Release Notes |
Resolved Issues
Known issues for this release include brief descriptions and related actions
for corner-case situations that might occur.
Known Issue Descriptions
Installation Issues
Cancelling an Installer action may not clean up all files
Description:
When uninstalling VirtualCenter, clicking Cancel appears to rollback all changes. However,
the VirtualCenter service will not restart.
Cancelling a VirtualCenter installation process may not remove the following VirtualCenter services:
- VMware Virtual Mount Manager Extended
- VMware VirtualCenter Service
Action:
If you cancelled an uninstall: Execute the uninstall again, then reinstall VirtualCenter. You may have to rebuild your VirtualCenter
environment.
If you cancelled an install: Use Microsoft Windows Add/Remove Programs tool to remove VirtualCenter service.
VirtualCenter Web Service Issues
Multiple services using same port as Web service
Description:
If any other service is bound to the configured port used by the VirtualCenter Web service
(port 8443 by default), then the Web service fails to start.
Action:
Change either the Web service
port or the other service's port to clear the conflict.
Closing application messages when uninstalling
VirtualCenter Web service
Description:
When uninstalling VirtualCenter, a dialog box may pop up about other applications being open.
Action:
Choose the 'ignore' option on this dialog to allow the uninstall process to continue and complete
successfully.
Error reported when you stop Web service
Description:
When the VMware Web service is stopped by the user, it sometimes reports an error code of 109
and the message "the pipe has ended" or may report an exception message about accessing illegal
memory.
Action:
These messages can be ignored and the service will stop.
Performance statistics gathering may not work with a
large number of hosts and virtual machines
Description:
It is not recommended that you use the VMware Web service to monitor performance
statistics in a large-scale production environment. The Web service can fail to gather these
statistics from the VirtualCenter server because the VirtualCenter server can take a long
time to load the statistics from its database into memory.
Action:
None. When the Web service gets an error from the VirtualCenter server when trying to obtain
performance statistics, it will stop trying to collect the statistics.
Web service do not start when upgrading from VirtualCenter 1.1 to 1.1.1
Description:
After upgrading the Web service from VirtualCenter 1.1 to version 1.1.1, Web service cannot
start. This applies only if you are using an Microsoft Access database, using Web service, and
upgrading from VirtualCenter version 1.1 to version 1.1.1.
Action:
Uninstall then reinstall the Web service components using the following process.
- Run the VirtualCenter version 1.1 or 1.1.1 installer and
select to Remove the Web service and components.
Refer to
Uninstalling a VirtualCenter Component for additional information.
- Run the VirtualCenter 1.1.1 installer and select to Add the Web service and components.
If VirtualCenter server is not installed you must select to install the
VirtualCenter server before the Web service option is available.
Refer to
Installing and Upgrading the VirtualCenter Product for additional information.
VirtualCenter VMotion and Migration Issues
Migration with VMotion does not work if an external Console is open
Description:
When a Console that connects directly to the ESX Server of a migrating virtual machine is open,
the migration does not complete until that Console is closed.
This does not occur when the VirtualCenter Console is open.
Action:
Use the VirtualCenter Console to view the virtual machine and close the external Console.
Duplicate IP addresses when configuring VMotion creates an error
Description:
A host should not be configured for VMotion if another host with the same IP address is already
configured for VMotion. If this is done, VMotion behavior becomes unpredictable and errors can be
generated.
Action:
Duplicate IP addresses are not supported.
Selecting multiple virtual machines and attempting to migrate them all at once may fail
Description:
VirtualCenter performs a pre-migration check on any virtual machine as part of the pre-process for a migration.
When multiple virtual machines are selected, this cannot be completed.
Consequently, migration of the virtual machines might fail.
Action:
Migrating multiple virtual machines through a single multiple-selection is not supported.
Migrating with VMotion a Running Virtual Machine from ESX Server 2.1 to 2.0.1
Description:
ESX Server 2.1 does not require the idler service to be installed in its virtual machines.
In addition, the idler service is automatically uninstalled when the ESX Server 2.1
tools are installed in a virtual machine.
