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By admin, October 20, 2010 11:32 am

To show Glbal TCP Parameters:
netsh int tcp show global

1. How to enable and disable TCP Chimney Offload (aka TCP offload) in Windows Server 2008 R2:
netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled
netsh int tcp set global chimney=disabled

Determine whether TCP Chimney Offload is working, type “netstat –t” the line shows “Offloaded” is with Offloaded feature enabled.

2. How to enable and disable RSS in Windows Server 2008 R2:
netsh int tcp set global rss=enabled

3. Disable TCO Autotuninglevel in Windows Server 2008 R2 for performance gain in iSCSI
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

Update Jan-24:

I simple enabled everythingand found there is no difference on Equallogic iSCSI IOMeter performance.

TCP Global Parameters
———————————————-
Receive-Side Scaling State          : enabled
Chimney Offload State               : enabled
NetDMA State                        : enabled
Direct Cache Acess (DCA)            : enabled
Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level    : normal
Add-On Congestion Control Provider  : ctcp
ECN Capability                      : enabled
RFC 1323 Timestamps                 : disabled

ECN is Explicit Congestion Notification and is enabled by default and is a little more complex as it tweaks TCP protocol when sending a SYN and is mostly used by routers and firewalls. Since the default is enabled, I’d just set it to the default and be done with it.

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By admin, October 19, 2010 12:08 pm

Dell has announced it’s upcoming virtual appliance “Dell Management Plug-In for VMware vCenter (aka DMPVV)”, basically, it’s an integrated OpenManage to vCenter and best of all, we can upgrade BIOS/Firmware directly from vCenter, no more downtime using USC or other method. (ie, works just like in Windows environment, in-line upgrade without shutting down ESX, of course, you need to reboot it after the upgrade is completed.)

I do hope Dell will make it a FREE PRODUCT for all its Poweredge Customers.

Why? Why NOT?

• Most of us already installed OpenManage on ESX, so we can see most of the server hardware data like temperature, warning, configure storage, etc.
• ESX also provides an extensive Hardware Health section
• Using the free Veeam Monitor 5 also can give you the above with tracking as well
• Host Profile is also available in ESX Enterprise Plus version
• Warranty Information can be found easily on-line

So why would someone pay for a nicer GUI ? Ok, you may argue that BIOS/Firmware upgrade thing, well, I don’t mind do it in USC, it’s even safer as I am upgrading BIOS/Firmware at lowest system level.

Update March 6, 2011

Installing and Configuring the Dell Managment vCenter Plugin – The Dell TechCenter

Update July 19, 2011 

Trial Version (Latest v1.0.1)

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By admin, October 18, 2010 1:02 pm

Best Method Learned: DO NOT TRY TO RE-SIZE or CONVERT THE SOURCE DISK TO THIN when using vCenter Converter Standalone, if you want to reduce the size of the original disk, then do this using Storage vMotion after the conversion is completed, see details below:

I HAVE RELALY BEEN THERE AND WENT THOUGH ALL THE PAIN ONCE, now I am happy after I did this intensive research on P2V using backup image.

8:20PM Start, disconnect physical server external network cables connecting to the Internet, leaving internal LAN on for VPN, so I am still able to RDP into the server.

8:36PM Take a final incremental snaphot on the physical server using True Image Server Echo (TIS9.1/TIS9/TIS8 all having some kind of wired problem during conversion, so better upgrade the TIS version on the physical server first)

8:40PM Since I’ve already copied all the previous TIS backup files to the vCenter server beforehand, so it only took me 4 mins to copy this final incremental backup file over.

9:04PM Use vCenter Converter Standalone to import TIS backup files and converted into Equallogic SAN volume (which is Thin-Provisioned), it’s so fast, 120GB in about 24 mins (about 83MB/s over 1Gbps). If you are going to do Re-size or Make it Thin at this stage, the conversion process is going to take at least 3-4 times longer and still failed at the end even you are able to boot the VM (You will either face login failure with correct password or some service will NEVER START for un-known reasons), so my suggest would be just KEEP THE SOURCE AS THICK (aka flat) and do all the THIN later, keep reading please.

