The following virtual machine configurations can prevent migration with vMotion:
n You cannot use migration with vMotion to migrate virtual machines using raw disks for clustering
purposes.
n You cannot use migration with vMotion to migrate a virtual machine that uses a virtual device backed by
a device that is not accessible on the destination host. (For example, you cannot migrate a virtual machine
with a CD drive backed by the physical CD drive on the source host.) Disconnect these devices before
migrating the virtual machine.
Virtual machines with USB passthrough devices can be migrated with vMotion as long as the devices are
enabled for vMotion.
n You cannot use migration with vMotion to migrate a virtual machine that uses a virtual device backed by
a device on the client computer. Disconnect these devices before migrating the virtual machine.
Virtual machines on hosts running ESX Server 3.0.x have a virtual machine swap file located with the virtual
machine configuration file. Virtual machines on these hosts can be migrated with vMotion only if the
destination host can access the VMFS volume where the swap file is located.
You can configure ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 or later hosts to store virtual machine swapfiles in one of two locations:
with the virtual machine configuration file, or on a local swapfile datastore specified for that host. You can also
set individual virtual machines to have a different swapfile location from the default set for their current host.
The location of the virtual machine swapfile affects vMotion compatibility as follows:
n Migrations between hosts running ESX/ESXi version 3.5 and later: Migrations with vMotion and
migrations of suspended and powered-off virtual machines are allowed.
During a migration with vMotion, if the swapfile location specified on the destination host differs from
the swapfile location specified on the source host, the swapfile is copied to the new location. This can result
in slower migrations with vMotion. If the destination host cannot access the specified swapfile location,
it stores the swapfile with the virtual machine configuration file.
n Migrations between a host running ESX/ESXi version 3.5 and later and a host running an earlier version
of ESX: Migrations of suspended and powered-off virtual machines are allowed. If the virtual machine is
configured to use a local swapfile datastore, attempting to migrate it to a host that does not support this
configuration produces a warning, but the migration can proceed. When the virtual machine is powered
on again, the swapfile is located with the virtual machine.
Migrations with vMotion are not allowed unless the destination swapfile location is the same as the source
swapfile location. In practice, this means that virtual machine swapfiles must be located with the virtual
machine configuration file.
See the vSphere Client online Help for more information on configuring swapfile policies.
Migrating a virtual machine with snapshots is permitted, regardless of the virtual machine power state, as long
as the virtual machine is being migrated to a new host without moving its configuration file or disks. (The
virtual machine must reside on shared storage accessible to both hosts.)
If the migration involves moving the configuration file or virtual disks, the following additional restrictions
apply:
n The starting and destination hosts must be running ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 or later.
n All of the virtual machine files and disks must reside in a single directory, and the migrate operation must
move all the virtual machine files and disks to a single destination directory.
Reverting to a snapshot after migration with vMotion might cause the virtual machine to fail, because the
migration wizard cannot verify the compatibility of the virtual machine state in the snapshot with the
destination host. Failure occurs only if the configuration in the snapshot uses devices or virtual disks that are
not accessible on the current host, or if the snapshot contains an active virtual machine state that was running
on hardware that is incompatible with the current host CPU.
You can choose to place the virtual machine and all its disks in a single location, or select separate locations
for the virtual machine configuration file and each virtual disk. The virtual machine does not change execution
host during a migration with Storage vMotion.
During a migration with Storage vMotion, you can transform virtual disks from thick-provisioned to thin-
provisioned or from thin-provisioned to thick-provisioned.
Storage vMotion has a number of uses in administering virtual infrastructure, including the following
examples of use:
n Upgrading datastores without virtual machine downtime. You can migrate running virtual machines from
a VMFS2 datastore to a VMFS3 datastore, and upgrade the VMFS2 datastore using a two step process.
You can then use Storage vMotion to migrate virtual machines back to the original datastore without any
virtual machine downtime. For information on upgrading VmFS2 to VmFS5, see the vSphere Storage
documentation.
n Storage maintenance and reconfiguration. You can use Storage vMotion to move virtual machines off of
a storage device to allow maintenance or reconfiguration of the storage device without virtual machine
downtime.
n Redistributing storage load. You can use Storage vMotion to manually redistribute virtual machines or
virtual disks to different storage volumes to balance capacity or improve performance.
vMotion transfers the running state of a virtual machine between underlying ESXi systems. Successful live
migration requires that the processors of the target host be able to provide the same instructions to the virtual
machine after migration that the processors of the source host provided before migration. Clock speed, cache
size, and number of cores can differ between source and target processors, but the processors must come from
the same vendor class (AMD or Intel) to be vMotion compatible.
Migrations of suspended virtual machines also require that the virtual machine be able to resume execution
on the target host using equivalent instructions.
When you initiate a migration with vMotion or a migration of a suspended virtual machine, the Migrate Virtual
Machine wizard checks the destination host for compatibility and produces an error message if there are
compatibility problems that will prevent migration.
