VMware Communities : Thread List - Submit a User Solution

iSCSI Target for Windows 2008 failover cluster

tankyren — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:51:07 GMT

iSCSI Cake is a Windows iSCSI target that supports physical disk, partition, vmdk file, iso file, and img file as storage source. Most important, it supports SCSI-3 persistent reservation which is necessary for Windows 2008 failover cluster.

Here is the cluster solution of 2 nodes in EXS3.5, using vmdk files as cluster storage:

http://www.iscsicake.com/download/iscsicakecluster.pdf

To download setup package:

http://www.iscsicake.com/iscsi/ccdisksetup.exe

Home page: http://www.iscsicake.com/

Using KernSafe iSCSI Target for ESX 3.5

Aldrichzh — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:32:06 GMT

KernSafe iStorage Server is an advanced and powerful, full-featured software-only iSCSI Target Server for Microsoft Windows

Solution address:
http://www.kernsafe.com/Article_Product.aspx?id=5&&aid=26

Vendor:
http://www.kernsafe.com

Converter error "The method 'ConverterValidateTargetStorageParams' does not exist on the object"

ahachenberg — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:49:29 GMT

This post is in refrence to running Standalone converter from a server seperate of P2V source and target.

Error: The method 'ConverterValidateTargetStorageParams' does not exist on the object

Fix: Uninstall Converter Agent, retry P2V.

Today I was attempting to P2V a running Windows server and revieve this error on the "Data to Copy" section in the "view/edit settings" portion of the converter setup wizard. I recalled that when I tested the P2V process (successfully) with this Windows machine that I was using Converter version 4.0.0 and that I chose options to manually uninstall the converter agent. This time, howeve, I was using the upgraded Converter version 4.0.1 and was receiveing this mysterious error that I found no mention of on Google searches or the VMWare site. Luckily it seems the error was cleared by removing the Converter Agent and letting the Converter App install the shiney new version.

I hope this is helpful.

Storage virtualization.

MattZhou — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:34:31 GMT

Virtualization plays more and more important role in the life of IT. What could be a heap of physical boxes in the past now turns into just a bunch of files and a virtual infrastructure. VMware occupies 45% of the virtualization market and is a recognized leader in providing virtualization solutions.

Speaking about virtualization in general, we understand that virtually everything related to the IT is possible. One can create virtual hardware, network configuration, a single workstation or a set of virtual workstations, servers and so on. Let alone the central management and low costs of implementation, adoption and maintenance in comparison to physical hardware. Virtualization just changed the way IT goes.

With virtualizing hardware, network and OS I/O operations, we should not forget about storage virtualization which rapidly develops. Virtualization of storage helps achieve location independence by abstracting the physical location of the data.

With storage virtualization, multiple independent storage devices, that may be scattered over a network, appear to be a single monolithic storage device, which can be managed centrally. Usually data storage virtualization goes very closely along with shared storage virtualization. One of the major benefits of abstracting the host or server from the actual storage is the ability to migrate data while maintaining concurrent I/O access.

There are three main implementation approaches :

Host-based

Storage device-based

Network-based

As for technology used in virtual storage virtualization, we can mention iSCSI, FCoE, SMB, VTL and others

Backing up virtual shared storage also becomes easier. This is more convenient and safe at the same time to backup a file than create a copy of a physical SAN.

What other implementation scenarios do you use in your environment? What are the main advantages for your IT environment do you find most important in using virtual storage?

Microsoft Windows 2008 failover cluster with iSCSI

mandardhamankar — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:26:08 GMT

Aim : To form a 2-node active/passive cluster on Microsoft Windows 2008
guests with iSCSI disks on top of VMware ESX Server.

Procedure : I am assuming that the reader is well versed with Microsoft
Windows 2003 Clustering and software-only iSCSI technology. If that is
not the case then I would like to request reader, please first
understand that and follow the procedure mentioned over here.

1. Three types of disks are supported in Microsoft Windows 2008
failover clustering : serially attached SCSI disks (SAS), iSCSI &
FC HBA. We are looking at software-only iSCSI disks inside the guests.
In order to achieve this we need to first deploy a VM which will act as
a iSCSI target appliance. Configure this VM with multiple virtual SCSI
disks (one disk for OS and others to share with guests as iSCSI ove
LAN, better to use different SCSI controllers). Install Microsoft
Windows 2003 SP1 and then install iSCSI target software (e.g. StarWind
iSCSI Target http://www.rocketdivision.com/wind.html).
Open iSCSI management console which gets installed as a part of target
software and add devices. Add devices is a simple wizard which will
create image file out of SCSI disk. This is getting hosted with iSCSI
over IP on a default port 3260. Add all the locally attached SCSI disks
using add devices wizard. You are done with hosting iSCSI target
appliance.

2. To attach, configure and access above iSCSI disks in guest VMs (used
for clustering), you need to have iSCSI Initiator software installed
and configured. Microsoft provided the same as a part of operating
system in their windows 2008. Configure IP or IPs in iSCSI Initiator in
both the VMs to talk to above configured iSCSI target appliance. This
is also a simple configuration wehre in you are suppose to provide the
IP or IPs of iSCSI target applinece and discover the path or paths to
disks. Please ensure that the sharing of disks configured correctly and
the disks are available even after rebooting of VMs.

3. You can now follow Micorosoft Windows 2008 failover clustering
setp-by-step instructions. Validation configuration wizard gives two
warnings for Microsoft signed drivers used in VMs against display and
mouse. Rest all the tests gets passed successfully which is in-turn a
green signal to go ahead and form the cluster.

All the best guys...!

VMware to MS Virtual Server

solarice — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:06:42 GMT

Currently I have three Virtual Hosts running 9 guest OS's. Two servers are VMware and one is Longhorn runnning MS VirtualServer R2 sp1.

VMware runs on Longhorn but there are issues so I opted for the MS product. While VMware is feature filled there are advantages to the Microsoft Product. I have a WEB / FTP / DNS server running as a VMware guest which I wanted to clone from VMware to MSVM. While a convetor does exist I found it fails 90% of the time and I have given up on it for now. What I did in this cast was try two differing stratigies.

