Jase's Place

What I experienced on July 4th, 2008

2008-07-04T23:00:00.013-05:00

On July 4th, 2008, I had the privilege of visiting the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg.

This cemetery is run by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

This is an awe inspiring place that pays tribute to the fighting forces of the United States of America.

I spent several hours there looking at some of the 5,076 gravesites, and noticed several of the 371 graves for those that no one knew their name.

Fortunately, now days, it can easily be determined from DNA who a person is after the fact, unlike back then.

This cemetery is a tribute to the Americans that gave their lives when others called for help.

There is little that I can say that can describe the feelings I felt being in the presense of all of these heroes.

One hero laid to rest here, is General George S. Patton Jr.

It was very humbling seeing the final resting place for such a leader.

It was an honor and a privilege to spend my 4th of July visiting some of America's heroes.

New Book About VMware ESX

2008-06-27T12:37:00.010-05:00

We'll, I hadn't blogged about it yet, but I recently had the opportunity to be a Co-Author on a new book about VMware ESX.

The title is VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center. It details VMware ESX, VirtualCenter, and how they interact with each other and a network infrastructure. There are some tips and tricks, as well as some in depth content about their architecture, as well as how to use them, with some best practices mixed in.

I was very fortunate to be a part of the book, and I truly appreciate the opportunity that Steve Beaver and David Marshall gave me by bringing me into the project. Also, I want to extend thanks to the publisher, as they were very gracious in the process of publishing this book.

We're going through the finalization process, and we hope to have the book on shelves as soon as possible. I understand it will be available before VMworld 2008.

I hope that everyone who gets a copy, will find the content useful, and enjoyable to read.

Thanks,
Jase

Go Daddy Wildcard Certificate with VI3

2008-01-17T09:44:00.000-06:00

Well, I've confirmed on my test system, that a Go Daddy wildcard certificate will work on a VI3 (VirtualCenter 2.5 & ESX 3.5) system.

Let's say you already have a wildcard certificate in place on an IIS web server, and you'd like to use it in your VI3 environment.

First you'll need to export the cert from your IIS box, using the Certificates snap in.

Right click, then All Tasks, then Export, and Next on the first screen

Select "Yes, export the private key

"Personal Information Exchange - PKCS #12 (.PFX)" should be selected
And "Include all certificates in the certification path if possible" should be checked.

Enter your password here

Enter a filename for the exported cert. I called it wildcard.pfx

Click finish.

Now you'll need to use OpenSSL to convert the file you just generated.

I ran the openssl.exe from the path on my test system (C:\openssl\bin)

C:\openssl\bin\openssl.exe pkcs12 -in wildcard.pfx -out wildcard.txt -nodes. You will be asked for the password you entered when you were exporting the pfx.

Now open the wildcard.txt with Wordpad (notepad won't work). I use Win32Pad instead.

Grab the portion with the following:
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
(Block of Random Text)
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
And save this (notepad is fine for this) as rui.key

Grab the portion with the following:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
(Block of Random Text)
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

And save this (notepad is fine for this) as rui.crt

Make sure you make a backup of the existing keys, in the case that something goes wrong with this process. They are located in the c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL folder.

Now, rename the wildcard.pfx to rui.pfx. Copy rui.pfx, rui.crt, and rui.key files, to the above folder.

You'll then need to reinitialize the vpxd password. Run "vpxd.exe -p" again from a Dos box in the following folder:
c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server

Then restart your VirtualCenter service.

You should then be able to log into your VirtualCenter server using a wildcard certificate.

Additionally, you can upload the rui.crt and rui.key files to your ESX host (using WinSCP) to the /etc/vmware/ssl/ path. Make sure you back these up too.

I then restarted my ESX 3.5 system, and it started to use the wildcard certificate as well.

As always, If you wish to use this method that I have seen success with, feel free to.
By using the methods I have described, you agree that I will not be held liable for any issues in your environment.

Enjoy.

A Good Parody: 24 (The Pilot) if it were in 1994

2008-01-11T07:13:00.000-06:00

I'm sure this has been around, but I just found it.

I enjoy watching 24, as well as any comparison of today's technology to yesterday's technology.

Watch the "Pilot" for 24, if it were pitched to the networks in 1994.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1788161

ESX 3.5 on a HP D530

2008-01-03T19:16:00.000-06:00

Well I was looking at this blog post:
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/325-The-ultimate-ESX-3.5-white-box.html

And I thought... We've got one of those lying around.

So I figured I'd give it a try.

I added a supported nic, and was on my way. Then I realized that my D530 only had an IDE drive in it.

I installed ESX 3.5, and sure enough it griped because it didn't have any storage. On a positive note, the onboard nic was recognized by ESX. So I didn't even need to add a "supported" nic.

