Where am I?
Good question. The last time I started blogging again (?) I insisted to myself that I must post each week. It’s been a few, I know. Been busy with several large virtualization project including my first blade project. Pretty Cool
Also been working on my VCP. Passed it last week before Christmas. What a relief.
More to come…
-mwm
ESX 3.5 vSwitch CDP
Many of you may know this tip, I did not though. I was struggling today to compile network documentation for an ESX 3.5 installation. i was doing this remotely and needed to know what switch port each physical ESX nic was plugged into. The MAC addresses for the physical nics can be revealed in the COS by issuing the command:
ifconfig
You’ll see the REAL mac for each PHYSICAL nic in the ESX box. You’ll note that by doing a:
show cdp neighbor
on the switch does not reveal the vmnic at all. You need to enable CDP on the vswitch. This is really awesome. Issue this command in the COS for each vswitch:
esxcfg-vswitch -B both vSwitch0
Substitute each vswitchX depending on the servers you need CDP for….
Pretty cool and VERY useful.
-mwm
Mark Warner…
at the DNC is really not helping anyone, let alone Obama. I was clear headed going into this, a declared independant. So far, this DNC has been a FART! Warner sounds like an idiot. Making claims and drawing parallels where there are none!
I am scared this year, really scared.
-mwm
Windows 2003 Share Path
I am working on an MSA 2012i install at a private school. The data migration always seems to be the worst part of it all. As I mentioned in a previous post, I prefer to use NTBACKUP to move large amounts of data between disks or servers. it maintains permissions. It does not move the SHARES though.
This school chose to create a directory structure as follows:
c:\students
c:\students\<user name>
c:\students\<user name>
c:\students\<user name>
They then shared each individual <user name> folder and map it as a drive. This may have been a carry over from before Windows 2003 and it ability to UNC map any folder beneath a folder that is shared. Well, they have about 500 student accounts. I had to recreate these shares since Windows lacks a way to easily change the path behind a share. Or did I need to recreate the shares?
I found the following in the registry:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\Shares
There you will find a REG_MULTI_SZ entry with values as follows:
NAME:
SHARE_NAME (This is the user)
DATE:
CSCFlags=0
MaxUses=4294967295
Path=f:\student users\<user_name>
Permissions=0
Remark=Shared by remote command.
Type=0
Simply change the path in the indicated are of the registry and reboot. The reboot may be accommodated by restarting netlogon, but I have yet to try it.
-mwm
ESX Bug
There is much chatter on the web related to how VMware could have allowed this code to be released with such a substatial bug in it. I do agree that this should never have happened and I will not try to defend them.
I will however bring up Microsoft Super Tuesday patching. Although there is rarely a bug/flaw of this magnatude pathed on Tuesdays, there are significant security flaws patched. It has become accepted that MS Windows is not secure and is far from running solid code. We simply accept this and keep running it. VMware releases a bug that disallows a VM the ability to boot. This is bad. At least Windows security flaws will be shielded from the LAN while the VM is not booting.
Again, I do not intend to defend VMware. I just dont like the Microsoft lackies jumping up and down saying ‘See! See! Windows is better’. Lets keep in it perspective. VMware Virtualization is still FAR superior to MS.
-mwm
HUGE VMware ESX 3.5 U2 Bug
Have you heard? Nasty, Nasty, Nasty.
Apparently there is a bug in ESX 3.5 U2 that will cause VM’s to not boot as of today. They wont migrate either. Running VM’s will be fine as long as they remain running. If they do power off, they wont come back on. VMware does not have a fix as of yet but I am watching for it. To verify your ESX version do the following at the Service Console:
‘vmware -v’
U2 will return the following:
VMware ESX Server 3.5 build-103908
Or
VMware ESX Server 3.5 build-103908
Anything before the above is cool. If you are having this issue VMware has a fix for affected systems only currently.
-mwm
Moving Windows File Shares
There always seems to be questions regarding the best way to move Windows 2003 file folders/shares from one server or disk to another. I have tried many methods including robocopy and xcopy. Although these solutions can do the trick I find that I get errors quite often and have to start over. Getting an ‘Access Denied’ when 100gb into a 200gb copy is not a fun thing and has caused a few keyboards to hit the trash.
For my time and money NTBACKUP is the most consistently reliable method to move large volumes of data from one server to another. It retains file permissions which is essential. Here is my method:
- Browse folder structure and record all SHARE NAMES
- Record SHARE PERMISSIONS
- Backup using NTBACKUP (need some space to store the file!)
- Resore to new location using NTBACKUP
- Re-Share the shares record above
- Set SHARE PERMISSIONS
Done. I very rarely get any errors using this method.
-mwm
Who’s Looking?
Hello All,
Sorry about the lack of quality posting lately. Been working on setting up a pool in my back yard. Ever done it? Dont! It is just not very much fun at all. It’ll be great when done though. The kids will love it. Found it on craigslist for $250. It’s a 30′ x 15′ foot above ground.
The hits to this site have jumped drastically increased the past two days. Who’s lookin? What ya looking for?
I am very busy on the work front. This week I am doing an HP 2012i install for the first time. Going pretty well so far. Connecting threee servers via dual gig intel cards in each. The only draw back is the Cisco 4507 core. It shares a 1 gig backbone among groups of 8 ports. This means I have to be careful not put to many SAN related devices within groups of 8 ports. I’ll post more detail as the week goes on.
Stay Tuned!
-mwm
CCEA Certified
Hello Internet,
Well I finally finished it. I am now a Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator . Yippeeee. I was never real hot on getting this cert but work was so I did it. This is not a fun certification to get at all. It is very hard, especially the final Build/Test Lab. The certificatioin requires the following:
- Pass several easy on-line training sessions and tests
- Attain Citrix Certified Administrator - Presentation Server (1 Prometric Test)
- Attain Citrix Certified Administrator - Password Manager (1 Prometric Test)
- Attain Citrix Certified Administrator - CAG (1 Prometric Test)
- Pass Supporting Citrix Technologoes (1 Prometric Test)
- Pass the CCEA Build/Test Exam (1 4-hour Prometric Test)
5 tests in all. The first 3 CCA’s were not all that bad. The last test was a nightmare! It is one of the most difficult tests I have ever taken. If you are looking to get you CCEA be sure to read a lot. Using the stuff (password manager and CAG) is a must. Don’t go into it cold. I took the test twice at $300 a pop.
Glad it’s done!
-mwm
The Terry Childs Case
I cant help but be very interested in the Terry Childs case. If you are not familiar with the case this is the best site to get familiar with it. Start at the beginning as it is ever evolving.
Paul Venezia seems to be doing the best job covering this story. Having worked with Paul in the past and also knowing him personally I can attest to his knowledge of the enterprise network. He is one of the best network engineers around. Having his perspective on the Childs case is invaluable.
-mwm