Tag Archives: delete

VMware – Cannot Delete an ‘Orphaned’ Replica

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KB ID 0000601 

Problem

After some messing about on my test network I was left with a ‘replica’ machine that I needed to get rid of, this was easier said than done, as it was in an orphaned state.

Solution

1. Find out which host in the cluster the replica is on, In my case that’s simple (I only have one). In a live environment click the replica machines summary tab, and it will tell you which host it is on. Connect directly to the host with the VI client software. (Remember the username this time will probably be root!), then right click the replica and select ‘Delete form Disk’.

2. Log back into your Virtual Center Server with the VI client. Right click the host that had the replica on it and select ‘Disconnect’.

Note: We actually need to remove it from the cluster, but to to that it would need to be in maintenance mode (not good if you have live servers running) that’s why we are disconnecting it first (the VM‘s will stay online).

3. Once disconnected, right click the host again, and this time ‘Remove”. Don’t panic the guest machines will stay online.

4. Then simply add the ESX host back into the cluster once again, this time its updated inventory (Minus the deleted replica) will be added back.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Cannot Delete a Virtual Machine(Another task is already in progress)

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KB ID 0000376 

Problem

When you try and delete a Virtual Machine from ESX or VSphere you see the following error.

Error: Another task is already in progress.

In addition, if you try and remove the VM from the inventory you will see the following error.

Error: Call “VirtualMachine.Unregister” for object “{vm name}” on vCenter Server “{VCenter name}” failed.

 

Solution

In my case the VM in question was in the middle of a hardware upgrade (from version 4 to Version 7) that had failed/stalled.

Select the VM in question then open its summary tab. Simply cancel the the stalled upgrade and click OK.

You can now remove the VM as normal.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Windows 7 – How Do I Delete Old Networks?

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KB ID 0000244

Problem

If you move around a lot from client site to client site, your Windows 7 network list can get huge.

Solution

1. Right click the network link on your taskbar.

2. Select “Open Network and Sharing Center”.

3. Left click your current connection.

Click for larger image

4. At the bottom of the screen select “Merge or Delete network Locations”.

5. Select the unwanted ones > Delete > Close.

Note: Old networks are stored in the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionNetworkListNlaCacheIntranet” Registry key.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Exchange – Delete and Recreate the PowerShell Virtual Directory

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KB ID 0000700 

Problem

One of the big drawbacks of Exchange management being built on PowerShell, and it talking to the PowerShell virtual director is, when IIS has a problem, you can’t manage your Exchange via the command shell, or the Exchange Management Console.

While trying to fix a problem last week I wanted to remove and recreate the PowerShell virtual directory, and I found the PowerShell command, but no working examples for the correct syntax.

Solution

1. Remember your Exchange Management Shell won’t work, so load the Windows Powershell Modules shell. (Note: You will find this one under Administrative tools, NOT the one on the taskbar).

2. To remove the PowerShell virtual directory from the default web site;

[box]
Remove-PowerShellVirtualDirectory “Powershell (Default Web Site)”
[/box]

3. Confirm by pressing A {enter}.

4. To recreate the PowerShell virtual directory;

[box]New-PowerShellVirtualDirectory -Name Powershell -RequireSSL:$False [/box]

5. You can restart the web services with the following command;

[box]
iisreset /noforce
[/box]

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Original article written 22/12/12

Cisco PIX – “What are the files in flash”

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KB ID 0000757

Problem

With modern Cisco ASA firewalls a show flash (or show disk0) command will give you a descriptive list of what is stored in NVRAM. With an older version 6 firewall the result is a little more confusing.

Solution

If you connect to the PIX and view the contents of the flash, you will see something like this;

[box]

Sent username “pix”

Type help or ‘?’ for a list of available commands.

Petes-PIX>

Petes-PIX> enable

Password: *******

Petes-PIX# show flash
flash file system: version:3 magic:0x12345679
file 0: origin: 0 length:1978424

file 1: origin: 2097152 length:4994

file 2: origin: 0 length:0

file 3: origin: 2228224 length:3152452

file 4: origin: 0 length:0

file 5: origin: 8257536 length:308

Petes-PIX#

[/box]

So what are all these files?

file 0 : This is the operating system file, it will have a .bin extension (e.g. 6.3(5) is pix635.bin, which is the version you can see here).

file 1: This is the firewalls config file, you can view it with a “show config” command, it is the config that gets loaded into memory and becomes the running config when the firewall boots.

Note: If you issue a “write erase” command this file will be removed, WARNING: Doing this will cause the firewall to revert to factory settings when it reloads (reboots).

file 2: This datafile stores the firewalls IPSec key and certificate information.

file 3: This is the firewalls PDM image file, it will have a .bin extension (e.g. 3.0(4) is pdm-304.bin, which is the version you can see here).

Note: There is no command to remove JUST this file, but if you TFTP in a new PDM image then pull the plug “mid-transfer”, the PIX will time out and delete it local PDM image from flash.

file 4: Crash-dump file.

file 5: File system record file.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

PIX 506E and 501 Firewall Image and PDM Upgrade

Update Cisco ASA – Directly from Cisco (via ASDM)

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KB ID 0000636 

Problem

Warning:

Before upgrading/updating the ASA to version 8.3 (or Higher) Check to see if you have the correct amount of RAM in the firewall (“show version” command will tell you). This is VERYIMPORTANT if your ASA was shipped before February 2010. See the link below for more information.

ASA – Memory Error (Post upgrade to version 8.3)

Warning 2:

Be aware, if you are upgrading to an OS of 8.4(2) or newer you can no longer access the device via SSH when using the default username of “pix” you need to enable AAA authentication for SSH, do this before you reboot/reload the firewall or you may lock yourself out.

ASA Enable AAA LOCAL Authentication for SSH

Its been a while since I wrote how to update the ASA by command line, and how to update the ASA from the ASDM. Now you can update the ASA directly from Cisco, providing you have a valid cisco CCO account.

Solution

1. Connect to the the ASDM on the ASA > Tools > Check for ASA/ASDM Updates.

2. Supply your Cisco CCO account information.

3. Next.

4. Decide if you want to update the OS of the ASA or the ASDM, or both.

5. Next.

6. The software will download. (The OS is downloading here), Note: it will get downloaded to the machine that the ASDM is running on first.

7. Then the ASDM software will download.

8. You may find that there is not enough room in flash memory, if so you will see this error. (if it does not error skip to step 11).

9. If you are stuck for room you can delete some items from your flash memory > Tools > File Management.

10. Here you can see I’m deleting and old version of the ASDM. Note you could delete the live version of the ASDM and Operating system if you had no choice (THOUGH DONT REBOOT THE FIREWALL until the new ones have uploaded, or you will be loading the files in in ROMMON mode!)

11. Once all the files have been downloaded to your location, they will be uploaded to the firewalls flash memory.

12. Next.

13. Finish.

Note: What happens now is the following commands are issued in the background automatically; (Note the versions numbers may be different in your case).

[box]

asdm image disk0:/asdm-649.bin
no boot system disk0:/asa843-k8.bin
boot system disk0:/asa844-1-k8.bin
boot system disk0:/asa843-k8.bin

[/box]

14. After the firewall reboots, it should come back up with the new OS and ASDM version.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Cisco ASA5500 Update System and ASDM (From CLI)

Cisco ASA5500 Update System and ASDM (From ASDM)