Zsoldier's Tech Blog

CD-Rom connected to another client (VMWare vSphere ESX)

2012-02-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

Summary:

VM will not vMotion because CD-rom is detected as mounted by another user. Option to disconnect or remove CD-rom is unavailable/grayed out under settings of VM.

Resolution:

Open the VM’s Console, select the CD-rom drive icon and select disconnect.

As obvious as this seems, I found myself chasing a rabbit trying out methods to fix this issue. This method worked in vSphere 4.1 Update 1. Later revisions should too, not sure about earlier versions.

PowerCLI: UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled, changing to a value of 1 (or 0)

2012-01-24T18:32:00.001-05:00

Summary:
This value appears after installing the Dell OMSA vib for ESXi 4.1. Tried changing this value to 1 using PowerCLI proved a bit more difficult than I originally thought, even cheating w/ Onyx.
Example:
Using this:

$changedValue = New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue[] (1)
$changedValue[0] = New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue
$changedValue[0].key = "UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled"
$changedValue[0].value = 1
$_this = Get-View -Id 'OptionManager-EsxHostAdvSettings-00000'
$_this.UpdateOptions($changedValue)

I’d get this ‘useful’ error:
Exception calling "UpdateOptions" with "1" argument(s): "A specified parameter was not correct.
"
At line:1 char:21
+ $_this.UpdateOptions <<<< ($changedValue)
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

Solution:
Apparently the ‘value’ property needs to be declared as an int64 type. By default, Powershell assumes the value to be a ‘string’ type. Below is what will work:

$changedValue = New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue[] (1)

$changedValue[0] = New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue

$changedValue[0].key = "UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled"

[int64]$changedValue[0].value = 1

$_this = Get-View -Id 'OptionManager-EsxHostAdvSettings-00000'

$_this.UpdateOptions($changedValue)

To determine what type of value the 'option' is looking for, you can query it to find out, like so:
($_this.setting | where {$_.key -eq "UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled"}).value.gettype().name

Above will return the 'type' of 'value' this particular setting is looking for.

Side Note:
How would you determine host and that obscure ‘OptionManager-ESXHostAdvSettings-0000’ object to work with and what host that references? Here is how you can get to that object in the simplest fashion:

$MyESXHost = Get-VMHost MyESXHost

$MyESXHost.ExtensionData.ConfigManager.AdvancedOption

# Using examples from above, it can also be wrote out like this:

$changedValue = New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue[] (1)

$changedValue[0] = New-Object VMWare.Vim.OptionValue

$changedValue[0].key = "UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled"

[int64]$changedValue[0].value = 1

$_this = Get-View -ID $MyESXHost.ExtensionData.ConfigManager.AdvancedOption

$_this.UpdateOptions($changedValue)

ESXTOP in Mac Terminal looks funky…

2011-12-27T15:18:00.001-05:00

Summary:

Seems that terminal in Mac is configured in a fashion where esxtop does not display properly. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to fix.

Example:

This demonstrates what you would see when accessing esxtop in a default configured terminal session:

Solution:

Simply change your terminal emulator session from xterm-256color to ansi, by accessing terminal’s preferences, settings, Advanced, under ‘declare terminal as:’

Open up a new terminal session, run esxtop, and you should end up w/ what looks like this:

VMWare View Powershell useful cmdlet notes.

2011-12-21T18:23:00.001-05:00

Summary:
I’m just staring to put this together mainly for my own benefit, but if someone else finds this useful, then great. I’ll be continually adding to this post. If you’d like to contribute or if I got something wrong please feel free to leave a comment.
Notes:

Disable Provisioning in all linked clone pools:

$pools = get-pool
$pools | Update-AutomaticLinkedClonePool -isProvisioningEnabled:$false

Gets list of all View related cmdlets:

get-command | where {$_.modulename -match 'vmware.view'}

#Below is so you can include it into the

#add-pssnapin.ps1 under your View installation directory

function get-viewcommand {get-command | where {$_.modulename -match 'vmware.view'}}

Gets list of pools, max number of VM's, and datastores associated:

#Helps in making sure your pools are distributed across evenly among datastores.

