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ESX Server 3.0.1, Patch ESX-1004185: Thumbnail Files Accumulate in ESX Server Host; Virtual Machine Does Not Synchronize With ESX Server Host Time; ESX Server Host Might ASSERT or Not Respond During Snapshot Operations

Details

Release Date: 05/01/08
Document Last Updated: 05/01/08
 
1570d33de5f3555e8757df7c8ec6e2ae
Product Versions
ESX Server 3.0.1
Patch Classification
General
Supersedes
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required
Yes
ESX Server Host Reboot Required
No
PRs Fixed
234586,239226,248664
Affected Hardware
N/A
Affected Software
Unknown
RPMs Included
VMware-esx-tools, VMware-esx-vmx

Summary

This patch fixes the following issues:  

  • The thumbnail feature in Lab Manager displays updated thumbnail views of virtual machines. The thumbnail feature writes the thumbnail image files to temporary storage before moving them to their final location. If the move operation fails, the temporary files are not deleted, which leads to accumulation of image files in temporary storage. This patch ensures that the temporary files are always deleted.
     
  • When the time on the ESX Server host is set backward, the virtual machine will not synchronize with the ESX Server host time as VMware Tools does not synchronize backward. This issue is resolved by adding an option for a one-time synchronization when VMware Tools starts up and does a forward or backward synchronization.
     

  • ESX Server host might not respond due to asynchronous operations between snapshot consolidation and checkpointing. This issue is resolved by setting the synchronization variable correctly.

Solution

Symptoms

The following issues occur without this patch:

  • Thumbnail image files accumulate in the /tmp folder of the ESX Server host.
     
  • Enabling Time Synchronization check box in Devices tab in VMware Tools Properties window fails to synchronize time between virtual machines and ESX Server hosts if the ESX Server time is set behind.  

Deployment Considerations

N/A

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

1.      Download patch ESX-1004185 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html .
 
2.      Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.
 

3.      Create a local depot directory.

# mkdir -p /var/updates

Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

4.      Change your working directory to /var/updates.

# cd /var/updates

5.      Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
 
6.      Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:
 
# md5sum ESX-1004185.tgz

The md5 checksum output should match the following:

1570d33de5f3555e8757df7c8ec6e2ae ESX-1004185.tgz
 

7.      Extract the compressed tar archive:

# tar -xvzf ESX-1004185.tgz

8.      Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1004185:

# cd ESX-1004185

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using 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-1004185 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1004185 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-1004185 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;esx301;alertz;urlz

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1004185
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 3.0.x