6. August 2025

vSphere 8 Update fails: Error in method invocation Timout happens while sending message to microservice

This error occurs due to an outdated PID file of the update microservice or an error during staging of corrupted media. Strangely enough, I requested the update via the VAMI interface (port 5480), so it may have been corrupted during download. As always, there is a solution, and this time there are even three. The first solution is to restart vCenter, but this did not […]

1. August 2025

Looking for a specific VMware Build ISOs @ Broadcom Support Portal?

One of my esteemed colleagues asked me today about a specific vCenter version and told me that, in his view, he can only download the major release of 8.0 U3. The reason why my colleague cannot see the specific versions is that he looked for the ISO images under Product in the VMware vSphere product category, but they can be found under Solutions. Once you […]

27. July 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – kube_diff: Kubectl Client data mismatch found

During another deployment and HealthCheck by VxVerify on my favorite HCI appliance, VxRail, I ran into the warning above. If you look at Dell’s KB 212809 article, you can only perform various test command to see if it is a issue that only support could fix, these include: With the following command, we can see how long various rke2 services have been running and pay […]

26. July 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – ntp_reach: NTP not reachable from vCenter (Bug)

Another Day and another VxVerify Challenge, this time we will talk about the above mentioned Failure. VxVerify checks the NTP Connection between vCenter and NTP Server by using SSH, if this connection cannot be established, VxVerify will display a corresponding message. However, this may be a VxVerify bug. You can check whether the NTP connection from vCenter and VxRail Manager is working. To do this, […]

25. July 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – suoders: Missing permissions in ‘/etc/sudoers’

Even though I find it very sad how the fantastic hyperconverged and VMware-integrated solution Dell VxRail is currently being handled, there are still plenty of customers who are thrilled with it. During a vSphere 8 patch from 8.0 U2 to 8.0 U3, I was confronted with the above mentioned challenge from VxVerify. Don’t know what VxVerify is? See here: This warning occurs when the configuration […]

21. July 2025

Failed to move a VM out of maintenance mode candidate host since the VM is in manual mode!

The vSphere 7 to 8 upgrade (and soon to vSphere 9) series continues successfully, this time I had the above-mentioned challenge during the Check Compliance or Run Pre-Check State inside Image Based Patching. The error message says that there are VMs that cannot be migrated Fully Automated, which is very useful in the context of Image Based Patching. You want to use the luxury of […]

18. June 2025

Cannot download VIB: “This might be because of network issues or the specified VIB does NOT exist or does NOT have a proper ‘read’ privilege set. Please make sure the specified VIB exists and is accessible from vCenter”

Keeping an eye on the clock and sensitizing my customer (vSphere 7 EOL, Oct 25), I was on a vSphere 7 environment today where we wanted to install the latest patches. However, I was confronted with the error message above. Let’s fix this real quick, first we need SSH access to our VCSA, via the Shell Command and Stop the VMware Update Manager Service: Now […]

26. January 2025

irgNET – LAB 8.0 U2

Let’s start the year with a HomeLab update! Well, my HomeLab grows from year to year with big steps. After finishing my 14th generation Dell server upgrade, it was time to focus on the VMware Holodeck. I swapped out my Dell PowerEdge R640 for a new R740 that was designed for data protection, so I can use the R640 for the Holodeck only, which requires […]

13. December 2024

Add Dell PowerEdge Servers to VMware Aria Operations

In my previous blog post, I described how to prepare your Dell PowerEdge servers for integration with VMware Aria Operations for comprehensive dashboards and monitoring. This time we will talk about how to configure/add them to Aria Operations. First, get the Dell PowerEdge Management Pack from Dell/Broadcom and then log into your Aria Operations instance. Go to Administration -> Integrations -> Repository. There you will […]

12. December 2024

Configuring SNMPv3 on Dell iDRAC9 for VMware Aria Operations

I am currently working a lot with VMware Aria Operations and the matching Dell Management Packs that are available. One of the most interesting is the integration of PowerEdge Servers, from which you can view various alarms about: These are exactly the informations I want to integrate into Aria Operations to get/build a dedicated dashboard. In order to send these informations to Aria Operations, SNMPv3 […]

