VMware vSphere 5 on Dell PowerEdge systems Release Notes
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2016 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents 1 Overview.................................................................................................................6 2 Installation and upgrade instructions............................................................... 7 3 Issues and resolutions..........................................................................................8 NVMe devices configured as passthrough device to the guest operating system, ESXi host stops responding......................................................
Remote section of ESXi installer lists virtual disks created with Dell PERC H200 controller...........14 Dell customized VMware ESXi 5.1 does not display FCoE LUN during deployment........................14 vCenter Hardware Health Status page displays Memory Speed incorrectly.................................... 14 vCenter Hardware Health Status page displays memory type incorrectly for DDR4 DIMM type....15 USB 3.0 is not supported on VMware ESXi 5.x...........................................................
Systems running ESXi may freeze and display a purple screen of death or PSOD screen if the max CPUID value limit token is enabled in the BIOS.........................................................................23 PCI devices listed as unknown under PCI passthrough section of vSphere client.......................... 23 ESXi reports 1011.5 GB of memory on specific systems populated with 1 TB Of memory............. 24 Uninstallation of Dell OpenManage VIB fails to delete certain files......................
Overview 1 VMware vSphere 5.x includes the ESXi 5.x hypervisor and is managed by vCenter Server 5.x. VMware vSphere 5.0 is the first release from VMware that does not include the ESX. The current release of the VMware software incorporates feature upgrades, new hardware and feature support, and bug fixes that enhances the virtualization experience in VMware environments.
Installation and upgrade instructions 2 For information about installing ESXi 5.x or upgrading from a previous version of ESXi, see the versionspecific VMware vSphere on the Dell PowerEdge systems — Deployment Guide at Dell.com/ virtualizationsolutions. For the list of enhancements and bug fixes by VMware, see the version-specific VMware vSphere Release Notes at support.vmware.com. NOTE: Only issues relating to Dell systems running VMware vSphere 5.x are discussed in this document.
Issues and resolutions 3 NVMe devices configured as passthrough device to the guest operating system, ESXi host stops responding Description: When the NVMe devices are configured as passthrough device to the guest operating system, the host system stops functioning and can result in data corruption. Applies to: ESXi 5.0 Solution: This is a known issue. NOTE: Apart from the Dell Fluid cache solution, the passthrough device configuration is not supported by Dell.
3. To load the drivers, run Vmkload_mod ipmi_si_drv Power supply unit status and details are displayed incorrectly in vSphere WebClient or vCenter Server Description: On the Dell PowerEdge C6320 systems, the status and details of power supply unit (PSU) are displayed incorrectly. The PSU report is displayed as Not Installed on the Hardware Health Status tab, in vCenter Server. The PSU report is displayed as Normal on the Hardware Health Status tab, in vSphere WebClient. Applies to: ESXi 5.
Solution: This is a known issue and there is no functionality loss. You can select the NVMe PCIs device that is listed as an XS device to configure the controller as passthrough. Unable to write vmkernel coredump to local LUN when PSOD occurs Description: During heavy load on storage subsystem if PSOD occurs ESXi unable to write coredump to the local LUN and results with the error message bad header error message. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: Ensure that a network share is configured to coredump.
• ~# vmkchdev -p #where the BDF is the Bus Device Function for the NVMe device • Edit /etc/vmware/esx.conf and add the line – /device/<>/owner = "passthru" – Reboot ESXi. NVMe devices are available for VMs.
1. Run the command, vmkchdev –p , Where BDF is for the NVMe device. 2. Edit the Edit /etc/vmware/esx.conf file, and enter /device/<>/owner = "passthru" in the file. 3. Restart ESXi. After the your restart ESXi, NVMe devices will be available for VMs.
Fault-tolerant Shared PERC8 controller LUNs redundancy status displays as partial or no-redundant Description: In VMware vCenter Storage Views Section, Dell PowerEdge VRTX’s Fault-tolerant Shared PERC8 controller LUNs redundancy status displays as partial or noredundant. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: VMware vCenter Client displays incorrect status. Refer to the Dell PowerEdge VRTX CMC storage controller page to view the actual redundancy status.