Get-Pool | Select Pool_ID, MaximumCount, DatastorePaths

SQLPSX, redirected my documents, and 64-bit Windows

2011-11-29T10:58:00.001-05:00

Summary:
These 3 things don’t really want to work together. Three issues I’ve noticed w/ SQLPSX, but ways around them to get these awesome cmdlets to work.
Based on SQLPSX 2.3.2.1
Workaround:

Run the MSI installation. It defaults to your my documents directory. Instead redirect the installation directory to your powershell module installation directory.

Usually for 64-bit: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\Modules\
32-bit: C:\Windows\SysWow64\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\Modules\

These feel backwards to me, but seems to be true.

Once installed, you’ll need to copy the module folders into your my documents redirected location. You can get them from either the 64-bit or 32-bit paths above. The folders you need to copy are as follows:

SQLMaint
SQLServer
Agent
Repl
SSIS
Showmbrs
SQLParser
adolib

Once you do so, you should be able to run ‘import-module sqlpsx’ successfully. To find out what new cmdlets are available to you, simply run the following:

get-command | where {$_.module -match "SQLMaint|SQLServer|Agent|Repl|SSIS|ShowMbrs|SQLParser|adolib"}
You can also make this a function and include it in your PS profile like so:
Function Get-SQLcommands {get-command |where {$_.module -match "SQLMaint|SQLServer|Agent|Repl|SSIS|ShowMbrs|SQLParser|adolib"}}

If I’ve misrepresented anything or you have still have issues, feel free to leave me comments stating so. I check each and every one.

VMWare View 4.x/5.x (missing) entries

2011-11-08T10:30:00.001-05:00

Summary:
Stale entries in VMWare View show desktops in any of following status:

Provisioning Error (Missing)
Deleting (Missing)

Resolution:
If remove from the view admin console does not clear out the above entries within 30 min. – 1 hour, the steps in this KB from VMWare can assist in clearing out the those stale entries.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008658

Cisco ASA, ESX/vSphere, and Duplicate IP’s

2011-10-31T17:19:00.001-04:00

Summary:

Windows (2003/2008/R2) and/or Linux VM’s added to a VLAN and continuously report duplicate IP’s and Windows assign themselves APIPA (Private Address).

Symptoms:

(Windows) 169.254.x.x Address shows up as (Preferred) when running ipconfig /all in command prompt
Resetting Adapter pops up Duplicate IP Error.
Changing VM Network to a dummy network and vm nic reset, causes issue to go away.
Changing VM Network back to problem network clears issue until vm is reset or nic is reset.

Resolution:

Assuming the Cisco ASA is the cause, you can follow the below steps to rectify the issue:

Login to the Security Appliance ASDM
Select Device Setup
Expand Routing
Select Proxy ARP
Disable Proxy arp on the related interface (usually associated w/ your VLAN)

Other command line method:

sysopt noproxyarp <interface name>

If Windows is the issue for some reason, you can do this:

Start –> Run… –> Regedit
Find this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Insert a new DWORD value
Name the DWORD value “ArpRetryCount”
Change the value for the new entry to 0 if not already set that way.
Disable and Re-enable your network adapter to see if problem goes away.

Save PowerCLI Login Credentials to XML Securely (Mostly)

2011-09-30T11:27:00.001-04:00

Summary:
PowerCLI has a cmdlet that allows you to save your logins to vCenter and ESX(i) hosts to a XML file so you can use those as reference in your PowerCLI scripts when calling the Connect-VIServer cmdlet.
How to use it:

#This stores your credentials into an xml file.  You can open the xml file, but the password is hashed.
New-VICredentialStoreItem -Host ESXorvCenterHostname -User root -Password "Super$ecretPassword" -File C:\Whateveryouwanttonameit.xml
 
#To use the data stored in the XML file, we will call the Get-VICredentialStoreItem and place the data into a variable for use.
$Creds = Get-VICredentialStoreItem -Host ESXorvCenterHostName -File C:\Whateveryouwanttonameit.xml

#Now you can use the $Cred variable for the username and password switches in the connect-viserver cmdlet
Connect-VIServer ESXorvCenterHostName -User $Creds.User -Password $Creds.Password

Caveats:

XML files can only be referenced from the computer they were created on.