The CPU instruction set available to the operating system and applications running in a virtual machine is
determined at the time that a virtual machine is powered on. This CPU "feature set" is determined based on
the following items:
n Host CPU family and model
n Settings in the BIOS that might disable CPU features
n The ESX/ESXi version running on the host
n The virtual machine's virtual hardware version
n The virtual machine's guest operating system
To improve CPU compatibility between hosts of varying CPU feature sets, some host CPU features can be
"hidden" from the virtual machine by placing the host in an Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) cluster.
NOTE Host CPU features can also be hidden from a virtual machine by applying a custom CPU compatibility
mask to the virtual machine, but this is not recommended. VMware, in partnership with CPU and hardware
vendors, is working to maintain vMotion compatibility across the widest range of processors. For additional
information, search the VMware Knowledge Base for the vMotion and CPU Compatibility FAQ.
User-level features are non-privileged instructions that might be used by virtual machine applications. These
include SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, and AES. Because they are user-level instructions that bypass the
virtualization layer, these instructions could cause application instability if mismatched after a migration with
vMotion.
Kernel-level features are privileged instructions that might be used by the virtual machine operating system.
These include the AMD No eXecute (NX) and the Intel eXecute Disable (XD) security features.
When you attempt to migrate a virtual machine with vMotion, one of the following scenarios applies:
n The destination host feature set matches the virtual machine’s CPU feature set. CPU compatibility
requirements are met, and migration with vMotion proceeds.
n The virtual machine’s CPU feature set contains features not supported by the destination host. CPU
compatibility requirements are not met, and migration with vMotion cannot proceed.
NOTE EVC overcomes such incompatibility by providing a "baseline" feature set for all virtual machines
running in a cluster and that hides the differences among the clustered hosts' CPUs from the virtual
machines.
n The destination host supports the virtual machine’s feature set, plus additional user-level features (such
as SSE4.1) not found in the virtual machine’s feature set. CPU compatibility requirements are not met, and
migration with vMotion cannot proceed.
NOTE This type of incompatibility is ignored for migrations among hosts in EVC clusters.
n The destination host supports the virtual machine’s feature set, plus additional kernel-level features (such
as NX or XD) not found in the virtual machine’s feature set. CPU compatibility requirements are met, and
migration with vMotion proceeds. The virtual machine retains its CPU feature set as long as it remains
powered on, allowing it to migrate freely back to the original host. However, if the virtual machine is
rebooted, it acquires a new feature set from the new host, which might cause vMotion incompatibility if
you attempt to migrate the virtual machine back to the original host.
Processor families are defined by the processor vendors. You can distinguish different processor versions
within the same family by comparing the processors’ model, stepping level, and extended features. In some
cases, processor vendors have introduced significant architectural changes within the same processor family,
such as the SSSE3 and SSE4.1 instructions, and NX/XD CPU security features.
Server hardware’s CPU specifications will usually indicate whether or not the CPUs contain the features that
affect vMotion compatibility.
®
For more information on identifying Intel processors and their features, see Application Note 485: Intel Processor
Identification and the CPUID Instruction, available from Intel. For more information on identifying AMD
processors and their features, see CPUID Specification, available from AMD.
Configure EVC from the cluster settings dialog box. When you configure EVC, you configure all host processors
in the cluster to present the feature set of a baseline processor. This baseline feature set is called the EVC mode.
EVC leverages AMD-V Extended Migration technology (for AMD hosts) and Intel FlexMigration technology
(for Intel hosts) to mask processor features so that hosts can present the feature set of an earlier generation of
processors. The EVC mode must be equivalent to, or a subset of, the feature set of the host with the smallest
feature set in the cluster.
EVC masks only those processor features that affect vMotion compatibility. Enabling EVC does not prevent a
virtual machine from taking advantage of faster processor speeds, increased numbers of CPU cores, or
hardware virtualization support that might be available on newer hosts.
EVC cannot prevent virtual machines from accessing hidden CPU features in all circumstances. Applications
that do not follow CPU vendor recommended methods of feature detection might behave unexpectedly in an
EVC environment. VMware EVC cannot be supported with ill-behaved applications that do not follow the
CPU vendor recommendations. For more information about creating well-behaved applications, search the
VMware Knowledge Base for the article Detecting and Using New Features in CPUs.
EVC Requirements
Hosts in an EVC cluster must meet certain requirements.
To enable EVC on a cluster, the cluster must meet the following requirements:
n All virtual machines in the cluster that are running on hosts with a feature set greater than the EVC mode
you intend to enable must be powered off or migrated out of the cluster before EVC is enabled.
n All hosts in the cluster must have CPUs from a single vendor, either AMD or Intel.
n All hosts in the cluster must be running ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 or later.
n All hosts in the cluster must be connected to the vCenter Server system.
n All hosts in the cluster must have advanced CPU features, such as hardware virtualization support (AMD-
V or Intel VT) and AMD No eXecute (NX) or Intel eXecute Disable (XD), enabled in the BIOS if they are
available.
n All hosts in the cluster must have supported CPUs for the EVC mode you want to enable. Table 12-1 lists
the processor families supported for each EVC mode. To check EVC support for a specific processor or
server model, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
Any host added to an existing EVC-enabled cluster must also meet the requirements
NOTE Hardware vendors sometimes disable particular CPU features in the BIOS by default. This can cause
problems in enabling EVC, because the EVC compatibility checks detect the absence of features that are
expected to be present for a particular CPU. If you cannot enable EVC on a system with a compatible processor,
ensure that all features are enabled in the BIOS.
