I cannot take credit but I can point you in the right direction if you are about to do a virgin install of SQL 2008. Recently on an install we were finding inconsistent behavior in our SQL 2008 cluster. SP1 had been applied and CU3...Still weird things going on.
Again, after some checking around on the wonderful internets , we found we were not alone and found this....
Creating a merged (slipstreamed) drop containing SQL Server 2008 RTM + Service Pack 1
can be found at .....
http://blogs.msdn.com/petersad/archive/2009/02/25/sql-server-2008-creating-a-merged-slisptream-drop.aspx
Quick SQL uninstall, reboot, and install from the new SlipStream media and all is good. I used the same media on different hardware 2 weeks later and no issues at all!!
Take the extra 10 minutes to do this and save yourself from 'The SQL Vortex of Hell' of finding little bugs!
Thanks Peter Saddow!!!!!!!
Asta Ninjas
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
vSphere Server ODBC weirdness with W2K8 64-bit & SQL 2K5
For those of you that cringe at SQL Express in a VMWare installation and prefer separate SQL Servers follow me and let me save you some time if you are setting up your System DSN to SQL 2005 for vSphere Server...
First off - the out of the box ODBC driver for SQL Server on W2K8 does not play well... go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
..or Bing or Google "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - February 2007"
Install this baby on the vSphere Server and log in (hopefully) as your bare bones AD sql service account (Local Admin of course!)
Hopefully by now you have your SQL DB provisioned on your SQL box. If not create the DB in question (I prefer vSphereServerDB) and set security to use the AD account and make sure of course it is the owner (DBO).
Now back to the ODBC connector:
You need to re-create the shortcut to the ODBC admin tool using this path:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
I just right clicked on the desktop and added new shortcut and dropped in the above for the target, call it what you want...done.
Next setup your "Systerm DSN" as usual except make sure you choose "SQL Native Client" instead of the "SQL Server" that exists after a bare bones W2K8 install...
This will make the install go much smoother...trust me!
For full "Systen DSN" creation instructions and setup reference pages 70-74 in the "ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide"
Link to PDF below!
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vmware.com%2Fpdf%2Fvsphere4%2Fr40%2Fvsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf&rct=j&q=vsphere+server+install+guide&ei=RX7mSuPfNYyk8Aax5oWfBw&usg=AFQjCNH2s3xWksHp05f7SCB5lq1JK8z9QQ
Chow Ninjas
First off - the out of the box ODBC driver for SQL Server on W2K8 does not play well... go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
..or Bing or Google "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - February 2007"
Install this baby on the vSphere Server and log in (hopefully) as your bare bones AD sql service account (Local Admin of course!)
Hopefully by now you have your SQL DB provisioned on your SQL box. If not create the DB in question (I prefer vSphereServerDB) and set security to use the AD account and make sure of course it is the owner (DBO).
Now back to the ODBC connector:
You need to re-create the shortcut to the ODBC admin tool using this path:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
I just right clicked on the desktop and added new shortcut and dropped in the above for the target, call it what you want...done.
Next setup your "Systerm DSN" as usual except make sure you choose "SQL Native Client" instead of the "SQL Server" that exists after a bare bones W2K8 install...
This will make the install go much smoother...trust me!
For full "Systen DSN" creation instructions and setup reference pages 70-74 in the "ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide"
Link to PDF below!
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vmware.com%2Fpdf%2Fvsphere4%2Fr40%2Fvsp_40_esx_vc_installation_guide.pdf&rct=j&q=vsphere+server+install+guide&ei=RX7mSuPfNYyk8Aax5oWfBw&usg=AFQjCNH2s3xWksHp05f7SCB5lq1JK8z9QQ
Chow Ninjas
KB974571 Crypto-API "Update" Kills OCS
Last week while at a client site we decided to deploy some Microsoft "Security Updates" that included KB974571 for CryptoAPI. The updates were applied to a W2K8 OCS 2007 Enterprise R2 installation.
