However, this is NOT the case after reboot. The properties feature was grayed out and cannot be selected at all. Only “High Performance” is available under Active Policy section.

So I’ve tried to change the Power Management profile to Custom and set CPU Power to Minimum Power in BIOS. But after reboot, Both Technology and Active Policy became Not Supported, and Power Monitoring shows no change in watts at all, meaning this setting is not saving any power.

Then I kept the Cutstom setting and change CPU Power and Performance Management to OS Demand Based Power Management. (you can do this via Dell Openmanage or BIOS)

Olala…suddenly I was able to select the Power Management properties after reboot!!! Problem solved!

tools.syncTime 0
time.synchronize.continue 0
time.synchronize.restore 0
time.synchronize.resume.disk 0
time.synchronize.shrink 0
time.synchronize.tools.startup 0
time.synchronize.tools.enable 0
time.synchronize.resume.host 0

As expected, the installation process is almost identical to Windows Server 2012 and 2016. The key is to use BIOS version SLIC 2.5.

Except I’ve encountered a tricky problem that the valid license key won’t activate, it returns with “windows server 2019 error -xc004f069″.

It turns out the the source ISO is an evaluation copy, so all you have to do is to convert the Eval copy to Retail version by:

DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

To determine upgrade path and other available edition:
DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions

For the evaluation/retail version of Windows Server 2016 Standard, you can also convert to the retail version of Windows Server 2016 Data Center using the same command and the appropriate product key.

DISM /Online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

Update: Apr 11, 2021

It turns out VM will lost its customized CPUID parameter after Veeam backup restoration, BIOS SLIC 2.5 parameter holds though.

So you have to add it back again, or the VM will keep crashing every now and then.

However, if the VM is deployed via template, then there is no problem at all.

Worst the screen indicates “[sda] Assuming drive cache: write through”, seems it’s hang at startup.

In fact it’s working fine, then I SSH into the server remotely, and issue “systemctl set-default multi-user.target” which set the default login interface to be text based SSH login, the SSH login screen appears after the reboot.

systemctl isolate multi-user.target to return to command mode
systemctl isolate graphical.target  to return to graphical mode

Somehow, systemctl isolate graphical.target turns the screen into blank, still have no idea what’s causing this, nor startx works.

Finally, the vCenter VM Guest OS status changed from CentOS 4/5 64 bits to Other (32-bit) automatically everything after reboot, anyone knows why? Pls drop me a line, thx.

When Dell ran out of Equallogic disks (15K RPM, 600GB 3.5″ SAS), they supplied him with this alternative solution.

A 2.5″ 15K RPM, 600GB SAS!

This is how it fits into the original 3.5″ tray, seems the tray is a revised version with 4 new holes on the back in order to fit that 2.5″ SAS disk.

GrpName(member_MEMBERNAME disk_0)> ?

clear-label          - Clears the label on the selected disk if the disk contai

Just make DOUBLE sure you have the correct drive number.  Remember first drive number is ZERO (0) not one (1).

You can issue it as one command.  mem sel membername disk select <number> clear-label

However, I prefer to select the drive first.  Then do a “show” to make sure it’s the disk I want.

show

______________________________ Disk Information _______________________________

Slot: 0                                Status: spare

Model: ST900MM0006                     Revision: LE09

Size: 838.36GB                         Errors: 0

Rpm: 10000                             SectorSize: 512

Health: ok

vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 (VCSA) is probably the most interesting one as it comes with native high availability, so no more worry about that single point of failure.

Other than that, I bet most of the 99% out there won’t really find those so called new feature useful in their daily operation.

In additional, seems there is no major change in VMware’s licensing model, remember that horrible vRAM tax back in 2012?

Finally, I am looking for Total SSD storage solution recently, and my eyes are on Pure Storage, but why their stock PSTG is dropping like hell?

Then Virtualization came-in and changed everything, now with just after a few mouse clicks you have all the pieces ready in the photo, everything is software defined…well, at least it’s much more Eco-friendly for data center environment nowadays, and most importantly virtualization made my life much easier finally! (The answer is VMW if you know what I mean)

It’s a bit different than the one back in 2011, which has Firmware version EN03 and Made in China.