ESXi host does not display the FAN RPM on Hardware Status tab Description: ESXi host does not display the FAN RPM under FAN section of Hardware Status tab. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This issue can be ignored because there is no functionality loss. Remote section of ESXi installer lists virtual disks created with Dell PERC H200 controller Description: During ESXi installation on systems with PERC H200 Controller, the virtual disks are listed under the remote section of the installer.
vCenter Hardware Health Status page displays memory type incorrectly for DDR4 DIMM type Description: VMware ESXi vCenter hardware health status shows Memory Type as Unknown in the Memory Sensor section, for systems populated with DDR4 DIMMs. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This is a known issue and there is no functionality loss. USB 3.0 is not supported on VMware ESXi 5.x Description: VMware ESXi does not support USB 3.0. By default the USB 3.0 setting is disabled in System BIOS. If USB 3.
Systems with ESXi 5.1 Update 2 with 14 or more Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 processor cores crashes with PSOD Description: ESXi 5.1 Update 2 crashes with Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) while booting ESXi on systems with 14 or more cores of the Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 processor. Applies to: ESXi 5.1 Update 2 Solution: Install the patch P05 for ESXi 5.1 Update 2 or reduce the number of cores on systems with CPU Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3, which have more than 14 cores enabled.
VMware ESXi displays USB NIC description incorrectly Description: VMware ESXi displays the description of Dell iDRAC USB NIC incorrectly as unknown unknown. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This issue can be ignored because there is no functionality loss. SD Card status displays incorrectly Description: The status of the SD card is incorrectly displayed as unknown on the Hardware Status tab of the ESXi host installed on the SD card. Applies to: ESXi 5.
Solution: This is a known issue. Perform either of the following to resolve the issue: • Edit the .vmx file of the VM: add the string bios.hddOrder = "scsi0:0" at the end of the .vmx file. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 1023592. • Boot to the VM BIOS and change the disk order manually to scsi0:0.
Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This is a known issue. Restart the system to make the PCIe SSD functional. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 2004605. Dual port Mellanox cards display unusual vmnic number Description: The dual port Mellanox cards display a unusual vmnic number for the second port. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: There is no functionality loss. This is a known issue with the Mellanox driver design.
Unmapping LUNs from PowerEdge VRTX shared storage generates inaccessible LUN entries In ESXi Description: When you unmap LUNs from PowerEdge VRTX Shared Storage, ESXi displays inaccessible LUN entries. This issue occurs if the mapped virtual disks are already assigned to VMs. Applies to: ESXi 5.1.x Solution: Complete the following steps to resolve the issue: 1. Remove the virtual disks that are already mapped to the VM using vCenter client. 2. Unmap the virtual disks from the CMC. 3.
The vmkernel.log file displays warning messages related to allocating interrupt vectors Description: The vmkernel.log file displays warning messages related to the allocation of interrupt vectors similar to the ones listed below: 2013-10-25T06:43:51.268Z cpu13:8732)WARNING: VMK_PCI: 1171: device 00:00:16.1 has no legacy interrupt(s) 2013-10-25T06:43:51.268Z cpu13:8732)VMK_PCI: 1228: device 00:00:16.1 failed to allocate 1 vectors (intrType 1) 2013-10-25T06:43:51.
VMware ESXi hostd log file displays a file corruption error message Description: The following message is logged in the hostd.log file. FileIO error: Could not find file : /var/lib/vmware/hostd/ stats/hostAgentStats.idMap. Possible file corruption! Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This is a known issue and the message can be ignored. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 2036086 .
Solution: This is a known issue. CPU status shown as dormant in the vCenter server Hardware Health Status page Description: The dormant CPU state indicates that the CPU is currently idle. However the same status is indicated even when the processors are used. Applies to: ESXi 5.5 Solution: This is a known issue. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 1023032.
