Virtrix - Virtual Tricks

The truth is out there -bist blog IS ALIVE!

2010-10-13T14:25:00.004+02:00

Ok, this has been a long time guys (and girls) but Virtrix is back (for a brief moment ;)) to share some very important news: against all odds, the (rather excellent) blog of my collegue Geert Verbist (http://virtual.bist.be) is actually being read!!! By accident, I stumbled upon a guy who was reading a blog post in Copenhagen!!! Can you imagine??

Here is the evidence:

VMware: creating vCenter database fails: “login failed”

2009-06-25T10:51:00.001+02:00

Today we got a strange issue when creating a new vCenter instance on our corporate SQL 2005 server. During installation we got “error 25003: setup failed to create the virtualcenter repository”.

When setting up the ODBC connection, we used the correct SQL Native Client for 2005. ODBC connection to the SQL was tested and working.

However, in the vpxd installation log we got the following error message:

[VpxdVdb] Converted munged password in registry
[2009-06-25 10:05:14.697 'App' 5392 warning] ToUCS2: Invalid UTF-8 sequence during conversion.
[2009-06-25 10:05:14.744 'App' 5392 error] ODBC error: (28000) - [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'VirtualCenterUser’

The problem? Character translation of the vCenter installer failed because we were using a “strange” character in the password (in our case ù). So be careful when using auto generated passwords and check for non-standard character sets!

VMware vSphere Health Check Report v1.0

2009-04-24T16:17:00.002+02:00

Lamw has updated his Perl based Health Check Report script (now compatible with vSphere 4.0). This script generates a health check report similar to that of vmwareHealthCheckScript but for the new vSphere release of VMware ESX(i) 4.x and VMware vCenter 4.x and it's managed entities.

Requirements:

vSphere SDK for Perl (formally VI Perl Toolkit) or VMware vMA 4.0 (formally VIMA)
VMware vCenter 4.x+ and/or ESX(i) 4.5+

Check it out here!!

ESX - VLAN compare / checker script for PowerShell

2009-04-17T13:03:00.001+02:00

First and foremost: all credit goes to Hugo Peeters over at http://www.peetersonline.nl. I just took his script and modified what was useful from a VLAN perspective. The code below will create a HTML page with VLAN inconsistencies. This can be a useful script in a large environment to compare all VLANs/portgroups presented on a per cluster basis. I know we use it ;)

Copy/paste this in PowerGUI script editor and run! Make sure c:\temp exists

BTW: in vSphere we will have host profiles and distributed vSwitches to tackle the “not presented everywhere” problem ;)

---------------------------------------------------------------

$outputFile = 'C:\temp\compareVLAN.html'
$VCServer = "<vCenter FQDN>"
$VCUsername = '<username>'
$VCPassword = "<password>"

Function Create-HTMLTable
{
    param([array]$Array)
    $arrHTML = $Array | ConvertTo-Html
    $arrHTML[-1] = $arrHTML[-1].ToString().Replace('</body></html>',"")
    Return $arrHTML[5..1000]
}

$output = @()
$output += '<html><head></head><body>'
$output += '<style>table{border-style:solid;border-width:1px;font-size:8pt;background-color:#ccc;width:20%;}th{text-align:left;}td{background-color:#fff;width:20%;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;}body{font-family:verdana;font-size:8pt;}h1{font-size:12pt;}h2{font-size:10pt;}</style>'
$output += '<h1>VMWARE CONFIGURATION INCONSISTENCIES - VLAN</h1>'
$output += '<p>The following VLANs are not available to all ESX servers in the cluster:</p>'

$VC = Connect-VIServer $VCServer -User $VCusername -Password $VCPassword

ForEach ($Cluster in (Get-Cluster | Sort Name))
{
        $output += "<h2>" + $Cluster + "</h2>"
        $VMHosts = $Cluster | Get-VMHost | Sort Name
        $vSwitches = Get-VirtualSwitch -VMHost $VMHosts
        $AllPGs = Get-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vSwitches
        $myPGCol = @()

        $PGdiffs = $VMHosts | ForEach {Compare-Object $AllPGs (Get-VirtualPortGroup -VMHost $_) -SyncWindow 1000} | ForEach {$_.InputObject} | Sort Name | Select Name -Unique
        ForEach ($PGdiff in $PGdiffs)
        {
            If ($PGdiff.Name -ne $null)
            {
                   $myPGObj = "" | Select VirtualPortGroup
                $myPGObj.VirtualPortGroup = $PGdiff.Name
                   ForEach ($VMHost in $VMHosts)
                   {
                   $myPGObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $VMHost.Name -Value (!!(Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $myPGObj.VirtualPortGroup -VMHost $VMHost -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue))
                }
                $myPGCol += $myPGObj
            }
        }
        If ($myPGCol.Count -eq 0)
        {
            $output += '<p>'
            $output += "All VLANs OK."
            $output += '</p>'
        }
        Else
        {
            $output += Create-HTMLTable $myPGCol
        }
        Clear-Variable $VMHosts -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $myPGObj -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $myPGCol -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $PGdiffs -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $PGdiff -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

$output += '</body></html>'
$output | Out-File $outputFile -Force
ii $outputfile

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

---------------------------------------------------------------

VMMU and TPS @ yellow-bricks

2009-03-06T16:17:00.001+01:00

Duncan over at Yellow-Bricks just wrote an interesting article on the effect of vMMU on Transparent Page Sharing. He concludes that when virtualized MMU was set to “force” Transparent page sharing didn’t take place or at least at a lower grade. Read more here. Make sure you check out the links in the article!

Disk.UseLunReset and Disk.UseDeviceReset Advanced options

2009-03-04T14:13:00.001+01:00

One word of advice: if using a SAN attached ESX deployment, make sure Disk.UseLunReset is set to 1 (default = 1) and Disk.UseDeviceReset is set to 0 (Defaults to 1). The reason to disable the Disk.UseDeviceReset param is because it does a complete SCSI bus reset. All SCSI reservations will be cleared, not for a a specific LUN but for the complete device. This could disrupt your SAN fabric. I would suggest setting the ESX host in maintenance mode and reboot it afterwards. See also page 118 of the Fibre Channel SAN Configuration guide or Yellow Bricks post on the topic for more info.

Alternatively, you can also set this via the Service Console by issuing the following commands:

esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Disk/UseLunReset
esxcfg-advcfg -s 0 /Disk/UseDeviceReset
service mgmt-vmware restart

VMworld roundup – day 2 (and party time!)

2009-02-26T08:49:00.001+01:00

Good morning everybody! First and foremost: congratulations to my Xylos college Geert Baeke on becoming a VMware vExpert!!! Check it out here. He deserves it as he must be one of the granddaddy bloggers. So I guess he will be driving his BMW M5 soon ;)

Here is a small recap on some of the things we did yesterday.

In the general session, Stephen Herrod (the company CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D) talked about VDC-OS, the vCloud and vClient initiatives in more detail.

vCenter is one of the focus points during the keynote:

Availability: vCenter will have an Active/Passive model using heartbeat (based on Neverfail technology)
Scalability: there will be a possibility to use a feature called “Linked-mode”. You can connect to a maximum of 10 vCenters using a single VI Client. Oh yes, to search through al these VMs and hosts you will have the ability to use an (advanced) search feature.
Automation: of course, the eagerly awaited Host profiles feature will be spot on for operations teams to keep their ESX deployments in synch. A short demo was shown where a new ESX was added to the cluster and immediately made compliant with the profile.
Linux: VMware finally created a vCenter in a Linux appliance

The new componentized model of vSphere is explained in more detail: vStorage (SAN API’s to offload certain features to the SAN => see my previous comments on the NetApp session yesterday), vNetwork aka distrivuted switching and the omnipresent Cisco Nexus 1000V and vCompute.

vCloud

The concept of the vCloud is definitely an important one: once we have vSphere, VMware will be able to leverage some long distance (storage?) VMotions into or out of the internal/external cloud via a concept known as a “Private cloud”. A short demo with the new vCloud plug-in was shown.

vClient

Stephen talks about Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) and the PCoIP (PC over IP) concept using advanced hardware (will be software in the future) acceleration techniques such as Teradici 3D/2D mulitimedia accelerators.

Then a Nokia N800 is brought onto the stage to show what the mobile hypervisor will be capable of: a dual- OS using on the one hand Windows CE as the “business” mobile OS, and Google Android for your personal settings.

We decided it was time to do some Labs. First, we did the vCenter data recovery Lab (BTW, it reminds me of a product called ESXpress). Anyway, it’s based on a virtual appliance and a vCenter plug-in.

In a nutshell: you must prepare your backup destination (for example a network share), and create a backup plan using a specific retention policy. By default, data is de-duplicated

File-level restore will be available to in the final version and it will be possible to change the network settings when doing a restore rehearsal (currently, the restore rehearsal boots up the same VM with the same IP by default)

Check out Yellow-Bricks for more info on the hot-add feature used in the virtual appliance to do the backup: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/02/25/vmworld-day-2-random-stuff-and-data-recovery/

Another lab we followed was the one on the new Cisco Nexus 1000V. As I said in my last blog, this is all about vNetwork: use a managed distributed switch in vSphere to leverage monitoring, Access lists, etc, on your vSwitches. A Virtual machine always uses the same Veth marker, so this is useful after DRS/VMotion is triggered. Check out the key benefits in the screenshot below:

Here is another overview of the Nexus architecture:

A Nexus enabled vSwitch looks something like in the screenshot below: note the UpLink0 (a number of uplink port profiles is created by default BTW) that is used to connect the assigned NICs to your distributed vSwitch. Note the Manage Virtual and Physical adapters links ;)

And then it was… party time! A lot of food/drinks/live music/arcade gaming and beautiful women. Happy times in the Cloud Nine!

VMworld roundup – day 1

2009-02-24T18:55:00.001+01:00

Well, last night we had a great party. We did meet with some other colleagues and customers/friends in the evening.

This morning we woke up and…the weather was excellent here in Cannes! We (Geert Verbist over at virtual-scene.info, Guy and myself) attended the general keynote and some sessions.

