ESX 4.0.0 & ESXi 4.0.0 build 171294 BIOS and executable mod

Discussion in 'Virtualization' started by alex sikorsky, Aug 21, 2009.

  1. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    #1 alex sikorsky, Aug 21, 2009
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2009
  2. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
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    Thanks, will check it out.
    With ESX 3.5.3 the workstation 6.5.2 BIOS worked just fine, it might have changed in v4, so good to have correct version

    Do you know what was actually changed/adjusted?

    sebus
     
  3. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    VM with new virtual hardware revision 7 not start on ESX4.0 with old bios...
     
  4. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
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    OK, that is the BIOS sorted, what about the executables?
    What was adjusted in them?

    And what slic is inserted (I assume HP)?

    sebus
     
  5. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    #5 alex sikorsky, Aug 21, 2009
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2009
    (OP)
    In this executables original bios replace by modded with slic.

    Yes, HP 2.1 SLIC.
     
  6. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
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    Sory, did not yet use ESX4 (will be moving to next month)
    Can the BIOS file still be used externally with
    bios440.filename =

    Thanks

    sebus
     
  7. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    Yes, it work. But if added this string to the config file SVMotion dont work correctly.
    Replace the ESX/ESXi executable on a modded, and do not add string, to resolve this problem.
     
  8. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
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    Thank you again


    sebus
     
  9. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    In the image replaced only one file, everyone can unpack and check it. I used gzip with "-9" key for packing image, distinction from for it is possible.
     
  10. free2ride

    free2ride MDL Novice

    Aug 17, 2009
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    #12 free2ride, Oct 3, 2009
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2009
    Thanks for the information.

    I have another question. It is possible to add SLP 1.0, SLIC 2.0 and 2.1 to the same VMware BIOS file?

    I am asking about this because probably you will have all OS's on a ESXi server.

    If it is possible can you add them please.

    I really appreciate your work on this problem.

    Thank you!

    EDIT: I used SLIC Dump ToolKit to see SLIC tables and the status message is
    Dump Error ! (SLIC Table Not Find ! ). OS used for test: Win Srv 2008 R2

    I just replaced the sys.vgz file in ESXi. Do I need to do something else?
     
  11. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

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    SLIC 2.1 is backwards compatible with 2.0 so there is NO need to have both inserted (do not even know if that would be possible)

    sebus
     
  12. free2ride

    free2ride MDL Novice

    Aug 17, 2009
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    Thank you for the answer. But it is possible to have SLP 1.0 and 2.1 to activate Windows XP and Windows server 2003??
     
  13. ramalina

    ramalina MDL Novice

    Dec 25, 2007
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    Can anyone explain how to extract bios file from vSphere executables?

    thanks.
     
  14. alex sikorsky

    alex sikorsky MDL Novice

    Aug 21, 2009
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    #16 alex sikorsky, Oct 11, 2009
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2009
    (OP)
    You upgrade host from older build?
    If so /vmfs/volumes/Hypervisor1 is backup. Active copy stored in /vmfs/volumes/Hypervisor2...

    Already included...

    $ objcopy vmware-vmx -O binary -j .bios440 --set-section-flags .bios440=a bios440.rom.Z
    $ perl -e 'use Compress::Zlib; my $v; read STDIN, $v, [bios440.rom.Z size in bytes]; $v = uncompress($v); print $v;' < bios440.rom.Z > bios440.rom
     
  15. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

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    XP & 2K3/2K3 R2 ALL 3 use SLP 1.0

    Vista/2K8 use SLIC 2.0 by default (but can use 2.1 as it backwards compatible)
    7/2K8 R2 use SLIC 2.1 ONLY

    sebus
     
  16. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

    Jul 23, 2008
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    Thanks Alex for explanation!

    sebus
     
  17. ramalina

    ramalina MDL Novice

    Dec 25, 2007
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    thank you so much!
     
  18. hellosky

    hellosky MDL Junior Member

    Aug 18, 2008
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    Is there a ESX 4.0 mod with Dell SLP 1.0 and SLIC 2.1?