VMWare Daily tasks and issues

1. Alarams are not generating from the vCenter?
Sol : Check the McAfee or any anti-virus software if its blocking it.

2.vmware-cmd stop hard

1. Log into the service console (SSH, iLO, KVM, etc)
2. Type “vmware-cmd –l” This will return a list of all VM’s & their paths
3. Check the VM’s state “vmware-cmd /the/path/from/step/two.vmx getstate”
4. Let’s try to stop stop the VM “vmware-cmd /the/path/from/step/two.vmx stop trysoft”
5. Didn’t work? Time for a larger bat: “vmware-cmd /the/path/from/step/two.vmx stop hard”

This method is the safest, as in step 4 we try to use the tools to gracefully turn the VM off. Failing that, we do the equilivant of pulling the power.
vm-support –X

This one is a bit more cumbersome as it generates a bunch of support debugging data as well, but it should be your next step in killing a stuck VM.

1. Log into the Service Console
2. We need to get the VMID of the VM that we’re killing “vm-support –x” (that’s a little x)
3. Kill the VM! “vm-support –X vmid”
4. Answer the prompts, paying special attention to the “ABORT” question, you want to answer yes to that.
5. In about 5 to 10 minutes, the VM will be off, and there will be a tar file in the directory you ran the command from that can be sent along to support.

Like I said, a bit more cumbersome, but much less likely to have any long term effects.

kill –9 pid

I hate even putting this here, but sometimes things refuse to die. Please keep in mind that this should ONLY be used as a last resort, as it is like swatting a fly with a Cadillac.

1. Log into the Service Console
2. Get the pid “ps auxwww | grep vmx”
3. Kill it with “kill –9 pid”


2. How does VMotion works? What’s the port number used for it? -- TCP port 8000

It enables live migration of running virtual machine from one ESX server to another ESX server with zero downtime.

1.       vMotion requires common shared storage between the source and destination servers.

2.       vMkernel port group should be enabled all the servers. It will require separate ip address.

3.       Both servers should be in same subnet.

4.       Both CPU’s should same compatibility.

5.        VM cannot connect with CD/DVD or Floppy.   

We can find the vmotion information from the vmware.log in the VM folder in the LUN.


What is Snapshot?

Snapshot preserves the state and data of virtual machine at specific point in time.

1. The state includes the virtual machine’s power state (power on, off, or suspended.

2. The data includes the all of the files that make up the vm. This includes memory, disks and other devices.