When you create an EVC cluster, use one of the following methods:
n Create an empty cluster, enable EVC, and move hosts into the cluster.
n Enable EVC on an existing cluster.
VMware recommends creating an empty EVC cluster as the simplest way of creating an EVC cluster with
minimal disruption to your existing infrastructure.
Prerequisites
Before you create an EVC cluster, ensure that the hosts you intend to add to the cluster meet the requirements
listed in “EVC Requirements,” on page 119.
Procedure
Select the CPU vendor and EVC mode appropriate for the hosts you intend to add to the cluster. For
information on configuring EVC, see the vSphere Client online Help.
Other cluster features such as vSphere DRS and vSphere HA are fully compatible with EVC. You can
enable these features when you create the cluster. For information on specific cluster options, see the
vSphere Client online Help.
3 If the host feature set is greater than the EVC mode that you have enabled for the EVC cluster, ensure that
the cluster has no powered-on virtual machines.
n Power off all the virtual machines on the host.
n Migrate the host’s virtual machines to another host using vMotion.
You can power on the virtual machines on the host, or migrate virtual machines into the cluster with
vMotion, if the virtual machines meet CPU compatibility requirements for the cluster’s EVC mode. Virtual
machines running on hosts with more features than the EVC mode must be powered off before migration
into the cluster.
5 Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 for each additional host that you want to move into the cluster.
Prerequisites
Before you enable EVC on an existing cluster, ensure that the hosts in the cluster meet the requirements listed
in “EVC Requirements,” on page 119.
Procedure
2 If virtual machines are running on hosts that have feature sets greater than the EVC mode you intend to
enable, ensure that the cluster has no powered-on virtual machines.
n Power off all the virtual machines on the hosts with feature sets greater than the EVC mode
n Migrate the cluster’s virtual machines to another host using vMotion.
Because these virtual machines are running with more features than the EVC mode you intend to set,
power off the virtual machines to migrate them back into the cluster after enabling EVC.
3 Ensure that the cluster contains hosts with CPUs from only one vendor, either Intel or AMD.
Select the CPU vendor and feature set appropriate for the hosts in the cluster.
5 If you powered off or migrated virtual machines out of the cluster, power on the virtual machines in the
cluster, or migrate virtual machines into the cluster.
Any virtual machines running with a larger feature set than the EVC mode you enabled for the cluster
must be powered off before they can be moved back into the cluster.
To raise the EVC mode from a CPU baseline with fewer features to one with more features, you do not need
to turn off any running virtual machines in the cluster. Virtual machines that are running do not have access
to the new features available in the new EVC mode until they are powered off and powered back on. A full
power cycling is required. Rebooting the guest operating system or suspending and resuming the virtual
machine is not sufficient.
To lower the EVC mode from a CPU baseline with more features to one with fewer features, you must first
power off any virtual machines in the cluster that are running at a higher EVC mode than the one you intend
to enable, and power them back on after the new mode has been enabled.
Prerequisites
If you intend to lower the EVC mode, power off any currently running virtual machines with a higher EVC
mode than the one you intend to enable. See “Determine EVC Modes for Virtual Machines,” on page 122.
The cluster cannot contain a disconnected host. All hosts in the cluster must be connected and registered on
the vCenter Server.
Procedure
5 From the VMware EVC Mode drop-down menu, select the baseline CPU feature set you want to enable
for the cluster.
If the selected EVC Mode cannot be selected, the Compatibility pane displays the reason or reasons why,
along with the relevant hosts for each reason.
6 Click OK to close the EVC Mode dialog box, and click OK to close the cluster settings dialog box.
When a virtual machine is powered on, it determines the EVC mode of the cluster in which it is running. If the
EVC mode of the cluster is subsequently raised, the virtual machine does not change its EVC mode until it is
powered off and powered on again. This means that the virtual machines does not make use of any additional
CPU features exposed by the new EVC mode of the cluster until the virtual machine has been powered off and
powered on again.
For example, consider a cluster containing hosts with Intel Xeon 45nm Core™ 2 processors that has been set
® ®
to the Intel "Merom" Generation (Xeon Core™ 2) EVC mode. A virtual machine powered on in this cluster
runs in the Intel "Merom" Generation (Xeon Core 2) EVC mode. If the cluster EVC mode is raised to Intel
"Penryn" Generation (Xeon 45nm Core 2), the virtual machine remains at the lower Intel "Merom" Generation
(Xeon Core 2) EVC mode. To use any of the features exposed by the higher cluster EVC mode, such as SSE4.1,
you must power off the virtual machine and power it on again.
You can use the Virtual Machines tab for a cluster or a host to determine the EVC modes of the running virtual
machines.