However, ESX Server 2.0.1 does require that the idler service be installed in its virtual machines.
If a virtual machine is migrated with VMotion from ESX Server 2.1 to ESX Server 2.0.1, the idler service
may not be installed. This may result in
adverse performance of the virtual machine on the ESX Server 2.0.1 machine.
Action:
Migrating with VMotion a virtual machine from an ESX Server 2.0.1 to an ESX Server 2.1 is not recommended.
Failed Migration with VMotion causes incremented files to be created
Description:
If the migration with VMotion fails, it rolls the virtual machine back to the source host,
but it leaves the /home/vmware/vmtest/ folder structure on the target host.
If you perform another migration with VMotion, VirtualCenter sees that /home/vmware/vmtest/
already exists and creates /home/vmware/vmtest_1/ to house the migrated virtual machine files.
If the migration with VMotion fails again, it leaves /home/vmware/vmtest_1.
If you try to migrate again, VirtualCenter sees
/home/vmware/vmtest and /home/vmware/vmtest_1 and then creates
/home/vmware/vmtest_2, an so forth.
Virtual machines created with an older version of VirtualCenter,
or a virtual machine that was created outside of VirtualCenter that
are migrated with VMotion are renamed to match the newer non-UUID based
naming structure in VirtualCenter version 1.1.
If you are migrating with VMotion one of these older or non-VirtualCenter
created virtual machines, and the migration with VMotion succeeds, then
this iterative naming stops.
Action:
Migrate the virtual machine successfully. This only occurs if the migration fails and
the virtual machine is using the pre-1.1 version naming.
Once a virtual machine has been successfully migrated with VirtualCenter 1.1 or later,
the virtual machine uses the new folder naming structure and this error no longer occurs.
Note however, any previous directories created remain. If the directory itself is removed, the
name assigned to that directory is 'taken' and cannot be reused.
Migrating between almost identical processors fails
Description:
If you are having problems migrating between
two processors which you think are pretty closely related, it is possible that a non-essential
mis-match is present.
Action:
Add the following line to the VirtualCenter configuration file, config.ini.
This file is located in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter.
Then restart your VirtualCenter server.
migrate.ignore.extfeature.bits = 0x4580
VirtualCenter Template Issues
Deploying or Cloning to a SAN with SCSI reservations may
crash the VirtualCenter host agent
Description:
Deploying a template or cloning a virtual machine may fail due to SCSI reservation conflicts on the LUN.
If this crash occurs check the following to verify this is the cause of the crash:
- Is there an entry in the ESX Server log file:
"VMServerd Panic: NOT_REACHED F(4300):1118 bugNr=24092"
- Are there a large number of hosts connected to a LUN.
Action:
Add the following line to the host configuration file.
This tells the VirtualCenter to retry n more times.
$ echo n > /proc/vmware/config/Scsi/ConflictRetries
Where n is the number of times to retry. The recommended number is 10.
The ESX Server log files can be found at:
/var/log/vmware/vmware-ccagent-n.log
Where n increments after the first log from 0 to 9. The most recent log is
the one without a dash number.
Unable to add a virtual disk to a GSX Server virtual machine
Description:
GSX Server supports placing virtual disks for a virtual machine anywhere on the network.
VirtualCenter requires that virtual disks are in a single datastore defined for each GSX Server.
If you have a pre-existing virtual machine, that was discovered by VirtualCenter when
the GSX Server host was added to VirtualCenter, and that virtual machine's disks are not in the
datastore assigned to the virtual machine's GSX Server, VirtualCenter cannot add a new disk to
that virtual machine.
Action:
Move the virtual machine's virtual disks to the datastore specified for that GSX Server.
Unable to use the Browse button when creating a template
Description:
When creating a template the Browse button is gray, indicating it is not available.
In addition, when a path is manually typed, the path specified is not accepted.
Action:
The Browse option is available only when the VirtualCenter client is running on the same machine
as the VirtualCenter server. If the Browse option is not available, type the path to the virtual
machine configuration file in the textbox.
