Export OVF or OVA templates in VMware vSphere Web Client or vSphere traditional Client.

Or, How to Export OVF or OVA template in VMware vSphere?

Or, Exporting OVF or OVA template in VMware vSphere.

Descriptions:

There are very minor difference between the way of exporting OVF templates using vSphere Web Client and vSphere Traditional Client. Both are given below with screenshot for your easy reference.

If you are willing to know the difference between these two template files type (OVA and OVF), please refer my another article What is difference between OVF and OVA Templates in VMware.

Please Note: You must have the VM in shutdown/powered off status to be able to export OVF or OVA template of the particular Virtual Machine.

Steps:

Using VMware vSphere Web Client:

Login to vSphere Web Console > Go to Home > Click on VMs and Templates > Select the Powered Off VM you need > Go to Action Menu > Go to Template Option> Choose Export OVF Template > Choose the template types you need (OVA or OVF) > Choose the Directory Path where you want this file to be exported > Click OK > Wait for the OVA/OVF export process to be completed.

For GUI view, please refer the below screenshots with sequential steps.

Using vSphere Traditional Client:

Login to vSphere Client > Go to File Menu > Go to Export > Choose Export OVF Template > Choose the template types you need (OVA or OVF) > Choose the Directory Path where you want this file to be exported > Click OK > Wait for the OVA/OVF export process to be completed.

For GUI view, please refer the below screenshots with sequential steps.

Cheers!! Please write me back if you have any query or feedback..

Importing OVF or OVA template in VMware vSphere.

Or, How to import OVF or OVA template in VMware vSphere?

Descriptions:

There are very minor difference between the way of importing OVF templates using vSphere Web Client and vSphere Traditional Client. Both are given below for your easy reference.

Using vSphere Web Client:

1. Login to vSphere Web Console > Go to Home > Click on VMs and Templates

2. Browse to your Virtual Datacenter > Go to Action Menu > Click on Deploy OVF Template…

3. Select Local (if you have the OVF file locally available) > Click on Browse

4. Select the OVA or OVF template file > Click on Open

5. Now Click on Next

6. Click on Next

7. Follow other process as per the below screenshot, its kind of saying next and next that it.. Just you have to be careful while selecting Datastore and ESXi host.

Using vSphere Traditional Client:

“Deploy OVF Template” option can be found in vSphere Client’s File Menu. Rest of the process will be same like Selecting OVF Templates, Browsing local computer etc…

Cheers, Please write me back if you need any clarification on this..

How to find the VMs with Snapshot in VMware?

Or, Getting List of Virtual Machines having snapshot.

Or, PowerCLI command to get the VMs with Snapshot in VMware.

Solutions:

To display the list of VMs, on CLI console, having snapshot:

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get-vm | get-snapshot | format-list

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To export the list of VMs, in D:\ drive, having snapshot:

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get-vm | get-snapshot | format-list | out-file D:\VMsnapshotList.txt

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Reference Screenshot:

Enabling BitLocker on MS Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2.

Or, How to enable BitLocker drive encryption on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 Virtual Machines?

Or, How to Install BitLocker Drive encryption feature in Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2?

Or, Enabling BitLocker Drive Encryption on Other than OS Disk of Windows Servers 2012 or 2012 R2.

Description:

Most important thing to know before you go for enabling BitLocker Windows Servers Virtual Machine, MS Does not support BitLocker encryption on bootable Drive of Virtual Machine. You can see the VMware reference KB below for more information.

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?externalId=2036142

As you know, almost every additional feature and role requires installation through Server Manager’s features and roles installation wizard, same way before enabling the Drive Encryption on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2; you need to Install BitLocker Drive encryption feature.

Steps (1): Installing BitLocker Drive Encryption Feature

Steps (2): Enabling BitLocker Drive Encryption on Other than OS Disk

Please refer my another article given below to know “How to enableBitLocker drive encryption”, same steps you have to perform on the Disk drive you want to be encrypted.

http://www.techiessphere.com/2016/06/how-to-enable-bitlocker-drive.html

Referring this article, you have to select D:\ or E:\ drive instead of C:\ drive.

How to take VM’s Snapshot and restore VM using snapshot?

Descriptions:
VMware Snapshot is a tool in VMware of taking backup of complete VM at a given time or Specific time.

We do snapshot of VM’s before doing any changes to ensure if anything goes wrong with VM we can easily restore this VM at previous specific time.