10:08PM Finished re-configuring VM, disabled all the unnecessary services, uninstall all no need software and drivers (luckily I still have that physical running side by side in the above for comparison just in case some configuration need to be made), finally the VM is running on Version 7, with VMXet3 driver and using Para-virtualized for Disk Controller (this really boost the performance by at least 3 to 5 times, booting the same W2K3 physical server required 7 mins before, using normal SCSI Parallel is about 4 mins, using Para-virtualized is about 30 seconds!!! Wow!!! Of course, I am not sure if it’s to do with ESX4.1 and EQL FW5.0.2 supports Storage Hardware Acceleration and MEM. Everything is just so much faster than before. However you still have this WASTED big 120GB THICK disk that’s converted form a RAID-5 (36GBx5) Physical Server.

10:20PM Now is where the magic happens. I then did a Storage vMotion (ie, migrate the datastore) to the real VMFS volume where it should be (it was on a temp VMFS just for conversion), AND NOW YOU CAN USE THIN-PROVIIONING, guess how long does it take for Equallogic PS6000XV to do that? Yes, total 12 mins to migrate that 120GB thick and converted to thin (about 30GB)! Amazing! Again, I am pretty sure it’s something to do with ESX4.1 and EQL FW5.0.2 supports Storage Hardware Acceleration and MEM, that VAAI storage hardware acceleration thing is really kicking in!

So the whole thing took about 2 hours, seemed easy right? However I didn’t tell you I’ve spent the whole week about 30 hours to do many trial and errors with different conversion method things like use TIS Echo to convert the TIBs into VMDK (WASTE OF TIME, DON’T TRY IT), Boot TIS rescure media and then directly restore the image into VMDK (waste of time), re-size or thin the source disk and then found out I can no longer login and even I can login, some important services just never start. What about real-time conversation, FORGET IT! It will take FOREVER (so slow) and you will encounter even more problems then using a backup image.

So to put things into summary, here is what you need to do if you have True Image Server or other backup files for P2V conversion. 

1. Use vCenter Converter Standalone and simple import the TIB files, do not make it thin and do not re-size it. This proved to be the FASTEST conversion speed. (about 85-95MB/s over a 1Gbps COS link)
2. Then use Storage vMotion to do the actual Thin-Provisioning, if you have VAAI storage hardware acceleration, it will really help in this stage. You will see under esxtop iSCSI network traffic is really low, but IOPS is really high, so you know VAAI is working hard on the array itself and ESX Host CPU is almost nothing during the Storage vMotion as ESX Host no longer required if VAAI or SAN OFFLOAD is being used.
3. Make sure you use Echo version of True Image Server to ensure the most compatible or safe conversion for your VM. TIS9.1/TIS9/TIS8 just created too many unknown problems

 * One more thing, DO NOT TRY TO CONVERT TWO VM at the same time if the TIS backup images are on the same local harddisk partition, it’s just too much for your server and somehow vCenter Converter will lock TIS files of one VM, so when you try to convert the 2^nd VM, the size will somehow misleading (ie, it’s actually 30GB used, but it will show 120GB fully used, I think it’s related to vCenter Converter can only lock one TIB file at the same time. If you try to force converting the 2^nd VM, strange thing DO HAPPEN, so just take your time, have a cup of coffee of tea, sit back and relax.)

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By admin, October 16, 2010 10:49 pm

2007年Maserati終于推出了其新一代的超級跑車Granturismo﹐漂亮的外型深深地滲透著意大利的浪漫﹐不用說﹐肯定又是Pininfarina設計師的另一傑作﹗

我真的很喜歡Maserati Granturismo的真車﹐指的是外型和它好聽的V8引擎聲音(法拉利F430也是用同一款引擎﹐當然是升級版)﹐諾大的鬼面罩殺氣騰騰的極具氣勢﹐像大白鯊要把獵物吞噬掉似的。微微翹起的尾巴配合那流線型的車身﹐真的是剛剛合適﹐多一分少一分都會遠離完美兩字。就是這個微微翹起的性感側面令我想起了我極之喜歡的法拉利F355﹐它們的設計實在有異曲同工之妙﹐可能大家都是出自大師Pininfarina的手筆吧﹗

雖然MONDO的做工真的很馬虎﹐但還是一直很想收Granturismo﹐MONDO出品的三個顏色裡﹐唯獨黑色最吸引﹐珍珠白和銀色油漆都不太好看。之前打算從國外拍賣網站訂購﹐但車費再加運費實在太不合理了﹐所以遲遲沒付諸于行動。

好了﹐還是那句﹐皇天不負有心人﹐這次竟然給我在本地的拍賣網站用極合理的價錢購得﹐而且是全新的﹐實在太高興了﹗

1/18 Mondo Maserati Granturismo Black

Comments (5)

By admin, October 16, 2010 10:03 am

I am having the following problem on our Virtual Center, if you know how to solve this, please kindly let me know, many many thanks in advance!

