Troubleshooting Vmware ESXi migration issues

While trying to install ESXi 4.0 U4 to my hosts, I started experiencing these errors:

• "A general system error occurred: Migration failed while copying data, Broken Pipe"


• "A general system error occurred: Failed to start migration pre-copy. Error 0xbad010d. The ESX hosts failed to connect over theVMotion network. "

attempting the put a host in maintenance mode. The VMs would not failover to another host.

Anyway, the fix was #2 under resolution in the link below. Basically, set Migrate.Enabled setting on all hosts to 0, then back to 1. After done on all hosts, the vMotion started working again.

Weird.

Reference:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1036083

ESXi 4.0 Tech Support Mode

To use Tech Support Mode:

1. Log in to your ESXi host at the console.


2. Press Alt+F1 to switch to the console window.


3. Enter unsupported to start the Tech Support Mode login process. Note that no text will appear on the console window.


4. Enter the password for the root user. Tech Support Mode is now active.


5. Complete tasks in Tech Support Mode.


6. Enter the command clear to clear the screen of any residual data from step 5. This may be required by your local security policies.


7. Enter the command exit to exit Tech Support Mode.


8. Press Alt+F2 to return the server to DCUI mode.

Reference:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003677

Deleting a Windows Service

Had a service that I could not get rid of and found that you can use SC.EXE (resource kit tool) to remove the service from the Services control panel. The EXE was removed from the file system, but it was still being referenced.

Run this below to delete the service, where service name is not the service display name, see service name in properties of the specific service.

sc.exe delete

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192

Unable to startup Netbackup Admin Console

Ran into something today on a new Netbackup Master server I was setting up. I could not startup the Admin Console on the Master server itself. I have the Netbackup client service running as a service account. If I switched the Netbackup Client service to run as Local System, the Admin Console started to work again.

Solution was to add my domain service account into the Debug Programs User Rights Assignment in the Local Security Policy applet.

Win 7 Password Reset Disk

Reference:
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20109198-285/how-to-create-a-windows-7-password-reset-disk/

Active/active SQL 2005 Cluster problem

Our SQL 2005 cluster experienced a power blip due to computer room issue. Quorum and SQL3 instance were on physical SVR1 and SQL4 instance was on physical SVR2. The outage took out Active Directory and most of the network in the computer room. The cluster has shared disks on a Netapp connected via iSCSI. All equipment went down and came back up on their own.

When power came back up, SVR1 was offline in the cluster and all services were online on SVR2.

I rebooted SVR1 and it rejoined the cluster and was able to move the Quorum and SQL3 back to SVR1.

This is when we noticed a issue with the SQL4 instance. Applications on a .NET webserver that use SQL4 databases, could not connect to their databases. The developers (non-admin users) could not connect via SSMS 2008 to their databases on SQL4. I (admin on SQL servers) can connect to SQL4 with either SSMS 2005 and SSMS 2008.

To get the applications working, I failed over SQL4 to SVR1 and now everyone and all apps can connect to SQL4.

Any ideas what is wrong? I suspect a problem with SVR2, but not sure what since it appears to be functioning within the cluster ok and cluster groups have no problem failing over and starting up on that physical node.

UPDATE: Apps show this error when trying to connected to SQL4 on SVR2:

Error:
(A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified))

UPDATE 2: SQL Browser service was not starting on SVR2, duh. Fixed by removing SQL from node, evicting from cluster, then re-adding server to cluster, and adding node to SQL 2005 instances using SQL 2005 Setup.

How To Renew or Create New Certificate Signing Request While Another Certificate Is Currently Installed

This article describes how you can create a new certificate signing request (CSR) or generate a renewal request without having to remove the existing certificate from your Web site.

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295281

How to runas Explorer.exe

My boss figured this out... Thought you could do it the normal way in XP, but apparently not...

runas /user:domain\admin_user "explorer.exe /separate"

If you open Task Manager, you will see the explorer.exe process running under the elevated account.

Windows Service Ports

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017

Changing disk ownership on Netapp cluster

1. Change to special advanced mode
   FILER1> priv set advanced
   Warning: These advanced commands are potentially dangerous; use
   them only when directed to do so by NetApp personnel.
   


2. Show UNOWNED disks
   FILER1*> disk show -n
   disk show: No disks match option -n.
   


3. Turn off auto disk ownership
   FILER1*> options disk.auto_assign off
   


4. Remove ownership on disk
   FILER1*> disk remove_ownership 0b.80
   Disk 0b.80 will have its ownership removedVolumes must be taken offline. Are all impacted volumes offline(y/n)?? y
   


5. Show UNOWNED disks
   FILER1*> disk show -n
   DISK OWNER POOL SERIAL NUMBER
   ------------ ------------- ----- -------------
   0b.80 Not Owned NONE 3QQ1JM8K00009951WAX4
   


6. To change disk ownership to FILER2
   FILER2> priv set advanced
   


7. Assign disks to FILER2
   FILER2*> disk assign all
   


8. Turn ON auto disk ownership again on FILER1
   FILER1*> options disk.auto_assign on
   


9. To get out of advanced mode
   FILER1*> priv set
   FILER2*> priv set

Change DTS Owner (SQL 2000)

Good tip found below... helpful during migration from SQL 2000 to SQL 2008 to allow developers to see DTS owned by other programmers.

Reference:
http://vittoriop77.blogspot.com/2006/01/sql-2000-change-dts-owner.html

How to run SPCollect on an EMC

This is a good step by step on how do this...

Reference:
http://trentsteele.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/how-to-run-sp-collect-on-a-clariion-and-why/

Migrating the Netbackup Master server to new hardware

Going to try and do this. I backed up the NBU Catalog to disk. I will build the NEW Netbackup Master server and copy these files over and restore the catalog to it. Hopefully, all the policies, etc... will be on the new Master server.

