06 Apr 2013
By Yendis

Wyse Thin client Daylight Saving issue

Hardware, Microsoft, , , ,
I had an interesting problem that appeared shortly after the GMT Daylight saving time changed on Sunday evening (31st March) with Wyse Xenith/Xenith2 thin client devices which are used to access a Citrix VDI environment delivering a Windows 7 Professional desktop to around 800 users. So what was the issue? The problem was reported that even though the clock went forward 1 hour the Windows 7 clients where reporting that the time hadn’t changed (gone forward) since the change.  People were not turning up to meeting on time and it caused mayhem. Taking a look at the time zone set on the Windows 7…
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05 Apr 2013
By Yendis

Symantec NetBackup and PureDisk appliances

Hardware, , ,
This may be off topic but I thought I would cover it anyway as a colleague of mine found the information very useful.  We had a faulty 1TB disk (in slot 16) which needed replacing but looking at the front of the appliance there was no indication/labels to give us a clue as to location of  slot 16.  We trawled the internet for hours and finally came up with the following diagrams that perhaps one day may help you out and save you many hours of surfing. Following tables show the location of hotspare disks and data disks in different models…
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23 Mar 2013
By Yendis

Exchange 2010 SP2 upgrade error

Microsoft, ,
I was performing an SP2 upgrade on a clients Exchange 2010 Sp1 environment today and whilst upgrading the first "Mailbox Server Role" in the DAG the upgrade process came up with the following error:- Error:       The following error was generated when "$error.Clear();              if ($exsSid -eq $null -or $exsSid -eq "")             {             $exsSid = get-ExchangeServerGroupSID -DomainController $RoleDomainController             }            start-setupservice -ServiceName MSExchangeADTopology -ServiceParameters                  $exsSid,$RoleDomainController " was run: "Service 'MSExchangeADTopology' failed to reach status 'Running' on this server.".  Service 'MSExchangeADTopology' failed to reach status 'Running' on this server. Looking at the exchange setup logs it was discovered that the Exchange Trusted Subsystem was not a member of the Builtin Administrators…
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19 Mar 2013
By Yendis

EMC Clarrion faulting devices

Hardware,
Whilst doing a physical inspection of our datacentre today I noticed that we had multiple disk enclosures indicating an amber warning light.  After checking Navisphere (and after picking myself up of the floor) I noticed the following errors. As you can see from the diagram six disk enclosures had faulted. (more…)
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19 Mar 2013
By Yendis

Change root password on all (or some) vSphere hosts

VMware, , , , ,
As part of a security audit I needed a quick way to change the ESXi root passwords without having to go on to each server. I was looking for a script that would automate at least some of the work for me and I came across a script called Change-ESXiPassword.ps1 that was created by Jesse Gardner which I thought I would give a try. After running the script and knowing it works fine I will be personally be running this every quarter. This script: prompts you for the old password prompts you for the new password prompts you for the vCenter…
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10 Mar 2013
By Yendis

Cool Tool update: RVTools 3.5

Tools,
This tool has helped me find inconsistencies in environments and misconfigured VMs etc on more than one occasion. What’s new for RVTools 3.5? On vInfo tabpage new field: Resource pool On vInfo tabpage new field: Consolidation needed. On vCPU tabpage new field: Number of cores per socket New tabpage with resource pool information On vNetwork tabpage new column: Switch name On vNetwork tabpage new column: Starts Connected On vTools tabpage new column: required version On vHost tabpage new columns: custom fields On vDisk tabpage new columns: raw disk information Improved error handling for SSO login problems Bug fix: Invalid snapshot size fixed Bug fix: All datetime fields now use the local…
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01 Mar 2013
By Yendis

Latest Fling from VMware Labs – DrmDiagnose

Tools, VMware
VMware vCenter has provided sophisticated resource management controls (to set resource reservations, limits, shares, etc.) for virtual machines since vCenter 2.0. However, we have noticed that not everyone uses these controls due to confusion about how these features can affect other virtual machines in the resource pool. For instance, what happens when you increase the CPU size of a VM? How does that affect the other VMs in the same cluster? This Fling attempts to make this easier by providing resource management recommendations based on inventory dumps of the existing environment. It compares the current resource demands of a VM and suggests…
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24 Feb 2013
By Yendis

Supported Databases for Citrix Products

Citrix, , , ,
Citrix supplies best efforts to ensure compatibility with upcoming database releases. New versions of supported databases (SQL, Oracle, or DB2) released after our products have been released, must work. However, Citrix recommends creating a test environment to ensure there are no unforeseen issues related to changes made to the new version or update of the third-party product.  Individuals wishing to use the new release with current Citrix products must perform their own testing before using the platform. Citrix does not support any BETA versions of third-party products. You can find the database chart HERE this document will be updated periodically as new information becomes…
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09 Feb 2013
By Yendis

MetaLUNs Explained

Hardware, Storage, , , ,
The purpose of a MetaLUN is that a Clariion can grow the size of a LUN on the ‘fly’. Let’s say that a host is running out of space on a LUN. From Navisphere, we can “Expand” a LUN by adding more LUNs to the LUN that the host has access to. To the host, we are not adding more LUNs. All the host is going to see is that the LUN has grown in size. We will explain later how to make space available to the host. (more…)
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09 Feb 2013
By Yendis

Disable TCP Chimney offload

Hardware, , ,
When it comes to the virutalisation , there are considerations for performance. There are options which are enabled by default which makes sense for laptops and even desktops. A VM, however, may not benefit and in fact may see performance loss. One such feature is TCP Chimney offload. TCP Chimney offload is designed to free up CPU utilization and increase network throughput by moving TCP processing tasks to hardware. This frees up the server’s CPU for other tasks. This makes sense if consider the available processors, ram and types of tasks running. Chances are a VM is only performing a…
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