Earls's questions

I was copying a VM between datastores last night when I looked away and then the vCenter host started restarting due to Windows update... The VM transfer between was aborted, but now the VMDK file it was transferring is locked and I can't start the virtual machine.

The Knowledge base articles I've found are too cryptic, I just need to get the vmdk unlocked... How?

vCenter / ESXi 5.0

Error: "Unable to access file [NEXSAN_SAS] rds-sv-ent/rds-sv-ent_1.vmdk since it is locked"

More Details: "An unexpected error was received from the ESX host while powering on VM vm-261. Reason: Failed to lock the file. Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/4f4bb0fe-f7daabec-6a41-ac162d73a349/rds-sv-ent/rds-sv-ent_1.vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. "

I'm running your standard Domain set up - AD with DNS and a RDS server.

On the RDS server, I've mapped some drives to a local NAS using the DNS shortname...

\\folders\sharedfolder

\\folders is a static DNS entry on the AD server.

"Randomly" it starts throwing the error "Windows cannot access \\folders"

I can:

ping folders

nslookup folders (connects to local DNS server and returns the proper IP)

connect by ip address \\192.168.1.111\sharefolder

connect by FQDN \\folders.domain.com\sharedfolder

but I cannot use \\folders\sharedfolders again until I restart the RDS server.

net view \\folders = System error 53 has occured.

Thing is, I restarted the server Saturday afternoon for the problem and now it's Monday morning and right back to it!

I installed the vCenter connector and it said "lol, can't upload VM with two disks."

So I disconnected one of the disks and uploaded the VM and now I need to upload the second disk and rejoin it to the VM - if possible.

I thought I might just attach the second disk to a new default VM and upload, but now import says "ClientError: No bootable partition found."

What are my other options?

I have Folder Redirection turned on so the profiles are on a Windows shared folder on a File and Print Server... \folders\Profiles

I want to back up the entire Profiles directory, but as Domain Admin I don't seem to have the privileges to "select all and copy" the entire directory structure. The user profile subfolders (Appdata, Documents, Desktop, Pictures, etc.) throw access denied errors...

I tried to grant Domain Admins full privileges to the Profiles directory and thought the subfolders would inherit the privileges, but I get access denied errors just trying to set the permissions...

How can I assign a user to the Profiles directory so that I can copy the entire directory tree to back it up?

I spun up a Remote Desktop Server instance on Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud service... What's the best/easiest way to print from the VPC to local printers?

The local printers are IP based, but not "cloud printers".

I'm familiar with how Cloud Printing works for Chrome, but is there a way to install a cloud printer as a regular Windows printer on a Remote Desktop Server and "just have it work?"

I have an ESXi host with the following virtual machines:

1 x Active Directory Server

1 x Remote Desktop Services Server

1 x SQL Database Server

1 x Accounting Software Application Server

I have a second "blank/empty" ESXi host.

In theory, what I wanted to do was simply schedule the VMs to be cloned the second host as a backup. If something happen to the first server, I could simply boot the VMs on the second machine and resume as if the first never went down.

In practice, this seems a lot less practical having done quite a few searches here on SF.

My main concern is the integrity and consistency of the SQL database... This backup strategy does not seem to be recommended for SQL servers due to unwritten data residing in memory. I suppose I could shutdown the server, clone it, then reboot, but in my perfect world, I'd like to duplicate these VMs at least nightly while still live.

What would be the best backup strategy for replicating these particular types of servers to a second ESXi host nightly while they are still live? Consider separate options for a budget of $1,000 and a budget of $10,000.

Is there a better possible backup strategy as a whole?

I have an RDS server with about a dozen printers installed. Is there a way to remove all buta few certain printers for a particular user? I don't mean that I want to "secure" the other printers to keep them from printing to them, but literally filter which printers appear in their available printers list.