Powershell Remoting or Running PowerCLI on the computer the xml files were generated.

Nothing is truly secure, so make sure those generated xml files are placed into a secure location. You don’t want users who don’t know what they are doing to access them.

I think this is a useful function especially if you have several vCenter servers not in linked mode.

Disable Delayed Acknowledgement Setting in iSCSI Software Adapter using PowerCLI

2011-09-22T10:58:00.001-04:00

Summary:

Somebody posed this question in the vmware communities forum. I figured out how to do it cheating w/ Onyx. Not sure why this is needed (since I don’t use iSCSI much), but figure it’s best I post this for reference if I or anyone needs to do this particular task.

Script:

#This section will get host information needed$HostView = Get-VMHost NameofESXServer | Get-View$HostStorageSystemID = $HostView.configmanager.StorageSystem$HostiSCSISoftwareAdapterHBAID = ($HostView.config.storagedevice.HostBusAdapter | where {$_.Model -match "iSCSI Software"}).device #This section sets the option you want.$options = New-Object VMWare.Vim.HostInternetScsiHbaParamValue[] (1) $options[0] = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostInternetScsiHbaParamValue$options[0].key = "DelayedAck"$options[0].value = $false #This section applies the options above to the host you got the information from.$HostStorageSystem = Get-View -ID $HostStorageSystemID$HostStorageSystem.UpdateInternetScsiAdvancedOptions($HostiSCSISoftwareAdapterHBAID, $null, $options)

You can have this script run against multiple ESX servers, but you will need to use the Foreach-Object cmdlet.

Hardware.SystemInfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo Blank in PowerCLI

2011-08-17T11:12:00.002-04:00

Summary:
Using my PowerCLI script to get Dell warranty information, I noticed that some of my ESX hosts were not returning service/asset tag information. The information was showing up in vCenter's hardware status tab, but not w/ my PowerCLI script.
Workaround:

First, check to see if your ESX host has this information populated:

Connect-viServer ESXHostName
$VMHost = Get-VMHost | Get-View
$VMHost.Hardware.SystemInfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo

If the above code returns objects, then the next step is to disconnect the host from vCenter, then reconnect it. You can use the following PowerCLI code to find all hosts w/ empty properties to do this for you. As always, test before you try it in a production environment.

$ESXHosts = @()
 
$VMHosts = Get-VMHost | Get-View
Foreach ($VMHost in $VMHosts)
{
$NewObj             = "" | Select Name, ServiceTag, AssetTag
$NewObj.Name        = $VMHost.Name
#Replace is used to clean up data that might be there for easier filtering
$NewObj.ServiceTag    = ($VMHost.hardware.systeminfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo | where {$_.IdentifierType.Key -eq "servicetag"}).identifierValue -replace(" ","")
$NewObj.AssetTag    = ($VMHost.hardware.systeminfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo | where {$_.IdentifierType.Key -eq "assettag"}).identifierValue -replace(" ","")
$ESXHosts += $NewObj
}
 
$VMHostsFiltered = $ESXHosts | Where-Object {($_.ServiceTag -eq "" -or $_.AssetTag -eq "") -and ($_.ServiceTag -ne "unknown") -and ($_.AssetTag -ne "unknown")}
 
Foreach ($EvilESXBox in $VMHostsFiltered)
{
Set-VMHost -VMHost $EvilESXBox.Name -State Disconnected
Set-VMHost -VMHost $EvilESXBox.Name -State Connected
}

Now running the code in my Dell Warranty Script should have all information populated as long as the ESX host has the information.

FYI:

If the assettag and servicetag fields are blank or unknown, it's likely that your server needs to be flashed by a Dell Technician to insert the service tag info. It supposed to be pre-populated by the factory, but if you've had the motherboard replaced, then it needs to be flashed.

