DanlOfRI Tracker

VMWareTasks Snapshots only returns single snapshot

DanlOfRI — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 19:40:33 GMT

I am trying to use VMWareTasks API wrapper for VIX to manage a set of virtual machines. One of the processes I want to incorporate is the ability to manage snapshots. To do this I need to get a collection of snapshots for a given virtual machine and check the count that contains a snapshot name. If the count is greater than the MAXSNAPSHOTS count then I delete the oldest snapshot.

The problem is that when I get the collection of snapshots it only returns one of dozens of snapshots for this virtual machine. They are arranged like this

BaseOS -> Snap1 -> Snap2 -> Snap3 -> Snap4 -> Snap5

-> Snap3.1 -> Snap3.2

I am working with VMWare Workstation 14 Pro, VIX 1.14, and VMWareTasks 1.17.

Here is a snip of my code (C#):

private void CleanupSnapshots(VMWareVirtualMachine virtualMachine, VMInfo vmInfo)

{

//The code below returns a VMWareRootSnapshotCollection with only the first snapshot listed

var snapshots = virtualMachine.Snapshots;

...

}

It appears that I have to recursively check all child snapshots until no more are found. Is there an easier way to get a collection of all the snapshots?

Re: Clone failure - The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened

DanlOfRI — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 12:41:20 GMT

My solution was as follows:

I restored a cloned Virtual Machine prior to creating the second hard drive.
I then expanded the current hard drive to meet my needs. This was the original reason I added the second hard drive in the first place.
Now cloning and creating snapshots works correctly.

How to log into Windows Guest

DanlOfRI — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:17:48 GMT

I have several Virtual Machines running, all running Windows 7 Professional SP1 x86.

I am working on a PowerShell 2.0 script that does the following

Checks if a target virtual machine is running
Shuts down virtual machine if running
cleans up old snapshot
creates new snapshot
Clones the current state of the machine
Restart Windows
Log into Windows

I have code that successfully checks if the vm is running, stops the virtual machine, clones the machine, and starts the machine. I will be adding the snapshot routine next.

What I now need to do is to wait for the Windows CTRL+ALT+DEL prompt and go through a process to log into windows. I do not see where the `vmrun start [drive]:\[PathToVMX].vmx` command has a method to allow log into for the OS.

How have others here handled this scenario? I am sure that I am not the first to attempt to startup a virtual machine from a command prompt and log into the system.

Thank you.

Clone failure - The parent of this virtual disk could not be opened

DanlOfRI — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 12:28:37 GMT

I have a virtual machine where I added a second hard drive. I mapped this drive to a folder in the Windows OS. However, since I added the second hard drive, cloning of the machine fails with the error indicated above.

I can create snapshots correctly.

Cloning is an important part of resiliency for our build workflow, and adding the second drive is also important as I cannot expand the drive.

I am fairly certain this relates to the second disk I added. Is there anything I can do to fix this short of deleting the drive?

Looking at the VM, I see 'seconddrive.vmdk', which I assume is the parent of the second drive.

Contents of SecondDrive.vmdk
# Disk DescriptorFile version=1 encoding="windows-1252" CID=b2aba194 parentCID=ffffffff isNativeSnapshot="no" createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse" # Extent description RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s001.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s002.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s003.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s004.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s005.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s006.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s007.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s008.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s009.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s010.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s011.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s012.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s013.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s014.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s015.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s016.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s017.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s018.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s019.vmdk" RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s020.vmdk" RW 40960 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s021.vmdk" # The Disk Data Base #DDB ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic" ddb.geometry.cylinders = "5221" ddb.geometry.heads = "255" ddb.geometry.sectors = "63" ddb.longContentID = "3ccf9c09120efb7d998f303db2aba194" ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 95 01 eb f8 5b-d2 63 58 21 70 8e 74 8b" ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10"

Contents of SecondDrive.vmdk

# Disk DescriptorFile

version=1

encoding="windows-1252"

CID=b2aba194

parentCID=ffffffff

isNativeSnapshot="no"

createType="twoGbMaxExtentSparse"

# Extent description

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s001.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s002.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s003.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s004.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s005.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s006.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s007.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s008.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s009.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s010.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s011.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s012.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s013.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s014.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s015.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s016.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s017.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s018.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s019.vmdk"

RW 4192256 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s020.vmdk"

RW 40960 SPARSE "SecondDrive-s021.vmdk"

# The Disk Data Base

#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"

ddb.geometry.cylinders = "5221"

ddb.geometry.heads = "255"

ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"

ddb.longContentID = "3ccf9c09120efb7d998f303db2aba194"

ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 95 01 eb f8 5b-d2 63 58 21 70 8e 74 8b"

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "10"

Note that in the file directory, there are 176 files listed as SecondDrive-s. I suspect that the 'extra' related to previous snapshots, but I am not sure of that.

