Using the Cold Clone 3.0.3 ISO with vSphere 5
As many know, the Cold Clone ISOs have been discontinued and support has been removed from VMware. This is quite unfortunate especially when you get into the business of P2V’ing items like domain controllers, SQL servers, and other pesky boxes.
I understand the converters from VMware have improved by leaps and bounds over what it was in version 3, but there’s still a reasonable amount of security in P2V’ing a box while it’s completely down with no running services whatsoever.
First issue I ran into while attempting to P2V an old SQL server was finding the ISO. It has almost been removed from the internet as a whole. So I've uploaded it here: Cold Clone 3.0.3 Link
Second issue, boot time. It took me literally 15 minutes from the point of “hitting a button to boot to disc” to the point of accepting the EULA.
Third issue, drivers. I was lucky enough for the internal NICs to be found but the add-on NICs were not. To put this into perspective, the server I was working on was an HP G5. I tested with an HP G6 and it did not find any NICs at all.
Fourth issue, disappearing network settings. Every time I went to the networking settings, they would be cleared. The settings held as long as I clicked apply and then ok, but the second you went back to the network config menu I had to renter all the info.
Fifth issue, vCenter integration. It’s not exactly shocking that it didn’t work with vCenter, but I was hopeful. The converter would go through and recognize everything out of vCenter, but then ran into a bunch of issues as soon as the clone actually starts. Such as:
Couldn’t find the Distributed vSwitch vNIC:
[managedVMCreator,2657] No network named "SYSMGMT" was found
[imageProcessingTaskStep,194] VmiImportTask::task{9} step "create VM" destroyed
[vmiImportTask,439] Error during creation of target VM
[imageProcessingTaskStep,194] VmiImportTask::task{9} step "create and clone to VM" destroyed
[imageProcessingTaskStep,194] VmiImportTask::task{9} step "Clone VM" destroyed
[imageProcessingTaskImpl,552] VmiImportTask::task{9}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: vim.fault.NotFound
[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] VmiImportTask::task{9}: SetState to error
Couldn’t find the FC attached storage on a host:
[NFC ERROR] NfcNewAuthdConnectionEx: Failed to connect to peer. Error: Host address lookup for server esx01 failed: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found
NBD_ClientOpen: Couldn't connect to esx01:902 Host address lookup for server esx01 failed: The requested name is valid, but no data of the requested type was found
DISKLIB-DSCPTR: : "vpxa-nfc://[VMFS_015] VM01/VM01.vmdk@esx01:902!52 f1 8e a1 39 1c c1 f8-9c d4 05 71 1a 4f ae c6" : Failed to open NBD extent.
DISKLIB-LINK : "vpxa-nfc://[VMFS_015] VM01/VM01.vmdk@esx01:902!52 f1 8e a1 39 1c c1 f8-9c d4 05 71 1a 4f ae c6" : failed to open (NBD_ERR_NETWORK_CONNECT).
DISKLIB-CHAIN : "vpxa-nfc://[VMFS_015] VM01/VM01.vmdk@esx01:902!52 f1 8e a1 39 1c c1 f8-9c d4 05 71 1a 4f ae c6" : failed to open (NBD_ERR_NETWORK_CONNECT).
DISKLIB-LIB : Failed to open 'vpxa-nfc://[VMFS_015] VM01/VM01.vmdk@esx01:902!52 f1 8e a1 39 1c c1 f8-9c d4 05 71 1a 4f ae c6' with flags 0x2 (NBD_ERR_NETWORK_CONNECT).
[diskHandleWrapper,87] DiskLib_Open failed on vpxa-nfc://[VMFS_015] VM01/VM01.vmdk@esx01:902!52 f1 8e a1 39 1c c1 f8-9c d4 05 71 1a 4f ae c6 with error NBD_ERR_NETWORK_CONNECT.
[imageProcessingTaskImpl,552] BlockLevelCloning::task{21}: Image processing task has failed with MethodFault::Exception: sysimage.fault.DiskLibConnectionFault
[imageProcessingTaskImpl,154] BlockLevelCloning::task{21}: SetState to error
How I actually got it to work was by sending the P2V directly to a specific ESXi 5 host. Once I did that, I could P2V the system to the locally attached storage or the FC attached storage. I attached the vNIC to a standard vSwitch.
Registering the EQL HIT Kit to a New vCenter
Instead of the planned upgrade we were going to perform, we decided to start from scratch and do a full reinstall of our environment. So that entailed registering the Dell EqualLogic HIT Kit to a new VirtualCenter.
Start off by opening up the console on the VM and logging in. (Default Username: root Default Password: eql) Once logged in, select Option 8 to unregister it from the old vCenter.
From there, select Option 4 to configure vCenter. Enter in the credentials for the new vCenter (IP, admin account, password, EQL HIT Kit Appliance IP, and an admin email addres), confirm the credentials and the appliance should connect to vCenter and be successful.
Once back to the main screen, select Option 7 to register the appliance with vCenter and then reboot the appliance
After the appliance is back at the login prompt, check back to the vCenter "Solutions and Applications" section and make sure that the EqualLogic utilities are there. For good measure, login to one of the utilities and ensure the configuration is correct.
Generating RSA Key & CSR for use with VMware Solutions…
Ever received a Security Warning while logging into either you ESX/i host and/or vCenter?
