Eric Sloof

In this (HD) video I’ll show you a new vSphere 4.1 feature regarding configuring USB Device Pass-through from an ESX/ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine. You can configure a virtual machine to use USB devices that are connected to an ESX/ESXi host where the virtual machine is running. The connection is maintained even if you migrate the virtual machine using vMotion.

When you attach a USB device to a physical host, the device is available only to virtual machines that run on that host. The device cannot connect to virtual machines that run on another host in the datacenter. A USB device is available to only one virtual machine at a time. When a device is connected to a powered-on virtual machine, it is not available to connect to other virtual machines that run on the host. When you remove the active connection of a USB device from a virtual machine, it becomes available to connect to other virtual machines that run on the host. host.

When you migrate a virtual machine with attached USB devices away from the host to which the devices are connected, the devices remain connected to the virtual machine. However, if you suspend or power off the virtual machine, the USB devices are disconnected and cannot reconnect when the virtual machineis resumed. The device connections can be restored only if you move the virtual machine back to the host to which the devices are attached.

The ESXGuide Website is now owned by the newly founded Company VMVision GmbH. Manfred Meier over at VMVision reports:

After a long time taking a deep dive into development of my new Virtual Infrastructure Management solution, I finally have a Beta Version ready which I will distribute to a limited number of users. The Beta Version has been tested and used in a production environment for some month. Please be aware, the registration for the Beta download will only be available for a limited period!  Registration is requiered to access the download section.

If you like to give it a try you can download it from http://www.vmvision.com

• VMVision Manager Integrates multiple vCenter Server and ESX Hosts
There's support for the integration of multiple vCenter Servers and ESX Hosts. This allows a fast integration of an existing VMware Infrastructure environment.
• Recieving Tasks and Events
VMVision Manager receives all tasks end events from all integrated vCenters and ESX Hosts. With this solution, you can keep track of all modifications and system states.

With the Single-Sign-On solution you get fast access to all entities (vCenter, ESX Hosts, Virtual Machines) is simplified. Access with the SSH protocol and Terminals allows an easy management of the ESX Hosts.

I’m back from my camper trip through France and decided to finally upgrade my ESX 4.0 hosts to version 4.1. One of my ESX servers is hosting the virtual machine with vCenter (local storage) and you cannot use the vSphere Host Update utility to upgrade ESX 4.x hosts. This utility is only for standalone ESX 3.x and ESXi hosts. A standalone host is an ESX  host that is not managed by vCenter Server. So I had to find another way to upgrade this ESX host. The resolution for this problem is the esxupdate Command-Line Utility available in the service console.

The first step is to download the following zip files from VMware’s website and copy the files to the service console:

pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release
upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip

The second step is to install the pre-upgrade using esxupdate, this can be done without a reboot and without maintenance mode.

esxupdate --bundle=pre-upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip update

Now you have to put you ESX host into maintenance mode, this can also be done with the command line otherwise you will get this message: Description - Maintenance mode is not enabled or could not be determined.

vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

We can finally upgrade the ESX host to 4.1 with the following command line:

esxupdate --bundle=upgrade-from-ESX4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip update

The update is completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the
changes to be effective.

Reboot... vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit Done :-)

After finishing this article I discovered a similar one written by Tomi Hakala over at vReality, great work Tomi.

David Davis over at Train Signal has released the second volume of the VMware vSphere Pro Series Training Course. This new course expands on the precedent set by the first volume, with a line-up of some great new vExpert instructors Including David Davis, Hal Rottenberg, Sean Clark, and Eric Siebert.

• VMware Advanced Features Up Close by Eric Siebert
• VMware Site Recovery Manager 4 by Sean Clark
• Intro to Third-Party Virtualization Tools by David Davis
• Veeam Monitor - David Davis
• Veeam Reporter 4.0 - David Davis
• Veeam Backup and Replication - David Davis
• VMware Data Recovery (VDR) - David Davis
• PowerCLI by Hal Rottenberg

http://www.trainsignal.com/VMware-vSphere-Pro-Series-Training-Vol-2-P98.aspx

I’ve just received the new DVDs and I think I’m going to start with watching Hal and his reporting with PowerCLI video.

In this video you will walk step-by-step through the process of generating useful reports of your virtual environment using PowerCLI. Also, you will take a detailed look at the various ways to get data out of vSphere and vCenter. Plus, you will work hands-on to generate several reports that will be useful in managing your ever-changing virtual landscape.

With vSphere 4 it is possible to create your own vSphere Plug-ins based on the .NET framework. These plug-ins work in combination with the vSphere Client, like the Update Manager or VMware Data Recovery. So the plug-ins enhance the vSphere Client to a single management tool for different business needs.

Christian Johannsen over at mightycare:

In the past some of our customers ask for integrations of their management tools or own web application in the vSphere Client. The easiest way to include web applications into the vSphere client is to use the .xml definition. The problem with this solution is the static definition of the contents. So we decide to develop a webservice plugin which is dynamic, based on the clicked object in the vSphere client (MoRefID) and allows you to define which application is deposited for this object. The plugin consist of two parts:

• the plugin for the vSphere client
• an example WebPage (index.php)

The plugin is used to configure the path to the webserver and the webpage is used to show an example for the MoRefID (Managed Object Reference ID) handling.
In this version the following managed objects could be used for web-applications:

• virtual machines
• resource pools
• host systems
• cluster

http://www.mightycare.de/aktuelles/mcswebserviceplugin_veroeffentlicht