This may seem obvious to many, but Verizon’s VZAccess Manager may immediately disconnect its cellular connection if it detects another internet connection. This may seem like no big deal, but when you are troubleshooting why a Verizon Wireless Air Card can’t connect when you use VNC to remotely connect to it, the problem isn’t so obvious. I understand why it does it, what amazes me is Verizon’s tech support doesn’t seem to know it.
As a followup to my prior post on VMWare ESXi being free now, I’ve taken the plunge and changed over my home servers from VMWare Server 1.0 to ESX 3.5i. The biggest thought was for performance and just something new to play with.
The first step was to see if I could get it installed on my existing hardware. I’ve got an oldish Dell that is running a 2.8Ghz P4 and running VMWare Server 1.0 right now. It has one SATA connector, so while not ideal, at least I can get a SATA drive on there to host the VMs. Everything on it was IDE. Armed with a 1GB Gizmo Jr. Flash Drive, I run the install.
No dice, no installable locations for ESX to install onto. Seeing as I unplugged all the hard disks, i’m not surprised. Then I found this (shamelessly stolen from other websites)
The difference between VMWare ESX 3.5 and 3.5i is that 3.5i does not come with the service console making it on 32mb in size. This means you could have it running on a USB stick and below are the instructions on how to do it.
First of all 32MB? Not at all. Try 700MB+. You’ll need at least a 1GB flash drive to do this, but based on current pricees, thats no big deal. I followed these steps exactly and voila, it booted to USB and started the configuration process.
If you know anything about networking and virtualization, ESXi is going to be fairly straightforward to install, but as suspected, I needed at least a SATA disk to create the Storage Group (unless you have a SAN or NFS shares sitting at home). I went out a the local TigerDirect and actually bought something locally - a 250GB Seagate SATA drive. With that disk, I was able to create the Storage Group and then onto the task of how to convert my VMs over from VMWare Server 1.0 to ESXi. I don’t know the entire list of network cards supported, but I can tell you ESXi can and will load the e100 or e1000 drivers for Intel Pro/100 and Pro/1000 cards, which is pretty much all I use anyhow. It detected both of mine just fine.
VMWare Converter was a complete bust. In theory, it should have worked, but it kept giving me error about not being able to write to file. A P2V conversion might have worked, but I didn’t want to spend the time considering it should be fairly compatible.
The VMWare Infrastructure Client (part of the ESXi install) allow me to upload files directly into the Storage Group, so I simply uploaded the VMDK files from my existing VMWare Server. Everything online said to just run vmkfstool -i existing.vmdk new.vmdk (putting in the existing vmdk and the new one). It expanded the vmdks to their full size, which I think is by design and then they were suddenly able to be used.
But wait, if you are trying to do this yourself, how did I even get into the command line for linux to even be able to do this since ESXi doesn’t allow command line access?
(Shamelessly stolen from the web)
ESXi 3.5 does ship with the ability to run SSH, but this is disabled by default (and is not supported).
1) At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.
2) Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.
3) If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.
4) You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).
5) Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you’re new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file.
6) Once you’ve closed the vi editor, run the command /sbin/services.sh restart to restart the management services. You’ll now be able to connect to the ESXi host with a SSH client.
This works like a charm. Plus I love having access via ssh. Its unsupported, but its not like i’m doing a paid call to VMWare for my home network.
I created new Virtual Machines and used the existing disks that were already converted and they booted up fine like nothing happened. Just some reconfiguration of the network cards inside of the guests. Performance wise, it seems WAY better, but keep in mind I’ve got a faster disk now, so I assume some of it has to do with this.
Downsides of ESXi over VMWare Server
Overall, I’m pretty please and consider the test successful. The drawbacks I believe have to do more with the intended audience for ESXi, which are going to be in businesses and running more high end hardware. Its definitely in my opinion a step up from VMWare Server.
If I find anything else out interesting, I’ll be sure to post. There are a lot of features in the Infrastructure Client i’ve yet to play with.