Get ESX Host Warranty Info for Dell Servers

2011-08-16T19:53:00.001-04:00

Summary:
Needed to get my ESX host warranty info since we haven’t completely deployed our Dell vCenter Plugin. Here is the code, w/ the Dell Warranty grab code from Marcus Oh. It’ll get you some additional info too. You can always edit and remove what you don’t need.
Code:

$ESXServers = Get-VMHost
$ESXServerView = $ESXServers | Get-View
$ESXInfo = @()
 
$oWeb = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
 
Foreach ($ESX in $ESXServers){
$TargetESXServerView = $ESXServerView | where {$_.MoRef -eq $ESX.Id}
$NewObj         = "" | Select Cluster, Name, Model, Version, BIOs, ServiceTag, AssetTag, ShipDate, ExpiryDate
$NewObj.Cluster = $ESX.Parent.Name
$NewObj.Name    = $ESX.Name
$NewObj.Model    = $ESX.Model
$NewObj.Version    = $ESX.Version
$NewObj.BIOs    = (($TargetESXServerView.Runtime.HealthSystemRuntime.SystemHealthInfo.NumericSensorInfo | where {$_.Name -like "*BIOS*"  -and $_.SensorType -eq "Software Components"}).Name) -replace(".* BIOS ","") -replace(" .*","")
$NewObj.ServiceTag     = ($TargetESXServerView.hardware.systeminfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo | where {$_.IdentifierType.Key -eq "servicetag"}).identifierValue -replace(" ","")
$NewObj.AssetTag    = ($TargetESXServerView.hardware.systeminfo.OtherIdentifyingInfo | where {$_.IdentifierType.Key -eq "assettag"}).identifierValue -replace(" ","")
## Gets ServiceTag Info from Dell
#$oWeb = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$ServiceTag = $null
If ($NewObj.ServiceTag -eq $null -or $NewObj.ServiceTag -eq "unknown" -or $NewObj.ServiceTag -eq "") {$ServiceTag = $NewObj.AssetTag} Else {$ServiceTag = $NewObj.ServiceTag}
$sUrl = "http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/details?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~ck=anavml&servicetag=$($ServiceTag)"
$sData = $oWeb.DownloadString($sUrl)
#get just the dates from the dell site.
$oRegEx = [regex]'\d{1,2}/\d{1,2}/\d{4}'
$cMatches = $oRegEx.Matches($sData)
#convert to a date object
$test = @()
foreach ($a in $cMatches){$Test += ([datetime]$a.Value)}
#Sort by the year
$datedata = $test | Sort-Object year
#Grab the earliest date for Shipdate
$ShipDate = ($Datedata[0]).toshortdatestring()
#Find the last object in the array
$cDates = ($Datedata.count) - 1
#Grab the latest date from the array for the warranty end date
$EndDate = ($Datedata[$cDates]).toshortdatestring()
## End Dell Site Code
$NewObj.ShipDate    = $ShipDate
$NewObj.ExpiryDate     = $EndDate
 
$ESXInfo += $NewObj
$ShipDate = $null
$EndDate = $null
}
$ESXInfo

If info is missing check this post.

ESX/ESXi Recommended BIOs Settings

2011-08-10T10:55:00.001-04:00

Summary:

Came across a PSOD on one my lab manager hosts. The error read:

LINT1 motherboard interrupt. This is a hardware problem; please contact your hardware vendor

Resolution:

According to Dell, this occurs because the C1E setting is enabled in the BIOs. This post helped me from EnterpriseAdmins.org.

Finally, it’s mentioned in Page 15 of the vSphere 4.0 Best Practices Guide for recommended hardware BIOs settings. Guess I need to work w/ Dell to do this for me before sending me an ESX Server.

NFS Datastore appears inactive in vCenter

2011-08-09T09:56:00.001-04:00

Summary:

This was more of an annoyance for me, but essentially I had two NFS datastores that were mapped incorrectly to some ESX hosts. Those datastores were unmounted and remounted w/ correct pathing using PowerCLI. However, one host ‘seemed’ to hold onto the incorrectly mapped one. This was only reflected in vCenter, not the host itself.

Experience:

vCenter 4.1
ESX 4.0 U2

Symptoms:

When attempting to unmount the following error appears:

The object has been deleted or has not been completely created

Connecting directly to the ESX host does not show these ‘inactive’ nfs datastores.
esxcfg-nas –l within TSM/SC on the ESX host does not show these ‘inactive’ datastores.

