Tag Archives: restart

VMware vSphere Hot Add and Hot Plug

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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

VMware VI Client error ‘Unable to connect to the MKS: Failed to connect to server {ESX-Host}:902’

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KB ID 0000815 

Problem

Seen when connected to the VMware VI client software, and attempting to open a console session with a virtual machine.

Solution

This is a pretty generic error, for whatever reason the client software cannot connect to the KMS (Keyboard, Mouse, and Screen).

In NEARLY every case this is a communication issue, either the machine running the client software cannot resolve the name of the ESX host that is hosting the virtual machines, or TCP Port 902 is being blocked by a firewall.

1. If you can’t simply pop the correct name in your DNS, then add the name and IP to the machines, (the one running the VI client software) host file. You will locate this in;

[box] C:WindowsSystem32Driversetc [/box]

2. Open it with Notepad, and add the IP and name of your ESX host(s), Note: I’m also putting the name and IP of my Virtual Center server as well. Save the file and try again.

3. You should now be able to connect.

It’s NOT DNS!

If you can happily resolve the name and are sure that the port is not being blocked, then have you made any IP changes? Is the default gateway on the ESX Server set correctly? And finally restart the management agents on the host, either from the console, or by running ‘/sbin/services.sh restart’.

I’ve also fixed this error by shutting down the machine > removing it from the inventory > then browsing the storage, to locate the .vmx file > then simply import it back again.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Windows Server – DHCP Service Starts then Stops again

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KB ID 0000617 

Problem

Saw this last week on an SBS 2011 Server. When attempting to get the DHCP service running it span up then stopped straight away.

Solution

A quick look in Event Viewer showed me what the problem was,

Event ID 1054

The DHCP/BINL service on this computer is shutting down. See the previous event log messages for reasons

Fair enough lets see the previous error on the same server;

Event ID 1053

The DHCP/BINL service has encountered another server on this network with IP Address, (IPv4 or IPv6 address), belonging to the domain

In this example the offending IP (192.168.87.254) Was a Cisco PIX 501 firewall that was running a DHCP server. Thankfully My main job that day was to replace the firewall so when I put in a new ASA I didn’t have the DHCPD service running.

If you see this elsewhere you will need to locate the offending IP and disable DHCP on it.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Windows – Schedule a Reboot For a Specific Time

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KB ID 0000866 

Problem

If you want to do this, and you do a quick internet search, all results come back as either suggesting using psshutdown or writing a script then scheduling that. I suppose a script is a good idea if you want to reboot at 01:00 every day for example. But what if you want to reboot a client server once at 17:00 and it’s 10:00 in the morning? Chances are, if you’re like me, you will be working on something different at 17:00 and forget!

Solution

1. Painfully simple, open a command window (Windows Key+R > cmd {Enter}).

2. Execute the command below. Obviously change the time accordingly;

[box]

at 10:15:00 shutdown /r /f

[/box]

3. Then the machine will reboot at the specified time.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

Force Media Center to Update its Libraries

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KB ID 0000627 

Problem

I use Media Center a lot, and the one thing that bugs me is, every time I add a new film or TV series etc, I have to restart Media Center, restart services, or reboot the entire media PC before I can see them in the list.

After some searching it appears that Media Center uses the same repository/database of media that Windows Media Player uses. There is a convoluted method of stopping services, deleting files and restarting everything that will fix the problem.

However that is a pain, as when I’ve fired up Media Center it’s because I want to watch a film, or listen to some tunes, not start manually messing about with services and deleting cached copies of stuff.

So I wrote a script to do it all for me, and seeing as I couldn’t find one anywhere else, I tarted it up a bit, and made it easy to install. You can launch it from an icon on your desktop, it will stop Media Center, flush the cache, then restart Media Center for you.

Solution

1. First download this zip file and extract the contents to your desktop.

2. From within the ‘Refresh Media Library’ folder double click the install.bat file (this will copy the needed files to your “Program Files” folder and drop the shortcut on your desktop).

3. Whenever you want to update the Media Center Library simply run the script form the shortcut on your desktop.

4. After it’s completed it will launch Media Center for you. Once installed you can safely delete the ‘Refresh Media Library’ folder.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

How to Play .MKV files in Media Center

Change the default Shutdown / Log Off Option via GPO

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KB ID 0000465 

Problem

Out of the box, the default power option presented to your users is shutdown. People with multiple users on their machines, may prefer the log off option to be the default.

Note: You can also set the default option to:

Shutdown
Sleep
Log off
Lock
Restart
Switch User (Unless blocked by other policy then it will revert to shutdown).
Hibernate

 

Solution

1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management Console > Either create a new policy and link it to your targeted COMPUTERS or edit an existing one, then navigate to;

[box]
User Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
[/box]

Locate the setting “Change Start Menu power button”.

