Virtualization
How to move SCVMM VMs into a Cloud
Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you’ve ever added hosts to an SCVMM instance you’ll know that there’s seeminly no easy way to move the newly imported VMs from those hosts into SCVMM clouds. I’ve found the best way to do this is by using the SCVMM command-line interface, which unfortunately has a few quirks.
Set-SCVirtualMachine is the command you’ll need to use, with the flag “-Cloud” like in the example below.
Set-SCVirtualMachine -VM “NewVM1” -Cloud “Cloud1”
Unfortunately, every time I’ve tried this I’ve gotten an error saying it can’t convert the value type correctly like as shown below.
For whatever reason, I’ve found that the work around here is to set both the VM and the Cloud as variables and run the command again.
$VM = Get-SCVirtualMachine “NewVM1”
$Cloud = Get-SCCloud “Cloud1”
Set-SCVirtualMachine -VM $VM -Cloud $Cloud
Then we have success!
I’ve yet to figure out why this is, but at least it works.
I hope this makes your day at least a little bit easier.
Thanks,
SCVMM Error 2912 “The configuration registry database is corrupt (0x800703F1)”
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI recently spun up a new SCVMM environment, created my first VM, and attempted to create a template only to be faced with a job error.
Error (2912)
An internal error has occurred trying to contact the Host01 server: : .WinRM: URL: [http://Host01.lab.local:5985], Verb: [INVOKE], Method: [LoadSubkey], Resource: [http://schemas.microsoft.com/wbem/wsman/1/wmi/root/scvmm/P2VSourceFixup?RegFileName=C:\Users\SVC_VMM\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp6AB5.tmp]
The configuration registry database is corrupt (0x800703F1)
Recommended Action
Check that WS-Management service is installed and running on server host01.lab.local. For more information use the command “winrm helpmsg hresult”. If host01.lab.local is a host/library/update server or a PXE server role then ensure that VMM agent is installed and running. Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2742275 for more details.
I’ve seen this issue before and typically it’s because I go on auto-pilot and sysprep the VM by hand. That will cause an issue, go ahead and start the VM and login, shutdown and let VMM do the sysprep.
Unfortunately this time that wasn’t the problem, though it was similar. When I shut the VM down I accidentally hit “Turn Off” and it hard powered the VM down. A simple boot, login, and retry fixed the problems here.
I hope this makes your day at least a little bit easier.
Thanks,
VMware Shared Raw Device Mapped Disk
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe purpose of this configuration is to decrease the time for large SQL backups in VMware virtual machines that are being backed up by VEEAM. In our scenario we have a SQL server and a File Server. We want to mount this in physical compatibility mode on the SQL server, to increase backup time by contacting the LUN on the SAN directly. Since RDM disks are independent, we want to mount the same volume in virtual compatibility mode on the FileServer so that it can be backed up by VEEAM.
For further detail on RDM, please reference the following documentation.
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx25_rawdevicemapping.pdf
1. Configuring the SQL Server RDM in Physical Compatibility Mode
Here are the general steps to configuring RDM for physical and virtual compatibility mode.
- Create a LUN on the backend storage device.
- Rescan for storage devices in to confirm the LUN shows up correctly, for documentation I’m using a 15GB volume.
- Once you’ve created that, go add a new hard disk. When you choose your disk type, choose “Raw Device Mappings”, and then select the LUN that was created earlier.
- Next choose a datastore that’s on the SAN that other VMs can access.
- Select a new virtual device node that resides on a new SCSI controller. I picked SCSI (3:0). Upon doing that a new SCSI controller will be created, then finish creating the disk.
- You must now change the newly created SCSI controller type to “LSI Logic SAS” and change the “SCSI Bus Sharing” to “Physical”.
2. Configuring the File Server RDM in Virtual Compatibility Mode
At this point, we’ve now created a LUN and created a RAW mapping to the SQL virtual machine. Now it needs mapped to the File Server virtual machine so it can be picked up by the VEEAM backup.