OS = W2kserver

1) do a full NTbackup - create a blank W2Ksvr install and do a full restore. The reboot of the guest machine then stalled at the black bar phase of boot up so I attached to an ISO and ran a full OS repair. This worked however it took overnight to run through the hardware and driver install and once up took some cleanup to get all the services running correctly.

2) Use Acronis to do an image and restore this to a blank VHD - results were almost identical to the the NTbackup method however the initial restore was much faster as I did not need to install a blank machine I only needed to create a blank HD.

Lessons learned so far - remove VMware tools and any programs, drivers related to VMware as MSVM does not know how to handle these. Remove any programs not needs or ones that may be reinstalled easily. Like Logmein and antivirus programs, this will reduce conflict and speed up the process.

VM to VM seems more difficult than the P2V type conversions and so far I have found no fast and easy way of reaching my goals. This is a good work around and still much better than a flat reinstall especially when the original machine has a multitude of programs and services running as most MS machines do.

Any more insite would certainly be appriciated.

Copying a VM from MAC to PC

vantosscott — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:44:16 GMT

I have a Mac (osx 10.5.7) running VM Fusion (2.0.4).
I have 4 or 5 CentOS VM's running on it. I need to copy one of these VM's to a laptop running windows.
Can someone point me to the manual or let me know the easiest way to copy this.

How to fix disappearing eth0 in Gentoo

isketerol — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:45:19 GMT

Hi:

This is a note about how I fixed the disappearing eth0 in Gentoo Linux under VMWare Workstation. It should work for Server and ESXi as well.

The issue is that the module for the network card does not autoload. My inelegant solution was to hack /etc/init.d/net.lo to add these two lines:

modprobe pcnet32

depmod -a

after the last of the opening comments. I restarted /etc/init.d/net.eth0 and eth0 showed up and grabbed a DHCp address.

Hope others will find this useful.

Kevin

setup cannot copy vmscsi.sys

jasee — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:30:52 GMT

For Workstation 6

I thought I would mark the subject as above as that is the message I got whilst trying to intall XP (guest) to another partition. I had already installed Vista guest to the first partition and I wanted to dual boot the two. Without the vmware driver, xp couldn't find any partitions to install to. Although the driver loaded from a floppy disk or image file, it wouldn't actually install to the operating system for unknow reasons. The host was an Enterprise version of Linux.

The exact scenario is here:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/119019?tstart=0

My solution is simple, take the driver from vmware and integrate in into an iso package (Nlite is ideal for this). This works for XP and Vista. I used the driver directly from Vmtools. Although not necessary, I suppose it would also be possible to integrate the display and network drivers. I also integrated the LSI logic driver. You only need to integrate them as txt mode drivers in Nlite.

Interface Renaming after MAC Address Change (Linux)

Heino Gutschmidt — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:33:31 GMT

Hi,

after mac address change (e.g. cloning, storage migration, ...) the network interfaces are renamed (eth0 becomes eth3, eth1 becomes eth4, ...). The network setup does not work any more. Removing or editing the persistent network udev rules (/etc/udev/rules.d) every time is quite hard. It is a better idea to replace mac address matching by bus id matching:

File /etc/udev/rules.d/*-persistent-net.rules (e.g. 70-persistent-net.rules for openSUSE 10.3):

SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="11:22:33:44:55:66", NAME="eth0"

replace ATTR{address}=="11:22:33:44:55:66" by

ID="<BUS_ID>"

To get the bus id use: ethtool -i eth0

The line above would look like:

SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*",ID="0000:00:11.0", NAME="eth0"

Heino

sFlow traffic monitoring for virtual switches

Peter6343 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:11:07 GMT

InMon just released free software for monitoring traffic in virtual switches:

http://www.inmon.com/products/virtual-probe/index.php

sFlow is a popular, multi-vendor standard (see sFlow.org) for reporting on network traffic. By exporting sFlow, the software allows virtual switches to be monitored by the same tools used to monitor physical switches.

Please try it out and let us know what you think.

Using iSCSI Cake for ESX 3.5

tankyren — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:25:08 GMT

iSCSI Cake is a full featured Windows iSCSI Target. It differentiates from other iSCSI targets in that it supports VMDK file as storage source. This feature enables user to share existing virtual machine disk files or boot from iSCSI to existing operating systems. And whenever there is a problem, the VMDK file can be mounted and diagnosed using VMware's mount tool.

Using iSCSI Cake with VMware ESX Server: http://www.iscsicake.com/iscsi/iscsicakeesx.pdf

Boot Windows 2003 from iSCSI Cake: http://www.iscsicake.com/iscsi/iscsicakedisklessen.pdf

Web site: http://www.iscsicake.com

Backup Virtual Machines in the SAN topology

locosta — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:50:45 GMT

Hi folks ,

We have somes restrictions/limitations to use VCB (Consolidated backup ) and we read in the manual that we can use the midia and disk agents from the software manufacters (in our case the HP DataProtector 5.50 for hpux with all disk/midia agents free ) to do the backup from Virtual Machines ( Windows 2003 Server R2 Std) .

The datas reside in the EVA hp Storage and we do not plan to use as a VMSF area but as a raw Vmware area because the area already exist and we would not like to change it and also the tape (hp library MSL6000) in the same SAN/Fabric/zoning .

Basic cenario (elements) :

one server DL380 G5 ( 2 x Quad-Core) with Vmware 3.0.2 supporting some VM´s (Windows Server 2003)

EVA Storage , MSL6000 and Brocade Switches

DataProtector 5.50 for hpux and agents (disk and midia)

Does anyone have an idea if we install the DataProtector agents (midia and disk) in the VM´s the backup/restore from datas in the EVA could work well in the MSL library ?

