upgrade

Quick tip: VMware VCSA installer page is blank when selecting a datastore

While upgrading a vCenter Server 6.7 to version 7 Update 3 using the vCenter Server 7 UI installer, I was not able to select a datastore for installing the new vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).

The datastore selection was blank as shown in the following image.

 

 

After googling I found the solution on a blog from another vExpert (link) who experience this issue with VCSA 6.5/6.7 installers. So the issue still exists in the vCenter Server 7 UI installer.

Here are the steps to solve this:

  • Go to the %appdata% folder (it opens the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming folder)
  • Delete the installer folder.
  • Run the VCSA installer again and you see the datastores again

After upgrading vSphere 4 to 5 the Fusion-IO card is in minimal mode

Last week I did a VMware vSphere and VMware View 4 to 5 upgrade.  The ESXi servers for the VMware View environment uses Fusion-IO (HP IO Accelerators) PCI flash cards for there non-persistent VDI pools. After the upgrade  to vSphere 5.1 I imported the latest Fusion-IO drivers and created a baseline in vSphere Update Manager (VUM) and deployed the new drivers to the cluster.

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After the installation of the Fusion-IO drivers on the ESXi hosts, the Fusion-IO card was not listed in the vSphere (Web) client. Via SSH I make a connection the the ESXi servers. When i run the fio-status command the following warning appeared:

Driver is in Minimal mode: The firmware on this device is not compatible with the currently installed version of the driver.

ACTIVE WARNINGS: The ioMemory is currently running in a minimal state.

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The warning means that the firmware needs to be upgraded. I uploaded the firmware to a central datastore and run the following command:

fio-update-iodrive firmwarefilename.fff

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When the firmware upgrade completed, the ESXi servers needed to restart.

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After the rebootI checked the status with the fio-status command again.  The Fusion-IO card is out of minimal mode.

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After the firmware upgrade the Fusion-IO card is listed again.

Upgrading to vSphere 5.1? Check your third party software

Before upgrading to vSphere 5.1 it is important to check your existing hardware, firmware levels, drivers, vSphere versions, other VMware products that integrates and third party software if it is compatible with vSphere 5.1. Here is a list of  third party software and it’s support for vSphere 5.1 .

Software Version vSphere 5.1 Support Comment
Veeam Backup & Replication 6.5 yes  
CommVault 9 SP8 yes 3 extra SP8 post patches needed
PHDVB 6.1 yes  
Trilead Explorer 4.1.010 yes  
Quest vRanger Backup & Replication 6 no  
Trend Micro Deep Security 8 SP2 yes *4
NetApp Virtual Storage Console 4.1 yes Including SnapManger for Virtual Infrastructure (SMVI)
Symantec NetBackup 7.5.0.4 yes *3
Symantec Backup Exec 2010
2012		 no Beta for Backup Exec 2010 R3 SP3 and Backup Exec 2012 SP2*2
HP Insight Control for VMware vCenter server 7.1 yes  
EMC NetWorker 8.0 SP1 Yes  
Citrix VDI-in-a-Box 5.2 Yes  
Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 No *1
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager 6.4 Yes  

 *1 Citrix XenDesktop and Provisioning Services support for vSphere can be found here: Link

*2 More information can be found here: Link 

*3 More information: Link

*4 Trend Micro Deep Security vSphere support: Link 

If other third party software vendors have support for vSphere 5.1 please let me know so I could add them to the list.

 

Last Updated:

February 2 2013, Added Trend Micro Deep Security support link