VMware ESXI 5.0 released!

Just to inform, the new version of VMware ESXI is already available to download:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/5_0

Here I see no improvement on speed, and no support of the second NIC of Supermicro X9SCM-F, but memory management seems a bit better.

Just to inform, the new version of VMware ESXI is already available to download:

 

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/5_0

 

Here I see no improvement on speed, and no support of the second NIC of Supermicro X9SCM-F, but memory management seems a bit better.

care to elaborate? 

I downloaded it already and got my updated key's

I have not upgraded just yet. I am waiting to see what issues i might run into.

I am running an OEM.tgz for my second X9SCM nic. I want to make sure that is still working. since they didnt add native support.

I wanted to make sure the unraid vmWARE tools still work.

I wanted to make sure my ghetto hacks all still work.

These "should" all be fine, but you never know.

right now, if it aint broke, don't fix it. is what i am looking at.

Just to inform, the new version of VMware ESXI is already available to download:

 

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere_hypervisor_esxi/5_0

 

Here I see no improvement on speed, and no support of the second NIC of Supermicro X9SCM-F, but memory management seems a bit better.

 

care to elaborate? 

 

The memory overhead is smaller, IMHO.

The current vmtools is working ok.

Thanks, I didn't see the news.

For those wanting a quick summary of whats new in esxi 5.0 here's a link

http://www.virtualizetips.com/2011/07/whats-new-in-vmware-vsphere-esxi-5/

hoping much of those features are included in the free, but I highly doubt "all" those niceties will be there.

•Swap to SSD. vSphere 5.0 provides new forms of SSD handling and optimization. The VMkernel automatically recognizes and tags SSD devices that are local to ESXi or are on the network. In addition, the VMkernel scheduler is modified to allow ESXi swap to extend to local or network SSD devices, which enables memory overcommitment and minimizes performance impact.

Thats hot!

Just upgraded. it didnt like that I had custom drivers.

looks like it is upgrade day for my servers.. new ESXI, new unraid, new vmtools, new vsphere..

Lol, I'm going to hold out a day or 2 before I jump onto either of the new 5.0's. I have enough floating through my mind with the east coast hurricane (less than a mile from the beach in NJ)  .

I did notice now all my SSD guests are now listed as SSD.

I also turned on the SSD cache drive. i gave it 40 gigs.

I dont know if that is good or bad yet. It wanted a whole SSD by default..

It is reporting the unRAID vmware tools as "3rd party" now.

I am still trying to figure out the advantage for me to update my datastores to VMFS-5.

I also turned on the SSD cache drive. i gave it 40 gigs.

I dont know if that is good or bad yet. It wanted a whole SSD by default..

Only if your VM's are swapping.  Otherwise it would go unused.  Could be a cheap and easy way to get a couple dozen low-CPU usage VM's running at the same time on a small amount of RAM though.

I am still trying to figure out the advantage for me to update my datastores to VMFS-5.

None, unless you are affected by the 2tb-512mb limit of VMFS3

I also turned on the SSD cache drive. i gave it 40 gigs.

I dont know if that is good or bad yet. It wanted a whole SSD by default..

Only if your VM's are swapping.  Otherwise it would go unused.  Could be a cheap and easy way to get a couple dozen low-CPU usage VM's running at the same time on a small amount of RAM though.

Not really.. I still have spare ram at this point.

I am still trying to figure out the advantage for me to update my datastores to VMFS-5.

None, unless you are affected by the 2tb-512mb limit of VMFS3

Nope. I left it at VMFS3 for now.

my other ESXi boxes are still 4.1u1. I would loose the ability to read these drives if i upgraded.

The next question is will ESX see a raided SSD's as an SSD or just as a "drive".

I guess I'll find out later. my new raid controller just came. I might do that today.

If it does see a RAID SSD array as "just another drive", there are ways to fool ESXi into thinking that it (or any) volume is SSD.

http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2011/07/how-to-trick-esxi-5-in-seeing-ssd.html

There are discussions of using this feature with the SSD Violin arrays, so there might be some intelligence in the check ESXi performs on the drive to determine if it is a SSD or not.

good read. thanks for that.

A general tip for anyone running unRAID in ESXi (4.1 or 5.0) if you are looking for a very fast boot up.

Make a .vmdk disk image of your thumb drive using WinImage.  I used a spare (non-licensed) 2gb flash drive I had laying around and deleted the config directory and created the image from it (change the name after the make bootable part to something other then UNRAID).  Upload it to your ESXi server and attach it to your unRAID VM.  Still do the USB passthrough like you normally would. 