Thanks in advance

Regards

Maintaining End-to-End Service Levels for VMware Virtual Machines Using VMware DRS and EMC Navisphere QoS

gilmania — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:58:19 GMT

*
White Paper: Maintaining End-to-End Service Levels for VMware Virtual Machines Using VMware DRS and EMC Navisphere QoS - Applied Technology

*

http://powerlink.emc.com/km/live1/en_US/Offering_Technical/White_Paper/H4089-maint-end-end-srvc-vmware-virt-mach-vmware-drs-emc-navisphere-qos-wp.pdf?mtcs=ZXZlbnRUeXBlPUttQ2xpY2tDb250ZW50RXZlbnQsZG9jdW1lbnRJZD0wOTAxNDA2NjgwMmNiYjFlLGRvY3VtZW50VHlwZT1wZGYsbmF2ZU5vZGU9MGIwMTQwNjY4MDFiZmYxZg__

This white paper describes tests in which Navisphere QoS Manager and VMware's Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) ran in a VMware ESX virtual environment using EMC CLARiiON storage systems. The tests clearly demonstrate that with QoS Manager and DRS multiple applications running in a VMware ESX virtual machine can maintain exceptional mission-critical performance while sharing a CLARiiON storage system.

How To Submit - Community-Supported Hardware

ivanlin — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:59:48 GMT

I'm having trouble finding out where to submit community supported hardware configurations.

There's a statement in the link http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/communitysupport/ that says "To submit an entry to this list, register or log in at the VMware Store; be sure and join VMTN when you register. Then create a new entry using the links on the lower left."

I've been looking for the link but without any luck, if anyone have the link please let me know. Thank you.

Security storage with Netapp Decru DataFort solution

tyeo — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:07:11 GMT

anyone have comfirm solution paper about Decru DataFort with SAN (FC) storage?

Not Able to remove Snapshots using SH script

jiteshk — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:26:29 GMT

Hello All,

I am not able to take the backup through SH script. The script is giving me the error message while removing the snapshots of VM. I am facing the same problem with all the VM's. After running the script, I am getting the error message mentions below:

sh DVM.sh ) = 1esnapshot(ITITEST_Snap "rror executing the command "removesnapshots
Run /usr/bin/vmware-cmd -h to see usage information.

Also note that I am able to remove snapshots manually from command line without using the script. The command which I am using to remove the snapshots is given below:
vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/STORAGE_LUN1/ITITEST2/ITITEST2.vmx removesnapshots

Script for taking and removing the snapshots:

#NODE
#TAKING SNAPSHOT
#REMOVING SNAPSHOTS
#
#
#
#
#ITITEST2
vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/STORAGELUN_1/ITITEST2/ITITEST2.vmx createsnapshot ITITEST_Snap
vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/STORAGELUN_1/ITITEST2/ITITEST2.vmx removesnapshots
#RandD1 (Disk1)
vmware-cmd /home/vmware/RandD1/RandD1.vmx addredo scsi0:0
vmware-cmd /home/vmware/RandD1/RandD1.vmx commit scsi0:0
#RandD1 (Disk2)
vmware-cmd /home/vmware/RandD1/RandD1.vmx addredo scsi0:1
vmware-cmd /home/vmware/RandD1/RandD1.vmx commit scsi0:1

If anyone wants more information, please let me know. Please help me out in solving the problem.

Thanks,
Jitesh Kumar

How-to: Increasing the size of a VM from start to finish

strafford — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:38:02 GMT

Not sure if this has been posted somewhere but I was not able to easily find it.

_ *Adding Space to Virtual Machines (example for RHEL VMs)</</p>

1.Increase the size of the VM using vmware-vdiskmanager - in this case I am going from 20Gb to 40Gb:

# vmware-vdiskmanager -X 40Gb vm_name.vmdk

2.Make sure that the VMware Server Console sees the newly added space (in Virtual Machine settings).

3.Partition the added space with parted:

* # parted*
* (parted) print*
* Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0.000-40960.000 megabytes*
* Disk label type: msdos*
* Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags*
* 1 0.031 101.975 primary ext3 boot*
* 2 101.975 20473.461 primary lvm*
* (parted) mkpart*
* Partition type? primary/extended? primart*
* Partition type? primary/extended? primary*
* File system type? ext2? ext2*
* Start? 20474.000*
* End? 40960.000*
* (parted) print*
* Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0.000-40960.000 megabytes*
* Disk label type: msdos*
* Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags*
* 1 0.031 101.975 primary ext3 boot*
* 2 101.975 20473.461 primary lvm*
* 3 20473.462 40954.768 primary*

4.Create the disk space into a physical volume (PV) using the pvcreate command:

* # pvcreate /dev/sda3*

5.Extend the current logical volume group by adding this new PV:

* # vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda3*

6.Now extend the logical volume with the additional space:

* # lvextend -L+20G /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00*

7.Finally, expand the underlying system to exploit the additional space you just added using ext2online:

* # ext2online /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00*
* ext2online v1.1.18 - 2001/03/18 for EXT2FS 0.5b*

8.Now your system should be ready to go with the added space, check using the df command:

* # df*
* Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on*
* /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00*
* 40607080 18185924 20360308 48% /*
* /dev/sda1 101086 9133 86734 10% /boot*
* none 257852 0 257852 0% /dev/shm*

/usr/sbin/vmkiscsi-ls

Rajesh_interoute — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:57:55 GMT

Hi All,

I have iscsi configured on my ESX 3.0.2 server, netapp is acting like iscsi server.

My Netapp has 2 IP address assigned to it , Same LUNs have been made visible to ESX 3.0.2 server via 2 diff IP address ( both IP belonging to same Netapp Storage )

I checked the /usr/sbin/vmkiscsi-ls and saw which IP is Active, as you can see from the output below 10.255.1.10 is the Target Address and 10.130.1.10 is the backup address..

~~root@Server1 root~~# /usr/sbin/vmkiscsi-ls
*******************************************************************************
Cisco iSCSI Driver Version ... 3.4.2 (16-Feb-2004 )
*******************************************************************************
TARGET NAME : iqn.08.com.netapp:aggra.filer.test.internal
TARGET ALIAS :
HOST NO : 0
BUS NO : 0
TARGET ID : 0
TARGET ADDRESS : 10.255.1.10:3260
SESSION STATUS : ESTABLISHED AT Thu Aug 30 11:11:41 2007
NO. OF PORTALS : 2
PORTAL ADDRESS 1 : 10.255.1.10:3260,1002
PORTAL ADDRESS 2 : 10.130.1.10:3260,1001
SESSION ID : ISID 00023d000001 TSID 4d0
*******************************************************************************

I need to get rid of 10.255.1.10 IP address, so now my question is what will happen to the LUNs when i Change that IP on Netapp ?

