• VirtualCenter task stops responding
• Tasks time out
• If the task runs for more then 15 minutes VMware Virtual Center 2.x times it out but the task still continues the execution on ESX host.
• Next attempt to re-run the task returns the error:
  Operation failed since another task is in progress.

VMware VirtualCenter 2.x has a hard coded 15 minutes timeout for any task.

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SSL keys are used in the communication between ESX Server, VMware Server, and VMware ACE on one side and management applications like VirtualCenter on the other side. VMware recommends that you follow industry best practices regarding data security and establish protocols for periodically replacing or regenerating your SSL keys in order to improve the data security of your systems.

This article contains the following topics:

• Regenerating or Replacing SSL Certificates
• Best Practices for Sending Support Data to VMware

• vm-support Script Update

Regenerating or Replacing SSL Certificates

The SSL keys on ESX Server, VMware Server and VMware ACE are generated during the installation of these products. These keys are used to set up communication using the SSL protocol.

Following industry best practices, VMware recommends that you regenerate the SSL keys on ESX Server, VMware Server, and VMware ACE according to your company’s security policy. In the case of custom certificates, replace these certificates according to your company’s security policy.

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When Windows Server 2008 is installed, hibernation is enabled by default. Depending on the amount of memory the size of this file is approximately equal to the amount of random access memory (RAM) that is installed on the Server. For a server you want to disable this Vista option.

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off, and then press ENTER.
5. Type exit, and then press ENTER.

If you want to make hibernation available then you can re-enable this vista option.

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on, and then press ENTER.
5. Type exit, and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

Situatie:

- Windows 2003 SBS SP1

- Exchange 2003 SP2

- BackupExec 12.5

Na het hebben geïnstalleerd van BackupExec v. 12.5 op een Small Business Server kreeg ik de volgende foutmelding:

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For troubleshooting or maintenance purposes it may be necessary to defragment the indexes on your Microsoft SQL database server. This article provides the steps perform a defragmentation of the indexes to increase performance of the database.

Overview

Fragmentation of indexes occurs when the logical order of pages is different than the physical order on the disk. In VirtualCenter fragmentation occurs most noticeably due to the statistics collection and consolidation. 

When the indexes are excessively fragmented, performance of queries to the VirtualCenter database is slow.

Warning: The VirtualCenter Server service must be shut down prior to performing any kind of database maintenance. For information on stopping the VirtualCenter Server service, see Stopping, starting, or restarting the VirtualCenter Server service (1003895).

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This article provides steps for changing the IP address of the Service Console on an ESX host.

Prior to changing the IP address of Service Console on ESX hosts

Take the following in to consideration prior to changing the IP address of the Service Console:

• Changing the primary Service Console’s IP address may result in network connectivity loss.
• Connect to ESX shell via a remote console or a KVM console. The PUTTY or SSH connection terminates during IP address change.
• VMware HA and DRS, if enabled, requires must disabled to eliminate failover.
• Disconnect and remove the host from VirtualCenter.
• Change the DNS database for the forward as well as the reverse entries if applicable.
• For manual resolution in /etc/hosts, change the IP for each ESX host in the VMware HA cluster and if needed in any other host in your environment.
• If there is more than one Service Console present, determine the primary by checking /etc/sysconfig/network for default gateway device and IP address.

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Setting up NLB Multicast Mode

• Multicast mode does not have the problem that unicast operation does since the servers can communicate with each other via the original addresses of their NLB network cards.
• Each server’s NLB network card operating in multicast mode has two MAC addresses (the original one and the virtual one for the cluster) causes some problems on its own. Most routers reject the ARP replies sent by hosts in the cluster, since the router sees the response to the ARP request that contains a unicast IP address with a multicast MAC address. The router considers this to be invalid and rejects the update to the ARP table. In this case you’ll need to manually Configure Static ARP Resolution at Switch or router for each port connecting to ESX’s NICS. See also 1006525 (Network Load Balancing (NLB) Multicast mode over routed subnet – Cisco Switch Static ARP Config)

For additional information, see Sample Configuration – Network Load Balancing (NLB) Multicast mode over routed subnet – Cisco Switch Static ARP Configuration (1006525).

Check out the complete knowledge base article after the jump

To configure the switch:

1. Telnet in to Cisco Switch Console and log in.
2. Run the following command to enter Configuration mode:
   config t
3. STATIC ARP RESOLUTION Cisco Global command mode
   For example:
   arp [ip] [cluster multicast mac] ARPA
   arp 192.168.1.100 03bf.c0a8.0164 ARPA
4. STATIC MAC RESOLUTION Cisco Global command mode
   For example:
   mac-address-table static [cluster multicast mac] [vlan id] [interface]
   mac-address-table static 03bf.c0a8.0164 vlan 1 interface GigabitEthernet1/1 GigabitEthernet1/2
   GigabitEthernet1/15 GigabitEthernet1/16

For related information, see Sample Configuration – Network Load Balancing (NLB) Multicast Mode Configuration (1006558).

Check out the complete knowledge base article after the jump

When I type into the remote console, I see unintended repeated characters. What is wrong?

If you are using a wide-area or low-bandwidth connection, the time delay over the network may be long enough to cause the virtual machine to start auto-repeat.

To reduce these effects, increase the time threshold necessary for auto-repeat in the remote console.

1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. Add a line similar to the following to your virtual machine’s configuration (.vmx) file.
   keyboard.typematicMinDelay = "2000000"
   The delay is specified in micro-seconds, so the line in the example above increases the repeat time to 2 seconds. This should ensure that you never get auto-repeat unless you intend it.
3. Power on the virtual machine.

Check out the complete knowledge base article after the jump