The Technology Chronicle

While trying to install OpenStack using RDO, following the instructions in the link here , you might face the following timeout error Applying <IP address>_prescript.pp   [ ERROR ] ERROR : Error appeared during Puppet run: <IP address>_prescript.pp Error: Command exceeded timeout The reason for this error, in all probabilities would be the delay in your network, which could be causing the netns component packages to be timed out You can increase the timeout by editing the following file /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/packstack/puppet/modules/packstack/manifests/netns.pp   Add a timeout line in the file     if $::netns_support != "true" {         exec { "netns_dependecy_install":             path => "/usr/bin/",             command => "yum update -y kernel iputils iproute", ...

Issue 1: While trying to add a new host to a Pool in XenCenter, I was getting error "internal connection failed no route to host " Solution: It was quite simple actually, but since I couldnt find it mentioned in any knowledge bases or articles, I am noting it down here. The machine where XenCenter was installed couldnt resolve the Xen host name. The machines were not added to domains and hence no DNS entries were there. So I had to add a host entry to the XenCenter machine to help with the name resolution Issue 2: Enabling AD authentication via XenCenter fails with error "clock skew detected with active directory server" Reason: This happens because of the time difference between XenServer and AD server Solution: Update NTP server list of the XenServer and point it to the AD server of the domain. Steps below From the XenServer console, go to 'Network and management interface"->Network time(NTP) Select option "Remove all NTP se...

This week, I was trying to get my head around a new Hypervisor(new for me, obiviously), ie XenServer. Though it is pretty much same as ESXi and is free as well, there are some striking differences as well.The observations are based on the free version of Citrix XenServer version 6.2.0 - While ESXi needs a paid vCenter to manage multiple hosts, you can use the free XenCenter software to manage multiple Xen hosts - Latest version of Xen server doesnt have the equalent of DRS or DPM. There was a feature named workload balancing, which was strangely discontinued in version 6.2.0 stating reason that there are no takers for it. - It does offer a High Availability of VMs using pool based clustering of hosts -XenMotion is the equalent of VM live migration, but it is restricted to one VM at a time -XenCenter doesnt have a web client like vCenter -There was a tool named XenConvert used for physical to virtual conversion, but it is retired as well. -There is an option named Dynamic...

Here is a simple PowerShell script to change your azure instance type in .csdef file. You need to run this from your code repository and enter the instance type ie "small", ExtraSmall","Medium" etc when prompted $allCsDefFiles = Get-ChildItem -Recurse -filter *.csdef | ForEach-Object -Process {$_.FullName} $newvmsize = Read-Host 'Enter the instance type' foreach ($thisCsDefFile in $allCsDefFiles) {     [xml]$thisCsDefXml = Get-Content $thisCsDefFile $root = $thisCsDefXml.get_DocumentElement(); If (!$root.WebRole.vmsize) { Write-Host "No webrole found in $($root.name) " } else     {     $root.WebRole.vmsize = $newvmsize $thisCsDefXml.Save($thisCsDefFile) Write-host "Webrole size of $($root.name) changed to $($root.WebRole.vmsize)"     } If (!$root.Workerrole.vmsize) { Write-Host "No Workerrole found in $($root.name) " } else     { $root.Workerrole.vmsize = $newvmsize $thisCsDefXml....

Virtual fibre channel option in Hyper V allows the connection to pass through from physical  fibre channel HBA to virtual fibre channel HBA, and still have the flexibilities like live migration. Pre-requisites: VM should be running Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 Supported physical HBA with N_Port Virtualization(NPIV) enabled in the HBA. This can be enabled using any management utility provided by the SAN manufacturer. If you need to enable live migration, each host should be having two physical HBAs and each HBA should have two World Wide Names(WWN). WWN is used to established connectivity to FC storage.When you perform migration, the second node can use the second WWN to connect to the storage and then the first node can release its connection. Thereby the storage connectivity is maintained during live migration Configuring virtual fibre channel is a two step process Step 1: Create a Virtual SAN in the Hyper-V host First you need to click on Vir...

Now that we have had  a look at how to do the Installation and initial configuration of Hyper V Server 2012 in my previous blog post , lets start on the management part. In this blog, I will explain how to manage your Hyper V installation from a Windows 8 machine Remote management: Since Hyper V Server 2012 server core machine, you may want to manage it remotely using the familiar GUIs and MMC consoles. You can do so remotely, but before that you need to set the firewall rules to allow that.In the command prompt windows of the server, get a poweshell prompt by typing in "powershell". Now you can execute the following powershell command Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup * Note: I used this command since it is my test network, you may want to lockdown the firewall rules a bit if in case of production network Inorder to connect to the Hyper V server using MMC from my PC, I had to run the following command in the PC command prompt cmdkey /add:<ServerNam...

Having heard a lot about the latest free virtualization from Microsoft, Hyper-V server 2012 , I coudnt resist giving it a whirl.. After all, it is not daily that Microsoft comes out with "free" offerings ;) Let us admit it..Ever since the advent of virtualization, we have few physical servers lying around.All of them have joined the virtualization bandwagon. My case was no different, so I decided to try out  Hyper-V server 2012 as a virtual machine in VMware Workstation 8 installed in my PC. Installation preparation: Few things to be taken care before you start the actual installation 1)Download the Hyper V Server 2012 ISO from Microsoft site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/dn205299.aspx 2)VMware workstation 8 does not have Server 2012 in the Windows OS list.Hence you need to select the option "Windows Server 2008 R2 x64" when you create the Virtual machine 3) There is a small tweak to the Processor settings that should be d...