The setup:

Plantronics USB CS50 Headset > USB Port of "Thin Client" (Running Win Pro) > (Wireless) RDP to Remote Desktop Server > Eyebeam Softphone Client > VOIP Server > Caller (cell phone or another in-office extension)

During a live phone call, the incoming voice (From the caller played through the USB Headset on the remote client computer) is all broken up and barely intelligible.

The outgoing voice recorded from the remote client computer and sent to the caller is flawless.

Any other audio playback is flawless as well. For example, the caller can call and leave a voicemail on the VOIP server and then the user can play the voicemail back through the headset on the remote client and it's clear as day.

Is there anything I can do to improve the audio playback sound quality during a live call?

Note: I am currently using "Play on this computer" versus "Play on remote computer" as the server does not have a sound card installed.

I have a Google Chrome software install group policy object that works perfectly except when logging into the the Terminal (Remote Desktop) Services Server.

It's configured under "User Configuration" in Group Policy.

The group policy is linked to both my Employee OU, which contains the user account that is logging into the RDS server, and directly under the Domain, but it refuses to be acknowledged. Why?

I have one copy of Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.

Based on it's available feature set, would it better provision the server as the AD role or RDS role for the company? (I have an older Server 2008 copy for the other.)

I have a SonicWall router configured as follows:

P0 = Wired LAN (192.168.1.1)
P1 = Internet
P3 = Sonicpoint WAP  (192.168.5.1)
P3-A = Private Wireless LAN VLAN 1 (192.168.6.1)
P3-B = Public Wireless LAB VLAN 2 (192.168.7.1)

If a computer is on P3-A their IP address would be 192.168.6.2 and their gateway would be 192.168.5.1

If I ping any internet site (google.com) I get sub 30ms responses.

If I ping an address on P0 (192.168.1.4), the ping time varies wildly between 2ms and 2000ms - more so than not it's about ~800ms.

Any suggestions as to identify why I can ping the internet with a consistent response but can't ping the local 192.168.1.x subnet without?

I see the policy to force removal of the Downloads "link" in the Start Menu, but is there a way to force Downloads to be present by default?

I have two AD servers separated by a T1.

Location A, which hosts the primary AD / DNS / Roaming Profiles server is subnet 192.168.0

Location B, which is the secondary AD server (I'm trying to configure but...) is on subnet 192.168.1

I understand this may be a DNS issue. The only DNS server I have assigned to that subnet via DHCP on a Sonicwall is the AD server in Location A. I got positive results from DNS tests in ping and nslookup.

I have joined, unjoined, rejoined the domain.

All Event Viewer is telling me that the login is taking too long, it took 931 second, it's taking to long to log off, and there's a csc resource cannot be loaded...

Is it simply that the profile is too large in size for the T1? I've enabled Folder Redirection - still taking forever, stuck at "waiting for user profile service".

Note that this happens on both Win2k8R2 and regular Windows 7 in Location B.

Now happening at Location A as well... [Possibly fixed - it may just be raw profile size, even with folder redirection on]

What is the best way to troubleshoot this issue?

I have an ESXi host running a Windows 2008 R2 server VM with vCenter installed.

Upon joining the Host to vCenter, suddenly I could not log directly onto the host with the vSphere client using my original root username/password.

The root user/pass works in console just fine, but get "insufficient privileges" when I try to use the vSphere client.

The problem being the power went out, turning off the vCenter VM (and the rest [Active Directory]), so now I can't connect to vCenter to start my virtual machine's again nor can I connect directly to the host.

What are my options to at least get the vCenter VM started again?

Remote desktop services seems theoretically attractive, but I'm struggling with a practical aspect of deployment: mobile (laptop) users.

I would say about 99% of the time, mobile users would be able to obtain an internet connection - either a hard-line, wifi, 3g, or 4g that would allow them to access RDS outside of the office. Granted, establishing, maintaining, and providing an an acceptable user experience on any of those connections may, more often than not, require an investment of valuable time, and become quite frustrating to the end user versus "just having the damn OS installed on the laptop".

