adrianych's Posts

Hi, I have read up the diff between exporting VMs (vCenter 5.5) OVA and OVF. I will need to use these to upload the VM to the cloud. I am currently in the midst of converting a very large server... See more...
Hi, I have read up the diff between exporting VMs (vCenter 5.5) OVA and OVF. I will need to use these to upload the VM to the cloud. I am currently in the midst of converting a very large server (1.3TB) to really see the differences in terms of file(s) size and time taken. - virtualized vCenter 5.5 with 4 vCPU and 16GB RAM, Synology NAS (RAID 5 SSDs) plugged into LAN with 1 shared folder presented to vCenter as mapped drive, - The OVF took approx 14.5hrs and file is 239GB - The OVA is still running, taken 8 hrs and vCenter shows 57% completed with a few large files already created. Qn which I could not really find answers online 1. Would defrag of the Windows 2003/2008/2012 OS and Data disks help ? 2. Would shrinking the Windows 2003/2008/2012 OS and Data disks help ? (do note that I do not intend to change the VM status) 3. Where is the compression taking place as vCenter does not seem to use much RAM (in use 7GB) or CPU (almost 1% in use) ? 4. Are there any other ways to speed up the process ?
Have you tried setting the NIC as the iSCSI address so all you need is to add a iSCSI storage in vCenter ?
the question is why u need to putty into the KVM if you can directly putty into the ESXi ? Unless you are using a digital KVM that has putty or SSH interface via 2nd KVM NIC, then you will be ... See more...
the question is why u need to putty into the KVM if you can directly putty into the ESXi ? Unless you are using a digital KVM that has putty or SSH interface via 2nd KVM NIC, then you will be able to then use the 1st putty to open a 2nd putty via the KVM NIC. I do hope you are understand putty and not using RDP, whereby some people using their home PC, RDP into a PC in the office (VPN tunnel) to RDP into a server in the office.
You will need to use viClient to enable SSH via configuration > Security profile. SSH & ESXi shell are off by default, you will need to start these Daemon services. At putty, use the root cre... See more...
You will need to use viClient to enable SSH via configuration > Security profile. SSH & ESXi shell are off by default, you will need to start these Daemon services. At putty, use the root credentials or admin
Sometimes due to the complexity of multipathing or round-robin "multi-channel" we like to set, there maybe delays. Best practise for Dell EQL, which I have done was to only delete or unmount f... See more...
Sometimes due to the complexity of multipathing or round-robin "multi-channel" we like to set, there maybe delays. Best practise for Dell EQL, which I have done was to only delete or unmount from only one host, then use vCenter to rescan datastores at cluster level, then Data Center level. This should propagate to the other hosts.
I think i had faced this issue before as I am also using Dell EQL with connection to 6 ESXi hosts. But logically, you do not have to remove or delete datastores more than once. vCenter will sy... See more...
I think i had faced this issue before as I am also using Dell EQL with connection to 6 ESXi hosts. But logically, you do not have to remove or delete datastores more than once. vCenter will sync mounted datastores (unless its local HDD on the physical ESXi host). There are a few main scenario where delete fails : - vCenter Database fails to update changes or updates slowly - LUN was removed from Dell EQL prematurely (deleted from one ESXi host then set offline in Dell EQL) You can try the following (please choose one at a time, refrain from performing vCenter related task while tasks are carried out) i. use Domain, Data Center or Cluster level "rescan for datastores" to try to sync all of the ESXi hosts ii. remount the LUN (if it was only set offline), Domain, Data Center or Cluster level "rescan for datastores" . Then delete or unmount from one ESXi, use Domain, Data Center or Cluster level "rescan for datastores" @ iii. Purge and clean up your vCenter database (there was also a SQL script to run but I lost the link, also temp reduce logs to 1 or 3 days to reduce size), then run item i. VMware KB: Purging old data from the database used by VMware vCenter Server VMware KB: Reducing the size of the vCenter Server database when the rollup scripts take a long time to run
Hi, I got this issue with a Legacy server (Win 2K3) which I would need to use in a new data centre (its actually a sub-PRD + DR site). I have 2 sites with 2 IP range : 1. HQ : 11.1.1.xxx (sub... See more...
