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ESX Server 3.0.0, Patch ESX-1002081; Fix for Time Gain in Windows OS

Details

Release Date: 10/8/07

Document Last Updated: 10/8/07

Download Now
Download Size:
57 MB
Download Filename:
ESX-1002081.tgz
md5sum:
d04f79f8e7e34b417de902d0a18a900b

Product Versions	ESX Server 3.0.0
Patch Classification	General
Supersedes	ESX-4809553
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required	Yes
ESX Server Host Reboot Required	No
PRs Fixed	159587
Affected Hardware	N/A
Affected Software	SMP Virtual Machine, Windows Guest OS, Java or multimedia real-time software
RPMs Updated	VMware-esx-vmx, VMware-esx-tools
Related CVE numbers	N/A

Summary

This patch resolves a time gain issue for various Windows guest operating systems. Windows operating systems use multimedia timers that repeatedly switch the frequency of the CMOS periodic timer. This switch in the frequency interferes with correct time keeping in the virtual machine, resulting in potential time gain.

Note: The fix for this patch is in VMware-esx-vmx.rpm and there is no update to VMware-esx-tools RPM. But VMware-esx-tools is included with this patch due to dependency requirements.

Solution

Symptoms

The following symptom might be seen in systems without this patch:

Windows multimedia timers are a service provided by Windows operating systems to applications that provide high resolution callbacks for applications. Enabling, disabling, or changing the rate of callbacks can cause Windows to change the rate of interrupts requested from the hardware timer. The act of changing the rate of the hardware timer can cause small amounts of time to be gained. If the rate is changed frequently, an appreciable amount of time might be gained in the virtual machine. Java applications commonly change the multimedia timer rate and might trigger the time gain issue. The time gain issue has also been observed with the use of WebLogic.

Deployment Considerations:

Installing this patch might affect SMP virtual machine, Windows guest operating system, Java or multimedia real-time software.

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

Download patch ESX-1002081 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html.
Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.
Create a local depot directory.
# mkdir -p /var/updates

Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.
Change your working directory to /var/updates .
# cd /var/updates
Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

# md5sum ESX-1002081.tgzThe md5 checksum output should match the following:

d04f79f8e7e34b417de902d0a18a900b ESX-1002081.tgz
Extract the compressed tar archive:
# tar -xvzf ESX-1002081.tgz
Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1002081:
# cd ESX-1002081

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMware VMotion before applying the patch.

After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1002081 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1002081 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1002081 update

For more information how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf.

Keywords

esxpatch;esx300

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