Will the LUNs be still visible to ESX via 10.130.1.10 IP address ?

Any Commets/Suggestion is welcom..

Regards,

Rajesh

\[solved] Windows NT4 multiprocessor HAL gives 100% CPU load

DoctorNet — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:00:39 GMT

Hi all,

After searching on the forum and on google I found, that I am not the only one to have the problem of Windows NT4 mith multiprocessor HAL eating up 1-2x100% CPU in a virtual machine.

Ref:
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=415307
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=418909&#418909
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=37856

While forum user nick.couchman pointed me in a good direction (Thanks Nick if you read this), I couldn't find a HOWTO writeup anywhere. So here we go:

1.) Disclaimer
This worked for me on vmware server 1.01 running on openSUSE 10.2 i586 on a quad-cpu Proliant. It might or might not work for you, it might eat your servers and data - use at your own risk!

2.) The problem and alternative solution
When running Windows NT4 Server (afaik also Workstation) as a guest with the multiprocessor HAL installed (i.e. surely if you assign 2 virtual processors) this virtual machine will allways use 100% CPU time on as many processors as it has assigned.

This is bad, especially since vmware has no chance to figure out, if this CPU-consumption is really needed, or if it is just a guest OS Bug i.e.: An idle virtual NT4 machine will create havoc on the scheduling algorithms, potentially affecting other virtual machines. This interaction between the schedulers of guest, vmware and host really do hurt: see the end of this posting for performance numbers.

Repeat: This problem happens ONLY if you use Windows NT4 SP6a as a guest OS with the multiprocessor HAL installed.

The background seems to be, that the idle process in NT4 SP6a MPHAL does not correctly issue the HLT command to the CPU(s) on idle. This makes the CPU work full power, even when idling - the big amount of heat produced by idle MP NT4 Servers is a hint, that this might really be the issue.

If you have the choice to use a single virtual processor, consider using a singleprocessor HAL (as in http://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/doc/ws32_disks7.html) and get rid of the problem - this is the clean way.

There are some scenarios where the clean way is blocked. Performance is one, in our case we were forced to give 2 virtual processors to NT4 for stupidity reasons of a legacy application: There vendor sold us a license for an application to run on 2 processors some years ago, explicitly allows usage in a virtual environment, but the application will not start on a single processor system for licensing reasons ...

3.) Prerequisites
You will need:
- SrvStart by Nick Rozanski (http://www.nick.rozanski.com/software.htm, GPL-licensed) or another "Run application as service"-tool of your choice

4.) How to

We solve the problem (better: we work around it) by running "CpuIdle" which does in fact nothing but issue HLT to the CPU when it is scheduled, but always remains runnable. So all unused CPU time is soaked up by CpuIdle which has become de facto a new idle process

The HLT goes down to vmware and reduces (heavily) the CPU-consumption.

- Watch CPU usage on Host and Guest: On the guest you will see 100%, most of it for CpuIdle, but on the host you will see CPU consumption by this NT4 instance drop from 100% (200% for 2 virtual processors) to the same level as would be used by W2k.

Until now, this works only while you are logged on interactively, as CpuIdle is an application, not a service. To have it run automatically on startup we need to make it a service: I like SrvStart better than SrvAny - it allows for monitoring of the service, so that when you accidentally open CpuIdle on the console and then end it, it is restarted in the background

- "Install" SrvStart by copying it and its 2 DLLs to a convenient place, I chose C:\Programme\srvstart (C:\Programme is C:\Program Files on a german version of NT4)

- write a control file - here is mine:

#C:\Programme\srvstart\srvstart.ini
debug_out=%TEMP%\myservice.log
[cpuidle]
path=C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\system32
priority=idle
startup_delay=2
wait_time=2
startup=C:\Programme\CpuIdle\cpuidle.exe
startup_dir=C:\Programme\CpuIdle
shutdown_method=kill
auto_restart=y
restart_interval=30

- register the service:

srvstart.exe install_desktop cpuidle -c C:\Programme\srvstart\srvstart.ini

We need to install the service with desktop interaction, at least as long as it is configured to show the splash screen - this is always during evaluation and after registration as long as you don't explicitly turn it off in the configuration.

The service is created with manual startup mode - so don't forget to set it to automatic.

4.) Performance

A (very) quick and rude benchmark shows the following (remember that the physical host has 4 CPUs), 2 vCPUs are given to the only NT4 virtual machine (processing heavy), 2 vCPUs to a WinXP instance being the only other virtual machine running at the time of the benchmark (IO and processing balanced), RAM is not an issue (6GB present, 1.5 GB for the two running VMs)

- Load average dropped from ca. 1.5 to 0.4

I do not pretend to understand this, but I like it: I can reduce from 3 physical servers to 2 and still survive a desaster.

5.) Further suggestions

I will post to the "user suggestions" of this forum: Would be nice if VMware could include the functionality created by this hack into the VMware Tools

6.) About

Eugen Rieck, Dr. Net! Netzwerkservice, Vienna, Austria
eugen@drnet.at
Programmer and system engineer.

Sorry for the long post!

Best regards, Eugen

This post is in the public domain, but I would appreciate you voluntarily using it in a "Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike" manner.

ElasticDrive Beta - Remote Amazon S3 Filesystem (VM Data Backup & Recovery)

enomaly — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:44:09 GMT

This is a note to inform you that the ElasticDrive S3 Backed FileSystem is now available for free download at http://www.elasticdrive.com/download.html

ElasticDrive is a network block device based upon the Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service). ElasticDrive provides a caching block device driver which pushes blocks to and from S3 as if they were being written to a local block device.