Reference:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH77447

Disable Windows 2008 Firewall

Using gpedit.msc...

Group Policy Setting for Disabling Windows Firewall
Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\Windows Firewall.

To disable Windows Firewall in a domain environment, the Group Policy setting you would use is located in Computer Configuration under Policies (if present), in Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\Windows Firewall\Domain Profile. The setting is called Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections. If you disable this policy setting, Windows Firewall does not filter or block any network traffic.

Update: from an administrative command line, you can run:

"netsh advfirewall set profiles state off "

where profiles is AllProfiles, CurrentProfile, DomainProfile, PrivateProfile, or PublicProfile.

Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771032(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766337(v=ws.10).aspx

SQL 2008 Management Studio connection problems

Good step by step for troubleshooting SQL 2008 connection issues.

Reference: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/21/sql-server-fix-error-provider-named-pipes-provider-error-40-could-not-open-a-connection-to-sql-server-microsoft-sql-server-error/

Enabling SSH on ESXi Hosts

1. Open vSphere client
2. Select ESXi host, then the Configuration tab.
3. Select Security Profile
4. Click on Properties
5. In the Services popup dialog, select SSH and press the Options button
6. Change settings, then click OK when done.

Reference:
http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2011/08/enable-ssh-on-esxi-5-via-vsphere-client/

Windows 2008 accessing Netapp CIFS

These reg keys will allow Windows 2008 to access Netapp CIFS.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters

• enablesecuritysignature [REG_DWORD] = 0x0 --- May be optional?



• requiresecuritysignature [REG_DWORD] = 0X0

Cluster service dependency in a pure iSCSI clustering environment

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883397

Remote Control a Terminal Services Session

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;278845

MS11-028 may cause issues with SQL, Exchange and PowerShell

Reference:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/2011/04/21/ms11-028-may-cause-issues-with-sql-exchange-and-powershell.aspx

Windows Powershell for XP, Win2003, etc.

Windows powershell available for other platforms, see reference below. Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929

VMware Troubleshooting Guides

These are kind of neat...

Reference:
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/1733-Mind-Map-For-Troubleshooting-vSphere-Network-Issues.html

P2V SQL Cluster nodes

Using P2V to convert a cluster nodes to virtual server instances.

Reference: http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=2355

Instant File Initialization

For SQL 2005 and above...

Reference: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sql_pfe_blog/archive/2009/12/23/how-and-why-to-enable-instant-file-initialization.aspx http://www.mytechmantra.com/LearnSQLServer/Database_Instant_File_Initialization_Feature.html

Undoing A-SIS Deduplication

1. Stop any running deduplication operations on the volume
   filer> sis stop /vol/vol1
2. Disable A-SIS on the volume:
   filer> sis off /vol/vol1
3. Make the volume “fat” again:
   filer> priv set advanced
   filer*> sis undo /vol/vol1
   filer*> sis status /vol/vol1
   filer*> priv set
   filer>

Malware: Internet Security Essentials

Just an FYI, but this has been a problematic issue recently for some of my friends...

References: http://www.myantispyware.com/2011/02/21/how-to-remove-internet-security-essentials-virus/

Problems with event ID 2022

"A special resource task in the Windows service uses the MinFreeConnections and MaxFreeConnections registry settings to preallocate connection objects. Windows Server 2003 automatically calculates these values. The algorithm that is used by Windows Server 2003 to determine these values now considers the amount of physical RAM in Windows Server 2003. The algorithm also considers the Server service optimization settings. "

References: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909262

WBCOOP is coming!

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 781754

SQL 2008 Jobs, Proxy, and Credentials

This is some what confusing...

SQL 2008 seems to be allow you to specify a proxy account to each STEP of a SQL Agent job as well as different proxies for different KINDS of job tasks, ie. SSIS, EXE, ActiveX, etc...

For example, the "owner" of a job has a step that runs a SSIS package. In order to do this, you will need to use or setup a SQL local account or domain account that has permissions to execute SSIS, then create a CREDENTIAL associated with that account on SQL server.

Next, you create a SSIS Proxy account and assign the credential to it. You also associate the "owner" to that Proxy.

Finally, in Properties of the job STEP, you assign the Proxy as the "Run as:" for the step that involves SSIS, in this example.

References:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918760
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dataaccesstechnologies/archive/2009/10/13/who-owns-my-job-and-who-runs-it.aspx

Access denied to remote DCOM on Win 2003

If you're trying to remotely connect to SSIS on SQL server 2005/2008 and get "access is denied", check the Event Viewer (should be in the System log) on the server, and you should see DCOM errors showing the user trying to do "Remote Activation" and an ANONYMOUS LOGON trying to do a "Remote Access".

• If you do, you'll need to go into Component Services and edit properties on the computer node.
• On the COM Security tab,
• Click the Edit Limits buttons to make the updates.

Reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337083.aspx
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=892500

NetApp Filer At-A-Glance

What do the colors mean?

The color-coded bar graph for 'Usage by Volume%' has three colors: green, yellow, and red.

- Green: 85% to 100% available disk space on volume
- Yellow: 10% to 15% available disk space on volume
- Red: less than 10% available disk space on volume

The color-coded bar graph for 'Network file Ops/sec' might show up:

- Blue: represents NFS ops
- Red: represents CIFS and/or HTTP ops
- Green: represents HTTP ops/sec
- Yellow: represents iSCSI ops/sec
- Magenta: represents FCP ops/sec


Reference: https://kb.netapp.com/support/index?page=content&id=3010503&pmv=print&impressions=false