VMWare, in what is apparently is a move to better compete with Microsoft’s Hyper-V, is giving aware ESXi for free!
http://vmware.com/company/news/releases/esxi_pricing.html
Granted, the HCL for it isn’t the longest. But i’ve read as long as you don’t use IDE Hard Disks (SATA seems to be okay) for the storage system, it will install on many other types of hardware still and might work. This is going to be a huge step up! If only the full on ESX install was free. Time to try to this out!
I’ve been using a computer hooked up to my TV, running at 720p more or less. The computer and TV can both do 1080p, but the video card in the computer is a little sad.
Inspired by the Netflix Player by Roku, I thought I might be able to make something nearly silent, and yet be able to have acceptable peformance.
Problems:
Netflix Player for Windows requires IE 6+, along with Windows Media Player and 2-3GB of free space for buffering. Doing the math on this, the lightest install that could be made would be likely with nLite, stripping out everything but what is necessary. I’ve got an older mini-itx motherboard, with 256MB ram and a 512MB compact flash card for storage. Is this possible or worth it?
Granted, I could get an installation of Windows down to around 300MB or so - remove the page file, etc, and then save the rest of the space for buffering and what not. Sure I could pick up something like a 4GB or 8GB (the 8GB is probably more realistic) with prices anywhere from $20 to over $100.
And there where it hit me. Why am I wasting my time when I have a perfectly working computer and if I want to have an appliance, I’ll just spend the $100 for the Netflix Player by Roku. Clearly until Netflix has a more optimized player for Windows or Linux, a home brew version just doesn’t make sense. That, and the Roku one has a remote!
Novell did it in the 90s if I remember correctly. The ability to only share files and folders on a network share based on permissions. It seems like such a small feature, but is in my opinion and should be for most Network Admins, a huge improvement over the alternative. I always thought it was one of the features that Microsoft could have learned from Novell.
When I heard Access-Based Enumeration of Shares was going to be a feature in Server 2008, I was pretty excited. It is to me, the third most exciting feature of 2008, with only Hyper-V and SMB 2.0. Its just too you have to upgrade to 2008 to get these features.
OH WAIT.
Windows 2003 Access-Based Enumeration
How did I miss this? And the most important question that I can’t possibly bother to look up in the whitepapers….does it play well with DFS? 
(Theory: YES)
The promise of an easy transition from 32bit to 64bit is something we’ve heard for a long time, and while late, my first taste of it on the desktop operating system side has been somewhat less than seamless than I thought.
The good: Most applications work, and driver availability is still pretty good. Performance seems to be good, support more RAM, etc. Most applications don’t even hiccup.
The bad: Some major applications, namely Cisco VPN Client has no 64-bit support for XP or Vista, and Cisco has no plans for it! Thats kind of short sighted if I do say so myself. Luckily I don’t have need it on a regular basis, but its still ridiculous. This is Cisco’s fault and not Microsoft’s. Cisco does have its AnyConnect VPN client, but this is for SSL VPN Connections, which require newer Cisco equipment, and even if you have it, you have to get some expensive licensing for it to work. And IPSec works just fine, why do we have to move to SSL? I’ve read that AnyConnect VPN client does not “currently” support IPSec, which does imply that maybe if we’re lucky one day we will.
Also, VMWare Server does not run on 64bit Vista because MS requires all drivers be signed in 64bit Vista, but for some reason not 32bit. This is Microsoft’s fault. For the record, VMWare Server is not supported on desktop operating systems, but is usually the Virtualization method of choice since it is free, but VMWare Workstation does work perfectly fine on Vista running 64bit.
Network printers are also a pain when shared off of a print server, since Windows Server 2003 does not have any print drivers easily available for 64bit Vista, and unless an updated driver has been released post vista, you have to set up a local port to print through, which increases deployment time and effort of printers. This is probably one of the bigger reason businesses aren’t moving to Vista 64-bit right away and explains why Lenovo sends out Vista 32bit preloaded on its business models.