Well I didn't have any SATA drives or non-supported SATA RAID controllers.

So I looked at this VMTN forum post:
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/47225

To address some storage, without wanting to setup another box on the network, I followed the instructions from the PDF located in the thread: http://www.vmug.nl/downloads/VMWare_NFS_en_iSCSI.pdf

Thanks to Reinout Wijnveen for the instructions.

Despite the fact that I don't know Dutch, I was able to mull my way through the document. Sure enough, success!

Now I've got a "free" ESX test box. Keep in mind it isn't the fastest (with a 3.0 GHz P4, and 1GB of RAM), but I can "play" without having to touch our test or production environments.

Tell the system how you really feel.

2007-12-28T08:15:00.001-06:00

Have you ever wanted to put the "truth" in a Shutdown Event Tracker comment box?

I've had to deal with my fair share of terrible applications/services, that the "Business Unit" has decided to use, but were less than, shall I say "Stellar".

I figured I'd post this, as I thought it was funny to see what it looked like when I followed the spirit of George Washington, in the fact that "I cannot tell a lie."

Thanks,
Jase

VMware ESX 3.5 on an IBM x440?

2007-12-17T15:51:00.000-06:00

Well, it may not be supported, but ESX 3.5 does install on an IBM x440.

This isn't the first time VMware ESX has not been certified on an IBM x440.

When ESX 3.0.0 came out, there was a small outcry on the VMTN forums (by those of us that have them) about these boxes being supported, as they were close to End-Of-Life, but still represented significant investments.

I spoke with my VMware SE many times about it needing to be supported. He said that it "Should" run on it, despite the fact that it wasn't officially supported.

Several months after the initial uproar, VMware certified ESX 3.0.0 to run on an IBM x440.

Well here we are again, 3.5 just came out on 12/10/07, and yet again, the x440 was left off the hardware compatibility list.

A coworker bought a quad proc (1.4GHz Xeon) x440, for personal use, and we fired it up.

Low and behold, ESX 3.5 does install, and the VMkernel loads.

Even though the HCL recommends a minimum 1.5GHz cpu speed, the installation didn't seem to care that this box was a wee 100MHz shy of the minimum recommended cpu requirements.

He hasn't loaded any VM's on it yet, as it was late in the day, and we didn't get around to it. From initial indications, it looks like ESX 3.5 may just run on an IBM x440.

I'll post more when I get more info, as to how well this runs...

Printer Migration Script

2007-12-05T12:50:00.000-06:00

Not sure if you've every had an issue where you have to move printers from one print server to another... I have had this come up a couple times...

Here's a little vbs that can be executed from a logon script, that will look at a mapped printer's connection (which server it is on), remove it, and then map it to another system.

Keep in mind, all the printers on NEWSERVER must have the same share names as the OLDSERVER.

Basically this script enumerates each printer, looks for the server it is mapped from, deletes the printer, and then adds the new printer, which happens to be the same printer, but mapped on a different server.

Here is the code:

On Error Resume Next
Dim strComputer
Dim objWMIService
Dim colItems
Dim WshNetwork

Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_Printer",,48)
For Each objItem in colItems
If objItem.ServerName = "\\OLDSERVER" then
WshNetwork.RemovePrinterConnection objItem.ServerName & "\" & objItem.ShareName, true, true
WshNetwork.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\NEWSERVER\" & objItem.Sharename
End If
Next

If you want to download it, you can find it here.

As always, you are welcome to use the script, but I will not be held liable if any issues arise.

Free load balancer (possible connection broker) for VDI

2007-08-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Looking for an alternative (free) Connection Broker solution I stumbled across Crossroads.

It is a little application that will run on pretty much any current Linux/OSX build, and will load balance specific IP’s, ports.

Just because I wanted something quick and easy to test this on, I downloaded Ubuntu Desktop 6.0.6 LTS to try it out on.

Download Crossroads here. I chose the 1.48 build, as it is the latest stable (at the time of this writing).

So, download it, to your Linux system, and unpack it, and install it.
I downloaded/copied it to /tmp, and installed it as follows:

Unpacking the archive
root@ubuntu:/tmp# gunzip crossroads-stable.tar.gz
root@ubuntu:/tmp# tar –xvf crossroads-stable.tar
root@ubuntu:/tmp# cd crossroads-1.48

Compiling/Installing Crossroads
(make sure you have a C compiler like gcc installed)
root@ubuntu:/tmp/crossroads-1.48# make install
root@ubuntu:/tmp/crossroads-1.48# touch /etc/crossroads.conf

Basic Configuring of Crossroads
edit /etc/crossroads.conf (with the below configuration)


service rdp {
port 3389;
revivinginterval 15;
backend one {
        server 10.1.1.100:3389;
        maxconnections 1;
        setserverheader "X-Real-IP: %r";
        trafficlog /tmp/backend.1.log;
       }
backend two {
        server 10.1.1.101:3389;
        maxconnections 1;
        setserverheader "X-Real-IP: %r";
        trafficlog /tmp/backend.2.log;
        }
}

I set the "maxconnections" to 1, because if I have XP/Vista desktops on the backend, I don't want someone attempting to connect to one that already has an active connection.

