VMWare : SATA Controller Passthrough for TrueNAS Scale

How to passthrough an onboard SATA Controller in VMWare ESXi v.6.7 Update 3 for TrueNAS Scale installation.

As the HP Z800 WorkStation comes with onboard 6-ports SATA Controller and 8-ports LSI SAS/SATA Controller, the existing LSI Controller was dedicated to VMWare ESXi v.6.7 thus leaving the SATA Controller unused.

For experiment purposes, I wanted to passthrough this SATA Controller to a VM for TrueNAS Scale use as Storage Pool and thus able to directly manage all the HDDs connected on this controller.

1. Firstly is to create a VM and install TrueNAS Scale and configure the network settings.

2. Next is to shutdown the TrueNAS VM.

3. In the ESXi Server Host, under --> Manage --> Hardware.

4. Look for --> Intel ICH10R 4-ports Controller --> Passthrough = Enable.

5. Put the ESXi Server Host into --> Maintenance Mode, and reboot the server.

6. After reboot, Exit Maintenance Mode.

7. Under the TrueNAS VM, right-click --> Edit Settings.

8. Click --> Add Other Device --> PCI Device.

9. A new hardware will be listed, ensure the new PCI Device = Intel ICH10R 4-ports Controller.

10. Boot-up the TrueNAS VM.

11. Login to TrueNAS, goto --> Storage --> Disks.

12. Now you should be able to see all the HDDs connected on that SATA Controller and proceed to create Storage Pool.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : Enable Hard Drive's Serial Number

There are times where some Operating System (OS) needs to have the Hard Drive's Serial Number or UUID enabled for it to work correctly.

This is especially true when it comes to TrueNAS installation in VMWare ESXi server. Although it is NOT RECOMMENDED to install TrueNAS (Scale/Core) in a virtualized environment, but for some Home Lab or for testing purposes, it is OK to do so.

1. The said Virtual Machine (VM) must be shutdown first.

2. Next, edit the VM's settings.

3. Goto --> VM Options.

4. Under --> Advanced.

5. Click --> Edit Configuration.

6. Click --> Add parameter.

7. Under Key, type --> disk.EnableUUID

8. Under Value, type --> TRUE

9. Save and exit.

10. Then only power-on the VM.

The Hard Drive's Serial Number will now be automatically created by ESXi server and TrueNAS will be able to detect those Virtual Hard Drive.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : VMWare Tools for Windows XP 32-bit

VMWare Tools for Windows XP 32-bit, the tools is deprecated thus use at own risks.

1. Download the old version of VMWare Tools v.10.0.2 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nnjHGeavqOCjWIQSTCC6x-ksxnrCNCKX/view?usp=sharing)

2. Copy the Zip file into the VM Guest.

3. Extract the Zip inside the VM Guest.

4. Install a compatible CDROM or ISO Emulator (https://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/) or any preferred utility for Windows XP.

5. Mount the ISO file, search for "WinPreVista.ISO" and mount it as a CDROM drive.

6. Double-Click the drive for autorun, or browse it and run the setup according to your architecture. Such as "setup.exe" for 32-bit OS or "setup64.exe" for 64-bit OS.

7. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installations.

8. Once completed, eject or un-mount the drive and restart the VM.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

Multi-Boot USB : Ventoy (Open Source)

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files.

With Ventoy, you don't need to format the disk over and over, you just need to copy the ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly.

You can copy many files at a time and Ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them. You can also browse ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files in local disks and boot them.

Supports x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI and MIPS64EL UEFI. Most types of OS supported (Windows/WinPE/Linux/ChromeOS/Unix/VMware/Xen etc.)

Official Ventoy Website : https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : Enabled SNMP Services

 VMWare ESXi v.6.7.0 (Update 3) - Enabled SNMP Services.

1. Display current SNMP status --> esxcli system snmp get

2. Enabled SNMP services --> esxcli system snmp set --enable true

3. Configure SNMP Server (aka Target) --> esxcli system snmp set --targets=[SNMP Server IP Address]@161/[Community String]

eg. esxcli system snmp set --targets=192.168.1.100@161/public

4. Configure SNMP System Location (if any) --> esxcli system snmp set --syslocation=[Location Name]

5. Configure SNMP System Contact (if any) --> esxcli system snmp set --syscontact=[Email Address]

6. Configure ESXi Firewall Rule #1 --> esxcli network firewall ruleset set --ruleset-id snmp --allowed-all true

7. Configure ESXi Firewall Rule #2 --> esxcli network firewall ruleset set --ruleset-id snmp -enabled true

Update, 11-Jan-2023.

