vSphere switch Promiscuous mode

If you using SPAN(mirroring) or installing OpenStack on your ESXi server, you should configure some options at vSphere switch.

vSphere switch is not working like hardware switch, because it does not allow all traffic passing-by.

refer this screenshot, set the Promiscuous mode.

Good luck!

VMware Horizon View 5.3 pooling issue.

When I tried VDI Lab, I had some problem at provisioning Windows7-32bit pool.

Provisioning has not completed, errors occured every times.

finally I had suspected Guest OS's problem. and I've changed to Windows7-64bit.

after changing Guset OS, there is no problem.



I think it's Horizon View's compatibility problem with Windows7-32bit.

same vCPU, vRAM and so on, same snapshot build order, procedures nothing changed.



If you have same problem, change Guset OS from 32bit to 64bit.

iSCSI performance issue at ESXi

Recently, I experienced abnormal situation.



My test lab is configured one iSCSI storage server and two ESXi servers.

after something test, I had reconnected UTP cables of servers.

then unbelievable situation was occured!



iSCSI storage performance go slow down approximate 5~6MB/s.

I didn't accept this. first time, I had doubted my switch. but It was not cause.

second, I checked ESXi server. because I use software iSCSI adapter and Realtek NICs.

I suspected it is cause of problem. but also it was not cause of issue.

third, I deleted iSCSI LUN and rebuild it. but anything changed.

then, I connected iSCSI storage to Windows 7 iSCSI initiator.

and I watched that It works good. transfer peformance was normal status.



Fortunately and incidently, I discovered what was the cause of the issue.

I use two type of Realtek NICs. one is old PCI type 1 Gigabit NICs

and another one is new PCIe type 1 Gigabit NICs. It was the point.



of course PCI bus interface has plenty of bandwidth for Gigabit network.

but ESXi didn't think like that. just PCIe type NICs and onboard NICs works fine.

I think it was VMware's compatibility issue with PCI type NICs.

after changing from PCI type NIC to PCIe type NIC, performance was recovered. (60~80MB/s)



I have searched this issue at many online communities.

but anyone didn't mention about it.

of course this problem is not happen always.

because, anyone use Realtek NICs on Servers.

but someone who has Test lab like me, maybe will experience this issue.



Check your NIC's bus type if it use PCI or PCIe bus interfaces.



Regards.

Zimbra installation point

to install, change hostname as domain name.
#hostname mail.webextest.com

to setup Zimbra status/CLI, get superuser authority as zimbra
#su zimbra

status check command is like this
#zmcontrol status

to connect Zimbra Web Client, this command is needed.
#zmtlsctl [both|http|https]

and unknown error occured, check if SSH daemon was installed.
OpenSSH is good.

after login web client, you maybe meet information error messages.
in this case, add 127.0.1.1 at host file.

Atheros AR8151/AR8161, Realtek R8168/R8169 Custom Driver for ESXi 5.x/6.x

Today let's start how to install officially unsupported Atheros AR8151/8161 NIC.



ESXi do not support uncertified device officially.

but, uncertified device could be installed using custom driver.

First, you must prepare custom driver.

Second, upload the driver to host storage using vSphere client.

Third, start ESXi Shell service and SSH service. these services can turn on by Whitebox's console or vSphere client.

Next, let's connect to ESXi Shell using terminal emulator.

the path after "/vmfs/volume/" may be different from your system.

it's good to use "tab" key(double tab it).



=========================================================================

login as: root

Using keyboard-interactive authentication.

Password:

The time and date of this login have been sent to the system logs.



VMware offers supported, powerful system administration tools.  Please

see www.vmware.com/go/sysadmintools for details.



The ESXi Shell can be disabled by an administrative user. See the

vSphere Security documentation for more information.

~ #

~ #

~ # esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/VM\ Data/net-atl1e-1.0.1.14.x86_64.vib          # first trying, maybe fail.

 [DependencyError]

 VIB AR81Family_bootbank_net-atl1e_1.0.1.14's acceptance level is community, which is not compliant with the ImageProfile acceptance level partner

 To change the host acceptance level, use the 'esxcli software acceptance set' command.

 Please refer to the log file for more details.          # you will be meet "acceptance-level" error message. change the level by following command.



~ # esxcli software acceptance set --level=CommunitySupported          # change acceptance-level.

Host acceptance level changed to 'CommunitySupported'.



~ # esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volumes/VM\ Data/net-atl1e-1.0.1.14.x86_64.vib          # install NIC driver.

Installation Result

   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.

   Reboot Required: true

   VIBs Installed: AR81Family_bootbank_net-atl1e_1.0.1.14

   VIBs Removed:

   VIBs Skipped:          # now, it's done.

~ #


==========================================================================

after installing driver, you must reboot system.

Good luck.



Atheros & Realtek Drivers for ESXi
          ESXi NIC Drivers.zip

Driver list
     Atheros AR8161 driver (ESXi 5.x/6.x)
          net-alx-2.0.0.6b.x86_64.vib

     Atheros AR8151 driver (ESXi 5.x/6.x)
          net-atl1e-1.0.1.14.x86_64.vib

     Realtek R8168 driver (ESXi 5.x)
          VMware_bootbank_net-r8168_8.013.00-3vmw.510.0.0.799733.vib

     Realtek R8169 driver (ESXi 5.x)
          VMware_bootbank_net-r8169_6.011.00-2vmw.510.0.0.799733.vib

     Realtek R816x driver (ESXi 6.x)
          net51-drivers-1.0.0-1vft.510.0.0.799733.x86_64.vib