Exporting a virtual machine to an OVF template fails

Symptoms

• Exporting a virtual machine to an OVF template fails
• VPXD fails with a Panic in VpxdViConsumerContext::AddError()
• The backtrace appears similar to:
  
  backtrace[04] eip 0x00b3f998 Panic (d:\src\vc40\vpx\common\vpxlog.cpp:258)
  backtrace[05] eip 0x013a1581 VpxdViConsumerContext::AddError (d:\src\vc40\vpx\vpxd\vapp\vpxdviconsumercontext.cpp:92)
  backtrace[06] eip 0x01767c18 Ovf::Vi2Consumer::GetDeviceIdAndAdapterType (d:\src\vimbase-vc40\vim\lib\ovf\consumer.cpp:1589)
  backtrace[07] eip 0x0176758e Ovf::Vi2Consumer::FindFiles (d:\src\vimbase-vc40\vim\lib\ovf\consumer.cpp:1540)
  backtrace[08] eip 0x01766d45 Ovf::Vi2Consumer::BuildFileList (d:\src\vimbase-vc40\vim\lib\ovf\consumer.cpp:1398)
  backtrace[09] eip 0x01766b10 Ovf::Vi2Consumer::GetIR (d:\src\vimbase-vc40\vim\lib\ovf\consumer.cpp:1373)
  backtrace[10] eip 0x0131a145 VpxdMoOvfManager::CreateDescriptor (d:\src\vc40\vpx\vpxd\vapp\vpxdmoovfmanager.cpp:793)

Resolution

This issue occurs when you create a virtual machine with a PVSCSI (VMware Paravirtualization) controller and attempt to export the virtual machine to an OVF template.

This is the only controller that VMware does not support when exporting to OVF template.

How to add Google Analytics code to phpLD Directory installation

You have to edit template/footer.tpl and put {literal} Add you Analytic code {/literal} before /body tag

you are done !! enjoy

Restart Management Agent on ESX / ESXi

Restart Management Agent on ESX / ESXi

To restart the management agents on ESX host:

1. Log in to your ESX Server as root from either an SSH session or directly from the console of the server.
2. Type service mgmt-vmware restart.
   
3. Press Enter.
4. Type service vmware-vpxa restart.
5. Press Enter.
6. Type logout and press Enter to disconnect from the ESX host.

If this process is successful, it appears as:

[root@server]# service mgmt-vmware restart
Stopping VMware ESX Server Management services:
VMware ESX Server Host Agent Watchdog [ OK ]
VMware ESX Server Host Agent [ OK ]
Starting VMware ESX Server Management services:
VMware ESX Server Host Agent (background) [ OK ]
Availability report startup (background) [ OK ]
[root@server]# service vmware-vpxa restart
Stopping vmware-vpxa: [ OK ]
Starting vmware-vpxa: [ OK ]
[root@server]#

To restart the management agents on ESXi:

1. Connect to the console of your ESXi Server.
2. Press F2 to customize the system.
3. Login as root.
4. Using the Up/Down arrows navigate to Restart Management Agents.
5. Press Enter.
6. Press F11 to restart the services.
7. When the service has been restarted, press Enter.
8. Press Esc to logout of the system.

How to remove hidden devices on Windows XP, 2003 servers

How to remove unwanted hidden devices from devices manager

Hidden devices may slow down your system by loading unwanted drivers in your system and some time it may cause problem in clonning or migration Server

Here is the 2 ways of finding hidden devices under Device Manager and removing them


Option 1:

* Start --> Run --> Cmd and press Enter
* Type command under command line with out quote "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" and press Enter
* Type command under command line with out quote "devmgmt.msc", which should open Device Manager, click on view and navigate show hidden devices
* Expand all devices listed and remove grayed out devices.

Option 2:

* Right Click "My Computer" from Desktop and Click Properties, under Advanced tab you should see a button as "Environment variables" click on that.
* Click button "New" under Environment Variables and Enter "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices" at "Variables name" and enter "1" under "Variable value" click on and close application.
* open Device manager and click "View" tab and navigate to show hidden devices, which will list all hidden devices
* Expand all devices listed and removed grayed out devices.

