Trying to go as simple as possible: One floating VM from vCenter / ESXi. Still stuck.

[jeremym]

Okay:

So far, I've .. :

1. Failed at creating a pool of automatic linked clones with Quickprep: I need a KMS for that. Don't want to do that.

2. Failed at creating a pool of automatic lined clones with Sysprep.

Okay.. I'm ready to take a giant leap BACKWARDS, and just get the following going:

ONE Floating Windows 7 32-bit VM.

And I'm still stuck.

What I'm doing:

1. Put apps, and VMware View Agent on the machine. Joined domain. Shut it down. Took snapshot.

2. Created Manual Pool. Floating. vCenter virtual machines.

3. Pick the ONE VM (from step 1).

4. Pool "creates" and appears to start the VM.

5. Poking my head in via the ESXi console, I see the machine start.. and then.. just sit there. It's waiting for someone to log on, and nothing else at all is happening.

My status is "Waiting for agent" as seen here:  http://screencast.com/t/lhECz2mtlZ

VMware Tools and Agent are (I swear) on the VM as seen here: http://screencast.com/t/qHH34FptXS4

I can manually log on (whoop de doo)... but vCenter's events are not showing anything other than (again) .. "Waiting for agent") and the following: http://screencast.com/t/FDZmCZVc

I must have missed the memo or something, and maybe DIDNT do something to my VM guest.. because all my tests are failing in exactly the same place: all my tests with floating pools all just stop right here and a lot of nothing happens after the guest is started.

By creating a manual pool, my hope was  to avoid all wierd issues.

This should be working.. but .. alas.. I am stuck.. (this is my 5th day at this.)

Thanks in advance.

[bcecka]

Can you log into the VM that it creates and see the Event Log? What's your Sysprep customization doing?

[lbourque]

Firewall, firewall, firewall. Win7's firewall is likely blocking ports. When View says "Waiting for Agent" that means it's waiting for the agent to respond. This can happen waiting for a service to start or if a firewall blocks it.

And the "Empty pool" error is because you've logged into the only desktop (likely via vCenter -- REMEMBER: This counts as a connection as far as RDP/PCoIP are concerned and since those are SINGLE USER protocols you won't be able to log into View if you've logged in via the vCenter console). Log off vCenter and try connecting with the View Client would be a better test.

[lbourque]

Since this is a manual pool there is no need for SysPrep or QuickPrep.

[jeremym]

No firewall on at all: http://screencast.com/t/PwOTfS6XOeet

That's a picture of inside the guest VM I am using in the pool.

[jeremym]

Also, I think I'm getting "empty pool" because this machine never finished being "prepared."

I jumped the gun and tried to connect to it.. but its not "ready."

[lbourque]

And Windows 7, when the firewall is disabled, by default blocks all ports.

[lbourque]

No.. you're getting "Empty pool" because you accessed it from the console and there are no other desktops in the pool available.

[jeremym]

Okay.. Assuming that is true..

If I ping, say, from my DC to this running VM, what ports should I test for action on?

I will use "psping" which can test specific ports.

So, I'll PSping *FROM* my DC to this running VM and knock on the ports you specify for me.

Thanks.

[lbourque]

At the least you should be able to ping the RDP port (assuming you've enabled RDP on the desktop).

That said, just enable the firewall. It doesn't hurt and it is certainly a good idea. The Agent already opened the appropriate ports for you so it should be just a simple flick of the switch and then wait 30 seconds, go to the View Admin page, refresh the desktop tab to see if the agent is finally talking with the connection server.

[jeremym]

RDP port passes PSping when the firewall isOFF:

Its OFF here (and psping 3389 passes).

http://screencast.com/t/DReMVZRX0bsk

Its ON and (psping 3389 fails) here:

http://screencast.com/t/r61SaOxv

After turning the firewall on, waiting several minutes and refreshing... the state of "Waiting for agent" is still the same.

[lbourque]

Hrmm... Which Windows 7 version are you using?

Disable the firewall again and try the following:

1. Reboot the VM (DO NOT LOG IN VIA vSphere to the Console of the Windows 7 itself)

2. Check View admin to see if it shows up as "AVAILABLE". If not, continue

3. Try to connect from View client to desktop to see if the status will change (it may error at first but give it 30 seconds after, close the View client and try connecting again if the AVAILABLE finally shows). If not, continue.

4. See if you can telnet to the following ports: 4001, 4100, 4172

Look under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware View\logs to see if the agent is complaining about anything.

[lbourque]

Oh.. and before I forget, when doing the telnet open another cmd window and run netstat -an to see if the connection shows.

[jeremym]

1. VMware Client won't connect to anything: http://screencast.com/t/KIUzUUGM

2. Ping to the VM worked, but telnet to any of the ports of the VM you suggested didn't: http://screencast.com/t/KIUzUUGM

3. Telnet to 3389 at the VM did work (not shown.. but 3389 responded.)

4. Since its Win7 VM, I think you mean to say that the logs are in %programdata%\Vmware\View .. but even then there's nothing there at all: http://screencast.com/t/UlhsewqL

5. Here's my netstat -an output from a machine with the View client: http://screencast.com/t/dUAf5e3MK

Thanks.

