VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 Release Notes
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VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 | Build 18600
Last Document Update: 15 June 2016
Check frequently for additions and updates to these release notes.
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This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat provides protection for the following products:
vCenter Server 5.0
vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1
vCenter Server 5.0 Update 2
vCenter Server 5.0 Update 3
vCenter Server 5.0 Update 4
vCenter Server 5.1
vCenter Server 5.1 Update 1
vCenter Server 5.1 Update 2
vCenter Server 5.1 Update 3
vCenter Server 5.1 Update 4
vCenter Server 5.5
vCenter Server 5.5 Update 1
vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2
vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3a to Update 3e
These release notes include the following topics:
What's New
The following information provides highlights of some of the enhancements available in this release of vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6
Note: The features available depend on the version of vCenter Server installed.
Features
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New Support for SSLv3 protocol is disabled by default — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat now prevents by default the usage of SSLv3 protocol
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Java version upgraded to JRE v1.7u80 — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat uses JRE v1.7u80
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New Support for vCenter Server 5.5 up to and including Update 3e — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat now provides support for vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3e
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New Support for vCenter Server 5.1 up to and including Update 4 — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat now provides support for vCenter Server 5.1 Update 4
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New Support for vCenter Server 5.0 up to and including Update 4 — This release of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat now provides support for vCenter Server 5.0 Update 4
Prior Releases of vCenter Server Heartbeat
Features and known issues from prior releases of vCenter Server Heartbeat are described in the release notes for each release. To view release notes for a prior release of vCenter Server Heartbeat, click the appropriate link:
vCenter Server Heartbeat releases
Before You Begin
Before installing this release, review the vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guide for your environment for important information about environmental requirements and the selection of options during the installation process.
vCenter Server Heartbeat and vCenter Server Compatibility
The vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guides provide details on the compatibility of current and previous versions of vCenter Server.
This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat operates on the following platforms:
- Windows Server 2008 x64 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter up to SP2
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter up to SP1
- Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter
Installation Notes for This Release
See the vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guide for your environment before installing this software. You must verify that your server environment meets the minimum requirements for the network option (LAN or WAN) selected. These guides also address minimum hardware/software requirements and scaling recommendations associated with this release. To view a guide, click one of the following links:
Read vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guides for step-by-step guidance on installing and configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat.
This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports the following versions of SQL Server on both x86 and x64 platforms unless explicitly noted:
- SQL Server 2014 Standard and Enterprise on
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP2 (x64 only)
- SQL Server 2012 Standard and Enterprise up to SP2 on
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP1 (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP2
- SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP3 on
- Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP1 (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP2
- SQL Server 2008 Standard and Enterprise Editions SP2 and SP3 on
- Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter Editions (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP1 (x64 only)
- Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP2
- SQL Server 2005 Standard and Enterprise Editions SP4
- Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions up to SP2
Note: This version of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports 32 bit versions of SQL Server 2005/2008 installed on x64 Operating Systems.
This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat supports the following versions of VMware View Composer 2.7, 3.0, 5.2 and 5.3.
Upgrading to vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2
This release of vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 supports upgrades from previously supported versions. The vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 Installer prompts you to perform an upgrade only when a previously supported version of vCenter Server Heartbeat is found. See the appropriate vCenter Server Heartbeat Installation Guide for installation requirements. When downgrading to a previous version of vCenter Server Heartbeat, do not use Setup to uninstall plug-ins. For information about performing plug-in installs/uninstall's please refer to VMware knowledge base article 1014435 (vCSHB-Ref-1815).
Note: If upgrading from an Evaluation Version of vCenter Server Heartbeat to a Production Version, refer to VMware knowledge base article 1010792 (vCSHB-Ref-1767) for the upgrade procedure.
Licensing and Integration Considerations
You can license VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 individually or as part of vCloud Suite 5.8. You should consider the licensing and integration options that are available to you.
Some vCloud Suite components are available as standalone products that are licensed on a per-virtual machine basis. When the products are part of vCloud Suite, they are licensed on a per-CPU basis. You can run unlimited number of virtual machines on CPUs that are licensed with vCloud Suite.
You can combine the features of VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat 6.6 Update 2 with other components of vCloud Suite to leverage the full capabilities of the software-defined data center. For more information, see vCloud Suite Architecture Overview and Use Cases.
Known Limitations
This section contains vCenter Server Heartbeat limitations and the best practices for working around these limitations.