Anyone found anything anything else that bothers them in Vista 64bit?
Logging into Techet, I can see the following versions of Windows Server 2008 available for download in English
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard (x86) - DVD (English)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems (ia64) - DVD (English)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard without Hyper-V (x64) - DVD (English)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard without Hyper-V (x86) - DVD (English)
Ok, look at the item in red. This is Windows Server 2008 x86, or the 32bit version. Keep in mind that Hyper-V requires the OS be 64bit. So what exactly is the point of the With and Without Hyper-V versions for 32bit? If you had it with Hyper-V, you couldn’t use it. So isn’t essentially 32bit with and without Hyper-V the exact same thing?
No, really - i’m asking.
I’ve been more or less forced to run Vista on my work laptop - which is probably a good thing in the long term in learning the ins and outs of Vista before deploying it in our corporate environment. That being said, its been nearly a year of dealing with Vista’s quirks. Generally, it hasn’t been totally unstable, but to be honest the overall experience has been a step down, especially in terms of network peformance.
The latest problem I’ve had was just updating to Service Pack 1. I downloaded the full SP1 install package from Technet - after wasting nearly an hour of my time, the first time I got an error of 0×80070059. Googling this error left me with nothing useful that worked - just something about replacing my winusb.inf file with the original off of the disc. No matter what I did, I just got the same result. I’ve probably made the service pack install attempt at least 15 times, keeping in mind it takes nearly an hour each time.
The fix that ended up working was something I had read off of a forum posting on this. Vista doesn’t really offer a “repair install” of windows like prior versions. However, if you can successfully make it into Windows, you can run an upgrade install on top of itself, which generally keeps most of your settings and will repair the operating system. Let me stress, in order to save yourself the time I had to waste in a download - if you are runnig Vista RTM, you must do an upgrade using a Vista RTM disc, not a Vista SP1 disc. It simply won’t let you do it.
The actual upgrade on my laptop took nearly 2 hours, followed by another 45 minutes of SP1 install, but I was finally successful. If you are having the 0×80070059 error and no driver update/winusb.inf file fix seems to solve your problem, just do this. It seems like a whole lot of effort just to install a service pack.
Thumbs down to Microsoft on this one.
Oh, and the latest quote I got from a Microsoft employee that I’m doing tech support with on the phone - “Oh, you are using Vista? Yeah, its pretty terrible”
I’ve been using VMWare in a production environment for a couple of years now, and using VMWare just for testing since around 2003. Nearly 100% of my experience has been in Microsoft environments. The respect for linux has always been there - it is just hard to swallow your pride and start from scratch, relearning an operating system. Its all of the dependecies, the command line syntax. I admit Linux, especially Ubuntu has come a long way in terms of making installations and updates nearly flawless - even better than Microsoft OS installations.
So, back to the task at hand. VMWare Server. If you haven’t played with it, why not? Its free, it runs on Windows or Linux…it’ll even run on Desktop Operating Systems regardless of VMWare’s recommendation. Go out from under the rock you live under, virtualization is here to stay and will continue to grow. I’ve been pleased as punch with the performance of VMWare Server. Yes, VMWare ESX is probably going to perform better, but it isn’t free and has no place in my home environment.
Ok, so it runs under Windows, and I want to run Windows guests, why run it on Linux? Its all about slimming down the host OS - Having as little services running as possible for stability and security. You can slim Windows down some, but even in the biggest MS fan is going to admit you can trim down linux further.
I settled on CentOS 5.1 for 2 reasons excellent reasons.
1. I’ve never used it before
2. The ‘net told me to.
All in all, I was able to get it installed - including VMWare Server in less than 2 hours. Most of the time was spent during the net installation and fumbling through commands. So far, Windows Server 2003 seems to be running faster because of the small footprint of the base OS. I’m able to manage the VMs through a Windows Client running VMWare Server Client. As soon as I’ve got more than one guest on there, I’ll either update this post or add another.