ElasticDrive provides this service through a virtual NBD service. The NBD service translates from standard NBD to S3 packets transparently, so that the client (the kernel) sees a generic block device. NBD is supported on almost every linux kernel. Simply modprobe nbd, and you are ready to use ElasticDrive.

ElasticDrive is not intended to replace your existing hard drives or network filesystems directly. ElasticDrive is intended to provide seamless backup, RAID target devices, or backing stores for higher level distributed filesystems.

Release notes & Installation instructions
http://www.elasticdrive.com/uploads/media/readme.txt

You can learn more about Enomaly at www.enomaly.net

--

Reuven Cohen
Chief Technologist, Enomaly Inc.
www.enomaly.com :: 212 203 4734 x 1

XP batch script to start necessary services on demand

DAE51D — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:56:22 GMT

I've always found it incredibly annoying that VMWare starts four services taking up 12MB of RAM for no reason, when Workstation isn't even running. These just sit there dormant wasting valuable resources (RAM/CPU/startup-time/etc).

What's worse, is that vmware.exe isn't smart enough to start said services if they're not running, when it starts. *sigh*

So... What I do is find the four offending services in XPs Service Manager and set them to start MANUALLY (not Automatic anymore).

Then I create a C:\VMWare\VMWareStart.bat file that contains this
[code]
sc start VMAuthdService
sc start VMnetDHCP
sc start vmount2
sc start "VMware NAT Service"
C:\Utils\Trayconizer.exe C:\VMWare\vmware.exe
[/code]

So then simply change your VMware icon to launch that batch script instead of the vmware.exe and you'll be loving life again.

Oh yeah, it's also very irritating that VMWare doesn't minimize to the tray despite everyone asking for it (http://www.vmware.com/community/search.jspa?q=minimize+to+tray) when you shrink it (or have the option to), so I use this Trayconizer tool to fix that short-coming (ta.

http://www.whitsoftdev.com/trayconizer

Error compiling vmhgfs-only: too few arguments to function get_sb_nodev

mbagni — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:14:40 GMT

Inspecting the reason for the error "too few arguments to function 'get_sub_nodev', I found that the reason is the following:

Starting with the release 2.6.18 the function get_sb_nodev declared in fs/super.c has been changed from the previous version 2.6.17.14:

struct super_block *get_sb_nodev(struct file_system_type *fs_type,
int flags, void *data,
int (*fill_super)(struct super_block *, void *, int))

to the following:

int get_sb_nodev(struct file_system_type *fs_type,
int flags, void *data,
int (*fill_super)(struct super_block *, void *, int),
struct vfsmount *mnt)

Since in the file vmhgfs-only calls get_sb_nodev with four arguments, compiling the vmware-tools under kernels newer than 2.6.17.14 is simply not possible, at least with the release 1.0.1-29996 of VMware Server for Linux

Announcement: Linked Clones script for ESX 3.x and other resources

lamw — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:29:55 GMT

My colleague (Tuan Duong) and I (William Lam) have been working on a virtualization/VDI deployment project over the last six months. The result of this work is a set of scripts that assist in provisioning and managing the server and lab environment for the Residential Networking Services (ResNet) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

We took the approach of developing scripts that would be free in nature to support a variety of offerings that currently exist in the enterprise space. One such tool that we would like to share with the VMware community is our Linked Clones script that was developed at the beginning of the summer of 2008. This script functions similarly to the View Composer component in the recent release of VMware View 3 but with relatively relaxed requirements.

A description and more details of the Linked Clones script can be found at:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9020

Another script that complements the Linked Clone’s script is our custom management script “*my-vmware-cmd*” which can be found at:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9061

An example of our implementation of these scripts can be found at:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9201

We also have other scripts and resources that have been consolidated onto a webpage and would like to share it:

http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/

We hope that the community finds some of these scripts to be useful in aiding VI administrators to manage their virtual infrastructure and look forward to any feedback that is provided.

Thanks
William lamw and Tuan tlduong

Virtual Appliance - Configuration Analysis & Predictive Fault Management

teich — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:57:35 GMT

We've launched a new configuration analysis tool that I hope you guys might find interesting.

Looking at the unified physical and virtual environment, our new product - Replicate Datacenter Analyzer (RDA) - builds up a comprehensive model of a virtualized datacenter through a unique combination of discovery mechanisms. Combining empirical data from Replicate probes with configuration information derived from existing system management tools, RDA constructs a unified view of the datacenter across all administrative domains. RDA analyzes the integrity of the datacenter by leveraging industry best practice and technology dependencies supplied by Replicate in the form of knowledge modules. RDA’s combination of discovery and knowledge driven integrity analysis provides both predictive fault identification and specific resolution guidance for existing and predicted faults.

A few bloggers have had a chance to play with it so far:

We have a free trial version available for download at http://www.replicatetech.com/trial.html

I'd love any feedback or comments - we've built this based on our own pain and our trial users. If you find it useful, we'd love to make it more so!

Oren Teich - Replicate

GUI for Storage Vmotion (svmotion)

agaiswin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:54:12 GMT

Hi,

here's a little GUI for Storage VMotion.

Install the VMWARE remote CLI (www.vmware.com/go/remotecli) on a Windows machine to the standard path (program files...)

Save the file vms.pl into the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VI Remote CLI\bin directory.

Save the svmotionGUI.exe somewhere on the machine.

Double click it!

And remember - it's just simple stuff, but quite helpful. Nothing for production use, but nice for customer demos, etc. (That's where I use it for...)

Use at your own risk...

Regards

Alex

How to Migrate VMware Server VM's to ESX Server all Disks at once

Vinas — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:31:10 GMT

Quick & Dirty: How to Migrate VMware Server VM's to ESX Server using VMs with Multiple Disks
by Josh Davis (Hylant Group, Inc.)

Objective: Move an appliance that has been running on old harware running VMware Server. I want to move this to ESX server 3.x. This is just what I use so if it helps you great! I make no promises so try this on a test system in your environment before taking down production equipment!!!

Audience: Those that have a way to get the VMware Server files to your ESX server. You must be familiar with ssh/linux, and the ESX vmfs file structure.

You will need to be root.