8. December 2024

Upgrade Dell OpenManage Enterprise 4.0.1 to 4.1

In this blog post I would like to describe the Upgrade Process from OME 4.0.1 to 4.1, but let’s start with some news first: Resolved Issues Platform Support Important Recommendation Limitations For customers who are still on version 3.10.x, a new deployment will be necessary, which I have described in this post: Updating from 4.x upwards is very relaxed. So let’s head over to the […]

6. December 2024

Upgrade Dell OME from 3.10.x to 4.0

The latest version of Dell OpenManage Enterprise 4.0 was released on October 30, 2023. Some customers are already using the 4.0 version and are giving generally positive feedback, especially regarding performance. That’s why I would like to describe the upgrade path from 3.10.x to 4.0 in this blog post. Before we start, I want to give you some basic upgrade paths, because you can only […]

4. December 2024

PowerCLI: Connect-VIServer The SSL connection could not be established

I wanted to make my life easier again in a customer situation and use my PowerCLI scripts to shorten repeating tasks. The customer had given me an Ubuntu OS notebook and I installed PowerShell/PowerCLI on it. When I tried to use my script, I got the following error message: So it’s all about certificates, let’s take a look at our current PowerCLI configuration: As you […]

3. December 2024

The Witness host must not be part of a vSAN enabled Cluster

As part of a vCenter 7 to a brand new vCenter 8 migration, the vSAN clusters had to be moved in addition to the normal clusters. When we disconnected the vSAN Witness Appliance from the old vCenter in the last process and then wanted to add it to the fault domain in the new one, we were confronted with the following error message: Although these […]

3. December 2024

Host prevents entering Maintenace Mode: There are insufficient memory resource on standby hosts

In a vSphere 8 – 2-Node Cluster Update I have had to deal with the following message during the Check Compliance process: High Availability (HA) Admission Control is enabled and set to specify a failover host, which is reserved for HA failover purposes. However, in a 2-node cluster you ultimately only have the 2nd host and if the resources on this host are not sufficient, […]

30. November 2024

A problem with one or more vFAT bootbank partitions was detected. (PSOD Alarm!)

During a VMware vSphere 7 to 8 upgrade, more precisely after the compliance check, I was confronted with the above error message. In this blog post I would like to show you how to solve the problem. Corrupt vFAT partitions already existed in vSphere 6.7 times and unfortunately they also appear today with vSphere 8. The problem? If you go through with the upgrade in […]

6. November 2024

Moving a vSAN cluster from one vCenter Server to another

vSphere 7 to 8 updates are slowly in full swing, many customers are migrating to October ’25 -> EOL for vSphere 7. Some of my customers want a brand new vCenter right away, because some of theirs are still from version 5, the ex-colleague fiddled in the Postgre database before he quit and so on and so forth – the reasons seem to be endless. […]

4. November 2024

Image Compliance shows hardware compatibility issues

During an ESX server cluster update on image basis, I was confronted with a strange thing. The message says that there are hardware compatibility issues. However, if you look at the details, you will quickly realise that there is nothing under the firmware version. If you then scroll down a little, you will see the warning ‘Device is incompatible with the Driver/Firmware in clusters image‘. […]

28. October 2024

vSphere UI Client Plugin is at N/A state before vSphere 8 Upgrade

We are rapidly approaching the end of vSphere 7 support (October ’25), and during a vSphere 8 upgrade pre-check at my customer’s site, we ran into the problem mentioned in the title. The so-called “…vmware.h4…” plugin was in a N/A state. In the past this plugin has appeared several times and should be unregister beforehand, this is the VMware Cloud Director Availability Plugin, which cannot […]

23. October 2024

Dell VxRail / vSphere 8.0.310 Update – Advisory Report identified issues with BOSS Device

In a VxRail 8.0.300 deployment, I wanted to upgrade the appliance to the latest 8.0.310 after the initial cluster deployment, but I was confronted with a very strange phenomenon in the advisory report. Important details: Normally, all components of a VxRail node are updated with the RASR or Update image to the version provided by the Image, e.g. 8.0.300. This time, however, I was confronted […]

19. October 2024

Generate a VMware Aria Operations Passphrase for Node Adding

For new deployments or extensions of Aria Operations Cluster, the admin credentials are required to add the nodes. To prevent this, especially as a security concern, the administrator can generate a temporary passphrase in the Admin Console of Aria Operations. I would like to describe how this works in this blog post. First, we log in to the admin console of Aria Operations: Under “Nodes […]

