VMware

VMware ESX Server 2.5.1 Upgrade Patch 1

Released 6/20/05

TAR File

This patch includes new updates for ESX Server 2.5.1  that address the following known issues:

  • Security fix -- Corrects a potential vulnerability in the RPCI mechanism used in ESX Server 2.x that may be exploited in a denial of service attack. See Knowledge Base Article 1703
  • Fixes for problems observed running on the IBM x460 -- possible panics on 8-way systems and fixes to timer code, as well as updates to the service console kernel to support drivers that register controllers outside the detect routine.
  • Poor networking performance with Citrix Metaframe Application Server and Citrix License Server in a virtual machine -- see Knowledge Base Article 1702
  • Virtual machines may fail to boot with a MONITOR PANIC message in the vmware.log file -- see Knowledge Base Article 1701

There are separate patches for ESX Server 2.1.2 and 2.0.1 available as the VMware ESX Server 2.1.2 Upgrade Patch 4 and VMware ESX Server 2.0.1 Upgrade Patch 4.

Applicability

This update applies only to ESX Server 2.5 and 2.5.1. Please make sure that one of these versions is installed before applying the patch. The installer will log the name of this patch and information on the updated components in the file /var/log/vmkernel-version.

Note: After updating your system, you must update the version of VMware Tools installed in your virtual machines.

Installing the Update

This update will require you to boot your server into Linux mode to perform the upgrade. When you are prompted to reboot at the end of the upgrade, the installer will restart your system to run ESX Server.

  1. Power off all virtual machines and shutdown your server.
  2. Restart your system.
  3. At the LILO Boot Menu, select the option appropriate for your system. For a boot-from-SAN installation, select esx-san-safe. For all other installations, select linux. Allow the system start procedure to complete.
  4. Log in as root into the ESX Server service console, in Linux mode. Make sure your path variable contains /usr/bin:/bin.
  5. Download the tar file into the temporary directory /tmp on the service console.
  6. Change directories to /tmp.
  7. Verify the integrity of the package:
    # md5sum esx-2.5.1-14182-upgrade.tar.gz
    The md5 checksum output should match the following:
    a3d60f7196b5a7192ac4c6c3ccf8de0f  esx-2.5.1-14182-upgrade.tar.gz
  8. Extract the compressed tar archive:
    # tar -xvzf esx-2.5.1-14182-upgrade.tar.gz
  9. Change directories to the newly created directory /tmp/esx-2.5.1-14182-upgrade:
    # cd esx-2.5.1-14182-upgrade
  10. Run the installer:
    # /usr/bin/perl ./upgrade.pl
  11. The system updates have now been installed. A reboot prompt displays:
    Reboot the server now [y/n]? This update will not be complete until you reboot the ESX Server. If you enter N, to indicate that you will not reboot at this time, ESX Server displays the warning message "Please reboot the server manually for this update to take effect. Update has been terminated unexpectedly." If you see this message, you must manually reboot the server to complete the driver update.

  12. At the reboot prompt, enter Y to reboot the server.