VCB custom quiesced script to shutdown services on other server

[kstedry]

Hello,

We are using ESX 3.5 with the latest updates. We have also updated

VMware Tools to the latest updates on all VMs and use VCB 1.5. All VMs

are Windows. We are running custom quiesced scripts on some VMs because we need

to shutdown databases prior to snapshots being taken.

However, we have one VM (Windows Server 2003 Standard) that needs to

shutdown services on another server along with shutting down its own DB. I can

easily create a script using the freeze, thaw, and freezeFail variables to do

these pre/post tasks and have even tested each one by calling this script

and passing each variable to it. It works great.

However, when using VCB, it fails with:

Creating a quiesced snapshot failed because the (user-supplied) custom

pre-freeze script in the virtual machine exited with a non-zero return code.

I have narrowed why this happens down to the commands that remotely shut

down services on the other server. I use netsvc to do it. When I remove these

commands and only shut down the local DB, it works like a charm.

To make a long story short (too late) does anyone perform this type of pre/post

freeze scripting; that manages services on a remote server?

Am I missing something?

[lamw]

You can probably investigate using WMI/vb calls to shutdown Window Services. You can also utilize VMware VIX which allows for more granular VM management including running commands within the guest using VMware Tools: http://engr.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/#vmware_vix

You can probably come up with something with VIX that'll shutdown the service before making a call to your freeze/thaw scripts

=========================================================================

William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[kstedry]

Thank you, I will definately look into this option.

For now I have a scheduled task on the remote server stopping and starting those services within this particular server's backup window.

Clunky, but it works.

Thanks again.