18. October 2024

How to kill a Dell iDRAC Session of another User

Now one or the other will ask themselves, why should I kill an iDRAC session of another user, well, if you know the admin credentials of the iDRAC anyway and the colleague has e.g. forgotten to close his iDRAC session and has gone on lunch break and you absolutely want to complete the RASR process of the VxRail – then it might make sense to […]

17. October 2024

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Root Password expired

As the title of the blog post says, it is about restoring the root password of the PowerProtect Data Manager. Because once this password has expired, the system will not run properly until the password is restored. You can set the expiration time for passwords to “never” in the UI of the PPDM, which I recommend for HomeLab purposes, but never for productive environments! Important: […]

18. July 2024

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Setup

In this post, I want to give you a feel for how easy the setup of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is. Starting in the welcome area, you can select whether you want to restore from a backup or whether it is a new installation. In my case it is a new installation, I skip the view of the EULA which we have to accept either […]

26. June 2024

PowerCLI Add-VMHost: Unable to verify the authenticity of the specified host

Yep, I also started using PowerCLI more intensively. It’s really fun and makes repeating tasks easier to apply. As a Rookie in whatever you’re starting out with, there are obstacles that you might not be able to explain straight away. So let’s start with something small and I wanted to add an ESX host to my vCenter with the following command: But this failed because […]

11. June 2024

vSAN Skyline Health: A possible storage capacity limitation with vSAN OSA versions 8.0U2 and 8.0U2b

Another Day another Warning inside vSAN Skyline Health. 🙂 Frequent Deletion of VMs….. Hmm….. I’ve been using vSAN since vSphere 6.7 U3 in my home lab and I’m pretty sure I deleted VMs more frequently, especially in my rookie times and never had this kind of warning in vSAN Skyline Health. Anyway, lets try to fix it! 😉 What I really like about vSphere 8 […]

10. June 2024

vSAN Skyline Health: Network diagnostic mode (Warning)

Today, I saw the above warning in vSAN Skyline Health, and I would like to share the solution with you. The following information can be found under Details: Network diagnostic mode is enabled more than 24 hours (94 hours). The network diagnostic mode is only used for troubleshooting, if the troubleshooting is done, please disable it. No sooner said than done, we switch to the […]

21. April 2024

Dell OpenManage Enterprise Darksite Plugin Implementation

I recently had the challenge of retroactively implementing the PowerManager plugin in a dark site for a Dell OpenManage Enterprise Appliance. Since dark sites are not uncommon, I thought I would describe the process. If you look under Application Settings -> Console and Plugins you should see plugin installation options for an OME appliance with internet access, in a dark site this does not happen […]

25. March 2024

Dell VxRail 7.0.482 deployment validation with external vCenter fails

I recently had a VxRail deployment with an external vCenter, which drove me crazy. 🙂 In the normal case, if you select “Join existing vCenter Server” under Global Settings (Step 7), the next Cluster Configuration steps should adapt. This means that under Virtual Network Settings (Step 12), under vCenter Server Network, you only have to choose between Static or Ephemeral Binding. However, I had the […]

22. March 2024

The number of VMware vSphere HA datastores for this host is 0, which is less than required: 2

Recently I had the situation that at cluster level, the vSphere HA displayed a heartbeat of datastores at zero, whereby I have defined two specific datastores under vSphere HA settings under Heartbeat Datastores and these must always be pingable. The two defined datastores were no longer visible under Datastores, which is why the warning appeared. After consulting with the storage team, it turned out that […]

4. March 2024

irgNET – LAB 8.0 U1

I want to start my 8.0 HomeLab U1 Update with a full lifecycle, which means that all my 13th Gen Dell PowerEdge servers have been replaced by 14th Gen Dell PowerEdge servers and my Datacenter has even grown. But that’s not all – I’ve implemented 2 new Data Protection solutions in my Datacenter – Dell PowerProtect & Cohesity and I’ve replaced my HPE 1GbE switches […]

