Comments on: vSphere Virtual Machine Upgrade Process http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/ The weblog of an IT pro specializing in virtualization, storage, and servers Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:23:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Alexandre Pitre http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47636 Alexandre Pitre Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:21:05 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47636 Craig, any chances we could get your script ? Craig, any chances we could get your script ?

]]> By: Jonathan Reininger http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47509 Jonathan Reininger Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:06:37 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47509 ^^ btw, at times I (and others?) v2v a VM to adjust the boot drive c:\ size (only) but if it was a paravirutal disk I might not be able to use this method. correct? (please append to my pervious post).. www.four2.org/reininger.pdf ^^ btw, at times I (and others?) v2v a VM to adjust the boot drive c:\ size (only) but if it was a paravirutal disk I might not be able to use this method. correct?

(please append to my pervious post)..

http://www.four2.org/reininger.pdf

]]> By: Jonathan Reininger http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47508 Jonathan Reininger Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:00:03 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47508 Scott. I just added two disks to a Windows 2k3 VM which C:\ (boot) was on a LSI controller. SO I added one disk on an LSI scsi controller and one disk on the paravirtual scsi controller. I did some benchmarking (ok a .vbs script to copy a 50g folder to the same drive five times). SO then I tough, oh Ill just use the iso boot converter to V2V my VM and change its C:\ disk to a paravirtual scsi controller. Only when I booted up the VM I saw just 2 disks (its C: and the new LSI scsi disk). Is the disk which was 'hung' off the paravirtual scsi controller did seem to be there. Is this NOT supported by the converter boot cd? I assume converter boot CD has no 'drivers' for this new scsi controller. In some cases, I use the converter to v2v VMs to change the virtual disk sizes, etc (granted w/ Thin Provision it will change this up a bit). This might be a deal breaker for some?... Can anybody thik of any other drawbacks w/ this limitation? Anybody else want to confirm this? Jonathan Reininger Scott.

I just added two disks to a Windows 2k3 VM which C:\ (boot) was on a LSI controller. SO I added one disk on an LSI scsi controller and one disk on the paravirtual scsi controller. I did some benchmarking (ok a .vbs script to copy a 50g folder to the same drive five times).

SO then I tough, oh Ill just use the iso boot converter to V2V my VM and change its C:\ disk to a paravirtual scsi controller. Only when I booted up the VM I saw just 2 disks (its C: and the new LSI scsi disk).

Is the disk which was ‘hung’ off the paravirtual scsi controller did seem to be there. Is this NOT supported by the converter boot cd? I assume converter boot CD has no ‘drivers’ for this new scsi controller. In some cases, I use the converter to v2v VMs to change the virtual disk sizes, etc (granted w/ Thin Provision it will change this up a bit).

This might be a deal breaker for some?… Can anybody thik of any other drawbacks w/ this limitation? Anybody else want to confirm this?

Jonathan Reininger

]]> By: Brian A http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47459 Brian A Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:39:02 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47459 Do note that for now PVSCSI is only intended for high-IO environments. Latency may suffer if you are not pushing the IO subsystem fast enough. http://vpivot.com/2010/02/04/pvscsi-and-low-io-workloads/ Do note that for now PVSCSI is only intended for high-IO environments.

Latency may suffer if you are not pushing the IO subsystem fast enough.

http://vpivot.com/2010/02/04/pvscsi-and-low-io-workloads/

]]> By: PiroNet http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47364 PiroNet Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:22:47 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47364 Hi Scott, a situation where there is no vSphere client and no Web Access, is there a command line to do the virtual hardware upgrade? Hi Scott, a situation where there is no vSphere client and no Web Access, is there a command line to do the virtual hardware upgrade?

