Hello everyone,

all 5 ESX 6.0 hosts have these lines in hostd.log

2017-11-06T05:43:49.115Z error hostd[5FC17B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=037dd862] Unable to convert Vigor value 'centos7-64' of type 'char const*' to VIM type 'Vim::Vm::GuestOsDescriptor::GuestOsIdentifier'

2017-11-06T05:43:49.116Z error hostd[5F807B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=037dd863] Unable to convert Vigor value 'centos7-64' of type 'char const*' to VIM type 'Vim::Vm::GuestOsDescriptor::GuestOsIdentifier'

2017-11-06T05:43:53.296Z error hostd[5FC17B70] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=037dd870] Unable to convert Vigor value 'centos7-64' of type 'char const*' to VIM type 'Vim::Vm::GuestOsDescriptor::GuestOsIdentifier'

2017-11-06T05:43:53.296Z error hostd[5FCDAB70] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=037dd871] Unable to convert Vigor value 'centos7-64' of type 'char const*' to VIM type 'Vim::Vm::GuestOsDescriptor::GuestOsIdentifier'

2

Saw this here also:

Re: [patch] Workstation 11 vmware-hostd crashes on unrecognized Linux distribution

Any hints  would be appreciated.

Regards

Christian

Dears,

I have migrated one host from 4.1 to 5.5 and afterwards after scanning datastores the host can't see some storages, notice that other hosts can see all storages.

type of the storage not seen by host is HP iSCSi Disk

hi - this is a VMware workstation 14 question. No ESXi.

I have a 60 GB vmdk which has data. I have four guest VMs running CentOS and they have their own OS vmdk.

All 4 VMs need to access this 60 gb VMDK.

Mostly the data is read only but each VM will have less than 5% of data that It can change but original data should stay unchanged and that is why snapshots.

So, I added this data disk to first VM and created a snapshot.

Then, I added this same original 60 gb vmdk disk in second VM, and I created a snapshot and repeated same to other 2.

The idea is to use 60 gb data disk as read only and changes are made only to the snapshot.

To to my surprise, all 4 machines started but I do not know if this approach will work or not Or vm will crash later or vmdk goes bad etc.

The question is : can all 4 machines read same base 60 gb vmdk simultaneously or not.

i got this idea after I ran vmdiskmanger to shrink the disk and it gives the message that this disk can be shared across VMs using snapshot.

If if this is possible, this will save lots of space on my P50 laptop.

Any idea or experience on this.

Please limit this this discussion to workstation only and do not bring other product as I only work using workstation.

Thank you.

I am aware that the higher end products of vmware like vsphere etc have backup features or even there seems to be 3rd party products for such functions. I am however just a vmware workstation pro user user, only familiar with workstation & player, but I had been using these wonderful products for more than a decade since version 4 days.

My suggestion arose from my own needs, I run NAS & email servers in VMs, in a small business office, very reliable for many years.

My host machine is Linux, and I have crontab jobs, running every night to backup my servers. My scripts put each VM 1 by 1 to suspend mode, copy the whole folder to a backup volume and then restore it, before proceeding to the next VM. It is working fine for me especially the NAS has no user at the night time.

There is however a slight problem for the email server, obviously, during my backup period (few minutes), the server is down, and incoming emails are receiving no respond error from my server which got put in suspend mode for backup.

Hence, I am suggesting, a new feature for backup purpose, to allow VM to be continuously running non-stop, no disruption to their functions during their backup. In concept, alike a temporary snapshot being taken, and wholly duplicated to another folder location, just only without the new delta vmdk files containing changes after the snapshot point, and after duplication, this temporary snapshot is deleted, and the VM continues to function undisrupted.

In the duplicated folder, there should be a content of a full VM, in a snapshot state, still snapshot in power ON state. Freezing the state exactly at the moment of the backup time.

My suggestion is to have this feature added into the snapshot manager area, as a new option, call it SNAPSHOT-BACKUP or any more appropriate name anyone else better than me can think of. The UI need to prompt for user to specify a destination folder which backup will duplicate VM into.

At the same time, append a new command into the VMRUN command line utility, calling it by this same new name, so that e.g. we issue command to "vmrun snapshot-backup /home/vm/email/email.vmx /mnt/backup_vm/email" the last part specifies the destination folder for this backup VM to be copied into.

With this feature, I hope VMware Workstation Pro users can easily carryout UNDISRUPTED BACKUP of running VMs.

If this feature could be provided in new version Workstation Pro, it will be beneficial and meaningful, and what the users will get is very similar to what I am doing for the time being - got a duplicated VM in suspended power state, but during the time of backing up my VMs are temporary off-line, disrupting their users.