Note: The path you specify is the path for the VirtualCenter server, not the path on the machine running
your VirtualCenter client.
If you are not running the VirtualCenter client on the same machine as the VirtualCenter server, type in
the path on the VirtualCenter server machine where the template source virtual machine is located.
Cloning a large disk may seem extremely slow
Description:
Cloning a large disk may take an excessive amount of time to complete.
Sharing a VMFS volume between ESX Server 2.0.1 and ESX Server 2.1.0 hosts slows down
all SAN related tasks for all servers on a shared LUN. This include migration and migration with
VMotion.
Action:
Ensure that the VMFS is not shared by multiple ESX Server 2.0.1 and ESX Server 2.1.0 hosts.
Cannot edit serial port setting of migrated or cloned virtual machine
Description:
When a virtual machine is migrated or cloned between an ESX Server and GSX Server host,
you cannot edit the serial port setting through the customization process.
Action:
After the virtual machine is migrated or cloned, then use the virtual machine
Properties to edit the serial port setting.
Deploying more than two virtual machines concurrently causes the third
virtual machine deployment to fail
Description:
When you deploy more than two new virtual machine from a template or
create more than two clones from a virtual machine,
simultaneously, the third virtual machine fails to be created. An NFC Error 4 is listed.
This happens whether you are deploying to the same or different ESX
Servers, or to the same or different storage volumes.
Action:
If a template is located on the VirtualCenter server, concurrent deploys work correctly.
Concurrent clones of a virtual machine work correctly independent of the location of the source virtual
machine. Concurrent deploys of a template works correctly, only if all the deploys are to the
same destination host.
Cloning using same default name stops incrementing after 11 clones
Description:
When multiple clones are created using a default name, after the 11th clone, a naming error
stops any additional clones from being made. VirtualCenter issues an error 'Another virtual machine with
the given name already exists'.
Action:
Give each clone a unique name. Do not rely on an automatically incrementing number to assign
the unique name.
VirtualCenter Creating Virtual Machines Issues
Virtual machines are created in the /home/vmware directory
Description:
When a virtual machine is created through VirtualCenter, the associated files
are placed in the /home/vmware directory. In previous versions of VirtualCenter they were
placed in the /vpx/vms directory.
Action:
Update any scripts you created that point to the /vpx/vms directory.
The /home/vmware directory is the default behavior but is configurable on a per-host
basis.
To change the default location, add the following line to the configuration file, /etc/vmware/config,
on each appropriate ESX Server host:
serverd.vpx.defaultVmDir = "/whatever/your/path/is"
Mixing these two directories is not a concern.
However, if a virtual machine was initially in /vpx/vms, and it is migrated off of the
host and later returned to the host,
it is placed in the newly designated directory, not where it was originally discovered.
VirtualCenter Management Issues
VirtualCenter service seems unresponsive or slow to respond
Description:
VirtualCenter Service seems unresponsive or slow to respond.
Action:
Check to see if any of the hosts under VirtualCenter management is heavily loaded or has
a very large number of virtual machines (powered on or not). VirtualCenter relies on an
agent running on the Service Console (for ESX Server)) or the host operating system (for GSX Server),
which needs some compute power (typically < 1%) to respond to VirtualCenter requests.
Reduce the load on the host and/or reduce the number of virtual machines.
Task panel shows blank entries for tasks
Description:
If you do not have access privileges assigned to a virtual machine, tasks scheduled
to be performed on that virtual machine appear as blank entries in the Scheduled Task panel.
Action:
Ignore the blank task entries.
Memory and handling leak in scalability environment
Description:
For a large environments with over 500 virtual machines if the VirtualCenter Web service
is being used, it is recommended that you turn off all performance collectors.
Action:
To turn off all performance collectors in large environments:
- Set the parameter, periodicPerfRefreshEnable to false.
This is found in the subject section of configuration file,
vmaConfig.xml. The file is located in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\VMA
- Then restart the VMware VirtualCenter Web service from the Windows services control panel.
