VMware ESX 3.5 Update 4 Released

ESX 3.5 Update 4 was released yesterday. It can be downloaded from here: http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/

Here’s a brief overview on what’s new from the release notes:

Expanded Support for Enhanced vmxnet Adapter — The new VMXNET version improves virtual machine networking performance and requires VMware tools upgrade.

Enablement of Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series

QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter Driver Update

Emulex Fibre Channel Adapter Driver Update

LSI megaraid_sas and mptscsi Storage Controller Driver Update

Newly Supported Guest Operating Systems – For more complete information about supported guests included in this release, see the Guest Operating System Installation Guide: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (32-bit and 64-bit).
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (32-bit and 64-bit).
• Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition and Server Edition (32-bit and 64-bit).
• Windows Preinstallation Environment 2.0 (32-bit and 64-bit).

Furthermore, pre-built kernel modules (PBMs) were added in this release for the following guests:

• Ubuntu 8.10
• Ubuntu 8.04.2

Newly Supported Management Agents

Newly Supported I/O Devices

The release notes can be found here: http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/vi3_esx35u4_rel_notes.html

Outlook 2007 Update Boosts Performance and Responsiveness

I found a posting released today about a new Hotfix from Microsoft for Outlook 2007 which is promising to update performance and responsiveness.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=961752&kbln=en-us

 

I’ve downloaded and installed and it seems faster to me, but I have a pretty small mailbox.. Others on this Lifehacker post are saying it works tons better:

http://lifehacker.com/5185259/outlook-2007-update-boosts-performance-and-responsiveness

 

Thought I’d share if it’s useful to you..

Lefthand Networks How-To : Reset Storage Module Password

Lefthand Networks storage modules have an admin password which is needed to log into the storage module and to change any settings. In case you forget this password, this How-To explains how to reset the admin password through the console. Thanks to Jason H. in Wyoming for logging a support call and sharing this useful info with us.

Connect a Console to the Storage Module

For the storage module that you would like to reset the password on, connect a console connection to that module (monitor, keyboard, mouse). You’ll see a screen like this one.

Start the Admin Interface

Type in: start to start the configuration console interface.

Enable Reset Password Option at Login Screen

This is the step where you can hold down the SHIFT button and type in LHN
This will give you more options at the login screen as shown in the step below.

Select Reset Password Option

The “Reset Password” option will now appear under the Login screen which you can select by using the arrow keys to select the Reset Password option and press Enter.

Reset Admin Password

Type in the new admin login (the default is: admin) and a new password for that login and use the tab key to select the Ok option and press Enter.

Reset Admin Password – Confirmation

Once you receive a confirmation, the admin password has been reset. You can now use the new login information to login or make edits to the storage module/management group.

VMware Fault Tolerance, vCenter Features Videos

Mike Laverick over at RTFM Education posted a few videos from VMworld Europe on his blog. Some of which are pretty cool to check out as they show VMware FT (Fault Tolerence) and vCenter Heartbeat.

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/?cat=13

Here’s also the links to VMware’s Website (which include videos) for some new products due this year:
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT): http://www.vmware.com/products/fault-tolerance/
VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch: http://www.vmware.com/products/vnetwork-distributed-switch/
VMware vCenter CapacityIQ: http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-capacityiq/
And a few others, located in the bottom right hand side of the screen: http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization.html