For the first time (well, that is not counting partner day) Paul Maritz actually used the term vSphere to describe what will be the VDC-OS of the future (this will be the name of the ESX/VI 4.0 suite of products that will be released in the first half of 2009). The 2 main keywords of this VMworld: VDI/vClient solutions and the internal/external (v)Cloud/VDC-OS

Next, I attended a great session on VMware with NetApp integration. The things these guys are doing (combined with the next-gen vStorage API) are just amazing. Soon we will be able to offload all Snapshot/Clone/Thin Provisioning/… tasks to our storage. At last! What used to take minutes (as in: deploying a template is just a copy operation of a .vmdk) is now done in seconds! Needless to say the demo’s were quite impressive.

Oh yes, did I mention Multipathing in vSphere? I didn’t? Well, listen to this: it will be possible to configure the optimal path to your san (using vStorage API) with just 1 click of the mouse: “Apply optimal path configuration” (or something like that, I don’t remember the exact command). Gone are the days of manual multipathing. Anyway, I hope all other vendors will follow NetApps example and integrate all these nice toys in their products.

Next up was the first 3rd party vNetwork Distributed vSwitch: Cisco Nexus 1000V, a (software) plug-in to ESX that creates an advanced vSwitch version built on Cisco NX-OS. We will finally see a managed vSwitch on ESX with full configuration, monitoring and security options! The VEM (Virtual Ethernet Module, or the vSwitches themselves) are managed by a VSM (or Virtual Supervisor Module, a VM or hardware appliance that manages all VEM instances and that tightly integrates with vCenter).

Don’t worry: if the appliance fails, all configuration states are unchanged until the VSM is revived/restored. You can manage the switches as you can manage a “real” Cisco switch. As this is a distributed switch, you must only create it once per cluster. So adding a new ESX host will be a breeze(oh yes, did I mention host profiles ;))

Another session that got my attention was the one about SRM design best practices. Glad to here we already set-up SRM by the book.

Last (but definitely not least) we checked out a session from the (in)famous Brian Madden himself: VDI versus Terminal Services. In his (controversial) typical way he compared VDI to TS as being both SBC (server based computing) with the same problems/advantages since Citrix launched WinFrame (now called XenApp) for NT 3.51 in 1997.

His conclusion: with TS, you currently get more bang for the buck (or should I say more users per server?). HOWEVER: if you see how fast the VDI space is growing and the fact that there is tremendous competition amongst Citrix, Quest and VMware he predicts that by June 2010 all major problems with VDI as such will be gone. We’re thinking graphical enhancements (Terradici, HP RGS, ....), more users per server, thin provisioning on your SAN, etc..). Yay to TS! Yay to VDI!

Next up: the VMware Benelux party with 250+ Benelux people. Happy times and kisses from Cannes and see you tomorrow!

First day at VMworld Europe 2009

2009-02-22T21:33:00.001+01:00

Ok, so we arrived early @ Nice this afternoon, took the bus to the Palais des festivals in Cannes and went through the registration process. All settled then! Tomorrow we’ll have partner day (and the Benelux party of course!) so stay tuned for some nice blogposts on ESX 4.0 (vSphere?), SRM and VMware View!

VMware: Installing Suse Linux Enterprise 10 on ESX

2007-12-13T08:26:00.000+01:00

After installing the VMware Tools on our Suse Linux Enterprise 10 guest, we kept losing the network configuration. Apparently, after loading the vmxnet driver there were 2 network cards present.

So here is the workaround:

Start yast (or use the gnome desktop to configure yast via the GUI)
Click the Network devices link and click on Network Card
Leave the default “traditional method with ifup” and click Next
Select the current configured card and click the Edit button
Write down (copy) the current configuration name (eth-id-xxxxxxx)
Click the back button and remove the current configured network card by pressing the delete button. NOTE: only 1 network card should remain
Back in yast overview, navigate to Network devices => Network Card
Select the card that is not configured and click the Edit button
On the configuration name, replace pci-xxx by eth-id-xxxx (written down earlier)
Fill out all necessary IP configuration (IP Address, subnet mask).
Leave yast and commit your changes
Done!

VMware: ESX 3.5 / VirtualCenter 2.5 / VCB 1.1 release!

2007-12-11T09:29:00.000+01:00

VMware has just released the brand new VMware Infrastructure 3 version 3.5, filled with interesting new features:

Storage VMotion
VMware Converter integration

DPM (Distributed Power Management
Clone/provision virtual machines between datacenters
An integrated Update Manager (for ESX, Linux and Windows)
x64 customization
support for 256 Gb ram
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) enhancements
and much, much more...

The release notes can be found here

Microsoft: Windows Server Core commands

2007-10-02T13:54:00.001+02:00

Petri IT Knowledgebase has some nice articles on the upcoming Windows Server Core product.

Check them out:

Configure Time and Date Settings in Windows 2008 Server Core

Configuring Windows Server 2008 Server Core Basic Networking Settings

Managing Windows 2008 Server Core Local Settings

Managing Windows 2008 Server Core through RDP

Understanding Windows Server 2008 Server Core

VMware: Stopping a Virtual Machine gone haywire

2007-09-20T13:50:00.001+02:00

Sometimes a Virtual Machine can't be stopped via the VIClient. The job just hangs. There are a number of options to stop your Virtual Machine from within the Service Console. Keep in mind that these are last resort options!

Stopping the virtual machine by issuing the command vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/<datastorename>/<vmname>/<vmname>.vmx stop. This must be done on the ESX host where the Virtual Machine is running!
If this does not work, one can issue the following command: vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/<datastorename>/<vmname>/<vmname>.vmx stop hard. This will try to kill the Virtual Machine instantly.
A final solution is to kill the PID (process ID). Issue the following command: ps auxfww | grep <vmname> to locate the correct PID (BTW: this cannot be done via ESXTOP). The first number to appear in the output is your PID. The PID can be used to terminate the process by issuing kill -9 PID.

VMware: New HA features in VC 2.0.2

2007-09-19T11:50:00.001+02:00

As you know, HA is triggered on an ESX host after 15 seconds when it cannot contact it's cluster partners and the default gateway. By Default, all virtual machines running on the ESX host are shut down and restarted on the remaining ESX hosts in the cluster (using a Legato AAM agent to do it's job).

The only thing you could do up until now was changing the default gateway (via the das.isolationaddress option/value set). However, for most companies this is not enough. When a general network maintenance is scheduled, you should disable HA to avoid an unnecessary HA trigger.

New in VirtualCenter 2.0.2 are the following option/value pairs:

das.failuredetectiontime = <value> (default 15 seconds)
das.isolationaddress2 = <value>

These values can be set under Your Cluster => Edit Settings => VMware HA => Advanced Options.

See also VMware's HA_Tech_Best_Practices.pdf document for more info!

VMware: Installing Windows XP on ESX using LSI Logic driver

2007-09-18T10:28:00.001+02:00

I get a lot of questions concerning the deployment of Windows XP on ESX. By default, ESX will use the LSI Logic driver when deploying a new Windows XP virtual machine. The LSI Logic driver is not found on the CD-ROM media, so Windows XP will not continue with the installation if this driver is not found.

The steps:

Create a new Windows XP Virtual Machine
Upload a Windows XP .iso file to your datastore/ISOstore (preferably a VLK version) and link it via the CD-ROM options in your Virtual Machine. Make sure it is connected / at power on
Go to http://www.lsilogic.com/cm/DownloadSearch.do and search for a driver for the LSI20320-R controller.
Extract all files in the symmpi_wXP_1201800.ZIP
Use a program such as WinImage to create an LSILogic.flp file and include the extracted files in the .flp image.
Upload the newly created LSILogic.flp to your datastore/ISO store
Link the .flp file via the Floppy options => use existing floppy image in datastore in your Virtual Machine. Do NOT connect it yet.
Power On your Windows XP machine. The installation of Windows XP should begin.
During setup, press F6 to select additional SCSI drivers
Now is the time to connect your floppy and use S during Windows Setup when prompted to connect to the floppy drive.

The LSILogic drive should appear. Press ENTER to continue
Setup will continue as normal
Install VMware tools
Done!

NOTE: when using the BusLogic driver instead, you can download & use a preconfigured .flp file from the VMware site: http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp. Follow the same procedure as described above. The driver should be name VMware SCSI Controller in Windows XP.

VMware: how to get more performance counters in VirtualCenter

2007-09-14T11:56:00.001+02:00

Ever wondered why you could select gazillion performance counters in real-time, but only 1 or 2 counters when selecting Per Day/Per Week/Per Month/Per Year/Custom? Here is the solution: in the VIClient, go to VirtualCenter Management Configuration and then statistics. By default, the Statistics Collection Level is set to 1 (Basic Metrics).

Ideally, you could set the level to 3 or even 4. After a while, you will notice new performance counters available for selection in the chart options menu! These are great for doing memory sizing/ CPU sizing over a longer period of time. Great huh?

HP: DL580 G5 released - the virtualization monster

2007-09-12T09:08:00.001+02:00

HP has released the G5 version of the DL580. This is a lean mean virtualization machine:

Up to 4 Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors with up to 8MB (4x2) shared L2 cache (16 cores in total)
Up to 128GB (with 4GB DIMMs, 32 slots!) of 667MHz DDR2 Fully-buffered DIMMs
Up to Eleven PCI-Express Slots

This is a great VMware/Viridian/XenSource/... virtualization machine with plenty of room for extra NICs & HBA's. I hope VMware will be able to use this model in their ESXi platform. How hard can it be to stick an extra 32Mb SSD module in this one ;)

Citrix: Presentation Server with Ardence OS Streaming

2007-09-05T13:45:00.001+02:00

Wilco van Bragt (sbc.vanbragt.net) has written a nice how-to article on preparing a Citrix Presentation Server (version 4.0 or 4.5) with Ardence streaming.