EventID 1000[VpxdLdap] Failed to search OU=Instances container.  This may indicate a problem with LDAP permissions for the account running VirtualCenter, or that the schema is not compatible with this version of VirtualCenter.

The error occur on the clock and every 15 mins after the clock (ie, 9am, then 9:15am, then 10am, then 10:15am)

It only happens when
1. Running vSphere Client and leave it on (1-3 times a day)
2. Occur 24 times a day if we have vSphere Client on as well as Veeam Monitor on, seem Veeam Monitor is competing with vSphere Client for pulling resources, so that’s why the error occurs more often.

Then vCenter server alarm section will periodically produce alerts saying vCenter Health Status is in YELLOW due to LDAP server cannot be contacted because I am not joining an AD Domain, this sounds ridiculous.

Btw, the vCenter server DID NOT JOIN A DOMAIN, only using the same server’s Workgroup, I know it’s not right or the best way according to vCenter setup guide, but I really want to keep it simple. (ie, do not want to have another physical server just for AD), I really wish VMware will release a patch for vCenter that allow us to select Domain or Workgroup model during installation or even better allow us to change the option on the fly.

I suspect it’s a client pulling problem and/or the client can’t search through AD/LDAP, so it reports such error?

It’s just a warning error, nothing really affecting operation, so I think I can safely ignore it, but do appreciate if someone came across and solved this strange problem.

Update:

From vCenter Error Log:

[2010-10-24 04:19:24.791 05976 error 'App'] [LDAP Client] Failed to poll search: 0×0 (The call completed successfully.)
[2010-10-24 04:19:24.791 05976 warning 'App'] [LDAP Client] Reinitializing search -1 (ou=Licenses,ou=Licensing,dc=virtualcenter,dc=vmware,dc=int)
[2010-10-24 04:19:24.791 05976 error 'App'] [LDAP Client] Failed to perform asynchronous search for base DN = ou=Licenses,ou=Licensing,dc=virtualcenter,dc=vmware,dc=int: 0×51 (Cannot contact the LDAP server.)

[2010-10-24 08:11:56,116 Timer-4  INFO  com.vmware.vim.jointool.util.ldaphealth.LdapHealthMonitor] Encountered an error when checking domain trust health : error code: $@, result: 1717
From vCenter Health Check:

Ldap domain trust change monitor – Warning – encountered an an error when checking domain trust health: error code: 1717

Solution:

From VMware Communities:

The message “Encountered an eror when checking domain trust health: error code 1717″ is simply an informational message in Virtual Center. The “vCenter Service Status plugin for Virtual Center 4″ runs some LDAP checks including checking for the possibility to perform domain trust lookups. When it cannot perform this domain trust lookup then it will show this message.

This message is simply an informational message and should have no major impact on the running of the Virtual Center Server. The only ways to stop this message from appearing would be joining vCenter Server to a AD Domain. Btw, you CANNOT install AD Domain Controller on the same machine with vCenter, it will not work. Because vCenter 4.1 will install an instance of ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode). It uses this when you use vCenter Linked Mode and ADAM will conflict with its’ own AD services if the server is also a Domain Controller.

From ESX 4.1 vCenter Installation Guide:

The system that you use for your vCenter Server installation must belong to a domain rather than a
workgroup. If assigned to a workgroup, the vCenter Server system is not able to discover all domains and
systems available on the network when using such features as vCenter Guided Consolidation Service. To
determine whether the system belongs to a workgroup or a domain, right-click My Computer and click
Properties and the Computer Name tab. The Computer Name tab displays either a Workgroup label or
a Domain label.

