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Archive for the ‘IT’ Category

Dell iDRAC 6 not responding

11 Jan

For our Dell R610 servers, we apply firmware, Bios, and hardware patches using the Unified Server Configurator and an SUU Bundle created from Dell’s Repository Manager software.

During a recent update, one of the servers returned the following error:
“Alert! iDRAC6 not responding. Power required may exceed PSU wattage.”

CAUSE:
This produced a somewhat erroneous error that required F1 to continue. The problem appears to come from the server not fully power cycling properly during the update. There are also some buggy versions of the USC that can cause an issue as well.

TO RESOLVE:
Completely disconnect power from the server, and hold the power button in for 10 seconds to dump any residual in the iDRAC module or PSU capacitors.

 
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iTunes Option to Sync WI-FI not working.

30 Oct

I recently upgraded to iOS 5 on both my iPhone 3GS and iPAD 2. I selected the option in iTunes to sync wireless over Wi-Fi for both devices. However, only my iPhone would do this. The steps below resolved and fixed my issue:

** THIS ASSUMES you have verified any network issues to ensure the iTunes system and iOS device are on the same subnet.

1) Make sure the WI-FI sync is enabled via iTunes
2) Power Off the iPad by holding the sleep button for 3 secs and sliding the power bar.
3) Open iTunes (let it stablize if sync is taking place with other iOS devices).
4) Power iPad on.

If the problem is corrected…the iOS device will appear automatically in iTUNES.

The are several articles stating that the mobile device needs to be plugged into power. This is NOT NECESSARY or TRUE. As the statement above the SYNC NOW button on the device indicates, you must be plugged into “AUTOMATICALLY” sync. Manual sync from either the device or iTunes is possible while not cable in any way.

 
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VirtualCenter Server will not start

01 Jun

Was working one minute…now its not! Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows Updates. I’m assuming this was broken by the unattended installation of Server 2008 R2 SP1 through our environment or some KB update prior.

It all started with this error when I tried to log into VCenter Server:

“vSphere Client could not connect to ‘{machine name}’ A connection failure occurred (Unable to connect to the remote server)”

After investigating this, I determined the VMware VirtualCenter Server Service was not running. However, trying to start it produced an Event 7000, Service Control Manager “The VMware VirtualCenter Server service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.”

After contacting VMware support, their suggestion was to uninstall and reinstall. Which frankly, is their answer to 90% of any issues – very frustrating for what has to be one of the most expensive OS support contracts out there. While this didn’t directly fix the problem, uninstalling and reinstalling produced this error:

The following port numbers are either invalid or already in use.
VMware VirtualCenter HTTPS Port: 443

As it turned out, Routing and Remote Services now employs SSTP protocol. That feature produces a listener on 80 and/or 443. I’m not sure if this was introduced when we did the Service Pack or when. But nevertheless, selecting RRAS>PORTS>WAN Miniport (SSTP) Configure, and disabling “Remote access connections (inbound only)”

For reference, here is the knowledge bulletin I eventually used to troubleshoot:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003926

 
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How to Whitelist a domain or email in Exchange 2010

04 Mar

If you have the Edge Transport Role installed on an Exchange 2010, mail may be rejected with the following error:

My.User@domain.com
mail.domain.com #<mail.domain.com #5.7.1 smtp; 550 5.7.1 Message rejected as spam by Content Filtering.> #SMTP#

Don’t ask me why Microsoft has buried this feature! From what I can tell, the only way to whitelist in Exchange 2010 is through the Powershell – not the GUI.  Thanks to Chris Caldwell for the fix.

Specific Address

$list = (Get-ContentFilterConfig).BypassedSenders
$list.add("new.mail@address.com")
Set-ContentFilterConfig -BypassedSenders $list

Entire Domain

$list = (Get-ContentFilterConfig).BypassedSenderDomains
$list.add("domain.com")
Set-ContentFilterConfig -BypassedSenderDomains $list

 Verfiy

Get-ContentFilterConfig
 
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Renaming a VMWare Virtual Machine

04 Mar

This procedure was documented using VM Infrastructure 3.5 for altering ESXi 3.5 virtual machines. You may need to use Veeam to make the renaming adjustments. Could also be done via SSH.

CAUTION: If snapshots do exist and are needed, then you may need to alter the *.vmdk files to keep the chaining in place. If you do not need the snapshots, select “delete all” under the snapshot manager and perform this procedure after the host has consolidated them.

PRODCEDURE FOR NON-SNAPSHOT

  1. Copy to new directory for backup
  2. Remove from inventory (do not select DELETE)
  3. Alter folder name if desired
  4. Rename the following inside the folder
  5. Rename *.vmx, vmdk, vmsd, vmxf, nvram
  6. Edit *.vmx (using a text editor)
    extendedConfigFile = “(old to new).vmxf”
    scsi0:0.fileName = “(old to new).vmdk”u
  7. Edit *.vmdk
    “Extent description” RW 16777216 VMFS “(old to new)-flat.vmdk”
  8. Edit *.vmxf
    Sandbox XP.vmx
  9. Add *.vmx file to inventory
 
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