Some Advantages of OS streaming in combination with terminal servers:

Flexible provisioning
Rapid software (OS/Apps) deployment
Servers are always 100% identical
Easy implementation of updates and hotfixes to the operating system and applications
Easy rollback scenarios
After a restart the system is back in clean state

Citrix MPS/Xensource/Ardence combo anyone ;)

Read the complete article here

VMware: WTS/Citrix on VMware ESX 3

2007-08-29T13:58:00.001+02:00

Are you interested in virtualizing your Citrix or Terminal Services environment? If so, check out Rene Vester 's article "A short guide to virtualizing Presentation and Terminal servers on VMware ESX 3" on the Brian Madden website. He goes into great detail on the steps required to successfully install WTS or Citrix in a virtualized environment.

This is a great addition to my previous blogpost "Best practices for deploying Citrix on ESX"

Read the entire article here

WTS: How To Configure Folder Redirection

2007-08-23T13:51:00.001+02:00

Patrick Rouse has written a nice little article on the use of folder redirection in a SBC environment.

Folder redirection can limit the amount of data that is copied between the Roaming Profile Share and the Terminal Server at each logon and logoff. This is accomplished by redirecting folders like Desktop, My Documents, and Application Data to a Network Share outside of the Roaming Profile Share, so it is not copied at each logon and logoff.

You can read the complete article on the msterminalservices.org website

Microsoft: W2K8 "Documentation Survival guide"

2007-08-23T13:38:00.001+02:00

Microsoft has created a nice link to all info concerning Windows Server 2008 on technet. It's called the Documentation Survival Guide. Jump to it here

Learn

• Windows Server 2008 product information: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90853
• Windows Server 2008 TechCenter: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=86041

Evaluate

• Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to Windows Server 2008: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=90854
• Windows Server 2008 TechNet Virtual Labs: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90855
• Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=90856

Troubleshoot

• Windows Server 2008 Troubleshooting: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90857
• TechNet Troubleshooting and Support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90728

Connect with Community

• Windows Server 2008 Forums: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90920
• Windows Server 2008 Podcasts: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90919
• Windows Server 2008 Chats: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90918

Additional Resources

Security

What can you do to secure your systems? These links to prescriptive security guidance resources, virus alerts, and security bulletins will help you find the security information that you need.

• TechNet Security Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=29482
• TechNet Security Virus Alerts: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=26702
• Microsoft Security Bulletin Search: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=24822

Downloads, Help and Support, TechNet Technologies, and Scripting

Need to find the latest product downloads or other technical information? These links will help you keep your systems current and learn about the latest Microsoft technologies.

• Microsoft Download Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=63637
• Microsoft Help and Support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=7588
• TechNet Products and Technologies: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=26708
• Script Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=63080

Windows Server 2008 Technical Library

Need to learn more about what’s new for key Windows Server 2008 technologies and where to get additional information? These links to the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library will provide you with introductory and technical overviews and other resources.

Citrix: Citrix to acquire XenSource

2007-08-15T20:15:00.001+02:00

Holy god, this is breaking news! After rumors on the brianmadden website about Citrix wanting to buy XenSource, there is now an official statement: Citrix has signed a definitive agreement to acquire XenSource.

Citrix’s acquisition of XenSource comes on the heels of a substantial new release of XenEnterprise, the company’s flagship commercial product line. The new XenEnterprise v4 marks a significant milestone. Citrix will thus become one of the major players in the virtualization field (and a direct competitor to VMware & Microsoft).

Read the official announcement on the Citrix website here

Microsoft: Windows Server 2008 Component Posters

2007-08-08T21:23:00.001+02:00

I came across some interesting W2K8 posters. These two posters, originally published in the July 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine, provide a strong visual tool to aide in the understanding of various features and components of Windows Server 2008.

One poster focuses exclusively on powerful new Active Directory technologies, while the other provides a technical look at a variety of new features available in Windows Server 2008 (such as Server Core, Network Access Protection, and more).

These should look great on my wall. Make sure to download them here

VMware: ESX 3.0.2 and VCB 1.0.3 released

2007-08-01T13:51:00.001+02:00

As promised, VMware's ESX 3.0.2 has been released. In addition, VCB version 1.0.3 has also been released. Keep in mind that VCB 1.0.3 is compatible with VirtualCenter 2.0.2 (released recently) and ESX Server 3.0.2 (or newer) only. There are tons of updates in this release. Check them out here.

Download the ISOs at the source

VizionCore: ESXReplicator 2.1 Beta announced

2007-08-01T13:41:00.001+02:00

Vizioncore has announced the Public Beta Release of esxReplicator v2.1, a real-time replication solution for the VMware Vi3. It addresses a number of problems we face in production. esxReplicator 2.1 offers the following new features:

Fixed Interval Scheduling
Failover Testing
VM Display Name configuration
Free Space Monitoring/Alerting

The beta release can be downloaded from: http://www.vizioncore.com/download.html

VMware: Cisco to provide 3rd party vSwitches for ESX

2007-07-30T20:32:00.001+02:00

Info from http://www.virtualization.info/:

VMware will allow 3rd party vendors to develop their virtual switches for ESX Server virtual network, and Cisco is expected to be the first company announcing such product.

This is great news, as the current vSwitches are lacking in features.

Cisco will be presenting at VMworld 2007. BTW, see you guys there!

Microsoft: Vista Performance, Compatibility & reliability packs

2007-07-30T20:00:00.001+02:00

Microsoft just released some important updates for people using Vista and suffering from (amongs others) slow file copies.

938979 Vista Performance and Reliability Pack
This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the performance and responsiveness for some scenarios and improves reliability of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios.
938194 Vista Compatibility and Reliability Pack
This update resolves a number of individual issues which may be affecting some computers running Windows Vista. These issues have been reported by customers using the Error Reporting service, product support, or other means. Installing this update will improve the reliability and hardware compatibility of Windows Vista in a variety of scenarios.
938828 XP Explorer.exe Reliability Pack
This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the stability of computers running Windows XP. This update prevents crashes in explorer.exe.

These packs (actually, they are hotfixes) are downloadable via http://connect.microsoft.com/ or via the source http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=41691

Virtualization: A brief architecture overview of VMware ESX, XEN and MS Viridian

2007-06-19T11:28:00.001+02:00

Massimo Re Ferrè has written a nice overview article on hypervisor architecture:

It is my feeling that there has been a bit of confusion lately around how hypervisors are being positioned by the various vendors. I am specifically referring to the three major technologies that seem to be the most relevant strategically going forward:
VMware ESX
Microsoft Viridian
Xen
VMware ESX is the VMware flagship hypervisor product: it's the basis for the Virtual Infrastructure version 3 framework.
MS Viridian is the next generation hypervisor that Microsoft is going to use in the Longhorn time frame and that is currently being developed. It's basically the successor of Microsoft Virtual Server.
Xen is an opensource hypervisor that is being integrated by a number of players which include RedHat, Suse, XenSource and Virtual Iron.

Read the article here

VMware: VirtualCenter out of sync

2007-06-13T09:05:00.001+02:00

I entered the office and fired up my trusty VIClient to connect to our design environment, just to discover all machines were shutdown. Suddenly the phone started ringing. All production VMs were shutdown as well? What happened?

It turned out to be a massive (physical) switch failure: during the weekend, all switches were failing in cascade due to some switch intervention (oeps). Result: all NICs in all ESX hosts lost their connection. So, every ESX host had noticed it couldn't ping it's default gateway and started shutting down ("releasing") all VMs (the default HA behavior). But...there were no other ESX hosts to pick up the host failure :)

After booting the VMs, we noticed something strange: VirtualCenter was completely out of sync with what was running on the ESX hosts themselves and we couldn't VMotion/Edit Settings/.. our VMs. Some VMs appeared to be running on a host when they were not! Really strange, strange stuff.

To get your VirtualCenter back in sync (and if rebooting the VC Service doesn't help), you must restart the vpxa (VirtualCenter) agent on every ESX host by issuing the following command:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware-vpxa restart

VMware: The dreadful sticky snapshot

2007-06-12T09:38:00.001+02:00

When working with VMware ESX’s snapshot technology and/or VCB for a while, you will notice that sometimes a snapshot doesn’t get committed correctly. This occurs when for instance an ESX host crashes or hangs during a VCB snapshot.

The problem here is that a redo file (or delta, snapshot file) is created, but never removed. When looking at the snapshot manager, no snapshots appear to be available. Snapshots are devastating for your datastore performance, so we must remove them as quickly as possible! In the worst case, the redo file and the vmware-x.log files will eat up all the remaining disk space on the infected datastore and a message will be displayed (AAAaaaaaaaaaahh):

You will notice a number of <originaldiskname>-00000X.vmdk and <originaldiskname>-00000X-delta.vmdk files appear when browsing the datastore. When you look at your Virtual Machine disk properties (via Edit Settings) you will notice that your disk name will have changed from <originaldisk.vmdk> to <originaldisk>-00000X.vmdk, meaning a snapshot version is being used.

You can use 2 tricks to recover from this scenario:

Execute vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/<datastorename>/<vmname>/<vmname>.vmx removesnapshots on the Service Console. However, most of the time this will not work and you will have to revert to the method below.
Manually create a snapshot in the VI Client and remove it after it has been created. This will remove ALL existing snapshots and revert back to your <originaldisk>.vmdk. Great huh?

VMware: VMTSPatchmanager for patching

2007-06-08T10:28:00.001+02:00

Massimiliano Daneri of vmts.net (well known for his backup scripts) has created a useful tool for patching your ESX: VMTSPatchmanager.

Features:

Automatic Patch downloading from VMware Web site
Virtual Center Integration
Support for Background Intelligent Transfer Service (Microsoft BITS)
Password saved inside the Microsoft Protected Storage
SSH Connection (with root or other users)
Implement a tiny Web server to deliver the patch
Multi Thread implementation
Configuration Wizard

Download it here

Microsoft: Terminal Services Session Broker

2007-06-08T10:12:00.001+02:00

Michel Roth over at thincomputing.net has written a nice (p)review on the new load balancing options for terminal servers in Server 2008. Read his article here

WTS: Using ThreadMaster to Tame Rogue Applications

2007-05-24T09:51:00.001+02:00

Duane Bradley has written an excellent tutorial on how to deploy & configure the free tool Threadmaster to "tame" CPU usage for specific applications on a Terminal Server or Citrix box. Read the article here

Microsoft: Technet Magazine A guide to deploying WTS

2007-05-22T11:41:00.001+02:00

James D. Silliman has written a short but insightful article in Technet Magazine on deploying Windows Terminal Services on a Windows 2003 platform. In the article, he discusses GPO’s, security filtering, Folder redirection, installing Office using templates and admin installl, some licensing info, etc.

