VM sysctl:

Memory related optimalisation:

vm.swappiness = 10
vm.dirty_ratio = 60
vm.dirty_background_ratio = 2
vm.overcommit_ratio = 0
vm.overcommit_memory = 0
kernel.shmmax = 268435456
kernel.shmall = 268435456
vm.min_free_kbytes = 65536


Reboot a minute after a kernel panic:

kernel.panic = 60
kernel.panic_on_oops = 60


Disable IPv6:

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1


VM install vmware-tools:

Debian:

sudo mount /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom; tar zxf /media/cdrom/*.tar.gz -C /tmp; sudo /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl -d

RedHat:

sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom; tar zxf /mnt/cdrom/*.tar.gz -C /tmp; sudo /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl -d

Rescan/resize disk without reboot:

echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/host#/scan

/usr/share/doc/sg3-utils/examples/archive/rescan-scsi-bus.sh

/sys/class/scsi_disk
ls
cd 0:0:0:0
echo '1' >device/rescan

xfs_growfs /dev/sdb

vmx:

bios.bootDelay = "5000"
suspend.disabled = "TRUE"

vim-cmd:

http://blogs.balius.com/2010/12/24/esxi-creating-new-virtual-machines-servers-from-the-command-line/

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

vim-cmd vmsvc/device.diskremove 272 0 1 n

vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volumes/vm01/vm01.vmx vm01

vnum=`vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/$1/$1.vmx`
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on $vnum

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off `vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms |grep $1|awk '{print $1}'`
vim-cmd vmsvc/destroy `vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms |grep $1|awk '{print $1}'`

vSphere SDK for Perl:

Installation:

Download VMware vSphere Perl SDK
Linux: installer uses CPAN
Windows: ActivePerl is not included in 6.5 anymore so it needs to be installed first (Strawberry Perl is also supposed to work), installer uses PPM for packages

Options for authentication (besides user/password):

• Config file: --config
• Environment Variables: VI_USERNAME VI_PASSWORD
• Credential store: VICredStore.pm
• Session file: --sessionfile
• Windows SSPI: --passthroughauth

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-65/topic/com.vmware.perlsdk.pg.doc/viperl_proggd_preface.2.1.html
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-65/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-perl-sdk-65-programming-guide.pdf

Hardening script:

Original script: vmwarevSphereSecurityHardeningReportCheck.pl
vSphere 6.x update: vmwarevSphereSecurityHardeningReportCheck.pl

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9852
http://www.vmware.com/security/hardening-guides.html