Esxi

Esxi Backup

Clipboard copy & paste

Power off VM

Search for parameters and set value, if not there then create a new parameter.

isolation.tools.copy.disable false isolation.tools.paste.disable false

ESXI Dell custom bootable

how to create a bootable usb device with rufus to update dell servers

1-Download the tool to a Windows system
2-Create a Smart Bootable ISO using the Dell Repository Manager (DRM)  or Download the matching ISO /Knowledge_Base/images/ESXI_098_ for the server you want to update from this list of repositories
Start the tool
Insert a USB device  (Rufus will auto-select if USB device)
Choose the created or downloaded ISO-file  (Rufus will select the appropriate settings)

    Partition Screen = MBR
    File System = FAT32
    Cluster Size = 1024

Click on Start to create the media
Restart the server and boot from the created device

Esxi Patching & Upgrade

Make sure to update the Volume, zip file name and -p image name

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/62dcbea6-4709q3467-54da-c81f66ef4sdf/VMware-ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-depot.zip --no-hardware-warning

https://customerconnect.vmware.com/patch

esxcli software profile update -p ESXi-7.0U3k-21313628-standard -d /vmfs/volumes/62dcbea6-47095c67-er4a-c81f621dsf4d67/VMware-ESXi-7.0U3k-21313628-depot.zip --no-hardware-warning

Upgrade rollback

4sysops

Defragmenting and shrinking disks

Caution: Do not shut down your virtual machine or the host machine while the disk is shrinking. In addition, do not try to cancel the process. Interrupting this process can cause irreparable damage to your virtual disk and you may not be able to start your virtual machine again.

1- Remove snapshots for the VM >[all of them]
2- OS Based steps
- Windows
  
  To run a disk defragment within Windows, follow the instructions from Microsoft
  - Windows XP How to Defragment Your Disk Drive Volumes in Windows XP - Windows Vista Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk - Windows 7 Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk - Windows 8 Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk - Windows 10 Improve performance by defragmenting your hard disk
  
  Shrinking the Virtual disk
  
  After defragmenting the virtual disk, use VMware Tools to erase empty disk sectors at the end of the disk to free the unused space.
  
  Double-click the VMware Tools icon in the system tray, or click Start > Control Panel > VMware Tools > Click Shrink > Select Drive > Click Prepare to shrink
- Linux
  
  Ununtu defragment
```
#no need to unmount disk
sudo e4defrag -c /path/x/x/x

#if you want to force it
sudo e4defrag /path/x/x/x
```
  Shrinking the Virtual disk
```
sudo vmware-toolbox-cmd disk shrinkonly
```