Thanks & regards.

tsxi

I am trying to troubleshooting why a host is not able to join an AD domain

All necessary ports from this kb has been opened

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1026538

VMware Knowledge Base

but its failing to join

any idea?

I tried doing a packet capture

but do not see anything i can tell in the cap file

I had no problem using Vmware Player 12.5.9 until I have to update to the kernel 4.13 (because of Spectre and Meltdown). Since then, VMware fails to compile some modules. (Virtual Network Device). Is there any update of VMware for this new kernel ? Thanks in advance.

We are working on Windows 10 + UEM 92 + AppVolumes

In a VDI desktop with persistent disk working with UEM 92 when we assign an AppStack everything works perfectly but when you log off and log in again the system shows the message :

The Group Policy Client service failed the sign in. Access Denied.

The only solution to log in again in the affected desktop is restart the machine.

Anyone else knows this issue?

did someone have this issue when his esxi server :

An error occurred while saving the snapshot: 22 (Invalid argument).

when you try to create a snapshot for any VM

thanky ou

UPDATE: Just realized that for the property (vRA.Deployment.Tags) I only have the tag name entered in the Value column for the dropdown. Do I need to add a way to reference the tag category? Not sure how to add that to the property.

UPDATE 2: Doesn't look like the workflow requires a tag category. I'm trying to force the workflow to give me more information in the logs, see at what step it's failing.

UPDATE 3: Found the issue, but not sure how to fix it. So the issue is that in the Variables section of the last run of the setVcTags workflow, I can see the following:

vmName: (here it gives the correct VM name)

errorCode: "Could not find VM (Dynamic Script Module name : findVcVmByName#7)"

Because the result of vmName isn't getting properly passed to the vm attribute (type: VC:VirtualMachine), or at least it can't find it based off that name, the workflow ends.

I may end up opening a ticket with VMware to see why it's not getting passed properly.

Hey everybody,

Novice vRO user here (yaaaay) - so I've been tasked with having vRA assign 1 of 2 tags to every single VM when it's being created (for these examples, "Backup Tag 1" and "Backup Tag 2"). We're doing this to enable auto backups in Avamar.

Here's the site that I've been using: Assigning vCenter tags using vRealize Orchestrator – The vGoodie-bag

So far I have:

1. In vRO client, run "Import vAPI metamodel" successfully.
2. Imported this package: vCenterTagging/com.vGoodie-Bag.library.vapi.package at master · KnutssonDevelopment/vCenterTagging · GitHub
3. Went to the setVcTags workflow in vRO (vGoodie-Bag > setVcTags) > edit > endpoint > changed to "https://[my vCenter FQDN]/api"
4. Created property "vRA.Deployment.Tags" as a dropdown (X = Backup Tag 1, Y = Backup Tag 2) and added it to the Blueprint.
5. (I already have a LifeCycle Property Group with pretty much all the "VMPSMasterWorkflow32" entries, plus two "CloneWorkflow" ones, so just made sure that was in the Blueprint as well.)
6. Created a new Subscription: setVcTags > Machine provisioning > Lifecycle state name = "VMPSMasterWorkflow32.MachineActivated" > State phase = "POST" > selected the "setVcTags" workflow from the imported package > Finish
   1. NOTE: This is one of the steps where I got confused, since they mention sorting workflows in vRO but don't give any information at all - I'm assuming the fact that I chose a state phase when creating the subscription means I'm good?

Now when I build a VM in vRA, it successfully builds, and after a while vRO says that the setVcTags workflow ran successfully (under Logs it has two messages - "Settings vCenter Tags" and then "Tags: Backup Tag 1") - however, no Tags appear in vCenter for that VM.

I'm assuming I'm just missing something with how I've set this up in vRO - obviously vRA is calling the workflow because I see it running, but nothing's making it back to the VM. Maybe I haven't tied in the right action at the end of the workflow or something? I'm really sorry if I've missed something obvious, this is my second time trying any serious workflow, and the first one I'm piecing together myself.

Let me know if any other info is helpful, and I would love any suggestions of what to check next. Thanks!

Well I finally get to join the club of users that do not keep up-to-date VM backups.

I was cleaning up a VM by deleting the old snapshots using the Snapshot manager and filed to understand the dialog before clicking yes TWICE.  The VM had 4 snapshots and I started deleting from the oldest snapshot, which had 1 child snapshot, so I clicked the option to delete all the children snapshots.  So I stood there in a daze as I watched the most current snapshot be deleted.