Definitly a good read for people new to Terminal Services. Read the article here

Microsoft: Its all about Virtualization now...

2007-05-22T11:08:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, I attended the TechNet Webcast: Windows Server 2008: Server Virtualization Solution Scenario. It was quite interesting (although not as technical as I had hoped).

To summarize, Microsoft’s virtualization strategy is divided in 4 types of “virtualization”:

Desktop virtualization: desktops/servers can be virtualized on your local desktop using Virtual PC technology. Nothing new here.
Application virtualization: Microsoft bought Softricity a few months ago, one of the leading companies for applications virtualization. They are now selling Softgrid as their application virtualization solution (and a good one I might add). Softgrid 4.1 is now the current version, and version 4.2 will be released soon. Zerotouch (a web portal front end) was dropped.
Presentation virtualization: this one is quite funny (and the most surprising). As you might know, Server 2008 will have a bunch of new “Citrix-like” features for Terminal Services like load balancing, TS Web Access, TS gateway (SSL tunnel), remote (published) apps and UPD (called “easy print”). So now, Terminal Services is looked upon as being “presentation virtualization”. BTW, Citrix already uses the term “application virtualization” for its Metaframe Presentation Server solution.
Server virtualization: Oh yes, the combination of Virtual Server 2005 R2 (SP1) and/or Windows Server 2008 virtualization (“Viridian”) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (now in Beta 2). SC VMM version 1.0 will be released in 2007, mainly to manage VS 2005 R2. A new release of SCVMM 2.0 will be released as soon as Viridian is ready (stripped of some features or not ;)) in 2008. So stay tuned!

During the presentation, a comparison was made between VMware ESX server and Windows Server 2008 with Windows Server Virtualization. The thing to note here is that VMware uses drivers in its hypervisor model, while WSV uses no drivers in their hypervisor. Instead, they deploy drivers directly in Virtual Machine instances. I can’t wait to compare it (even with hot-add & live-migration features stripped) to ESX!

VMware: deploying a VM using a custom sysprep.inf answer file

2007-05-21T11:13:00.001+02:00

You can create a template VM and use sysprep to rename, reSID, etc. a new VM. The difference between the default approach and my approach is that in my approach you can completely configure your VM as you would like (for example, use the correct regional settings).

In our example below you will notice that the regional settings default to Belgium/Dutch. You can change this (or other settings) using the setupmgt.exe found in de DEPLOY.CAB on your windows 2003 CD-ROM.

The steps:

Create a template VM, install the latest VMware tools and convert your VM to a Template

IMPORTANT: make sure the VM is not joined to a domain, otherwise the Join to Domain section during the sysprep will fail.
Download the sysprep 1.1 files from http://www.microsoft.com/download and unzip them in the following directory on your VirtualCenter server: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep\1.1 (you can also use the unzipped content in the deploy.cab on the windows CD-ROM located under SUPPORT\TOOLS)
Create a custom sysprep.inf file using the setupmgr.exe file found in deploy.cab. The content should look similar to the following:

;SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
OemSkipEula=Yes
[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=<yourpassword>
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=105
OemSkipWelcome=1
[UserData]
ProductID=12345-67890-12345-67890-12757
FullName="MyCompanyName"
OrgName="MyCompanyName"
[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1
SystemLocale=00000813
UserLocale=00000813
InputLocale=0813:00000813
[SetupMgr]
DistFolder=C:\sysprep\i386
DistShare=whistlerdist
[Identification]
JoinDomain=<NetBIOS Domain Name>
DomainAdmin=<administrator name or delegated user>
DomainAdminPassword=<Password>
[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes
In the VI Client when connected to your VirtualCenter, go to Edit => Customization Specifications. Create a new customization file.
Select the appropriate OS type (in our case Windows) and check “Use custom sysprep answer file”. Fill out an appropriate name (like “Sysprep Windows 2003 SP2”)
In the next screen, select Import a file and browse to your sysprep.inf file or copy/paste the contents in the sysprep.inf text field
When using DHCP, select Typical Settings in the next screen. Select Custom settings when using a static IP.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to fill out the default gateway & alternate gateway with the same gateway IP (this is a known issue)
Make sure Generate New SID is selected in the next screen
The Sysprep customization should know be available to use in combination with your template.

Microsoft: WTS Step-By-Step guides in upcoming Win2K8

2007-05-18T16:07:00.001+02:00

Microsoft has released some very interesting step-by-step guides related to (amongst others) Terminal Services:

Windows Server Longhorn Beta 3 Release TS Gateway Server Step-By-Step Setup Guide.doc
Windows Server Longhorn Beta 3 Release TS Licensing Step-By-Step Setup Guide.doc
Windows Server Longhorn Beta 3 Terminal Services RemoteApp Step-By-Step Guide.doc
What's New in Terminal Services for Microsoft Windows Server Code Name Longhorn.doc

Download them here

Microsoft: Requesting TSCALs for Win2K8

2007-05-18T14:33:00.001+02:00

To be able to test the new features in WTS Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has made available test TSCALs (Terminal Services Client Access Licenses). You can request batcehs of 20 Per-user or Per-device licenses. Go to this website to request & have fun!

Microsoft: Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008

2007-05-18T10:59:00.001+02:00

Patrick Rouse has written an excellent article on new TS features that will be available in Windows Server 2008.

To summarize:

TS Easy Print: this will be Microsoft’s answer to Universal Printer driver solutions. As you know, there was already a “fallback” mode available in Windows 2003. TS Easy Print will be available with the new RDC 6.1 client
Per-Session default printer: This feature ensures that different sessions logged on with the same user name retain session specific default printers
SSO (Single-Sign on) when using Vista/Server 2008 combinations.
Dual-monitor support
Terminal Services RemoteApp: his feature provides Seamless Windows & Session Sharing functionality to users with Remote Desktop Client 6.x. Also, Session sharing will be available (as seen in Citrix MPS releases)
Terminal Services Load balancing: With the new Terminal Services Session Broker, Win2K8 Terminal Servers can be effectively load balanced based on:
- Session Count
- Weight
- Black hole avoidance (avoid a new TS from being overloaded with new logon requests)
- Drain mode (aka redirect new logins to other TS servers)
Terminal Service Web Access: Similar to Citrix Web Interface, this IIS Portal delivers RemoteApp Connection information to a client with the Remote Desktop 6.x Client.
Terminal Services Gateway: Similar to Citrix Secure Gateway, this feature provides RDP over HHTPS (443) traffic from DMZ to your trusted network.

Definitely check it out here

VMware: May patches for ESX 3.0.1

2007-05-15T10:29:00.001+02:00

VMware has released new patches for ESX 3.0.1:

ESX-4825991 Patch | 05/15/07 | Critical Patch
ESX-5095559 Patch | 05/15/07 | Security Patch
ESX-5140477 Patch | 05/15/07 | Security Patch
ESX-6657345 Patch | 05/15/07 | General Patch
ESX-6704314 Patch | 05/15/07 | Security Patch
ESX-7281356 Patch | 05/15/07 | General Patch
ESX-7302867 Patch | 05/15/07 | Critical Patch
ESX-7408807 Patch | 05/15/07 | General Patch
ESX-7557441 Patch | 05/15/07 | General Patch

Microsoft: Terminal Services Load Balancing in LH Beta 3

2007-04-26T13:47:00.001+02:00

After announcing TS Easy Print, Microsoft made an even bigger announcement at BriForum Chicago: Longhorn will have Load Balancing! It goes to show, that Microsoft thinks really highly of BriForum A big compliment to Brian as far as I'm concerned! The Load Balancing capabilities will be included in Longhorn Beta 3 for the first time.

Read the article on Thincomputing here

VMware: TSX Nice 2007 presentations now available

2007-04-26T11:31:00.001+02:00

The presentations from TSX Nice are available here

Microsoft: Longhorn Beta 3 and the UPD "Easy Print"

2007-04-26T09:58:00.001+02:00

Longhorn (Terminal) Server will have its own "universal printer" functionality. It should be available (I have not checked it) in the Beta 3 Longhorn Server version (released & available for download NOW).

Microsoft calls it: Easy Print. It's based on the Microsoft XPS document standard (which is similar to PDF). The "Easy Print" feature of Longhorn server is quite comprehensive though and is more than just a universal print driver in that it:

Supports (nearly) every printer
Compresses the data stream send to the TS Client
Enables you to use the properties (UI) of the native printer driver
Allow you to specify which printer gets redirected into your Longhorn TS Session

Tnx to bink.nu for the info

VMware: definitive guide to ... VMware

2007-04-21T20:27:00.000+02:00

Check out this post on VMTN forums! It has all the links/references/... you would ever dream of! Tnx to Arne for the info.

VMware: PAM Password Aging in ESX 3.0.1

2007-04-18T14:12:00.001+02:00

As you know, the service console for ESX 3.0 is a modified version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 6.0. By default, a password aging & complexity policy is active. Password aging policies are set:

Maximum days = 90 days by default
Minimum days = 0 days (you can change your password whenever you want)
Warning time defaults to 7

Normally, the root and vpxuser have no password aging by default (value is –1).

You can disable the password aging policy as follows:

For all newly created users (disable globally):
esxcfg-auth --passmaxdays=0 (or –1)
For existing users:
chage -M -1 (or 0) <username>

VMware: VCB(mounter) "Error: Host unreachable"

2007-04-17T15:36:00.001+02:00

Today I discovered that there is an issue with VCB(mounter) and .vmx/.vmdk placement.