Seemed there is no workaround for running vCenter on standalone Workgroup, but why would I use an extra physical machine for the sole purpose of running an AD Domain Controller? It’s TOTALLY AGAINST VIRTUALIZATION and it’s not Green at all, most of all if I have a small enviornment with less than 5 ESX Host, why would I bother to setup a AD?

My own solution would be disable vCenter Health Check alarm or just simply remove the part saying Health Check changed to Yellow should be fine.

Finally, some people may install vCenter on Windows Server 2008 R2 and encounter the following problem, according to VMware KB1025668.

Installing vCenter Server 4.1 on a Windows 2008 R2 system fails

Symptoms
•Cannot install vCenter Server 4.1 on a Windows 2008 R2 system
•Installing vCenter Server 4.1 on a Windows 2008 R2 system fails
•You see on of these errors:

◦The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed in the jointool-0.log
◦Setup cannot create vCenter Server directory Services Instance
Resolution
This issue may occur if the Active Directory in your environment is hosted by a Windows 2000 domain controller (THAT’S OLD!!!). This issue occurs because vCenter Server 4.1 is unable to retrieve the security identifier (SID) for an account.
�
To resolve this issue, you must apply a Microsoft hotfix. For more information and to download the hotfix, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 976494.
�
Note: You must reboot the system before installing vCenter Server again.

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By admin, October 15, 2010 11:33 am

Just found a great article for ESX Storage Best Practices from Cisco, definitely worth reading for understanding how storage really works in VMware vSphere

At the end, it also mentioned the future: VAAI, well the paper was written in 2009 and one year after, we are already using it in our Equallogic SAN.

There is even a section called “Day After Tomorrow”, future technologies like vMotion between Datacenters, DRS and DPM for storage, etc.

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By admin, October 14, 2010 3:24 pm

談起法拉利的代表作﹐288 GTO, F40, F50, ENZO它們四個肯定是名列前茅﹗

288 GTO, F40, F50, ENZO四個在超跑界響當當的名字﹐它們代表了紅色的激情﹑意大利式的浪漫和無數人嚮往的羨慕眼光。

終于等到了這期英國Classic & Sports Car雜誌今年的重頭炮﹕FASTEST EVER FERRARIS 288 GTO, F40, F50, ENZO﹐這期絕對是一本值得收藏的刊物。

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By admin, October 14, 2010 12:21 pm

In the past few years, there have been numerous time I’ve seriously considered buying a smart phone like HTC, iPhone, but the technology wasn’t really ready yet by then.

However things changed with the raise of HSPDA and particular the launch of iPhone 4 early this year.

It’s time to CHANGE finally!

Today I’ve got an iPhone for me finaly…technically speaking, it’s not for me, but actually it’s for her. Compared many plans from different service providers in Hong Kong, finally located SmartTone mainly due to it’s network coverage and reliability and HK$398 unlimited plan is the best to go for a 32GB version. It took about 1 week to order and the customer service is excellent!

In additional, SmartTone embedded something called X-Power which allows you to view flash movie on Youtube and many other web sites that’s definitely a PLUS, as for normal users they really have no idea how to “JailBreak”.

For me, a network guy, I found the most useful tool is WYSE PocketCloud which provides the best RDP mouse control ability among its category and I am going to manage the whole data center through a little device like iPhone 4, wow…that’s awesome really! Basically this is ONE AND ONLY reason I surrender to iPhone, nothing else really.

Probably I will try Dropbox later which allows me to synchronize MP3/documents between my desktop and iPhone, but putting sensitive information on their server will be a big concern for many.

Finally, the 3G roaming service is still very disappointing, NO UNLMITED usage when I go to other countries even SmartTone/3/One2Free provides things called HK$168 daily UNLMITED PLAN with HIDDEN clauses that you can ONLY use email and browse web pages, and anything else like RDP/VPN/FTP/SKYPE will cost you HK$0.01/KB, so it’s absolutely USELESS when traveling aboard, only Wi-Fi works, but again why do I need to buy an iPhone without using 3G then? It’s like driving a HK$3M Ferrari on country road only and you are not allow to drive on highway.

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By admin, October 12, 2010 1:04 pm

Basically, all you need to update the SVGA driver to WDDM driver, but why didn’t VMware include that in its latest VMware Tools?