Resolution:

Disconnect ESX host from vCenter
Connect ESX host to vCenter.

This seems to help vCenter resolve the display issue. For help on similar NFS issues, this search seemed helpful.

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI 4.1)

2011-08-01T18:34:00.002-04:00

Summary:
Upgrading to VSI 4.1 is fairly painless if you followed my last post on 3.0.1. You still have to do a couple things for it to work though.

PreReq:

VSI Installed on server system.
Reference last post for install instructions. Overall same process.
Downloaded VSI Storage Viewer Plug-in 4.1
Record IP's, username's, and passwords of your array connections.

Details:

Upgrade the version on your server and upgrade the version on your system.
Follow step 1 on my last post on the server. (This is so your local system can connect to the server's solutions enabler service.)
Once done, vCenter should show the new EMC VSI icon under 'Solutions and Applications'

Other Optional Components:

There are additional plug-ins that can be installed to allow self-service operations among other things:

VSI Unified Storage Management

NaviSphere CLI required for block provisioning
UniSphere CLI required for VNXe provisioning

VSI Storage Pool Management
VSI Symmetrix SRA Utilities

This works in conjunction w/ VMWare SRM.

VSI Path Management

ESXi 4.1 Kickstart Script for EDA Virtual Appliance

2011-07-27T10:45:00.001-04:00

Summary:
This one has been on the back burner for a little while, but I finally got it put together thanks to resources like virtualghetto. lamw is crazy smartz!
Script:
Everything seems to work fine, the only one I’m not sure of is the enabling the CIMoemProviderEnabled Advanced setting as to whether that works or not. Let me know if you happen to brave my custom kickstart script made for Dell servers, but can be adjusted for pretty much any setup I think.

# Bind vmnic4 to vSwitch0.  EDA adds vmnic0 automatically
# Active/Passive
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic4 vSwitch0
esxcfg-vswitch -X 1 vSwitch0
  
# Add vSwitch1, VMkernel, and bind vmnic1/3
# Active/Passive
# The following configures vSwitch1 as the vmKernel vmotion switch
esxcfg-vswitch -a vSwitch1
esxcfg-vswitch -A VMkernel vSwitch1
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic1 vSwitch1
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic3 vSwitch1
esxcfg-vswitch -X 1 vSwitch1
  
# Add vSwitch2 and bind vmnic2/5
# Active/Passive
# Created VM Switch
esxcfg-vswitch -a vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic2 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic5 vSwitch2
esxcfg-vswitch -X 1 vSwitch2
  
# NTP Configuration
/bin/echo "restrict 127.0.0.1" &gt; /etc/ntp.conf
/bin/echo "restrict default kod nomodify notrap" &gt;&gt; /etc/ntp.conf
/bin/echo "server timeserver1.local" &gt;&gt; /etc/ntp.conf
/bin/echo "server timeserver2.local" &gt;&gt; /etc/ntp.conf
/etc/init.d/ntpd restart
  
# Configures vmk0 as Mgmt Interface
HOSTSVC_FILE=/etc/vmware/hostd/hostsvc.xml
  
/bin/cat &gt; ${HOSTSVC_FILE} &lt;&lt; __CREATE_HOST_SVC__
&lt;ConfigRoot&gt;
  &lt;mangementVnics&gt;
    &lt;nic id="0000"&gt;vmk0&lt;/nic&gt;
  &lt;/mangementVnics&gt;
  &lt;mode&gt;normal&lt;/mode&gt;
  &lt;service&gt;
    &lt;tsm-ssh&gt;off&lt;/tsm-ssh&gt;
  &lt;/service&gt;
&lt;/ConfigRoot&gt;
__CREATE_HOST_SVC__
  
# Configure vmk1 as vMotion Interface
esxcfg-vmknic -a VMkernel -i ###HOSTIP### -n 255.255.255.0
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/net/refresh
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/vmotion/vnic_set vmk1
  
# DNS Secondary (replace x.x.x.x w/ IP of another DNS server) 
/bin/echo "nameserver x.x.x.x" &gt;&gt; /etc/resolv.conf
  
# Configure Local Datastore Name to standard
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/datastore/rename datastore1 "$(hostname -s)_local"
  
