I’ve been using VMWare ESX 3.5 for a while now, and whilst pretty much all configuration can be performed using the Virtual Infrastructure Client, there are a few configuration changes that I’ve come across that need to be performed from the command line. These configuration commands are generally prefixed with ‘esxcfg-’, and there are quite a few of them. They appear to be largely (publicly) undocumented by VMWare (especially if you dont like sifting through man pages), but I came across an excellent break-down of these commands by the consultants & trainers at Taupo Consulting.
For example:
- esxcfg-advcfg – Get/Set Advanced Configuration (e.g. modify ‘EnableResignature’)
- esxcfg-firewall – Modify the iptables firewall configuration
- esxcfg-module – View and set options for start-up of the VMkernel modules (drivers)
- esxcfg-vswitch – List, add, modify or delete virtual Ethernet switches
- esxcfg-info – Information about the host
- esxcfg-boot – Configure the GRUB options presented at boot time
- esxcfg-vmknic – View and set configuration of the VMkernel ports on virtual Ethernet switches
….and many more, with full descriptions and usage examples.
They also mention many of the configuration files and their locations, along with some popular Linux commands for those unfamiliar with working at the Linux command line. Definitely worth a bookmark if you administer ESX hosts.
I was recently testing out VMWare SRM, and when I tried to install the SRM plugin for the Virtual Infrastructure client on my Windows XP machine, I got an error ’1155′. It went something along the lines of ‘instmsi30.exe not found’ and referenced my local temporary directory.
After a little headscratching, I discovered (as I’d suspected) that this was nothing to do with VMWare or the SRM plugin. Updating my Windows Installer using the package on the Microsoft site here, allowed me to continue with the plugin install.
I’m on my second iPhone (contract) on the O2 network, and I’ve always noticed that the image quality when browsing sites over the cellular network has been quite shocking. Most of the time, this isn’t too much of an issue, and I’ve just become used to it. I appreciate that O2 would rather me use as little data as possible, and their on-the-fly image compression is their answer to that. However, sometimes, I really want to see images how they were meant to be seen. After all, I’ve invested in a pretty expensive phone with one of the best screens on the market.
So, I was pretty pleased to find (thanks to someone on twitter – I forget their name, sorry!) a way around this. In the iPhone settings app, select ‘General’ -> ‘Network’ -> ‘Cellular Data Network’, and change the Username from ‘vertigo’ to ‘bypass’. Suddenly everything becomes much clearer. Not the best examples, but here’s an original:
BBC Weather Image (Before)
…..Now without the compression:
BBC Weather Image (After)
EDIT 17/05/2009: I’ve been reading reports over the last few days that this doesnt work anymore. Leave me a comment if this is or isn’t working for you.
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