snapdrive issues with 2003 servers and esxi 5.5

“vmdk is larger than the maximum size supported by datastore”

[SnapDrive Error]: Please specify valid VMFS datastore name. (SnapDrive Error Code: 0xc0041033)

 

Have a read of this:

http://support.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol?Type=Detail&Display=600206

Create a new vmfs5 datastore and then add the key listed in the article. No need to restart snapdrive. snapdrive will then use that as the file to back the RDM when it does a verification.

Snapdrive Underlying connection was closed VCenter 5 / 5.5

It seems that a 2003 server doesn’t support the new SSL options that are enabled in the VC with 5.5 (and maybe earlier).

Try changing the following (taken from the release notes, which you’ve already read? 😉 :

  • On the vCenter Server host machine, reduce the implied security by allowing the server to communicate using weak cipher suites. To do this, include the following section in the vCenter Server vpxd.cfg file, located c:\Programdata\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter:
    <config>
    ...
    <vmacore>
    ...
    <ssl>
    ...
    <cipherList>ALL</cipherList>
    ...
    </ssl>
    ...
    </vmacore>
    ...
    </config>

restart the vcenter service and it should now hopefully work.

Vcenter 4 Windows 8 Hangs / Disappears

Having trouble installing Vcenter? If you look in %temp% the log file will give a clue, but it’s not obviosu to look there. Anyway, you need to install dot net 3.5 from the Add Features. You may get an error if you can’t get on to the internet, in that case, stick your CD in and run

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:D:\sources\sxs/LimitAccess

 

Or change /source to point to some network location that has an extract of the cd. Should work then!

Powersehll netapp volume resize

This script will resize any volumes on your controller that are more full than 96% and add an extra 5% on to them. You  can filter the list a little more if needed, for example I don’t attempt to resize any of our volumes that have the word “dr” in as they are snapmirror destinations.

 

 

$controllers = @(“controller1″,”controller2″)
$body=””
$resize=””
$emailto=”fillThisIn”
$emailfrom = “fillThisIn”
$emailsmtp = fillThisIn”
$emailsubject= “Drives resized”

foreach ($controller in $controllers){
connect-nacontroller $controller
$resize+= (Get-NaVol | where-object {$_.used -gt 96 } | ft -HideTableHeaders)
}

if ($resize -ne “”) {
foreach ($navol in $resize){
write-host “$navol”
Set-NaVolSize $navol +5%
$newsize = Get-NaVolSize $navol.SizeTotal
Set-NaVolAutosize $navol -Enabled
Set-NaVolAutosize $navol -MaximumSize +10%
$body += “Volume $navol on $controller script resized to $newsize and autogrow enabled `n”
}
$body += “check snapmirror destinations size for volumes above!”
send-mailmessage -to $emailto -from $emailfrom -smtpserver $emailsmtp -subject $emailsubject -body $body
}

 

Windows 8 Errors

I’ve been getting a lot of weird errors on my Windows 8 install. Amlost as if the drive is corrupt and lots of DLLs are broken. Random things such as not being able to ope the firewal properties. Not being able to change network connections. The services windows shows “failed to read description. error code 2”. I can’t uninstall anything either! Sounds like a virus. However after a bit of googling it seems to point to AMD / ATI’s “Driver cleanup utlity”. It looks like this does not work on windows 8. Hopefully you ahve a recent restore point and revert, I didn’t and am having to do a repair in stall by running setup fro the CD and “upgrading” my win 8 to win 8.

Some links are here
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373855
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373750
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/710632-amd-uninstall-utility-messed-up-windows-8-a.html