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VMware ESX Server 3.0.3, ESX303-200810502-BG: Virtual Machine Heartbeat Alarms Misreport Status; Hostd Stops Responding

Details

Release Date: 10/30/08
Document Last Updated: 10/30/08
 

93 MB
Download Filename:
ESX303-200810502-BG.zip
md5sum:
a8cdcdf1a06a277888549da514a81a76


 
Product Versions ESX Server 3.0.3
Patch Classification General
Supersedes ESX303-200808403-SG
Requires ESX303-200809401-SG and ESX303-200810506-BG
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required No
ESX Server Host Reboot Required No
PRs Fixed 310430, 285905
Affected Hardware N/A
Affected Software N/A
RPMs Included VMware-hostd-esx
Related CVE numbers N/A

Solution

Summaries and Symptoms

This patch fixes the following issues:
  • VirtualCenter alarms that are configured to report the status of the heartbeat from the virtual machine do not correctly report the status of the virtual machine. To avoid premature reporting, the first heartbeat is delayed for 5 minutes by default to allow the guest operating system to start. Without this delay, the heartbeat alarm might get triggered during the guest operating system boot because no heartbeats are sent.
          This delay is configured through the <heartbeatDelayInSecs> tag in the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml file .
 
          Add the following <heartbeatDelayInSecs> tag in the config.xml file:
              
       <config>
     <vmsvc>
     <heartbeatDelayInSecs> ##### </heartbeatDelayInSecs>
     </vmsvc>
     </config>
 
          Note: Restart hostd after adding the above option.

          Guest operating systems that have become nonresponsive should trigger the alarm, but VirtualCenter sometimes continues to report that the virtual machine is operational. This issue is fixed.

  • The hostd service stops responding due to concurrency issues encountered when ESX Server host information is retrieved during SRM recovery. This issue is fixed.  

Deployment Considerations

None beyond the required patch bundles and reboot information listed in the table, above.

Patch Download and Installation  

See the VMware Update Manager Administration Guide for instructions on using VMware Update Manager to download and install patches to automatically update ESX Server 3.0.3 hosts.

To update ESX Server 3.0.3 hosts when not using VMware Update Manager, download the most recent patch bundle from http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/ and install the bundle using esxupdate from the command line of the host. For more information, see the ESX Server 3 Patch Management Guide .

Keywords

esx303

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1006970
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware ESX
  • Product Versions:
    VMware ESX 3.0.x