Procedure
3 If the EVC Mode column is not displayed, right-click on the column titles and select EVC Mode.
The EVC modes of all running or suspended virtual machines are displayed in the EVC Mode column.
Powered off virtual machines and virtual machines that are not in EVC clusters show N/A as the EVC
mode.
Processors without the 3DNow! instructions will not be vMotion-compatible with older processors that have
the 3DNow! instructions, unless an EVC mode or CPU compatibility mask is used to mask these instructions.
The AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode masks the 3DNow! instructions from virtual machines.
You can apply this EVC mode to EVC clusters containing only AMD Opteron Generation 3 hosts to allow these
clusters to maintain vMotion compatibility with future AMD Opteron hosts that might not have 3DNow!
instructions. Clusters containing AMD Opteron Generation 1 or AMD Opteron Generation 2 hosts cannot be
made vMotion-compatible with hosts that do not have 3DNow! instructions.
Prerequisites
Ensure that the cluster contains only hosts with AMD Opteron Generation 3 or newer processors.
Procedure
u Enable the AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode for your EVC cluster.
The steps to enable the EVC mode differ depending on whether you are creating a cluster or enabling the
mode on an existing cluster, and on whether the existing cluster contains powered-on virtual machines.
Option Description
Creating a new cluster In the New Cluster wizard, enable EVC for AMD hosts and select the AMD
Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode.
Editing a cluster without powered-on In the Cluster Settings dialog box, edit the VMware EVC settings and select
virtual machines the AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode.
Editing a cluster with powered-on The AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode cannot be enabled while
virtual machines there are powered-on virtual machines in the cluster.
a Power-off any running virtual machines in the cluster, or migrate them
out of the cluster using vMotion.
Migrating the virtual machines out of the cluster with vMotion allows
you to delay powering off the virtual machines until a more convenient
time.
b In the Cluster Settings dialog box, edit the VMware EVC settings and
select the AMD Opteron Gen. 3 (no 3DNow!) EVC mode.
c If you migrated virtual machines out of the cluster, power them off and
cold migrate them back into the cluster.
d Power on the virtual machines.
You can now add hosts with AMD processors without 3DNow! instructions to the cluster and preserve vMotion
compatibility between the new hosts and the existing hosts in the cluster.
vCenter Server compares the CPU features available to a virtual machine with the CPU features of the
destination host to determine whether to allow or disallow migrations with vMotion.
Default values for the CPU compatibility masks are set by VMware to guarantee the stability of virtual
machines after a migration with vMotion.
In some cases, where a choice between CPU compatibility or guest operating system features (such as NX/XD)
exists, VMware provides check-box options to configure individual virtual machines through the virtual
machine’s Advanced Settings option. For more control over the visibility of CPU features, you can edit the
virtual machine’s CPU compatibility mask at the bit level.
CAUTION This is an experimental feature. Manual edit of the CPU compatibility masks without the appropriate
documentation and testing might lead to an unsupported configuration.
CPU compatibility masks cannot prevent virtual machines from accessing masked CPU features in all
circumstances. In some circumstances, applications can detect and use masked features even though they are
hidden from the guest operating system. In addition, on any host, applications that use unsupported methods
of detecting CPU features rather than using the CPUID instruction can access masked features. Virtual
machines running applications that use unsupported CPU detection methods might experience stability
problems after migration.
When you select a host, the Compatibility panel at the bottom of the Migrate Virtual Machine wizard displays
information about the compatibility of the selected host or cluster with the virtual machine’s configuration.
If the virtual machine is compatible, the panel displays the message, Validation succeeded. If the virtual
machine is not compatible with either the host’s or cluster’s configured networks or datastores, the
compatibility window can display both warnings and errors:
n Warning messages do not disable migration. Often the migration is justified and you can continue with
the migration despite the warnings.
n Errors can disable migration if there are no error-free destination hosts among the selected destination
hosts. In this case, the Next button is disabled.
For clusters, the network and datastore configurations are taken into account when checking compatibility
issues. For hosts, the individual host’s configuration is used. A possible problem might be that vMotion is not
enabled on one or both hosts.
A specific host CPU feature’s effects on compatibility are dependent on whether ESXi exposes or hides them
from virtual machines.
n Features that are exposed to virtual machines are not compatible when they are mismatched.
n Features that are not exposed to virtual machines are compatible regardless of mismatches.
Specific items of virtual machine hardware can also cause compatibility issues. For example, a virtual machine
using an enhanced vmxnet virtual NIC cannot be migrated to a host running a version of ESXi that does not
support enhanced vmxnet.
Procedure
1 Select the virtual machine that you want to migrate in the inventory.
2 Right-click on the virtual machine and select Migrate from the pop-up menu.
Option Description
Change host Move the virtual machine to another host.
Change datastore Move the virtual machine’s configuration file and virtual disks.
Change both host and datastore Move the virtual machine to another host and move its configuration file and
virtual disks. (This option is not available for a powered-on virtual machine.)
4 To move the virtual machine to another host, select the destination host or cluster for this virtual machine
migration and click Next.