Hi, I got this issue with a Legacy server (Win 2K3) which I would need to use in a new data centre (its actually a sub-PRD + DR site). I have 2 sites with 2 IP range : 1. HQ : 11.1.1.xxx (subnet 255.255.255.0) - Domain Controller : 11.1.1.1 - File Server : 11.1.1.2 - Legacy App server  : 11.1.1.3 2. Remote Office : 11.1.10.xxx (subnet 255.255.255.0) - Legacy App server  : 11.1.10.3 (IP address to be added after moving) Proposed workaround (failed) : Install 2nd LAN card to Legacy App server (Legacy App server would have 2 IP : 11.1.1.3 & 11.1.10.3) Issue : Some applications and reports were hard-coded with server IP address of 11.1.1.3 (should had used host name but that was in past). - If I have 2 LAN cards on, the Legacy App server cannot ping Domain controller and database fails to start as authentication fails (cannot ping 11.1.1.xxx) - If I have only 1 LAN card on (11.1.10.3), the Legacy App server and Database can run, but application fails as cannot connect to old IP (cannot find 11.1.1.3) I am open to all advise and suggestions....Thanks in advance...
Actually, I found out the only way was to remove the old servers from vCenter. This will "un-assign" the license(s). After which I can re-assign the licenses to the new servers. Then using th... See more...
Actually, I found out the only way was to remove the old servers from vCenter. This will "un-assign" the license(s). After which I can re-assign the licenses to the new servers. Then using the viClient to directly login to the ESXi hosts root account then add in the "free" license keys to put into evaluation mode. After which I power down the old servers.
Hi, I would need some help and advise as I am unable to remove Per CPU VMware Std license from some of my ESXi. Basically, I have 18 CPU licenses, mostly are used by Dual CPU servers but I also ... See more...
Hi, I would need some help and advise as I am unable to remove Per CPU VMware Std license from some of my ESXi. Basically, I have 18 CPU licenses, mostly are used by Dual CPU servers but I also have 4 units of single CPU machines (approx 9 yrs old). I have vacated the 4 older servers and is prepared to turn them off permanently. I cannot seem to remove the licenses so that I can later assign the licenses to other newer machines if required. I was advised to set to evaluation mode but it has no license key and showed expired. Please advise.
But Can I just delete the VSA 5.5.3x (i think is this version) and re-install by deploying the new VSA with same IP ?
Hi...I have seen many misleading descriptions for the task I am trying to accomplish. I am using ESXi 5.5 on vCenter 5.5 (Windows 2012R2). 1. Re-size of c: and release space to data store In... See more...
Hi...I have seen many misleading descriptions for the task I am trying to accomplish. I am using ESXi 5.5 on vCenter 5.5 (Windows 2012R2). 1. Re-size of c: and release space to data store In the start, we created Virtual servers with 200GB boot drives (C:\) After re-sizing the C:\ of a VM using disk manager in Windows 2008 or 2012, my partition has like 80GB online (50Gb used, 30Gb free) and another 120GB un-allocated. What I have read is that the more common or probably the only method is to use VMware Standalone converter to convert such that the VM has c:\ partition of 80GB and the rest of 120GB will be released to the data store. Is there any other method of dong it ? 2. Re-size of Data Store and release space to SAN Storage (Dell EQL) I might have created a volume in Dell EQL and presented as a 300GB data store to VMware . As above, I have released 120GB of free space to the data store due to re-size of the VM from 200GB to 80GB. Thus now I have a data store of 220GB free space (originally had only 100GB) What I have read, the only way is to create another Dell EQL volume of 150GB, present it to VMware as a data store, then vMotion the server into the new data store then delete the old data store. Is there any other method of dong it ? 3. Re-size of c: for vCenter and release space to data store After re-sizing the C:\ of a VM using disk manager in Windows 2008 or 2012, my partition has like 80GB online (50Gb used, 30Gb free) and another 120GB un-allocated. But I could not use the VMware Standalone converter directly on the ESXi host as it says my vCenter needs to be up, but I cannot convert a powered on VM ?
Hi I am having 2 separate issues on 2 of my vshield manager, VSM 5.5 for PRD and VSM 5.1 for VDI. Both are used for my Trend Micro Deep security 9.5 server. Issues with VSM 5.1 for VDI 1. Po... See more...
