vSphere Error – ‘The operation is not allowed in the current connection state of the host’
KB ID 0000848 Problem You can see this either when attempting to power on a VM, or when attempting to deploy a VM from a template. Solution Thankfully it’s a really easy fix. 1. Connect to the console of your Virtual Center, (either through the VI client or via RDP) 2. Windows Key+R > Services.msc {Enter} > Locate the VMware Virtual Center Server service > Restart it. Note: If you have the vCenter appliance, simply...
VMware VI Client Error ‘Call “ServiceInstance.RetrieveContent” for object “ServiceInstance” on Server “IP-Address” failed’
KB ID 0000870 Problem This is a pretty generic error. It basically means “I cant connect to what you are asking me to connect to, on TCP Port 443 (https)”. Solution Internet searching for this error is very frustrating, everyone who was posting this error was seeing it because, instead of putting the IP address or name in the box (that actually tells you to put in the IP address or name (see image above)). If you put in...
vSphere ESX – Configure Buffalo Terastation 5000 as an iSCSI Target
KB ID 0000899 Problem This little NAS box is a cheap way of adding a large amount of storage. Below I’m going to configure it as an iSCSI target, then connect my ESX5 host to it. I’m not setting up any CHAP authentication, but I’ll show you where it’s configured, if you want to deploy yours a little more securely. Also it’s considered good practice to separate your storage network traffic, from your...
vSphere ESX – Server 2012 – 3D Graphics Option ‘Greyed Out’
KB ID 0000909 Problem Whilst attempting to add 3D graphic support to a Windows Server 2012 guest VM, the option was greyed out. Solution 1. Locate the .vmx file for this virtual machine and download it so you can edit it (Select a Host > Configuration > Storage > {Storage the guest is on} > Right Click > Browse Data Store > {Guest VM Name}) > Download. 2. Edit the file, and add the following to the end of the vmx...
vSphere – Virtual Machine Will Not ‘Power Off’ (Hangs at 95%)
KB ID 0000911 Problem I had a virtual machine crash on me, while I was doing some work on it As I was unable to shut it down gracefully, I attempted to ‘Power Off’. It progressed to 95% and stopped there. Expecting it to ‘time out’, I carried on with some other work and kept an eye on it. 30 minutes later there was still no progress. Solution 1. Enable SSH access on the ESX host that is hosting the problem VM....
VMware vCenter Install ‘Error 26002’
KB ID 0000941 Problem While attempting to install vCenter 5.5, I got the following error. Error 26002. Setup failed to register vCenter Server. This might indicate a problem with the SSL certificates for vCenter Server. Search the VMware Knowledge Base (http://kb.vmware.com) for “Error 26006” for more information. Earlier on in the install it had asked me if I wanted to overwrite the certs, and I just clicked OK, this...
vSphere Client cannot be installed on a Domain Controller
KB ID 0000968 Problem I tried to install the VI client on my test network and this happened; vSphere Client requires Windows XP SP2 or later. vSphere Client cannot be installed on a Domain Controller. Solution Well I’m not over the moon about that? Ive only got one permanent VM and it’s a DC? Who came up with this? What about sites who have a single DC on an ESX box? What are they going to do! Turns out its quite easy to...
vSphere – Floppy Drive ‘Won’t Appear’
KB ID 0001020 Problem “It’s 2015 why are you messing around with floppy drives?” I hear you ask! Well for importing certificate requests, and issued certificates from an offline root CA server, it’s still considered best practice to use a virtual floppy drive rather than connect the offline root server to the production network. So today while deploying a PKI infrastructure, I needed to present a floppy drive...
vSphere – Adding a Serial Port to a VM
KB ID 0001039 Problem I wanted to perform command line access to a virtual firewall on my home ESXi server, (a Juniper Firefly vSRX) via a console session. To do that I needed to add a serial port to that VM. Solution 1. From Within the VI client > Select the ESXi Host > Configuration > Security Profile > Firewall Section > Properties. 2. Locate and enable ‘VM serial port connected over network’ > OK. 3....
vSphere – Adding Domain Users/Groups to vCenter
KB ID 0001063 Problem Note: This article is for vSphere 6, for vSphere 7 and vSphere 8 see the following article. vCenter Domain Authentication Despite my best efforts to keep working with the VMware VI client, my recent move to a MAC has finally forced me to start using the web client. So when I rebuilt my vCenter this week, I went out of my way to use that. Note: If you have your vCenter and Platform Services Controller (PSC)...