List the file in KB/GB/MB on ESX/Linux

I always get into trouble when I have to list files by GB/MB on ESX host. Even most experience UNIX admin sometimes does not know the correct switch

ls -lh
[root@xxxxx]# ls -lh
total 43G
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8.7G Oct 30 11:40 All_Versions_VL.iso
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.9K Dec 3 03:15 xxx
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.1K Nov 6 09:14 axxx
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 Aug 27 12:46 xxx
-rw------- 1 root root 34G Mar 18 2008 xxx
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.1K Dec 2 12:02 Dxxx2
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.1K Nov 7 17:04 xxx

Not able to Browse Internet even after DNS setting is correct.

One of the server was not able to browse internet even all the setting for DNS was correct. I checked the event viewer and found following error message

Event Type: Error

Event Source: Userenv

Event Category: None

Event ID: 1000

User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

Computer: Computername

Description:

Windows cannot determine the user or computer name. Return value (1722).

I followed KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/329708 and also removed the machine out of domain and re-added it back. But still the problem persist I was able to browse the internet by IP address not by the DNS name. Like I cannot browse using www.google.com but able to browse using http://64.233.169.147 . I started looking at host file and keep adding it but one of my college came and told it looks like DNS file is corrupt. We started troubleshooting and we resolved it in following way:

1. Delete the DNS entry from DNS server and check if all the DNS record has been updated

Ipconfig /flushdns (run it on the server itself which is in question)

2. Run ipconfig /registerdns and it failed with error message

IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Error: The system cannot find the file specified.

: Refreshing DNS names

3. Then DHCP service was not running and in order for dynamic DNS update DHCP service should be running (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/264539)

net start dhcp

To ensure that all names are correctly registered when you restart of the DHCP client service, you should type the ipconfig command with the registerdns option:

ipconfig /registerdns

Virtual Machine running on ESX host can be played on vmware player

One of my fellow college contacted me to get help on VMWare. The problem goes like this :
He has a client who is virtual machine running on ESX host. For some reason my college wanted to have same image in different location which is no way connected to client location. He went to our local helpdesk and they gave him suggestion to install ESX and then get the VMDK files from customer location and register it here.
I told we don’t need to build ESX box and we can do it using VMWare player which comes free from VMware.

I suggested them to install VMWare player and then export machine using VM Converter and then ship that image to different location where we can import it into VMware player. It seems like client did not wanted to take that pain. So they told they can only do us favor by giving vmdk/config files rest all we have to do.

I have never tested and was not sure if we can directly copy all the config files from ESX and bring up the VM using VMware player. I planned to test this and to my surprise it worked .

So Can we copy VMDK /Config files and run it using vmware player the answer is YES we can run ESX VM’s on VMWare player

Virtualization of HBA's

I was reading blog where the guy was doing POC to cut cost on storage component and at the same time have good performance. Something which came across was VHBA. I thought what this new %@#&( is.? I googled and found best practice document from Emulex. It talks about NPIV which used to virtualizes NPIV. N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology virtualizes the LightPulse physical HBA port configured in a point-to-pointSAN topology. This HBA virtualization technology allows a single physical Fibre Channel HBA port to function as multiple logical ports, each with its own separate identity.Now, each virtual machine can attach to its own Virtual HBA port (or VPort) which consists of the combination of a distinct Worldwide Node Name (WWNN) and up to four Worldwide Port Names (WWPNs),

They have virtualizes storage/server/network and now HBA’s. What else is waiting now?

Happy blogging

I was inspired by my few Americans college/friend (yes I can claim them as my friend even
though they were my clients) and started blogging. Blogging gave me freedom to express myself and now I can see result of my blogging. Recently a site called DBCC has published my article about “How to troubleshoot P2Ved Citrix box”.

“One of the VM's was having some performance issue and I found that it was a citrix box which has been P2Ved . It was windows 2000 box and VMware converter was still installed. Who ever done the P2V did not uninstall the converter. Normally Citrix on VMware best practices suggest that you should never P2V. I started troubleshooting this box to find out what went wrong. I thought may be HAL is corrupted because it was showing 4 PROC. I tried running command systeminfo and it throws out the error that it does not recognize the command. Of course it does will not since it was win2K box. So here is the way.”

One of the VMware principal system engineer Mike D who run’s his own blog has put my blog under the list of “Great Bloggers ”.

One of the Linked discussion which I also publish it on my blog . For my solution the discussion initiator has wrote comment

Thanks for your detailed reply. It was an absolute gem. I would like to add you to my
network and am sending invite. Please accept.

Thanks

Satyaprakash

Having said all above it makes me happy that my good work is recognized by technical geeks.
Thank you all for your encouragement and I will keep improving