Virtual machine fails when viewing in Console
Description:
When viewing ESX Server 2.0.1 created virtual machines in either the GSX Server 3.x Console
or the VirtualCenter 1.1 Console, the virtual machine might fail.
Action:
Change the Copy/Paste preference in the Console for the virtual machine.
In the GSX Server Virtual Machine Console, select Edit > Preferences > Input.
Uncheck the option, "Copy and Paste: enable copy and paste to and from the virtual machine".
If you are not using the GSX Server Console, add the following line to
your preferences.ini file on the remote machine.
pref.exchangeSelections = "FALSE"
The file is located at:
c:\documents and settings\<username>\Application Data\VMware\preferences.ini.
VirtualCenter Properties and Configuration Settings Issues
Configuring the same virtual disk with different modes
Description:
A virtual disk is allowed to be shared between two virtual machines. Each virtual machine
can configure the same virtual disk differently. For example, vm1 configures the
disk in persistent mode while vm2 configures the disk in undoable mode. When vm1
is powered on a message appears: "Redo logs are present. Do you want to commit or discard?"
When vm2 is power on no message appears.
Action:
Do not use the same virtual disk for more than one virtual machine. Sharing a virtual disk between
virtual machines is unsupported.
Virtual machine NIC checkbox does not reflect connection status
Description:
The Properties box for a virtual machine with a vmxnet NIC does not show the connection
status in the Device Status checkbox.
Action:
No action. Issue does not present itself with vlance NIC.
Cannot select the location to add a virtual disk
Description:
When adding a new virtual disk to an existing virtual machine, only a default location,
as determined by VirtualCenter is available. If the default VMFS volume does not have
sufficient disk space, the new virtual disk is not created. No error message is displayed.
Removing then adding another virtual disk to the same virtual
machine in the same session fails.
Action:
Refer to the task tab for the virtual machine. The status indicates if the task of adding
a virtual disk was successful or not.
Adding a virtual disk is considered a long running operation and all long running
operations are tasks. Therefore the failure to create the disk shows up in the status of
the task that was created under the tasks tab.
If you remove a virtual disk from a virtual machine, you must exit the virtual machine
Properties dialog before attempting another configuration activity.
After you reopen the virtual machine Properties dialog then you can add a new virtual disk.
VirtualCenter Performance Chart and Database Issues
History of memory usage for a virtual machine does not display
in original host history
Description:
Memory usage of a virtual machine for the source host does not display if the
virtual machine is migrated off.
When the virtual machine is migrated back on to the host, the entire history of that
virtual machine reappears.
Action:
No action available.
VirtualCenter Permissions Issues
Displaying a large active directory domain may take several minutes
Description:
Listing all the members of a large active directory domain might take several minutes.
Action:
No action required.
Private GSX Server virtual machines are viewable in VirtualCenter
Description:
VirtualCenter does not recognize or separate activities based on the GSX Server Private
virtual machine setting.
Action:
Do not include Private virtual machines on a VirtualCenter registered GSX Server host, if you
need to keep them Private.
VirtualCenter Console and Client Issues
Console view in VirtualCenter client blacks out
Description:
When clicking between the VirtualCenter client when the Console is being displayed and
outside the VirtualCenter client, the Console may go black.
Action:
Click on another VirtualCenter client tab, then back to the Console tab. The Console
refreshes itself.
Removing a host from one VirtualCenter server
while adding the same host to another VirtualCenter server causes an error
in the Add a Host process
Description:
If you tried to add a host to a VirtualCenter server and received
an "already being managed" error, removing the host from the
conflicting VirtualCenter server, then trying to continue adding the host fails.
Action:
Complete the task as hand, then reconnect after.
- Complete the Add a Host wizard with the "already being managed" message.
The host is added to the VirtualCenter server but is listed as disconnected.
- Remove the host from the conflicting VirtualCenter server.
- Select the host on the new VirtualCenter server and select Connect.
VirtualCenter client pops to the foreground
Description:
When the Performance tab is updated, VirtualCenter client forces its display
to the top of the screen.
Action:
Click another tab option in the VirtualCenter client so that the Performance tab is
not active.