1) Make a folder on your ESX VMFS partition to hold the migrated VM. Copy over the .vmx file, nvram, and everything else but the .vmdk files into this folder.

2) Make a second folder on your VMFS partition (or on the OS root drive perhaps, if it has space), and copy over the .vmdk files.

For single disk based VMs continue with step 3, those with multiple disks see note A below.
3) vmkfstools -i /*path*/*from*/*step2*/disk.vmdk /*path*/*from*/*step1*/disk.vmdk

vmkfstools will convert the media into your new VM directory from step #1. Once verified, you can delete the stuff from step #2.

4) Go into VIC, open up any tab listing your datastores, right-click on the datastore from #1, and pick browse datastore.

5) Drill down to the folder you created.

6) Right-click on the .vmx file and select add to inventory.

7) That should do it!

Don't forget to upgrade the virtual hardware from the pull-down menu, if necessary. Also, you may need to re-install ESX's VMware tools once it's running.

To those using GSX. The virtual LAN adapter sometimes doesn't convert properly. Just delete it out of the VM and re-add it using VIC...

Note A: To do ALL DISKS AT ONCE do this (example 1 is obsolete - use method in example 2):

example 1 (obsolete may not work):
vmkfstools -i /sourcepath/*.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/datastore/hostname/*.vmdk

example 2:
for i in *.vmdk; do vmkfstools -i /*sourcepath*/$i /vmfs/volumes/datastore/hostname/$i; done
(ignore any errors generated by DiskLib_Check, they are generated by the loop)

real world example (my exact syntax, what I used)*:*
for i in *.vmdk; do vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/vm_e1/pba/vmfs/$i /vmfs/volumes/vm_e1/pba/$i; done

That's all I've got!!!

Easy End User VM Console Access

rbmadison — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:42:09 GMT

I found a bit of aspx code a while ago to allow console access to a VM. It's written in ASP. Attached are the files. Below are the steps you need to do to get this working. Once it's running you simply type in the name or IP of the VM you want to connect to and it brings up the web console of that VM only. If anyone is good at javascript it would be nice to convert this from ASP to javascript so a separate web IIS ASP webserver isn't needed.

1. Create a readonly database user that can access your VirtualCenter database. This is the account that will be used to query the database and get the remote console information.
2. Install IIS on any server other than your VirtualCenter server. You can make this a VM. This is required because we need asp support.
2. Copy the attached getlist.asp and default.asp attached fles into it.
3. Create a system ODBC connection on the IIS server to your VirtualCenter database using the readonly user account.
4. Edit the getlist.asp file and change the following:
a. Change the line "strConnectLog = "Provider=SQLOLEDB..." to reflect your ODBC connection. Use the readonly user account you created in
step 1.
b. Replace all occurances of myvcserver with the host name of your VirtualCenter server.
c. Save the file.
6. Edit the default.asp and replace occurances of myvcserver.mydomain.com with the fully qualified host name of your VirtualCenter server and save
the file.
7. Go to your VirtualCenter server and navigate to \\myvcserver\c$\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware
VirtualCenter\docRoot. Rename the index.html file to orgindex.html. Don't worry this doesn't break your VirtualCenter and the page will still be
accessible.
8. Save the attached index.html into this docRoot folder.
9. Edit the saved index.html and change the line replace vmconsole.mydomain.com with the fully qualified name of the IIS web site you created in step
2.

Now when you access your VirtualCenter server you will just see a page asking you which console to connect to. Type in a VM IP or host name and click submit.

You can get back to the original default web page by going to the bottom of the page and clicking on the last underscore at the bottom of the page. It will bring up the orgindex.html page. I wanted to make this somewhat hidden for end users but still accessible.

Let me know if I missed anything. If we could get this working in javascript this would be even better so we wouldn't need another IIS server.

Thanks!

Rename Datastore

espi3030 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:29:36 GMT

I wanted a way to rename my datastores in my post installation script that finalizes my ESX hosts. With some research I came up with the following:

#!/bin/bash

var1=$HOSTNAME
echo ""
echo "FQDN = $var1"
echo ""

t=${var1//mouse/MOUSE}
u=${t%*...*}

echo "FIXED = $u"
echo ""

ln -sf `readlink -f /vmfs/volumes/storage1` /vmfs/volumes/$u-Local
echo ""

this renamed my datastore from "storage1" to "MOUSE-Local" <-- this is my hostname, which was also renamed from mouse.city.ca.gov. I found out after lots of frustration that a datastore can only be renamed if it is NOT managed by VC server yet.

Add "Notes" to a VM in Virtual Infrastructure Client

espi3030 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:16:43 GMT

Here is a small scritp I came up with to add the backup date in the notes section of a VM:

#!/bin/bash

#SET VARIABLE FOR DATE FORMAT
export date=`date "+%a %b %e %T"`

#GET CURRENT NOTES
for vm in `vmware-cmd -l` ; do
"vmware-cmd" -q $vm getconfig annotation
echo ""

#SET VARIABLE FOR CURRENT NOTES
export ann=`vmware-cmd -q $vm getconfig "annotation"`
ann2=${ann%*Last*}

#ADD NEW NOTES
"vmware-cmd" -q $vm setconfig annotation "$ann2 Last backup done:
$date"
done

With some modifications, I'm sure this script has many other uses. Just thought I'd share this for anyone interested.

Xtravirt Virtual SAN Appliance

mittell — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Hi Guys,

Over at Xtrairt we've just released a new free virtual appliance that I thought people might find interesting. It lets you use the local storage on two ESX hosts to create a virtual SAN. I've attached an overview diagram to explain how it works.

Summary: The Xtravirt Virtual SAN (XVS) appliance for VMware ESX3 Server is a free solution to provide the benefits of shared VMFS storage without the cost of a SAN – this allows the utilisation of otherwise unused local storage in the ESX server to facilitate enterprise level features such as vMotion, DRS and HA normally only available through the use of a shared storage device. All volume data is synchronously replicated between hosts, providing full fail-over capability with data integrity in the event of host, disk or appliance failure. The appliance is menu driven and has been designed to be as easy to configure as possible, and full documentation on the implemenation process is provided.