P2V Error: FAILED: unable to obtain the IP address of the helper virtual machine

Problem:

While converting Linux P2V i get error as mentioned below


Error: Unable to obtain the IP address of the target virtual machine running the Converter helper server.

The main reason for failing is unable to communicate with your Conversion machine (DHCP enabled on Helper Machine)

To solve this problem need to change DHCP to Static IP.

During conversion you can find on 3rd tab (View / Edit Options) ¨Helper VM Network¨ change your IP from DHCP to Manual and give ip for it, where your Helper machine can reach to your Convertor server.

This should solve problem for ¨FAILED: unable to obtain the IP address of the helper virtual machine¨

What is Fault Tolerance in Vmware

What is VMware Fault Tolerance?

VMware Fault Tolerance is a feature that allows a new level of guest redundancy. Information regarding this feature can be found in Understanding VMware Fault Tolerance (1010601).

How do I turn it on?

The feature is enabled on a per virtual machine basis. Instructions for enabling Fault Tolerance can be found in the Turning on Fault Tolerance for Virtual Machines section of the vSphere Availability Guide.

What happens when I turn on Fault Tolerance?

In very general terms, a second virtual machine is created to work in tandem with the virtual machine you have enabled Fault Tolerance on. This virtual machine resides on a different host in the cluster, and runs in virtual lockstep with the primary virtual machine. When a failure is detected, the second virtual machine takes the place of the first one with the least possible interruption of service. More specific information about how this is achieved can be found in the Protecting Mission-Critical Workloads with VMware Fault Tolerance whitepaper.

Why can't I turn Fault Tolerance on?

VMware Fault Tolerance can be enabled on any virtual machine that resides in a cluster that meets the necessary requirements. If you have difficulty enabling Fault Tolerance for a specific virtual machine, see The Turn on Fault Tolerance option is disabled (1010631).

How do I turn Fault Tolerance off?

Instructions for disabling Fault Tolerance can be found in the article in Disabling or Turning Off VMware FT (1008026).

How do I tell if my environment is ready for Fault Tolerance?

The VMware SiteSurvey Tool is used to check your environment for compliance with VMware Fault Tolerance. It can be downloaded at http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html.

Where do I find the product's website?

VMware has a website for the Fault Tolerance product available online here at http://www.vmware.com/products/fault-tolerance/.

What happens during a failure?

When a host running the primary virtual machine fails, a transparent failover occurs to the corresponding secondary virtual machine. During this failover, there is no data loss or noticeable service interruption. In addition, VMware HA automatically restores redundancy by restarting a new secondary virtual machine on another host. Similarly, if the host running the secondary virtual machine fails, VMware HA starts a new secondary virtual machine on a different host. In either case there is no noticeable outage by an end user.

What is the logging time delay between the Primary and Secondary Fault Tolerance virtual machines?

The actual delay is based on the network latency between the Primary and Secondary. vLockstep executes the same instructions on the Primary and Secondary, but because this happens on different hosts, there could be a small latency, but no loss of state. This is typically less than 1 ms. Fault Tolerance includes synchronization to ensure that the Primary and Secondary are synchronized.

In a cluster with more than 3 hosts, can you tell Fault Tolerance where to put the Fault Tolerance virtual machine or does it chose on its own?

You can place the original (or Primary virtual machine). You have full control with DRS or VMotion to assign to it to any node. The placement of the Secondary, when created, is automatic based on the available hosts. But when the secondary is created and placed, you can VMotion it to the preferred host.

What happens if the host containing the primary virtual machine comes back online (after a node failure)?

This node is put back in the pool of available hosts. There is no attempt to start or migrate the primary to that host.

Is the failover from the primary virtual machine to the secondary virtual machine dynamic or does Fault Tolerance restart a virtual machine?

The failover from primary to secondary virtual machine is dynamic, with the secondary continuing execution from the exact point where the primary left off. It happens automatically with no data loss, no downtime, and little delay. Clients see no interruption. After the dynamic failover to the secondary virtual machine, it becomes the new primary virtual machine. A new secondary virtual machine is spawned automatically

Where are Fault Tolerance failover events logged?

All failover events are logged by vCenter.

I encountered an error message that I can't find in the knowledge base. Where else should I check?

The vSphere Availability Guide contains a list of known errors in the Fault Tolerance Error Messages section.