Now we will take a snapshot of Vm before doing a configuration change and later on we will restore that Snapshot.

Case Scenario - I have installed file services in this server, and something went wrong with       server, getting hung or not responding. So in this case we will go for snapshot restore (previously taken before installing file services).

Taking a snapshot of VM, follow Steps;-

1.  Login to VMware Vcenter or VMware Workstation to take a snapshot of VM.
2. Select Server > R/C on Server > Click on Snapshot > Take Snapshot.

          


















    3.  Give a name and Description to Snapshot to identify when need time of restore.
    4. Make Sure to verify snapshot you have taken. Follow same steps previously taken for Snapshot
  

 














You will find under snapshot manager the detail of snapshot.

Some of the file services you cab see in the below screenshot which were installed after taking the snapshot of the Virtual machine.

Restoring a snapshot of VM, follow Steps:-

          1. Login to VMware Vcenter or VMware Workstation to take a snapshot of VM.

          2. Select Server > R/C on Server > Click on Snapshot > Select revert to snapshot ( select properly           this option)

  3. After click on revert to snapshot, VMware will display a Warning “that you will lost your                    current settings”. Click on yes.

            

  4. VM will restart and Restore window will come to your screen.

After Restore completion Login prompt will come. So Login and check your restore is done           successful within minutes.

Note – That File services we have installed in VM, File services will not be found after restoration.

So This Ensure VM Snapshot is completely restoring to previous state.

How to install VMware PowerCLI on Windows 7/10 computers?

Or, Installing VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 on Windows 7 / Windows 10.

Or, Download VMware PowerCLI (VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release).

Descriptions: To install VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 on your windows 7 computer, you need have Windows Management Framework 3.0 installed first. Windows Management Framework 3.0 is not required to be installed separately if you are already on Windows 10 OS platform.

Prerequisites:

For Windows 7, you must install Windows Management Framework 3.0 before you proceed with PowerCLI 6.3 Installation.

For Windows 10, you can directly proceed with downloading and installing VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3.

PowerCLI Download URL:  

https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI630R1

Steps (Windows 7 Computers):

1. Download and install Windows Management Framework 3.0

    You can download Windows Management Framework 3.0 from below Link:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=34595

2. Download and Install VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release 1

    To download vSphere Power CLI 6.3 (VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release 1), please                   download it from below VMware Link (VMware portal login credentials required):

    https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI630R1

    Run the Setup and Install PowerCLI.

Steps (Windows 10 Computers):

1. Download and Install VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release 1

    To download vSphere Power CLI 6.3 (VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release 1), please                   download it from below VMware Link (VMware portal login credentials required):

    https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI630R1

Now you can open PowerCLI by going start > Select VMware vSphere PowerCLI > Run as administrator

How to Install VMware tool in CentOS 7 Virtual Machines?

Or, Install VMware tool in CentOS.

Or, Install VMware tool in Linux/CentOS virtual machine.

Description: Please make sure you are having internet access on the CentOS/Linux machines you are trying to install VMware tool. This will help you in installing prerequisites of VMware tools before proceeding with the VMware tools installations.

Steps (please follow the stages of the steps given below very carefully to get the VM tools installed successfully):

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Stage-1 (Install prerequisites):

Note: Make sure internet is accessible on the virtual machine you are installing VMware tool.

# yum install open-vm-tools

# yum install perl gcc make kernel-headers kernel-devel -y

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Stage-2 (Proceed with vmware tool installation):

1. Attach the VMware tools package using vSphere client (Right Click on Virtual Machine > Go to Guest > Click on Install/upgrade VMware tool option)

2. Now Run following commands sequentially to install VMware tool.

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt

# cd /mnt

# ls

manifest.txt     VMwareTools-10.0.6-3620759.tar.gz  vmware-tools-upgrader-64

run_upgrader.sh  vmware-tools-upgrader-32

# cp -p VMwareTools-10.0.6-3620759.tar.gz  /tmp

# cd /tmp

# tar xzvf VMwareTools-10.0.6-3620759.tar.gz 

# cd vmware-tools-distrib

# ./vmware-install.pl

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Wait for the installation to be completed (you may need to Type YES and press Enter multiple time during the installation of the VMware tool).

Cheers, please write me back if you have any query or feedback..

How to connect local disk ISO image to a Virtual Machine in VMware?

