Tag Archives: cannot change

VMware vSphere Hot Add and Hot Plug

Posted on by

KB ID 0000527 

Problem

I was trying to hot add some memory to a VM the other day, and found the option grayed out. Normally I’d just down the VM, add the memory, then bring it back up. But it was a production server and I was pretty sure the OS supported it.

A quick Google search told me why it was grayed out, but it also transpired there was little to no information on what version of Windows hot add and hot plug would work with.

Solution

I’m not going to argue the semantics of the differences between “hot add” and “hot plug”, if I’m taking about hot add I’m talking about memory, if I’m talking about hot plug I’m talking about adding CPUs. You also need to be aware that to date Few OS’s support hot remove or hot unplug. If you try you will see the following;

vSphere version 6 or 6.5 (Hot Unplug )

It simply wont let you lower the value;

Note: With a Supported O,S (i.e. Server 2016 and 2019) you CAN hot remove CPU.

vSphere version 5.0 or 5.5

Hot Add Memory/ CPU in vSphere 6 & 6.5

As with earlier version of vSphere, to enable hot plug or hot remove, the machine has to be shut down. Then the option can be enabled. Select the VM > Edit Settings.

Memory: Virtual Hardware > Memory > Tick ‘Memory Hot Plug’ > Save.

CPU: Virtual Hardware > CPU > Tick ‘Enable CPU Hot Add’ > Save.

Hot Plug, Hot Add  in the vSphere HTML5 Client

Hot Add Memory/ CPU in vSphere 5 & 5.5

As for memory and CPU settings you will probably see what I was seeing. Both the options are not changeable.

2. Sorry but to enable this feature you need to power off the client machine, then when you edit its settings > Options > Advanced > Memory/CPU_Hotplug > You can enable hot add and hot plug > OK . Power the VM back on again.

3. Now you will see you have the option to hot add memory and hot plug CPUs.

What Operating Systems support this?

Like I said above, I did some testing because information is thin on the ground, this is what I was actually able to make work.

With 2008 R2 Standard

1. As you can tell from the table memory hot add will work but to add a CPU will need a reboot. Before I started I had 2 CPUs and 4GB of memory.

2. Lets add more memory and CPUs.

3. For all machines I tested there was a lag, sometimes as little as 3-5 seconds, other times as long as 15-20 seconds, during this time you will see some processor and memory usage spikes. But as shown the memory eventually becomes available.

4. Post reboot, your extra CPUs will appear.

With 2008 R2 Enterprise and Datacenter

1. Note I’m using Datacenter here, but Enterprise is the same. I increased the memory from 4 to 5 GB, And added a further 3 CPUs.

2. It does work, you simply need to restart the “Task Manager” to reflect the increased CPU count.

3. Finished.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Cisco FirePOWER (On-Box / ASDM) Change the Time Zone

Posted on by
3

KB ID 0001363

Problem

At first this was just a bug, now it’s annoying, I don’t know why Cisco have not got round to fixing this, it’s still a problem in the latest (6.2.2 at time of writing,) version.

Solution

Configuration > ASA FirePOWER Configuration > Local > System Policy > Time > Synchronisation > Manually > Save Policy and  Exit.

Deploy > Deploy FirePOWER Changes > Deploy.

To View Task Progress: Monitoring > ASA FirePOWER Monitoring > Ensure the policy has applied successfully, (go and have a coffee).

Configuration > ASA FirePOWER Configuration > Local > Configuration > Time > Select the time zone ‘Hyperlink’ > Set the correct zone > Save > Done.

Configuration > ASA FirePOWER Configuration > Local > System Policy > Time > Synchronisation > Via NTP From… > Type in a public NTP Server  > Save Policy and  Exit.

or use;

[box]

0.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org, 1.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org, 2.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org, 3.sourcefire.pool.ntp.org

[/box]

Deploy > Deploy FirePOWER Changes > Deploy.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Special Thanks to Craig Paolozzi for this article, because he asks me how to do it, every 27 days.

