About VMware SiteSurvey
Version 2.5.3
SiteSurvey is no longer supported as of vSphere 5.1. |
Pre-5.1 will continue to be supported. |
VMware SiteSurvey is a plugin for the vSphere Client which analyzes
ESX hosts managed by vSphere Server and reports on whether the configuration
of both software and hardware
is suitable for use with the VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) feature.
The VMware SiteSurvey tool is available
for download at http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html.
Version 2.5.3 is the latest version.
As VMware SiteSurvey is gathering information about your ESX hosts,
it compares the configuration details against the requirements for
using the FT feature.
(You can read an overview of the VMware Fault Tolerance feature
here.)
The resulting report shows a complete list of configuration
items reviewed, along with an indication on whether that item requires
attention before using FT.
Each of the configuration items checked by VMware SiteSurvey
is described below.
For questions or comments about this tool, contact the VMware SiteSurvey
team at:
sitesurvey@vmware.com.
Installing and Running SiteSurvey
Prerequisites
- vSphere Client must already be installed
Download the SiteSurvey install utility
Run the SiteSurvey install utility
- If running, close vSphere Client
- Double click the install utility and follow the instructions
Using SiteSurvey
- After installation, restart vSphere Client and connect to a vSphere Server
- In vSphere Client, click on a cluster or host view. A SiteSurvey
tab will now be present.
- Open the SiteSurvey tab and click the "Run SiteSurvey" link
- A popup window will allow you to generate a report for the current view only, or for all views. Running all views can take several minutes, depending on how large your configuration is.
- SiteSurvey will generate the report
Notes
- To keep the SiteSurvey report up to date, it must be rerun each time a configuration change is made
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VMware SiteSurvey Configuration Checks
- CPU compatibility with FT
-
The vLockstep technology used by FT requires
the physical processor extensions added to the latest
processors from Intel and AMD.
In order to run FT, a host must have an FT-capable processor,
and both hosts running an FT VM pair must be in the same
processor family.
For VMware FT to be supported, the servers that host the
virtual machines must each use a supported processor from the
same category as documented below:
Intel Xeon based on 45nm Core 2 Microarchitecture Category:
- 31xx Series
- 33xx Series
- 52xx Series
- 54xx Series
- 74xx Series
Intel Xeon based on Core i7 Microarchitecture Categories:
- Nehalem Series Group:
- 34xx Series (Lynnfield)1
- 35xx Series
- 55xx Series
- 65xx Series2
- 75xx Series3
-
Westmere Series Groups:
- 34xx Series (Clarkdale)2
- i3/i5 (Clarkdale)2
- 36xx Series2
- 56xx Series2
- E7-28xx Series4
- E7-48xx Series4
- E7-88xx Series4
-
Sandy Bridge Category 1:
-
Sandy Bridge Category 2:
AMD 3rd Generation Opteron Category
- 13xx and 14xx Series
- 23xx and 24xx Series (DP)
- 41xx Series*
- 61xx Series*
- 83xx and 84xx Series (MP)
1. requires VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 1 or greater
2.requires VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 2 or greater
3. requires VMware vSphere 4.1 or greater
4. requires VMware vSphere 5.0 or greater
- CPU Speeds and FT
-
When ESX hosts are used together in an FT cluster, their
processor speeds must be matched fairly closely
to ensure that the hosts can stay in sync.
VMware SiteSurvey will flag any CPU
speeds that are different by more than 400 MHz.
- Compatible CPU Steppings and FT
-
This issue has been fixed by a patch: the patch bulletin
ID for ESX is ESX400-200906401-BG, and for ESXi is
ESXi400-200906401-BG. VUM customers are automatically
notified when patches such as these are released. Customers
not using VUM can download this patch from
http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/.
Without the above patch,
when the Primary and Secondary VMs for FT are run on
hosts with mixed steppings of Intel Xeon 5400 or 5200 Series
Processors (CPUID Family 6, Model 23, steppings 6 and 10), the
Secondary VM starts for a few seconds and then fails with the
Primary VM going into the "Need Secondary VM" state.
To avoid this issue, install the patch or
ensure that the processors within the host
system match.
- ESX Versions and Build Numbers required by FT
-
ESX hosts running the FT VM pair must be running
at least ESX 4.0,
and must be running the same build number of ESX.
- Pairing ESX servers for FT
-
FT requires at least two (three recommended) compatible
ESX servers. See the above table
to determine which CPU types can be paired together. In
addition, ESX hosts must be running the same version of
ESX to be paired together for FT.