]]> By: Art Vinogradsky http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47287 Art Vinogradsky Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:28:39 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47287 Please note that PVSCSI on boot disks is now officially supported with u1. From Vmware U1 release notes: Enhanced VMware Paravirtualized SCSI Support – Support for boot disk devices attached to a Paravirtualized SCSI ( PVSCSI) adapter has been added for Windows 2003 and 2008 guest operating systems. Please note that PVSCSI on boot disks is now officially supported with u1.

From Vmware U1 release notes:
Enhanced VMware Paravirtualized SCSI Support – Support for boot disk devices attached to a Paravirtualized SCSI ( PVSCSI) adapter has been added for Windows 2003 and 2008 guest operating systems.

]]> By: TomP http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47224 TomP Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:21:28 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47224 Craig, I for one, would be interested in a link to your script. Thanks Craig,
I for one, would be interested in a link to your script.
Thanks

]]> By: kyle black http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47054 kyle black Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:16:16 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47054 Thats helps! Thanks so much for your reply! When I create new Virtual Machines / Templates I assume the latest drivers will then be employeed by default I hope! I wonder after a person p2v's new machines if the new drivers (*pvscsi and vmxnet3 * ) are installed then when you first boot the machine and install vmtools! Thanks again! Thats helps! Thanks so much for your reply! When I create new Virtual Machines / Templates I assume the latest drivers will then be employeed by default I hope! I wonder after a person p2v’s new machines if the new drivers (*pvscsi and vmxnet3 * ) are installed then when you first boot the machine and install vmtools!

Thanks again!

]]> By: slowe http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47022 slowe Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:06:14 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47022 Kyle, Make no mistake, you are using paravirtualization anytime you install the VMware Tools into one of your guest operating systems. VMware Tools uses paravirtualized device drivers---meaning device drivers that are virtualization-aware---in order to optimize performance. The guest OS kernel might not be virtualization-aware, but the VGA, network, and (maybe) disk device drivers are. You only have to follow the NIC/HDD drivers portion if you want to use the latest VMXNET3 and PVSCSI device drivers, which are intended to provide the highest levels of performance with the lowest amount of overhead. If you don't want/don't need to switch to VMXNET3 and/or PVSCSI, then just upgrading VMware Tools and then upgrading the VM hardware is enough. Hope this helps! Kyle,

Make no mistake, you are using paravirtualization anytime you install the VMware Tools into one of your guest operating systems. VMware Tools uses paravirtualized device drivers—meaning device drivers that are virtualization-aware—in order to optimize performance. The guest OS kernel might not be virtualization-aware, but the VGA, network, and (maybe) disk device drivers are.

You only have to follow the NIC/HDD drivers portion if you want to use the latest VMXNET3 and PVSCSI device drivers, which are intended to provide the highest levels of performance with the lowest amount of overhead. If you don’t want/don’t need to switch to VMXNET3 and/or PVSCSI, then just upgrading VMware Tools and then upgrading the VM hardware is enough.

Hope this helps!

]]> By: kyle black http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/comment-page-1/#comment-47016 kyle black Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:53:45 +0000 http://blog.scottlowe.org/2009/06/01/vsphere-virtual-machine-upgrade-process/#comment-47016 Hi guys, In all my Vmware readings I've never found any information on re-doing your HDD and NIC drivers on all your Vm's. Is this really required? Or a "just a nice to have feature enabled?". We don't do any paravirtualization. I was under the assumption the hardware upgrade did the actual upgrade, again based on my readings. Can anyone confirm that unless I use paravirtualization that adding and removing hdd's and nic's from windows 2000/2003 VM's to enable the v7 drivers isn't required? Hi guys,

In all my Vmware readings I’ve never found any information on re-doing your HDD and NIC drivers on all your Vm’s. Is this really required? Or a “just a nice to have feature enabled?”.

We don’t do any paravirtualization. I was under the assumption the hardware upgrade did the actual upgrade, again based on my readings.

Can anyone confirm that unless I use paravirtualization that adding and removing hdd’s and nic’s from windows 2000/2003 VM’s to enable the v7 drivers isn’t required?

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