Any compatibility problem appears in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host or
cluster.
Possible targets include hosts and DRS clusters with any level of automation. If a cluster has no DRS
enabled, select a specific host in the cluster rather than selecting the cluster itself.
5 Select the destination resource pool for the virtual machine migration and click Next.
6 If you chose to move the virtual machine’s configuration file and virtual disks, select a disk format.
Option Description
Same as Source Use the format of the original virtual disk.
If you select this option for an RDM disk in physical compatibility mode,
only the mapping file is migrated. If you select this option for an RDM disk
in virtual compatibility mode, the RDM is converted to a virtual disk.
Thin provisioned Use the thin format to save storage space. The thin virtual disk uses just as
much storage space as it needs for its initial operations. When the virtual disk
requires more space, it can grow in size up to its maximum allocated capacity.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a thin virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
Thick Allocate a fixed amount of hard disk space to the virtual disk. The virtual
disk in the thick format does not change its size and from the beginning
occupies the entire datastore space provisioned to it.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
Disks are converted from thin to thick format or thick to thin format only when they are copied from one
datastore to another. If you leave a disk in its original location, the disk format is not converted, regardless
of the selection made here.
7 Select the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
Option Action
Store all virtual machine files in the a (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile for the virtual
same location on a datastore. machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM Storage Profile
drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
b Select a datastore and click Next.
Store all virtual machine files in the a (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile for the virtual
same datastore cluster. machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM Storage Profile
drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
b Select a datastore cluster.
c (Optional) If you do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual
machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select
a datastore within the datastore cluster.
d Click Next.
Store virtual machine configuration a Click Advanced.
files and disks in separate locations. b For the virtual machine configuration file and for each virtual disk, click
Browse and select a datastore or datastore cluster.
c (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile from the VM Storage
Profile drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
d (Optional) If you selected a datastore cluster and do not want to use
Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for
this virtual machine and select a datastore within the datastore cluster.
e Click Next.
vCenter Server moves the virtual machine to the new host. Event messages appear in the Events tab. The data
displayed on the Summary tab shows the status and state throughout the migration. If errors occur during
migration, the virtual machines revert to their original states and locations.
Prerequisites
Before migrating a virtual machine with vMotion, ensure that your hosts and virtual machines meet the
requirements for migration with vMotion.
n “Host Configuration for vMotion,” on page 113
n “Virtual Machine Configuration Requirements for vMotion,” on page 114
Procedure
1 Select the virtual machine that you want to migrate in the inventory.
2 Right-click on the virtual machine and select Migrate from the pop-up menu.
Any compatibility problem appears in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host or
cluster.
Possible targets include hosts and fully automated DRS clusters. You can select a non-automated cluster
as a target. You are prompted to select a host within the non-automated cluster.
Option Description
High Priority On hosts running ESX/ESXi version 4.1 or later, vCenter Server attempts to
reserve resources on both the source and destination hosts to be shared
among all concurrent migrations with vMotion. vCenter Server grants a
larger share of host CPU resources to high priority migrations than to
standard priority migrations. Migrations always proceed regardless of the
resources that have been reserved.
On hosts running ESX/ESXi version 4.0 or earlier, vCenter Server attempts
to reserve a fixed amount of resources on both the source and destination
hosts for each individual migration. High priority migrations do not proceed
if resources are unavailable.
Standard Priority On hosts running ESX/ESXi version 4.1 or later, vCenter Server reserves
resources on both the source and destination hosts to be shared among all
concurrent migration with vMotion. vCenter Server grants a smaller share
of host CPU resources to standard priority migrations than to high priority
migrations. Migrations always proceed regardless of the resources that have
been reserved.
On hosts running ESX/ESXi version 4.0 or earlier, vCenter Server attempts
to reserve a fixed amount resources on the source and destination hosts for
each migration. Standard priority migrations always proceed. However, the
migration might proceed more slowly or fail to complete if sufficient
resources are not available.
You cannot change the virtual machine’s execution host during a migration with Storage vMotion.
Procedure
1 Select the virtual machine that you want to migrate in the inventory.
2 Right-click on the virtual machine and select Migrate from the pop-up menu.
Option Description
Same as Source Use the format of the original virtual disk.
If you select this option for an RDM disk in physical compatibility mode,
only the mapping file is migrated. If you select this option for an RDM disk
in virtual compatibility mode, the RDM is converted to a virtual disk.
Thin provisioned Use the thin format to save storage space. The thin virtual disk uses just as
much storage space as it needs for its initial operations. When the virtual disk
requires more space, it can grow in size up to its maximum allocated capacity.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a thin virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
Thick Allocate a fixed amount of hard disk space to the virtual disk. The virtual
disk in the thick format does not change its size and from the beginning
occupies the entire datastore space provisioned to it.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
5 Select the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
Option Action
Store all virtual machine files in the a (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile for the virtual
same location on a datastore. machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM Storage Profile
drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
b Select a datastore and click Next.