Hi I am having 2 separate issues on 2 of my vshield manager, VSM 5.5 for PRD and VSM 5.1 for VDI. Both are used for my Trend Micro Deep security 9.5 server. Issues with VSM 5.1 for VDI 1. Postgres (2081) /proc/2081/oom_adj is depreciated.... Issues with VSM 5.5 for PRD 1. Postgres (2072) /proc/2072/oom_adj is depreciated.... 2. e1000 mgmt link is down.... - the link goes down after a while (between 1 hr and 32hrs) - I would need to power off and power on to get the link up - if I choose to shutdown or reboot, it will hang at the linux "end process" So is there an easy way to solve the issues ? If I were to re-install to 5.5.3 or some later version like 5.5.4, would I need to do anything like un-installing or unlinking ?
An ESXi host is not like a normal Win or Linux server. You should not power down a ESXi host without first putting it in maintenance mode (all VMs must be powered off or vMotion to another host)... See more...
An ESXi host is not like a normal Win or Linux server. You should not power down a ESXi host without first putting it in maintenance mode (all VMs must be powered off or vMotion to another host). UPS controlled ESXi host shutdown can be very tricky as not many people put ESXi hosts under 1 UPS each....means 6 ESXi host with 6 UPS. If you put 6 ESXi host to 1 UPS....any UPS issues...u may have some very big issues as ALL VMs may start powering down. Even if you put staggered ESXi host shut down, you may see VMs being vMotion to other ESXi hosts....and what would you think will happen when u have 1 or 2 ESXi hosts holding all the VMs and it is forced to shut down ? **BTW I am taking that you have set up the ESXi hosts to a shared storage using fast connectors like 10G iSCSI...so only the live VM state needs to be vMotion over.
So what's the difference between "Consolidate" and "Delete All"?? I think you may have misconception of the snapshot.... I would use Windows update + service pack installation as an example... See more...
So what's the difference between "Consolidate" and "Delete All"?? I think you may have misconception of the snapshot.... I would use Windows update + service pack installation as an example. VM with MS svr 2003 running....you may want to install SP1, then test, then install the Windows updates, then test. - snapshot 1 (sn1) : Win2003 without updates & SP - Installation of  Win2003 SP1 (with reboot etc) - snapshot 2 (sn2) : Win 2003 SP1 - Install Windows updates on Win2003 SP1 - snapshot 3 (sn3) : Win 2003 SP1 with updates - svr testing for 5 days (eg. install Acrobat reader, Microsoft office) So u shd have 3 snapshots.....which all will "grow" as you test ur svr. But ur VM will have 4 main file types (with regards to this context) 1. Base VM files (vmdk, vmx, VM's memory, swp files etc) 2. VM's snapshot file 3. VM's snapshot swp files (swap may not be correct name....but I cannot think of the proper name) In logical terms.... - "sn1" is the base snapshot - "sn2" is "sn1" + "data1" - "sn3" is "sn1" + "data1" + data2" - VM1 is sn1" + "data1" + data2" + un-named swap data On the 5th day of testing....the VM will have files for - "base VM", "sn1", " sn2", "sn3", "data1",  data2" and un-named swap data that is generated during the 5 days testing. Then by right "consolidation" will convert the un-name swap into "data3" so that - "sn1" is the base snapshot + "data3" - "sn2" is "sn1" + "data1" + "data3" - "sn3" is "sn1" + "data1" + data2" + "data3" - VM1 is sn1" + "data1" + data2" + "data3" In a layman way....VMs with snapshot are VMs that have have been split into many files. When you delete snapshots (please do not try delete all), what you are doing is to merge sn1" + "data1" + data2" + un-named swap data or "data3" into a VM. Sorry....I forgot to add...please do not house or keep VMware snapshots for extended periods of time. Snapshots are not backups. They might snap then u have yourself shot......cheers....
I meant that I have OLD VM that have C: (70GB) (600GB)  E: (150GB) F: (50GB) (all 4 HDD in a 1.2TB data store). Please note that they are not RMDs In my new VM, I only have set one HDD of 7... See more...
