PLANET VIRTUALIZATION

VSS Can Cause Problems with RM from Uncategorized, blog.scottlowe.org (slowe)

This is just a quick post about a potential fix for some timeout issues when using EMC Replication Manager (RM). An e-mail sent to an internal distribution list described a situation in which a user was using RM but was getting an error when trying to take a VMware snapshot. The error reported was a fairly generic error:

Cannot create a quiesced snapshot because the create snapshot operation exceeded the time limit for holding off I/O in the frozen virtual machine.

As it turns out, the problem was actually VSS in the Windows Server 2003-based guest. Since RM leverages VSS, an error with VSS was causing the entire process to fail. The fix was to clean up VSS as described in this Microsoft KB article and then reinstall the VMware Tools. After completing both of those steps, the problem was resolved.

If you are using RM and run into this problem, be sure to double-check to ensure that VSS is working as expected.

This article was originally posted on blog.scottlowe.org. Visit the site for more information on virtualization, servers, storage, and other enterprise technologies.

VSS Can Cause Problems with RM

• Snapshot Issue with VMware Data Recovery
• Partner Exchange 2010 Session TECHBC0320
• VM File-Level Recovery with NetApp Snapshots
• Recovering Data Inside VMs Using NetApp Snapshots
• Lessons Learned About Exchange Server 2007

Posted in Uncategorized, blog.scottlowe.org | No Comments »

Thinstation-2.2.2 with VMware View Open Client 4.0 from NTPRO.NL, Uncategorized (Eric Sloof)

During the latest edition #85 of John Troyer’s VMware Communities Roundtable there was a little discussion about using a Linux host as a view client. I’ve discovered a nice little live CD from Thinstation which has the VMware View Open Client 4.0 built-in and it only needs a minimum amount of hardware resources. I don’t know if VMware is planning to release a Linux View Agent but it would be really great for a Linux end to end environment.

Thinstation is a basic and small yet very powerful Open Source "thin client" operating system and some programs which make it possible to connect to servers via a network. Thinstation is mainly intended for office, company or department use. Being a private individual with just one PC you will have little use for Thinstation.

Thinstation is based on Linux, but users may actually never see Linux at all if you decide to connect directly to a Microsoft Windows server, a Citrix server or a Unix server! The user will feel he/she connects directly to the server. But if you want to, you can have a Linux interface - a blackbox or icewm window manager to be exact.

http://www.thinstation.org/LiveCD/

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Getting started with the Update Manager Cmdlets from Uncategorized, Virtu-Al (Virtu-Al)

Last night I needed to update some of my hosts with the latest patches that have been released recently, this gave me the ideal opportunity to look at the recently released VMware Update Manager cmdlets for PowerCLI.

For a full list of cmdlets or to download click here.

Whilst upgrading one of my hosts I shot a short video which will take you through some of the basics like:

• Adding a baseline to a host
• Scanning the host
• Listing the patches which will be applied
• Remediating a host

When watching the video don’t think about how you can do this to a single host, keep in mind that this could be run against multiple hosts or added to the end of a configuration script to ensure your hosts are up to date with the latest security patches after being deployed.

Getting started with the Update Manager Cmdlets is a post from: Virtu-Al.
Virtu-Al is one of the authors of "vSphere 4.0 Quick Start Guide: Shortcuts down the path of Virtualization" - Buy your copy today from the USA, Europe or on PDF.

Posted in Uncategorized, Virtu-Al | No Comments »

Sanbolic and Hyper-V R2 from Matt McSpirit, Uncategorized (Matt McSpirit)

Ages (and I mean ages!) ago, I produced a video on utilising Sanbolic’s Kayo/Melio FS with Hyper-V, as at the time, it was a fantastic way to overcome the 1 LUN per VM scenario that existed with Hyper-V R1 and brought a number of benefits along with it.  Keyo/Melio FS provided the Clustered File System that Windows needed to achieve this, however in 2008 R2, Cluster Shared Volumes was natively introduced, which for many, would lead to questions around whether Sanbolic’s Kayo/Melio FS technologies would offer the same level of value-add to the platform.  Well, according to Aiden’s excellent blog post, there is still significant value-add to be had by adding Sanbolic’s technology to Hyper-V R2, and what’s great about the R2 wave of technology, versus the R1 wave, is that both Hyper-V R2 and SCVMM 2008 R2 understand Melio FS, whereas in R1, SCVMM didn’t get it.

Rather than pinch any of Aiden’s thunder, I’ll let you read his post – very interesting indeed.

Now, how much are Sanbolic shares… ;-)

Posted in Matt McSpirit, Uncategorized | No Comments »

New Virtual Lab – XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 from Matt McSpirit, Uncategorized (Matt McSpirit)

A couple of weeks back, I blogged about the launch of App-V 4.6, and the large amount of resources that were made available to coincide with that launch.  From documents, through to downloads, there was a huge amount of information, but one particular resource that many have found useful was the virtual labs, where you can play around with, test, and demonstrate the technology in your own time, in the comfort of your own browser.