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Setup.VMware recommends that User Access Control (UAC) on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 be disabled when installing the product on both servers. UAC can be re-enabled once installation of vCenter Server Heartbeat has completed. Attempting to run Setup without disabling UAC will result in permission elevation prompts anytime the server is restarted.
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Physical to Physical Installation. During a Physical to Physical installation on Windows Server 2008 SP2, a problem with Windows native permissions on the %windir%\winsxs\filemaps folder contents may cause the restore process to fail with the error System writer is not found in the backup. For a workaround, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsbackup/thread/b5236028-4bfe-400c-90e2-b6d40b08e776 to reset the permissions.
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Setup. If VMware License Server is installed, before starting vCenter Server Heartbeat Setup you must set the WebClient service to Manual or Automatic. Failing to do so will result in an error preventing Setup from progressing.
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Automatic or Manual Failover. After an automatic or manual failover, the Update Manager client connection will be lost if the timeout exceeds 15-20 seconds. Restart the vSphere Update Manager Client Plug-in once the Update Manager service has started to resolve the issue.
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vSphere Client Plug-in. Installing vCenter Plug-ins through the vSphere Client requires the vSphere Client to connect and download the plug-ins through the Principal (Public) IP address. The Principal (Public) network adapter must be first in the bind order. If vSphere Client is configured with any other IP address first in the bind order, the installation will fail.
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Upgrade. Remote vCSHB 6.6U1 Management Console fails to automatically reconnect to a managed vCSHB 6.6 Server which was upgraded to 6.6U2 version. Reason: SSLv3 disablement feature which is new in vCSHB 6.6U2. Workaround: (recomended) upgrade vCSHB client to 6.6U2, or delete then re-add the connection to vCSHB 6.6U2 server.
Known Issues
This section contains known issues for this release in the following subject areas:
vCenter Server Heartbeat Setup
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When using the Install Clone technique for a Physical to Virtual architecture, the Secondary server must not have VMware Tools installed during the installation process
If VMware Tools is installed on the Secondary server when using the Install Clone technique in a Physical to Virtual architecture, the packet filter will fail to install.
Workaround: Uninstall VMware Tools completely prior to starting the Setup process. Once vCenter Server Heartbeat is installed, reinstall VMware Tool on the Secondary server.
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When using the Install Clone technique for a Physical to Physical architecture on Windows 2012 or Windows 2012R2, the vCSHB setup must be executed on the Secondary server from the unzipped/extracted kit
If the vCSHB setup is executed from within the zip-packed kit (i.e. by running the vCSHB-v6-6-xxxxx.exe) there are situations when the restore process may fail during the system state restore phase causing the vCSHB installation interruption on Secondary.
Workaround: Rename the vCSHB-v6-6-xxxxx.exe to vCSHB-v6-6-xxxxx.zip; extract the V6-6-xxxx-X64 then run the Setup.exe from within the extracted folder.
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vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support the ` (grave accent) character
vCenter Server Heartbeat does not support usernames and passwords that use the ` (grave accent) character. Change the vCenter Server password before configuring vCenter Server Heartbeat rules.
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If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installation
If 10GB Mellanox network cards are present, TCP Offload Engine (TOE) must be disabled on all network cards before installing vCenter Server Heartbeat. See VMware knowledge base article 1024066 (vCSHB-Ref-1919) for more information about this environment.
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During installation, the Primary and Secondary server rename may fail to complete.
During installation, the server rename of the Primary and Secondary servers may fail to complete because the domain controller for the domain was unable to process the rename request at time of the rename attempt.
Workaround:The server rename process is the last step of vCenter Server Heartbeat installation. Should the server rename process fail to complete, manually rename the server to complete installation.
vCenter Server Heartbeat Upgrade
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After upgrading vCSHB from 6.6 to 6.6U1, the first time when pair is started the following warning appears in the logs: Unable to install plug-in as it is already installed.
After the upgrade from vCSHB 6.6 to 6.6U1 is done, the first time the pair is started and gets connected a plugin upgrade task is run. Because both 6.6 and 6.6U1 contain the same VMwareVirtualCenter plugin version, the upgrade is skipped and a warning like the following is displayed in the Management Client logs: com.neverfail.controller.cluster.exceptions.PluginAlreadyInstalledException: VMwareVirtualCenter: Unable to install plug-in as it is already installed. Currently installed version is 201.5.4.13406, installing version is 201.5.4.13406. Plugin installation unsuccesful, please, try again later
Workaround:This message can be safely ignored.