What happens is ESXi boots up from the vmdk image (very fast) and sometime during the boot unRAID mounts any flash drive with the name of "UNRAID" and reads the config/license data from it. 

Pro:

1. Boot up from the local HDD (less then 10 seconds on mine)

2. Config and license still stored on the thumb drive

3. Can do away with the plop boot manager/CD

4. Never have to remove the thumb drive and attach it to a Windows machine again.  All "updating" is done on a spare thumb drive and the images created from it.

5. Can have a boot vmdk of every version sitting on your server.  Booting a different version is as simple as attaching a different vmdk to the VM guest.

Con:

1. Haven't found any yet.

A general tip for anyone running unRAID in ESXi (4.1 or 5.0) if you are looking for a very fast boot up.

 

Make a .vmdk disk image of your thumb drive using WinImage.  I used a spare (non-licensed) 2gb flash drive I had laying around and deleted the config directory and created the image from it (change the name after the make bootable part to something other then UNRAID).  Upload it to your ESXi server and attach it to your unRAID VM.  Still do the USB passthrough like you normally would. 

 

What happens is ESXi boots up from the vmdk image (very fast) and sometime during the boot unRAID mounts any flash drive with the name of "UNRAID" and reads the config/license data from it. 

 

Pro:

1. Boot up from the local HDD (less then 10 seconds on mine)

2. Config and license still stored on the thumb drive

3. Can do away with the plop boot manager/CD

4. Never have to remove the thumb drive and attach it to a Windows machine again.  All "updating" is done on a spare thumb drive and the images created from it.

5. Can have a boot vmdk of every version sitting on your server.  Booting a different version is as simple as attaching a different vmdk to the VM guest.

 

Con:

1. Haven't found any yet.

2. Changes to your configuration, i.e. packagemanager changes have to be copied from the flash drive to the .vmdk disk....

 

2. Changes to your configuration, i.e. packagemanager changes have to be copied from the flash drive to the .vmdk disk....

Not at all, the vmdk will be used only to boot the kernel (bzimage file) and attach the ramfs (bzroot). After that, the system will mount the drive with "UNRAID" label (i.e. the flash drive) at the "/boot" path, and will only use the configuration files from there.

 

2. Changes to your configuration, i.e. packagemanager changes have to be copied from the flash drive to the .vmdk disk....

Not at all, the vmdk will be used only to boot the kernel (bzimage file) and attach the ramfs (bzroot). After that, the system will mount the drive with "UNRAID" label (i.e. the flash drive) at the "/boot" path, and will only use the configuration files from there.

Yep.  All the packages I have installed are located on the flash drive (unmenu, openssl, openssh, etc).

hmmmm.... something must be awry in my configuration then, since if I install a package, it won't auto-reload unless I update the .vmdk disk

You rename your thumb drive to something other then "UNRAID" before you used WinImage on it?

yes, ROOT....

I tried this the other day. it loaded into memory in about a second, then another 8 or so to boot up unraid.

I then made some config changes, i have yet to reboot to test if they stick.. i started an rsync that has been running for 2+ days.

Damn, you guys are eating up all the tid bits I wanted to post in my ultimate virtualized beast thread, I have been putting together off and on, LOL.

Good stuff guys.

Question for anyone who got esxi 5 up and running does the usb pass-thru still run at 1.1 speeds? or has there been an update to this in version 5?

yes, ROOT....

 

Using the vmDirectPath method or USB device method?  I am using the USB device method and have not tried the vmDirectPath way (though with the quick boot times, there is little reason to do it this way).  I also used the name BOOT, don't know if it matters or not but maybe worth a try.

I tried this the other day. it loaded into memory in about a second, then another 8 or so to boot up unraid.

Config changes have stuck through several reboots for me and also alternating booting between beta 11 and 12.  Installing packages in unMenu and modifying the go script also stick.  I was trying to break it and havn't been able to yet.

Question for anyone who got esxi 5 up and running does the usb pass-thru still run at 1.1 speeds? or has there been an update to this in version 5?

They have some xHCI mode now for the USB device, but it is still rather slow.  It was designed for USB software keys and whatnot so VMware didn't focus on speed and is also probably why (guessing) the VM BIOS doesn't support booting from USB.

The USB speed has increased, from ~4MB/s to ~6MB/s.

It still sucks.

I would love to be able to plug a USB HDD for backing up my WHS2011 using WHS's backup.

It would also be nice for hosted storage inside a guest.