That's due to the SSL certificate being untrusted with your machine. You can always click the "Ignore" button or check the "Install this certificate..." box and then "Ignore" and move on, however you can improve the security by replacing the certificates with certificates signed by a commercial certificate authority (CA).
To generate an RSA Key and certificate signing request (CSR), we'll start by downloading the OpenSSL-Light application on the system you'll be installing or have already installed a VMware application. The application is available from the following site: http://www.slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html
Download the "Win32 OpenSSL v1.0.0e Light" application along with the "Visual C++ 2008 Redistributables". Once downloaded, run the Visual C++ file (in this case, "vcredist_x86.exe"). Click "Next", check the "I have read and accept the license terms." box and click "Install", wait a couple seconds and click "Finish".
Now it's time to install OpenSSL by running the "Win32OpenSSL_Light-1_0_0e.exe" and installing it to your desired location. Click "Next", accept the agreement and click "Next", choose an install location (default is the root of C:\, but I don't like cluttering up the root of C:\) and click "Next", click "Next", change the option so that the OpenSSL DLLs are copied to the OpenSSL binaries (/bin) directory and click "Next", then click "Install", once the installer is finished click "Finish".
From this point, open up a command prompt and navigate to the bin folder within the location of the installation of OpenSSL. To generate the key, run the following command: openssl genrsa 1024 > rui.key Once that is complete, generate the CSR by running this command: openssl req -new -key rui.key > rui.csr After running the command, you'll be asked to populate some information regarding your country name, state, city, organization name and unit, common name and email address.
If you happen to receive the error: "WARNING: can’t open config file: /usr/local/ssl/openssl.cnf" this is due to OpenSSL being unable to find the openssl.cnf file. To correct this error, run the following command: set OPENSSL_CONF=c:\[PATH TO OPENSSL DIRECTORY]\bin\openssl.cfg
After creating the CSR, submit it to either the admin of your Microsoft Certificate Services CA or to whomever handles the certificates from a commercial CA.
Upgrading vCenter from 4.1 to 5…
Finally, after months of waiting... vSphere 5 has been released. After upgrading one of my dev hosts to ESXi 5, it was time to address the Virtual Center.
Here's what I'm starting with:
Start by heading out the the VMware site and downloading the vCenter software: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere/5_0
If you grabbed the zip, extract it and run the "autorun.exe". If you grabbed the ISO, either mount it in your VM (if your vCenter is virtualized) or burn it and toss it in the drive. You'll be met with this screen:
Click on the "vCenter Server" installer, select your preferred language and select "OK"
You should be greeted with a message that "An earlier version of vCenter Server is already installed on this computer and will be upgraded to vCenter Server 5.0", click "Next", click "Next" on the Patent Agreement screen, agree to the EULA and click "Next"
Enter the User Name, Org, and License Key (if you have one). You'll next receive a message about the new licensing keys for vSphere 5 and how using your old key won't work, either acknowledge or grab your new license key from the VMware License Portal.
I used SQL server on my previous install, verify the database information and click "Next"
With the new install of vCenter, a new version of vSphere Update Manager is required. You should now see a message about that reading: This vCenter Server is being used by the following registered extension(s). This essentially just says that you need to upgrade these programs as well.
Now it's time to upgrade the Database, make sure to backup the existing DB and the SSL certs associated with it
The vCenter Agent will need upgraded on each host the vCenter manages. Note: if you select "Manual", all of the hosts will disconnect and it will be up to you to reconnect them. I chose "Automatic".
Enter the password for the account that the service runs as and the fully qualified domain name
Verify the locations to install the vCenter Server and Inventory Service, verify the ports the vCenter uses, and verify the ports the Inventory Service uses
Set the Java VM Memory setting for the WebService to what fits your environment and click "Next", then click "Install", and sit back and watch it install.
Once it's done, you'll see a nice screen you can click "Finish" on
Pop open your vSphere client and connect to the vCenter and you should be greeted with it reading version 5.
You're not quite done yet though, there's still the VMware vSphere Web Client (Server) to install. Which the installer indicates that "New improvements in license reporting require installation of hte VMware vSphere Web Client". So click on the link to the Web Client and then click "Install"
Select the preferred language, click "Next" to start the installer, click "Next" to agree to the Patent Agreement, and click "Next" to agree to the EULA
Enter the customer information, verify the port settings, verify the install folder, and click "Install"
The installer will start and then you'll reach a completed screen, click on "Finish"
Upon clicking finish, a webpage will pop up (which requires an install of Adobe Flash) going to the Web Client Admin Tool (https://localhost:9443/admin-app/)
The page should display a message: vSphere Web Client is not ready to use as there are no vCenter Server Systems registered with this vSphere Web Client. Under that message, click on the "Register vCenter Server". Enter the vCenter name or IP, a username & password to authenticate with, and the name or IP to the vCenter's Web Client server, then click "Register"
If you haven't already added an SSL cert, it will give you a warning. This can be ignored.
You'll return back to the Admin Tool's main page and be able to see that a new vCenter Server has been added
Now you can go to the Web Client page (https://localhost:9443/vsphere-client/), the drop down box should show the recently added vCenter Server, then enter a username/password for an account whom can authenticate to the vCenter Server and click "Login"
You'll be greeted with a page explaining where everything is click on the circular "X" button on the top right, and you'll see a rather comprehensive view of your environment in a web browser
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