- BIOS settings for FT
-
FT uses hardware virtualization, so
the BIOS settings for each ESX host must have that support
enabled. It is not always possible for VMware SiteSurvey to
determine the BIOS settings. When the BIOS settings can be
detected, VMware SiteSurvey may flag them as a problem for
one of the following reasons:
- incompatibleProduct
-
The server is running a VMware product other
than ESX or ESXi.
- incompatibleCpu
-
The ESX server does not support hardware
virtualization, which is required for FT.
- hvDisabled
-
The ESX server does support FT, but virtualization
has been disabled in the BIOS, which prevents
FT from running.
- cpuidLimitSet
-
The ESX server has a BIOS option set that enforces
a maximum limit on the CPUID, which prevents
FT from running.
- oldBIOS
-
The ESX server BIOS needs to be updated for FT to work.
- Unknown
-
An unknown BIOS configuration is preventing FT
from working properly.
? |
VMware SiteSurvey displays this question mark for the BIOS Settings item in a report when it is unable to check the settings. The HV capability must be enabled in order to use FT with a VM on that server. |
- Physical NIC Requirements for FT
-
FT requires each member of the FT cluster to have a
minimum of two NICs with speeds of at
least 1 Gb/S. Each NIC must also be on
the same network.
? |
VMware SiteSurvey displays this question mark when it is unable to determine the physical NIC settings. This can happen if the NIC is configured to auto negotiate the speed. |
- Virtual NIC Requirements for FT
-
FT requires each member of the FT cluster to have two virtual
NICs, one for logging and one for vmotion. VMware SIteSurvey
will flag ESX hosts which do not contain as least two virtual NICs.
? |
VMware SiteSurvey displays this question mark when it is unable to determine the virtual NIC settings. This can happen when the ESX server is running an older version of ESX. |
- Shared Storage Required for FT
-
ESX hosts used together as an FT cluster must share storage
for the protected Virtual Machines. For this reason VMware
SiteSurvey lists the shared storage it detects for each
ESX host and flags hosts which do not have any shared storage
in common. In addition, an FT-protected VM must itself be
stored on shared storage and any disks connected to it must
be shared storage.
- Multi-Processor Virtual Machines and FT
-
At this time, FT only supports single processor virtual
machines. VMware SiteSurvey flags virtual machines that
are configured with more than one processor. To use
FT with those VMs, you must reconfigure them as single-CPU
VMs.
- Thin-provisioned Disks and FT
-
FT will not work with virtual disks backed with
thin-provisioned storage or disks that do not have
clustering features enabled. When you turn on FT,
the conversion to the appropriate disk format is
performed by default. The virtual machine must be
in a powered-off state to take this action.
- Snapshots and FT
-
Snapshots must be removed before FT can be enabled on a virtual
machine. In addition, it is not possible to take snapshots
of virtual machines on which FT is enabled.
- License for FT
-
VMware SiteSurvey verifies that each ESX host is licensed
to use the FT feature.
- Guest Operating Systems and FT
-
Most combinations of Guest operating system and processor
types work well with FT. The following exceptions
are not supported with AMD Barcelona CPUs:
- Windows XP (64 bit)
- Windows XP (32 bit)
- Windows 2000
- Solaris 10 (32 bit)
- Physical Raw Disk Mapping and FT
-
Physical Raw Disk Mapping (RDM) is not supported with FT. You may
only use virtual RDMs.
- Paravirtualization and FT
-
Paravirtualized guests are not supported with FT. To use FT with
a virtual machine with this issue, reconfigure the virtual machine
without a VMI ROM.
- NPIV and FT
-
N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) is not supported with FT. To
use FT with a virtual machine with this issue, disable the
NPIV configuration of the virtual machine.
- CD-ROM or Floppy Drives and FT
-
FT is not supported with virtual machines that have
CD-ROM or floppy virtual devices backed by a physical
or remote device. To use FT with a virtual machine with this
issue, remove the CD-ROM or floppy virtual device or
reconfigure the backing with an ISO installed on shared
storage.
- Legacy Network Interfaces and FT
-
FT is not compatible with some legacy network hardware. While
some legacy drivers are supported, FT does not support the
vmxnet2 driver. You might need to install
VMware tools to access the vmxnet2 driver instead of
vlance in certain guest operating systems.
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VMware SiteSurvey displays this question mark when it is unable to determine if legacy drivers are in use or if there is a potential issue due to the use of the vmxnet2 driver. |
- NIC Passthrough and FT
-
The NIC passthrough feature is not support with FT and
must be turned off before FT can be enabled for that
virtual machine.
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