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Upgrading VMware ESXi Dump Collector (Netdump), VMware vSphere Authentication Proxy, and VMware Syslog Collector from version 5.0 to version 5.1 may result in Error 29453 being displayed
When upgrading VMware ESXi Dump Collector (Netdump), VMware vSphere Authentication Proxy, and VMware Syslog Collector from version 5.0 to version 5.1, with vCenter Server Heartbeat installed, the installer may display the warning: Error 29453 login failed due to bad user name or password.
Workaround: The warning can be safely ignored. Proceed with the installation.
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When upgrading from vCenter Server 5.1.x to vCenter Server 5.5 with vCenter Server Heartbeat installed, Single Sign-On must be installed separately on a different machine
When upgrading from vCenter Server 5.1.x to vCenter Server 5.5 with vCenter Server Heartbeat installed, a new installation of Single Sign-On must be installed on a separate virtual machine ( not the Primary or Secondary node) and protected with vCenter Server Heartbeat.
Workaround: If Single Sign-On must be upgraded rather that a fresh install on a different virtual machine, follow the procedures listed in KB 2059820 (vCSHB-Ref-2631).
vCenter Server Heartbeat Administration
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DB Files Allocated Space check fails because of a missing performance object
The VMware SQL Server Plug-in does not evaluate performance counters on 32-bit versions of SQL Server installed on 64-bit Windows Operating Systems.
Workaround: To prevent alerts from being raised, disable the rule.
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Changing the server roles manually using the Configure Server wizard prevents vCenter Server 5.1 from starting
Changing the server roles manually using the Configure Server wizard prevents the Pre-Start task that refreshes the lock box for the Single Sign-On service from running resulting in vCenter Server 5.1 failing to start.
Workaround: Follow the procedure outlined in VMware knowledge base article 2036170 (vCSHB-Ref-2557) to refresh the Single Sign-On MasterPassword. Once complete, stop applications and then restart applications.
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vCenter Server Heartbeat does not start on Secondary server and displays the following error message: VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat failed to initialize: Failed to set packet filter loadstate
This error may be accompanied by an IP conflict and can occur after a Physical to Physical Install on Windows 2008 R2 if the packet driver fails to install because of a permissions error during driver installation.
Workaround: Manually install the packet filter on the Secondary server. See VMware knowledge base article 1009567 (vCSHB-Ref-353) for instructions on how to manually install the packet filter.
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Enabling/Disabling the VMware Update Manager vSphere Client plug-in
When the VMware Update Manager vSphere Client plug-in is enabled or disabled on the active server, the change is not automatically replicated to the passive server. After a subsequent switchover, you must repeat the change on the new active server.
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When vCenter Server is configured for Linked Mode, new roles created while the Secondary node is active are not replicated to the Primary node
When vCenter Server is configured for Linked Mode operations with vCenter Server Heartbeat installed, new roles created on the Secondary/active node are not replicated back to the Primary node.
Workaround: Create a PostStart task in vCenter Server Heartbeat using the procedure found in knowledge base article 2044840 (vCSHB-Ref-2544) to restart the ADAM_VMwareVCMSDS service.
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On execution, SetSPN.exe returns exit code 1
When the SetSPN.exe command is executed, it returns Set SPN (Hardware Identity): The command completed with errors. Exit code: 1, Details: Duplicate SPN found, aborting operation.
Workaround: This message can be safely ignored.
vCenter Server Heartbeat vSphere Client Plug-In
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After a switchover, vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client may fail to display the Heartbeat tab properly
The Heartbeat tab in vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client may fail to display properly after performing a Make Active operation.
Workaround: Refresh the vSphere Web Client browser or if using the vSphere Client, restart the client.
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Clicking Make Active in the Heartbeat tab of the vSphere Client results in the vSphere Client presenting a Security Certificate for acceptance
When attempting to perform a Make Active operation via the Heartbeat tab in the vSphere Client, vSphere Client presents a Security Certificate for acceptance each time the Make Activeoperation is performed.
Workaround: Accept the Security Certificate each time it is presented to allow the switchover to proceed.
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The Failing Over task may display as failed when the failover was successful
When logged into the vSphere Web Client and viewing a vCenter Server node > Monitor > Task tab, a failover operation may appear as failed even though the failover was successful.
Resolved Issues
This release is an update to support the release of VMware vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3 through Update 3e. No additional issues were resolved.
KBID-2966