HOW TO: Upgrade VMware ESXi 5.5 to ESXi 6.0 in 5 easy steps

https://www.experts-exchange.com/articles/18819/HOW-TO-Upgrade-VMware-ESXi-5-5-to-ESXi-6-0-in-5-easy-steps.html

backup of VMWare using ghettoVCB.sh

You can back up VMware VM for free using ghettoVCB.sh script. Everything you need is here:

https://github.com/lamw/ghettoVCB

I was unable to download it directly to the the VMware server because wget v1.19 refused to download form https:// url.

Instead I downloaded the file to my Windows machine and used WinSCPPortable to upload the file to the server.

To extract the files do:

unzip ghettoVCB-master.zip

Go to ghettoVCB-master folder and make the scripts executable:

chmod +x ghettoVCB.sh
chmod +x ghettoVCB-restore.sh

Add a new NFS share as a datastore “backup”. This is where we are going to store the backup files.

Create some folders and configuration files. A typical way to execute the script is:

./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -g global_config/vm_global.conf

To schedule a cron job add the following line to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

0 0 * * 1-5 /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.sh -f /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/vms_to_backup -g /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/global_config/vm_global.conf > /vmfs/volumes/backup/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log

Then add the following to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo “0 0 * * 1-5 /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.sh -f /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/vms_to_backup -g /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/global_config/vm_global.conf > /vmfs/volumes/backup/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log” >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond

In order to allow the script to send emails you need to:

Step 1 – Create a file called /etc/vmware/firewall/email.xml with contains the following:


  
    email
    
      outbound
      tcp
      dst
      25
    
    true
    false
  

Step 2 – Reload the ESXi firewall by running the following ESXCLI command:

~ # esxcli network firewall refresh

Step 3 – Confirm that your email rule has been loaded by running the following ESXCLI command:

~ # esxcli network firewall ruleset list | grep email
email                  true

Step 4 – Connect to your email server by using nc (netcat) by running the following command and specifying the IP Address/Port of your email server:

~ # nc 172.30.0.107 25
220 mail.primp-industries.com ESMTP Postfix

To perform a dry run restore do:

./ghettoVCB-restore.sh -c vms_to_restore -d 1

To perform a real restore do:

./ghettoVCB-restore.sh -c vms_to_restore

Configure FreeNAS iSCSI and VMWare ESXi (w/AUDIO!)

This is a very useful video that describes how to configure FreeNAS iSCSI as a data store for ESXi. The credits go to mrholverson

A copy of this video is available here

How to upgrade to VMware ESX 4.1 or VMware ESXi 4.1 using esxupdate

Watch the video here:

or download it from here.

VMware ESXi

Step 1. Connect to ESXi console and press the Alt+F1 key combination.

Step 2. Type unsupported and then press . Note that nothing will appear on the screen whilst you type this.

Step 3. When prompted enter in the Root password and press.

Step 4. You will now be presented with a prompt on the console. From this prompt type vi /etc/inetd.conf

Step 5. vi (the file editor) has now opened the inetd.conf file. Using the direction arrows scroll through the lines until you reach the line that has #ssh and remove the hash (ie: #). This is effectively un-commenting this line so that the ssh service can be started.

Step 6. Now that you have made this minor file you want to save this change and exit out of the editor (vi). To do this press the ESC key (to put vi back into Command Mode) and then type :wq *Note: If you want to exit without saving any changes to the file then just press the ESC key (Command Mode) and then type :q!.

Step 7. With the SSH service now un-commented from this file we want to restart the