Then the party started.....After a quick lunch the IT Staff mentioned the OCS client was not logging into the server as usual. A quick look at the event logs by on the technicians noticed this:
Log Name: Office Communications Server
Source: OCS Server
Date: Date
Event ID: 12290
Task Category: (1000)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Computer
Description:
The evaluation period for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has expired. Please upgrade from the evaluation version to the full released version of the product.
The client had asked if we had installed and evaluation copy of OCS? A quick sanity check on TechNet for the licensing model was in order and I found out we were good...as suspected.
I quick Bing and found that we were not the only ones in this sinking boat. We simply pulled KB974571 off the server and a quick reboot; all was well again.
Just a heads up if you are on the more proactive side of applying Microsoft patches.....This was published October 13, 2009. This is similar to the incident back in May that broke Share Point Server 2007 BTW!
Links in case you want to know what Uncle Billy's Staff in Redmond have to say:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974571
Later Ninjas
Then the party started.....After a quick lunch the IT Staff mentioned the OCS client was not logging into the server as usual. A quick look at the event logs by on the technicians noticed this:
Log Name: Office Communications Server
Source: OCS Server
Date: Date
Event ID: 12290
Task Category: (1000)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Computer
Description:
The evaluation period for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has expired. Please upgrade from the evaluation version to the full released version of the product.
The client had asked if we had installed and evaluation copy of OCS? A quick sanity check on TechNet for the licensing model was in order and I found out we were good...as suspected.
I quick Bing and found that we were not the only ones in this sinking boat. We simply pulled KB974571 off the server and a quick reboot; all was well again.
Just a heads up if you are on the more proactive side of applying Microsoft patches.....This was published October 13, 2009. This is similar to the incident back in May that broke Share Point Server 2007 BTW!
Links in case you want to know what Uncle Billy's Staff in Redmond have to say:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974571
Later Ninjas
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ninjaness
If someone leaves there laptop for another person to use and they post on the ninja blog are they a ninja? (albeit it not virtual)
OCS R2 modify MsRTCSip settings
It's not VMWare, heck its even on a physical server.
Migrating a customer from OCS 2007 to OCS 2007 R2 with integration into a Cisco Call Manager box, we wanted to enable Enterprise Voice with PBX Integration. To do this we needed to modify the MsRTCSip-Line and LineServer settings. When we originally setup RCC we used VIM to parse a file for LDIFDE import, but since my VIM Guru was MIA I needed to find a more "non-linux user" friendly method. After some looking found MS Log Parser 2.2 and some documentation and my world may never be the same...
Steps to bulk modify these settings
1.) Download Microsoft Log Parser 2.2 and install
2.) Get a CSV Dump
CSVDE -f users.csv -r objectCategory=person -l "DN, SamAccountname, TelephoneNumber, msrtcsip-line, msrtcsip-lineserver"
(This will dump current settings so you can go back if need be)
3.) Clean up CSV if needed (Remove non ocs users or contacts)
4.) Create log parser template file (Log parser is confusing when picking variable fields, it is the number you think plus 2) IE: DN is field 1 but you need to put %field_3%
Examples
MSRTCSIP-Line.tpl:
dn: %FIELD_3%
changetype: modify
replace: msrtcsip-line
msrtcsip-line: tel:+%FIELD_5%
-
MSRTCSIP-LineServer.tpl:
dn: %FIELD_3%
changetype: modify
replace: msrtcsip-lineserver
msrtcsip-lineserver: sip:%FIELD_5%;phone-context=dialplan@cupsFQDN.com
-
5.) Copy logparser.exe, logparser.dll, users.csv to a folder (IE C:\OCS)
6.) create a batch file to parse msrtcsip-line.tpl and msrtcsip-lineserver.tpl
type c:\OCS\users.csv logparser "SELECT * FROM STDIN" -i:CSV -o:tpl -tpl:"C:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.tpl" -q:on -stats:off > "C:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.ldf"
type c:\OCS\users.csv logparser "SELECT * FROM STDIN" -i:CSV -o:tpl -tpl:"C:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineserver.tpl" -q:on -stats:off > "C:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineServer.ldf"
7.) Edit each ldf file to replace \\ with \ (notepad find replace)
8.) Import each ldf file seperately
ldifde -i -f c:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.ldf
ldifde -i -f c:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineserver.ldf
Migrating a customer from OCS 2007 to OCS 2007 R2 with integration into a Cisco Call Manager box, we wanted to enable Enterprise Voice with PBX Integration. To do this we needed to modify the MsRTCSip-Line and LineServer settings. When we originally setup RCC we used VIM to parse a file for LDIFDE import, but since my VIM Guru was MIA I needed to find a more "non-linux user" friendly method. After some looking found MS Log Parser 2.2 and some documentation and my world may never be the same...