Cheers,

Alex

Message was edited by: oreeh

The appliance can be downloaded at http://www.xtravirt.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=75&func=fileinfo&id=29

Scripts for applying Dell Updates and OpenManage OMSA agent on ESX

ScottHanson — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:01:25 GMT

I've written two scripts to help those with Dell PowerEdge servers in the ESX 3.x environment. The first one will apply the Dell Update Packages (DUPs) through the service console of ESX using the Server Update Utility (SUU).

The details and script are available on our Dell TechCenter site.

The second one automates the manual steps of installing OMSA on ESX, along with configuring the firewall and SNMP settings.

Hope these are a help to some of you.

Scott Hanson - SystemsEdge Blog
Dell Enterprise TechCenter

Installing ESX 3.5 on a Sun Ultra-40

publish_or_perish — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:44:03 GMT

That's the basic recipe that worked for me. Forgive me if I missed something or if it
doesn't work the same way for you. This should get you close.

Note: The proper 'noapic' setting is critical during install and boot.
noapic is required during installed, but must not be present at regular boots.
If noapic value is wrong, ESX will hang forever during loading of first
module during boot.

The following should be live versions of the links posted in the image above:

+http://www.cs-electronics.com/sas-cables-NEW.htm

SQL Server Reporting Services Snapshot Report Solution

jdsegarra — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:25:23 GMT

Tired of answering the question "hey what snapshots are out there on the vm's?" This is a simple report I threw together that queries the Virtual Center database and reports all existing snapshots on the vm's ordered by ESX host. This is dynamic so you can add however many hosts you want and it will automatically pick up the changes. Lemme know what you think, this is my first foray into Reporting Services. Note you'll have to change the data source connection obviously to tailor to your enterprise. I created an account that has read only rights against the VC database for this project. If I'm missing anything in terms of files to upload please let me know. Thanks.

Windows NT 4.0

ialvaradohn — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:18:54 GMT

Hi Everybody,

I need some help on a Windows NT 4.0, I've just converted this OS from a compaq Proliant and now that it has been converted to a virtual machine, it seems not to configure, nor recognize any network adapter. I have no knowledge on how to configure a Windows NT 4.0, so does anyone know who to configure the network adapter in it. I've checked everything and nothing seems to work, run the ipconfig command on the command line, and the name of the network adapter shown has the following name = PPP adapter NdisWAN.

Storage VMotion GUI Tool (with option to keep a disk on datastore behind)

Silent_NL — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:10:04 GMT

I was inspired by the tool svmotionGUI, found here on the forum. But I missed a option to keep a disk on the datastore behind. So I created my own Storage VMotion GUI tool.
You only have to install the VMWARE remote CLI (www.vmware.com/go/remotecli) on a Windows machine.

It will create a "Settings.ini" file. Here you can put your some info, so you not have to type all information.
If you set the option debug=1, then the svmotion command will be placed on the clipboard. So you can try it out in a dos box for debugging.

Have fun with it!

Virtual Appliance - Solve Capacity Bottlenecks (CPU, memory, and storage)

drepczynski — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:28:12 GMT

can you guys give us some feedback and check it out?

if you're having capacity bottlenecks in ESX (CPU, memery and storage), we just released public beta of Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer Virtual Appliance. as a virtual appliance it deploys in minutes and is super easy to use. I want the good, bad and ugly. So far our pre-beta testers are finding it very helpful/cool for diagnosing capacity problems and conversely finding out where they're under utilizing servers. i've also heard good things with the "predict future capacity bottlenecks" and "trend alerting" functionality. let me know what you think.

to download the fully functional free beta http://www.vkernel.com/downloads/all/

if you want a quick high level view just check out a 2 minute flash demo, http://www.vkernel.com/resources/download/capacity_analyzer_demo/

dave at vkernel

Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer Virtual Appliance

AlexBakman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:13:39 GMT

Hi Folks

We have posted a cool new VA in Virtual Applainces Marketplace

called Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer. CB:

Find current capacity bottlenecks (CPU, memory, and storage)
Predict future capacity bottlenecks — e.g., you will experience a memory bottleneck in cluster X in 7 days)
See exactly how many more virtual machines can fit into any of your hosts, clusters, or resource pools
Optimize the performance of your VMware ESX servers{size}{font}

If you would like to download and try Beta 3 Here is the link http://www.vkernel.com/products/CapacityAnalyzer/

I also attached a PDF

Accessing Virtual Ceneter 2.5/ESX3.5 over VPN Tunnel

mnasir — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:49:05 GMT

You will need to do the following to enables access to VC 2.5 using VI client over VPN tunnel:

Open onlty port:443(https) to Virtual Center server

Allow DNS traffic

open port 902(tcp), 903(tcp), to all the esx servers.

This will allow youto access virtual center using VI client and you should also be able to access Virtual machine console. If you olny open port to VC server than you won't be able to access VM console.

Switching to Virtualbox for various reasons - ALSA sound and supported Coherency Mode to name two of them...

Luke Skywalker — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:30:51 GMT

Hello,

I have been a long time VMware Workstation on Linux user, probably for the past 9 years. In the past year, I have met VMware sales people and techs at VMware user groups in the Detroit area. And I have told them I would like to see ALSA used in the Linux version, so audio can be shared with other desktop applications. I don't know why VMware has not done a better job on Linux as it has done for Mac OS X. Both platforms have, pretty much, the same desktop penetration in the market.

Nobody at Vmware has listen to me (or countless thounsands of other Linux users.) I am fed up with the excuses of VMware upper management decisions. I am going to Virtualbox. Here are the reasons...

1. VMware has some poor excuses to support ALSA on Linux. And VMware administration is stupid in not doing right by the customer in making it easier to run VMware on Linux, in addition to other apps that also run on Linux. Virtualbox natively supports ALSA. It works. It's great. No more Petr patches.

2. The Virtuabox virtual sound card passes audio from the host microphone on Linux to the guest virtual soundcard. Vmware's doesn't, and I have to attach a USB device to get Vmware to accept a mic connection. Not with Virtualbox.