Or, Map ISO image from local system to VMware virtual machine.

Steps:

Login to vCenter Server using vSphere Client > Select the Virtual Machine you want > Go to Disk Icon as highlighted in below screenshot > Select CD/DVD Drive > Select “Connect to ISO image on local disk”.

You can use this option to format or install Virtual machine as well. Generally, we use this option for mapping any software installation ISO image directly to Virtual Machine.

How to enable HA and DRS on VMware vSphere Cluster?

Or, Turn on vSphere HA and vSphere DRS on VMware Cluster.

Steps:

Right Click on your VMware vSphere Cluster > Go to Edit Settings > Enable Check mark on “Turn On vSphere HA” and “Turn On vSphere DRS”> Click on OK

Please refer below screenshot for GUI view of the above suggested steps:

How to enable CPU/RAM hot add in VMware vSphere 6.0?

Or, How to enable CPU/RAM hot add in VMware?

Or, How to add CPU/RAM in Virtual Machine in Powered on Status in VMware?

Description:  To be able to add CPU or RAM resources in a VMware Virtual Machine, you first need to enable the “Hot Add” feature on the Virtual machine. Below steps will show you how to enable “hot add” of CPU/RAM resources for a virtual machine.

Please note, if you want this “Hot Add” feature to be available on your all Virtual Machines, you have to enable this on Virtual Machines individually. Also, please check if your VMware licensing allows this feature to be enabled.

Steps:

Login to vCenter Web Console > Shutdown the Specific Virtual Machine on which you are going to enable this “Hot Add” feature> Edit Virtual Machine > Go to Virtual Hardware tab > Click on CPU or RAM > Find out the option CPU Hot Plug (*) or Memory Hot Plug (*) > Enable Check Mark on Enable CPU Hot Add or Enable for Memory hot add > Save the settings > Power On the Virtual Machine > Try adding additional CPU or RAM resources to the Virtual Machine, It should work..

You may refer the below screenshot for your reference to see where to find out these above stated options.

Cheers, Please write me back if you have any query or feedback..

Login to the query service failed. VMware vSphere 6.0

Or, Error: The server could not interpret the communication from the client. (The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.).
Or, Search option not working in vSphere client “Error Login to the service query failed”.

Guys, This is known issue with vSphere client; however you have some workaround on this. Please check this VMware reference KB: https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?.

Error Screenshot:

Solutions/Workarounds: 

1. As you are already on vSphere latest version 6.0, you can use vSphere web client to search any objects... Just give a try; I am sure you will love it…

2. Do not use SSO method while connecting to vCenter using vSphere client (un-Check “Use Windows Session Credentials” while login in to vCenter Server using vSphere traditional client software. 

(reference screenshot given below):

How to reset memory or DIMM errors of CISCO UCS Blade servers?

Or, Reset ECC memory error on CISCO UCS blade server

In my case: I want to reset memory or DIMM errors on CISCO UCS Blade server number 8, chassis number 1.

Steps:

1. Access your CISCO UCS Management IP using putty

2. Run below command in the sequence

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ca-1-A# scope server 1/8 (here 1 is Chassis number and 8 is blade server number)

ca-1-A /chassis/server # reset-all-memory-errors

ca-1-A /chassis/server* # commit

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You are done now… cheers...

How to check ESXi servers version details?

Or, Command to check ESXi Servers OS Version, Build version and Update Bundle Version.

Steps:

1. Login with root to your ESXi host

2. Run the command “vmware- vl” and you will have all the version details of your ESXi Server. 

    It should look like below:

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[root@ESXI-04:~] vmware -vl

VMware ESXi 6.0.0 build-3620759

VMware ESXi 6.0.0 Update 2

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Good Luck.. Please write us back if you have any query or feedback...

Can We Hot Remove CPU / RAM From a Virtual Machine in VMware?

No, CPU/RAM Hot Remove is not supported by VMware. We can only Hot Add CPU and RAM if having appropriate license level.

What are the components of VMware VDI?

Or, What are the types of Servers and Roles used in VMware VDI?

VMware View/VDI consists of following major components:

View Connection Server: This is a software based role of VMware View which acts as a broker for clients connections by authenticating and directing incoming user’s requests to the appropriate virtual desktop.

View Agent: This is a software service which is installed on all guest virtual machines, physical systems, or on terminal servers in order to allow them to be managed by VMware View. This agent allows users to use features like, Connection Monitoring, Virtual Printing, USB support and SSO.