I meant that I have OLD VM that have C: (70GB) (600GB)  E: (150GB) F: (50GB) (all 4 HDD in a 1.2TB data store). Please note that they are not RMDs In my new VM, I only have set one HDD of 70GB but I put it in a data store of 1.2TB. What I thought of doing is to create (600GB)  E: (150GB) F: (50GB); 1. use Robocopy to "sync" the drives. 2. use some backup software to backup each partition then restore - Only issue is that both VMs will be online and users maybe able to change files. - Some "smart" users may have denied access to files and folders such that administrators do not have access to these files and folders I have read in a older forum post that someone suggested moving the VMDK files as each VMDK usually represents each HDD. I am trying to explore this option.
Hi, I need some advise...Thanks in advance for any advise and help. I have this issue where I need to upgrade or change the OS of a Virtual Machine. I am not sure if either would make any dif... See more...
Hi, I need some advise...Thanks in advance for any advise and help. I have this issue where I need to upgrade or change the OS of a Virtual Machine. I am not sure if either would make any difference if the OS are Win 2012 & Win 2012R2 for the old vs new VMs respectively? Reason : too many accidental login and too many programs installed/uninstalled from the file server. Only folders shared in D:\ E: F:\ are important. One of the issues I have is that the old Virtual Machine is using vmx-9 and the new one is using vmx-10 (only edit via web client). Background OLD VM : 1 vCPU 4GB RAM, running Windows 2012 with OS partition of 70GB + 3 HDD (total 4 Virtual Disks on a single 1.2TB data store) NEW VM : 2 vCPU 8GB RAM, running Windows 2012 R2 with OS partition of 70GB only (total 1 Virtual Disks on a single 1.2TB data store) Question Is it possible to "copy" Virtual HDD from OLD VM to the NEW VM ? - I would not like to "move" the HDD in case any issues arises and I may need to revert back to the OLD VM (esp for network and folder sharing config)
I agree with you, but most of these issues were from legacy 92003 or 2008) servers that were converted from P2V. Nonetheless, for full backups of busy servers, Monthly or Quarterly cold backup... See more...
I agree with you, but most of these issues were from legacy 92003 or 2008) servers that were converted from P2V. Nonetheless, for full backups of busy servers, Monthly or Quarterly cold backups are less complex and I can sleep better at night.
Actually I got quite a few different issues from different servers ranging from VMware Quiescence or Application Aware Image Processing or VSS (as I discovered and is trying to remove Backup Exec... See more...
Actually I got quite a few different issues from different servers ranging from VMware Quiescence or Application Aware Image Processing or VSS (as I discovered and is trying to remove Backup Exec VSS from previous Backup exec 101.d installations from P2V servers).
Some of the few reasons I need to perform "cold" backups are : 1. External factors that cause applications and database not being to get VM Quiescence or that the VSS fails frequently when run... See more...
Some of the few reasons I need to perform "cold" backups are : 1. External factors that cause applications and database not being to get VM Quiescence or that the VSS fails frequently when running regular "full" backup. - Some of these servers are data warehouses and some are ERP servers and are being accessed 24/7 - I use only "reverse incremental" backups on weekdays, it takes only 15 minutes to backup a 5TB server via 10gbps onto NAS with SSDs - Full back up are performed on both Sat and Sun as sometimes either will fail due to quiescence issues 2. Recovery of servers sometimes will get errors - Windows Server "blue" screen on Server 2008 R2 - SQL database corrupted
Hi, I do have the need to perform some "powered off" backups using Veeam (or any other software for the matter). The "Powered off" backups would be performed like once a Qtr and I was looking if... See more...
Hi, I do have the need to perform some "powered off" backups using Veeam (or any other software for the matter). The "Powered off" backups would be performed like once a Qtr and I was looking if I can find a way to schedule the entire process but I have met a problem and need some kind advise. Software: - ESXi 5.1.0 1743533 with vCenter 5.1 (I do not know exact version) - Veeam 7.0.0.871 Proposed task 1. Shutting down VMs (Running Windows 2008 & Windows 2012) - To run 30 min before scheduled backup job - Rather straightforward as shutdown can be scheduled via Windows or even viClient 2. Backup VMs - run scheduled VM backup - run scheduled Backup copy to tape (optional, can run almost anytime later) - Run script to boot up VM The problem The problem now is that most backup software have the function to run scripts or batch files after the backup completes. Can someone kindly guide me how to write a "DOS" batch file to boot up a Virtual Machine Alternative The only alternative that I have tried is to use vCenter to schedule a VM "power up" time. But if the backup exceeds the timing, I may not have a "powered down" VM backup copy. Please kindly advise