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Tips and Tricks for vMA 5

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vMA 5 is just one of the latest VMware virtual appliances that have received the blessings and conversion to VMware's standard virtual appliance OS, SUSE. There have been several changes in the latest version of vMA and here are just a few tips and tricks that can help get you going with this new OS

1. The increase password complexity is something you may notice when you first configure vMA, if you are interested in changing it to make it easier or harder, you can take a look at the following knowledge base found on Novell's website:

2. You can now update vMA using a browser versus using the vma-update utility which is no longer being bundled with vMA 5. To access the management interface of vMA, go to your browser and type the following: https://[your-vma-hostname]:5480. You can configure a few things through the VAMI interface including updates for vMA in which you have a few options to choose from such as no updates, automatic check for updates or automatic check and install updates (just like Windows Update)

3. As with the previous versions of vMA, it has the OSP (Operating Specific) VMware Tools and the status will show up on the vSphere Client as "unmanaged". If you want to upgrade to the latest version of VMware Tools found on ESXi 5.0 to make sure of functionality such as the new integrated VIX API into the core vSphere API, you will need to run the latest VMware Tools. To do so, you will need to uninstall the OSP VMware Tools and then install the VMware Tools found in ESXi

First you will need to identify the package to uninstall and then uninstall, this can all be done at once using the following command:

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo rpm -e $(rpm -qa | grep "open-vm-tools")
Stopping VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
Guest operating system daemon: done
Virtual Printing daemon: done
Unmounting HGFS shares: done
Guest filesystem driver: done
Guest memory manager: done
VM communication interface socket family: done
VM communication interface: done
warning: /etc/vmware-tools/tools.conf saved as /etc/vmware-tools/tools.conf.rpmsave

You will need to either copy the linux.iso containing the latest version of VMware Tools from your ESXi 5 host or use the vSphere Client to install the tools. I will demonstrate how to do so from the command line using the linux.iso. You will need to copy the linux.iso over to your vMA host using the following command:

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> scp *protected email*:/vmimages/tools-isoimages/linux.iso .

Now you will mount the linux.iso to extract the VMware Tools package

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo mount -o loop linux.iso /mnt/

Next we will extract the contents to /tmp

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> tar -zxvf /mnt/VMwareTools-8.5.1-380278.tar.gz -C /tmp

Then we will umount linux.iso file

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo umount /mnt

We now will change into the extracted directory under /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib and perform the installation of VMware Tools

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib
vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo ./vmware-install.pl

You can accept all the defaults and when it prompts you for "gcc", you can ignore that option as gcc is not available by default on vMA and after that you will see that your VMware Tools have been updated from the vSphere Client.

4. Previous version of vMA, if you are familiar with Redhat/CentOS/Fedora, you know that you can use YUM as a way to install packages from a package repository. You can do the same on SUSE, but you will need to leverage a different tool called zypper which is a command line package manage just like YUM. You can also use another tool called YaST which also uses libzypp which is zypper package management engine. In the following example I will demonstrate how to configure a repository using zypper and search and installing a package.

To get a list of repositories based on the version of SUSE, you can take a look at the following link.

To add a repository, you will use the "ar" (Add Reposistory) option specified by the URL and alias:

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys ar http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/ 11.1
Adding repository '11.1' [done]
Repository '11.1' successfully added
Enabled: Yes
Autorefresh: No
URI: http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/repo/oss/

You can add multiple repository and you can reference them by either the alias or the number assigned to the given repository

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo zypper --gpg-auto-import-keys ar http://download.opensuse.org/update/11.1/ Update-11.1
Adding repository 'Update-11.1' [done]
Repository 'Update-11.1' successfully added
Enabled: Yes
Autorefresh: No
URI: http://download.opensuse.org/update/11.1/

Once you have successfully added your repository, you can view them by running the "lr" (List Repository) option

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> zypper lr
# | Alias | Name | Enabled | Refresh
--+-------------+-------------+---------+--------
1 | OS-11.1 | OS-11.1 | Yes | No
2 | Update-11.1 | Update-11.1 | Yes | No

Before you search or install packages using zypper, you will need to first refresh the repository and build the cache. To so do, you will just run the "refresh" operation

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo zypper refresh
Retrieving repository '11.1' metadata [|]
New repository or package signing key received:
Key ID: B88B2FD43DBDC284
Key Name: openSUSE Project Signing Key
Key Fingerprint: 22C07BA534178CD02EFE22AAB88B2FD43DBDC284
Repository: 11.1
Do you want to reject the key, trust temporarily, or trust always? [r/t/a/?] (r): t
Retrieving repository '11.1' metadata [done]
Building repository '11.1' cache [done]
Retrieving repository 'Update-11.1' metadata [-]
New repository or package signing key received:
Key ID: B88B2FD43DBDC284
Key Name: openSUSE Project Signing Key
Key Fingerprint: 22C07BA534178CD02EFE22AAB88B2FD43DBDC284
Repository: Update-11.1
Do you want to reject the key, trust temporarily, or trust always? [r/t/a/?] (r): t
Retrieving repository 'Update-11.1' metadata [done]
Building repository 'Update-11.1' cache [done]
All repositories have been refreshed.
@opensuse.org>@opensuse.org>

Now we can search for a package using the "se" (Search) option

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> zypper se ruby

Let's say we have located ruby as the package to install, you can then run "in" (Install) operation

vi-admin@primp-dhcp-235:~> sudo zypper in ruby

You could have also done this using yast by running yast -i ruby which will then launch a graphical UI or just by running yast by itself and navigating through the UI for packages.

5. vi-logger in vMA 5 has been deprecated and removed, for a free syslog alternative take a look at this blog article: Free Linux & Windows Syslog Alternatives to depercated vi-logger in vMA 5

6. How to Change the Splash Screen In vMA

vi-fastpass esxcli and resxtop bug resolved in vMA 5

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Awhile back I wrote about an resxtop bug found in vMA 4.1 in which it no longer functions with vMA's vi-fastpass component and still requires you to provide the username and password even though vi-fastpass has been initialized for a given target. There was also a slight quirk when using esxcli and vi-fastpass, in which you had to specify in addition the --server of your ESX(i) host which allowed you to utilize vi-fastpass.

With the latest release of vMA 5, both of these issues have now been resolved for both ESXi 5 and ESX(i) 4.x. I would highly recommend you download the latest version if you would like to make use the vi-fastpass component in vMA.

Here is an example of using vi-fastpass with resxtop:

vi-admin@vma50-1:~> vifptarget -s himalaya.primp-industries.com
vi-admin@vma50-1:~[himalaya.primp-industries.com]> resxtop

Here is an example of using vi-fastpass with esxcli:

vi-admin@vma50-1:~> vifptarget -s himalaya.primp-industries.com
vi-admin@vma50-1:~[himalaya.primp-industries.com]> esxcli

Free Linux & Windows Syslog Alternatives to depercated vi-logger in vMA 5

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Those of you who currently use vi-logger in vMA 4.x as a free syslog server for your ESX(i) hosts may notice this functionality has been removed in the latest vMA 5 release. VMware decided to remove the syslog functionality in vMA in favor of combining it with the vCenter Server. If you decide to run vCenter 5 on Windows, you have the option of installing an additional syslog collector on the same or separate Windows system and registering it as a vCenter plugin. If you are using the new VCVA (vCenter Server Virtual Appliance), there is also a syslog collector that is installed by default.

Using vMA's vi-logger was an easy and free solution, but you still have some alternatives without having to use vCenter or install/build a new syslog server. The following will document a free syslog solution for both a Linux or Windows platform.

Linux Syslog server alternative using vMA 5.0
You can actually leverage the existing syslog server on the latest vMA 5 release and with a few customization, get it setup to start collecting logs from your ESX(i) hosts as before with vi-logger.

Step 1 - It is recommend that you configure an additional disk on vMA for your syslogs as the size of vMA is quite tiny for additional use. I will assume that you know how to add and configure an additional disk, if not you can do a simple search on Google. In this example, I have a second disk that is 10GB and it is mounted up under /var/log/remote which is where the ESX(i) logs will be stored in.

Step 2 - You will need to edit the syslog configuration under /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf and you will need to add three entries. The first addition is to configure the source for log messages from the network and enabling both udp/tcp on port 514, you may add the following under the default "src" entry.

source network {
udp6( port(514) );
tcp6( port(514) );
};

The next two entries will define the destination and how it'll log. You will add the following at the end of the syslog-ng.conf configuration file.

destination log_remote {
file("/var/log/remote/$HOST_FROM/$YEAR-$MONTH/messages-$YEAR-$MONTH-$DAY"
create_dirs(yes) frac-digits(3)
template("$ISODATE $PROGRAM $MSGONLY\n")
template_escape(no)
);
};
log {
source(network);
destination(log_remote);
};

The "log_remote" destination will send all logs from your ESX(i) hosts into /var/log/remote and will have the following format: $HOST_FROM/$YEAR-$MONTH/messages-$YEAR-$MONTH-$DAY

Step 3 -  Now you will need to restart the syslog server for the changes to take effect. You will need to run the following command: sudo /etc/init.d/syslog restart

If everything went successful, you should now be able to configure your ESX(i) hosts to point to your vMA 5 system and you should see logs appearing under /var/log/remote

Note: You will need to use sudo to view the directory under /var/log/remote and to view the logs

Windows Syslog server alternative using vCenter Syslog Collector
The vCenter Syslog Collector can be installed and used without the use of vCenter, you can easily turn any existing or new Windows system into a syslog server for your ESX(i) hosts for free.

Step 1 -  It is recommend that you configure a seperate disk on the Windows system that you are going to be using for your syslog server. I will assume that you know how to add and configure an additional disk, if not you can do a simple search on Google. In this example, I have a second disk that is 10GB and listed as Syslog (E: drive)

Step 2 - You will need access to the vCenter Server 5.0 installation ISO or executable to install the Syslog Collector utility. Start the installer and select and install VMware Syslog Collector

Step 3 - You have the option of using the local C:\ drive, but I would recommend setting up a separate drive if you can. If you decide to change the default log location, you need to ensure that you specify the following directory structure VMware\VMware Syslog Collector\Data else you will run into issues with the installation. In this example, I have moved my logs into E:\ drive and the path looks like the following: E:\VMware\VMware Syslog Collector\Data. You also have the ability to change the size of the log files before rotation and the number of logs before rotating.

Step 4 - If you are installing the Syslog Collector on the same host as vCenter Server, you should select the integrated installation else you should select a standalone installation.

Step 5 - The next screen will be the default ports to enable for both TCP/UDP and SSL which can be configured or left as the default as recommend.

Step 6 - The screen is how the Syslog Collector will be identified on the network and it should just be the IP Address of the host.

If everything went successful, you should now be able to configure your ESX(i) hosts to point to your Windows Syslog Collector system and you should see logs appearing under E:\VMware\VMware Syslog Collector\Data

As you can see even with vi-logger being removed in the latest version of vMA 5, you can easily still configure a free syslog server with your ESX(i) hosts on either a Linux or Windows platform.