# Configure Syslog to forward to remote syslog server like Splunk
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Remote.Hostname string x.x.x.x
  
# Configure port to forward Syslogs.
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Remote.Port int 514
  
# Only needed if local syslog going to be used.
#/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/advopt/update Syslog.Local.DatastorePath string "[$(hostname -s)_local] /logfiles/hostName.log"
  
# Maps standard NFS Shares (I use these as shared stores for iso and vmtemplates)
esxcfg-nas -a -o linuxserver1 -s /share/STUFF nfs_share
esxcfg-nas -a -o nasdevice1 -s esx_vmtemplates nfs_share_vmtemplates
  
#### Start of Join AD code ####
#Joins to Active Directory (ESX 4.1) Update 1 Code Hashed Out
/bin/cat &gt; /tmp/joinActiveDirectory.py &lt;&lt; __JOIN_AD__
import sys,re,os,urllib,urllib2,base64
 
# mob url
url = "https://localhost/mob/?moid=ha-ad-auth&amp;method=joinDomain"
 
# mob login credentials -- use password = "" for build scripting
username = "root"
password = ""
 
# which domain to join, and associated OU
# e.g.
#       "local.com"
#       "local.com/VMware Server OU"
domainname = "local.com/someOU/"
 
# active directory credentials using encoded base64 password
ad_username = "someserviceaccount@local.com"
### To get an encoded password, use python.  It's not really secure, but better than plain text.
encodedpassword = ""
ad_password = base64.b64decode(encodedpassword)
  
# Unhash for ESXi 4.1 Update 1
### Create global variables
# global passman,authhandler,opener,req,page,page_content,nonce,headers,cookie,params,e_params
 
# Code to build opener with HTTP Basic Authentication
passman = urllib2.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
passman.add_password(None,url,username,password)
authhandler = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(passman)
opener = urllib2.build_opener(authhandler)
urllib2.install_opener(opener)
  
# Unhash below for 4.1 Update 1
### Code to capture required page data and cookie required for post back to meet CSRF requirements  ###
#req = urllib2.Request(url)
#page = urllib2.urlopen(req)
#page_content= page.read()
  
# Unhash below for 4.1 Update 1
### regex to get the vmware-session-nonce value from the hidden form entry
# reg = re.compile('name="vmware-session-nonce" type="hidden" value="?([^\s^"]+)"')
#nonce = reg.search(page_content).group(1)
  
# Unhash below for 4.1 Update 1
### Code to join the domain ESXi 4.1U1
#params = {'vmware-session-nonce':nonce,'domainName':domainname,'userName':ad_username,'password':ad_password}
#e_params = urllib.urlencode(params)
#req = urllib2.Request(url, e_params, headers={"Cookie":cookie})
#page = urllib2.urlopen(req).read()
 
#Hash if using 4.1 U1
### Code to join domain ESX 4.1
params = {'domainName':domainname,'userName':ad_username,'password':ad_password}
e_params = urllib.urlencode(params)
req = urllib2.Request(url,e_params)
page = urllib2.urlopen(req).read()
 
__JOIN_AD__
 
#execute python script to Join AD
/bin/python /tmp/joinActiveDirectory.py
  
#### End AD Join Code ####
# Changes UserVars.CIMoemProviderEnabled to 1.  Required for OMSA VIB to work properly.
esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /UserVars/CIMoemProviderEnabled 
%firstboot --unsupported --interpreter=busybox --level=9999
# Do Patching in this section
  
#Gets Emulex and OMSA VIB from IIS Server w/ virtual directory pointed to NAS hosted directory
#Applies Emulex then OMSA VIB &lt;-- Must be in this order.
# Maintenance Mode attempted twice before attempting patch because it sometimes fails.
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter
sleep 5
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter
  
# Entries entered twice due to metadata.zip possibly not extracting properly the first time.
/sbin/esxupdate --bundle=http://IISSERVER.local.com/VIBS/Emulex_CIM/elx-esx-4.1.0-emulex-cim-provider-3.2.30.1-offline_bundle-364582.zip update
  