Re: Workstation 10 Group policy not working in virutal network

DanlOfRI — Wed, 06 May 2015 17:33:16 GMT

Thank you for the reply.

The host OS is Windows 7 Professional x64. Yes it is part of a domain but I do not include this OS as part of my test network. As you stated I am trying to keep things isolated with the exception of requiring Internet connection. This is why I had selected NAT in my first attempt at this.

Yes, my IP address for the virtual network card is offered up as you indicated 192.168.###.1.

Before I install the DC role, I set the address of the Windows 2008 R2 system the number above, set my subnet to 255.255.255.0 and set my gateway.

After configuring with dcpromo I test my Internet connection and create my snapshot.

I am glad that I am not the only one that finds the documentation a bit confusing.

I am going to start over again and try the manual configuration you suggested. Thank you for the info.

Workstation 10 Group policy not working in virutal network

DanlOfRI — Wed, 06 May 2015 13:40:34 GMT

I am trying to create a virtual network where I can test deploying software that we create using Active Directory and SCCM.

For virtual machines I have the following:

1. Windows 2008 R2 with DC installed

2. Windows 7x64 Enterprise

3. Windows 2012 SP1

4. Windows 7x86 Professional

5. Windows 8.1 x86 Pro

6. Windows 8.1 x64 Pro

Network configuration is set to NAT on all systems.

I am able to create a forest successfully and add the other machines to the domain. I can physically copy files from and to all other machines.

However, if I create a group policy, the group policy is never activated on the computers on the domain, even a simple registry change.

I have tried using gpupdate on the clients and it seems to go through, but no policy is transferred.

I am trying to work my way through the documentation for a custom network option, just to see if that helps. See:

Custom Networking Configurations

Is there something that needs to be done differently to setup a virtual network like this? It is possible that something went wrong with creating the forest and configuring the domain but one of our IT team told me that the configuration should work.

Note that all of the machines require Internet connection in order for the installation to work. Some files are downloaded dynamically for install.

Start host process from within guest OS

DanlOfRI — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 13:05:33 GMT

I am using VMWare Workstation 10.

Some of my vm's are dedicated to compiling code using CruiseControl.NET.

What I am attempting to do is add a step that automates testing a completed setup on several clean virtual machines. From what I can see, the guest OS will be required to 'announce' to the host OS that a build has completed and then launch a process to revert the virtual machines, start the virtual machines and then launch a process that does the following:

Copy the setup.exe from a known location to a directory on the virtual machine
Launch the setup.exe with parameters from a command line
Wait for setup.exe to finish
Launch an automated testing tool to validate basic functionality of the application.
Wait for automated testing to complete
Shut down the virtual machines
Wait for next successful build

I am attempting to work on this problem using vmrun.exe within a powershell script. With this script I can successfully revert virtual machines, start and stop virtual machines.

What I am trying to work out is how to pass data from CruiseControl.net in the guest operating system to the host operating system. So I am turning to this community to see if anyone here has any ideas?

I have not read of any ideas of communication from the guest to the host while there is a 'host' <yeah, pun is intended> of information of sending info from the host to the guest. Note that the guest OS does not have VMWare Workstation installed, nor is it desirable to do this.

My initial thoughts, even as I write this question, is that all of the guest OS build machines map a drive to the host. At the end of of a successful build the setup is copied to a directory and a sentinel file is updated with information. The host OS will have CruiseControl.net installed and will monitor for file changes for the sentinel file. When changed then it will start the automated testing process.

Is there a better way to accomplish this goal?

I appreciate any suggestions.

Sincerely,

Dan Lee | Release Engineer

Creating a thin client network in VMWare Workstation

DanlOfRI — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 12:30:39 GMT

I have recently been informed that many our customers have a thin client network in place using Microsoft RDP, Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Services.

What I would like to do is create a virtual thin client network using Server 2008 | Server 2008 R2 | Server 2012. What I am not certain of is how to emulate the "desktop" environments for the clients and how to configure VMWare to work with this type of network.

Is this possible?

I admit that I have never configured a TS before, so hopefully someone here has done this before and can provide some pointers.

I have been searching Google for information but so far have come up short. Perhaps my search criteria is wrong.

I have VMWare Workstation 10 and access to MSDN for a number of ISOs.

Thank you.

Dan

Re: cant copy/paste from guest to host

DanlOfRI — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 17:16:42 GMT

I have this problem as well. I know the posts are old 'zombie' posts, but the problem still raises its head from time to time and I think I have discovered a common link.

If I startup my guest OS cleanly I can copy and paste.

If I let my OS go into hibernation mode, then copy and paste will be disabled.

In this case I first tried stopping and restarting the vmnetbridge service using:

Net Stop vmnetbridge

Net Start vmnetbridge

However in today's case this did not solve the problem. I have had this work in the past.

Today I had to reboot the guest operating system. Once I did that then the problem was solved.

Test platform:

Host: Windows 7x64

Guest: Windows 7x86

Copy / paste is always enabled in vm settings

Hopefully this helps others who come this way.

