Tag: vCenter

Cannot Contact Host in vCenter 8

Cannot Contact Host in vCenter 8

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

Recently I was doing some jobs in the home lab and at some point I was trying to add a new vSphere host called nuc01.cloudhat.local into a vCenter 8 cluster, but I immediately received an error:

Cannot contact host nuc01.cloudhat.local

This was a new vCenter 8 environment and a new vSphere host. I started to debug the issue using my Windows jump VM. The new vSphere host was responding to ping using the IP address, but DNS resolution was not working. I switched to my DNS server and of course, DNS records were missing for the new host. I added the missing DNS records and then I switched back to my Windows VM to check DNS resolution:

C:\>nslookup nuc01.cloudhat.local
Server:  dns.cloudhat.local
Address:  192.168.0.222

Name:    nuc01.cloudhat.local
Address:  192.168.0.111

This time it was looking good, so I went back to vCenter to retry the “Add Hosts” to cluster operation, just to receive same error: “Cannot contact host”.

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VMware vCenter Server 8 build 20519528

How to Install VMware vCenter Server 8

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

Middle of October 2022, VMware released the new version 8 of the vCenter Server. Finally I got some time to update my home lab. In this article I will demonstrate how to install VMware vCenter Server 8.

To start, you need an installation kit of vCenter Server 8. For this article, I will use the GA version of vCenter Server 8.0.0 – VMware-VCSA-all-8.0.0-20519528.iso.

Same as in the previous versions of vCenter Server, the installation process consists in two separate stages. At the end of the first stage you will have the appliance installed, then in the second stage you will configure it.

Install vCenter Server 8 – Stage 1 – Install the VM

To launch the installer I will use a Windows virtual machine (you can also use a Mac or a Linux system). Unzip the ISO archive and navigate to VMware-VCSA-all-8.0.0-20519528\vcsa-ui-installer\win32 folder. Launch installer.exe and begin to install vCenter Server 8.

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VMware vCenter 7.0.3d CLI

VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3d – How to Install Using the CLI

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

In this article I will demonstrate an unattended installation of vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3d.

To follow along you will need:

  • installation ISO for vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3d, which you can download from your My.VMware account: VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-19480866.iso
  • a text editor. I used Microsoft Visual Studio Code, but you can really use any text editor.
  • the ability to run CLI commands. I used a Windows server to launch the command, but VMware also provides binaries for Linux and Mac.

Prepare the JSON Configuration File

VMware provides a number of JSON template files, so we don’t have to start from scratch. Inside the ISO file, we can navigate to vcsa-cli-installer\templates\install to see the available templates. There are 5 templates, among them:

  • embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json – minimum configuration required for the deployment of vCSA on an ESXi host.
  • embedded_vCSA_on_VC.json – minimum configuration required for the deployment of vCSA on a vCenter Server instance.
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VMware Security Advisory

VMSA-2020-0023 – VMware ESXi, Workstation, Fusion and NSX-T Vulnerabilities

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

VMware has released a new security advisory VMSA-2020-0023: VMware ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, NSX-T, and vCenter Server Appliance updates address multiple security vulnerabilities. VMware Cloud Foundation is also an impacted product.

ESXi OpenSLP remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2020-3992)

OpenSLP as used in ESXi has a use-after-free issue. A malicious actor residing in the management network who has access to port 427 on an ESXi machine may be able to trigger a use-after-free in the OpenSLP service resulting in remote code execution. If you can’t upgrade to the fixed version, as a workaround you can disable CIM server, documented in VMware KB 76372.

Affected products:

  • ESXi 7.0 – update to ESXi_7.0.1-0.0.16850804
  • ESXi 6.7 – update to ESXi670-202010401-SG
  • ESXi 6.5 – update to ESXi650-202010401-SG
  • VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x – update to 4.1
  • VMware Cloud Foundation 3.x – update to 3.10.1.1
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vCenter Server 7.0.0b

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.0b

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

VMware released a new vCenter Server version: 7.0.0b, 7.0.0.10400, build 16386292. In this article I cover the resolved issues and I show how easy is to update from the previous version of vCenter Server 7.0.0 to the latest 7.0.0b.