Steps to bulk modify these settings
1.) Download Microsoft Log Parser 2.2 and install
2.) Get a CSV Dump
CSVDE -f users.csv -r objectCategory=person -l "DN, SamAccountname, TelephoneNumber, msrtcsip-line, msrtcsip-lineserver"
(This will dump current settings so you can go back if need be)
3.) Clean up CSV if needed (Remove non ocs users or contacts)
4.) Create log parser template file (Log parser is confusing when picking variable fields, it is the number you think plus 2) IE: DN is field 1 but you need to put %field_3%
Examples
MSRTCSIP-Line.tpl:
dn: %FIELD_3%
changetype: modify
replace: msrtcsip-line
msrtcsip-line: tel:+%FIELD_5%
-
MSRTCSIP-LineServer.tpl:
dn: %FIELD_3%
changetype: modify
replace: msrtcsip-lineserver
msrtcsip-lineserver: sip:%FIELD_5%;phone-context=dialplan@cupsFQDN.com
-
5.) Copy logparser.exe, logparser.dll, users.csv to a folder (IE C:\OCS)
6.) create a batch file to parse msrtcsip-line.tpl and msrtcsip-lineserver.tpl
type c:\OCS\users.csv logparser "SELECT * FROM STDIN" -i:CSV -o:tpl -tpl:"C:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.tpl" -q:on -stats:off > "C:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.ldf"
type c:\OCS\users.csv logparser "SELECT * FROM STDIN" -i:CSV -o:tpl -tpl:"C:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineserver.tpl" -q:on -stats:off > "C:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineServer.ldf"
7.) Edit each ldf file to replace \\ with \ (notepad find replace)
8.) Import each ldf file seperately
ldifde -i -f c:\OCS\msrtcsip-line.ldf
ldifde -i -f c:\OCS\msrtcsip-lineserver.ldf
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Vsphere False high memory readings in Vcenter Guest Mem%
I have come across this "issue" a few times.
This is the work around provided in the VMware thread.
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1347211#1347211
This is the work around provided in the VMware thread.
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1347211#1347211
VMWARE Tools Upgrade for VSphere
The following procedures are involved in upgrading virtual machines:
Upgrade VMware Tools
Upgrade virtual hardware
During the VMware Tools upgrade, the virtual machine remains powered on. Microsoft Windows
operating systems, you must reboot the guest operating system at the end of the VMware Tools upgrade
procedure.
When you upgrade VMware Tools, expect downtime as follows:
You must reboot the virtual machine at the end of the upgrade procedure, or later, to make the upgrade
take effect.
On Windows guest operating systems, you must reboot the virtual machine a total of three times when
you upgrade VMware Tools and the virtual hardware:
-Power on the virtual machine.
-Upgrade VMware Tools.
- Reboot the virtual machine at the end of the VMware Tools upgrade.
Change the network adapter type to VMXNET3 from the Flexible.