3. Virtualbox has a kick-butte Coherency mode on Linux. VMware? Windows Desktop, still? Makes it look like Linux is running Windows apps. And looks are all that matter for Windows right? Oh, is Virtualbox going to shudder because VMware paid it blackmail money to Microsoft not to port Coherency mode to Linux, so VMware doesn't have to worry about the Dark Side of the Force, but Virtualbox does? I am a Jedi Knight of Linux. Sue me.

4. Virtualbox has all the functionality I need. Network setup past NAT is a bear, but it is sure as heck better and feasable to mess with that and do it, than to successfully implement VMware to use ALSA with the pathetic Petr patches.

5. Vmware, I know what company you really support and snuggle up to. And I have hated that company ever since 1975. And it is not Apple. I see where the loyality is. I go for loyalty to the people. I believe you have a misguided loyalty. Therefore, it is time for me to part ways with you, VMware Workstation. So long. It was fun while it lasted. But I have found a better performing product. And when I become head of a 10,000 worstation department, and I need virtualization on the desktop, it won't be you I come to, unless you prove to me, you are more loyal to me, than you are to that company I hate. You have joined with the Imperial Regime of Software. I am with the Rebel Alliance of Open Source users.

- Luke Skywalker

physical to virtual backup

franeborozan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:21:54 GMT

Hello all,

I am more somekind of a lurker on this forums.
Lately I was working on p2v backup project. I will here in short describe what it is about and take a little tame visit the page and tell me what do you think about it. Please note that whole project is open and only free tools are used in implementation.
Whole process is on the www.p2vbackup.com

I will here describe whole process of implementation of virtual servers into your current network infrastructure. With virtualization you will get virtual failover servers and you will have fresh replica of all of your important data, so in case main servers failure you will have fast disaster recovery plan that just works. Of course you can have clusters in your network infrastructure but what is the cost of managing clusters and paying licenses for that expensive kind on in stable software.
There are always savings into hardware and power consumption, imagine now you need to have one physical for every server you own if you want to have good disaster recovery plan, with this you can have dozen of backups on the same server and you will run only backup that is needed in case of the disaster.

big.picture.of project
Main sense of whole project is to keep employees work without interruption caused by server hardware. This process provides low cost failover solution without datacenters or clusters or expensive special hardware and software.
Please note that this project is not best for all server backups, the best would be to contact me with extensive network, servers and data types information and I will suggest is this good solution for you.

Internet connection for VM's

bandhan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:20:08 GMT

Hi..

I am having a Linux server, top of that i installed window VM's.!!

When i given internet connection to my server...In my linux server i am able to browse but inside VM machine i am not..!!

Can anybody suggest me.. how i resolve this problem.... and what all steps to follow to get internet connectivity.

Thanks,

-Bandhan

Backup VM of Windows OS with ImageX

9whirls — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:59:37 GMT

Is there anybody interested in this topic?

What's the benefit of doing this?

1. Much smaller disk consumption (compared with zipping each VM into a separate package), because ImageX just stores shared files once if you archieve multiple Windows OS into one WIM file.
2. Easier to share among ESX servers. VM on ESX has a fixed disk size which means it will take much longer time to migrate a vmdk file (equal to the disk size) than doing backup-and-restore via an ImageX image which is based on the actual payload. Furthermore, with ImageX you don't need VC anymore to do VM cloning
3. V2P ? I didn't test this yet, but I believe it's doable, at least logically:). BTW, I believe VMware converter will support ImageX sooner or later. Let's just wait and see.

Software iSCSI netapp filer head failover issues

nmid — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:41:43 GMT

i recently implemented a cross site ESX solution using 3.0.2. when performing testing of the storage cluster failover we found that LUNs on the "failed" filer head would not automatically pick up the new filer head and connectivity to storage would be lost

the vmkernel log would display the following error

Dec 15 11:52:30 +esxhostname +vmkernel: 10:19:06:07.450 cpu3:1057)<3>iSCSI:

session 0x7c83a78 portal group tag mismatch, expected 2005, received 2002

performing a manual rescan of the storage adapter would reconnect the storage on fail back of the filer head the ESX host would regain it connectivity to its storage.

Soemthing we found on the netapp support site:

"The Linux, Solaris, and HP-UX iSCSI software initiators create a persistent association between the target portal group tag value and the target.If the target portal group tag changes, the LUNs from the target become unavailable because the initiators recognize the LUNs as new devices."

Both Filers in a clustered pair that use iSCSI require the Portal Tag Group ID to be the same.

This requirement is for Linux and UNIX OSes, since they use the TAG. We have already verified that Windows doesn't seem to use these tags as the iscsi sessions are unaffected by the TAGs.

The Filers create default Portal Groups with TAG ID when iSCSI is enabled on the Filer.

I discovered that these system default TAGs cannot be destroyed or modified.

What we needed to do is create a User-defined Target Group with an ID between 1-256 and assign a Filer interface to it.

In our case we assigned the teamiscsi-1231 interface to the net Group which we called vmware.

An interface can only belong to one Portal Group, so when it is assigned to vmware, it is automatically unassigned from the system default group.

Then you simply repeat the process on the other Filer head

after this change of group id you will need to initially perform a manual rescan fo the storage adapter so it picks up the new ID. after this we found that during a fielr head takeover the ESX server lost minor connectivity during the takeover but automatically regained connectivity when the takeover was complete

we found very little information on this anywhere with the vmware support or forum site so i thought i would post this

VCBmanager Release 01

skafoelix — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:18:20 GMT

VCBmanager is a front-end to vcbMounter and provides a GUI and command line combination to create and delete snapshots.

You can also specify how many concurrent jobs you want to allow,
delay specific hosts,
see which jobs completed successfully or which failed,
view the creation or deletion logs of a job,
see when a job started, when creation started, when creation ended, when deletion started, when deletion ended and when the job finally finished.

Everyone that ever used vcbMounter with any backup software and tried to automate creation and deletion but wanted to keep track of the failed jobs and know why they did fail will appreciate VCBmanager.

http://vcbmanager.sourceforge.net/