For some reason, our P2V tool had placed all config files (.vmx, log files, etc.) on /vmfs/volumes/datastore 1/<Servername> and our .vmdk files on /vmfs/volumes/datastore 2/<Servername>. In a normal environment, config files and vmdk files are kept together.

As you can see in the screenshot, the initial snapshot gets created but no operations can be performed and a timeout occurs after 45 minutes.

vcbMounter created a snapshot, and placed the snapshot files by default in the /vmfs/volumes/datastore 1/<Servername> folder where our .vmx resides. For some reason, VCB(mounter) is not able to “find” our original .vmdk files.

You have 2 options in this scenario:

If you don’t want to have your .vmx and your .vmdk files togheter: change the Virtual Machine Working Location from the location where the .vmx file resides to the datastore location where the .vmdk files reside and (re)add to the VirtualCenter inventory.

This can be done by editing the .vmx file and adding the following parameter:
workingDir = "/vmfs/volumes/454b27d2-f2172987-4798-0017085ce0dd/<ServerName>/"

Note the UID notation, and not the linked name
If you want your .vmx and .vmdk files together: migrate your VM using a “cold" migration and relocate your .vmx (configuration files) to the datastore where your .vmdk files reside (see also my previous article here). This is the easiest & fastest approach.

VMware: Handy trick to rename a Virtual Machine

2007-04-11T12:04:00.001+02:00

Just a quick trick. As you all know, you can rename a Virtual Machine in VirtualCenter. However, the name changes but the files (.vmdk, .vmx, etc.) still have their previous name. Renaming all filenames/references manually is a daunting & error prone task.

Just shut down your VM and migrate it to a different datastore. All relevant files/folders will be renamed! Isn’t that easy or what?

Microsoft: Multiple Password "Policies" in Longhorn Server

2007-04-11T11:33:00.001+02:00

Geert Baeke has posted an interesting article on how to deploy multiple password "policies" with Longhorn April CTP build. Check it out here

VMware: bundled patch ESX-6431040

2007-04-05T08:52:00.001+02:00

Be aware of the fact that patch ESX-6431040 is a bundled tgz, so it will not work with the ESX autopatching scripts you can find in the community. The following patches are contained within this bundle:

ESX-1161870
ESX-3416571
ESX-5011126
ESX-7737432
ESX-7780490
ESX-8174018
ESX-8852210
ESX-9617902

I personally unpacked the main patch, repackaged all extracted patches (they have a normal patch structure and are extracted in subdirectories) and added them to my patches list.

VMware: Running VirtualCenter in a VM

2007-04-04T10:57:00.001+02:00

VMware has released a technical note on running VC in a VM. I personally don't like running VC in a VM, for the reasons covered in the technote. I do like the concept to P2V your existing physical VC (connected to an external SQL/Oracle DB) and use it in a DR scenario.

Some things to note when deploying VC in a VM:

You need to obtain a host-based license & an initial standalone ESX host, as you cannot boot your VC without a (host- or server-based) license :)
Shutting down/maintenance on your Virtual VirtualCenter can be tricky: you need to locate VC & connect to an ESX host to power on VC or change your hardware config for your VC.

Download it here

VMware: configuring a static MAC address in a VM

2007-04-02T12:54:00.001+02:00

Sometimes it can be necessary to configure a static MAC address in a VM. A typical issue during P2V is an application that has its licensing based on the MAC address.

VMware has defined that VirtualCenter does not use the following range: 00:50:56:00:00:00 to 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF where 00:50:56 is the OUI.

The steps:

Power off & remove the server from the VirtualCenter inventory. This is a necessary step, because VC will overwrite your settings during Power On!
Edit the .vmx file and locate the following generated MAC address:
Ethernet0.addressType =
and
Ethernet0.generatedAddress =
Change the value for ethernet0.addressType from “vpx” to “static”
Change ethernet0.GeneratedAddress to ethernet0.Address
Change the current MAC to a MAC address in the following range:
00:50:56:00:00:00-00:50:56:3F:FF:FF
In VirtualCenter, select an ESX host and go to storage
Browse the data store & locate your VM
Right-click on the .vmx file, and select Add to inventory
Power On the server. Issue the command ipconfig /all and locate the VMware NIC. Your manually assigned MAC address should be there.

I know you can set your MAC address inside Windows, but I would avoid this.

VMware: autopatching ESX with an FTP repository

2007-03-30T13:50:00.001+02:00

Dominic Rivera from vmprofessional has posted a more advanced Perl script for patching different versions of ESX. He uses an FTP repository & does an MD5SUM check before installing the downloaded patch. Check it out here!

Sources are available:

Script:
http://www.vmprofessional.com/material/esx-autopatch.pl

Pre-compiled patchlist.txt
http://www.vmprofessional.com/material/3.0.1/patchlist.txt
http://www.vmprofessional.com/material/3.0.0/patchlist.txt

VizionCore: ESXReplicator beta 2.0 Update

2007-03-30T13:04:00.001+02:00

I got a lot of reaction on my latest post. I said the following:

As does Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure, ESXReplicator makes use of VM snapshots on the source VM during replication

It is very important to note that there is a huge difference in the snapshot techniques used by Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure and VizionCore ESXReplicator.

Vizioncore only leverages snapshots during the replication cycle to free up the VMDK as they scan it. Replicator has it's own engine for the differential (cool huh?). This is very different to Double-Take that relies on a snapshot always being open.

VMware: New patches released

2007-03-30T11:10:00.001+02:00

VMware released some new patches for ESX 3.0.1. Especially the ESX-1541239 is an interesting one, as it addresses a critical issue with Emulex HBA drivers.

ESX-1541239 Patch 03/29/07 Critical Patch
ESX-2257739 Patch 03/29/07 Critical Patch
ESX-2559638 Patch 03/29/07 Security Patch
ESX-6431040 Patch 03/29/07 Security Patch
ESX-9916286 Patch 03/29/07 Security Patch

VizionCore: ESXReplicator 2.0 Beta 8 preview

2007-03-26T15:48:00.000+02:00

EsxReplicator is a real-time replication solution for the VMware ESX Server environment. A beta is now available to the public with support for VI3. I must admit that I was fairly impressed by this beta version. VizionCore has done a great job. We had just 1 small problem after setup (a Next->Next->Finish install BTW).

OK, let’s check the necessary steps (besides installing the .msi):

The first step is to configure your SMTP settings, and fill out the recipient and from mail address. Also, you can set your VC Tree Expand Level (tree level expansion).

Then, next steps include adding, configuring and connecting to your VirtualCenter and/or ESX hosts.

Ok, now comes the fun part: replication. Just add a replication job via the GUI by selecting the appropriate VM and selecting Add Replication job or Assign a New Job.
A Replication Job Wizard is displayed. Note the intervals: a minimum of 15 minutes in between replication steps:

You can specify to disable quiescing, the target host and datastore. That’s about it!

You can see a nice progress summary when a job is executed. This is useful to quickly determine when & where a job failed.

Job details are shown after a replication process. Check out the giant clock! BTW, all replication job details are saved under C:\Program Files\vizioncore\esxReplicator\Logs folder.

Some remarks:

As you can see, this is a very simple and straightforward product
As does Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure, ESXReplicator makes use of VM snapshots on the source VM during replication
ESXReplicator did not detect that my VM was already on the same LUN as the to-be- copied replication, so my replication job failed.
Also, a 2nd server with the name SR-LIC01 was added to the inventory. So effectively, we had 2 SR-LIC01’s in our VC inventory! Not a good thing and something that Double-Take for VMware Infrastructure does not allow to happen (it registers the VM for a brief period and then removes it from the inventory).
We saw a rather high impact on the service console (CPU0 and vmnic0), but this is normal considering it is an ESX to ESX host action.
It looks like ESXReplicator is VMotion aware, nice!

Conclusion: VizionCore ESXReplicator 2.0 for VI3 looks like a very promising product. It is simple & easy to use.

HP: Data Protector VCB integration packet for VI3

2007-03-26T11:48:00.001+02:00

For those using HP Data Protector as a backup solution: HP finally released a VCB/script toolkit for use with VI3

This package contains the scripts and the document describing the integration of VMware Consolidated Backup 3.0.1 snapshot capabilities with HP Storage Data Protector 5.5 and 6.0.

Download it here

VMware: SAN System Design & Deployment Guide

2007-03-20T09:59:00.001+01:00

I just noticed that VMware has released a new guide on designing & deploying ESX on a SAN. It's a fine read.
Download it here

VMware: Beware patch 2

2007-03-09T14:05:00.001+01:00

Some installation remarks on patch 2 for VirtualCenter. These are the experiences of the guys on the VMware forums and myself :)

Make sure to disable HA and DRS when patching your VirtualCenter. Otherwise, some ESX host may become disconnected from VirtualCenter.
Make sure to upgrade your VI Client! The new VI Client (build 40644) is NOT backwards compatible. I saw weird stuff happening when using the new VI Client on the patch 1 VirtualCenter release!!
Check your VPXA agent version after the installation (issue vpxa –v). The new version should be VMware VirtualCenter Agent Daemon 2.0.1 build-40644 (was 33643). If not and your ESX host shows a disconnected state in VC, start to panic :). Or just install it manually by running 'service mgmt-vmware restart' at the console. Reconnect the ESX host.
License location has changed from C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server\vmware.lic to C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server\Licenses\vmware.lic. I had to reboot the license server.
Last but not least: Don’t click Yes when asked to overwrite the data. It will wipe out your DB!

VMware: (Auto)patching your ESX host

2007-03-09T13:16:00.001+01:00

As you all know, patching an ESX host is not exactly fun. VMware has promised to deliver a better patching system in their new version (ESX 3.1 and VC 2.1). In the meantime, we have to make sure that our ESX hosts are patched. In this post, I will use an IIS repository to deploy ESX patches from a central server (well, its not a push but rather a pull technology).

A special thanks goes out to Arne who wrote an article (in Dutch) on his excellent ictfreak blog on configuring IIS for ESX patches. I decided to use it and add a Perl script and a patchList to make the process more manageable.

