In ESX(i) 3.x and 4.x snapshots files are default created in the virtual machine’s working directory (home directory). The working directory is the same directory as the were the virtual machine configuration (*.vmx) file is stored. In this example a VM called “test” that has two disks (VMDK’s) …
Continue ReadingYesterday the 2012 vExpert awards are announced. Great to hear that I have the vExpert title for another year! Two Ictivity colleagues are on the list too. Edwin Friesen made it for the fourth year and Michael Wilmsen for the second year. Congrats guys! I want to thank John Troyer, Alex Maier and …
Continue ReadingIn a Hyper-V cluster are normally a lot of NICs involved. Identifying the right can be challenging. It is important to consequently label your network adapters on all the servers in the Hyper-V cluster. In Windows Server 2012 there are PowerShell Cmdlets that can be used for identifying NICs. Once …
Continue ReadingAt a customer I was unable to join a domain when deploying a template from vCenter using a guest customization specification. This only happened with Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 templates. To solve this problem, you need the do the following in the guest customization specification: Enter the FQDN …
Continue ReadingVMware Workstation Technology Preview 2012 is available as download. The Technology Preview makes it possible for example to install and operate Windows 8 and Windows Server 8 in a VM and the possibility to nest VMs. I tested the installation of Windows Server 8 in VMware Workstation TP, enabled the …
Continue ReadingIn an earlier blog post (found here ) I mentioned that it is time for a new homebrew whitebox based on the Intel X79 chipset. With the X79 chipset it is possible to install 64GB of memory (8 x 8 GB). Because the 8 GB DIMMs are expensive on the moment, I decided to use 8 x 4GB DIMMs (total 32GB). I …
Continue ReadingIn Windows 2008 & Windows2008 R2 there were no official PowerShell Cmdlets available for Hyper-V. This is changed in Windows 2012 and Windows 8. Windows Server 2012 and 8 has 162 or more PowerShell Cmdlets available for Hyper-V. Windows 8 uses PowerShell version 3. Cmdlets are very powerful, …
Continue ReadingToday the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is launched. To install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview as VM in VMware vSphere 5, use the following steps: Install VMware ESXi 5.0 patch release ESXi500-201112001 . If you didn’t install the patch the following screen appears when booting the Windows 8 ISO: Your …
Continue ReadingThere are different ways to kill an unresponsable VM by using the vCLI or the console. In VMware ESXi, it is possible to kill a running VM process by using esxtop or resxtop. For VMware ESXi you need to enter Tech Support Mode (TSM) first to run esxtop. The following procedure can be used to kill a …
Continue ReadingWhen you want to customize the VMware ESXi 5 installation media you need to use Image Builder. Image Builder CLI is a set of PowerCLI cmdlets that you can use to manage vSphere image profiles and VIB (VMware Installation Bundle) packages, such as driver VIBs and update VIBs. You can also use Image …
Continue Reading