After I destroyed my room I calmly sat down and started to think of how to go about trying to recover for this stupid mistake.  So for starers I ran a utility to show and recovery all the files deleted from that VM's folder but some of the VSDK files seem to be missing.  I've included two files showing the recovered files and what the VM folder looks like now.

Need to know if it's even possible to reconstruct the recovered VMDK files enough to read data or is it a lost cause and I should just move on?

Thanks...

John

Hello,

Maybe someone else have same experience after latest vmware workstation 14

that he is unable to access to smartdash of checkpoint r77.20&30?

Thanks

Summary

This is not a patch release, but drop-in replacement of  the implementation of  the vCenter plug-in 6.5 for vRealize Orchestrator

Although the plugin version is 6.5, the plugin implementation is completely redesigned, by keeping the existing content

The new plug-in offers:

• Optimization of the communication with vSphere servers and reducing of the load on these
• Hassle-free update of Scripting API, when Vsphere API changes, thanks to new approach for auto-generated integration
• Removing of security vulnerabilities
• Preserve maximum Scripting API compatibility, respectively content compatibility

For 7.3 release following integrations were delivered:

• All PBM API types are exposed as vRO scripting types
• All SMS API types are exposed as vRO scripting types
• Exposing of the Storage Policies and Policy Components  as vRO inventory items

Plugin versioning and interoperaility with vSphere servers

• The  plugin version is 6.5
• The plugin core functionality (connectivity, inventory) is compatible with vSphere products with version 5.5 and above.
• vSphere API version exposed in the scripting API is 6.5
  • This means that all the  API methods, properties and types introduced in Vsphere 6.5 (Which currently is in beta) are made available for vRo scripting content developers and will work if supported by the vSphere server product. For convenience in this new version of the plugin all the methods and properties are annotated in their description (visible in vso.xml and API explorer ) with version tag, e.g '@since vSphere API 5.5'

Interoperability with vRO

The plugin is compatible with vRO version is compatible with version 7.2 and 7.3

Install procedure

Few of the workflows are changed to reflect the minor incompatible changes in the API, so these will be overwritten during install.
The plugin can be installed in the standard way

Versions

Version 6.5.0.5817435

• Fixing in bulk fetching of objects based on queries - plugin factory 'findAll' method now uses default set of properties to be pre-loaded
• Fixes in 'Convert independent disks' workflow

Version 6.5.0.6216831

• Fixes in construction of instances of scripting types based on VLSI basic types , e.g - VcKeyAnyValue'
• Fixes in 'data' objects serialization process

Version 6.5.0.6374976

• Fixes in vlsi client resources finalization to prevent leaking of vlsi monitoring threads

Version 6.5.0.6471915

• Fixes in deserialization of 'Any' attributes, causing failures in "Clone, Windows with single NIC and Credentials" and dependent workflows

Version 6.5.0.7037717

• Rest API query specifications implementation moved to plugin, resulting in performance improvements in case such a query is used (XaaS Blueprint forms etc.)

Version 6.5.0.7208762

• Additional fixes to plugin's Rest API query specifications implementation

Version 6.5.0.7646854

• Fixes in the Object fetching functionality
• Update VMODL definitions for the plugin with a newer version

I'm having my first run-in with IP Pools. Is it possible to set a fixed IP for the usage meter appliance and use it without having to create an IP pool in the datacenter? If the answer is no and I have to set up a pool, what happens if I use an IP range that has VMs with fixed IPs from that range? I'm guessing that the IP pool recognizes IPs that are already in use so that it will avoid ip conflicts, but I'm not big on guessing.

On ESXi 5.5. doubled CPU - 2 to 4 on a Windows 2008 server. The CPU count is listed in Windows Device Manager but not Task Manager - shows only 2 CPU's. System properties lists 2 CPU's. Thought CPU in 2008 and on were hot add/or do I need to also update/upgrade the HAL? Or am I good?

Thanks,

Milty

Is there something i am not seeing or hearing about this.  Setting up some new pools with Win 10 and i'm finding out that the right click feature is not working on Win 10 desktops.  Have multiple pools setup and none of them will right click.  Is this a bug or do i have other issues?  Any input is welcome.  Thanks

View 7.0.2 with the same agent

Hello Everyone,

We are providing DR solutions to our clients.

attached screenshot error from view 6.2 server currently( Loading View CLI console error ).  but we got rid from this error, after upgrading view server to 7.x.
we want to reproduce that error on View 7.x server to validate some test for DR, i would appreciate if some one assist over this.

Thanks,

Ashish

It's annoying. I'll be working on a remote host, then all off a sudden it disconnects, brings the vSphere Client into focus, but I can click back on the remote machine & it's reconnected. Happens every few minutes.