First part: installing & configuring IIS

Create a folder called VIPatches
Download all patches from the VMware site
Extract them to the VIPatches folder. It should look something like this:
In the VIPatches, create a file called patchesList.txt with the relevant patch numbers IN THE CORRECT ORDER. Make sure no additional carriage returns are available after the final patch (in our case 3199476).
Install IIS
Go to IIS manager and create a new website. Call it VIPatches (or something similar)
Change the port number to a free port (example: port 8082)
Make sure to browse to the correct folder (in our case E:\VIPatches) and to activate Directory browsing
On the directory security tab: make sure Anonymous logon is selected.
On the HTTP Headers tab, MIME Types button: add .* and ‘application/octet-stream’
Browse with your preferred internet browser to http://<servername>:8082/VI3Patches. You should be able to see all patches.

Second part: configuring & patching your ESX host

Use the Service Console
Open the appropriate firewall port by issuing the following command (depending on your configured port in IIS):
esxcfg-firewall -o 8082,tcp,out,httpClient
Create (touch) a script under /tmp called patchESX.pl (or create it on a central location so you can copy it to all your ESX hosts with WinSCP or FastSCP).
Open with nano (or vim) and add the following content:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# patchESX.pl -- auto update esx perl script
# by Vincent Vlieghe
# Version 6/03/2007

use LWP::Simple;

$patchlist = get 'http://<yourservername>:8082/patchesList.txt';
@array = split(/\n/, $patchlist);
foreach $item (@array)
{
print $item;
$item = trim($item);
$cmdQuery = "esxupdate query | grep ESX-$item";
if(system($cmdQuery) == 0)
{
print "\n$item is already installed - skipping\n";
}
else
{
print "\n$item is not yet installed - installing\n";
$cmdUpdate = "esxupdate -n -r http://<yourservername>:8082/ESX-$item update";
system($cmdUpdate);
}
}
sub trim($)
{
my $string = shift;
$string =~ s/^\s+//;
$string =~ s/\s+$//;
return $string;
}
Replace <yourservername> with the IIS servername. Make sure the ESX host can contact it (check your DNS!).
Make sure your ESX host is running in maintenance mode.
Run the script by issuing perl patchESX.pl. Watch and enjoy!
Reboot your ESX host when all updates are installed.

VMware: new patches available for ESX 3.0.1

2007-03-06T12:14:00.001+01:00

Some new ESX 3.0.1 patches are available. Update ESX-3199476 adds support for using Microsoft Clustering Server (MSCS) with Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP 1) and R2 Guest Operating Systems.

There are now a total of 20 patches available for download. BTW: High on my ESX agenda is: creating some general (Perl) script and a (virtual) update server for easier maintenance. Why? Because installing 20 updates for every existing/new server introduced in the environment is a pain in the ***. Download them here

VMware: VCB & existing snapshots

2007-03-06T12:06:00.001+01:00

Just a quick note here for people using VCBMounter / VCB: VCB does NOT support existing snapshots. We noticed a delay of 5 minutes during the (manual) execution of the VCBMounter command initialization & the actual snapshot failure. This results in a disconnected ESX host in VirtualCenter (30 seconds disconnect). This also means that the snapshot backup didn’t work.

You actually lose some functionality (namely: creating snapshots before an upgrade/service pack & testing it for a number of days before committing the snapshot). Something for VCB 2.0 maybe?

VMware: VirtualCenter 2.0.1 Patch 2 (Build 40644)

2007-03-03T07:16:00.001+01:00

VirtualCenter 2.0.1 Patch 2 (Build 40644) resolves a variety of issues and includes several improvements:

Database Issues
License-Handling Improvements
Performance, Performance-Reporting, and Related Issues
Other Issues

I would suggest to download the patch here & install it. I know I will ASAP!

Microsoft: Hypervisor - Windows Server Virtualization Demo

2007-03-02T11:49:00.001+01:00

For those who can't wait to see MS Server Virtualization in action, check out this little demo movie on Arlindo's blog (MSFT Belgium). If they can do what they promise (hot add almost all components, etc.), then VMware has some catching up to do :)

VMware: VMware Server 1.0.2 released

2007-03-02T10:48:00.001+01:00

For those using VMware Server: a new maintenance update, 1.0.2, is now available for download. This update fixes numerous bugs. Check the release notes here

Citrix: CPS 4.5 first impressions: installation

2007-03-02T10:19:00.001+01:00

Well hmmm, the installation process has not really changed since MPS 4.0. It uses the same installation screens to connect/create your IMA datastore, configure XML ports, etc.. This is what I have noticed during installation:

The prerequisites have changed a bit:

You can only install CPS 4.5 on Windows 2003 (x86 or x64)
Access Management Console now uses .Net Framework 2.0 (was .Net 1.1)
Java JRE 1.5 (was Java 1.4)

Visual J# .Net 2.0

The new Access Management Console is to replace the (Java based) Presentation MC. From now on, applications are published from within this console. Also, the new Access Management Console is now divided into a number of separately installed components:

What I didn’t understand is the fact that you can still choose to install the Standard Edition. The Standard Edition does not exist anymore… Confusing??

This is new: you can now Enable IMA encryption during the installation of CPS 4.5.

The IMA encryption feature provides a more robust AES encryption algorithm. IMA encryption is a farm-wide setting. If you enable IMA encryption during Citrix Presentation Server installation, each server you add to the farm has IMA encryption enabled. To enable IMA encryption during installation, you must generate a key, which is used for all the servers in your farm, and specify that key during Setup. You can generate the key before Setup or during Setup.

Citrix: Application Streaming Internals

2007-03-02T08:56:00.001+01:00

With the release of CPS 4.5, Citrix has updated its documentation library on http://support.citrix.com. One of the documents that caught my eye is Citrix Application Streaming Internals. It is more like a white paper/getting started guide and is worth the read.

This white paper provides you with details about profiling and Citrix Streaming Profiler internals for Citrix Presentation Server 4.5. It is one of a series of white papers designed to provide you with more detailed information beyond the scope of the Citrix Application Streaming Guide included with the Presentation Server documentation.

Download it here

VMware: Best practices for deploying Citrix on ESX

2007-03-01T14:46:00.001+01:00

First and foremost: this tuning list is my own experience and the experience of several users on the VMware forum. Your mileage may vary.

The goods:

Virtual Infrastructure 3
Windows 2003 Std (or Enterprise) Edition R2 (x86, not x64)
Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 (yes, I know, the old one ;))

The tips:

First this: it all depends on the applications used! Context switches is the key here...
Use Windows 2003, not Windows 2000
Don’t P2V your servers, but use clean templates
Make sure the correct HAL (single or multi) is installed in the virtual machine. Otherwise, your vCPU will spike.
Always assign 1vCPU. If necessary, add a 2^nd vCPU. Do not use 4 vCPUs!
Use 2 GB to start. Scale up to +-4 GB of vRAM if necessary
Use 1 .vmdk for your system partition (C:\ or other remapped drive letter) and 1 separate .vmdk for your program files.
Put the page file on the 2^nd .vmdk
Important: disconnect any .iso file in your virtual CD-Rom
Use roaming profiles and cleanup your profiles at logoff
Disable sound for your published apps
Install the UPH service (download it here)
User sessions: for me, 30 users on a VM is the sweet spot. Do not expect to get as many users on it as on a physical box!
Scale out, not up. A major advantage of VM is to clone/NewSID/sysprep existing servers and put them into your existing Citrix farm. Just stop & disable your IMA service, clean up your RMLocalDB (if you use enterprise) and NewSid the thing. Refer to this support article for more info.
Use dual core or quad core systems. This because ESX will have more CPU to schedule its vCPUs on.
Don’t ever use a 2 vCPU Citrix virtual machine in a 2 pCPU physical machine!
Do not install the memory ballooning driver while installing the VMware Tools
Do not use a complete installation Vmware tools: there is an issue with roaming profiles and the shared folders component. See my previous article for more info.
Disable COM ports, hyperthreading, visual effects & use speedscreen technology where possible.
Use snapshots when installing applications or patching your servers (yes! With VMware you can do this!). In case of disaster, you can still revert to the original working server without using backups. Make sure all snapshots are removed ASAP when finished!
Always check that there are no snapshot leftovers (f.e. the infamous _VCB-BACKUP_ when using VCB)
Don’t forget you can use DRS rules to run your citrix servers on separate physical hosts.
Check out this vmworld 2006 presentation
And last but not least: do not forget to read ESX's (excellent) performance tuning white paper.

Citrix: Presentation Server 4.5 available NOW

2007-03-01T10:42:00.001+01:00

Presentation Server 4.5 is available now for download on http://www.mycitrix.com. Download and test!

VMware: VCB troubleshooting "guide"

2007-02-28T11:06:00.001+01:00

SearchServerVirtualization has a nice (basic) article on VCB troubleshooting. It explains what error messages you can (and will :) ) encounter and what you can do to fix it.

One of our large customers is using VCB. We created a custom script using PowerShell and Perl to automate backup to disk (so no backup to tape because it would be to slow). We use Perl to enumerate all running VMs in VirtualCenter (see baeke.info for more info on this). Then we use PowerShell to leverage the VCBMounter command on the VCB server and capture the verbose log files (switch -L 6) to get as much information as possible.

Citrix: Office 2007 vs Office 2003 performance

2007-02-28T10:11:00.001+01:00

Want to know how well Office 2007 performs on a SBC platform? Check this article that states that the impact on the CPU is significant compared to Office 2003. I wonder how well this will run in a Citrix VM...

Thanks to Wilco for the link!

Microsoft: Virtualization licensing round-up

2007-02-27T10:57:00.001+01:00

For those who are not aware: I decided to post a short round-up list on MS "virtualization" licensing.

Windows 2003 R2 Datacenter edition: unlimited number of VMs with Windows 2003 Datacenter edition can be deployed on 1 physical host.
Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition: up to 4 instances/ Virtual Machines can be used with 1 single Enterprise license on 1 physical host
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP2: an unlimited number of virtual instances can be run on servers that are fully licensed for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition.
Virtual Server 2005 R2: free (SP1 coming up shortly)
Windows Vista Enterprise Edition (?): up to 4 VM instances with 1 license (not yet confirmed). This would be great for VDI!