1. March 2024

How to Reset vCenter 8.0 Root Password

Yep, there are still vCenter’s out there with expired root passwords. 😀 Therefore, I will describe the workaround to reset the root password for vCenter 8.0, which also works for vSphere 6.5 through today’s releases. First, take a snapshot of your vCenter VM: Then switch to the ESXi Host Client and open a virtual console from the vCenter VM: Now reboot the vCenter and watch […]

26. February 2024

Dell PowerStore Upgrade from 3.2.1 to 3.6 (Dark Site)

Last week I had the challenge of upgrading a Dark Site PowerStore from 3.2.1.0 to 3.6.0.0. PowerStore 3.6 brings a lot of new features, for me there are the following highlights: Starting with the Upgrade BIN file, you will first need to login into your Dell Support account, whereupon you will need to enter the service tag of the PowerStore system. Then filter by operating […]

26. February 2024

Dell PowerStore: CPU utilization level too high. Reduce system load prior to NDU. (cpu_usage_level_exceeded)

During a PowerStore Appliance upgrade, one of the most common warnings during a pre-upgrade health check (PUHC) is the message: CPU utilization level too high. Reduce system load prior to NDU: This is a 2-node PowerStore cluster which is to be upgraded from 3.2.x to 3.6.x. The existing checks used to find CPU usage include management and platform CPU cores. As a result, on an idle […]

7. February 2024

irgNET – LAB 8.0

I know it’s been a long time, almost 1 year (in 2 days), so it’s time for another HomeLab update. In my last HomeLab update I told you about my VMware SD-WAN / SASE solution, this time we’ll take another look at my Data Protection Server. Because I replaced it with a Dell PowerEdge T430 in November 2023. You can find the documentation of my […]

28. January 2024

Dell PowerProtect – Cannot reset CBT while VM has an existing snapshot

In my last backup jobs I noticed in the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager that 1 asset was Completed with Exceptions. The warning was as follows: I have to admit that the warnings and errors in PowerProtect DataManager are mostly self-explanatory and well detailed. We can see that the backup job was successful, but Change Block Tracking (CBT) could not be reset due to an existing […]

24. January 2024

Bug Alert: Powering On VM in VMware vCenter stucks at 66%

Today I had a strange issue in my vCenter, after a maintenance operation on my server I wanted to power on several VMs and I noticed that they got stuck at 66% in the power on process. There are no warnings or errors. Some VMs take up to 60 minutes to power on and some remain at 66%. Officially, I could not find a KB […]

1. August 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – ntp_reach: NTP not reachable…

VxRail: VxVerify – ntp_reach: NTP not reachable from vCenter (Bug) – irgNET VxRail: VxVerify – ntp_reach: NTP not reachable… Another Day and another VxVerify Challenge, this time we will talk about the above mentioned Failure. Broadcom Social Media Advocacy

1. August 2025

How to Disable Physical Display Ports on NVIDIA…

How to Disable Physical Display Ports on NVIDIA GPUs Using the Display Mode Sele… How to Disable Physical Display Ports on NVIDIA… In this post, I’ll walk you through how to use the NVIDIA Display Mode Selector Tool to disable the physical display ports on NVIDIA GPUs. I’ll be demonstrating this on a VMware ESXi host, passing the GPU through to a virtual machine (VM) […]

1. August 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – kube_diff: Kubectl Client…

VxRail: VxVerify – kube_diff: Kubectl Client data mismatch found – irgNET VxRail: VxVerify – kube_diff: Kubectl Client… During another deployment and HealthCheck by VxVerify on my favorite HCI appliance, VxRail, I ran into the warning above. Broadcom Social Media Advocacy

28. July 2025

VxRail: VxVerify – suoders: Missing permissions…

VxRail: VxVerify – suoders: Missing permissions in ‘/etc/sudoers’ – irgNET VxRail: VxVerify – suoders: Missing permissions… During a vSphere 8 patch from 8.0 U2 to 8.0 U3, I was confronted with the above mentioned challenge from VxVerify. […] Broadcom Social Media Advocacy

25. July 2025

Failed to move a VM out of maintenance mode…

Failed to move a VM out of maintenance mode candidate host since the VM is in ma… Failed to move a VM out of maintenance mode… The vSphere 7 to 8 upgrade (and soon to vSphere 9) series continues successfully, this time I had the above-mentioned challenge during the Check Compliance or Run Pre-Check State inside Image Based Patching. The error message says that there […]