In case you are looking for an upgrade demonstration from vCenter Server 6.7 to vCenter Server 7.0.0, you can check my other article: How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 1.

If you want to install vCenter 7.0.0, please check How to Install VMware vSphere 7.0.

vCenter Server 7.0.0b – Resolved Issues

vCenter Server 7.0.0b introduces two new features:

  • It adds a Replication State Change alarm to the vCenter Server Appliance that displays when a replication state changes to READ_ONLY.
  • You can use the Show only rollup updates toggle button to filter and select patches that you want to include in a baseline when using the vSphere Lifecycle Manager.

This release of vCenter Server delivers the following patch:

  • VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-7.0.0.10400-16386292-patch-FP.iso
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VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

VMware released a new vCenter Server version: 6.7 Update 3f, 6.7.0.43000, build 15976714. In this article I will cover the resolved issues and I will show how easy is to update from a previous version of vCenter Server 6.7 to VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f.

In case you are looking for a plain installation of vCenter Server 6.7, you can check my other article: How to Install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance).

Resolved Issues

This release of vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f delivers the following patch:

  • Security Patch for VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f (VMware-vCenter-Server-Appliance-6.7.0.43000-15976714-patch-FP.iso)

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3f resolves a critical security issue documented in security advisory VMSA-2020-0006: vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC), may not correctly implement access controls. A malicious actor with network access to an affected vmdir deployment may be able to extract highly sensitive information which could be used to compromise vCenter Server or other services which are dependent upon vmdir for authentication.

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How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 2

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

In a previous article (How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 1) I walked through the first phase of the upgrade process for vCSA 7.0 – Deploy the OVA File of the new vCenter Server Appliance. In this article I will cover phase 2 of the vCenter upgrade – transfer the data and setup the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance.

Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 2

In the last step of the phase 1, I was presented with the following screen:

Upgrade-vCenter-Server-Appliance-from-6.7-to-7.0-Deploy-VCSA-Completed
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Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 - Stage 1

How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.7 to 7.0 – Stage 1

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

In this article I will demonstrate how to upgrade vCenter Server Appliance running 6.7 to the target version of 7.0. I will upgrade an embedded deployment running in my home lab using the GUI method.

The upgrade procedure consists in two steps:

  1. Stage 1 – Deploy the OVA File of the new vCenter Server Appliance
  2. Stage 2 – transfer the data and setup the newly deployed vCenter Server Appliance

In this article I will cover Stage 1 (deployment of a new vCSA 7.0). In a later article I will cover Stage 2 (data migration from the old 6.7 vCSA to the new 7.0 vCSA).

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VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b

VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b

Constantin Ghioc Leave a comment

VMware released a new vCenter Server version: 6.7 Update 3b, 6.7.0.42000, build 15132721. In this article I will cover the resolved issues and I will show how easy is to update from a previous version of vCenter Server 6.7 to VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b.

In case you are looking for a plain installation of vCenter Server 6.7, you can check my other article: How to Install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance).

Resolved Issues

This release of vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b delivers the following patches:

  • Security Patch for VMware vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3b (applicable for vCenter Server for Windows, Platform Services Controller for Windows, and vSphere Update Manager.; updates JRE version to 1.8.0_221)
  • Full Patch for VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 Update 3b (Product Patch for vCenter Server Appliance containing VMware software fixes, security fixes, and Third Party Product fixes)
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Install VCSA 6.7

How to Install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance)

Constantin Ghioc 1 Comment

In this article I will show you how to install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance).

To start, you need an installation kit of vCenter Server Appliance 6.7. For this article, I will use the VCSA 6.7 Update 1 version – VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-10244745.iso (the latest available at the time I wrote this article).

Note: If you look for VCSA upgrade instructions, check this article: How to Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5 to 6.7 – Stage 1.

Install VCSA 6.7 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance) – Stage 1

To launch the installer I will use a Windows virtual machine (alternatively you can use a Mac or a Linux system). Unzip the archive and navigate to VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-10244745\vcsa-ui-installer\win32 folder. Launch installer.exe and begin to install VCSA 6.7.

Install VCSA 6.7 - installer.exe

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