I've run into an issue where from time to time, Red Hat Linux servers will start getting the following errors at console: "EXT3-fs error (device sdxx) in Start_transaction: Journal has aborted" This is due to an issue with the scsi driver and the file system becoming read-only.

Here is a link to a VMware KB article that fixed my problem:
http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalI...

Here is a link to the patch:
http://ftpsite.vmware.com/download/RHEL4mptscsiRPM/mptscsi-rhel4gos-3.02...

I would say it is best practice to patch your Linux servers at install time.

Thanks,
Will