The main question here is: in a world where we use VMotion (and soon: Live Migration for Windows Server Virtualization) to do hot migrations between different physical hosts, how can we keep track of these "free" instances? Is it still useful to look at the (single) physical host level? Should we buy a separate datacenter/SQL/Enterprise license per server? IMHO, this is nearly impossible to maintain and not intuitive...

BTW: Exchange Server 2007 (= x64 only) is not yet supported in a VM, so no "free" virtual licenses (yet).

VMware: MSA 1000/1500cs optimal config (Active/Passive)

2007-02-27T10:25:00.001+01:00

When configuring an MSA 1000 or 1500cs, use the following recommendations/guidelines (this for Active/passive or single controller setups):

Make sure you have the recommended firmware version. Currently, for MSA 1500cs this is version 5.10. Minimum version is 5.02. Minimum version for MSA 1000 is 4.48 (is also the recommended version).
Make sure Selective Storage Presentation is enabled (can be done via the ACU) and the Host Mode for your HBA connections is set to Linux (NOT default). This is true for VMFS and RDM LUNs. Mode can also be set via the command line.
The Array rebuild should be set to "High"
Make sure all shelves (MSA 30 or MSA 20) are populated with at least 1 RAID set and not left empty.
Make sure all disks have the latest firmware. This is important (disk threshold metering). Some customers have witnessed problems where disk status was presented as green. However, the disk had failed causing the MSA (or EVA) to fail completely.
HP recommends assigning a dedicated I/O module to each enclosure.

HP has a SAN Best Practices paper for VI3. Download it here. Also, make sure to read the Storage SAN compatibility guide

Citrix: Client package 10 & streaming client now available

2007-02-25T15:07:00.001+01:00

Citrix has released the new version of there ICA client package, 10. This version is used with CPS 4.5 (to be released in march).

Windows Vista is officially supported now. The majority of the known issues experienced with Presentation Server clients 9.x on Vista have been resolved. For more information, refer to Knowledge Base article CTX112067, Microsoft Windows Vista - Known Issues.

The Citrix Presentation Server Client Package is a three-in-one package of ICA clients. Based on Windows Installer technology (.msi), the client package provides an easy-to-use wizard that guides one through the installation and configuration steps for any or all of these individual clients:
Program Neighborhood
Program Neighborhood Agent
Web Client
The Citrix Streaming Client is a new client introduced with the Presentation Server 4.5 release. This client is used when Streaming Applications to the Desktop.

Download it here

Microsoft: Vista Enterprise released

2007-02-16T14:32:00.001+01:00

Microsoft has released the Enterprise version of Vista (x86 and x64 version). It makes use of the new VA 2.0/MAK (Volume Activation 2.0/Multiple Activation Key) as Volume License Key system.

Gone are the days where you could install XP on VMware Workstation and test/snapshot/copy/delete/play/etc. with it. You have to activate this one :). Only a number of activations is allowed. I'm assuming they will use the same Licensing mechanism for Windows Server 2007 (Longhorn).

Download (and activate ;)) it now on http://www.microsoft.com/technet

Citrix: Hotfix Rollup Pack R03 released

2007-02-15T13:12:00.001+01:00

Just a quick note here: Citrix has just released the next Rollup pack for CPS 4.0 and AE 1.0 & 1.5. Download it here

Citrix: Presentation Server 4.5 released

2007-02-13T14:03:00.001+01:00

OK guys, Citrix has launched Presentation Server 4.5. However, it is not available for download yet.

Brian Madden has an excellent article on his blog. It looks like Citrix will drop the Standard Edition and will launch a new version called "Presentation Server Platinum Edition" (what's in the name).

A remarkable thing is that it will support 500 users per server (!). This would need a powerful server + an x64 edition on it for sure.

Citrix: Wilco reviews Ardence

2007-02-13T09:29:00.001+01:00

Wilco van Bragt has written a good review on OS streaming/virtualization with Ardence (recently acquired by Citrix). Check it out on Wilco's blog

VMware: vmhba display bug in VI Client

2007-02-06T09:03:00.001+01:00

Be aware that there is a bug in the VI client that shows strange HBA/SP configurations after doing a rescan. In our screenshot below, only 2 targets (0 & 1) are configured. However, an (empty) 3rd target is shown:

To avoid confusing, use the esxcfg-mpath -l command to display all available SAN volumes, there paths & policy.

VMware: Converter Enterprise Review

2007-01-31T09:41:00.001+01:00

We got our hands on the Converter Enterprise License & download RTM, so I guess it is time to write a small (first impressions) review...

OK, VMware Converter (Enterprise) is cool. But we already knew that... I tested a migration with the coldclone.iso (WinPE environment, offline P2V) mounted as virtual media via ILO. Works like a charm. It looks similar to the online version, but it does not have (duh..) the license part. Instead, a network configuration item is available to change IP/DNS/WINS settings or map a network drive.

You can also use the PETool to add extra drivers to the WinPE environment.

During the conversion wizard, you can select disk layouts, add/remove any detected disks, resize disks, install VMware Tools, reSID the VM, rename the VM, select the appropriate datastore, etc. The usual stuff, actually.

If you would like to use the online version, just install the application and activate the license (via Administration => License Information). The license must be created via the vmware licensing website. A VmwareSoftware.lic file (host-based) is created in the same format (FlexLM) as a "real" VI3 host- or server-based license:

INCREMENT P2V_ENTERPRISE VMWARELM 3.0 permanent uncounted \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=production;count=-1 HOSTID=ANY \
ISSUED=26-Jan-2007 NOTICE=FulfillmentId=123456 SIGN="1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 "

After installing the license, you have an unlimited set of concurrent tasks (allrighty!) and a new source type is available: A remote machine. License information also states that the expiry date is set to <never expire>. As you can see, the .lic file can be used on HOSTID=ANY and is uncounted and permanent.

However, I noticed some problems/disadvantages using the bootCD:

No vCPU & memory selection possible.
It takes a (very) long time for the P2V process to take off
You cannot select NIC speed & duplex settings (!) when performing an offline P2V. In some environments (including ours) this can result in terrible copy performance, as autonegotiate might set the NIC to half duplex 10/100...
The memory is not set correctly in the newly created VM, I had 1024 Mb RAM physical memory, the VM only had 1020... (but is a known issue)
The help file states RC1_help ;)

This is just a first impression, and I didn't RTFM. It does not compare to PlateSpin PowerConvert's "power", but is definitely a good option for P2V migrations... A nice addition to the P2V arsenal.

Ow, and BTW, VMware P2V Assistant is dead ;)

VMware: VMware Converter 3.0 is available

2007-01-29T11:36:00.001+01:00

VMware Converter 3.0 has just been released. This is a great tool for P2V & conversions. Download the free starter edition here.

VMware Converter can be run on a wide variety of hardware and supports most commonly used versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems.

VMware: performance tuning technote

2007-01-26T13:22:00.001+01:00

Check out this new white paper on performance tuning best practices for ESX. There is a ton of info in this document! A must read if you ask me.

General: To Do list for this year

2007-01-26T10:43:00.001+01:00

I made a short To Do list for this year. 2007 will be thé virtualization year (or so they say ;)). So stay tuned for reviews/tips/tricks/...

Citrix Prestentation Server 4.5 (Project "Ohio"): testing the new features.
Running Citrix on VMware: best practices
SVS vs. Citrix streaming server (tarpon) vs. Microsoft Softgrid. Should be interesting to see how Citrix tarpon positions itself amongst the key players in the application virtualization field. To be reviewed soon!
Citrix Access Gateway 4.5: a collegue of mine is implementing the CAG Advanced edition (with AAC & endpoint checking), so I will definitely check this one out.
Beta 3 of Longhorn Server (aka Windows Server 2007) is coming! Beta 3 of Longhorn Server is expected to be feature complete and will be tweaked only for performance and quality control before the first release candidates. Excellent! I am really looking forward to test all new Terminal Services features & related policies/components.
VMware Converter (to be released soon)
VMware Workstation 6 (now in beta)
The new beta programs for ESX (ESX 3.1 and VC 2.1)
ESXpress versus VizionCore ESXranger 3.0 (with VCB integrated).
VDI: Citrix desktop broker, LeoStream Virtual Desktop Connection Broker & friends
And last but not least: Microsoft Server Virtualization!

VMware: snapshots and deleted .vmdk

2007-01-16T16:23:00.001+01:00

Ever wondered what would happen if you would remove & delete an attached disk from a (multi-)snapshotted VM? So did we :). When you try to power it on, nothing will happen and the "power on virtual machine" task in VC will time-out.

Fix this by going to the Snapshot Manager and selecting "Delete All". Power on & you're good to go!

VMware: replacing HBA drivers on HP Proliant servers

2007-01-15T14:23:00.001+01:00

After installing the HP Management Agents for VMware ESX Server 3.x (latest version is 7.7.0), no HBAs are visible in the HP Management Homepage. We use Emulex as an example:

Navigate to the Emulex website and download the latest LPfcUtil (lpfcutil-7.3.2.tgz for ESX 3.0.1)
Untar this tgz in the /tmp folder on your ESX host: tar -zxvf lpfcutil-7.3.2.tgz
Stop the hpsmhd & hpasm agents by issuing the commands: service hpsmhd stop & service hpasm stop from the service console
Navigate to /opt/Compaq/storage/bin and enter mv libdfc.so libdfc.so.bak. This creates a backup of the file libdfc.so
Navigate to /tmp and execute the following command ./Install.sh
Start the hpsmhd & hpasm agents by issuing the commands: service hpsmhd start & service hpasm start from the service console
Check the HP Management Homepage by going to https://<servername>:2381 . A new item under Storage, “External Storage Connections”, should now be visible!

