ESX Server 2.5.1 Release Notes

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

• What's New
• Resolved Issues
• ESX Server 2.5 Release Notes
• Before You Begin
• Known Issues
• Installation Notes for This Release
• Security Alerts for This Release

What's New

• Dell Power Edge Server 6850
• IBM eServer xSeries 366
• HP ProLiant BL30p
• SUSE LINUX Professional 9.2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Update 6 and RHEL 3.0 Update 4
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Service Pack 1
• Windows 2003 Service Pack 1
• Dell OpenManage 4.3
• IBM Director 4.21
• Qlogic 7.04 Fibre Channel Driver

Resolved Issues

ESX Server 2.5 Release Notes

The ESX Server 2.5 Release Notes are available at www.vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/releasenotes_esx250.html.

Before You Begin

• Configuring Your System to Install Boot-From-SAN
• Configuring System Partitions for Boot-From-SAN (KB 1506)
• Disk Controllers Default to Shared Mode on Boot From SAN (KB 1635)
• Installing the VMware Virtual SMP Product
• Installing on Systems Using an IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II Card or on a System with Baseboard Management Controller (KB 1636)
• Upgrading a Previous ESX Server Release to ESX Server 2.5
• Upgrading from a Tar Archive

Management Agents

Check the VMware Knowledge Base for updates on the issues described in this document. See the article titled Latest Known Issues for more information.

www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=xxxx

Note: If you use MSCS, please read under Known Issues: Operation below.

Security Alerts for This Release

Installation

• Cannot Access HP Insight Manager Web Page After Installing Version 7.2 (KB 1615)
• Installing Linux 64-bit Guest Operating System Fails (KB 1637)
• Installing VMware Tools in Unsupported Linux Distributions (KB 1625)
• Installation Fails During Service Console Installation on Disks that Are Greater Than or Equal to 1 Tb (KB 1639)
• Use the "Custom" Installation Option if using Non-US Keyboards (KB 1640)
• Booting into Linux with Hyper-Threading Enabled (KB 1641)
• "Unresolved Symbols" Error When Upgrading From ESX Server 2.0 to ESX Server 2.x (KB 1642)

Configuration

• vmsnap_all Does not Allow Spaces in Configuration File Paths (KB 1608)
• Unsupported Features in the ESX Server 2.5.1 Version of the adp94xx Driver (KB 1607)
• Emulex Driver Is Not Supported with Agents in Shared Mode (KB 1606)
• IBM eServer xSeries 366 and Dell Power Edge 6850 Server Cannot Boot into the Linux Kernel (KB 1605)
• ESX Server Graphical Installation is not Displayed Through DELL DRAC Remote Console (KB 1600)
• Adaptec RAID Card in Dell PowerEdge 2650 is not Shown in Dell OpenManage Web Interface (KB 1599)
• The snmpwalk Tool Displays Incorrect Product Version and Build Number (KB 1598)
• Effective BusLogic Qdepth is Limited to 1 on Windows 2000, Update 3, or XP (KB 1614)

Guest Operating System

• Red Hat Linux 2.1 WS Guest Operating System Fails to Install with Buslogic Virtual Adapter (KB 1644)
• The Virtual Machine Occasionally Hangs While Running RHEL 3.0 Update 3 or Update 4 (KB 1675)

Operation

Note: Due to ongoing certification, please check the SAN Compatibility Guide for ESX Server 2.x to see if your array is listed yet before upgrading.

• Failovers with MSCS Can Take an Excessive Amount of Time (KB 1597)
• The vmsnap and vmres Scripts Do Not Work with Raw Disk Mapping (KB 1681)
• IO Meter Gives an Error Performance Counter Percentage That Is Less Than Zero (KB 1604)
• Unintended IBM FAStT LUNs Causes vmkernel Load Time to Increase Significantly (KB 1596)
• Clustering a Physical Machine with a Virtual Machine (KB 1634)
• vmsnap_all Does Not Create a /var/log/backup.log File (KB 1603)

Installation Notes for This Release

Configuring Your System to Install Boot-From-SAN
For general instructions on configuring ESX Server for boot-from-SAN operation, see the ESX Server SAN Configuration Guide.

For hardware compatibility with ESX Server, see the Compatibility Guides.

Note: Use Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) 5.2.3 client with ESX Server 2.5.1 Service Console. TSM 5.3 client is only supported when it's installed in virtual machines.

Installing the VMware Virtual SMP Product
If you have purchased the VMware Virtual SMP product, then you can create Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) virtual machines, with single or dual virtual CPUs. You install the Virtual SMP product during your ESX Server installation by inserting its serial number during the Licensing step of your ESX Server installation.

Upgrading a Previous ESX Server Release to ESX Server 2.5.1
ESX Server 2.5.1 supports upgrading from the following previous releases:

• ESX Server 2.5 (and with patches)
• ESX Server 2.1.2 (and with patches)
• ESX Server 2.1.1
• ESX Server 2.1
• ESX Server 2.0 Security Update
• ESX Server 2.0.1 (and with patches)
• ESX Server 2.0.1 Security Update

Note: Using the tar archive, upgrading directly from releases prior to ESX 2.0 is not supported.

1. Reboot into linux.
   /sbin/reboot
2. Log in as root.
3. Make a directory named download (or use another name of your choice.) This directory must be accessible to the service console on the server you want to upgrade.
4. Save the file esx-2.5.1-13057-upgrade.tar.gz to this directory.
5. Change to the download directory.
6. Extract the contents of the file.
   tar zxf esx-2.5.1-13057-upgrade.tar.gz
7. Change to the directory esx-2.5.1-13057-upgrade.
8. Run the upgrade script.
   ./upgrade.pl
9. You see various messages about the upgrade process.
10. When prompted, reboot the system. When the system reboots, you are finished upgrading VMware ESX Server.