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QProf
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Loosing Network Connections

My hardware make-up below, my software set-up is as follows:  I have Vmware running on a 500 GIG hard drive along with all VM's located on it. My VM Openfiler storage server runs my primary storage on the same machine.  I have used Raid 6 with a hot spare then chopped it up into 2 TB LUN's.  I have then used those 2 TB to create a Raid 0 for one 6 TB storage location, and another 2 separate regualar storage volumes 2 TB, and 1 TB.

The 1 TB,  I set-up for downloading media off the web through Forte Agent.  I have installed the program in the VM Windows XP SP3 32 bit OS on the 500 GB dirive, but have put the Data for my groups and header configuration on the 1 TB Openfiler storage drive and also the target location for downloaded content. I mapped, of the three storage dirve volumes to connect when Win XP is  restarted (I put the Data configurations and target storage locations on the 1 TB as I only created 20 GB of space for Win XP).

Here is the problem, when I select a bunch of data body headers to download, it works for a short while, then all of a suddent after about a half hour  or so, I get Agent warning me thtat it is unable to write to file.....  and also the following  constant system error:

Event Type:    Warning
Event Source:    MRxSmb
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    50
Date:        1/29/2011
Time:        7:52:39 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    WINXP
Description:
{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file \Device\LanmanRedirector. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 04 00 04 00 02 00 56 00   ......V.
0008: 00 00 00 00 32 00 04 80   ....2..?
0010: 00 00 00 00 03 02 00 c0   .......À
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0028: 03 02 00 c0               ...À 

Then of course Forte Agent stops working (see 2nd attachment jpg)

I tried two network configurations, one with XP with one network card plus a stand by, and anther  currently with two connected parallel for balanced load (see attached pic) both ending up in the same result.

I have played multi-media files from these drives, coppied files, moved mass amounts of data without a hitch, but when I go to download some data/video headers with bodies, my network drops  for not just the 1 TB volume that I am working from but also the whole storage server mapped drives also.

I end up having to shut down the whole whitebox server and all VM's including Openfiler, then restart and everything is fine untill I try to download again.  Prior to setting up and trying this downloading, the Vmware and Openfiler never once froze or crashed?

Second picture I attached shows what Forte Agent does after the network starts to drop out.  I also tried another downloader with similar issues.

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My Server System Summary:
ASUS P6T, Intel Core i7 920, 12GB Triple Channel DDR3-1333 Corsair Memory
Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Heatpipe Cooler and fans NF-P14, 3* NF-P14FLX, & 2* NF-R8
GeForce 8400 GS, Intel PRO/1000 PT Quad & CT Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
3ware 9650SE-12ML SATA II hardware RAID controller
8* SAMSUNG Spinpoint F2EG HD154UI 1.5TB & HITACHI Travelstar 500GB
NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis, Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
Netgear ProSafe FVS336G Dual WAN Gigabit VPN/Firewall,
Netgear GS724Tv ProSafe 24-Port Gigabit Managed Switch
Blackbox server rack-RM820A-3F-R2
Vmware ESXi 4.01, with VM's: Openfiler-2.3-x86_64, Ubuntu 10.10 64, WinXP Pro SP3 32

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Every time this happens, I have to retart everything and makes the whole procss borring.

Any suggestions on what could be causing these network drop-outs and how I could fix/resolve or suggest troubleshooting ideas? Smiley Sad

Q-Prof, "Quality of life is too valuable to take short cuts. By constantly improving our habits and striving to do our best, will dramatically improve the quality of our lives"
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QProf
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Would it make sense to just make the VM's (XP) c: drive space datastore larger and put the application Forte Agent data configuration files on the same drive volume, as it may resolve my issue of loosing my network connection to the apps config/data folder on the Openfilers storage volume which I have mapped it as another drive on this VM WinXP?  :smileyconfused:

It seems to first loose or drop the file area where the data configuration files are first (on mapped volume X, not C where the OS and  app is installed), and then the folder is not accessable unless I reboot openfiler, but openfiler gets to 95% to reboot/shutdown and then just stalls with errors coming up on it's counsel, so I then I try and force Vmware to reboot using the client.... it too, will not reboot as openfiler is not fully closed, so I have to go to the whitebox server and physically kill the power with the reboot switch to do a reboot.

