Zen of IT - Technical Blog

VMware 4.1 and IBM x3850 wrong CPU count

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:11:15 -0800

A few people have come up with an issue with VMware 4.1 on an IBM x3850M2 whereby the CPU and core count are wrong, Kindly, someone has already answered this problem and yes, you've guessed it, it's a BIOS setting!
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/281536?tstart=0

Active Directory - Missing Roles

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 06:50:19 -0800

Ever had an AD server die on you? It's not a nice experience. You'll probably find that you will survive (I bet you have multiple AD servers) but somewhere down the line you'll notice somethings not working. This will be because some of the roles are missing. Some roles are only on 1 AD server, so you might find you don't have one. if you find yourself in this situation Ntdsutil.exe is your best friend!
If you can't start the missing AD server then you can seize the roles by doing the following (taken from Microsoft KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255504)

Log on to a Windows 2000 Server-based or Windows Server 2003-based member computer or domain controller that is located in the forest where FSMO roles are being seized. We recommend that you log on to the domain controller that you are assigning FSMO roles to. The logged-on user should be a member of the Enterprise Administrators group to transfer schema or domain naming master roles, or a member of the Domain Administrators group of the domain where the PDC emulator, RID master and the Infrastructure master roles are being transferred.
Click Start, click Run, type ntdsutil in the Open box, and then click OK.
Type roles, and then press ENTER.
Type connections, and then press ENTER.
Type connect to server servername, and then press ENTER, where servername is the name of the domain controller that you want to assign the FSMO role to.
At the server connections prompt, type q, and then press ENTER.
Type seize role, where role is the role that you want to seize. For a list of roles that you can seize, type ? at the fsmo maintenance prompt, and then press ENTER, or see the list of roles at the start of this article. For example, to seize the RID master role, type seize rid master. The one exception is for the PDC emulator role, whose syntax is seize pdc, not seize pdc emulator.
At the fsmo maintenance prompt, type q, and then press ENTER to gain access to the ntdsutil prompt. Type q, and then press ENTER to quit the Ntdsutil utility.

Reset DS3000 to factory default

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:41:35 -0800

This one should come with a warning THIS WILL KILL ALL DATA ON THE STORAGE SYSTEMS. ALL ARRAYS WILL BE LOST.
at a commandline type clear storageSubsystem configuration
For more information on commands for the DS Range, view the following document http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5076792&brandind=5000028

Enable vMotion on ESXi 4

Tue, 04 May 2010 09:27:34 -0800

Took me agest to find this one - it's hidden!
http://virtualizationreview.com/Blogs/Everyday-Virtualization/2009/09/Configuring-VMotion-vSphere.aspx

In case the article disappears, here are the main points
Select Host
Configuration tab
Network
Properties
Management Network
Edit button
tick vMotion

IBM Director - renew expired cim certificate

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 06:52:25 -0800

dircli certmgr -g

simples!

Nseries VIFs issue in Filerview Ontap 7.3.2

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:08:58 -0800

I was trying to setup a VIF on a system that only had 2 ethernet ports. I was doing this over the Filerview web interface but it kept failing to add the second ethernet connection.
As I'm a true techie I moved to the commandline - but I still had issues. It transpires that ethernet commands made at the commandline are not persistant over reboots! I know. CRAZY! By the book you should directly edit the config file - but in this case Microsoft came to my rescuse. The MMC created the VIF no problem at all!
I don't think Netapp have support for the MMC, I believe it is an IBM creation - so there is a reason to go IBM Nseries as opposed to vanilla Netapp.

Todays lesson is REMEBER THAT CHANGES TO ETHERNET MADE ON THE COMMAND LINE DO NOT SURVIVE REBOOTS!

Backup Netapp/IBM Nseries Snapshots

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:06:14 -0800

Well done Tony Dimagio for the best write up of this I've ever seen. Very easy to follow.
http://tonydimaggio.com/blog/?p=17

Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Hidden Groups

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:18:06 -0800

Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster has hidden groups - one for unassigned storage ("available storage") and one for cluster ("cluster group"). These groups can be manipulated and moved via the command line. e.g.
> cluster group "available storage" /move
This can be helpful when first setting up clusters and you want to move unused disks to specific nodes for installation

For more information visit the Microsoft forums

Vmware ESX installs but vmkernel hangs on first run

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:09:02 -0800

If you've come across this error, I bet you have more then 1 CPU. Remove 1 CPU, if you can start up ok then it's because a lot of manufactures label CPUs as the same when they are slightly different. Swap the CPU positions around and give it a whirl again. I cam across this error on an IBM x3650 but I'm sure you'll find it under other venders

Vmware Snapshot Commit

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:04:18 -0800

Ever been in the situation where you have a snapshot that is not visible in Virtual Center? Ever had multiple snapshot files that you need to commit or merge into a single vmdk file? Then this link is for you! the "hassnapshot" command can be used to see if the ESX server is aware of a snapshot existing and the "removesnapshots" command can be used to commit the snapshot data to the "live" vmdk. This means you stay in the current state and lose no data but everything is consolidated back down to the single VMDK file.
http://www.esxguide.com/esx/content/view/2/25/