2. Edit to the required action, i.e. Log off.

3. Then either reboot the clients, wait a couple of hours, or manually run “gpupdate /force” on them.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Thanks to Seb Cerazy for the feedback

Windows 8 – Add Shutdown to the Start/Metro Menu

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KB ID 0000744 

Problem

I wrote an article ages ago about ‘How to shut down Windows 8‘ but what if you simply want a shortcut to save you the hassle, and have that on your start menu?

Solution

1. Press Windows Key+R > In the run box type the following;

[box]
%appdata%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms
[/box]

2. In the window that opens > Right click > New > Shortcut.

3. Enter the following

[box]
shutdown /t 00 /s[/box]

4. Call the shortcut ‘Shutdown Computer’ > Finish.

5. To change the icon > Right click > Properties > Change Icon > OK.

6. Select the shutdown icon > OK > Apply > OK.

7. And now the shutdown option is on your start menu.

7. To add shortcuts for Restart, Sleep, or Hibernate, use the following shortcuts;

[box]

TO RESTART;
shutdown.exe -t 00 -r

TO Hibernate;
rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll,SetSuspendState

TO Sleep;
rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0

[/box]

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

IE Crash / Restart Loop

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KB ID 0000329 

Problem

I downloaded the IE9 Beta today to give it a test drive and maybe write a review for the site, and it failed miserably and got stuck in a crash loop.

Error: Internet Explorer has stopped working

In fact I had to kill it with Task Manager as it kept re-spawning new instances that also crashed.

 

Solution

1. Launch the new IE9 in “Extensions off” mode, Click Start > Type in “iexplore.exe -extoff” {enter}

2. IE9 will launch in “Extensions Off” mode > Click “Manage add-ons”.

3. Select all the Add-ons (Select one and Press CTRL+A) > Then Select “Disable All”.

4. Now launch IE9 and it should launch correctly.

5. If you want you can slowly enable all the add-ons one by one, to find out which one was causing the problem.

Note: You may also see Event ID 1000 each time it crashes.

Error:

Faulting application name: iexplore.exe, version: 9.0.7930.16406, time stamp: 0x4c7e0414
Faulting module name: IEFRAME.dll, version: 9.0.7930.16406, time stamp: 0x4c7e048e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00077c96
Faulting process id: 0x104c
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb596dc320eb8f
Faulting application path: C:Program Files (x86)Internet Exploreriexplore.exe
Faulting module path: C:Windowssystem32IEFRAME.dll
Report Id: 012c705c-c561-11df-8a41-705ab694ed42

Footnote

Some forums are suggesting that enabling “Use software rendering instead of GPU rendering” will also solve this problem.

Once I got it working, here’s what I thought of it, Internet Explorer 9 Review.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

 

Exchange 2013 – ‘Internet Explorer has stopped working’

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KB ID 0000776

Problem

When using the Exchange Admin Center with Exchange 2013, on a Server Running Internet Explorer Version 10, you see the following error (particularly when working on the recipients > mailboxes tab!

Problem Details

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: IEXPLORE.EXE
Application Version: 10.0.9200.16384
Application Timestamp: 50107ee0
Fault Module Name: msvcrt.dll
Fault Module Version: 7.0.9200.16384
Fault Module Timestamp: 5010ae12
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0000986a
OS Version: 6.2.9200.2.0.0.400.8
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: a65c
Additional Information 2: a65c2884b2d8aca525c1cbb50e388db9
Additional Information 3: 396e
Additional Information 4: 396e9fe5e0fa1a3f9a73d5b2c9681128

Read our privacy statement online:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=190175

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:Windowssystem32en-USerofflps.txt

Solution

This is a known problem in the beta, pre-release, and the RTM versions of Exchange 2013.

There is now a fix from Microsoft here

You can also round the problem by accessing the Exchange Admin Center from a client (Windows running IE10 works fine). If you must access it on the server install the hofix or use Firefox

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

NA

 

Cisco CSC Module Error – Activation Warning

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KB ID 0000392 

Problem

You try to connect to your Cisco CSC module, and see the following error.

Error: Activation Warning CSC is not activated. Please run setup wizard under Configuration > Trend Micro Content Security > CSC Setup > Wizard Setup to perform setup process. Click OK button to to to Trend Micro Content Security Setup wizard.

Naturally if you’ve never setup the CSC you are going to see this, but what if it suddenly starts doing this?

Solution

1. Connect to the ASA that the CSC module is in.

2. Issue the following command,

[box]sh modu 1 det[/box]

3. This ones unresponsive, it probably just need restarting, to do that issue the following command.

[box]hw-module module 1 reset[/box]

4. They can take a little while to come up (apply the cup of coffee rule). Then to see if it’s back up again use the same command you used earlier.

[box]sh mod 1 det[/box]

That didn’t work! Sometimes CSC modules do fail!, I had one client go through three in a year, If doing the above or running through the setup wizard (you did write down the licence numbers that came with the CSC didn’t you?) doesn’t work then you need to log a call to TAC.

 

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Cisco CSC Module stop it scanning its own update traffic