VCenter is Virtual on XP - No More Admin Sessions Available

[MB345]

Greetings!

Vcenter runs on a virtualized XP.

If 2 admin sessions are already "disconnected", there will be no more available to log onto for XP.

XP being virtual has no power button on the front of the box

Vcenter being non-accessible cannot shut off itself (that is, the XP that runs Vcenter)

Ideas? (plz don't say, call whover logged on and have them reconnect / log off.)

Thanks!

[Troy_Clavell]

If 2 admin sessions are already "disconnected", there will be no more available to log onto for XP.

open the console of the VM and log in.

XP being virtual has no power button on the front of the box. However, just use a vSphere Client from another station and connect to the ESX Host that has the vCenter guest.

hmmm... You can power cycle the guest just as you would any other VM, using the console

Vcenter being non-accessible cannot shut off itself (that is, the XP that runs Vcenter)

see above

[JonT · Accepted solution]

You need to install the vCenter client on another machine, and connect to your vCenter on XP. Once there you can do whatever you need to. If all else fails, you can use the Terminal Services manager from another XP machine to remotely kill the two disconnected sessions on your virtual XP machine.

Forward thinking, you should setup the local security policy of that XP machine to force logoff and session reset on Terminal Services after a set amount of time, like an hour or two. That way even if both sessions get used then disconnected improperly (log off) they will be cleared automatically.

Hope this helps!

[golddiggie]

I see a more reliable/stable solution being installing vCenter Server onto a Windows SERVER OS VM... Such as either Server 2003 x64 or 2008 x64 (I wouldn't advise trying the R2 releases at this time). You can use the 'Standard' edition of Windows Server here, since you'll install the x64 release (forward thinking so that you're ready for vCenter 4.1), thus removing memory amount limitations and not needing to get the more expensive licenses from Microsoft...

I've gone this route even in my home lab. Using a Microsoft TechNet Pro subscription (you can usually get a discount code to take 25% off the cost, making it in the $200 range to start, with renewals being cheaper, per year) you get a LOT of legit keys (and can download ISO files, or installers, for a LOT of product)... You get many thousands of dollars worth of software for that couple hundred... A bargain in anyone's book (at least if you care about being legit and not hacking the OS to get it to run after the trial time has expired). Businesses can get a subscription, or use a MSDN membership to gain the same benefits (and more)... With such a membership being so cheap, and easy to obtain, it doesn't make sense to use non-server operating systems where you really should go with a server OS.. You probably spend more at Starbucks (or Duncan Donuts) in a year than the membership would cost you...

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[JonT]

Yes, ultimately you should look to setting up a server O/S for your vCenter server, even if it's a virtual machine. Understanding that sometimes even in a lab there may be no money for another server license, you could either "double-up" the vCenter role with another, or leave it as XP but don't log into that machine to utilize the vCenter client.

[MB345]

Thanks, Troy, JonT, Golddiggie for your responses.

The "Correct Answer" was hard to award as they all look correct.

I dropped that on JonT as he got there first with a detailed answer of what I probably need to do.

Hope this community bears with me for a while as I am a complete noob at VMware.