After a reboot of Vmware 4.1, I then power up openfiler 2.3 and everything is fine including the missing folder now accessable.

There is something wrong with running the application Forte Agent on C,  and having the application go to the mapped storage location X to read the configuration and data files.  The reason why I put the configuration and temp data files there is because it gets very large quickly with all the headers that are downloaded.  With-in less then an hour, the 20 GiG I had alocatd for VM Windows XP is full, and program gives errror there is no more room. 

If this is a agreed possible solution? ...  what is the best way to expand the  VM drive C space of Windows XP?

I found this: http://vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=2k3resize

Not sure how to backup VM with the windows XP in Vmware 4.1, and it states to get rid of your snapshots prior to trying this...

or is there a better way of doing it in Vmware Esxi 4.1...free plug-ins or utility tools?  (I only have the one whitebox server)

I guess I could just make another VM with the same OS and configure with a larger volume, then reinstall all my apps associated with it, but I am thinking there must be a quicke,r less hassel way of doing this.

Q-Prof, "Quality of life is too valuable to take short cuts. By constantly improving our habits and striving to do our best, will dramatically improve the quality of our lives"
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QProf
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Here is the solution as I suspected or had suggested myself last thread  Smiley Happy,   Isn't it great when you can solve your own challenges.

There is a lot of info once I did some digging... maybe too much.  I picked one of what looked like the easiest for my situation and did not bother with backup, as I had nothing to lose, as my config/data files were on the storage server, so if the VM was destroyed, I could just recreate/install it along with the few applications.

I was able to extend my VMDK WinXPsp3x86 by using

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vcenter_converter_standalone/4_0

It is used for a number of tasks related to virtualization hot, cold or remote situations.

I used it following the instructions found here:

http://vsphere-land.com/tips-tricks/re-sizing-virtual-disks  see section specific to the converter.... nice tool  :smileycool:!

It worked great, and once VMDK was cloned to a new partition, I started it up and everything is fine.  I transferred all 13 GiG of the config/data files over to the VMDK partition and ran the program.  Now no problems with network dropping out.... of course Agent is not using it to get to the config/data files as they are now in the same partition, and the download location are on the storage server which still has not had any drop in the last three hours of constant download... so, I can safely say that the problem is resolved.

Forte Agent, or for that matter any program with high volume writes to configuration and indexing probably would find the same problem.

Because I had my original size of my VM meant for just the operating system and some applications, I did not foresee Agent taking up that much room with its configuration and indexing files to the point that it would fill the 12 GiG of left space (I knew the downloads would take up space and planned on having them saved direcly to the mapped volume on the storage server). This is why I moved Agent's config/data files to the Openfiler 1 TB storage volume.

This situation for what ever reason.... (Anyone that knows why... please post suggesting/reason, as I still would like to know for myself and others that run into the same situation)  :smileyconfused:  will not only loose network connection mapped to that 1TB Openfiler storage volume, but access from anywhere in your network also plus intiate a freeze, where by Openfiler needs to be completely rebooted by shutting down the whole server at the source physically (not great for Openfiler, nor Vmware).

Maybe it is the high rate of headers being transferred to the index files, which can be huge for a particular group, as the downloaded file parts don't have any problems with the same location???  I have a brand new Gigabit firewall and switch with Cat6 cabling with excellent throughput within local network, so either Openfiler or ???

Q-Prof, "Quality of life is too valuable to take short cuts. By constantly improving our habits and striving to do our best, will dramatically improve the quality of our lives"
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