/sbin/esxupdate --bundle=http://IISSERVER.local.com/VIBS/Emulex_CIM/elx-esx-4.1.0-emulex-cim-provider-3.2.30.1-offline_bundle-364582.zip update
  
/sbin/esxupdate --bundle=http://IISSERVER.local.com/VIBS/Dell_OMSA/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-2247.VIB-ESX41i_A01.zip update
  
/sbin/esxupdate --bundle=http://IISSERVER.local.com/VIBS/Dell_OMSA/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-2247.VIB-ESX41i_A01.zip update
  
  
/bin/vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit
  
/sbin/reboot -d 120

PSA: ESX 4.x Emulex LPe12000-E, Firmware 2.00A3 not compatible with vMax

2011-07-15T16:45:00.000-04:00

Summary:
Found this out the hard way, but for anyone who might be banging your head against the wall. Check if your ESX host has Emulex LPe12000-E and running firmware 2.00A3. If so upgrade to 2.00A4.

Symptoms:

ESX host not mapping/detecting LUN regardless of rescan attempts.
VM's suddenly going offline because of disk access problems.

Emulex VIB and Dell OMSA VIB w/ Dell Management Plugin for vCenter

2011-07-15T16:02:00.000-04:00

Summary:
Found this out when installing the Emulex VIB on an ESXi 4.1 host w/ the Dell OMSA VIB installed. Apparently something w/ the Emulex VIB causes issues w/ the Dell OMSA install causing it to stop talking to the Dell Management Plugin for vCenter.

Solution:

Install the Emulex VIB THEN the Dell OMSA VIB

Uninstall Dell OMSA VIB, reboot, then attempt install based on order above.

FYI:

To uninstall a VIB from ESXi 4.1, you can use vCLI or TSM (Tech Support Mode).

esxupdate query <-- This will return the installed VIB's and their bulletin ID which is need for removal.

esxupdate --b Bulletin_ID_of_VIB remove <-- This will remove the VIB

vExpert 2011

2011-07-03T02:03:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to announce that I've been recognized as a VMWare vExpert for 2011. I appreciate the community's support and hope I can continue meet/exceed everyone's expectations. Thanks! \(^o^)/

Netbackup Perms and vSphere 4.x

2011-06-21T14:12:00.000-04:00

Summary:
Symantec has posted the specific rights needed for backup and restoration of VM's in vSphere. It is very helpful if you do not want to grant blanket administrator rights to the service account used.

Link:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH130493

My previous post around this subject is a bit more detailed on which nodes in vCenter you'll want to apply this role.

Updated Permission Set for View 4.x Composer Role

2011-04-26T16:33:00.001-04:00

Summary:

This did not come to my attention until I found a use case for ‘local mode’ vm’s. The following table contains updated permission sets for View 4.x when using local mode and the new Transfer server. This is an update to my previous entry.

Details:

Privilege Group	Privilege(s) to Enable
Folder	Create Folder Delete Folder
Datastore	Browse Datastore Allocate Space Low Level file operations
Virtual Machine	Inventory (All Rights) Configuration (All Rights) Interaction > Power On Interaction > Power Off Interaction > Suspend Interaction > Reset State Provisioning > Clone VM Provisioning > Clone Template Provisioning > Allow Disk Access Provisioning > Deploy Template Provisioning > Read Customization Specifications
Resource	Assign Virtual Machine to Resource Pool
Global	Enable Methods Disable Methods System Tag NOT in the install guide: Global Tag Manage custom attribute
Network	Install Guide says (all), but I’ve only ever needed the following: Assign Network
Sessions	NOT in the install guide: Validate session View and Stop sessions
Host	In Configuration: System management

System Center CodeName: Concero, a vCloud Director MS Version

2011-04-22T12:08:00.000-04:00

Looks interesting especially that it also ties into Microsoft's Azure product as well. Definitely something to be watching. Will end up being a part of the System Center Suite License. You can find more information here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenter/archive/2011/03/25/announcing-system-center-project-codename-concero.aspx

vCloud Info here

Hypothetical Cloud-Based ThinApp w/ View

2011-04-01T10:13:00.000-04:00

Summary:
The great thing about View is it’s simplicity. Add into ThinApp, and you’ve got something awesome. How do I setup ThinApp delivery and provide application level data persistence w/ geologically dispersed View hosted datacenters. Easy.
Requirements:

