How To Open A VMware Workstation 6.x VM with VMware Server 1.x
Although we have some user licenses for VMware workstation 6.0 at work, I still prefer the Server product, as it allows you to run VMs in the background as the local system account. Additionally, the Server product can be configured to automatically startup/shutdown VMs based on the needs of the host. Either VMware Workstation does not support this feature or I am not looking in the right place.
I tried to open a VM that I created with VMware workstation 6 with the latest stable VMware Server version, 1.0.7. VMware server threw an error that the “Configuration file was created by a VMware product with more features than this version”.
PHOOEY!
I was able to get around this error by browsing on my host OS filesystem to the base directory for this VM, then I updated the main VM config file (vmname.vmx) and the master VM disk config file (vmname.vmdk)
For the VM configuration file (.vmx), I changed the line:
virtualHW.version = “6″
to
virtualHW.version = “4″
For the VM master disk file (.vmdk), I changed the line:
ddb.virtualHWVersion = “6″
to
ddb.virtualHWVersion = “4″
Now VMware Server 1.0.7 can run the VM! Everything appears to run fine, and I have not seen any negative side effects.
Customizing Email Addresses With the Exchange Recipient Policy
By default, Exchange creates email addresses based on the default smtp domain name and username. If you want to customize email addresses, you can set the recipient policy to do so automatically, using special variables. This can come in handy if you need to add a secondary domain address or if you wish to have custom emails such as firstname.lastname@company.c0m.
The variables that Exchange supports are:
%g = givenName (First Name)
%s = surName (Last Name)
%4s = the integer corresponds to the number of letters of surname
%d = displayname
%m = Exchange alias
For example, let’s say that my default exchange policy is only configured with my smtp domain name and my username is cfriday, my email by default would be cfriday@fridayfarm.c0m. However, if I update the default smtp address to be %g.%s@fridayfarm.com, my email would now be carson.friday@fridayfarm.c0m.
I am in no way endorsing microsoft exchange, just giving some advice on how to make it suck less…
Accessing the Virtual KVM on a DRAC5-Equipped Dell Server with IE7
I’ve talked before about Dell’s remote access card, DRAC5 in a previous post. Although a great tool, sometimes just accessing certain features is a pain. Surprisingly, current DRAC5 cards don’t have very good support for IE7 or Firefox, which comprise the lion’s share of browsers out there.
Although I haven’t found a good fix for Firefox browsers, there are some settings that can be configured to allow IE7 to properly install the IP KVM and Virtual Media pluginss of the DRAC5 card.
Here are the steps needed to fix IE7:
1. From the “Tools” menu, select “Internet Options
2. Go to the “Security” tab and highlight “Intenet” and select “Custom Level”
3. Scroll to “ActiveX control and plug-ins”, and set the sub-setting “Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls” to “Enable”
4. Click “OK” a couple of times to save settings and then try to access the DRAC5 KVM plugin again - it should properly install now.
If you don’t have the above settings, when you try to install the DRAC5 IP KVM activex plugin, IE7 will boot you back to the DRAC5 login page. It will continue to do that until the above settings are in place. Why Dell has not updated the plugins yet is beyond me, but with the above settings, you can get around the problem.
How to Configure a Cisco Switch for Network Sniffing
Sometimes it’s necessary to analyze (sniff) packets flowing thru a network for reasons such as congestion or virus outbreaks. I can remember two specific occasions where I had to sniff:
1. A user had fired up a p2p tool and was downloading some music files
2. A user had set an OpenGL screensaver on a Citrix terminal running over a MPLS wan link
In both cases, I used a tool called Wirehark (aka Ethereal) to sniff packets running across the local network which helped me to track down the source of these issues. However, since most networks these days are switched, simply firing up wireshark isn’t enough. The nature of a switched network means that it’s impossible to capture all packets without some special switch configuration, hence the need for port mirroring. Essentially, you tell the Cisco switch to mirror all data across a physical port or range of ports to a destination port. This destination port is special and does not act like a regular port so it is important to document this change. Here’s how it’s done*…
To mirror ports 1-47 to port 48 (assumes you are already on the switch as a privileged user):
conf t
no monitor session (clears out any already there)
monitor session 1 source int fa0/1-47
monitor session 1 destination int fa0/48
end
This configuration will mirror ALL data in/out of ports 1-47 over to port 48. It would be best to do this config on a core switch so that all switches cascaded off the main switch will also be monitored. Crack your laptop into port 48 and launch Wireshark and watch the packets fly!
Once I’ve captured a good chunk of data, I’ll use the conversations feature of wireshark to check out the chattiest machines on the network. Usually with this method I can pinpoint the cause of network congestion and other abnormalities.
*Certain versions of Cisco IOS require different commands, but I have had pretty good luck with the above settings
Disable Windows Update Reboot Nag
Windows Update is a great tool for keeping your computer up to date. However, some updates require a reboot and will keep nagging every 10 minutes to reboot your system. This can be quite annoying, but with a new system policy setting, you can tell the Windows Update interface to not bug you for a real long time, or not at all.
To get rid of the Windows Update Reboot Nag:
1. Go to Start -> Run, then type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter
2. Navigate the Policy Editor interface to: Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update, then double click on “Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations”
3. You can configure how often it will nag you (I re-configured it for 720 minutes, which means I’ll be asked twice on a work day), or completely disable it.
Internet Explorer Connection Limit
I prefer Firefox for most browsing these days but occasionally I still need to use IE. Unfortunately, there is a hidden setting in IE that limits the number of simultaneous connections per website to 2! That means if you need to download more than a few items from a particular site, you will have to wait until each one is done before you can download the next. Fortunately this setting can be changed from within the Windows Registry.