I know it has to do with my ISP because if I connect the same machine at my office (where I have Time Warner / Spectrum) everything works normally. Bring the machine home where I have Frontier Fios (which is even faster than my office) and I have issues. I do have a dedicated external IP in the office, not sure if that matters.

All of the kB articles I read mention an advanced setting to change the heartbeat timeout (if this is the same issue) but that setting is not available on vSphere Client. I am not running vSphere Server, just ESXi 5.1 on a server which has been in the same datacenter for 5 years.

Any ideas?

First, vRA is a pain to learn! I could go on, but here's the problem I'm having. I've setup a simple proof of concept environment, I'm trying to automate the deployment of VMs from two vCenter templates. One template exists on a single network, another on two networks. I'm able to deploy the single network template from the catalog without issue getting a correct static address from my range. The other has two static IP addresses, from two different subnets, which isn't working as expected.

I have two network profiles, lets called server and storage. One has a 10.x network, the other 172.x network. Each profile has a range of addresses I'm using for testing. These network profiles are linked to the Network adapter session in the Reservation.

The blueprint for the actual VM template is linked to a property group, which has two properties OS.VirtualMachine.Network0.ProfileName, and a second with 1 instead of 0. Each property definition has under the "Static List" section the network profile name for the "Value" field. I should now have everything linked to deploy a VM with two network adapters and get their respective IP address from the ranges setup in the network profile.

When my user account goes under the Catalog tab and selects Request, the next section shows the drop down boxes for choosing the networks before selecting submit. The VM gets deployed, however the addresses aren't correct. Sometimes I get two 10.x net address, two 172s, or one of each, but backwards. First time it deployed correctly oddly enough. But the address doesn't seem to get applied to the right adapter. Any ideas on how to get the addresses assigned correctly?

Also, since our DNS is external, the addresses and hostnames have been pre-staged. I'd need to somehow say "server01" always gets address 10.0.0.1, for instance. Is that possible here? And yes DHCP with DNS integration would solve this, currently working on but that's an internal non technical process.

Thanks for any help.

PowerCLI には、vSAN に対応したコマンドも含まれています。

VMware Hands-on Labs （HOL）のラボを利用して PowerCLI 6.5 R1 で vSAN の情報を見てみます。

今回は 「vSAN 6.5 の新機能」（HOL-1731-SDC-1 ）のシナリオを利用します。

このラボには PowerCLI で vSAN を操作するシナリオ（モジュール 4）も含まれていますが、

今回は モジュール1 での vSphere Web Client での情報確認を PowerCLI で代用してみます。

下記の「HOL-1731-SDC-1 - vSAN v6.5: What's New」です。

VMware Learning Platform

まず「レッスン 3：vSAN クラスターの準備」のシナリオを進めて vSAN クラスタを構成しておきます。

デスクトップにある PowerCLI のアイコンをダブルクリック起動して、vCenter に接続します。

PowerCLI> Connect-VIServer vcsa-01a.corp.local

PowerCLI コマンドラインは、HOL の「テキストの送信」を利用します。

vSAN クラスタの設定を確認してみます。

PowerCLI> Get-Cluster | where {$_.VsanEnabled -eq $True} | Get-VsanClusterConfiguration | select Cluster, VsanEnabled, VsanDiskClaimMode, SpaceEfficiencyEnabled | ft -AutoSize

ディスクグループの情報を確認してみます。

IsCacheDisk が True のものがキャッシュ ディスクで、False のものがキャパシティ ディスクです。

PowerCLI> Get-Cluster | where {$_.VsanEnabled -eq $True} | Get-VsanDiskGroup | sort VMHost | select VMHost, DiskGroupType, DiskFormatVersion, @{N="CacheDisk"; E={($_ | Get-VsanDisk | where {$_.IsCacheDisk -eq $true}).Count}}, @{N="CapacityDisk"; E={($_ | Get-VsanDisk | where {$_.IsCacheDisk -ne $true}).Count}}, Uuid | ft -AutoSize

デフォルトのウインドウ幅だと表示しきれないので、必要に応じて変更します。

たとえば、下記でウィンドウ幅を 120 に拡張できます。

$window_width = 120

$pswindow = (Get-Host).ui.rawui

$newsize = $pswindow.buffersize; $newsize.width = $window_width; $pswindow.buffersize = $newsize