Automate cloning of workstation image

DanlOfRI — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 14:12:21 GMT

Our company uses VMWare Workstation 10 and I have several machines configured as software build machines.

One of my tasks is to create weekly backups, e.g., clones, of the build machines. I would love to automate this process so that the machines are shutdown, previous snapshot is deleted, new snapshot is created, a full clone is created, and once that is completed the system is restarted.

Below is my manual process:

Log into the build machine host
Check Build machine to ensure that a build is not currently running. If running, then monitor the build until complete.
Stop Build machine.
Delete previous 'WeeklyBackup' snapshot
Create new 'WeeklyBackup' snapshot
Create new full clone of build machine.
Start Build machine and log into the operating system
Make a copy of cloned machine to network resource for redundancy.

I am fairly good with PowerShell and have tried my hand at creating a script that clones a machine using vmrun.exe. However, I would like to somehow inject a progress indicator to show that something is still happening. Also I would like to automate the entire process so that I can schedule this to run on the weekend.

Below is the code that I have so far, but I have to think that there is a better way to manage this? Is there a PowerShell module for VMWare Workstation that can help with this?

param (

[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]

#This is usually the branch / internal name for the build machine. It is used to specify the clone name and destination path for the weekly backup

[string]$machineName,

[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]

#This is the name of the VMX file

[string]$sourceFileName,

#This is the path to the VMX file

[string]$sourcePath

)

function main

{

#date stamp is concatenated to machine name to create a unique destination folder name for the clone

$dateStamp = Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd

#For our build host workstation / server, we have an external drive whose path is specified below.

$destinationBasePath = "F:\VirtualMachines\BuildMachineBackups\WeeklyBackups"

#Test the parameters to ensure valid data

if (!(Test-Path $destinationBasePath -PathType 'Container')) {

Write-Host "Destination path, $destinationBasePath, does not exist. Please verify if external hard drive is available"

}

if (!(Test-Path $sourcePath -PathType 'Container')) {

Write-Host "Source path, $sourcePath, does not exist. Please specify a valid source path."

}

$fqp_source = (Join-Path $sourcePath $sourceFileName)

$fqp_destinationPath = Join-Path $destinationBasePath (Join-Path $machineName ("$machineName(backup_$dateStamp)\$machineName.vmx"))

#ensure that target path does not exist ...

if (Test-Path ($fqp_destinationPath)--PathType 'Container') {

rd Join-Path $destinationBasePath (Join-Path $machineName ("$machineName(backup_$dateStamp)"))

}

#The core of the code is here, path to VMRUN.EXE, Command line arguments, and PowerShell 'Start-Process'

$vmwareRun = "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmrun.exe"

$cmdArgs = "-T ws clone `"$fqp_source`" `"$fqp_destinationPath`" full -cloneName=`"$machineName(backup)`""

Start-Process $vmwareRun -ArgumentList $cmdArgs -RedirectStandardError (Join-Path $destinationBasePath ("$machineName_$dateStampErrors.log")) -RedirectStandardOutput (Join-Path $destinationBasePath ("$machineName_$dateStamp.log"))

}

main

VMWare virtual machine saving files in two directories

DanlOfRI — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:47:03 GMT

I have a problem that I am trying to resolve. I have a virtual machine that is saving files in two different directories.

Also the size of the directory is becoming large. I am using the machine as a build machine and I need to reign in the stragglers.

I think I know what I did wrong when I configured the machine, but I was just unaware that the default configuration was setup in the build machine's user's directory.

So under the VM options, General settings: The working directory points to the SSD drive, where I expect my files and snapshots to be stored.

However, when I check the Advanced settings, under File locations, the Configuration and log files are pointed to the C:\users\buildmachine\myDocuments\...

Is there any way to bring all of this chaos back under control and maintain my previous snapshots? I know I can clone the machine - but I would then loose my snapshots with previous release states. Also it makes it difficult to backup this system reliably having two different directories to backup and keep syncronized for backup simultaneously. It presents a greater point of failure.

As a point of reference, today I took a snapshot and did file maintenance on the system and noted that both directories have files updated. I deleted some snapshots but did not notice any size changes to either directory. That is what led me down this road as to what is going on and which is the real directory containing snapshots. I am still investigating this aspect of my problems. But I need to solve this problem as well.

The files that are updated today in the user directory are:

VMNAME.vmxf
VMNAME.nvram
log files
vmx file
vmsd file
GUID.vmem file
filename_cl2.vmdk (59 GB in size)

The files that are updates today on the SSD drive are:

MachineName_Snapshot9.vmsn
MachineName_Snapshot7.vmsn
several vmdk files that are several GB in size

So is there a way to consolidate the changes in these directories? The size of one directory is 97GB. The size of another is 123GB. Deleting snapshots has not reduced the sizes of these directories. I am not certain why either.

Thank you.

Dan