VMware ESXi Update: Build 158874

VMware has released a series of critical patches for ESXi and VMware tools discussed in knowledge base articles 1010135 and 1010136. These are the highlights:

Patch for ESXi:

• Fixes an issue in the VMkernel TCP/IP stack where adding a system to an HA (High Availability) cluster results in a timeout error.


• Fixes an issue where a virtual machine might fail if a reserved register is accessed within the guest operating system.


• Fixes an issue where a virtual machine might stop responding or the progress bar in the graphical user interface might appear to be stuck at 95% when you consolidate a snapshot of a powered on virtual machine.


• Fixes an issue where ESX Server might stop responding because of a memory leak that occurs when an open call to a character device driver fails.


• Fixes an issue where ESX might fail when a guest operating system uses the Vmxnet2 virtual network adapter.


• Fixes an issue where a virtual machine might stop responding in certain situations due to fragmented guest operating system memory and a heavy load on the LUN that holds the deltadisk. In this case, error messages similar to the following might appear in the vmkernel log:
  Cow: <#>: IO to deltadisk handle <#> failed: Busy


• Fixes an issue where hostd might fail, which causes VirtualCenter to report the ESX host as disconnected.


• Fixes an issue where ESX might fail due to the race between the normal completion of a fragmented I/O command and completion as a result of the cancellation of the same command.


• Fixes an issue where a virtual machine might fail if there is an empty string in the virtual machine configuration.


• Fixes an issue where an unsuccessful online consolidation might cause a virtual machine to fail and become unusable because of a CID mismatch.


• Fixes an issue where the nfsclient heap runs out of memory when 32 volumes are mounted. If the nfsclient heap runs out of memory, error messages might display virtual machines as disconnected, inaccessible or invalid. The maximum heap size is increased from 6MB to 12MB.


• Fixes an issue where two rescans are required to discover a new LUN connected to a Qlogic Fibre Channel HBA. This is due to a rescan timing issue between VMkernel and Qlogic Fibre Channel driver.


• Fixes an issue where ESX might fail due to a deadlock condition in the bnx2 driver.


• Fixes an issue where the ESX software iSCSI initiator fails to recognize newly created storage devices.


• On ESXi 3.5, the system might fail to reboot. This occurs when the following Sysalert warning is observed in vmkernel logs:
  ALERT: UserCartel: 993: bootstrap/init UW died

VMware Tools:

• Fixes an issue where the VMware Tools configuration script might fail on a Solaris 10 guest operating system if an X server is not installed.


• Fixes an issue in VMwareService.exe where the Fit Guest Now option does not work on a Windows 2003 guest operating system. If you select View > Fit Guest Now, an error message is displayed: Cannot resize the guest resolution to match this window size.


• Fixes an issue where VMware Tools might fail on a SUSE Enterprise Server 11 RC3 guest operating system.


• Fixes an issue where the VMware Consolidated Backup proxy fails to locate an eighth IP address if a virtual machine has more than seven IP addresses in a Windows guest operating system.