--> Disable SNMP = esxcli system snmp set --enable false

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWware ESXi : Fix ESXi Hypervisor "SEsparse" Issue

 VMWare ESXi may report "SEsparse" snapshot may report guest data inconsistencies, refer to VMWare KB 59216.

This issue have also caused the Synology Active Backup for Business failed to perform scheduled backup thus generating error messages.

As per VMWare's KB 59216, the "datastore" capacity that has >2TB may encounter such issues from ESXi v.5.5 and above which means v.6.7 was also affected.

And the solution is update/patch the ESXi Host up to v.6.7 Update 1.

1. Browse to VMWare's Build Number & Listing to get the actual "Release Name" and its corresponding "Build Number" and download the patches accordingly.

2. Login to VMWare Patch Download page (you need to have an login ID, if not proceed to register an account).

3. Select --> ESXi (embedded and installable)

4. Select the appropriate ESXi version you are running, in my case my server is running on VMWare ESXi v.6.7

5. Now you need to compare the current build version vs. the listing and download the appropriate updates/patches.

6. Shutdown all VM(s) that are inside the Host.

7. Host --> Enter Maintenance Mode.

8. Host --> Enable SSH Service.

9. Host --> Enable Console Service.

10. Open --> Putty --> Login via SSH to the Host server.

11. At the CLI --> vmware -l          (to display current version)

12. At the CLI --> vmware -v          (to display current build)

13. At the CLI --> esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e true -r httpClient

14. Login to Host WebUI and browse the "datastore" (eg. datastore1).

15. Create a folder called "updates".

16. Upload all the downloaded patch files (eg. xxxx.zip) into the newly created folder (eg. "updates").

17. At the CLI --> esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/updates/xxxx.zip

18. Check the status of the updates (at top of the message), if status is "Successful" then proceed to "Reboot" the Host server.

19. Once rebooted, proceed to update the rest of the updates and each updates must be rebooted for it complete.

20. Upon reaching "Update 1", you may need to run a dependency check --> esxcli software profile update -d https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml -p ESXi-6.7.0-20181002001-standard

20.1 If you encountered any error, try this step to check the profile available --> esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/updates/update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update01.zip

20.2 Then take note of the available profile (eg. ESXi-6.7.0-20181002001-standard).

20.3 Type this CLI --> esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-6.7.0-20181002001-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/updates/update-from-esxi6.7-6.7_update01.zip

21. Once complete, reboot the Host server again.

22. Double check whether "Update 1" was successfully update.

23. At the CLI --> esxcli network firewall ruleset set -e false -r httpClient

24. Reboot the Host server again.

25. If everything is OK, proceed to "Exit Maintenance Mode" and power-on the VMs.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

20-Dec-2022, Note: Added Steps #20.1, 20.2 & 20.3

VMWare : How To Enabled for Synology Active Backup for Business

 I believe anyone that uses a Synology product will or may be using of their plugin package called "Active Backup for Business". It's a FREE tools for you to do backup for Physical Desktops/Servers, Hyper-V, VMWare ESXi.

But how do you enabled the access from Synology to the ESXi server ? The steps are very simple and straighforward.

1. Login to the ESXi server and enable both the Secure Shell (SSH) and Console Shell services.

2. Next is to shutdown that VM Guest before performing the next step.

3. Still in the ESXi server, Right-Click the VM Guest --> Edit Settings.

4. Goto --> VM Options --> Advanced.

5. Click --> Edit Configurations.

6. Click --> Add Parameters.

7. Type-in the following configurations :

7.1 Parameter = ctkEnabled

7.2 Set the value = true

7.3 Parameter = scsi0:0.ctkEnabled

7.4 Set the value = true

Note : If the VM Guest is using an IDE HDD type then the parameter should be "ide0:0.ctkEnabled" 

Also whenever a new HDD was added to the VM Guest, the device will be assigned either "scsi0:1" or "scsi1:1", this assignment may varies per VM.

8. Now save the configurations and proceed to boot-up the VM.

9. After boot-up, you can double check the configurations by browsing the datastore, a new file will be created "[VM Name]-ctk.vmdk". This file will be used by Synology Active Backup for Business the access and identification of the backup.

As how to configure for the Active Backup for Business it will be for another post, but you can always refer to Synology website for tutorials.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

 

 

VMWare : Delete Invalid VM

The following commands will allows you to delete VM that are "Invalid" in the WebUI.