$newsize = $pswindow.windowsize; $newsize.width = $window_width; $pswindow.windowsize = $newsize

vSAN ディスクを確認してみます。

PowerCLI> Get-Cluster | where {$_.VsanEnabled -eq $True} | Get-VsanDiskGroup | % {$hv = $_.VMHost; $_ | Get-VsanDisk | % {$path = $_.DevicePath; $_| select @{N="ESXi"; E={$hv.Name}},Uuid, IsCacheDisk, IsSSD, CanonicalName, @{N="CapacityGB"; E={($hv | Get-VMHostDisk | where {$_.DeviceName -eq $path }).ScsiLun.CapacityGB}}}} | ft -AutoSize

環境によっては、CapacityGB の結果を CanonicalName より前に持ってきた方が見やすいかもしれません。

（デバイス名が長いので）

容量の桁数を調整したり、結果をソート（下記では「| sort ESXi,IsCacheDisk」）すると

さらに見やすくすることもできます。

PowerCLI> Get-Cluster | where {$_.VsanEnabled -eq $True} | Get-VsanDiskGroup | % {$hv = $_.VMHost; $_ | Get-VsanDisk | % {$path = $_.DevicePath; $_| select @{N="ESXi"; E={$hv.Name}},Uuid,IsCacheDisk,IsSSD,@{N="CapacityGB"; E={[int]($hv | Get-VMHostDisk | where {$_.DeviceName -eq $path }).ScsiLun.CapacityGB}},CanonicalName}} | sort ESXi,IsCacheDisk | ft -AutoSize

（ここだけ HoL ではなく自宅ラボですが）表示を工夫した上記のコマンドラインを実行してみた様子です。

vSAN データストアの容量情報を確認してみます。

PowerCLI> Get-Datastore | where {$_.Type -eq "vsan"} | select Name, Type, CapacityGB, FreeSpaceGB, @{N="ProvisionedSpaceGB"; E={($_.CapacityGB - $_.FreeSpaceGB) + ($_.ExtensionData.Summary.Uncommitted / 1GB)}} | ft -AutoSize

各 ESXi ホストのストレージ プロバイダ の情報を見てみます。

PowerCLI> Get-VasaProvider | where {$_.Namespace -eq "VSAN"} | sort Name | select Status, Name, ProviderId | ft -AutoSize

アクティブなプロバイダは下記でわかります。

PowerCLI> Get-VasaStorageArray | where {$_.ModelId -eq "VSAN"} | select @{N="Datastore"; E={$Id = "ds:///vmfs/volumes/" + $_.Id + "/"; (Get-Datastore | where {$_.ExtensionData.Info.Url -eq $Id}).Name}}, Provider, Id | ft -AutoSize

デフォルトのストレージ ポリシー「Virtual SAN Default Storage Policy」のルールを確認してみます。

PowerCLI> Get-SpbmStoragePolicy -Name "Virtual SAN Default Storage Policy" | select -ExpandProperty AnyOfRuleSets | %{$name = $_.Name; $_ | select -ExpandProperty AllOfRules | select @{N="RuleName"; E={$Name}}, Capability, Value} | ft -AutoSize

HOL のシナリオを「レッスン 4： VSAN クラスター キャパシティのスケール アウト」まで進めると、

下記のように vSAN が拡張された様子が確認できます。

vSAN クラスタに、ディスクグループが追加されています。

追加したディスクグループの、キャッシュ ディスクとキャパシティディスクです。

vSAN データストア容量も追加されてます。

このように、vSphere Web Client で確認できる情報と同様のものが、PowerCLI でも確認することができます。

vSAN の構成情報をレポートとして残したい場合などに利用すると便利かもしれません。

以上、PowerCLI で vSAN の情報を見てみる話でした。

Hi folks:

I'm having a problem with a particular USB 3 device in trying to connect it to a VM.  The device is a Toshiba USB 3 5tb hard drive, and it's recognized by ESXi as I can see it when I do a lsusb command, but it's never offered as an available choice to connect to any VM.  I've tried restarting all the management agents, rebooting ESXi with the device plugged in so that it's detected immediately at bootup.  I've tried using both the vcenter server appliance web client and the native C client.  It simply never appears as a choice just as if it's not there.  Other USB 3 devices, including a Startech gigabit network device and another 2tb Toshiba USB drive appear as choices, so it doesn't appear to be an issue with USB 3 devices as a whole.  I've connected to other computers and even to an Arch Linux VM under the same ESXi that has a Startech USB 3 controller connected to it via PCI Passthrough and it works in all those places.  I even tried connecting it to a USB 2 port just for the heck of it, and I got the same result (invisible to VMs)  Here is what information I have via the logs.  I see some entries about the device being suspended in the vmkernel log, but I don't know if that's normal procedure for a device until it's assigned to a VM. 

Any ideas of what's wrong or how to fix it welcome.