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If you search relentlessly on Google for VEM installation guides, your search results will most likely point to Cisco’s documentation.  The VEM installation from the guide is straight forward.  The link to the guide can be found in VSM post.  There are 2 methods for the installing the VEM; method 1 relies on VMware Update Manager (VUM) and method 2 relies on the CLI.

You will need to download the appropriate VEM bundle that pertains to your ESXi host version.  For example, I am running ESXi version 4.1.0 Release Build 348481.  Once you know what VMware version you are running, verify the VEM bundle contained with the installation package you downloaded off Cisco’s website is compatible using the matrix at http://goo.gl/ZuPJD

I can’t stress it enough, verify your VMware version is compatible with VEM you are planning to run.  Read on to see what I had encountered not verifying compatibility.

Copy the VEM to your ESXi host and initiate the following commands from the guide:

# vihostupdate –install –bundle VEM400-201107401.zip –server 10.1.1.123

Enter username: root
Enter password:

Please wait installation in progress …

The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.

# vem status -v

Package vssnet-esx5.5.0-00000-release

Version 4.2.1.1.5.1.0-2.0.1

Build 1

Date Mon Jan 30 18:23:42 PST 2012

Number of PassThru NICs are 0

VEM modules are loaded

Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks

vSwitch0         64          10          64                1500    vmnic5,vmnic0

DVS Name         Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks

dvLAN_Switch01   256         40          256               1500    vmnic2,vmnic4,vmnic6,vmnic7,vmnic3,vmnic1

Number of PassThru NICs are 0

VEM Agent (vemdpa) is running

# vem version -v

Number of PassThru NICs are 0

Running esx version -348481 x86_64

VEM Version: 4.2.1.1.5.1.0-2.0.1

VSM Version:

System Version: VMware ESXi 4.1.0 Releasebuild-348481

What happens if you don’t verify compatibility prior to the installation?  Look at how my VSM Version is empty.  That’s not good because you should see the output of the VSM.  I checked L2/L3 connectivity and made sure VMware’s firewall was disabled to make sure communication between VEM and VSM could flow.  Ran through a manual uninstall, installed the VEM again, and still had the same issue.  In the end, my VEM was not compatible with ESXi.

Since this version was farely new version, I decided to uninstall both the VEM and VSM running 4.2(1)SV1(5.1) and use a version that I knew was more stable, 4.2(1)SV1(4a).

I ran through the VSM installation outlined in my previous post.  Checked the compatibility of the VEM, copied the bundle over the ESXi, and completed the install:

# vem version -v
Number of PassThru NICs are 0
Running esx version -208167 x86_64
VEM Version: 4.2.1.1.4.1.0-1.9.1
VSM Version: 4.2(1)SV1(4a)
System Version: VMware ESXi 4.1.0 Releasebuild-348481

Communication is now working between the VEM and VSM.