One of the virtual labs that was on the list was XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V.  Now, at the time, I didn’t focus on this particular lab, as it was an App-V focused post, however, seeing as more and more discussions are taking place around VDI, with Citrix being an integral part in many of these discussions, I thought I’d take the opportunity to highlight the lab, and exactly what’s in there, as it looks pretty darn good to me, and is particularly useful if you’re evaluating your options when it comes to VDI.

TechNet Virtual Lab: Implementing Citrix XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2

This lab is intended for IT Professionals who would like to deliver virtual desktop computers using Microsoft Hyper-V Server, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Citrix XenDesktop. Users will work through the steps to simulate deploying multiple virtual desktops, and will first capture a reference image using the Citrix Provisioning Server for Desktops. Next, the user will verify that the computer can be booted from a diskless client computer. The user will create multiple virtual machines using the reference computer as a template. Finally, the user will use the Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller and System Center Virtual Machine Manager to create a group of virtual desktops and deploy them to end devices. At the end of this lab, the user will have worked through all the steps required to implement Citrix XenDesktop using Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Microsoft Hyper-V Server

It’s 60 minutes long, but the nice thing about this lab is, it walks you through a process of actually creating the reference VM, and follow this through to deployment with technologies like Provisioning Server, SCVMM and Hyper-V.  Very useful if you want to understand the lifecycle of a vDesktop.

If you’re interested in checking it out, it’s free, and it’s online here.

Posted in Matt McSpirit, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Links for 2010-03-10 [del.icio.us] from Uncategorized, blog.scottlowe.org (blog.scottlowe.org)

• readylines.com, the one-liner specialist
  This site has a list of useful one-line commands for tools like openssl, grep, sed, awk, curl, nc, and dig. Some Cisco IOS commands are also included.

Posted in Uncategorized, blog.scottlowe.org | No Comments »

Upgrading VMware ESX or ESXi using vSphere Host Update Utility from TechHead, Uncategorized (Kiwi Si)

The vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0 is something of an overlooked utility for small business and lab environments wanting to patch or upgrade their ESX/ESXi hosts. In this basic ‘how to’ post I’m going to run through the steps in upgrading a VMware ESXi 4.0 host to ESXi 4.0 Update 1 using the utility.

The first thing I should mention is that the checking for updates and patching part of the utility is for ESXi and not ESX use, though the upgrading (eg: v3.5 –> v4.0) can be used by both versions.  If you are wondering how you get a copy of the vSphere Host Update Utility, it can be installed as an option at the time of installing the vSphere client on your PC. 

To start the utility navigate to the VMware folder and click on the ‘vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0’ menu item.

You’ll first be greeted with a message box asking it you want to ‘download the patches from the VMware patch repository’.  Click ‘Yes’.

Press the ‘Scan for Patches’ button and enter the ESXi’ hosts logon credentials when prompted.

The vSphere Host Update Utility will now scan the ESXi host for available patches. As you can see below there are 13 available patches detected.

If you’re ready to patch the host first make sure that your ESXi host is in ‘Maintenance Mode’’ and then click ‘Patch Host’.

You’ll now be shown a separate window containing a list of the available patches along with a description of each.  Take some time to read through each to ensure that you do in fact want to install them.  Deselect any you don’t want to apply and then click ‘Install’.

The VMware vSphere Host Update Utility will now apply the selected patches to your ESXi host.  Go and make a cup of tea as this can take at least a few minutes.

In this particular instance the ESXi host rebooted to complete the patching process (to ESXi 4.0 Update 1). When the host comes up again you will now see that it is running the latest version of ESXi.

Now what could be easier!    Hope you found this quick ‘how to’ guide useful.

Related posts:

1. VMware ESX – “Upgrading ESX 4.0 to 4.0 Update 1 on HP Proliant systems can fail or time out and leave the host in an unusable state if the host has HP Insight Management Agents running” With many of you upgrading to the recently released...
2. HP ML110 G5 – Upgrading to VMware ESX/ESXi U4 and getting error: “The VMware ESX Server does not have persistent storage” VMware ESX/ESXi Update 4 (U4) has brought good and...
3. VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 1 (U1) Fixes SATA CD/DVD-ROM Issue With HP Proliant ML115 G5 Thanks to James Pearce for pointing out this VMware...

Posted in TechHead, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Unable to cast object of type ‘LogicalUnitPolicy’ to type ‘FixedLogicalUnitPolicy’ from Uncategorized, Xtravirt Knowledge (Xtravirt Knowledge)

Posted in Uncategorized, Xtravirt Knowledge | No Comments »

UK techdays Free events in London – including after hours. from James O'Neill, Uncategorized (James O'Neill)

You may have seen that registration for UK TechDays events from 12^th to 16^th April is already open - but you probably won’t have seen this newly announced session, even if you are following @uktechdays on twitter

After Hours @ UK Tech Days 2010 – Wednesday 14th April, 7pm – 9pm. Vue Cinema, Fulham Broadway.

Reviving the critically acclaimed series of mad cap hobbyist technology demonstrations – After Hours reappears at Tech Days 2010. After Hours is all about the fun stuff people are building at home with Microsoft technology, ranging from the useful ‘must haves’ no modern home should be without, too the bleeding edge of science fiction made real! Featuring in this fun filled two hour installment of entertaining projects are: Home Entertainment systems, XNA Augmented Reality, Natural User Interfaces, Robotics and virtual adventures in the real world with a home brew holodeck!

