ESX Server 2.5.3 Release Notes

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

• What's New
• Resolved Issues
• Prior Release Notes for ESX Server 2.5, 2.5.1, and 2.5.2
• Before You Begin
• Known Issues
• Installation Notes for This Release
• Security Alerts for This Release

What's New

• Support for the following additional Guest Operating Systems:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Update 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 Update 2

  Note: This release includes an updated tools image for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 Update 2 guest operating system; however, you must download the BusLogic floppy image for installing the guest operating system. The update is available at VMware ESX Server Driver Disk and Tools for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 Update 2. Please see the Guest Operating System Installation Guide more for information.

  • Microsoft Windows 2003 Release 2
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 3.
• A large number of RPMs have been updated for this release to address security issues. A list of updated RPMs and security issues addressed is available at www.vmware.com/pdf/ESX253-rpms_security.pdf.
• In addition, this release contains all the updates included in ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 1, ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 2, ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 3, and ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 4.

Resolved Issues

VMware typically publishes lists of issues resolved with each product at or around the time of the specific product release.

A list of issues resolved in ESX Server 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, and 2.5.3 is available at www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2x_fixed_bugs_list.pdf.

Release Notes for ESX Server 2.5, 2.5.1, and 2.5.2

The ESX Server 2.5.2 Release Notes are available at www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/releasenotes_esx252.html.

The ESX Server 2.5.1 Release Notes are available at www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/releasenotes_esx25.html.

The ESX Server 2.5 Release Notes are available at www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/releasenotes_esx250.html.

Before You Begin

Please refer to the following before you install or upgrade ESX Server:

• Configuring Your System to Install Boot-From-SAN
• Configuring System Partitions for Boot-From-SAN (KB 1506)
• Disk Controllers Default to Shared Mode on Boot From SAN (KB 1635)
• Installing the VMware Virtual SMP Product
• Installing on Systems Using an IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II Card or on a System with Baseboard Management Controller (KB 1636)
• Upgrading a Previous ESX Server Release to ESX Server 2.5
• Upgrading from a Tar Archive

Known Issues

Check the VMware Knowledge Base for updates to the issues described in this document. To review all Knowledge Base articles related to ESX Server 2.5.3, search for the keyword "esx253".

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/xxxx

Compatibility with VMware VirtualCenter

VirtualCenter 1.3 supports ESX Server 2.5.3. However, ESX Server 2.5.3 is not supported by previous VirtualCenter releases.

Security Alerts for This Release

As of this writing, no security alerts have been identified specifically for ESX Server 2.5.3.

Please refer to KB 1107 for VMware product security alerts.

Installation

• Installing VMware Tools in Unsupported Linux Distributions (KB 1625)
• Installation Fails During Service Console Installation on Disks that Are Greater Than or Equal to 1 Tb (KB 1639)
• Use the "Custom" Installation Option if using Non-US Keyboards (KB 1640)
• Booting into Linux with Hyper-Threading Enabled (KB 1641)
• "Unresolved Symbols" Error When Upgrading From ESX Server 2.0 to ESX Server 2.x (KB 1642)
• Boot Option Update for Dual-Core AMD Opteron Systems (KB 1852)
• Scripted Install Hangs when VMFS Partitions Are not Contiguously Listed in the Kickstart file (ks.cfg) (KB 1851)
• Removing vmware.mui.kid Cookie After ESX Server Upgrade (KB 2073)

Configuration

• Dell OpenManage Does Not Show Storage Page on Servers with Mptsci Driver (KB 1973)
• VMware Management Interface Creates a Windows 2003 Small Business Server Virtual Machine with a Buslogic Adapter by Default (KB 2064)
• Unsupported Features in the ESX Server 2.5.1 Version of the adp94xx Driver (KB 1607)
• Emulex Driver Is Not Supported with Agents in Shared Mode (KB 1606)
• IBM eServer xSeries 366 and Dell Power Edge 6850 Server Cannot Boot into the Linux Kernel (KB 1605)
• ESX Server Graphical Installation is not Displayed Through DELL DRAC Remote Console (KB 1600)
• Adaptec RAID Card in Dell PowerEdge 2650 is not Shown in Dell OpenManage Web Interface (KB 1599)
• The snmpwalk Tool Displays Incorrect Product Version and Build Number (KB 1598)
• Effective BusLogic Qdepth is Limited to 1 on Windows 2000, Update 3, or XP (KB 1614)
• Detecting LUNs on IBM DS4500 Storage Arrays (KB 1846)
• For Multihost Clustering Using Clustered Virtual Disks, the LUN No Longer Requires a Single Path (KB 1827)
• Upgrade Virtual Hardware Appears on Hardware Tab When I Create a Virtual Machine Using Raw Disk or Raw Disk Mapping (KB 1816)
• Virtual Compatibility for Clustered Non-Pass-Through Raw Device Mapping in Multihost Clustering Is Not Supported (KB 1821)
• Adding a Virtual Disk on an Auxiliary Virtual SCSI Controller to a Virtual Machine Moves Other Devices to New PCI Slots (KB 1513)
• VMotion Uses One Port on Virtual Switch, Leaving 31 for Virtual Machines (KB 1825)
• VMware Management Interface Not Able to Manage a Partition Once it is Changed by fdisk (KB 1850)
• Cable Pulls Changed Original Paths, Causing Persistent Binding Issue with Raw Device Mapping (KB 1824)
• After Refreshing, VirtualCenter Reports Only the Memory Allocated to the Service Console and One CPU (KB 1823)
• Must use Physical Compatibility Mode for Shared Disks when using Microsoft Clustering Service with Raw Device Mappings (KB 1822)
• NICs of VMotion Switch Cannot Be Part of Virtual Switch Configuration (KB 1493)
• Default Maximum Size of a File Allowed by VMFS is 144GB, Not 456GB (KB 1847)
• ESX Server 2.5.2 or 2.5.3 with Microsoft Exchange Server in a Clustered Configuration not Recommended with Emulex HBAs (KB 1858)
• VirtualCenter 1.3 Reports the Wrong Number of CPUs in Dual-Core Host (KB 1872)

Guest Operating System

You can find the latest version of the Guest Operating System Installation Guide by following these links: HTML | PDF | Japanese PDF.

• Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 Update 2 as a Guest Operating System (KB 2056)
• Disable PAE in ESX Server 2.x Guest Operating Systems for Better Performance (KB 2020)
• Installing Linux 64-bit Guest Operating System Fails (KB 1637)
• Red Hat Linux 2.1 WS Guest Operating System Fails to Install with BusLogic Virtual Adapter (KB 1644)
• The Virtual Machine Occasionally Hangs While Running RHEL 3.0 Update 3 or Update 4 (KB 1675)
• Time Can Be Set to Synchronize Between Guest Operating System and Console Once Every Minute, Not Second (KB 1832)
• vmxnet Not Working under SuSE 9.3 in ESX Server (KB 2075)
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 9 SP3 Guest Experiences Monitor Panic in SMP Mode on Host with AMD Opteron Processor (KB 2076)

Operation

Note: Due to ongoing certification, please check the SAN Compatibility Guide for ESX Server 2.x to see if your array is listed before upgrading.

• Failovers with MSCS Can Take an Excessive Amount of Time (KB 1597)
• The vmsnap and vmres Scripts Do Not Work with Raw Disk Mapping (KB 1681)
• IO Meter Gives an Error Performance Counter Percentage That Is Less Than Zero (KB 1604)
• Unintended IBM FAStT LUNs Causes vmkernel Load Time to Increase Significantly (KB 1596)
• Clustering a Physical Machine with a Virtual Machine (KB 1634)

Installation Notes for This Release

Configuring Your System to Install Boot-From-SAN
For general instructions on configuring ESX Server for boot-from-SAN operation, see the ESX Server SAN Configuration Guide.

For hardware compatibility with ESX Server, see the Compatibility Guides available at www.vmware.com/support/resources/esx_resources.html.

Note: If you are using a preboot execution environment (PXE), a boot-from-SAN operation will fail and is not supported for this version of ESX Server. Only a local disk PXE installation is supported.

Installing the VMware Virtual SMP Product
If you have purchased the VMware Virtual SMP product, then you can create Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) virtual machines, with single or dual virtual CPUs. You install the Virtual SMP product during your ESX Server installation by inserting its serial number during the licensing step of your ESX Server installation.

Upgrading a Previous ESX Server Release to ESX Server 2.5.3

ESX Server 2.5.3 supports upgrading from the following previous releases:

• ESX Server 2.5.2 and with Upgrade patch 1, 2, 3, 4
• ESX Server 2.5.1 with Upgrade patch 1
• ESX Server 2.5 with Upgrade patch 2
• ESX Server 2.1.3
• ESX Server 2.1.2 with Upgrade patch 6
• ESX Server 2.1.1
• ESX Server 2.0.2
• ESX Server 2.0.1 with Upgrade patch 6

Note: Using the tar archive, upgrading directly from releases prior to ESX Server 2.0.1 is not supported. To upgrade from ESX Server 1.5 or ESX Server 2.0.0 to ESX 2.5.3, upgrade first to ESX Server 2.0.1 with Upgrade Patch 6.

Note: During an upgrade from a previous ESX Server release to ESX Server 2.5.3, this upgrade installer reinstalls all default ESX Server RPMs. If you have modified any of the default ESX Server RPMs, these modifications will be overwritten during the upgrade.

To upgrade from previous versions of ESX Server to ESX Server 2.5.3, use the installation CD-ROM. This is the CD you received from VMware or the CD you created from the ISO image file you downloaded from the VMware site. For upgrade instructions, see "Upgrading from a Previous Release of ESX Server" in the ESX Server Installation Guide, available from www.vmware.com/support/pubs/esx_pubs.html .

Upgrading from a Tar Archive
If you are using the downloaded tar archive, note the filename of the download file and make appropriate substitutions in the file and directory names shown below.

Note: Using the tar archive, upgrading directly from releases prior to ESX Server 2.0.1 is not supported.

1. Power off all virtual machines and shut down 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-up.

4. Log in as root into the ESX Server service console, in Linux mode.

5. Make a directory named download (or use another name of your choice.) This directory must be accessible to the service console on the server you want to upgrade.

6. Change to the download directory.

7. Verify the integrity of the package:

   # md5sum esx-2.5.3-22981-upgrade.tar.gz

   The md5 checksum output should match the following:

   375c9ba440a2807ce134f36aeca601ec esx-2.5.3-22981-upgrade.tar.gz

8. Extract the contents of the file.

   tar zxf esx-2.5.3-22981-upgrade.tar.gz

9. Change to the directory esx-2.5.3-22981-upgrade.

10. Run the upgrade script.
    ./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. Your virtual machines will not run properly until this is done." If you see this message, you must manually reboot the server to complete the driver update.

12. At the reboot prompt, enter N.

After the installation, a file named "perllocal.pod" is created in the / directory. The perllocal.pod file is an unnecessary file created as a byproduct of the installation process. It can be safely deleted.

13. Delete the "perllocal.pod" file by issuing the following comments as root:
    1. Type "cd /" to change to the / directory.
    2. Type "rm perllocal.pod" to delete the "perllocal.pod" file.
    3. Type "reboot" to reboot the server.