Zsoldier's Tech Blog

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.

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 dec...

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:

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

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, simpl...

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

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\Serv...