Category: VMware

Mounting a NFS share from Exagrid to a VMware host

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After endlessly searching through Google (by endlessly I mean various searches with only scanning the first or second page and spending roughly about 2 – 3 minutes on each page), we bit the bullet and called Exagrid support to assist us with mounting a NFS share in VMware. This is what I learned from that experience.

  • By default, Exagrid uses NFSv4 when using the directory path serverIPaddress:/NFSshare
  • To mount this in VMware you need to force it to use NFSv3
  • When trying to mount the share using simply /Backup we were receiving the following error:

    • NFS mount ip-address:mountpoint failed: The mount request was denied by the NFS server. Check that the export exists and that the client is permitted to mount it.

To mount the NFS share in VMware use the following path pre-fix in front of your share:

  • /home1/shares/
    • Example: my NFS share in Exagrid is Backup, so in VMware my path will be: /home1/shares/Backup

You should see that VMware is able to successfully add the NFS share as a datastore.

mapping-to-exagrid

VMware ESXi 5 Whitebox

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I just recently purchased a new PC which I have turned into my VMware ESXi 5.0 Whitebox. More posts to come soon as I prepare my virtual environment!

Gateway DX4860
Intel i5 processor
8GB RAM
1TB HDD

This screen shows the ESXi host management console. It’s a custom version of Linux designed by VMware to be a baremetal hypervisor and leave a minimal footprint on the host.

With the ESXi host prepared, we are now ready to navigate to the IP address of the host to install VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client on my laptop. This will be used to remotely manage the host and virtual machines.

This the welcome screen you receive when navigating the host’s IP address. On this page, vmWare provides you tools needed to remotely manage the ESXi host.


Using VMware Virtual Infrastructure client to access the host. I logged into the host using the root credentials, but once my servers are configured access will be delegated through Active Directory user accounts with the required security group privilege.

Preparing for Windows Server 2008 to be installed as a virtual machine. This will be my Primary Domain Controller on my network.

Installing Windows Server 2003. This will just be a member server on the domain and will have VMware virtual infrastructure client installed on it. That way, if I don’t have my primary Windows laptop I can still VPN back to that server and access the ESXi host using that virtual machine. This machine will also run automated tasks, scripts, and handle backups.

A quick view of the usage statistics with both virtual machines running.

Performing a Physical to Virtual Migration – Hot Migration

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In this article, I will attempt to explain to the best of my ability how to perform a physical to virtual migration.

Pre-Requisites:

  • Knowledge of vmWare vSphere 4 and Virtual Infrastructure Client

Before we proceed, you will need to head over to http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ and download the free vCenter Converter.

  1. Launch vCenter Converter
  2. Click “Convert Machine” located at the top left menu
  3. Fill in the info for your remote powered on machine. IP address will be the physical machine you wish to convert. Supply your administrative credentials for the username and password. (DOMAIN/USERNAME for username).
  4. Click “View source details”
  5. Choose to “Automatically uninstall the files when the import succeeds”
  6. Once the conversion prep is complete, you will receive a pop-up displaying the information gathered from the physical machine. Click close on this window.
  7. Click next and you will be taken to the destination screen. This is where you will tell it to go to your Virtual Infrastructure. The “server name” will be your vCenter server. For username and password, supply your administrative credentials. (DOMAIN\USERNAME for username).
  8. Click next and you will be asked to name your newly created VM. I have a naming scheme in place for certain types of servers. (Example: SERVER_NAME_nfs for file servers and SERVER_NAME_bdc for domain controllers).
  9. Click next and select which Host in your Cluster you wish for this vm and also on the right hand side select which datastore you would like to use to store this VM.
  10. Click next and verify the settings for this VM. Make any needed adjustments here before proceeding. (Example: I needed to make a change on the diskspace on the last P2V I did. The physical machine C: drive was 279GB and I wanted it to be 250GB since I had a decent amount of space unused on the drive and don’t plan to go past 250GB with it anytime soon). Also make sure the number of vCPUs and amount of RAM is set to your liking.
  11. Click next then finish. The conversion task will begin so sit back, grab a cold soda and wait for it to complete!