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5.5

How to Install ESXi on 5th Gen Intel NUC (NIC and AHCI Fix)

Intel has begun to deliver their 5th Gen Broadwell NUCs. At the moment, only NUCs with i3 CPUs are available. NUCs with faster CPUs are available in the next few weeks. I could get my hands on the NUC5i3MYHE. That's the version with a 2.5" HDD slot and without integrated WLAN. This post quickly explains how to get ESXi running on the 5th Gen NUC. As known from 3th and 4th gen NUCs, it is not possible to use the ESXi Installer provided by VMware.esxi-on-5th-gen-NUC5i3MYHE

I'm confident that this guide will also work for i5 and i7 NUCs, as from what I've seen in the documentation they have identical controllers:

  • Intel NUC5i7RYH
  • Intel NUC5i5RYH
  • Intel NUC5i5MYHE
  • Intel NUC5i5RYK
  • Intel NUC5i3RYH
  • Intel NUC5i3MYHE
  • Intel NUC5i3RYK

Read More »How to Install ESXi on 5th Gen Intel NUC (NIC and AHCI Fix)

VMware ESXi 5.x E1000 PSOD Issue

Even though the bug has been fixed I still see it to come up. ESXi 5.x has two issues that might cause the ESXi host to fail with a purple diagnostic screen. Both PSOD look very similiar:

KB2059053:

#PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000PollRxRing@vmkernel#nover+ 0xdb9
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000DevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x18a

KB2079094:

#PF Exception 14 in world wwww:WorldName IP 0xnnnnnnnn addr 0x0
PTEs:0xnnnnnnnn;0xnnnnnnnn;0x0;
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000PollRxRing@vmkernel#nover+0xeb7
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]E1000DevRx@vmkernel#nover+0x18a
[...]
0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Net_AcceptRxList@vmkernel#nover+0x157

Read More »VMware ESXi 5.x E1000 PSOD Issue

How to Create a Cron Job on vMA

The vMA (vSphere Management Assistant) is a virtual appliance provided by VMware that allows to manage vCenter Server or ESX Hosts and run scripts. You can also use it to run script periodically with cron. It is a small linux appliance delivered with all necessary tools out of the box. I usually deploy a vMA on each platform. This post describes how to prepare scripts to be used with cron and how to create cronjobs. The process is very similar on all vMA versions from vSphere 4.0 to vSphere 5.5.

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ESXi 5.5 - ESXCLI Command Mindmap

In vSphere 5.5 the command line interface esxcli has 3 new namespaces. The esxcli is a complete set of commands that you can use for troubleshooting, configuration or kickstart files. I have created and printed a mindmap to navigate through the namespaces more quickly. This post covers only basic namespaces, available on all ESXi 5.5 hosts. If you've installed additional software you might see more namespaces. I've also created a Mindmap for ESXi 5.1 some time ago.

ESXCLI in version 5.5 has 13 namespaces:Read More »ESXi 5.5 - ESXCLI Command Mindmap

ESXi 5.5 - ESXCLI Command Reference

ESXCLI is the most powerful command line tool on an ESXi host. You may need it for troubleshooting, configuration or for ESXi installations by using a kickstart file. I'm having this command line reference on my desktop since a couple of month and I am using it quite often. Maybe someone else is able to make use of it too. It's a collection of help pages from all esxcli commands.

Download: esxcli-550-command-reference.txt

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Reuse VSAN Claimed Disks as VMFS Datastore

During a test I used an old disk that has been previously used by Virtual SAN. The disk did not appear during the datastore creation process. I miss a flash drive here:

datastore-creationThe problem is that the disk has not been cleared from it's VSAN configuration. It has still valid VSAN partitions, so the ESXi "claims it for VSAN" what makes it impossible to create a VMFS filesystem.

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