Store all virtual machine files in the a (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile for the virtual
same datastore cluster. machine home files and the virtual disks from the VM Storage Profile
drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
b Select a datastore cluster.
c (Optional) If you do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual
machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select
a datastore within the datastore cluster.
d Click Next.
Store virtual machine configuration a Click Advanced.
files and disks in separate locations. b For the virtual machine configuration file and for each virtual disk, click
Browse and select a datastore or datastore cluster.
c (Optional) Apply a virtual machine storage profile from the VM Storage
Profile drop-down menu.
The list of datastores shows which datastores are compatible and which
are incompatible with the selected virtual machine storage profile.
d (Optional) If you selected a datastore cluster and do not want to use
Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for
this virtual machine and select a datastore within the datastore cluster.
e Click Next.
Procedure
Option Description
Change host Move the virtual machine to another host.
Change datastore Move the virtual machine’s configuration file and virtual disks.
Change both host and datastore Move the virtual machine to another host and move its configuration file and
virtual disks. (This option is not available for a powered-on virtual machine.)
4 Select the destination resource pool for the virtual machine migration and click Next.
5 In the Host Name column, select the destination host or cluster for this virtual machine migration and
click Next.
Any compatibility problem appears in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host or
cluster.
Possible targets include hosts and DRS clusters with any level of automation. If a cluster has no DRS
enabled, select a specific host in the cluster rather than selecting the cluster itself.
6 Select the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
Option Action
Store all virtual machine files in the Select a datastore and click Next.
same location on a datastore.
Store all virtual machine files in the a Select a Storage DRS cluster.
same Storage DRS cluster. b (Optional) If you do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual
machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select
a datastore within the Storage DRS cluster.
c Click Next.
Store virtual machine configuration a Click Advanced.
files and disks in separate locations. b For the virtual machine configuration file and for each virtual disk, click
the datastore name, select Browse, and select a datastore or Storage DRS
cluster.
c (Optional) If you selected a Storage DRS cluster and do not want to use
Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for
this virtual machine and select a datastore within the Storage DRS
cluster.
d Click Next.
7 If you chose to move the virtual machine’s configuration file and virtual disks, select a disk format.
Option Description
Same as Source Use the format of the original virtual disk.
If you select this option for an RDM disk in physical compatibility mode,
only the mapping file is migrated. If you select this option for an RDM disk
in virtual compatibility mode, the RDM is converted to a virtual disk.
Thin provisioned Use the thin format to save storage space. The thin virtual disk uses just as
much storage space as it needs for its initial operations. When the virtual disk
requires more space, it can grow in size up to its maximum allocated capacity.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a thin virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
Thick Allocate a fixed amount of hard disk space to the virtual disk. The virtual
disk in the thick format does not change its size and from the beginning
occupies the entire datastore space provisioned to it.
This option is not available for RDMs in physical compatibility mode. If you
select this option for a virtual compatibility mode RDM, the RDM is
converted to a virtual disk. RDMs converted to virtual disks cannot be
converted back to RDMs.
Disks are converted from thin to thick format or thick to thin format only when they are copied from one
datastore to another. If you leave a disk in its original location, the disk format is not converted, regardless
of the selection made here.
8 Review the information on the Review Selections page and click Finish.
vCenter Server moves the virtual machine to the new host. Event messages appear in the Events tab. The data
displayed on the Summary tab shows the status and state throughout the migration. If errors occur during
migration, the virtual machines revert to their original states and locations.
Prerequisites
Before migrating a virtual machine with vMotion, ensure that your hosts and virtual machines meet the
requirements for migration with vMotion.
n “Host Configuration for vMotion,” on page 113
n “Virtual Machine Configuration Requirements for vMotion,” on page 114
Procedure
4 Select the destination resource pool for the virtual machine migration and click Next.
Any compatibility problem appears in the Compatibility panel. Fix the problem, or select another host or
cluster.
Possible targets include hosts and fully automated DRS clusters. You can select a non-automated cluster
as a target. You are prompted to select a host within the non-automated cluster.
Option Description
Reserve CPU for optimal VMotion vCenter Server attempts to reserve resources on both the source and
performance destination hosts to be shared among all concurrent migrations with
vMotion. vCenter Server grants a larger share of host CPU resources. if
sufficient CPU resources are not immediately available, vMotion is not
initiated.
Perform with available CPU vCenter Server reserves resources on both the source and destination hosts
resources to be shared among all concurrent migration with vMotion. vCenter Server
grants a smaller share of host CPU resources. If there is a lack of CPU
resources, the duration of vMotion can be extended.
You cannot change the virtual machine’s execution host during a migration with Storage vMotion.
Procedure
4 Select the datastore location where you want to store the virtual machine files.
Option Action
Store all virtual machine files in the Select a datastore and click Next.
same location on a datastore.
Store all virtual machine files in the a Select a Storage DRS cluster.
same Storage DRS cluster. b (Optional) If you do not want to use Storage DRS with this virtual
machine, select Disable Storage DRS for this virtual machine and select
a datastore within the Storage DRS cluster.
c Click Next.
