VMware Users Report Major Bug

August 12, 2008, 01:06 PM EDT

According to users on the VMware community, the bug in VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Update 2 is shutting down virtual servers which reach the date of August 12. It was first reported late Monday night.

Users on the community said they have received word from VMware technicians that a fix is expected to be available within 36 hours.

In the meantime, the users have tried a number of work-arounds to the bug.

One workaround that seems to help many users is to go back into VMware and reset the date to an earlier day. However, at least one user in the community said there could be legal issues related to changing the date.

Other users reported success when they rolled ESX back to an earlier version.

However, turning off the virtual machines is not suggested by the users, as it prevents them from restarting.

The full string from the users community can be found here.

While some users were concerned about the bug and considered whether or not to switch to another virtualization technology such as Microsoft's Hyper-V or Citrix's XenServer, others noted that this is the first major bug from VMware, which still has a good track record compared to other software they use.

VMware officials did not return a request for comment Tuesday morning.

Brian Kramer contributed to this article

Joseph F. Kovar

Joseph F. Kovar is a senior editor and reporter for the storage and the non-tech-focused channel beats for CRN. He keeps readers abreast of the latest issues related to such areas as data life-cycle, business continuity and disaster recovery, and data centers, along with related services and software, while highlighting some of the key trends that impact the IT channel overall. He can be reached at jkovar@thechannelcompany.com.