VMware vSphere 4 Release Candidate Release Notes

ESX 4.0 Release Candidate | 16 JAN 2008 | Build 140815

vCenter Server 4.0 Release Candidate | 16 JAN 2008 | Build 140822

Last Document Update: 22 JAN 2009

Check frequently for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

What's New

This release of vSphere 4 includes ESX 4.0 Release Candidate and vCenter 4.0 Release Candidate. Read about the new and enhanced features in this release in What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0.

Before You Begin

Installation Notes for This Release

Read the ESX and vCenter Installation Guide for step-by-step guidance on installing and configuring ESX and vCenter Server.

Although the installations are straightforward, several subsequent configuration steps are essential. In particular, read the following:

Some kickstart commands for scripted installations of ESX 4.0 have been deprecated or are not supported in this release. If you have an install script that does not work for ESX 4.0, the script might contain deprecated or unsupported commands. Refer to the Installation Issues in these release notes for the list of kickstart commands that are deprecated or not supported.

Compatibility

High Availability Clustering with Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008 — vSphere 4 supports Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003, and Failover Clustering for Windows 2008. Clustering is supported with both 32-bit and 64-bit guests. Boot from SAN virtual machines is supported as well. Majority Node Set clusters with application-level replication (for example, Exchange 2007 Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR)) is now supported. For details regarding MSCS support, including important restrictions, see the document, Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Services. For information concerning supported storage arrays, refer to the Storage/SAN Compatibility Guide Additions and Modifications.

Released Versions of the Remote Command-Line Interface — Released versions of the Remote Command-Line Interface and VI Perl Toolkit cannot access ESX 4.0 or vCenter Server 4.0. Use the vSphere CLI and VI Perl Toolkit 4.0 Release Candidate to access ESX 4.0 or vCenter Server 4.0.

Internationalization Considerations

Components of vSphere 4, including vCenter Server and ESX, do not accept non-ASCII input.

Downloading and Installing vSphere 4 Release Candidate

There are three vSphere 4 components to install for this Release Candidate release:

Download and Install the vSphere Client

The build numbers of the vSphere Client packaged with vCenter Server build 140822 and the vSphere Client packaged with ESX build 140815 are different. You can choose to use either vSphere Client since they are functionally identical.

  1. If you are not already logged into VMware Communities, log on using your VMware store account.
  2. Download the exe file for the vSphere Client from the VMware Communities Release Candidate download page.
  3. Click Download to save the exe file onto your system.
  4. In Windows Explorer, double-click the exe file.
    The vSphere Client installer prepares to install the components. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Download and Install vCenter Server 4.0 Release Candidate
  1. If you are not already logged into VMware Communities, log on using your VMware store account.
  2. Download the zip file for the vCenter Server from the VMware Communities Release Candidate download page.
  3. Click Download to save the zip file onto your system.
  4. Extract the files from the zip file.
  5. After the files are extracted, double-click the autorun.exe file.
    The vCenter Server installer prepares to install the components. Follow the installation instructions in the ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide.

NOTE: The vCenter Server installation download bundle includes a file called vcsilent.cmd located in the \vpx\ folder. The scripts in the vcsilent.cmd file are not currently supported.

Download and Install ESX 4.0 Release Candidate

You can install ESX 4.0 from DVD media or a script.

Install ESX 4.0 from DVD Media

  1. On the system where you are installing ESX, verify that the server hardware clock is set to UTC in the system BIOS.
  2. If you are not already logged into VMware Communities, log on using your VMware store account.
  3. Download the iso file for ESX from the VMware Communities Release Candidate download page.
  4. Click Download to save the iso file onto your system.
  5. Burn the iso file onto DVD media.
  6. Insert the DVD into the CD/DVD drive of a supported server platform.
  7. Set the BIOS to boot from CD.
    The ESX installer prepares to install the components. Follow the installation instructions in the ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide.

Perform Scripted Installations of ESX 4.0

You can quickly deploy ESX hosts by using scripted, unattended installations. Scripted installations provide an efficient way to deploy multiple hosts. The script contains the installation settings for ESX. You can then apply the script to all your servers that will have a similar configuration. Some settings can be unique to each host, including static IP address information and the time zone.

  1. On the system where you are installing ESX, verify that the server hardware clock is set to UTC in the system BIOS.
  2. If you are not already logged into VMware Communities, log on using your VMware store account.
  3. Download the iso file for ESX from the VMware Communities Release Candidate download page.
  4. Click Download to save the iso file onto your system.
  5. Create a script using the supported commands.
  6. Edit the installation script as needed to change settings that are unique for each server.
  7. Run the scripted install locally from the CD-ROM drive of the system or remotely over a network using installation files that are hosted on a remote system.
    For detailed instructions, see the ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide.

About Upgrade Tools for This Release

Upgrades from Beta 2 to the Release Candidate are not supported. Uninstall ESX 4.0 Beta 2 and vCenter Server 4.0 Beta 2, and perform fresh installations of vCenter Server 4.0 Release Candidate and ESX 4.0 Release Candidate.

Migration of virtual machines using VMotion from a Beta 1 or Beta 2 host to a Release Candidate host is not supported.

vCenter Server Upgrades

You can upgrade vCenter Server 2.x to vCenter 4.0 Release Candidate. To upgrade, first confirm that your database is supported with vCenter Server 4.0, back up your supported database, and then run the vCenter Server installer. The installer informs you that an earlier version of vCenter Server is on the computer and will be upgraded.

ESX Upgrades

vSphere 4 offers two GUI-based applications that you can use to upgrade ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0:

In limited cases, you can upgrade ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 4.0. If you have a non-default ESX 2.5.5 installation on which at least 100MB of space is available on the /boot partition, you can upgrade ESX 2.5.5 to ESX 3.x and then to ESX 4.0.

Several upgrade tools were supported in previous ESX releases and are no longer supported in the current release. These tools include graphical upgrade from CD, text-mode upgrade from CD, tarball upgrade using the service console, scripted upgrade from CD or PXE server using esxupdate, and scripted upgrade from CD or PXE server using kickstart commands. vSphere Update and VMware Update Manager are the only tools that are supported for performing upgrades from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0.

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