Zsoldier's Tech Blog

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-...

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.

Summary: Inserting a new host in an ESX Cluster and mapping an NFS share to it produced an interesting result.  vCenter showed 2 datastores w/ similar names.  1 w/ 48 hosts mapped to it and another w/ my 1 new host mapped to it.  The names were the same albeit one having a "(1)" appended to it.  Attempting to change the new one would result in error stating that a datastore already exists w/ that name. Details: Something as minor as an extra '/', servername.local vs. servername, or IP instead of name, makes ESX treat those mapped NFS shares as completely different even if they all point to the same end point. Example: Both of these are valid paths to a NFS share in ESX and they both connect to the same resource, but because of one having a FQDN ESX treats them as different shares completely. netfs://servername.local/share netfs://servername/share Resolution: Use PowerCLI to map NFS shares (or host profiles if you're licensed for them) 1: #Use an...

Summary: When attempting to connect to a VMWare View 4.5 environment via a Security server the following error is generated: Desktop loading warning - Your Desktop is loading too slowly, please check your network VMWare View for iPad is technically made for View 4.6, however, it will work w/ a 4.5 environment, just not connecting through a 4.5 security server.  So it’s a half-truth. WorkAround: Utilize VPN on your iPad.  You can configure VPN via the Enterprise Tool provided by Apple free of charge. iPhone Configuration Utility for Mac iPhone Configuration Utility for PC Connect to a 4.5 Connection Server (not a 4.5 security server) This can normally be achieved through step 1 or via your internal wireless network. Resolution: Upgrade to View 4.6.  Easy if you are running Windows 2008 R2. Why 2008 R2?  This is the only to get PCoIP support through the security server.  A bit more complicated if you find yourself needing to upgrade the OS on...

Summary: Was looking for the method to do this, it’s pretty simple, but everyone had very detailed posts of other things they were doing (checks and balances).  Here is the key snippet to do it: 1: #This simply gets you the object to work with. You can replace 2: #'nameofcomputer' with a variable to target more systems. 3: $admin = [adsi]( "WinNT://" + nameofcomputer + "/administrator, user" ) 4:   5: #This invokes the set password method and changed the administrator password 6: #to Whatever1 7: $admin.psbase.invoke( "SetPassword" , "Whatever1" ) If you want more robust script that records data of it’s changes see here .

Summary: Ran into this problem.  Logs weren’t obvious in demonstrating problem.  Resolution is located in VMWare KB.  I used my PowerCLI script to fix the issue on all my Windows 2008 Cust.Specs. Resolution: Username of account that joins system to domain must be formatted as <username>@yourdomain.com. VMWare KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012314

Summary: VM's stopped composing and the following messages appears in View logs: VC_DISABLED:VC:cn=04683182-25c0-40f7-b9a1-1963167d877a,ou=virtualcenter,ou=properties,dc=vdi,dc=vmware,dc=int;REASON:VM operation failed: com.vmware.vdi.svisupport.SVIException: View Composer Fault: VMware.Sim.Fault.VcDatastoreInaccessibleFault; Desktop Composer Error:VMware.Sim.Fault.VcDatastoreInaccessibleFault; Error Type:com.vmware.SviService.VcDatastoreInaccessibleFault;Error FaultActor:null; Error code:{http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Client; Error details:[Lorg.w3c.dom.Element;@b729f8 This seems to occur if an ESX host is added to the View Cluster that has not been mapped to the View shared disks.  Placing the host in maintenance or disconnecting doesn't seem to help. Workarounds: Remove the ESX host until all shared disks have been mapped. Move ESX host to temporary folder/cluster/node until host is configured properly.