Common Problem
Under certain conditions, you may see the following error message from a Windows guest operating system:
The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network
adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter. Name of
adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder
because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter
that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters
and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This
may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a
different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in
the advanced dialog box?
In this message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address that you are
trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that
is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.
This can occur when you change a network connection’s TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address if:
You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example
when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of
VMware software.)
You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.
The cause of the error is that a network adapter with the same IP
address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager
(My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager). This
hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.
Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager (View
Show hidden devices) does not always show the old virtual NIC
(ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned
Microsoft addresses this issue in their Knowledge Base article
269155, which is available at the time of this writing at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=269155.
To resolve this problem, follow these steps to make the ghosted
network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted
network adapter from the registry:
1. Select Start > Run.
2. Enter cmd.exe and press Enter.
3. At the command prompt, run this command:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
4. Enter Start DEVMGMT.MSC and press Enter to start Device Manager.
5. Select View > Show Hidden Devices.
6. Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).
7. Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then select Uninstall.
8. Close Device Manager.
Upgrade VMware Tools
Upgrade virtual hardware
During the VMware Tools upgrade, the virtual machine remains powered on. Microsoft Windows
operating systems, you must reboot the guest operating system at the end of the VMware Tools upgrade
procedure.
When you upgrade VMware Tools, expect downtime as follows:
You must reboot the virtual machine at the end of the upgrade procedure, or later, to make the upgrade
take effect.
On Windows guest operating systems, you must reboot the virtual machine a total of three times when
you upgrade VMware Tools and the virtual hardware:
-Power on the virtual machine.
-Upgrade VMware Tools.
- Reboot the virtual machine at the end of the VMware Tools upgrade.
Change the network adapter type to VMXNET3 from the Flexible.
Common Problem
Under certain conditions, you may see the following error message from a Windows guest operating system:
The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network
adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter. Name of
adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder
because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter
that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters
and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This
may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a
different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in
the advanced dialog box?
In this message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address that you are
trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that
is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.
This can occur when you change a network connection’s TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address if:
You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example
when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of
VMware software.)
You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.
The cause of the error is that a network adapter with the same IP
address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager
(My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager). This
hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.
Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager (View
Show hidden devices) does not always show the old virtual NIC
(ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned
Microsoft addresses this issue in their Knowledge Base article
269155, which is available at the time of this writing at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=269155.
To resolve this problem, follow these steps to make the ghosted
network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted
network adapter from the registry:
1. Select Start > Run.
2. Enter cmd.exe and press Enter.
3. At the command prompt, run this command:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
4. Enter Start DEVMGMT.MSC and press Enter to start Device Manager.
5. Select View > Show Hidden Devices.
6. Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).
7. Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then select Uninstall.
8. Close Device Manager.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
How to turn xp and xpe into a VIEW Client Shell
http://blogs.vmware.com/view/2009/02/vmware-view-client-as-a-shell-for-xpe-and-xp-pro-clients.html
This is directly from the mothership from a vmware blog.
This is directly from the mothership from a vmware blog.
VMware VIEW Setup Guides
This is the best VIEW/Virtual Desktop documentation that I have found by TcpDump.
VIEW
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/deploying-vmware-view-manager-security-server/security-server-configuration.html
Virtual Desktop
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/
ThinApp
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/thinapp-deployment-guide/intro.html
VIEW
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/deploying-vmware-view-manager-security-server/security-server-configuration.html
Virtual Desktop
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/
ThinApp
http://www.tcpdump.com/kb/virtualization/virtual-desktop/thinapp-deployment-guide/intro.html
The Best 2008 Virtual Template Guide I have found.
This is a great guide made by Jeremy Waldrop. I highly recommend it.
http://jeremywaldrop.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/how-to-build-a-windows-2008-vmware-esx-vm-template/
http://jeremywaldrop.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/how-to-build-a-windows-2008-vmware-esx-vm-template/
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