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VMware ESX Server 3.0.3, ESX303-200812401-BG: Virtual Machines Stop Responding When Disconnected from Serial Port (1007208)

Details

Release Date: 12/30/08
Document Last Updated: 12/30/08
 

4.9 MB
Download Filename:
ESX303-200812401-BG.zip
md5sum:
521bc870e999e714d43da90232420435
Product Versions ESX Server 3.0.3
Patch Classification General
Supersedes ESX303-200808404-SG , ESX303-200810501-BG
Requires ESX303-200811401-BG , ESX303-200812402-SG
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required Yes
ESX Server Host Reboot Required No
PRs Fixed 272193
Affected Hardware N/A
Affected Software N/A
RPMs Included VMware-esx-vmx
Related CVE numbers N/A

Solution

Summary and Symptom

Under certain conditions such as when the path of the named pipe is specified as a relative path and not as a full path, turning off a virtual machine serial port configured as a named pipe, results in an error that shuts down the virtual machine. This issue is resolved.
 
Symptom: The virtual machine stops responding when the server end of the named pipe serial port is disconnected.  

Deployment Considerations

Named pipes must be created on a local, non-VMFS location on the service console file system directory. By default, this location is in /var/log/vmware/ . Specify the full path for the pipe name entry. For example, use /var/log/vmware/pipes/server1 , not pipes/server1 .

Note: Power off a virtual machine before making changes to its serial port connection settings. Editing these settings while a virtual machine is running might cause the virtual machine to unexpectedly shut down.

Patch Download and Installation

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