Resizing Windows Volumes / Drives in VMware vSphere / ESX

Posted on by

KB ID 0000381 

Problem

This article is primarily geared towards making your guest virtual machines hard drives LARGER, If you want to SHRINK or make the drive smaller then see the following article.

Resizing Guest Hard Drives using the VMware Converter

Solution

Re sizing a Guests Hard Drive (Make it larger)

1. On the properties of the VM select the hard disk in question and locate its size.

2. Enter the new size and hit OK. Note: Making the drive size smaller, will have no affect, if you want to do that clone the drive. If the option is “Greyed out” then make sure you DO NOT have any snapshots for this machine.

Re-sizing the guests “Volume” Option 1 – Graphically

Note: To do this using diskpart skip forward to number 10.

3. On the guest > Right click “My Computer” > Manage > Locate “Disk Management”. You will see there’s some free space that’s appeared on the end of the drive, (Click action > Re-scan if you can’t see it).

4. Simply right click the existing volume and select “Extend Volume”.

5. Next.

6. Copy in the extra space you want to assign (all of it probably) > Next.

7. Finish.

8. All the physical drive should now be committed.

9. And just to be sure, look in “My Computer” the drive is now 300 GB.

Re-sizing the guests “Volume” Option 2 – From Command Line with diskpart

10. Start > run > cmd{enter}

[box]diskpart list volume&lt select volume x –Where x is the volume number of the volume to be re sized[/box]

11. The final command is simply extend (This uses ALL the available free space.) Note the volume size in the picture below has jumped up by 40 GB.

Resizing a System (boot) Partition.

Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 can do this quite happily. Older versions of Windows do not like having their system drive re sized, you see the following error if you try,

Error: The volume you have selected may not be extended. Please select another volume and try again.

Option 1 (Connect this drive to another machine)

In a virtual environment this is much simpler, but even if its a real physical hard drive, you can put it into another server and re size it. In an ESX environment simply do the following,

1. Shut down the machine that needs its drive re sizing, then go to another virtual machine’s properties and select add.

2. Hard Disk > Next.

3. Select “Use existing virtual disk” > Next.

4. Browse to the the drive we want to re size > Next.

5. Next.

6. Finish.

7. Now on the VM (Action > Re-scan disks). You will see the drive, and it’s not listed as a system drive, so you can extend it using any of the methods listed above.

8. For example, heres the drive re sized using disport.

9. when you have re sized the drive go back to the properties of the machine you have connected it to, and remove it.

10. OK.

11. Now power on the original VM and drive will be re sized.

Option 2 (Re size the Windows volume with GParted)

Note: This will work for a physical server as well.

1. Here’s our system drive with some nice shiny free space.

 

2. Make sure the server in question can boot from CD, in VMware do the following to boot to the machines BIOS, for a real server watch the screen as the server boots for instructions (Usually F10, F1 or Esc but differs depending on vendor).

3. Locate the boot order and make sure CD/DVD is at the top of the list.

4. Download GParted burn the image to CD, if you are working on a real server (use ImgBurn if your stuck). Or simply point the VM to the iso image, and boot the machine in question from it. At the welcome screen press Enter.

5. Use your arrow and tab keys to select Don’t touch the keymap > OK.

6. Pick a language.

7. We want to launch the GUI (X Windows), so select 0 (Zero).

8. Select Re size/Move > Drag the arrow to include the free space > Re size/Move.

9. Apply

10. Apply.

11. Close.

12. Click GParted > Quit.

13. Exit > Reboot/Shutdown > OK.

14. Remove the CD/ISO and press Enter.

15. The guest will run chkdsk the firs time it boots. This is normal don’t panic.

16. Once booted the volume will be re sized.

Shrink a Windows Partition with diskpart

1. To actually make the volume smaller with diskpart, the initial commands are the same.

2. If you use “shrink” on its own is will shrink the drive as much as it can (I cannot think of any situation where you would do this!). So to shrink the volume by 10 GB simply issue a “shrink minimum 10240”. (The figure in in MB).