Starting Crossroads
/usr/local/bin/crossroads start

Checking the status of Crossroads
/usr/local/bin/crossroads status

Stopping Crossroads
/usr/local/bin/crossroads stop

Keep in mind, this is just a rudimentary implementation of Crossroads in a Connection Broker capacity.

The Crossroads documentation gives more parameters and information to have it start automatically at different run levels, allowed from/denied from, etc.

Additionally, the default Makedef.def is setup for a maximum of 20 connections. So, before you compile it, adjust the number accordingly.

The config file (/etc/crossroads.conf) also has many additional settings, that can customize the connections, including things such as allowed/denied addresses, etc.

The Web Interface
There is also a web gui that will display connections/etc.
To start it up, run /usr/local/bin/crossroads-mgr start PORT

So if you run /usr/local/bin/crossroads-mgr start 80, you should see something like this:

Now, in a production environment, I'd recommend creating a hardened Linux VM, and really tweaking /etc/crossroads.conf to get the best performance and security.

This could be a really viable solution in a small environment where costs play a significant factor.

As can be seen it really isn't hard to do, doesn't take long, and (by reading the docs) can be locked down enough to be a cheap (free) solution.

ESX: Security Banner at Console Login with Color

2007-06-24T15:54:00.001-05:00

The guys at XtraVirt have a good article: ESX3: Security Banner at Console Login. This article tells you how to customize your login prompt and message of the day.

Good information for those that want to customize their login banners. This article actually works for ESX 2.x and above.

I ran across an application that allows me to easily add color to this login banner, if your console/ssh client supports it.

The application is MOTD Maker. You can find it here: http://edeca.net/site/programs:motdmaker

So I took the default banner from the above article:

****************************************
****** WARNING: SECURITY MESSAGE  ******
**  AUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THIS SYSTEM  **
**              ONLY!                 **
** ACCESS MUST BE CLEARED WITH ONSITE **
**         SECURITY CONTROLLER        **
****************************************
****************************************

And pasted it into the MOTD Maker. Adding colors is really easy with the MOTD Maker, just select the text...

Select the color you wish to make it:

Now the color will change.

Now I made it uniform by selecting the other asterisks.

Now select "Generate ANSI" and either cave this to a file, or save it to your clipboard. I recommend saving it to a file. I've had some issues with puTTY when it comes to pasting.

If you saved it to a file, you can upload that to your ESX server, and rename it to /etc/motd or /etc/issue.

Additionally, one thing that they didn't mention in the above mentioned article... /etc/issue is for local console connections, and /etc/issue.net is for ssh/terminal connections.

That being said, you could have different information for local or remote connections. And because /etc/motd is run after login, you can add additional information there.

.NET: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration tool with only the .NET 2.0 Runtime

2007-03-09T10:34:00.000-06:00

Have you ever tried to use the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration tool when you have only installed the .NET 2.0 Runtime?

Well, Microsoft in their infinite wisdom took this tool out of the runtime.

So if you need to modify the .NET 2.0 configuration on a box that only has the runtime, you are out of luck, unless you find a way around it. Keep in mind, this worked for me, and I will not be responsible if you use my methods, and cause an issue with your system.

I downloaded the .NET 2.0 SDK (which includes the config tool), and installed it on my machine.

I exported the following registry keys to a single .reg file, and made some changes to them.
HKCR\CLSID\{A22B5BA1-D8CF-4db6-BC91-CFC1A04E2469}
HKCR\CLSID\{D8FE614D-4851-4a72-998D-D1F2E750A050}
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC\SnapIns\{A22B5BA1-D8CF-4db6-BC91-CFC1A04E2469}

I updated the paths from "C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0\Bin" to point to "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727" instead.

I then copied the following files from my C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0\Bin folder to a Windows 2003 box with only the .NET 2.0 Runtime installed on it.
gacutil.exe
mscorcfg.dll
mscorcfg.msc
mscormmc.dll
mscormmc11.cfg
The destination directory on the 2003 box was "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727"

I then imported the modified reg to my Windows 2003 box.

And then imported the mscorcfg.dll into the Global Assembly Cache, using this command:
"C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\gacutil.exe" /i "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorcfg.dll"

I also copied the .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration shortcut from my "Administrative Tools" to the "Administrative Tools" on the 2003 box, and updated the paths.

What do you know, I've now got the .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration tool on my 2003 box without having to install the entire .NET 2.0 SDK.

Not sure why Microsoft didn't include this in the redistributable, as it is necessary if you want to make .NET 2.0 config changes.

VMware: Restoring Custom Attributes after a VC 1.x to VC 2.0.x upgrade

2007-02-06T12:07:00.000-06:00

****************************************
Disclaimer: Keep in mind, this is the process that worked for me, and I don’t recommend that anyone perform this on live data, but rather to test data.

I am not responsible for any changes to your database as a result of this process.

If you choose to use this method, please backup your database beforehand.

All VC 2.0.x database references are called VirtualCenter and all VC 1.x references are called VirtualCenterOLD.

Also, this properly works with dbo as the owner of all tables. If you have an alternate owner (as I do) you will have to modify the below scripts to match.

****************************************

After performing a VC 1.x to VC 2.0.x upgrade, custom attributes are lost.

This is because the VC 1.x and VC 2.0.x databases handle custom attributes a little different. VC 1.x has a custom attributes table called VPX_FIELDDEF, and VMs and HOSTs have separate tables (VPX_VM_FIELDS and VPX_HOST_FIELDS respectively.

In VC 2.0 there are only 2 tables, VPX_FIELD_DEF and VPX_FIELD_VAL.

The VC 1.0 table VPX_FIELDDEF is replaced by VPX_FIELD_DEF in VC 2.0.x.

The VC 1.0 tables, VPX_VM_FIELDS and VPX_HOST_FIELDS are replaced by VPX_FIELD_VAL in VC 2.0.

To import the old values into the new database, a couple steps will have to be taken.

Let’s say I have a SQL 2000 database with my VC 2.0.x database named VirtualCenter.

I need to get to the tables from my old VC 1.x installation. So I need to restore the old VC 1.x database where I can get to the data I need. So I restore the VC 1.x database to a database (on the same server), with the name VirtualCenterOLD.

Now run the following script from Query Analyzer, while attached to the new VirtualCenter database:

USE VirtualCenter

INSERT INTO dbo.VPX_FIELD_DEF

SELECT FIELD_ID AS ID, NAME

FROM VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_FIELDDEF

This will pull all values from the old VirtualCenterOLD table named VPX_FIELDDEF into the new VirtualCenter database table named VPX_FIELD_DEF, thus defining our custom attribute fields.

Now, We need to add the data from the Hosts and VMs.

Now run the following script from Query Analyzer, while attached to the new VirtualCenter database:

USE VirtualCenter

INSERT INTO dbo.VPX_FIELD_VAL

SELECT VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS.FIELD_ID AS FIELD_ID, dbo.VPXV_HOSTS.HOSTID AS ENTITY_ID, VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS.FIELD_VALUE AS [VALUE]

FROM VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST LEFT OUTER JOIN

dbo.VPXV_HOSTS ON VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST.HOSTNAME = dbo.VPXV_HOSTS.NAME LEFT OUTER JOIN

VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS ON VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST.HOST_ID = VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS.HOST_ID

WHERE (NOT (VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS.FIELD_VALUE IS NULL)) AND (NOT (VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_HOST_FIELDS.FIELD_ID IS NULL))

This will insert HOST attributes into the VPX_FIELD_VAL, where the FIELD_ID and VALUE come from the old data, and the ENTITY_ID comes from the new Entity value for the ESX Hosts in the new database, making sure that there are no nulls.

Now run the following script from Query Analyzer, while attached to the new VirtualCenter database:

USE VirtualCenter

INSERT INTO dbo.VPX_FIELD_VAL

SELECT VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS.FIELD_ID AS FIELD_ID, dbo.VPXV_VMS.VMID AS ENTITY_ID,

VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS.FIELD_VALUE AS [VALUE]

FROM VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM LEFT OUTER JOIN

dbo.VPXV_VMS ON VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM.NAME = dbo.VPXV_VMS.NAME LEFT OUTER JOIN

VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS ON VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM.VM_ID = VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS.VM_ID

WHERE (NOT (VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS.FIELD_VALUE IS NULL)) AND (NOT (VirtualCenterOLD.dbo.VPX_VM_FIELDS.FIELD_ID IS NULL))

This will insert VM attributes into the VPX_FIELD_VAL, where the FIELD_ID and VALUE come from the old data, and the ENTITY_ID comes from the new Entity value for the VM’s in the new database, making sure that there are no nulls.

This worked well for me, and I didn't lose any custom attributes for my 300+ VM's or my ESX Hosts.

VMware: Non-US Regional Settings Fix for Cloning/Template Deployment

2006-12-14T07:56:00.001-06:00

Well, it looks like someone else looked into customizing the VirtualCenter customization process for Windows hosts.

Vincent Vlieghe, has a post, on his site, that details how to correct the customization process issue of always reverting to English-US.

Check out the article here.

VMware: Read VirtualCenter Events in MOM 2005

2006-12-12T08:34:00.000-06:00

Challenged with a MOM 2005 project, I have been trying to figure out how to get VirtualCenter alerts into MOM.

I didn't want to address using forwarded SNMP traps, as not everyone seems to compile the VMware MIBs too well.

VirtualCenter 1.x had the ability to run scripts, but it didn't pass any information. VirtualCenter 2.0.x still runs scripts, but also includes additional information. According to the VirtualCenter help, the following variables can be passed to a script:

{eventDescription} full formatted message for alarm triggering event

{entityName} name of the entity name where the alarm is triggered

{alarmName} name of the alarm that is triggered

{triggeringSummary} summary info of the alarm with triggering values

{declaringSummary} summary info of the alarm declaration

{oldStatus} alarm status before it is triggered

{newStatus} alarm status after it is triggered

{entityObject} inventory object as triggering alarm

Unfortunately, {entityName} and {entityObject} don't seem to work right now, but you can parse the {eventDescription} to get the object's name.

So with a little help from a .NET guy here at work, I was off, on my first VB.NET application. To be honest, it looks more like .vbs to me, but put it in VB.NET, and I guess it is VB.NET.

First, well need to compile the application. You can find a copy of it here. You'll need WinZip, or some other zip application to unzip it.

I've included the .exe in the zip, but feel free to delete it and recompile it. (I don't always trust everyone else's code).

Here's the basic contents of the VB application, a file called MakeEventCall.vb, and it includes the following code:

Imports System.Diagnostics

Module MakeEventCall

'******************************************************
'* MomApp.exe - 12/12/06
'* Jase McCarty
'* My first VB.NET application for the purpose of
'* sending VMware VirtualCenter alerts to the
'* Application Event Log of a VirtualCenter system
'* that has a Microsoft Operations Manager Agent
'* installed on it.
'*
'* This code may be redistributed, but must have
'* this disclaimer included. Agreement to use
'* this code, absolves me from any liability.
'******************************************************

Sub Main()

'Variables for doing our work
Dim separators As String = "-"
Dim strIncoming As String = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Command()
Dim argCount As Integer
Dim args() As String = strIncoming.Split(separators.ToCharArray)
Dim MessageOutStart As Integer
Dim strMessageOut As String
Dim strFullMessage As String = strIncoming
Dim strApplicationName As String = "VMware VirtualCenter"
Dim objName As String

'Variables for our potential input parameters
Dim eventDescription As String
Dim entityName As String
Dim alarmName As String
Dim triggeringSummary As String
Dim declaringSummary As String
Dim oldStatus As String
Dim newStatus As String
Dim entityObject As String

'Don't do anything, unless we get at least one argument
If UBound(args) > 0 Then

'Blank our Output Message
strMessageOut = ""

'Loop through all our arguments, and process them
'Each argument should read something like this in
'the VirtualCenter Alert settings:
'
'momapp.exe -ed:{eventdescription} -ns:{newstatus} -an:{alarmname}
'
'Where the 2 letter argument prefix matches up with
'the appropriate event item.

For argCount = 0 To UBound(args)

Select Case Left(args(argCount), 2)
Case "ed"
eventDescription = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "en"
entityName = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "an"
alarmName = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "ts"
triggeringSummary = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "ds"
declaringSummary = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "os"
oldStatus = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "ns"
newStatus = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
Case "eo"
entityObject = Right(args(argCount), Len(args(argCount)) - 3)
End Select
Next

Dim objEventLog As New EventLog

Try
'Register the App as an Event Source
If Not objEventLog.SourceExists(strApplicationName) Then
objEventLog.CreateEventSource(strApplicationName, "Application")
End If

objEventLog.Source = strApplicationName

'This could be modified to include other information from above
strMessageOut = "Alarm: " & alarmName &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; vbCrLf & _
"Event: " & eventDescription & vbCrLf

'Include the appropriate warning level. If the -ns:{newstatus}
'parameter is omitted, an Informational entry will be written to
'the application log
Select Case Trim(Trim(newStatus))
Case "Green"
objEventLog.WriteEntry(strMessageOut, EventLogEntryType.Information)
Case "Yellow"
objEventLog.WriteEntry(strMessageOut, EventLogEntryType.Warning)
Case "Red"
objEventLog.WriteEntry(strMessageOut, EventLogEntryType.Error)
Case Else
objEventLog.WriteEntry(strMessageOut, EventLogEntryType.Information)
End Select

Catch Ex As Exception

End Try

End If

End Sub

End Module

Once you have compiled the app, drop it off somewhere on your VirtualCenter server that is in the path. This will make it easier to run it, and will help with an issue with the "Run A Script" alert function in VC 2.0.x.

When you set it up in VC, it should look something like this:

When an event happens, it will look something like this:

And the individual item will look something like this:

Keep in mind, this is not a complete solution, but more of a starting point to get VC events into MOM 2005.

Additionally, because this application simply writes to the event log, any monitoring software that reads the Application Event Log, will be able to pick up this information.

Enjoy.

VMWorld 2006: A new book has emerged

2006-11-08T17:29:00.000-06:00

A new book, Scripting VMware Power Tools: Automating Virtual Infrastructure Administration, was released just before VMWorld 2006, and is making big waves here.

I have a special place in my heart for this book. I actually got to contribute to Chapter 8.

Many thanks to Steve Beaver.

You da Man!

Off to VMWorld 2006

2006-11-06T03:27:00.000-06:00

We'll, I'm off to VMWorld 2006, this year should be a blast!

Windows: Need to Seize Roles during DR?

2006-10-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

In an environment that needs to come up quickly, I found a little trick that can be helpful.

NTDSUTIL.exe lets you manage which domain controllers handle which roles in your domain.

According to kb article 243267, you can script this. So in a DR situation, if you have a virtual DC (in a VM) and you want to have it seize all roles, it can be simple with the following script.

The following script will allow you to seize all roles from a batch file (seizeroles1.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize domain naming master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize infrastructure master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize PDC" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize RID master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize schema master" quit quit
***********END HERE***********
Save the batch file as seizeroles.bat and call it from a cmd prompt with "seizeroles.bat servername.domain"

Additionally, some of this can be abbreviated (seizeroles2.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize domain naming master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize infrastructure master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize PDC" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize RID master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize schema master" q q
***********END HERE***********

And if you really want it to shorten up, you can enter a single line to do what you want (seizeroles3.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize domain naming master" "seize infrastructure master" "seize PDC" "seize RID master" "seize schema master" q q
***********END HERE***********

Also I like to add a "popups off" or "p off" before the r c to keep it from prompting me as to whether I wish to perform this action or not.

Enjoy.

VMware: Extending a Cloned (Deployed) Windows VM's root partition without using any 3rd party tools

2006-09-27T12:41:00.000-05:00

In the dynamic environment we have at work any day of the week, we could need some test VM's with any number of different disk sizes.

I would clone a "Golden Master" and then resize the disk, going through many different tools to be able to resize the C:\ drive to the full size of the .vmdk.

So, I wondered if there was any way to automate this. Well, there partially is.

If you add the "ExtendOEMPartition = 1" entry to the sysprep.inf file that VMware "drops off" on the vmdk before the customization process, it will resize to the full size (within the limits of the Windows OS you are cloning).

Keep in mind, this doesn't work for shrinking, but it certainly does for extending.

So my task was to deploy a VM, resize the disk, and have the customization process extend to the new (bigger) .vmdk size.

Well, after some deductive reasoning, I figured out which file generated the sysprep.inf. I wasn't so concerned with the "dropping off" process, as I was the generation process.

If this file is modified, to include the "ExtendOEMPartition = 1" entry in the [Unattended] section, the magic will happen. That is if you extend the .vmdk before the VM powers on for the first time.

Now, the modifications aren't difficult by any means. I will mention however, that the files to be modified are encoded, and they will have to be decoded. I will not go through the process of decoding them. But once decoded, you should be good to go.

And as everyone else who posts tweaks/ enhancements/ mods/ etc., I cannot be held responsible (or liable) for any changes you make to your configuration or your environment.

Click here to download the paper I put together. (Apparently my provider is having some web issues, possibly compression or something, so I've changed the .pdf to a .zip link. I'll post the whole article as a web page to help with this issue.)

I've tested this in VC 1.4 with ESX 2.5.x and VC 2.0 with ESX 3.0.0 and it works successfully with Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 guests. Updated: VC 2.0.1 and ESX 3.0.1 also perform flawlessly.

Another note: The mentioned files only have to be modified once. They will not affect the normal cloning/template deployment process if you do not resize the .vmdk's. I would recommend that if you upgrade your VC install, you check these files, and potentially update them if they have been replaced.

Windows: Unsolicited Remote Assistance

2006-09-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

I knew that this existed, but didn't need it until this past weekend.

One of my work environments has a need for remote connections for troubleshooting purposes, with the requirement of getting the approval of the remote user. They were given SMS 2003's remote control capability, and then it was taken away.

So I did a Google search on 'Scripted "Remote Assistance"' and found many results. I was thinking I could pass a computername or IP to a script, and then have it initiate Windows XP's Remote Assistance.

Then I learned of "Unsolicited" Remote Assistance. Nice little thing that Microsoft added there.