- Edit the settings of the File Server virtual machine, and add a new hard disk.
- When creating this new hard disk, select “Use an existing virtual disk” and point to the datastore where the RDM was mapped in the last step.
- Choose a Virtual Device node that is on a difference SCSI controller than the other disks, I choose SCSI (3:2).
- You must now change the newly created SCSI controller type to “LSI Logic SAS” and change the “SCSI Bus Sharing” to “Physical”.
At this point, we’ve now created a LUN that has been mapped RAW to a SQL Server. That SQL server can perform it’s backups to that disk which increases backup times by about 20% based in my testing. The File Server virtual machine and the SQL Server virtual machine both now have SCSI adapters that have bus sharing enabled, and thusly the disk is also mapped to the File Server. It is mapped here in virtual compatibility mode (inherent by adding an “existing virtual disk”). This means it’s persistent and can be backed up by VEEAM.
I hope I’ve made your day, at least a little bit easier.
How to find the Hyper-V host name of a guest VM
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn all of our environments we all know EXACTLY what’s going on, where it’s going on, and where everything is right? Chances are that’s not true, and like most of us, especially in large home-grown development environments there are servers sitting under peoples desks, in some random closets, etc. Here’s an easy way to find out on what Hyper-V host a guest resides.
(get-item “HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtual Machine\Guest\Parameters”).GetValue(“HostName”)
Pop that into powershell and you’re good to go!
Hope I’ve made your day at least a little bit easiser.
Thanks,
Server 2012 R2 “does not have a network adapter available to create a virtual switch” when configuring VDI
Reading Time: 2 minutesI recently ran into this issue when doing an all-in-one VDI install, on top of a server that had been used for other things in the past. The “quick start” VDI option is supposed to essentially do everything for you, but I ran into this issue.
“The Server does not have a network adapter available to create a virtual switch”
Taking a quick look here, I do have a vSwitch. Why is it complaining?
It turns out that the installer isn’t actually complaining about the fact that there is no vSwitch, it’s complaining that there IS a vSwitch. It needs it to be a “blank slate” so it can manage it and do it’s thing. I’m not a fan of this, because I intend to manage my VDI environment using SCVMM, and the VDI component itself won’t have a whole lot to say about it. Nevertheless, this is how you get past this. Delete any vSwitches.
All gone, now try the installer again.
There we go, now we’re off onto the next step without any errors. Have fun!
I hope I’ve made your day, at least a little bit easier.
Thanks!
vSphere 5.5 Client Download
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI had to find the vSphere 5.5 client today and I have to say — it wasn’t very easy. In light of that, I’ll just leave the links here for everyone.
Download vSphere Client 5.5 Update 2: VMware-viclient-all-5.5.0-1993072.exe
Download vSphere Client 5.5 Update 1b: VMware-viclient-all-5.5.0-1880841.exe
Download vSphere Client 5.5 Update 1: VMware-viclient-all-5.5.0-1618071.exe
Download vSphere Client 5.5: VMware-viclient-all-5.5.0-1281650.exe
STOP Blue Screen Error on VMWare when using WinPE or WAIK
Video Posted on
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThis past weekend I was invoking my disaster recovery plan for a system of mine and I went to boot the .iso to run the restore (CA ArcServ D2D Bootkit) and I kept on getting this error. Under the gun of pressure as the production hours quickly approached I had to figure it out.
*** STOP: 0x0000005D (0x000000000FABBBFF, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000,0x0000000000000000)
Of course this is extremely frustrating when in a DR situation. So here is the quick, and simple answer.
This error occurs when you have the machine you’ve created in VMWare set to a 32-bit architecture, while attempting to boot into a 64-bit environment. Power down your VM, edit the settings like shown below to x64 and you’ll be all set!
Now you’ll be able to boot up with no issues at all. I hope I’ve made your day at least a little bit easier!