WilliamLam.com

Neat way of installing or updating any VIB using just the ESXi Embedded Host Client

by // 5 Comments

A couple of months back I had tossed out an idea on Twitter asking if others would like to see an automatic update mechanism built into the ESXi Embedded Host Client which would allow users to easily update to newer releases of the Fling versus the current method which requires copying the VIB and then running command in the ESXi Shell.

To no surprise, the feedback was an astounding yes! Literally within a couple of hours, Etienne Le Sueur, one of the two VMware Engineers working on the Fling shared a screenshot that demonstrated that this would possible. The first release of this feature would simply ask for the URL to the updated ESXi Embedded Host Client VIB and this was included in the v3 release of the Fling.

One additional tidbit that Etienne had shared was that the way this feature was implemented, it was not only limited to Embedded Host Client VIB but you could do this for any ESXi VIB. This is done by using the vSphere API and calling into the InstallHostPatchV2_Task() method which allows you to install or update an ESXi VIB from a URL source. Most recently, there a twitter conversation between myself, Etienne and Christian Mohn on how this capability could be further extended to include updating ESXi itself which can either be from an Image Profile or offline bundle. For those with a detailed eye, you may have noticed that the same API method can also support an offline bundle URL which would make this possible. As of right now, the feature is actually included in an internal build of the Embedded Host Client, but perhaps we will see this in a future update of the Embedded Host Client? 😉

Going back to the original topic of this blog post, to use the VIB install/update mechanism, you would need to first upload the ESXi VIB to an HTTP Server and then specify the URL. This is fine if you have an existing HTTP Server but if you do not, it is sort of a pain and though there are other methods like uploading directly to the ESXi's python based HTTP Server as mentioned by Christian, it would still require using something like SCP which is an additional step. My initial goal and hope was to be able to install or update an ESXi VIB or ESXi itself using purely the Embedded Host Client. This would keep things simple and not require things like SSH to be enabled on the ESXi host.

After a bit of brainstorming with Etienne, he actually found a super clever way of accomplishing this after our conversation. The idea I had was to make use of the ESXi Datastore to store the VIB which can be uploaded through the Embedded Host Client. By default, there is also an HTTP based interface to the datastore, however it requires authentication which would be a problem. The neat idea that was suggested was why not try to specify the local VMFS path to the ESXi VIB (e.g./vmfs/volumes/datastore1/my.vib)? It turns out that this actually works as well!

With just two easy steps, you can now upload an ESXi VIB and then install/update all using just the Embedded Host Client with no additional dependencies

Step 1 - Navigate to the Datastore section in the Embedded Host Client and then upload the ESXi VIB that you wish to install or update.

install-or-updating-vib-using-embedded-host-client-1
Step 2 - To install/update the VIB, click on Help in the upper right hand corner of the Embedded Host Client and select the "Update" option. Specify the local VMFS path to ESXi VIB and then click on Update to apply.

Note: A reboot may be required after applying a new VIB. It will be your responsibility to shutdown the VMs and reboot the ESXi host for changes to go into effect if required.

install-or-updating-vib-using-embedded-host-client-0
At this point, you should also see a task kicked off applying the VIB. If there are any errors thrown, they will be displayed else you should see a successful task completion. For educational purposes, here is a quick screenshot of /var/log/esxupdate.log showing the VIB being applied, this can be used for further troubleshooting if required.

install-or-updating-vib-using-embedded-host-client-2
Hope you enjoyed this neat little trick and with just two easy steps you can install or update any ESXi VIB using the Embedded Host Client without additional dependencies or enabling SSH on the ESXi host.

Embedded Host Client Fling v3 released!

by // 8 Comments

I just wanted to give everyone a quick heads up that version 3 of the awesome Embedded Host Client Fling has just been released! In addition to all the new features and bug fixes which you can find more details below, there is now also an offline bundle for ESXi 5.x as well as ESXi 6.x which can then be used to distribute to your vSphere environment using vSphere Update Manager. One of my favorite features in this new release is the ability to edit or delete existing disk partitions which is super handy when repurposing existing disk devices for use with VSAN. You can find the download on the Embedded Host Client Fling page here.

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 10.03.53 AM
If you have v1 or v2 installed, you can perform an "update" by simply running the following ESXCLI command:

[root@mini:~] esxcli software vib update -v /esxui-signed.vib
Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.3172496
VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_0.0.2-0.1.3015331
VIBs Skipped:

What's new in v3 - 

  • VM
    • Answer question support
    • Upgrade virtual hardware to the latest supported by the host
    • Hot edit VM settings
    • VM table column configuration (show/hide columns), remembered across browser refresh
    • VM startup/shutdown priority (simple increase/decrease)
  • Host
    • Change host power management policy, advanced power configuration
    • Generate IP/FQDN certificate signing request and import new certificate
    • Join a host to an active directory domain controller
  • Storage
    • Disk device partition editor
    • Adapter rescan for new LUNs
    • Disk device rescan for new VMFS volumes
    • Clear a disk's partition table
    • Disk device partition diagram
    • Increase datastore size onto disk that already contains a partition table
  • Performance charts
    • Ability to change performance chart colors (two choices: default VMware colors and high contrast colors)
    • Added Network and Disk charts to Host performance UI
    • Improve VM performance UI, still missing some charts
    • Improved performance UI on tablets
      • Always hide the top legend in the chart
      • Hide the focus widget to increase vertical space
  • General
    • In-app update tool: provide a URL to a new version of the VIB, refresh the browser, et voila!
    • For tabbed UIs, the selected tab is remembered as you navigate around the UI to avoid un-necessary clicks
    • Better scrolling performance on tablets (tested on iPad)
    • Hide-able navigator allowing more space on tablets
    • Shortcut buttons to Host, Host Manage, Host Monitor, VMs, Storage, Networking when navigator is collapsed
    • Improved Actions menu behavior on tablets:
      • Menu navigation no longer hides the actions menu
      • Added an explicit close button on actions menus
      • A second press on the Actions button will close the menu
  • Bugfixes
    • VM table sizing with small number of VMs
    • In-browser consoles:
      • Will now attempt to reconnect when losing a connection to a powered on VM
      • Reverting to a powered-on snapshot while a console is open to that VM will reconnect the console

Handy tidbits & workarounds for the VCS to VCSA Migration Fling

by //

The VCS (Windows VC) to VCSA Migration Fling has been out for a little over 6 months and the response from customers thus far has simply been phenomenal. We have also received some great feedback (200+ comments) from customers who have tried out the Fling in either a Dev/Test environment and some even in their production environment for those that are a bit more on the adventurous side. I have also had the pleasure in talking to some of these customers who have been successful in migrating off of their Windows vCenter Server (both large and small) and onto the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and sharing additional feedback they may have about the Fling and how we can further improve.

Given the popularity of this topic, I thought it would be useful to aggregate some of the learning's, tidbits and workarounds that have been discovered in the past 6months to help any new or even existing users who might be interested in trying out the Fling. We really do appreciate all the feedback that everyone has given in the various forms and in fact, several of the workarounds were ones provided by our customers. As you know, the Fling today is not currently officially supported, however the feedback has really helped our PM/Engineering team. In fact, you can even get a sneak peak at an early Tech Preview we did at VMworld here to give you an idea on how some of your feedback has influenced a feature that may or may not be out in the near future 😉

Tidbit 1 Microsoft Windows 2012 is currently not supported.
Additional Info There is a known winexe bug which is affects migrating from this specific OS platform.
Workaround Engineering has a fix for this and is currently in the process of testing the fix along with legal review. There is not an ETA due to the review but we hope to release an update to Fling that includes this fix very soon. Stay tuned!This has been resolved with v0.9.1 of the Migration Appliance and for more details please take a look here.
Tidbit 2 Use of non-default (custom) ports on Microsoft SQL Server Database is not supported
Additional Info The Fling currently assumes the SQL Server Database is running on port 1433
Workaround Engineering has a fix for this and is currently in the process of testing the fix along with legal review. There is not an ETA due to the review but we hope to release an update to Fling that includes this fix very soon. Stay tuned!
Tidbit 3 Use of an Embedded Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Express Database on the vCenter Server is not supported
Additional Info Since the source Windows vCenter Server must be powered off during the database migration; running the database on the same source vCenter Server is not possible.
Workaround One option is to re-ip the source Windows vCenter Server and ensuring the vCenter Server service is completely disable which would allow the Migration Appliance to communicate with the database. This is not ideal as you are modifying the source Windows vCenter Server but has worked in our testing. Second option that several other customers have recommended instead is to export the vCenter Server Database to a single instance of a Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Express and that has worked really well.
Tidbit 4 Clustered database such as Microsoft Clustering Services (MSCS) is not supported
Additional Info There have been issues from some customers when trying to connect to an instance of the vCenter Server Database behind an MSCS Cluster.
Workaround Exporting the vCenter Server Database to a single instance of a Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Express and then using the Fling has worked for several customers.
Tidbit 5 Issues connecting to a non-default named instance (e.g. SERVERNAME\VCENTER) of the vCenter Server Database.
Additional Info Some customers have had issues with the connection string to a non-default named instance of the vCenter Server Database during the database migration portion of the Fling.
Workaround A solution that was identified by a customer used the following: http://stackoverflow.com/a/11921896/2668394
Tidbit 6 Upgrade to VCSA 6.0 after migrating from Windows vCenter Server 5.5 to VCSA 5.5 fails
Additional Info You see the following error "Extra sequences: vpx_host_cnx_seq;" in /var/log/vmware/upgrade/vcdb_req.err during the upgrade to VCSA 6.0. These sequences are only found and valid in a Microsoft SQL Server Database and are not relevant in an vPostgres Database and just simply need to be dropped as they are not used at all.
Workaround Login to the VCSA 6.0 appliance as root and run the following command: /opt/vmware/vpostgres/current/bin/psql -U postgres -d VCDB -c "drop sequence if exists vpx_host_cnx_seq cascade"

If you are running into issues while through the the migration, one thing you can do is login to the Migration Appliance and go to another virtual console (ALT+F2) and view the Migration logs  under /var/log/migrate.log SSH is currently not installed by default. If you wish to pull out the logs for additional support, you can install which will require internet access and you can do so by running the following commands:

sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install openssh-server
sudo /etc/init.d/ssh start

The credentials to the Migration Appliance is vmware/vmware

Lastly, if there are other tidbits or workarounds that you would like to share, feel free to leave a comment and I will get it added to the list.