1. Run SSH via Putty or any remote console of your choice.

2. Login as "root" into the ESXi server.

3. Type --> vim-cmd /vmsvc/getallvms
* To display all VMs in the server.

4. Take note of the "VMID" columns and any error messages shown such as "skipping unknown VMID 10" or similar messages, this is the VM that you might want to delete from the server.

5. Type --> vim-cmd /vmsvc/unregister <vmid>
* To unregister the specified vmid from the server.

6. If successful, you can exit from SSH and login back to the server via the WebUI.

7. Goto "Browse Datastore" and remove the invalid VM from the HDD.

Simple right ?

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : Clonning from Physical to Virtual

Recently I've encounter some problems of converting a CentOS v.5.0 into VMWare ESXi v.6.7, this is particularly due to the tool (vCenter Converter Standalone) doesn't support CentOS v.5.0

So, instead of installing a brand new CentOS v.7.0 and migrate all the Oracle database into the new VM (Virtual Machine) manually, I proceeded to "clone" the physical machine.

There are some considerations before proceeding, the physical server's hardware specifications. How much RAM was installed, how many "Logical Array" is using. This will impact the creation of the VM, as such the ESXi server (host) must have sufficient hardware to support such a move.

The process is relatively easy, as this is done through "Direct Console Login", I was not able to provide the screenshots due to security issues. But nonetheless this are the steps I've taken and was successful.

Assumption :

a) The existing physical server (CentOS 5) hardware is 2 x NICs, 8GB RAM, 300GB x 2 RAID1, 300GB x 2 RAID1, 600GB x 2 RAID1.

(Note : a total of Three (3) logical drives was present, this part is important at the later stage).

b) External USB 2TB or more HDD.


The Steps-by-Steps :

1. Download the latest version of CloneZilla. At time of writing, the latest stable version v.2.6.2-15 and the edition I've downloaded is (i686, ISO) which is compatible with the server's hardware.

2. Using your preferred ISO burner, burn a bootable CDROM disc and you might want to label it for easy references.

3. Shutdown the CentOS 5 server by running command : shutdown now -h

4. Insert the CloneZilla bootable CDROM disc and plugin the External USB HDD into the CentOS 5 server.

5. Power-up the server and Press --> [F12] key.
* Note : Your server might have different key for invoking the "Boot Menu".

6. Select booting from the CDROM drive and wait for CloneZilla to boot automatically.

7. Follow the on-screen instructions, like language & keyboard selection.

8. Next is to select --> device-image option.

9. Then select --> local_dev option, then it will prompt you to press [ENTER] key to continue.

10. At the next screen, you will be shown a list of all the local drives & external USB drives detected. Just press [CTRL] + [C] to continue. You need to ensure the external USB HDD is detected correctly.

11. Next screen is to select "Home/PartImg" location, which in this case is the external USB HDD drive.

12. Next screen when prompt, just select --> OK button to continue, then it will prompt you what is the task you wanted to perform, in this case we select --> save_disk option.

13. Next it will prompt you for the image's filename, put a name that is simple & easy to remember (eg. svr_centos5_28Jul19), next is to ensure the image file size is unlimited, type --> 1000000 to ensure Clonezilla will not split the file according to 4GB limitation.

14. Leave the compression as default at either Z0 or Z1, of course you can have higher compressions but since I have a 2TB drive... so not a problems.

15. Next is the encryption prompt, this all depends on you. But as I'm the only 1 person in-charge & I do not need to keep the image after restoring, I will not encrypt the image files.

16. When prompted, just press --> [Y] to start the clonning process, this may takes a few hours (mine took me 14 hours) and select --> Shutdown when completed.

Note : More information can be found at Clonezilla website, please do visit their website.


17. Once all is completed, we will be moving the VMWare server. First we need to create VM and all the configurations must match exactly as the CentOS 5 server, such 2 x NICs, 3 x Drives & 8GB RAM.

18. For the selection of Guest OS, I've selected --> CentOS 4/5 64-bit version.

19. Also I've configured the CDROM to use an ISO image file instead of the host's drive. I need it to boot into CloneZilla for the image restoration.

20. Next is plugged in the external USB HDD into the host server and add a "USB Device" in the VM, this is to ensure the drive is detected properly.

21. The following is boot the VM into CloneZilla and start restoring "restore_disk" process, leave everything as default will do.

Oh, you might want to select --> "Skip checking source image" option & "Shutdown" after complete.

22. Before power-on the VM, you need to remove the external USB HDD from the settings and also the ISO file.

23. Just power-on the VM like normal & look out for any irregular warnings or critical messages. But thus far I've didn't encounter any error messages or similar and everything just works as it was supposed to.


!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : ESXI v.6.7 - Change Hostname

A step-by-step on changing the VMWare ESXi v.6.7 hostname, no not the virtual machine's hostname but the Hypervisor's hostname.

1. Login to the Web Client interface.

2. Browse to --> Networking menu.

3. Select --> TCP/IP Stack menu (or tab).

4. At the --> Actions button, select --> Edit settings.

5. Click on the --> Edit the [Host name], [Domain name] and any other settings you've wanted.

6. Once completed, just click --> Save button.


!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare : vCenter Converter Standalone (P2V)

I was doing a migration from Physical server to Virtual server, specifically in VMWare ESXi Hypervisor v.6.7

Luckily VMWare does have a FREE tools called VMWare vCenter Converter Standalone, download here. As of writing the latest version is v.6.2.0

The installation is very simple and straightforward, you just need to ensure the following ports is open at the firewall.

(A) Server Ports.

1. TCP = 443, 445, 139, 9089, 9090
2. UDP = 137, 138

(B) Client Ports.

1. TCP = 443

The above ports need to be enabled at the Firewall and I've only done the P2V from Windows Server 2008 R2 to ESXi v.6.7 Hypervisor. I've yet to try the Linux OS thus unsure how it will works.

Take note that the "Source" server must also have the Converter installed as "Agent", then from the "Server" Converter connect to the "Source" to perform the conversion.

!!! HAPPY COMPUTING !!!

VMWare - Moving/Copying VM(s) to another host server.

These few days I have received an order to upgrade an existing VM with higher memory capacity in order to cope with workload.

Sadly the host (eg. ESXi-1) which the VM is running on have used all the maximum available memory thus a new server must be acquired.

Now the problems arises where the client didn't have any vCenter server thus there's vMotion was not available for the task. After some studies in VMware's KB articles, there is a way to move a VM from 1 host to another host regardless of the hardware specifications.

But for me to play it at a safe side, I ensure the new server is installed with the same ESXi version and the VM must be shutdown for this process (yes, there is downtime on this).

So I get a temporary desktop (Windows 7) & install vSphere Client and an extra 1TB of HDD, what VMware recommended in their website is to use vSphere Client to perform the migration and the following steps was done by myself.

1. Run defragment on that VM.
2. Ensure no one is using that VM anymore (a scheduled downtime required) & shutdown the VM.
3. Browse to that particular "Datastore" where the VM is located and download the entire folder into the extra 1TB HDD with the same folder structure.

* Proper & good downtime management is required here as the process took around 6-12 hours to complete.

Now once the download complete, I perform the following :-

1. Ensuring the VM is no longer power on automatically on ESXi-1 server & stays shutdown.
2. Comparing the file sizes on ESXi-1 server & the downloaded copy.
3. Now ensure the new server is ready (eg. ESXi-2) with sufficient storage space for the "Datastore".
4. Start uploading the entire folder from the local copy to ESXi-2 datastore.

* This process will also take similar times to complete, so be patient.

Once the upload is complete you need to "add into inventory" in order for the ESXi-2 server to recognised it as a VM.

1. At ESXi-2 server, browse to the "Datastore" where the new VM has uploaded.
2. Select the VM's folder and search for "xxx.vmx" file.
3. Right-click the "xxx.vmx" file --> Select "Add to inventory" option and wait for it to complete.
4. Open the VM Console and you will receive a prompt message, select --> "I move it" option.
5. Once completed, you may now startup that VM.

Overall, this process took me almost 2 days to complete. So please do plan the downtime correctly and sufficiently.

VMWare - Installing Windows Server 2012 from HP Media CD

Recently I was assigned to install Windows Server 2012 R2 from a HP Media CD into a HP Proliant ML10 v2 server with VMware Hypervisor.

At first I did encountered some roadblocks whereby the media doesn't allow such installation as it is detecting the SMBIOS details (which in this case was created by VMWware) thus the installation failed with error message "Incorrect BIOS detected and must be installed on HP Proliant servers.....blah... blah... blah"

Well, HP does have a workaround on this and VMware acknowledged it too.

Just very simple steps :-

1. Browse to the newly created VM guest folder (example : VSVR01) in the "datastore".

2. Look for a filename called "VSVR01.vmx" and download it to your local computer.

3. Edit the file using notepad program and add the following line into the file :-

• smbios.ReflectHost = "TRUE"

4. Save the file and upload it back into the original location "datastore" and overwrite when prompted.

Note : You might want to save a copy of the original file before any attempts on the modifications.

5. Once done, now you can install the Windows Server 2012 R2 from HP media CD, the rest was just a mere follow-on-screen instructions.