The other 1% of the time, say on an airplane, which is apparently the xen garden of productivity for certain salespeople, they will not have internet access, hence no access to RDS - an unacceptable, non-negotiable situation.

My question is: does the ability exist to "check-out" or "cache" a remote desktop session to a laptop so the user can use the computer offline, but will then resynchronize with the RDS server once the mobile user's internet connection is reestablished?

VMWare View has just come to my attention, which appears to do so. Any experiences with the software?

What, if any alternatives, especially Microsoft native solutions, exist? And how have your experiences been with such?

Finally, should I just dismiss this type of infrastructure configuration as untenable and opt for a more traditional Active Directory roaming profile deployment?

Our desktop infrastructure is rapidly shrinking, being replaced by laptops - what makes the most sense in terms of scalability and long-term manageability?

From my research, I've come to understand that "Installing Terminal Server (Remote Desktop Services) on a Domain Controller (Active Directory)" is a cardinal sin - apparently there are some serious security risks.

Could someone please elaborate and explain the risks?

More specifically:

How would someone go about compromising the server? What is the worst that could happen?

Understand these aspects of my particular configuration:

No files are being stored on the server. The directory is only being used to authorize users to use Remote Desktop Services. The server will be accessed by less than 50 users.

Thank you.

I have 4 TB of Physical space but can only seem to make a VMFS of 90 GB?

Possible Duplicate:
Can you help me with my software licensing question?

So as we slowly move towards web applications my company still has some legacy Windows applications we need to support - specifically Outlook, Quickbooks and UPS Worldship.

My ultimate goal is to remove Microsoft / Windows from the picture completely. Unfortunately, I've hit a roadblock in the path forward.

My options seem to be:

1. Maintain individual Windows desktops join to a Domain.

2. Thin clients that use cloned virtual desktops.

3. Thin clients that use Terminal (Remote Desktop) Services.

Regardless of these options, even when taking advantage of Citrix and/or VMWare offerings, it seems like there is no way of getting around paying for one Windows desktop license (whether it be "physical", virtual, or CAL) per one user. Using Citrix or VMWare clouds the license picture even further.

Now, I can understand paying for one user license per Outlook instance, but per user for a common base to deliver the application? But whatever - that's just the way it is if we're going to use software built for Windows environment - unless there's a loophole I'm missing? Is there some configuration where I can simply deliver the applications to the end users without multiple middle-man fees per user?

I'm just curious which of these options is the cheapest and simplest, software license wise?

Here's what I have in mind, understand I am ignorant:

A core OS running virtual machine software - Linux (which distro?) with VMWare?

A Terminal Services virtual machine for up to 50 thin clients - Win Server 2008 R2. The only reason I'm stuck with Windows for TS is because I can't get most users off of MS Office (Outlook in particular).

An Active Directory virtual machine - should I stick with Win Server 2008 R2, or is there a Linux distro + LDAP combo that is compatible with 2K8R2 Terminal Services?

Store shared files on a NAS, map a drive in each Terminal Services profile.

Sync the LDAP with Google Apps.

I have about a dozen laptop users - how do I handle them regarding AD/LDAP? Roaming profiles? I'd love to force them to boot a tiny linux image and then remote desktop into the Terminal Server... But they are going to FREAK OUT when they can't use their computer in situations where there isn't broadband access. I'm not sure 3G is sufficient enough for a pleasant user experience. The last thing I want is to hear every day how slow their computer is. But on the flip side, the security and management is unparalleled. Am I just thinking too far ahead of the curve?

We have a PBX server - should I virtualize that?

Are Blade servers simply more space efficient, "second generation" rack servers? They're still individual servers, correct? Or do they function like distributing computing? A "beowulf cluster"?

If I can talk them into SSDs, should I choose those over HDDS? I'd get two for RAID1. Remember the data storage will be on the NAS. The SSDs would be for the virtualized servers server. I guess I should opt for SLC vs. MLC? PCI-E or SATA/SAS?

Your insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks.