Virtualization Pro:

vCenter Server


May 22, 2009  3:25 PM

VMware vSphere is available: Now what do you do?



Posted by: Texiwill
Edward L. Haletky, ESX 4, ESXi, Licenses, Texiwill, Upgrade, vCenter Server, vSphere

So now that vSphere is available, how do you get your own copy and upgrade existing licenses? Hopefully, you have already checked if your Service and Support has been properly upgraded or existed prior to May 21, 2009. If so then you are in good shape. Get your license...

May 19, 2009  2:47 PM

Enhanced alarm reporting in VMware vCenter Server 4.0



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Alarms, Eric Siebert, vCenter Server, vSphere

The alarm settings in VMware vCenter Server 4.0 have been vastly improved in comparison to what's available in VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). The new alarms let you configure many custom alarm triggers and corresponding actions. VI3 alarms are very limited; you can only configure host...


May 12, 2009  1:30 PM

Memory usage in vCenter Server 4.0



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, memory, vCenter Server, vSphere

If you are using vCenter Server and plan on upgrading to vSphere you should be aware that vCenter Server 4.0 uses much more memory than vCenter Server 2.5 does. According to the official documentation for both 2.5 and 4.0, the system requirements are very similar:

  • 2.0 GHz or...


April 28, 2009  6:50 PM

New vCenter Server features in vSphere



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, vCenter Server, VMware, vSphere

Although vSphere's vCenter Server offers many useful new features, there are three small ones in particular that were sorely needed in VMware Infrastructure 3 that I'm glad to see in this release. The first deals with the problem of too much data in the vCenter Server database. The majority of...


March 24, 2009  5:54 PM

Log file locations in VMware Infrastructure 3



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, ESX, log files, vCenter Server, VMware

Whenever I am troubleshooting a problem with my VMware ESX hosts I find myself frequently having to look up the location of various VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) log files. To try and make this easier for myself and others I've decided to put together a list of all the log files that you might use...


March 23, 2009  3:16 PM

Troubleshooting mysterious VM resets



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, ESX, HA, vCenter Server, VMM, VMware

Have you ever had VMs mysteriously restart and didn't know why? Even after checking the VMs vmware.log file and the event log in vCenter Server, you could find no evidence of the restart or any potential problems. Well, the


March 19, 2009  2:17 PM

Using custom attributes with vCenter Server



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, vCenter Server, Virtual Machines, VMware

In vCenter Server you can display certain views that will show listings of your hosts and virtual machines (VMs). These views are useful for displaying the configuration and status of all your hosts and VMs, and they are also customizable so you can either display or hide predefined columns to...


March 3, 2009  4:41 PM

Collecting diagnostic data from hosts and vCenter Server



Posted by: Eric Siebert
diagnostics, Eric Siebert, ESX, ESXi, vCenter Server, VMware


February 24, 2009  6:29 PM

vCenter Server 2.5 Update 4 release brings Performance Overview Charts



Posted by: Eric Siebert
Eric Siebert, vCenter Server, VMware

Many people were hoping that VMware would use VMworld Europe to announce the release date of the next generation VI3 software called vSphere 4.0. While this didn’t happen, VMware did release the next maintenance version of vCenter Server 2.5, which is


February 23, 2009  5:51 PM

VMworld Europe kicks off with Partner Day: Cloud interoperability, VDI, vSphere



Posted by: Gabrie
Cloud computing, Gabrie van Zanten, vCenter Server, VDC-OS, VDI, virtual desktop, VMware, VMworld Europe, vSphere

After much anticipation, VMworld 2009 in Cannes has finally begun. After talking about it for days, seeing lots of blogs from people planning to visit VMworld, we're finally on the go. Andy Hunt, Vice President for the EMEA Partner Organization from VMware kicked off partner day today, which...