To update this setting, follow these instructions (use caution when editing registry values):
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt.exe)
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
3. On the Edit menu, point to New click DWORD Value, and then add the following registry values:
Value name: MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
Value data: 10
Base: Decimal
Value Name: MaxConnectionsPerServer
Value data: 10
Base: Decimal
4. Quit Registry Editor
You may need to restart your computer for the settings to take effect, but usually restarting IE will be enough.
Forcing a Remote Citrix Server to Use a Local Host Cache File
At a previous employer, we used Citrix Metaframe Servers at four different sites, with one of the sites handling the central configuration of the Citrix Server Farm. This worked great for the most part, but during extended MPLS WAN (Wide Area Network) outages, the remote servers started to hang up, as they could not “phone home” to get the central configuration datastore.
Forcing the remote servers to temporarily look only at their local configuration cache would result in much better performance. Once the MPLS WAN was back up, I would need to revert to the standard settings.
Part I: Use local cache on when the central datastore is unavailable
1. Stop IMA Service on affected remote server
2. Update registry entries:
HKLM\Software\Citrix\IMA\DatabaseDriver = IMAAccess.dll
HKLM\Software\Citrix\IMA\DataSourceName = M:\Program Files\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture\Imalhc.dsn
3. Start IMA service
Part II: Use central datastore for configuration (once WAN is back online):
1. Stop IMA Service on remote server
2. Update registry entries:
HKLM\Software\Citrix\IMA\DatabaseDriver = IMASql.dll
HKLM\Software\Citrix\IMA\DataSourceName = M:\Program Files\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture\MF20sql2k.dsn
3. Start IMA service
Tech Notes!
I was cleaning up Outlook recently in an effort to be more organized when I realized that I have accumulated a lot of personal technotes over the years, and I decided it would be a good idea to publish some of the more useful topics.
I’ll start by posting a new article tomorrow (time willing), and I’ll continue to try and post a couple of notes every week until I’m all out. Topics will range from Windows XP to Cisco to Windows Server to RedHat / Debian Linux. t’s a pretty wide range of topics, but it’s all stuff that I felt was worth noting at one time or another over the past several years. Hopefully someone else can get some use out of this stuff as well.
The ISP Upstream Dilemma
Comcast just announced that they have increased their premium tier high-speed internet package from 8mbps to 16mbps. It seems as though we might be finally catching up with the rest of the world in terms of real “high-speed” internet access until you read the fine print and discover that Comcast has not increased the upstream speed - it remains at 768kbps for even the premium package users, and 384kbps for standard users.
It’s puzzling that ISPs all seem to limit the amount of upstream data so heavily. About 10 years ago, as DSL and cable modem service began to proliferate, the standard data package was about 1.5mbps downstream and 768k upstream. The general idea was that the ISPs did not want individuals hosting web servers and other applications on their networks, so they limited the upstream pretty heavily. That seems reasonable, until you jump to present day, where the downstream is on average 3-5 times faster, but the upstream is the same or SLOWER than it used to be a decade ago!
With the advent of digital video and 10+ megapixel cameras becoming the norm, along with amateur video casting and web conferencing fast becoming mainstream, the slim 384kbps upstream pipeline just can’t keep up. Those that are a little more tech savvy and understand this limitation can take steps to live within the tight space of upstream bandwidth - things like shrinking large pictures and dropping the webcam quality can help conserve bandwidth. However, grandma just can’t understand why it takes nearly an hour (if successful at all) to send an email to her friend that has a half dozen 10 megapixel pictures attached.
The old “hosting web servers” argument just doesn’t hold up anymore. ISPs should stop gloating about their so-called high-speed internet access and increase upstream data to at least 1.5mbps to accommodate the online lifestyles of today’s internet user. Surely the backbones that the ISPs use can handle the additional speed. All internet backbone lines, whether they be older DS-based or current OC-based lines, utilize symmetric link speeds, both upstream and downstream, unlike the heavily lopsided end-user internet connections.
UPDATE: Comast recently announced faster uploads for all customers at no charge…they must be reading my blog! Standard tier Comcast customers now get 6mbps down / 1mbps up and the premium tier customers get 8mbps down / 2mbps up! Finally! A nice speed bump…posting pictures to the family album is loads faster…
Where Are All the Moon Colonies?
I was watching some show on the history channel about integrated circuits, and they mentioned that the Furby had more processing power than the computers on board the NASA Apollo 12 spacecraft. For some reason, this statement grabbed me and sent my mind off on a rather wild tangent.
I started thinking about the Apollo 11 mission, in which we (Americans, that is) put a man on the Moon in 1969. Nearly 40 years ago, Neil Armstrong is hopping around on the lunar surface, probably having the absolute time of his life. I can only imagine the future that space-loving hopefuls imagined after this momentous event. There were a few more missions to explore the surface of the Moon over the next few years, until the Moon missions rather abruptly ended in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon.
Thirty-six years later and there have been literally no advances towards life on the Moon. We’ve shrunk the computing power of the Apollo 12 spacecraft down to the size of a dime and made it cost-effective enough to place in a ridiculous toy, and yet we’re still stuck on terra firma. Certainly if we can accomplish such a feat, we could miniaturize life support systems to a cost and size reasonable enough for use on the Moon.
I suppose in the case of life on the Moon, much of it boils down to politics and money. Apparently, the Moon doesn’t have enough natural resources to support colonization. Too bad there aren’t large oil reserves or something along those lines that Exxon could exploit….with 40.6 billion dollars in profits for 2007 they certainly have enough money to at least consider the feasibility of exploration missions and mining operations…