Questions[guest](server)

I have a problem with Guests not booting under VMWare ESXi 5.0 on my IBM x3550M3 server.

Note: Investigation eventually determined that problem was with the VMware client on a Lenovo Edge laptop, the only Windows box available in a Linux IT shop.

vSphere Client v4 and v5 duplicated behavior on the Lenovo Edge. As indicated in the comment to the accepted answer, replacing the workstation with one using different video was the "fix" for this particular issue.

The ESXi host boots just fine. The Client connects just fine. Guests can be configured but do not successfully boot. The initial guest memory consumption jumps up to 560MB and drops down to 40MB after a few seconds. Initial CPU usage is 1 full CPU (3000Ghz per the chart) and immediately drops downm to 29Mhz. Guests do not display any output in the Console tab but show a state of 'Powered On'. No errors in the Events tab. Switching Guest from BIOS to EFI makes no difference.

VMs are listed as Version 7 and the behavior is duplicated across all availabled Guest OS flavors. Problem also duplicated when server is booted up in Legacy Only mode.

Logs do not contain anything particularly suspicious.

Edit: No firewalls, routers, or VLANs in between the client and server.

Edit 2: We have tried to Boot Guest into BIOS screen at Next Boot checkbox in the Guest Setting. Was not successful.

Edit 3: 500GB datastore with 1 40GB VM on it. Plenty of space.

Edit 4: Guests copied from my old ESXi 4 server DO NOT boot on the ESXi 5 system. Initially it complains about too little Video RAM being configured for the default 2500x1600, but it still doesn't work properly even after I bump the Video RAM settings or switch it to Auto-Detect.

Im trying to install Fedora 16(64bit) as guest OS on my VMware ESXi 5 host... But when configuring new vm, in tab Guest Operating System there is no Fedora 16. I can choose between RedHat 6, CentOS and Other Linux, Other Linux 2.6.x ...

What should I choose for best performance?

I'm trying to install a fully virtualized guest (Fedora 14 x86_64) on KVM (RHEL 6), using command-line only (both hypervisor and guest). It goes without errors, and without a tangible result . I'd like to know how to do a text-only installation.

So, here's what I've done:

# virt-install \
--name=FE --ram=756 --vcpus=1 \
--file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/FE.img  --network bridge:br0 \
--nographics --os-type=linux  \
--extra-args='console=tty0' -v \
--cdrom=/media/usb/Fedora-14-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso 


Starting install...
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                        |    0 B     00:00     
Connected to domain FE
Escape character is ^]
ÿ

Now what? As I understand after googling for a couple of days, I should see the guest's output from the text installation, but nothing happens. virt-viewer cannot connect to it, kindly suggesting that I explore all the options by adding --help (which I did). If I reconnect with virsh, I see this:

Domain installation still in progress. You can reconnect to 
the console to complete the installation process.
[root@v ~]
# virsh console FEConnected to domain FE
Escape character is ^]

This shows that VM is running

# virsh list
 Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
  8 FE                   running

Qemu log:

LC_ALL=C PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin /usr/libexec/qemu-kvm -S -M rhel6.0.0 -enable-kvm -m 756 -smp 1,sockets=1,cores=1,threads=1 -name FE -uuid 6989d008-7c89-424c-d2d3-f41235c57a18 -nographic -nodefconfig -nodefaults -chardev socket,id=monitor,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/FE.monitor,server,nowait -mon chardev=monitor,mode=control -rtc base=utc -no-reboot -boot d -drive file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/FE.img,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0,format=raw,cache=none -device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0 -drive file=/media/usb/Fedora-14-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso,if=none,media=cdrom,id=drive-ide0-1-0,readonly=on,format=raw -device ide-drive,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-1-0,id=ide0-1-0 -netdev tap,fd=20,id=hostnet0 -device rtl8139,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:0a:65:8d,bus=pci.0,addr=0x2 -chardev pty,id=serial0 -device isa-serial,chardev=serial0 -usb -device virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 
char device redirected to /dev/pts/1

Output of /etc/libvirt/qemu/FE.xml

# cat /etc/libvirt/qemu/FE.xml 
<domain type='kvm'>
  <name>FE</name>
  <uuid>6989d008-7c89-424c-d2d3-f41235c57a18</uuid>
  <memory>774144</memory>
  <currentMemory>774144</currentMemory>
  <vcpu>1</vcpu>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='rhel6.0.0'>hvm</type>
    <boot dev='hd'/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <pae/>
  </features>
  <clock offset='utc'/>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/libexec/qemu-kvm</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/FE.img'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <disk type='block' device='cdrom'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='ide'/>
      <readonly/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='1' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='ide' index='0'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:0a:65:8d'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <target port='0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty'>
      <target port='0'/>
    </console>
    <memballoon model='virtio'>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
    </memballoon>
  </devices>
</domain>

I'm obviously missing something that many others don't, but what is it? Thanx in advance!

Is it possible to determine the name of the VMware host (ESX or ESXi) that my guest resides in, from within the guest itself?

I would expect this to be possible via VMware Tools, but am not sure where to look.

I've hired a remote consultant to tune up my servers. Now, I am not 100% confident about giving him root password and allow him to do whatever he wants to do on the servers. Ideally, I want to see everything he is doing to my servers (in realtime) and also find a way not to share root password with him.

Are there any best practices in allowing a remote-consultant to access your server?

EDIT: To clarify, I want to do some kind of screen share with the consultant. Is there any method by which his commands are tunneled through my account without he getting any password ever?

PS: My servers are on Ubuntu 9.10