Troubleshooting SVGA drivers installed with VMware Tools on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 running on ESX 4.0

WDDM and XPDM graphics driver support with ESX 4.x, Workstation 7.0, and Fusion 3.0

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By admin, October 12, 2010 9:26 am

So you have been there and encountered that annoying thing, you’ve called Dell Pro-Support and they replied you there is DEFINITELY NO WAY and you also called Microsoft, finger pointing back to Dell by asking you to contact Dell directly as it’s OEM product. You have asked local Microsoft distributor, they also said there is no way to do it, you have to buy Box set or Open License, your existing Dell OEM license will not allow you to reactivate using the key printed on it.

Well, THEY ARE ALL WRONG!!!

• Dell’s Pro-Support is unprofessional in this case.
• Microsoft is responsible for its own product, NOT!
• Local Microsoft Distributor wants you to pay more, huh?

This is the Official Solution from Dell, hope it’s useful for others, the key point is to use Virtual Key to re-activate, and then either activate on-line or use phone to activate again and finally clone it as master gold image for further deployment.

You cannot automatically pre-activate the Windows Server 2008 operating system installed on VMs by using the product activation code in the Dell OEM installation media. You must use the virtual product key to activate the guest operating system. For more information, see the whitepaper Dell OEM Windows Server 2008 Installation on Virtual Machines using Dell OEM Media at dell.com.

I always thought Virtual Key is for Microsoft’s own Hyper-V only and cannot be used in VMWare enviornment, but I was wrong.

Alternatively, you can force the VM to load the default BIOS containing DELL SLIC 2.1 (supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2), which will trick the VM thinking it’s actually a PHYSICAL DELL server.

1. Simply add bios440.filename = “DELL.ROM” to VM configuration parameters by using VC Client, of course you do need to upload DELL.ROM to your VM directory and please don’t ask me where to get that DELL.ROM, goole it around yourself. One draw back is this VM can’t be vMotioned around, as the DELL.ROM won’t get vMotioned. (Update: Solution to vMotion is to put DELL.ROM on every host or simply on SAN such as bios440.filename = “/vmfs/volumes/san/DELL.ROM”.

2. Very importantly, you will also need to find the corresponding certificatedell.XRM-MS, then use slmgr.vbs -ilc c:\dell.XRM-MS to import the certificate.

3. Insert the Key by slmgr.vbs -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Finally, some say even by adding SMBIOS.reflect = True will work, but I COULD NEVER get this method working!

Update: The reason I didn’t get it working is because I didn’t use Dell’s W2k8R2 installation disk, see this link from IBM, sounds so simple! Really?

Solution

Edit the virtual machine’s .vmx file to contain the following line:

SMBIOS.reflectHost = “true”

Note: Encoding of the text added to the .vmx file must be in UTF8.

This updates the virtual machine BIOS with the IBM Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) information required to use IBM-provided Operating System (OS) installation media.

IBM-provided Microsoft Windows 2008 media must be “BIOS Locked” to ensure that the OS will only install on IBM hardware. Virtual machines use a virtual BIOS that does not contain information that identifies the system as being manufactured by IBM.

The installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 from IBM OEM media to such a virtual machine will fail until the virtual BIOS has been updated to include this information. Alteration of the virtual machine’s .vmx file to state SMBIOS.reflectHost = “true” performs this function for servers using VMware’s ESX/ESXi technology.

The workaround resolves this issue by using media that is not locked to a specific OEM.

The solution resolves this issue by adding IBM information to the virtual BIOS.

Update Apr-16

Tried again today, the method SMBIOS.reflectHost = “true” is DEFINITELY NOT working! Even loaded with Dell’s OEM w2k8r2 std installation disk and the server is Poweredge R710, it still asked for activation. In additional, I discovered I can install Dell’s OEM w2k8r2 std disk on VM even without SMBIOS.reflectHost = “true”, so this means Dell’s w2k8r2 disk can be used on a non-Dell server.

So only the above two methods are working, but not the last one, if you got the last one working, pls drop me a line, thanks.

Update Apr-17

May be the answer is SMBIOS.reflectHost = “true” WILL ONLY WORK for ESX 3.5 or before, as VMware’s KB didn’t indicate this method apply to ESX 4.0.