ESXi reports 1011.5 GB of memory on specific systems populated with 1 TB Of memory Description: On PowerEdge systems such as R815 and M915, running an AMD processor and populated with 1 TB memory, ESXi reports memory as 1011.5 GB instead of 1024 GB. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: This is a known issue. Uninstallation of Dell OpenManage VIB fails to delete certain files Description: Specific Dell OpenManage files and directories are not deleted after uninstalling the Dell OpenManage VIB.
Dell systems management monitoring applications fail to authenticate to an ESXi host after a few days of use Description: Dell OpenManage Software Administrator and OpenManage Essentials are not responsive after running in the ESXi environment for several days. Applies to: ESXi 5.x Solution: The failure is due to insufficient memory allocated for the process and a memory leak in the WSMan daemon in ESXi. Restart the WSMan service.
Upgrade from Dell customized VMware ESXi 5.0 ISO to a later update fails Description: When upgrading from Dell customized VMware ESXi 5.0 ISO to a later update, the update fails with the following error message: File path of/etc/vmware/oem.xml is claimed by Multiple overlay VIBs File path of/etc/vmware/support is claimed by Multiple overlay VIBs: File path of/etc/vmware/vmware.lic is claimed by Multiple overlay VIBs: Applies to: ESXi 5.0.x Solution: This is a known issue.
Solution: Copy the ISO image contents to the web server location, and run the following commands: cd mv dell-con.v00 Dell-Con.v00 mv dell-lic.v00 Dell-Lic.v00 This issue will be fixed in a future release of the Dell-customized VMware ESXi image. DHCP lookup failed message is displayed on the DCUI Description: Every time you reboot the system, the following message is displayed on the Direct Control User Interface (DCUI): DHCP lookup failed.
Applies to: ESXi 5.0.x Solution: This is a known issue. Power management settings displayed as not supported or not applicable Description: On systems installed with AMD Opteron 6200 and AMD Opteron 4200 series of processors, the Power Management settings in vCenter may be listed as not supported or not applicable. Applies to: ESXi 5.0.x Solution: This is a known issue.
ESXi may fail to install or boot on a NUMA-enabled system Description: On a Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) enabled system, ESXi may fail to install or boot because of unbalanced memory distribution across the nodes. The performance of the system may be degraded. The following error message is displayed: The BIOS reports that NUMA node X has no memory. This issue is either caused by a poorly configured BIOS or a unbalanced distribution of memory modules.
Windows Server 2008 cannot be automatically preactivated Description: When you install the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 operating system on virtual machines (VM) using the Dell Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) installation media, the operating system stops working. This issue occurs because the VMs running on the Dell system do not automatically preactivate the Windows Server 2008 operating system. Applies to: ESXi 5.
ESXi reports an incorrect MAC address for FlexAddressenabled modular systems Description: The MAC address for ESXi Management Network portgroup (vmk0) is not updated when FlexAddress is enabled on PowerEdge modular systems. Applies to: ESXi 5.0 Solution: To resolve the issue: 1. Open the Troubleshooting console in Tech Support mode and run the following command: esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Net/FollowHardwareMac 2. Restart the server. For more information, refer to the VMware Knowledge Base article 1031111.
4 Related information NOTE: For Dell VMware documentation, go to Dell.com/virtualizationsolutions. NOTE: For Dell OpenManage documentation, go to Dell.com/openmanagemanuals. NOTE: For all PowerEdge documentation, go to Dell.com/poweredgemanuals, and type the Service Tag of your system to get your system documentation. Your product documentation at Dell.com/virtualizationsolutions includes the following: Table 1.
NOTE: For more information related to VMware ESXi installation on Dell PowerEdge systems, go to http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/virtualization/w/wiki/. NOTE: For more information about supported virtualization videos for Dell PowerEdge systems, go to Supported Operating Systems for Dell PowerEdge Systems playlist.
Getting help 5 Contacting Dell Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell for sales, technical assistance, or customer-service issues: 1. Go to Dell.com/support. 2.