PS: What *IS* true is that I used the VMware BAT Commands to "optimize" the desktop (turning off services, etc etc). I'm going to re-upload a guest to ESXi that doesnt have any of that and try that next.

[lbourque]

And don't touch the firewall. Make sure that it's on when the agent is installed and let the agent take care of the ports.

It's performance may not be the best although a simple quick one to help is to right click on Computer --> Properties --> Advanced --> Performance --> Settings --> set the radio button to Adjust for Best Performance.

[mikebarnett]

Hi Jeremy,

When creating a manual pool there is no explicit customization that occurs inside the VM. The VM is simply added to the View UI in that pool.

What you should see though is a reconfiguration task kick off as soon as you add the VM. This adds some information to the VMX file of the VM so the Agent can read it and connect to your Connection Server.

Two common reasons we don't see this complete successfully are:

a) The vCenter Administrator account you've provided in the View Admin UI doesn't have sufficient permissions

To fix this simply assign a user that has full admin permissions at the top level of vCenter.

b) The vCenter Server is showing as red in the dashboard and you haven't accepted the certificate exception.

I can see from your screenshot that you only have a single item showing as red in the top left overview. I'm assuming that's your Connection Server so this may not be the problem.

If you could grab the VMX file from the VM you're trying to work with and drop it here I can take a look. You can also look inside the file yourself if you like. You're looking for an attribute named "machine.id". There should be a long string in there with various comma separated values.

One last question, how much RAM do you have assigned to the Connection Server VM?

-Mike

[mpryor]

I think I already posted this on another one of your threads, but have you run the agent's support tool yet? It will test needed connectivity back to the connection server. There's clearly a problem there somewhere.

[jeremym]

To Mike:

1. I have 2GB assigned to the vConnect server.

2. Lets come back around on vConnect issues in a bit.  But can you also please give me steps to supply the VMX? (I would be able to do it from VMware Workstation)  but am unclear how do to it using vCenter. Sorry. Thanks.

mPryor and lborque:

1. Uploaded a new VM guest (same basic one I use everyday in VMware Workstation).. Installed the View agent and rebooted.

Then, before I tried to even MAKE my next pool...

2. Tried to telnet to all relevent ports. 3389 passed. The rest you mentioned failed. http://screencast.com/t/5wAcxMhvXGP

3. Ran the diagnostics. I have a small and large version (with process dumps).

Small dump: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7245816/VMagent%20Dumps/vfcomputer32-d-vdm-sdct-20130625-0835-ag...

Large dump (60MB): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7245816/VMagent%20Dumps/vfcomputer32-d-vdm-sdct-20130625-0829-ag...

While I wait for you guys to get into the office for feedback and to see these log files, I'm going to create a new VM from scratch and install the agent and upload it and see if I get the same results.

PS: I mentioned it earlier, but just to be on the safe side.. I'm implementing the WHOLE THING inside VMware Workstation as a proof of concept lab. All of it. The DC, vConnect, vCenter, ESXi, VMware Client.. Everything. http://screencast.com/t/pidQbTneRd7

[mpryor · Accepted solution]

jeremym wrote:

Then, before I tried to even MAKE my next pool...

...

3. Ran the diagnostics. I have a small and large version (with process dumps).

PS: I mentioned it earlier, but just to be on the safe side.. I'm implementing the WHOLE THING inside VMware Workstation as a proof of concept lab. All of it. The DC, vConnect, vCenter, ESXi, VMware Client.. Everything. http://screencast.com/t/pidQbTneRd7

Ok, first off the support bundle won't be of much use when you ran it as the VM is not yet configured for a pool. It therefore won't have a set of servers to try and connect to and test.

Secondly, nested inside workstation may well be your issue here. Nesting _may_ be ok if everything is set up correctly, but it also might be interfering with the ability for the desktop VM to get its configuration from the (virtual) ESX host. I assume you've set the monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = TRUE flag on your virtual ESX VMs? You're definitely well into unsupported territory but if you can get software inside the windows VM to read the machine.id field from the vmx file then everything should work (don't expect any kind of usable performance though!). You can test this by using tools: vmtoolsd --cmd "machine.id.get".

[jeremym]

A great miracle has occurred.

In short, adding monitor_control.restrict_backdoor = TRUE to the ESXi VMX within Workstation.. worked and made my Guest VM's agent wake up correctly.

I was then able to try to re-create the pool with just *ONE* machine (the same Win7 VM from last several days).

There was a hiccup though:

a. First time booting (automatically) from the pool.. it didn't get an IP address, and then fell over and died (as usual.)

b. I then logged on to the (already booted) VM via the vCenter console and renewed the IP address.. and.. Bingo.

I was able to successfully connect via my View Client.

I'm going to now:

a. Flush the whole DHCP cache, lock stock and barrel.

b. Try to make a floating linked clone pool like I wanted to in the first place via Quickprep.

Standby.. but.. yay. Finally.. *SOMETHING* resembling success after 5 days of trying.. !

Again.. Standby for result for the "real" test.. (shouldnt be long.)

THANK YOU GUYS (so far..) Not out of the woods yet !