Because the process had changed we updated both the content of the associated Knowledge Base article Accessing VMware downloads (2006993) and also the video tutorial demonstrating the process.

The new video has been embedded into the Knowledge Base article and is also available for viewing here.

This video tutorial discusses and demonstrates how you can use VMware Workstation virtual machines in VMware Fusion. Fusion and Workstation virtual machines are interchangeable and can be easily moved between the two platforms without the need to use VMware Converter. The virtual disk formats are the same and the virtual machines can be used in either platform.

For additional information see VMware Knowledge Base article Using VMware Workstation virtual machines in Fusion (1002320).

Note: For best viewing results, ensure that the 720p setting is selected and view in full screen mode.

• Adding, removing, and modifying users in the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service Portal (2051562)
• Uploading ISOs or OVFs in VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (2051265)
• Configuring SNAT and DNAT for VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (2051351)
• Configuring IPsec VPN within VMware vCloud Hybrid Service to a remote network (2051370)
• Setting up SMTP within the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service Environment (2051332)
• Troubleshooting virtual machine remote console issues in VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (2051559)
• Unable to log in to a virtual machine created from VMware Catalog within VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (2051758)
• Modifying user roles in VMware vCloud Hybrid Service does not save properly (2051822)
• VMware vCloud Hybrid Service user cannot log in after selecting multiple roles during account creation (2051820)
• Virtual machine or list item unexpectedly deleted from VMware vCloud Hybrid Service user interface (2052064)
• VMware vCloud Hybrid Service portal indicates that all IP addresses are used (2052060)
• Creating or re-deploying VMware vShield Edge devices in VMware vCloud Hybrid Service takes five to ten minutes (2052059)
• The virtual machine console fails to open and load properly when using a Mac OS with VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (2052044)
• Logging into the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service portal fails with the issue: Invalid Invite Token (2052363)

We’ll be tweeting these out tomorrow too for those of you who follow us @vmwarekb

This got us thinking… perhaps that question needs to be refined. Are you responding to the troubleshooting aspect of the question, or are you responding about the prospects of a wiki?

Whenever we post something here on The Support Insider that indicates it is a troubleshooting tool, we see a lot of interest. Customers like you want to be able to quickly deal issues you encounter, and VMware approved tools or methods are very popular. For instance, our Resolution Path KB articles. We know you’re very interested in anything new we can produce in this area, and a wiki is just one approach. We want to consider all options and use the best tool for the job.

In our next survey, we’ll be sure to be a bit more specific in asking what it is you’d like to see. Maybe you’d like to tell us in the comments below what you’d like most from us?

Protip: When we post a blog topic here that touches on troubleshooting, we tag it. You can view all of our troubleshooting related posts using this URL: http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/tag/troubleshooting. You can use the same URL construct for any of the tags we use in our posts (listed right underneath every post), for example: http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/tag/sso

1. Downloading and installing VMware Fusion (2014097)
2. Uploading diagnostic information to VMware (1008525)
3. Collecting diagnostic information for VMware ESX/ESXi using the vSphere Client (653)
4. Installing async drivers on ESXi 5.x (2005205)
5. Installing Windows in a virtual machine using VMware Fusion Easy Install (1011677)
6. Broadcom 5719/5720 NICs using tg3 driver become unresponsive and stop traffic in vSphere (2035701)
7. Troubleshooting Fusion virtual machine performance issues (1015676)
8. Repointing and reregistering VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x and components (2033620)
9. vSphere handling of LUNs detected as snapshot LUNs (1011387)
10. Unmounting a LUN or Detaching a Datastore/Storage Device from multiple ESXi 5.x hosts (2004605)
11. Creating a persistent scratch location for ESXi 4.x and 5.x (1033696)
12. Installing or upgrading to ESXi 5.1 best practices (2032756)
13. Purging old data from the database used by vCenter Server (1025914)
14. Upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 best practices (2021193)
15. Installing VMware Tools in a Fusion virtual machine running Windows (1003417)
16. Cannot log in to vCenter Server using the domain username/password credentials via the vSphere Web Client/vSphere Client after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1 (2050941)
17. Accessing VMware downloads (2006993)
18. Collecting diagnostic information for VMware vShield Manager (1029717)
19. Manually deleting linked clones or stale virtual desktop entries from VMware View Manager 3.x and 4.0.x (1008658)
20. Recreating a missing virtual machine disk (VMDK) descriptor file (1002511)

We have a new video today which discusses and demonstrates how you can use the vSphere Web Client to collect the diagnostic information for the ESXi and vCenter Server systems, which run in your vSphere 5.1 environment.