Session 1: Home entertainment.

In this session we demonstrate the integration of e-home technologies to produce the ultimate in media entertainment systems and cyber home services.  We show you how to inspire your children to follow the ‘way of the coder’ by tapping into their Xbox 360 gaming time.

Session 2: Augmented reality.

2010 promises to be the year of the Natural User Interface. In this session we demonstrate and discuss the innovations under development at Microsoft, and take an adventure in the ultimate of geek fantasies – the XNA Holodeck.

Like all other techdays session this one is FREE to attend  - if you hadn’t heard: UK Tech Days 2010 is a week-long series of events run by Microsoft and technical communities to celebrate and inspire developers, IT professionals and IT Managers to get more from Microsoft technology.  Our day events in London will cover the latest technology releases including Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Office 2010, Virtualisation, Silverlight, Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 plus events focusing on deployment and an IT Manager day. Oh and did I say they were FREE

IT Professional Week – Shepherds Bush

Monday, 12 April 2010   - Virtualization Summit – From the Desktop to the Datacentre

Designed to provide you with an understanding of the key products & technologies enabling seamless physical and virtual management, interoperable tools, and cost-savings & value.

Tuesday, 13 April 2010  - Office 2010 - Experience the Next Wave in Business Productivity

The event will cover how the improvements to Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Project and Visio will provide a practical platform that will allow IT professionals to not only solve problems and deliver business value, but also demonstrate this value to IT’s stakeholders. 

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 - Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 – Deployment made easy

This event will provide you with an understanding of these tools including the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, Windows Deployment services and the Application Compatibility Toolkit. Understanding of these tools including the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010, Windows Deployment Services. We will also take you through the considerations for deploying Windows Server 2008 R2 and migrating your server roles.

Thursday, 15 April 2010 - SQL Server 2008 R2 – The Information Platform
Highlighting the new capabilities of the platform, as well as diving into specific topics, such as consolidating SQL Server databases, and tips and techniques for Performance Monitoring and Tuning as well as looking at our newly released Cloud platform SQL Azure.

Friday, 16 April 2010 (IT Managers) - Looking ahead, keeping the boss happy and raising the profile of IT
IT Managers have more and more responsibilities to drive and support the direction of the business. We’ll explore the various trends and technologies that can bring IT to the top table, from score-carding to data governance and cloud computing.

Developer Week – Fulham Broadway

Monday, 12 April 2010 (For Heads of Development and Software Architects) Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Launch - A Path to Big Ideas

This launch event is aimed at development managers, heads of development and software architects who want to hear how Visual Studio 2010 can help build better applications whilst taking advantage of great integration with other key technologies.
NB – Day 2 will cover the technical in-depth sessions aimed at developers

Tuesday, 13 April 2010 Getting started with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 WAITLIST ONLY
Microsoft and industry experts will share their perspectives on the top new and useful features with core programming languages and in the framework and tooling, such as -- ASP.NET MVC, Parallel Programming, Entity Framework 4, and the offerings around rich client and web development experiences.

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 The Essential MIX
Join us for the Essential MIX as we continue exploring the art and science of creating great user experiences. Learn about the next generation ASP.NET & Silverlight platforms that make it a rich and reach world.

Thursday, 15 April 2010 Best of Breed Client Applications on Microsoft Windows 7
Windows 7 adoption is happening at a startling pace. In this demo-driven day, we’ll look at the developer landscape around Windows 7 to get you up to speed on the operating system that’ll your applications will run on through the new decade.

Friday, 16 April 2010 – Registration opening soon! Windows phone Day
Join us for a practical day of detailed Windows Phone development sessions covering the new Windows Phone specification, application standards and services

There will also be some “fringe” events , these won’t all be in London and I’ll post about them separately (James in the Midlands, I’ve heard you :-)  )

Posted in James O'Neill, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Changing the directory of your vSphere vCenter log files from Uncategorized, Yellow Bricks (Duncan Epping)

Something that a lot of people haven’t looked in to or just don’t think about is relocating the log files of vCenter, I wrote a short article 2 years ago and thought it was time to reiterate it. By default (Windows 2003) log files are stored in “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs”, and for Windows 2008 log files are stored in “C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs”.

As you can imagine the C:\ partition is not the ideal place for storing log files. I would personally recommend to use a separate drive for logfiles so avoid it from flooding any OS or Program related drives. You could pick a small size based on the expected log size and if needed increase the amount of logs that are stored and the size of the log file.

Changing this is pretty simple. Open “vpxd.cfg” and add the following line in between <log> and </log>

<directory>D:\VMware\Logs</directory>

Changing the amount of log files stored and the size is also pretty basic, in this example vCenter will store 10 logfiles which are max 10MB each:

<maxFileSize>10485760</maxFileSize>
<maxFileNum>10</maxFileNum>

Keep in mind that you will need to restart the vCenter Service after these changes before they take effect!

Posted in Uncategorized, Yellow Bricks | No Comments »