If you Run (or use Internet Explorer) the following link, you will see the interface:
hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,
C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/unsolicited/unsolicitedrcui.htm

Your mileage may vary as to the exact look, depending on your Windows installation. Different vendors customize the Microsoft Help and Support Center, so your window may look a little different.

Simply enter a computer's Name, FQDN, or IP, and Connect. Then pick the user you wish to help, and click Start Remote Assistance.

There are some GPO settings that I'll add if you need to enable Remote Assistance on your desktops. Here's a link to a little more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/
technologies/security/ws03mngd/20_s3rem.mspx

Enjoy.

AutoIT: Give users the ability to defrag without Admin access

2006-09-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

I found a cool tool this weekend, called AutoIT V3.

You can find it here: http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

I put together a script that will (running as the local admin) allow a user that has zero admin priviledges the ability to defrag their hard drive.

Here's the script:
;**** AutoIT Script to allow users to defrag their hard drive ****
; Set the RunAs parameters to use local adminstrator account
RunAsSet("Administrator",@ComputerName, "PASSWORDHERE")

; Run defrag as admin
RunWait("mmc.exe dfrg.msc",@SystemDir)

; Reset user's permissions
RunAsSet()

;**** End of Script ****

Save this as defragit.au3, and then using the AutoIT scripting tools and compile the au3 you created.

You can download the script here.

And you can download AutoIT here.

If you want to add a cool Vista style .ico, look at Jrdn88's gallery: http://jrdn88.deviantart.com/gallery/

VBS: NIC Show Icon/Power Mgt Script

2006-05-08T09:29:00.001-05:00

Here's script that I wrote (and probably borrowed some of it) to turn all nics' icons on, and disable power management for them. It only looks at nics with IP enabled.

You can also download it here.

(Just make sure you rename it to nicmod.vbs, or something similar)

'************************************************************************
'* VBS Script to:
'* Enable/Disable showing the icon in your system tray for connected NICs
'* Enable/Disable Power Management for Connected NICs
'*
'* 8 MAY 06 - Jase McCarty
'************************************************************************

'Let's setup our variables
Const HKLM = &H80000002 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE info for registry writes
Dim objReg 'Registry Object
Dim objWMIService 'WMI Service Object
Dim arrayNetCards 'Array of all connected NICs
Dim objNetCard 'A specific NIC
Dim strNICguid '
Dim strShowNicKeyName 'Key Specific to the Network Adapters in CurrentControlSet
Dim strShowNicKeyName001 'Key Specific to the Network Adapters in ControlSet001
Dim strPnPCapabilitesKeyName 'Key Specific to the Network Adapters in CurrentControlSet
Dim strPnPCapabilitesKeyName001 'Key Specific to the Network Adapters in ControlSet001
Dim strComputer 'Name of computer to modify

You will have to reboot the system for the settings to take effect, or you could put it in a group policy to automatically run when a system performs a shutdown.
strComputer = "." 'Period = local computer

strShowNicKeyName = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\"
strShowNicKeyName001 = "SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Network\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\"
strPnPCapabilitiesKeyName = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}\"
strPnPCapabilitiesKeyName001 = "SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}\"

ShowNicdwValue = 1
'1 for ON, 0 for OFF

PnPdwValue = 56
'56 to disable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."

'48 to enable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."

'32 to enable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."
' and enable "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby."

'288 to enable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."
' and enable "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby."
' and enable "Only allow management stations to bring the computer out of standby."

On Error Resume Next
Set objReg = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

'Look for the NICs that have IP enabled
Set arrayNetCards = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Where IPEnabled = True")

'Make changes on the NICs that have IP enabled
For Each objNetCard in arrayNetCards

strNICguid = objNetCard.SettingID 'Get the GUID of the NIC
strDeviceID = Mid(objNetCard.Caption,6,4) 'Get the DeviceID of the NIC

'Change the "Show icon in notification area when connected value"
objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strShowNicKeyName & strNICguid & "\Connection", "ShowIcon", ShowNicdwValue
objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strShowNicKeyName001 & strNICguid & "\Connection", "ShowIcon", ShowNicdwValue

'Change the Power Management Values
objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strPnPCapabilitiesKeyName & strDeviceID & "\","PnPCapabilities",PnPdwValue
objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strPnPCapabilitiesKeyName001 & strDeviceID & "\","PnPCapabilities",PnPdwValue
Next

Set objReg = Nothing

Set objWMIService = Nothing
'*** END OF SCRIPT ***

You could also modify this script to take a list of computers, and make the changes on all of them.

Enjoy.

DOND: A Parody

2006-04-14T13:33:00.000-05:00

Not sure if you like Deal or No Deal, but this is pretty funny:

http://www.nbc.com/Video/videos/snl_1444_dond.shtml

VBS: Update Services Password on Local/Remote Box

2006-03-29T09:16:00.000-06:00

This script, will allow you to update passwords for services that "Log on As" set to use a domain account.