This video is specifically geared towards users of our vSphere 5.1 product suite.

In this tutorial you will be guided through the necessary steps for gathering the log bundles from your vSphere 5.1 systems using the vSphere Web Client.

When the vSphere Web Client is connected to the vCenter Server system, you can select hosts from which to generate and download system log files and the option to include vCenter Server and vSphere Web client logs.

For additional information, see VMware Knowledge Base article Collecting diagnostic information for ESX/ESXi hosts and vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client (2032892).

Note: For best viewing results, ensure that you have the 720p setting selected and that you are viewing using the full screen mode.

When you file a Support Request with VMware, everything related to what is done to resolve your issue, is kept as a record. This helps us spot trends, and keep track of issues that may occur frequently. After a certain amount of time, we gather reports to see what common KB articles are used to resolve an issue by the support engineers. The engineers document which KB articles they used in each and every support request they resolve. We then look at the ratings of the article, and how many times it has been linked to. If the KB article maintains a rating above three stars and is linked-to quite frequently, we know that KB article is particularly useful in helping people to resolve that issue. That’s not the only thing we do. We also comb through the case notes of Support Requests to pick up out trends, such as did a virtual machine lock up, did your ESXi host crash, did vCenter Server stop responding, etc.

This is all categorized by different selections our Technical Support Engineers make as they work your support request. We call these vCats which is the problem category, for example Host/Installation, and then a subcategory to describe the issue, a vSubCat, such as a Storage Failure. All this information is trended and tracked. We analyze the data with utilities that can spot these trends automatically although there is a manual component to it. Combing through this data can be a time consuming task. We have ways to automate our reports, but much of the qualitative aspect of analyzing this data is done by perusing spreadsheets, reading comments from the Technical Support Engineers, and the feedback we receive from customers.

Finally, when choosing the KB articles for the My VMware Support Portal we tend to target KB articles that utilize multiple steps and checks to troubleshoot the issue. We call these types of articles Resolution Paths. These step through specific issues step by step, and provide you a process for which to resolve your issue, such as an issue of virtual machine not being able to start up. In this way, it is also revealed how a Technical Support Engineer may troubleshoot the issue.

All in all, the idea is that these KB articles will help you save some time. Hopefully, you find these useful, and think about taking a gander at these KB articles next time an issue arises.

In this short video tutorial you will see how you can use My VMware to place and review your orders made through the VMware Store.

For additional information, refer to VMware Knowledge Base article: VMware Store purchasing and order details (2006980).

Note: For best viewing results, ensure that the 720p setting is selected and view using the full screen mode.

@VMwareCares planning to upgrade to 5.1 from 5.0 vcenter. What’s recommended physical or appliance? Ups and downs side of each?

We thought a few more of you might have the same questions so we decided we would take the opportunity to explain the differences between vCenter server and vCenter appliance and under what situation which one should be opted for, over the other.

The vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) is a preconfigured Linux-based virtual machine optimized for running vCenter Server and associated services. Versions 5.0.1 and 5.1 of the vCSA uses PostgreSQL for the embedded database instead of IBM DB2, which was used in vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 The vCSA embedded postSQL DB supports 5 hosts / 50 virtual machines, with an Oracle DB the vCSA can support 1000 hosts and 10,000 vms. If you configure your vCSA to use an external instance of Single Sign On (SSO), the external SSO instance must be hosted on another vCenter Server Appliance; it cannot be hosted on a Windows machine.

vCenter Server can be installed on a windows Guest OS and can be connected to Oracle or Microsoft SQL. SSO can be installed on the same Guest OS or can be on a different machine. It should be noted that patching of of the vCenter Appliance is not supported.

Below is a table listing more of the differences between the products.