VMware: add local user bug in VI client

2007-01-15T10:34:00.001+01:00

Just a quick note here when connecting to an ESX server stand-alone host (NOT the VirtualCenter server) with the VI Client: you cannot use * as a password character when adding a local user. You will receive the following error:

Use the following commands on the console instead:

useradd username
passwd username

Citrix: 20-second delay with folder redirection

2007-01-12T13:46:00.001+01:00

When deploying Windows 2003 SP1 hosts as Citrix servers AND when using folder redirection in a GPO, a delay of 20 seconds will appear during logon. This is a known issue and will be solved in Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 (now in RC). Read this Microsoft support article for more info. There is also a hotfix available via Microsoft support. Thomas Koetzing has a link to the (unofficial) hotfix here.

You can notice this behaviour when unabling UserEnvDebugLevel (see a previous article) on your Citrix server. Look for the following entries in the debug log file:

--------------------------------------------------------------
USERENV(1944.2a68) 10:50:30:964 UserPolicyCallback:
Setting status UI to Applying personal document settings...
USERENV(1944.2a68) 10:50:50:261 UserPolicyCallback:
Setting status UI to Applying personal document settings...
--------------------------------------------------------------

VMware: Workstation 6 first impressions

2007-01-04T20:59:00.001+01:00

Ah, I love new releases. VMware WS 6 beta is no exception. There are tons of new (useful) features available. Included is the new VMware Converter (also in beta now). You can now import almost any format!

I really like the mapping of a vmdk in your host. It maps a drive like a network share (say Y:) and you can copy files into/out of the folders. Oh yes, shared folders are now disabled by default, so be aware of that. Also, you can only map a drive when the VM is shutdown. Do not forget to Disconnect it afterwards.

Another great feature is running VMs in the background.

I also like the Change Virtual Machine Version feature they included. You can convert your machines to be WS 5 or 6 compatible & back. USB 2.0, 8 Gb memory & 10 ethernet devices. Wow, why on earth would you need 10 ethernet devices in a VM :)??

Upgrade VMware tools anyone? Finally they got this one right.

Hmmm, hmmmm. I REALLY like this feature: the working directory.

From now on, for performance reasons we will be using 2 external USB drives instead of just one. One for the VMDK files (and friends), the other for our suspend and snapshot files. Great.

There are tons of other little things & features. Just check them out yourself by downloading WS 6 here! I'm glad I did.

VMware: new patches available for ESX 3.0.1

2006-12-29T16:11:00.001+01:00

There are a number of new patches available for your ESX 3.0.1 hosts:

ESX-2066306 Patch 12/28/06 Critical Patch
ESX-6921838 Patch 12/28/06 General Patch
ESX-8173580 Patch 12/28/06 General Patch
ESX-9986131 Patch 12/28/06 Security Patch

Check it out on http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/index.html

VMware: Roaming profiles and VMware tools

2006-12-29T11:10:00.001+01:00

When using Citrix or Terminal Services with roaming profiles, you have to be aware of the fact that the following file C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\VMware\hgfs.dat causes roaming profile headaches in a virtual environment.

This is caused by the Shared Folders option (available in VMware Workstation) being activated during the installation of the VMware tools. This feature does not exist on an GSX/ESX host. However, even on ESX this feature can be "enabled" (not used) by selecting the Complete install option during VMware tools installation.

Check out the following VMware KB: https://xmail.xylos.be/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1317

Citrix: Shadow Key timestamps

2006-12-27T10:42:00.001+01:00

Wilco van Bragt has written an article on the infamous Shadow Key timestamp. Normally, when you install an application, you have to set your terminal server into Change user /install (command line) or via Add/Remove programs so it will redirect all HKCU keys to a special place, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software.

Only problem is that the timestamps on the server are, when installing a new Citrix server, more recent then the timestamps of the roaming profiles. When users log on, there roaming profile is older then the Shadow keys on the server. Example: Office 2003 signatures will be lost because the Citrix server rebuilds the HKCU! There are some tricks to avoid this (RDT/SDT tools, set server clock in the past, etc.)

Read the article here

Softgrid: Licensing models overview

2006-12-27T09:59:00.001+01:00

Microsoft SA clients will be able to buy Vista Enterprise and Desktop optimalisation pack which will include Softgrid desktop clients. Desktop Optimalisation Pack will bundle products from Softricity, Winternals, ... other companies recently bought.

Pricing will be as low as 11$/desktop/year. Available from 17/Oct 2006, purchase open in January 2007! The current license form will exist till 30/06/2007.

A new version of Softgrid (version 4.5) is expected End Jan 2007. This version will be compliant with Vista.

VDI: a conversation with Citrix's Brian Nason and Sumit Dhawan about VDI and Project Trinity

2006-12-22T09:26:00.001+01:00

Brian Madden has done an interview with Citrix on VDI/ Project Trinity. Check it out here

VDI: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Overview

2006-12-21T12:53:00.001+01:00

Patrick Rouse (from Session Computing Solutions) has written an excellent article on VDI and the different vendors / approaches.

Check it out here!

Softgrid: Illustrated OSD tool

2006-12-21T12:48:00.001+01:00

Tim has released an updated version of his Illustrated OSD tool:

This small tool allows you to explore the xml syntax of the OSD file in an interactive way. Place mouse over items in the OSD file below for a description of the item.

What's an OSD file? Open Software Description: a standard format created by Microsoft as part of an obscure project to database software applications using XML. This format was discovered by Softricity long before their Microsoft relationship began. Softricity used this as a base and extended the DTD to meet their needs. A OSD formatted file is now used by SoftGrid as the shortcut description to a SoftGrid client on how to access a SoftGrid enabled application. These files use names that end in ".OSD" as the extension. In addition to this tool you may be interested in the updated SoftGridOSD Schema file in the Tools section of the website.

Don't forget to check out his video garden (Advanced Sequencing)!

Citrix: Agreement to Acquire Ardence

2006-12-21T12:41:00.001+01:00

Citrix has aquired Ardence. Ardence makes it possible to stream an OS (!) & its applications. Main purpose is to add more Citrix servers in a farm on the fly.

VMware: manual multipathing explained

2006-12-14T14:09:00.001+01:00

ESX does not support dynamic multipathing. Therefore, manual multipathing must be configured on each ESX host. This is necessary, because if all datastores use the same path, I/O contention can appear. Example: as we are using an IBM DS 8000, we are able to use 8 targets (Storage Processors) on the device. An ESX host itself has 2 HBA’s (vmhba), so in total we have 16 paths to use.

A path is created by combining 3 components: HBA ID, target ID and LUN ID:

vmhbaX:Y:Z, where:

X is the HBA ID (example: vmhba1)
Y is the Target ID (example: vmhba1:0)
Z is the LUN ID (example: vmhba1:0:0)

It is therefore easy to calculate the optimal path (see screenshot below). For the best performance, make sure all paths are divided equally. In our example below, vmhba1 has 4 paths and vmhba2 has 4 paths. Each target has 1 path. There are 8 SAN LUNs configured. When additional LUNs are created, (example: LUN 8), target 0 will get 2 paths, etc.

Start the VI client & select a specific host
Go to Configuration => Storage and select a datastore
Click on properties => Manage paths
Make sure FIXED (active/active array) is selected
Use the results above to easily set a specific path (example: vmhba1:4:4)
Click on Change and select Preferred to activate this path
Repeat for all datastores/ESX host
Have fun :)

Citrix: Understanding context switches

2006-12-14T11:07:00.001+01:00

Thomas Koetzing has written an excellent article on understanding context switches in a Citrix environment. He uses process explorer (and perfmon) to track problems.

Check it out here

VMware: moving VMs between datacenters

2006-12-13T13:33:00.001+01:00

Ever wondered how you could easily move a VM from one datacenter to another? Wonder no more! You can use VMware Converter (in beta now & free) to export & inject a VM from one VC/ESX host to another VC/ESX host on the fly. Converter is in fact a combination of VM Importer 2.0 and the good ol' P2V assistant.

This is great for DR purposes! The only drawback now is that Converter is still rather slow in importing/exporting VMs and the VM has to be shutdown before migration...

Citrix: free techie Videos

2006-12-13T11:10:00.000+01:00

Citrix has released some free technical how-to videos:

Optimizing Printing in Presentation Server 4 environments
Configuring Policies in Presentation Server 4
Understanding and Designing Citrix Presentation Server 4 Farms
Deep Dive into Citrix Presentation Server SpeedScreen Technologies
Fundamentals of the Citrix Presentation Server Architecture
Licensing Essentials
Migrating your Microsoft Windows Terminal Servers to a Citrix Presentation Server Farm

Check them out here

VMware: Combining .lic license files

2006-12-13T10:56:00.001+01:00

As you may know, the license server for VI3 (provided by FlexLM) can only use 1 license file. This file is called vmware.lic and is stored (latest version) in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware License Server. As the .lic file is a plain text file, it is easy to combine 2 .lic files into one.

The first part looks like this, don't touch it!:

SERVER this_host ANY 27000
VENDOR VMWARELM port=27010
USE_SERVER

Then you have the VC license:

INCREMENT PROD_VC VMWARELM 2007.03 permanent 1 \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=Server ISSUED=12-Jan-2007 \
NOTICE=FulfillmentId=1234 SIGN="1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234"

Now comes the fun part :)

Stop the VMware License server service via services.msc
Make a backup of your vmware.lic file
Open vmware.lic file with wordpad (NOT notepad)
As the license file uses increments, you can just copy/paste INCREMENT parts in the .lic file (in any order you would like). Example to combine an 8+8 license:

INCREMENT VC_ESXHOST VMWARELM 2006.07 permanent 8 \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=Server;capacityType=cpuPackage \
ISSUED=21-Jan-2007 NOTICE=FulfillmentId=1234 SIGN="1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234"

INCREMENT VC_ESXHOST VMWARELM 2007.07 permanent 8 \
VENDOR_STRING=licenseType=Server;capacityType=cpuPackage \
ISSUED=21-Jun-2007 NOTICE=FulfillmentId=1234 SIGN="1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 \
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234"

Restart the VMware License server service
Go to VMware License server tools
Perform a status Enquiry in the Server Status tab to see if it has combined all available licenses (the screenshot shows 16 VC_ESXHOST licenses: succes :) )