purpose for maintenance mode? 1

[blade10]

All-

Happy holidays to all!

Just wanted to know what the pros and cons were to placing ESX in maitenance mode? is it a manadatory requirement for certain things like OS patch upgrades or memory upgrades on the hosts?

is there a good url link that would answer these types of questions? I just would like to know what I can get away with as far as Os upgrades, memory card upgrades or even ESX service additions such as DRS or vmotion... would I need to place ESX in maintenance mode for these all well?

thanks for any info at all

blade

 

[nhidalgo]

You would place the esx server into maintenance mode to stop if from participating in a DRS cluster, prevent virtual machines from being powered on.

I use it to clear all running vm's off a host before rebooting the host or shutting it done. You need to a vmotion to do this though.

You would still shut your host down to do memory upgrades, not sure about patch the esx server itself

 

[blade10]

thanks nhidalgo-

This is great info! I just had another inquiry if you don't mind.. I have one vm I booted up and noticed in the summary tab that the vmware tools are out of date... I checked with other vms on that host and they all are stating Ok status.. so I am a newbie to vm as I'm sure you are aware based on the novice questions but how can I install the vmtools on this particular vm? we have enterprise licensing for our Virtual Center if you needed to know this.. just looking for a way to install these tools.. is it a download from the site or do I need to run something at the root of ESX in linux?

thanks for any info

blade

 

[nhidalgo]

IF it is a windows host, just right click on the vm in virtual center and choose Install/upgrade vm tools. I alwasy choose interactive mode. Next through the prompts and reboot when prompted.

 

[blade10]

Thanks nhidalgo!

This saved me so much time!!!!

blade