View Client: A software application that communicate with view connection server to allow users to connect to their assigned Virtual Desktop.

View Client (With Local Mode): This is an another additional version/type of View client, which allow users to download their assigned Virtual Desktop to their Local Machine such as Laptop to be able to be able to work in offline mode on the specified virtual desktop.

View Administrator: This is a web based application that allows VDI administrators to configure view connection server, manage and deploy virtual desktops, control users authentications and access rights, and many more administrative and analytical activities.

vCenter Server:  A Server that act as a central management point for all ESX/ESXi Servers connected to it. This server provides feasibility to administrators to manage all configurations, VMs management and provisioning centrally by vCenter Server console.

Task like network configurations, storage allocation to VMs, Migration of VMs from one to another host etc... are managed by using vCenter Server console.

View Composer Server: A Software service that is installed on vCenter server to allow VMware View to deploy multiple linked-clone Virtual Desktops from a Single centralized base image which is also known as Golden Image or Master Image.

View Transfer Server: A software service that manages data transfers between datacenter and virtual desktops that are checked out for use for use on end users local systems. View transfer server is required to support a virtual desktop that runs view client agent with local mode feature.

What is VMware tool?

Or, Why VMware tool is used in VMware Virtualization?

VMware tool is a set of necessary drivers for Virtual Machines which is mandatory to be installed in Guest VMs for fully smooth functionality of the Guest VMs. e.g. Mouse control of windows Guest OS, SVGA etc..

VMware tool enables users to copy and paste texts between guest and host. Without VMware tool few major functionality of Virtual Machines like Guest Shutdown and Restart options can’t function through VMware vSphere client.

What is difference between OVF and OVA Templates in VMware?

Or, What are OVF and OVA Templates in VMware?

OVF and OVA Templates: OVF stands for Open Virtualization Format. This is the packaging format that contains a package of a group of files. Whereas,

OVA Stands for Open Virtualization Appliance. This is a Single File distribution of the same file package stored in TAR format.

Generally, we use these files to import pre-configured virtual machines in VMware virtualization environment.

What is Local Mode View Agent (offline virtual desktop) in VMware VDI?

Local Mode (offline desktop) allows users to download their virtual machine/desktop locally to their personal desktop/laptop.

This is local mode virtual machine that can be used even if the user is not in office or in office network. User can work on the virtual machine even if he/she is not connected to internet. Once the user back in office or in office network, all changes of the local mode VM get replicated with actual Virtual Desktop existing on the Server.

This replication takes place using view transfer server role of VMware VDI.

What are the protocols used by VMware View clients for remote connections of Virtual Machine or Virtual Desktops?

Or, Protocol used by VMware VDI clients for remote connections.


VMware View uses RDP(Remote Desktop Protocol) and PCOIP(PC over IP) protocols to connect to Virtual Desktops for remote access.

How Virtual Machine storage vMotion works in VMware?

Or, Explain the background process of Storage vMotion of a Virtual Machine in VMware.

Or, Understanding VMware Virtual Machine’s Storage vMotion.

Storage vMotion is very useful feature of VMware virtualization which gives you option/feasibility to migrate any Drive allocated to Virtual Machine from one to another Datastore in the cluster.

While storage vMotion of a Virtual Machine, we copy/move following files of a Virtual Machine to another Storage/Datastore.

1. VM Home Directory

2. Configurations

3. Logs

4. Swap Files

5. Snapshot and Snapshot Disks

6. Other MISC files associated with the particular VM.

Storage vMotion Process: VMware usage I/O mirroring mechanism for Virtual Machine’s storage vMotion.

I/O Mirroring: While performing storage vMotion, it creates a destination volume with same capacity and architecture similar to source volume. Every I/O occurred in source volume gets mirrored in destination volume. Once all the I/O are mirrored in destination volume, both volumes (Source and Destination) act as same because now both volumes are having same capacity, I/O and architecture.

At any given point of time, we can remove one volume and Virtual Machine will keep running without any interruptions. So, the storage vMotion does the same thing. Once all the I/O are mirrored to destination volume, it deletes the source volume from storage/datastore.

Friends, I have written it based on my best possible understanding of this VM Storage vMotion concept. Please write me about your feedback, suggestion or if you feel anything should be corrected…

Happy Learning. Cheers…