JasonSamuel.com

Wonderful little vSphere bug we came across today. Let’s say you have a host with the following VMKernel ports configured on the vSwitch:

-vmk1 = vMotion
-vmk0 = Management Network

When you create a host profile from the host, then apply that profile to a new host you are adding, the VMKernel ports get swapped! They will be:

-vmk1 = Management Network
-vmk0 = vMotion

My co-worker came up with a good workaround. Put your affected host into maintenance mode, then go edit the Host Profile you had applied. It appears the kernel ports are created in the order in the Host Profile. So you just change the order from:

-vMotion
-Management Network

to:

-Management Network
-vMotion

You do this by renaming “vMotion” to something like “vMotion2MN”. Then change the name of “Management Network” to “vMotion” and change “vMotion2MN” to “Management Network”. From here you need to make changes to each port group which are:

-make sure the NICs are ordered correctly
-specifying the correct service for the port group
-making sure the IP is set to explicit

So for the vMotion port group, order the NIC:

Choose vmotion for the service:

Set the explicit IP option:

And for the Management Group, order the NIC:

Choose management for the service:

And set the IP to be explicit:

Make sure to press the OK button in the lower right button after every page or when you navigate to another page, it will lose whatever changes you made. Save the profile and re-apply it to your new host. Now it will recreated the VMKernel ports in the correct order.

DISCLAIMER:  Don’t even think about trying this in a production enterprise environment or you will get laughed out of the building.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!  This is meant for test labs and small businesses.

With that said, if you’re running ESXi 4.0 at home or at a small business and want image level backups at a pricepoint (i.e. FREE), then this is how you do it.  You used to be able to use products from 3rd parties with ESXi 3.5 such as Veeam Backup that would allow you to do image based backups but once ESXi 4.0 (vSphere) came out, VMware decided they wanted to charge small and medium size business for advanced features.  Previously this was an untapped market for VMware but now they want a piece of the pie.  So they went to these 3rd parties that were offering image level backup solutions for ESXi 3.5 and said not to support it anymore with ESXi 4.0.  Here is a press release from Veeam regarding this here:

http://www.veeam.com/news/veeam-software-offers-new-essentials-bundle-acceleration-kits-for-vmware-vsphere4.html

As a longtime Premier Technology Alliance Partner and supporter of VMware’s product strategy, Veeam Software takes great pride in creating innovative software products that enhance the customer value of VMware ESX, ESXi, and ESXi Free.  One such example is support for the free edition of VMware ESXi in Veeam Backup and Replication.

Recently, VMware requested that Veeam Software discontinue support for ESXi Free in Veeam Backup and Replication in order to comply with VMware’s updated licensing policy.  In light of VMware’s request, and our close technical partnership, Veeam Backup and Replication will no longer support ESXi Free. We will still continue to offer support for ESXi Free to existing Veeam customers who purchased Backup & Replication prior to version 3.1.

For small or branch office environments, Veeam advises its new customers to buy VMware vSphere Essentials and the Veeam Essentials bundle (announced today).  This combination costs exactly the same amount of money as purchasing 6 sockets of Veeam Backup at regular list price for use with free ESXi, but it is actually better, because with Veeam Essentials at its special discounted price, customers also get Veeam Monitor and Veeam Reporter.

So,

1. ESXi 4.0 (still free) = basic features and an entry into virtualization for small companies or test labs
2. vSphere Essentials ($995) = all the above plus advanced features aimed at small business
3. vSphere Essentials Plus ($2,995) = all the above but for more processors plus more features such as VCB

Here’s a nice product matrix that explains all the differences:

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

I’m can’t be too mad at VMware about this.  They make a great product and want to tackle a new market.  It’s a smart business move for them.  Especially with MS Hyper-V trying to tackle this same market.  Veeam was very innovative in coming up with a great backup solution but I understand they want to maintain a good relationship with VMware and don’t want to step on their toes.

But for those that miss the old days of setting up a quick and easy DR solution for an ESXi host, how can we get the old functionality we were used to back without having to shell out thousands for VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) or Essentials Plus?  In comes GhettoVCB, an ongoing project on the VMware Community forums:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760

GhettoVCB is a free alternative for backing up guest images on ESXi 3.5 and ESXi 4.0.  I have to warn you though, it does take some work to get it working properly.  If you don’t want the hassle, I encourage you to buy VCB or Essentials Plus which is definitely worth it and of course comes with support from VMware.  GhettoVCB is a great project and does work but again as I said in the disclaimer at the top of this post, I wouldn’t advise using it in a production environment.  It’s great to play with in a test lab or at a small company though.  If you like playing with things, you will enjoy setting it up.