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8.0

How to Update ESXi 8.0 with USB NIC Fling

The USB Network Native Driver Fling is a popular driver for ESXi to allow the usage of USB-based Network cards. When you downloadaing the driver, you might notice that there are separate versions for each ESXi Update release (eg.  8.0 and 8.0U1).  Both versions are only compatible with their corresponding ESXi version, which makes direct updates a little bit more complex.

This article explains two options to upgrade ESXi hosts with USB-based network adapters.

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Enabling Active Directory / LDAP / LDAPS Authentication In vCenter 8.0

This article describes how to integrate VMware vCenter Server into your authentication infrastructure. Identity sources can be Microsoft Active Directory installations or OpenLDAP.

Bundled with the vCenter Servers is an internal user database that allows you to add and manage Users from the vCenter UI. Users management and Single Sign-On are provided by the embedded Platform Service Controller. In a large environment, you might want to connect your virtualization infrastructure to a centrally managed identity provider.

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VMware ESXi 3.5 - 8.0 Hypervisor Size Comparison

VMware's bare-metal hypervisor ESXi is in the market for 15 years now. During that time it has been continuously refined and new features like the Container Runtime in vSphere 7.0 have been added. In vSphere 8.0, a completely new ARM-based architecture has been introduced. In this article, I am going to have a look at how much the hypervisor footprint has been changed from ESXi 3.5 to ESXi 8.0.

  • ESXi 3.5 - 46,01 MB
  • ESXi 4.0 - 59,99 MB
  • ESXi 4.1 - 85,19 MB
  • ESXi 5.0 - 132,75 MB
  • ESXi 5.1 - 125,85 MB
  • ESXi 5.5 - 151,98 MB
  • ESXi 6.0 - 154,90 MB
  • ESXi 6.5 - 135,39 MB
  • ESXi 6.7 - 129,51 MB
  • ESXi 7.0 - 149,40 MB
  • ESXi 8.0 - 226,62 MB

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vSphere 8.0 Performance Counter Description

This is a list of all performance metrics that are available in vSphere vCenter Server 8.0. Performance counters can be viewed for Virtual Machines, Hosts, Clusters, Resource Pools, and other objects by opening Monitor > Performance > Advanced in the vSphere Client.

These performance counters can also be used for performance analysis with PowerCLI, Python or Perl.

PowerShell/PowerCLI

PS> Get-Stat -entity (Get-VM <VMNAME>) -realtime -stat "cpu.usage.average"

Python
vm_perf_example.py

Perl
esxcfg-perf.pl

 

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vCenter Server 8.0 Tips and Tricks

This article covers Tips and Tricks for the vCenter Server Appliance In vSphere 8.0. While not all tips are recommended to be used without assistance in production environments, they might come in handy when you need them. Whether you are new to vCenter Server or an experienced user, these tips will help you get the most out of it.

  • Clear HSTS Settings in Chrome
  • Remove Browser Certificate Warnings (VMCA Root Certificate)
  • Enable SSH
  • File Transfer with SCP/SFTP
  • Public Key Authentication
  • Disable or Increase Shell Session Timeout
  • Password Expiration
  • Reset vCenter Server Appliance 8.0 root password
  • Reset vCenter Server SSO password (administrator@vsphere.local)
  • Create a Backup Job
  • Install Additional Software
  • VMware Datacenter CLI (DCLI)
  • Run Docker Containers
  • Connect to the Embedded vPostgres Database
  • Wait after a reboot - Common Startup Errors

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How to Install PowerCLI 13 with Python 3.7 on Windows (Required for ImageBuilder)

With the release of PowerCLI 13, VMware has introduced some major enhancements. One of the most exciting features is that PowerCLI is now fully Multi-platform, which means that all functions are available for all PowerShell Core supported operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. If you are planning to use the ImageBuilder module, you will need to have Python 3.7 installed on your machine.

If you want to use ImageBuilder-based commands in PowerCLI 13, you might see the following error:

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot: Could not initialize the VMware.ImageBuilder PowerCLI module. Make sure that Python 3.7 is installed and that you have set the path to the Python executable by using Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -PythonPath. See the PowerCLI Compatibility Matrixes for information on the Python requirements.

This article explains how to install and configure PowerCLI 13 with Python 3.7 to be ready to use ImageBuilder.

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VMware ESXi 8.0 - Hardware not yet certified for upgrade

VMware vSphere 8.0 IA (Initial Availability) is in the market for a couple of weeks now and it is expected to transition into GA (General Availability) soon. It's time to verify that your hardware is supported if you plan on upgrading your ESXi hosts to vSphere 8.0. Some systems have not been certified by their vendor yet. The following servers were supported in vSphere 7.0 U3 but are according to VMware's HCL not yet supported in vSphere 8.0.

Your server is listed and you want to upgrade?

  • Usually, the list gets smaller a couple of weeks after a new vSphere version has been released. I will update this post when I notice changes.
  • Not supported does not say that it does not work.
  • Servers get certified by their vendor, not VMware. If you want a server to get certified, ask your vendor.
  • Vendor support matrices sometimes differ from VMware HCL. In doubt, ask your vendor or VMware if you are allowed to upgrade.
  • The list has been created with the help of my HCL in JSON Format.
  • Follow the comments to get notified of updates. I will comment on changes when the list gets smaller.
  • Did I miss something? Please comment.
  • To keep the list convenient, only the following vendors are included: Cisco, DELL, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi, IBM, Lenovo, Inspur, Huawei and Supermicro

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Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

vSphere 8.0 has been released and as known from previous versions, VMware provides a free version of their Hypervisor ESXi. The license key can be created for free at VMware's website. It has no expiration date and the binaries you will receive as "Free Hypervisor" are 100% identical to the paid version but with some software limitations.

Tech Specs and Limitations

  • No commercial support
  • Free ESXi cannot be added to a vCenter Server
  • Some API functionality is missing (API is read-only)
  • No physical CPU limitation
  • Number of logical CPUs per host: 480
  • Maximum vCPUs per virtual machine: 8
  • The Key is restricted to 100 Physical Servers deployments.

Read More »Free ESXi 8.0 - How to Download and get License Keys

VMware Products without vSphere 8.0 Support

VMware vSphere 8 was released a month ago. Prior to upgrading your Production or Test environment, make sure that the software you are using on top of vCenter/ESXi is supported. To check if a product version is supported, refer to VMware Interoperability Matrix.

When checking the Interop Matrix, make sure that there is both, a minimum and a maximum version that is supported. For example, ESXi 6.5 support has been dropped in vSphere 8 which means that all ESXi Hosts need to be upgraded to at least ESXi 6.7 prior to updating vCenter Server. The upgrade path for all individual products can be verified with the Upgrade Path tool.

I'm going to monitor the progress regularly to keep the list updated. For further information check

 

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