Louisiana VMware Users Group » VMware ESX

Failed to Created Provider vDC in VMware vCloud Director

wsellers — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:20:46 +0000

Last week I was having problems creating a Provider vDC in VMware’s vCloud Director… Here’s the error I was getting

Even though the installation was followed step-by-step from documentation, I was still getting this error… After working with VMware Cloud Technical Support, we were able to resolve the issue. The problem is that when I initially named the VCD System Name I gave it the “exact” name of the VM guest running VCD.

The VCD Installed ran fine — and the installation was successful, — with the exception of errors when creating Provider vCD’s.

So, when you are naming your vCD, give it a unique name—- that will never conflict with the name of a VM guest that exists — or would ever exist…

I will post an update here— once the VMware KB article is created and published.

Happy vClouding,
Will

VMware Communities Roundtable: ESXi

wsellers — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:53:23 +0000

Checkout this great VMware Communities Podcast, regarding ESXi — hosted by @jtroyer. Here’s the links for DOWNLOAD and to LISTEN NOW.

John Troyer (http://twitter.com/jtroyer) runs the VMware Communities Podcast at: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19367 – Please stop by and participate in these live podcasts, hosted at Talkshoe.

Enjoy,
Will

Restarting the VMware Management service

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:11:01 +0000

From time to time, you will need to start/restart the VMware Management service.

Here is the command you would use:

# service mgmt-vmware stop

# service mgmt-vmware start (can take up to 1 minute before fully online)  OR
# service mgmt-vmware restart

This might be a handy command if you are experiencing problems with your ESX host connecting to the VMware Virtual Center server. Also, if you having problems when “kill -9 ” does not stop a VM guest.

Please see this related VMware discussion topic. Be aware of the specific settings your VM guests MUST have before issuing this command.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=631729򚎱

Thanks,
Will

Snapshots: Leaving active snapshots for a long time.

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:56:04 +0000

When using ESX VC Snapshot manager, it is a good idea not to leave your snapshot online for more than a day or two.

When a snapshot is left for more than 24-48 hours, disk “delta” files become very large and difficult to commit to the original Vmware vmdk disk file(s). This can lead to data corruption on your original vmdk file.

See the following links:  http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=584324&tstart=0

http://www.vmwarez.com/2006/11/beware-long-snapshot.html

* When you go to delete a Snapshot, via Snapshot Manager, you may see the process get to 95% and then seem to hang—-then fail with the error: “Remove Snapshot: Operation Timed Out.” DO NOT issue another delete via Snapshot manager.

There is a background process that is still removing the old snapshot. Be Patient. When the process is completed, you will NOT see the snapshot listed in Snapshot manager. The -delta.vmdk files will also be gone.

Unfortunately, I’ve experienced this first hand.

-Will

Cold/Warm conversion stops at 2% forever.

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:44:51 +0000

There is an issue with some NICS (especially older Compaq G1 ones) where the VMware Converter process hangs at 2%, status = “In Progress”.

Setting the switch port and NIC to Auto Speed/Duplex will resolve this issue.
Please see the VMware discussion article:  http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=641866�
This was a similar issue with VMware P2V:  http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=503749

Thanks, Will

Host address lookup for server failed: No such host is known.

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:39:51 +0000

This error is caused when your Virtual Center Client application cannot directly (over IP) connect to your ESX host. I see this a lot of times when you are installing the VMVC Client on a new workstation.

The “fix” is very easy:

1) Add your ESX hosts into DNS. -not a bad idea in the first place

*** OR ***

2) Edit your Microsoft Windows hosts file to add your ESX servers for name resolution. * Found in “C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\host” — Just edit with notepad.exe 3) Reopen your client and try again.

Now, if you are traversing a firewall, you may need to open some ports: All the ports needed are open (80, 443, 902, 903).

You may also need to take a look at this VM Communities post, if you are having problems with a “Blank” console screen: http://communities.vmware.com/message/671489 – Also, checkout http://communities.vmware.com/message/533696

Thanks, Will

VMware vSphere Client running on Windows 7

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:35:13 +0000

Greetings,
If you’ve gotten this error “error stating “Error parsing clients.xml file” when connecting to your vCenter server with Microsoft Windows 7 — Here is your fix: http://www.tinyint.com/index.php/2009/09/04/vsphere-client-on-windows-7/

* Note, this was fixed with vSphere 4, Update 1

Cheers, Will

Enter Maintenance Mode via Command Line Interface

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:31:58 +0000

If you ever wanted to enter (or exit) the VMware ESX Maintenance Mode, you can do this using the VIMSH command. See below:

- To Enter Maintenance Mode on ESX HOST: vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

- To Exit Maintenance Mode on ESX HOST: vimsh -n -e /hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

Thanks, Will

How to rename a VM guest, easily.

wsellers — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:31:10 +0000

Want to rename a VM guest?!? Sure you can manually edit the *.vmx, *.vmdk files — but here is an easier way:

#1) Shutdown your VM guest. 

#2) Right click, then Rename in Virtual Center. 

#3) Right click, then choose Migrate…. Do a “cold” migration to another Datastore with enough space for your VM guest files, *.vmx *.vmdk’s, etc. 

#4) After this finishes, you can move back to the original location, if you want.. — All of your VM guests files will be properly renamed. 

#5) Power on your VM guest.

* Only thing you have to watch is to make sure you have enough free disk space on the Datastore you are moving to.

Thanks, Will