VMware ESX Server 2.1.2 Upgrade Patch 4 (for 2.1.x Systems)

Released 6/20/05

TAR File

This patch includes new updates for ESX Server 2.1.x  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
• Virtual machines with Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition SP1 crash with ASSERT error. -- see Knowledge Base Article 1699
• 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
• Unclear on-screen instructions during product upgrades.
  With this patch, the upgrade process provides better instructions by advising customers:
  • the system cannot be upgraded or patched while the vmkernel is loaded,
  • all virtual machines must be shut down or suspended
  • the ESX Server system should be rebooted before upgrading

This patch also includes previously released updates for ESX Server 2.1.x  that address the following issues. The patch installer will only install these updates if they have not been previously installed on your system:

• Errors in creating VLAN tags within virtual switches (see Knowledge Base Article 1655 for details)
  
• Security fix-- uselib security exploit CAN-2004-1235 (see Knowledge Base Article 1654 for details)
  
• Errors using FSC Global Array Manager and SAN Array Manager tools (see Knowledge Base Article 1584 for details)
  
• Reporting the CPU and bus speed of a server incorrectly (see Knowledge Base Article 1583 for details)
  
• Memory allocation error in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 virtual machines (see Knowledge Base Article 1549 for details)
• Security fix-- mod_ssl security exploit CAN-2004-0885 (see Knowledge Base Article 1555 for details)
• Security fix-- mod_ssl security exploit CAN-2004-0700 (see Knowledge Base Article 1429 for details)
  
• Security fix-- Linux security exploit CAN-2004-0415 (see Knowledge Base Article 1431 for details)
  

There are separate patches available for ESX Server 2.0.1 and 2.5.1 available as VMware ESX Server 2.0.1 Upgrade Patch 4 and VMware ESX Server 2.5.1 Upgrade Patch 1.

Applicability

This update applies to ESX Server 2.1, 2.1.1 or 2.1.2. 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.

Important Notes

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 linux option. 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 your ESX service console.
6. Change directories to /tmp.
7. Verify the integrity of the package:
   # md5sum esx-2.1.2-14215-upgrade.tar.gz

   The md5 checksum output should match the following:

   16addab509613440a114bf5f47f8db41 esx-2.1.2-14215-upgrade.tar.gz

8. Extract the compressed tar archive:
   # tar -xvzf esx-2.1.2-14215-upgrade.tar.gz
9. Change directories to the newly created directory /tmp/esx-2.1.2-14215-upgrade:
   # cd esx-2.1.2-14215-upgrade
10. Run the patch installer:
    # /usr/bin/perl ./upgrade.pl

    Note: Once you start the installation script, do not enter keyboard escape commands such as Control-C or Control-D. Using escape commands will interrupt the upgrade procedure and leave your system partially upgraded.

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.