Store virtual machine configuration a Click Advanced.
files and disks in separate locations. b For the virtual machine configuration file and for each virtual disk, click
the datastore name, select Browse, and select a datastore or Storage DRS
cluster.
c (Optional) If you selected a Storage DRS cluster and do not want to use
Storage DRS with this virtual machine, select Disable Storage DRS for
this virtual machine and select a datastore within the Storage DRS
cluster.
d Click Next.
For more information about installing and using the vSphere CLI, see vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation
and Scripting Guide and vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.
You can run the svmotion command in either interactive or noninteractive mode.
n To use the command in interactive mode, type svmotion --interactive. You are prompted for all the
information necessary to complete the storage migration. When the command is invoked in interactive
mode, all other parameters given are ignored.
n In noninteractive mode, the svmotion command uses the following syntax:
svmotion [Standard CLI options] --datacenter=datacenter_name --vm
‘VM_config_datastore_path:new_datastore’ [--disks
‘virtual_disk_datastore_path:new_datastore, virtual_disk_datastore path:new_datastore]’
On Windows systems, use double quotes instead of single quotes around the values specified for the --vm and
--disks options.
For more information on the standard CLI options, see the vSphere Command-Line Interface Installation and
Scripting Guide and vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference.
datacenter The datacenter that contains the virtual machine to be migrated. You
must quote the name if it contains white space or other special
characters.
VM_config_datastore path The datastore path to the virtual machine’s configuration file. If the
path contains white space or other special characters, you must
quote it.
new_datastore The name of the new datastore to which the virtual machine
configuration file or disk is to be moved. Do not include brackets
around the name of the new datastore.
--disks If you do not specify this parameter, all virtual disks associated with
a virtual machine are relocated to the same datastore as the virtual
machine configuration file. By specifying this parameter, you can
choose to locate individual virtual disks to different datastores.
To keep a virtual disk on its current datastore, use the --disks
option for that disk with its current datastore as the
new_datastore .
virtual_disk_datastore_path The datastore path to the virtual disk file.
You must specify the datastore path to the virtual machine’s configuration file in the
VM_config_datastore_path svmotion command.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client inventory, select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.
2 Click Edit Settings to display the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box.
The path to the virtual machine configuration file appears in the Virtual Machine Configuration File text box.
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client inventory, select the virtual machine to which the virtual disk belongs, and click the
Summary tab.
2 Click Edit Settings to display the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box.
3 Click the Hardware tab, and select the virtual disk from the list of devices.
The path to the virtual disk file appears in the Disk File text box.
The examples in this section are formatted on multiple lines for readability. The command should be issued
on a single line.
An example of relocating a virtual machine to new_datastore, while leaving the disks, myvm_1.vmdk and
myvm_2.vmdk on old_datastore:
NOTE Simultaneous migrations with vMotion can only occur if the virtual machine is moving between hosts
in the same cluster and is not changing its resource pool.
Each operation, such as a migration with vMotion or cloning a virtual machine, is assigned a resource cost.
Each type of resource, such as host, datastore, or network, has a maximum cost that it can support at any one
time. Any new migration or provisioning operation that would cause a resource to exceed its maximum cost
does not proceed immediately, but is queued until other operations complete and release resources. Each of
the network, datastore, and host limits must be satisfied in order for the operation to proceed.
Network Limits
Network limits apply to migrations with vMotion only. Network limits depend on both the version of ESXi
and the network type.
Datastore Limits
Datastore limits apply to migrations with vMotion and with Storage vMotion. A migration with vMotion
involves one access to the datastore. A migration with storage vMotion involves one access to the source
datastore and one access to the destination datastore.
Table 12-4 lists datastore limits for migration with vMotion and Storage vMotion. Table 12-5 lists the datastore
resource costs for migration with vMotion and Storage vMotion.
Table 12-4. Datastore Limits for Migration with vMotion and Storage vMotion
Operation ESX/ESXi Version Maximum Cost
vMotion/Storag 3.x 8
e vMotion
vMotion/Storag 4.0 8
e vMotion
Table 12-5. Datastore Resource Costs for vMotion and Storage vMotion
Operation ESX/ESXi Version Datastore Resource Cost
vMotion 3.x 1
vMotion 4.0 1
vMotion 4.1 1
Host Limits
Host limits apply to migrations with vMotion, Storage vMotion, and other provisioning operations such as
cloning, deployment, and cold migration.
Table 12-6 lists the host limits for migrations with vMotion, migrations with Storage vMotion, and provisioning
operations. Table 12-7 lists the host resource cost for these operations.
Table 12-6. Host Limits for vMotion, Storage vMotion, and Provisioning Operations
Operation ESX/ESXi Version Maximum Cost
Table 12-7. Host Resource Costs for vMotion, Storage vMotion, and Provisioning Operations
Operation ESX/ESXi Version Host Resource Cost
vMotion 3.x 4
vMotion 4.0 4
Maps are available only when the vSphere Client is connected to a vCenter Server system.
The maps can help you determine such things as which clusters or hosts are most densely populated, which
networks are most critical, and which storage devices are being utilized. vCenter Server provides the following
map views.