You can download it here.

'***********************************************************
'Written by Jase McCarty
'Date: 03/29/2006
'
'UPD8SVCS.vbs
'
'Description: Change the password on a local
'or remote system for a Service that has
'"Logon As" set for a Domain Account
'Useful for Servers when a service account
'has a password change
'***********************************************************

Option Explicit

Dim shellobj,env
Dim strUserDomain,strUserName,strPassword,strComputer
Dim CSComputerName,CSAccount,CSPassword,objWMIService
Dim objService

'Check to make sure that we receive enough arguements (2 or more)
If Wscript.Arguments.Count < 2 Then

Wscript.Echo "Usage: UPD8SVCS.vbs USERNAME PASSWORD COMPUTERNAME"
Wscript.Quit

Else

'Create a Shell Object & be able to get environment variables
Set shellobj = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set env = shellobj.Environment("process")

'Setup default domain for credentials
'(could be modified to be an attribute)
strUserDomain = env("USERDOMAIN")
strUserName = Wscript.Arguments(0)
strPassword = Wscript.Arguments(1)

'Check to make sure we have enough arguements (2 or more)
If Wscript.Arguments.Count > 2 Then
'If we 3, then the Computername will be the 3rd arguement
strComputer = Wscript.Arguments(2)
Else
'If we only receive the first 2, then the Computername
'will be the local computer
strcomputer = env("COMPUTERNAME")
End If

'Call the ChangeServices subroutine
Call ChangeServices(strComputer,strUserDomain & "\" & strUserName,strPassword)

WScript.Quit

End If

'The ChangeServices SubRoutine
'This requires a computername, account,and password to be passed to it
Sub ChangeServices(CSComputerName,CSAccount,CSPassword)

'Setup a WMIService object, and setup a query to put all services in an array
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & CSComputerName & "\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_Service",,48)

'Loop through the array
For Each objService in colItems

'If the "Logon As" of the current service matches the user specified,
'change the password to the one specified
If Lcase(objService.StartName) = LCase(CSAccount) Then
'Make the credentials change
errReturn = objService.Change(,,,,,,CSAccount,CSPassword)

'Write to the screen and the computer's event log, the success or failure
If err.number <> 0 then
shellobj.LogEvent 1,"Failure Changing Username and Password for " _
& objService.DisplayName & " run by user " & CSAccount & "."
Wscript.Echo "Failure Changing Username and Password for " _
& objService.DisplayName & " run by user " & CSAccount & "."
Else
shellobj.LogEvent 0,"Successfully Changed Username and Password for " _
& objService.DisplayName & " run by user " & CSAccount & "."
Wscript.Echo "Successfully Changed Username and Password for " _
& objService.DisplayName & " run by user " & CSAccount & "."
End If

End If

Next

End Sub

VMware: Backing up your ESX Configuration/VMX files

2006-03-22T09:32:00.000-06:00

This is a quick/easy/down/dirty way of backing up your ESX configuration information.

You'll need to add a cron job, and create a script to run that cron job.

Here's the script that I used to mount a Windows share, copy the files over, and then unmount the Windows share (I saved it in /root as backup.sh:

#*******************************************************************

#!/bin/bash

mount -t smbfs //windowsserver/sharename /mountpoint -o username=user/DOMAIN,password=password

cd /mountpoint/ESX_Backups/

rm -rf ./old.$HOSTNAME/

mv ./$HOSTNAME/ ./old.$HOSTNAME/

mkdir $HOSTNAME

cd /

cp -duR /etc/ /mountpoint/ESX_Backups/$HOSTNAME/

cp -duR /home/ /myappro/ESX_Backups/$HOSTNAME/

umount /mountpoint

#*******************************************************************

For this to work properly, in your Windows share, you will already need to have a folder named ESX_Backups (it is case sensitive).

You'll need to figure out where you mount point is going to be, where you can mount the Windows share to.

Also, make sure you do a chmod 700 backup.sh so this file will be executable.

By copying all files in /etc/ and /home/ I get all ESX config files, and VM config files. You could modify this to be more specific, but I didn't see the need to. I like the KISS method.

Now I made a cron entry like this:

#*******************************************************************

#!/bin/bash

10 23 * * * * root /root/backup.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

#*******************************************************************

And saved it as /etc/cron.d/backupcron.sh, with a chmod 500 for it.

Simple, effective, & very little time to implement. And now I have the past 2 days worth of ESX and VM config.

VMware: Virtualization Best Practices Forum

2006-03-21T07:10:00.000-06:00

Where: CMA, Baton Rouge, LA, 8:00am - 1:00pm

Also, immediately following, there will be a meeting of the Louisiana VMware Users Group 3:00pm - 5:00pm.