Category Archives: Support

VMware vSphere 5.5: Installing vCenter results in “Error 29102. Unable to Contact Lookup Service. Check vm_ssoreg.log in the system temporary folder for more details.”

Leave a Reply

VMware_vSphere_Logo

Recently I have been re-installing my home lab due to the 60 day trial license coming to an end and discovered something odd. During the installation of vCenter 5.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 I came across the following error:

VMware_vSphere_5.5_Installing_vCenter_results_in_Error_29102_Unable_to_Contact_Lookup_Service_1.png

The solution was rather simple but not straight forward to work out initially. My internal network ID for VMware hosts is 10.10.0.0/24 but what I was missing is the corresponding rDNS zone in my DNS (reverse). The minute I have created 0.10.10.in-addr-arpa the error went away. What makes this even stranger is the fact I have to redo my lab every 60 days and this is the first time this error has come up!

VMware vCenter 5.5 Update 2 Service Health displays Storage Monitoring Service Initialization Failed

Leave a Reply

VMware_vSphere_Logo

Don’t we all just love to see everything in green/healthy/hunky dory state when it comes to service availability? I know I am definitely one of those that do (OCD and all that..)

If you’re running VMware vCenter 5.5 Update 2 you might find, upon checking, that VMware vCenter Storage Monitoring Service has an alert with a message stating that Service Initialization Failed:

VMware_vCenter_5.5_Update_2_Service_Health_displays_Storage_Monitoring_Service_service_initialization_failed_1

Continue reading →

Veeam Endpoint Backup – how to change backup name after altering hostname of a source machine

3 Replies

veeam_logo

I have been using the free version of Veeam Endpoint Backup (VEB) product since it was first released and it works wonders. Really good software that just keeps getting better and better. You can not only backup desktop and laptops but also VMware virtual machines with PCI pass-through devices which Veeam Backup & Replication 9 cannot properly backup since snapshots are not allowed when PCI-e devices are in use. Another good use case for VEB is the ability to backup Hyper-V hosts themselves. I have a large number of Hyper-V boxes dotted around and although I use Veeam Backup & Replication to back up the virtual machines I still need some sort of backup for the hosts. VEB fills this gap perfectly and in the unlikely event of a disaster, I would use VEB to restore the host (C drive i.e. the OS) and Veeam B&R to get my virtual machines back (D drive where the VMs sit). This setup works really well and I already had to use it once!

One thing however that didn’t quite make to the GUI yet is the slightly annoying fact when you point the backups to SMB share and change the hostname of the source machine the backup name doesn’t reflect the new hostname within the share. In my example my Core i3 test bench used to be called DESKTOP-9H9LL2J but now I have changed its name to SPN-TESTB-01 to comply with my standard naming convention. In an ideal world, the backup folder should also change its name but that’s not the case. Here are some examples, hostname has been clearly changed to DESKTOP-9H9LL2J:

Continue reading →

NetApp VSC 5 breaks after updating VMware vCenter to 5.5 update 3b

1 Reply

NetApp_Logo

More SSLv3 (Poodle vulnerability) woes as this time NetApp VSC 5.0 is broken!

So my vCenter 5.5 update 2a got updated to update 3e without much of a problem but SRM and VSC are busted now. Great. Virtual Storage Console sort of works but the backup jobs tab hasn’t got any entries and you cannot re-create them due to the following errors:

NetApp_VSC_5_breaks_after_updating_VMware_vCenter_to_5.5_Update_3b_1

Continue reading →

ESXi 5.5 update 3b (build 3248547) host fails to connect to vCenter 5.5 U2 after patching…

8 Replies

VMware_vSphere_Logo

To cut this long story short – if you have vCenter Server 5.5 update 2 you will have issues if you patch your hosts to the latest available patch level for ESXi. VMware disabled SSLv3 (POODLE and all that..) in update 3b for ESXi meaning if your vCenter Server is running update 2 you won’t be able to connect until the vCenter is patched to update 3b as well. Running ESXi hosts on update 3b and having vCenter Server on update 2 is normally a perfectly valid configuration but because SSLv3 got disabled as part of this process the connectivity is broken.

Example error messages in vpxd log file when patched host in being added to vCenter Server include:

Continue reading →

Renaming Local Site on VMware SRM 5.8 from its default value

2 Replies

VMware_vSphere_Logo

Pretty silly thing to do really – I have left the default site name when installing SRM 5.8 so it has FQDN of my vCenter box instead of a proper name:

Renaming_Local_Site_on_VMware_SRM_5.8_from_its_default_value__1

From vSphere Web Client point of view having FQDN in there is not ideal as well as introducing confusion which site is which (live vs. recovery):

Renaming_Local_Site_on_VMware_SRM_5.8_from_its_default_value__2

To get the site name changed we need to edit vmware-dr.xml which lives (by default) in the following location:

Continue reading →

Windows Server 2012 R2 Explorer Reports Wrong Disk Size?!?

5 Replies

Windows_Server_2012_R2_Logo

I have been struggling to fix this rather weird disk space issue for quite some time now. Basically, underlying thin provisioned disk on vSphere 5.5 was extended by additional 5GB (from 125 to 130GB) and expanded using Disk Management from within the OS as per the normal routine. No problems thus far BUT Explorer in Windows Server 2012 R2 was not reporting the increased space and was still showing the 125GB total size! How odd. Here is the screenshot for illustration purposes showing Disk Management and Windows Explorer both reporting different values!

Windows_Server_2012_R2_Explorer_Reports_Wrong_Disk_Size_1

I must have done the disk space increase from vSphere and extension from the guest OS hundreds of times and never had any real issues. There are tons of potential solutions to this problem, quite a few posted here:

Continue reading →

CrashPlan 4.3.0 shows “Unable to connect to backup engine, retry?”

Leave a Reply

CrashPlan_Logo

CrashPlan woes continue!

This error is from an earlier version of the CrashPlan software i.e. 4.3.0 which one of my customers is still running. So here it is – fully appreciate you won’t be able to read native Polish language but the error states that:

“Unable to connect to backup engine, retry?”

CrashPlan_4.3.0_Unable_to_connect_to_backup_engine_retry_1

Continue reading →

The CrashPlan Setup Wizard ended prematurely…

2 Replies

CrashPlan_Logo

Monday morning eh? It surely is!

Trying to install CrashPlan 4.4.1 (CrashPlan-x64_4.4.1_Win.exe) is proving to be a lot more hassle than it should..

Error messages shortly after kicking off the .msi installation:

The CrashPlan Setup Wizard ended prematurely
CrashPlan setup ended prematurely because of an error. Your system has not been modified. To install this program at a later time, please run the installation again.
Click the “Finish” button to exit the Setup Wizard.

Continue reading →

Cleaning up NetApp SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure snapshots in VMware vSphere

2 Replies

NetApp_Logo

Cleaning up NetApp SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure snapshots in VMware vSphere can be a pain if you have large number of VMs being backed up by SMVI. In my case there are snapshots that are consistently left behind like so:

Cleaning_up_NetApp_SMVI_snapshots_in_VMware_vSphere_1

which just pile up as the days go on. I think this is some sort of bug in either vSphere API or the way NetApp handles snapshotting during the backup window.

To have these snapshots cleared up after the backup jobs run I have written the following PowerShell script to deal with the situation:

Continue reading →