You can use a map view to limit or expand the scope of a map. You can customize all map views, except
vMotion Resources maps. If you are accessing map views using the navigation bar, all vCenter Server resources
are available for display. If you are using the Maps tab of a selected inventory item, only items related to that
item are displayed. For virtual machine inventory items, the vMotion Resources view is the only map view
available on the Maps tab.
You can customize a map view by selecting or deselecting objects in the inventory pane or by selecting or
deselecting options in the Map Relationships area.
You can reposition the map by dragging it (click and hold anywhere on the map and drag the map to the new
location). A grey box in the overview area represents the section of the total map that is viewable and moves
as you drag the map. You can resize the grey box to zoom in or out of a section of the map.
You can double-click any object in a map to switch to the Map tab for that item (providing a Map tab is available
for that type of object).
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Client, select Edit > Client Settings > Maps tab.
When a user attempts to view a map that has more objects than the specified limit, the user encounters a
message that provides the option to cancel the map or to proceed with displaying it.
vMotion resource maps also indicate which hosts in the virtual machine’s cluster or datacenter are compatible
with the virtual machine and are potential migration targets. For a host to be compatible, it must meet the
following criteria.
n Connect to all the same datastores as the virtual machine.
n Connect to all the same networks as the virtual machine.
n Have compatible software with the virtual machine.
n Have a compatible CPU with the virtual machine.
NOTE The vMotion map provides information as to whether vMotion might be possible, and if not, what an
administrator might do to remedy the situation. It does not guarantee that a particular vMotion migration will
be successful.
Hosts marked with a red X are unsuitable candidates for migration. A lack of edges connecting that host and
the virtual machine's networks and datastores indicate that the host is unsuitable because of networking or
datastore incompatibility. If the unsuitability is because of CPU or software incompatibility, the information
appears in a tooltip when the pointer hovers over the host in question.
It might take a few seconds for the map to retrieve load, CPU, and software information. The state of the map's
information retrieval process appears in the lower-left corner of the map. As information arrives, the map is
updated. A host that looks like a good vMotion candidate (displayed as green) might become a bad candidate
(displayed as red) as information is collected.
Map Icons
The icons in a resource map represent the objects in the inventory and their current state. Table 13-1 describes
the map icons.
Host icon.
A host that is compatible for vMotion migration. The color of the circle varies in intensity based
on the load of the current host. Heavily used hosts are pale; low-load hosts are saturated green.
Virtual machine icon. When the virtual machine is powered on, the icon contains a green
triangle.
Network icon.
Datastore icon.
Map Relationships panel Displayed when more than one map view is available. The Map Relationships panel lets you
customize map relationships for hosts and virtual machines. Use the checkboxes to enable or
disable relationships for the selected object and display them in the current resource map.
Refresh link Maps do not auto-refresh. Click Refresh to synchronize your map with the current state of the
inventory and to center the map view.
Inventory panel When selecting through the Inventory navigation bar, a selected item stays highlighted to
indicate map focus.
When selecting through the Maps navigation bar, all items in the inventory are listed with a
check box. You can select or deselect any inventory items you do not want included in the map.
Procedure
For example, to display the resource map for your entire vCenter Server system, select the
vCenter Server in the inventory panel. To display the resource map for a host, select the host in the
inventory panel.
Procedure
3 Click Print.
Procedure
5 Click Export.
Numerics managed 15
3DNow!, EVC modes 123 vCenter Server 13
vCenter Server agent 13
A vCenter Server database 13
abbreviations 7 vSphere 13
Active Directory config reset at disconnect, distributed port
configuring settings 38 groups 66
server 38 configuration files, virtual machines 133
Active Directory Application Mode 51 configure vCenter Server, using licese server 81
consoles, virtual machines 25
active sessions, send messages 31
core dumps 93
ADAM 51
CPU capacity 69
adding
distributed port groups 65 CPU compatibility
EVC 118
license keys 76, 77
for vMotion 117
adding hosts 58
masks 123
admin contact info 64
CPU families 118
advanced search 26
CPU features
advanced settings, vCenter Server 42
kernel level 117
alarms
triggering on events 103 user-level 117
viewing 24 virtual machines 122
creating
annotations 27
clusters 59
Asset 68
datastores 61
Assign license 69
folders 61
assigning license keys 78
resource pools 60
creating datacenter-wide networks 63
B
creating datacenters 58
baselines, security 18
creating host-wide networks 62
binding on host, distributed port groups 66
custom attributes
adding 28
C
editing 28
Cisco Discovery Protocol 64
clusters
D
creating 59
database
EVC 120, 121 configuring number of connections 41
removing hosts 108 impact of statistics on 37
requirements for enabling EVC 119 limiting size 41
shared storage 113 retention policy 41
cold migration 111, 112 vCenter Server 13
Collection Intervals 35 databases, preparing 51
combining license keys 74 datacenters
community string 39 creating 58
components creating datacenter-wide networks 63
ESXi 13 topology maps 137
host agent 13 datastores
about 15