Zsoldier's Tech Blog

Really short post This can occur when an ESXi host that is not completely configured is introduced to the cluster even when in maintenance mode. i.e. it is still missing an NFS share. Long story short, don't introduce ESXi hosts that haven't been completely configured yet.

Summary: A very cool little appliance that looks @ your VM's and everything they interact with.  Unfortunately, the installation can be fraught w/ issues.  I for one found a bug w/ vCenter 5.0 and VIN 1.1.1 (where VIN 2.0 might have been introduced before).  Specifically, I was unable to apply a VIN 1.0 license to my VIN 1.1.1 installation because I tried to introduce VIN 2.0 first.  Interestingly, my 2.0 key worked fine w/ the 1.1.1 version. Long story short and to make it simple don't introduce VIN 2.0 unless you are on vCenter 5.1. PreReqs for 5.0 users: vCenter 5.0 VIN 1.1.1 vCenter Web Client 5.0 Details: If you have not deployed VIN ever to your 5.0 environment, then I recommend you deploy VIN 1.1.1 and save yourself some headaches.  Otherwise, here are some remediation steps you can take to deploy VIN if you did what I did or set it to auto-upgrade w/o knowing better. Steps to Remove VIN extensions from vCenter Remove VIN...

What does resetting the vCenter Inventory Service database mean exactly? [Update: Additional Info added thanks to anonymous feedback] In 5.0 , this simply is the search/index function in the vSphere Client, previously handled by the Tomcat service.  So going through the reset steps outlined here , should cause little to no grief. You could attempt the restore steps, but I don't really see a point in doing so in 5.0 You usually need to go through the reset steps if the client's search begin to slow down and you get "Operation Timed Out Errors" In 5.1 , this database seems to now house the 'tags' info feature. This is where it's now important that you have backups because resetting the database effectively wipes out all your entered 'tags' from existence. Things affected by resetting inventory service database: o vCenter tags (version 5.1+ only) o Storage Profiles o Storage Capabilities o Index of which VMs have which Stora...

Summary: EMC documentation is atrocious.  Needless to say, their 'auto-registration' capability is poorly named and represented in my opinion.  It makes you think, deploy a vApp, copy license file, and you're done.  SOOOO NOT the case.  So here is my attempt to hopefully help make the license application portion 'automated' using PowerShell and PowerCLI cmdlets. PreReq: PowerPath 5.8 License vApp PowerPath License File RTools for Windows Details: Deploy the vApp Generate a license file from EMC's website, you'll need the IP and DNS name of the vApp. or contact your EMC support team to have them do it for you. Copy the license file to the vApp's /etc/emc/licenses/ directory Install RTools on a Windows server or your workstation I prefer to have my tools on a shared general purpose system.  This allows me to run scheduled scripts from one location. Copy the same license file to C:\ProgramData\My Documents\emc\PowerPath\rpowermt The...