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Original Article Written 24/01/11

Remote Desktop Services – License Server ‘Greyed Out’

Posted on by

KB ID 0000837 

Problem

I changed the IP addressing of a new client a few weeks ago. They have a remote site that uses Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services). By the time I got to the remote site to set everything back up again I was greeted with this.

The remote session was disconnected because there are no Remote Desktop Licence Servers available to provide a license. Please contact the server administrator.

I assumed this was simply because I had changed the IP structure at the main site so I jumped on to check the license server settings.

I could not change the licence server, it was greyed out, (It was the OLD ip of the server, in this case the license server role was on the same server).

Solution

In trying to formulate a ‘fix’ I came across the actual cause of the problem, the previous IT supplier had (when they had set it up), locked down the Remote Desktop Services License Server Settings using Group Policy. Remember all my RDP roles are on one server here so I just have to edit the local policy on this server.

1. Start > Windows Key+R > gpedit.msc {Enter}.

2. Navigate to;

[box]

Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Licensing > Use the specified Remote Desktop License Server

 

[/box]

3. Edit the ‘enabled’ entry, to reflect the correct IP or FQDN of the Remote Desktop License Server, (I prefer IP addresses).

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Word – Cannot Change the Default Language

Posted on by

KB ID 0000963

Problem

I know Microsoft is from America, that’s fair enough, and they have built into Windows the ability to change the ‘locale’ and language. But its really annoying when you install Office and it just assumes you want an American dictionary. Now something like 80% of my visitors are American and they will probably be surprised that us limeys spell things differently, after all we all speak English right – well yes we do, but written (British) English is different to written (American) English.

e.g. Centre, Colour, Theatre, Analyse, Catalogue, and Programme, etc.

Which is OK, you’ve had a few hundred years to do you own thing, and English is derived from Anglo-Saxon/German, Latin, French, Greek and a great deal of other languages anyway.

So when I go into Office Settings and SPECIFICALLY TELL IT I want my default language to be English (United Kingdom). Why would I want it to set the dictionary to English (US)?

Solution

I’m assuming you have already gore to File > Options > Language > And set the correct language settings.

1. Review > Language > Set Proofing Language.

2. Select your desired language > Set as Default.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

McAfee ‘Edit Auto Repository List’ is Greyed out.

Posted on by

KB ID 0000044

Problem

Post upgrade you cannot edit or alter the AutoUpdate repository list.

Solution

1. Right Click the McAfee Shield > Virus Scan Console > Double Click Access Protection.
2. Un-tick “Prevent McAfee services from being stopped”.

3. Start > Run > cmd {enter}.
4. Log onto McAfee with your AV Grant Number.

https://secure.nai.com/apps/downloads/my_products/login.asp

5. Download McAfee Agent 4 – Its under Management Solutions (MA400P2WIN).

6. Extract all those files to c:mcafee.
7. Start > run > cmd {enter}.
8. Issue the following commands.

cd c:mcafee {enter}
FRMINST /FORCEUNINSTALL {enter}

9. It will take some time to complete.
10. Issue the following command.

FRAMEPKG_UPD.EXE /UPGRADE {enter}

11. It will take some time to complete.

12. You should now be able “Edit the AutoUpdate Repository List”.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

 

Windows – Set Chrome as the Default Browser

Posted on by

KB ID 0000656 

Problem

Even though I had installed Chrome, and told Windows 8 to set it as the default browser, it had not.

Solution

1. Whilst within Windows 8 > Press Windows Key+Q > This brings up the Apps menu > In the search box type ‘default’ > Select ‘Default’ Programs.

2. Set your default programs.

3. Locate Google Chrome > Then click “Set this program as default”.

4. Now you can (if you wish) remove Internet explorer from the ‘Modern UI’. Right click the tile and select ‘Unpin from start’.

5. Now you can drag the Chrome tile over to replace it.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA