VMware blames stray code for 'time bomb' hiccup
In a message posted online, Maritz said the glitch caused a license expiration hiccup that caused virtual machines to be powered off, suspended fail or disrupted migration.
[ SEE: VMware bug causes worldwide disruption ]
"The issue was caused by a piece of code that was mistakenly left enabled for the final release of Update 2. This piece of code was left over from the pre-release versions of Update 2 and was designed to ensure that customers are running on the supported generally available version of [ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5] Update 2," Maritz said.
- In remedying the situation, we've already released an express patch for those customers that have installed/upgraded to ESX or ESXi 3.5 Update 2. Within the next 24 hours, we also expect to issue a full replacement for Update 2, which should be used by customers who want to perform fresh installs of ESX or ESXi.
[ SEE: Techmeme discussion ]
Maritz said VMware failed in two areas:
- Not disabling the code in the final release of Update 2; and
- Not catching it in our quality assurance process.
"We are doing everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.
* Image source: cote's Flickr photostream (Creative Commons 2.0)