So it appears that there is a bug in VMware’s licensing code (see below for updates) that will effectively not allow systems running ESX 3.5U2 in Enterprise configuration to run.  System’s that are already running should not be affected.

Matthew Marlowe has posted a blog entry indicating the following work around:

  1. Find the host where a VM is located by getting the list: 
    vmware-cmd -l
  2. Issue the commands: 
    service ntpd stop

date -s 08/01/2008

vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/vm path/vmname.vmx start

service ntpd start

Updates from VMware can be found on this page (UPDATE: Due to timeouts, use this static page).  Apparently a fix is minimum 36 hours away…

More than just a bit scary if you ask me…

UPDATE:

Just received an e-mail from VMware.

Problem:

An issue has been discovered by many VMware customers and partners with ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 where Virtual Machines fail to power on or VMotion successfully. This problem began to occur on August 12, 2008 for customers that had upgraded to ESX 3.5 Update 2. The problem is caused by a build timeout that was mistakenly left enabled for the release build.

Affected products:

  1. VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 & ESXi 3.5 Update 2
  2. Reports of problems with ESX 3.5 U1 with the following 3.5 Update 2 patch applied.
    1. ESX350-200806201-UG
  3. No other VMware products are affected.

Resolution:

VMware Engineering has isolated the root cause and is working to produce an express patch for impacted customers today. The target timeframe is 6pm, August 12, 2008 PST.

UPDATE:

The express patch can be found here.

UPDATE:

This message is to inform you that we are experiencing a delay in releasing the new version of ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2. Our testing of this release is taking longer than anticipated. We are now targeting to release the update between 2:00 AM PDT (0700 UTC) August 14 and 8:00 AM (1500 UTC) August 14 PDT.

UPDATE:

We have re-issued the entire ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 2 release (ISOs, upgrade tar and zip files, and patch bundles). They are available for download at http://www.vmware.com/download/.

Please note this update is only relevant to customers who did not install the impacted release of ESX 3.5 Update 2 (build number 103908) or ESXi 3.5 Update 2 (build number 103909). If you have installed either of these please visit http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/esxexpresspatches.html and install the express patch.