View 4.5+
ThinApp 4.5+
Some kind of DFS
Some kind of NAS that does de-duplication.
Active Directory

Details:

Capture your ThinApp

Generate a MSI (streaming would be preferred)
Sandbox Location should point to your DFS share (which is hopefully on a deduplicated lun/nas)

Path should be something like this:
\\somedfsshare.local\%USERNAME%\

This will create a unique sandbox per user and persist their application information even on a non-persistent desktop.

Project Location is up to you, but I would generally also place this in a DFS share so updates can be replicated easily.

Once you’ve done this, you’ve essentially created a ‘cloud’ ready ThinApp that your VDI/View users can use no matter what View infrastructure (in your control) can access. Hypothetically anyway, I'm still working out semantics.

ESXi 4.x and Dell OMSA

2011-04-01T10:07:00.001-04:00

Summary:
Read a write up from Alan Renouf on the subject. Was pretty clear up until the point where it’s mentioned that you must use ‘Dell OpenManage Server Administrator Managed Node’ as a proxy to access a page that you would normally see on a Classic ESX box (https://esxserver:1311). This is to clarify how that is exactly done.
Explanation:

Install OMSA on a box, normally vCenter is physical, so that would be your best server.
Install OMSA VIB on ESXi server.

Install vSphere CLI or Download/Import vMAAppliance
Use vCLI or vMA Appliance to install VIB. VIB install instructions available on Dell's site along w/ download.

Go to your vCenter’s OMSA URL (https://vcenterserver:1311)
Click on the link that says “Manage Remote Node” (Version 6.5 pictured below)

The screen changes and asks for the ‘remote’ system you want to connect to.

Emulex OneCommand Plugin for vCenter

2011-03-29T11:31:00.001-04:00

Summary:

This plug in adds an extra tab to vCenter that lets you manage your Emulex HBA/UCNA’s. From setting drivers parameters to allowing you to apply firmware updates to your HBA/UCNA card. To do so, you must install the CIM package onto your host and have a server for the Emulex OneCommand Software Plug-in.

PreReqs:

Windows Server VM(suggest 2008 x64 R1 or R2)
Software Plug-in
CIM Provider 3.2.x +
vSphere CLI or vMA <— Needed to remotely install CIM provider bundle
vCenter 4.1+

Details:

You can install the Emulex Software Plug-in on the vCenter server, but I suggest keeping all modules separate from vCenter if possible.

Run the Software Plug-in installation.
Install the CIM Provider on all hosts you would like to have onecommand management capabilities.

Place ESXi server in maintenance mode.
vCLI command is as follows:
vihostupdate.pl --server nameofyouresxserver --install --bundle \\path\to\elx-esx4.1.0-emulex-cim-provider-3.2.30.1-offline_bundle-364582.zip
Enter your root credentials, then reboot when prompted.

Once completed, you should be able to manage your HBA/UCNA devices in vCenter under the new Emulex OneCommand tab.

Side Note:

I went through this whole setup because I wasn’t able to update the firmware on a OCe10102-FX CNA using the standard OneCommand application. My CNA was running 2.702.200.17 (2.102.200.17) which for some reason caused my vKernel connection to not talk. Upgrading to 2.703.397.13 (2.103.397.13) fixed this issue.

Outlook 2011 Reply, New E-mail, etc. not working...

2011-03-21T11:41:00.000-04:00

Summary:
Click to create an new e-mail or hitting reply cause nothing to happen. This seems to occur after updating to Safari 5.0.4.

Workaround:
Uninstall Safari and reinstall it.

Download the current Safari version. Do not install it yet, it will attempt to run.

http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Drag and drop the Safari icon from the applications folder to your trash and empty it.

Now go to your downloads folder and find the file named something like "Safari5.0.4".dmg Double-click it. Then double click the pkg file that appears in a new window.
Follow the wizard, then reboot.