VMware Converter 4.0.1 standalone fail at 1% with error: method.Summary

The Solution is taken from Vmware Knowledge Base,
When converting a Linux source to an ESX 4.1 host, VMware Converter 4.0.1 Standalone fails at 1% with the error: methodFault.Summary

 
Symptoms (Summary from Vmware KB)

• When converting a Linux source machine to an ESX 4.1 host, VMware Converter 4.0.1 Standalone fails
• The conversion fails continuously at 1%.
• You see the error:
  methodFault.Summary
• In the vmware-converter-agent.log file, located at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Converter Enterprise\Logs, you see the error:
  
  Failed to connect ISO to remote VM

Resolution (from  Vmware KB)
This issue occurs when using VMware Converter 4.0.1 Standalone with ESX 4.1 hosts because Converter Standalone version 4.0.1 is not compatible with vSphere 4.1.

To resolve the issue, try one of these options:

• Install the latest version of VMware Converter from the vCenter Server installation media and use this to convert to an ESX 4.1 target. VMware Converter 4.3 supports conversion to vSphere 4.1 environments.
• Convert the source machine to an ESX host running a lower version of ESX and then migrate the machine.

For more information, see the vCenter Converter 4.2 Standalone Release Notes.

Configuring Vmware ESX Networking via CLI

This is a write up on how to configure Vmware ESX Networking via CLI from VM Journal

1. Configuring Vmware ESX Networking via CLI (Part I)
2. Confuguring Vmware ESX Networking via CLI (Part II)

A necessary skill if you are a system administrator of vmware esx servers

Resolving file not found issue when powering up a VM

If you face the "File not found" when powering up a VM. It is due to missing file descriptor which are critical for vmware VM. For more information, please read Resolving “file not found” when powering up VM

Memory retention Failure, unflushed cach lost on IBM Server using ServeRAID-8k

This week we encountered this critical error on our IBM Server using ServeRAID-8K. The Server rebooted and since this server was hosting our VM, several of our VM was disconnected.

Power-cycling didn't help. Bu thanks God there is one cool writeup by a system administration that encounter the same problem. His description of the problem of the ServeRAID-8K and how he tried to fix it is nicely documented.
 Tuesday Outage: It’s RAID-tastic!

To resolve the issues, we just update the RAID-8K firmware. See IBM ServeRAID-8i, 8k, 8k-l and 8s BIOS and firmware update CD v5.2.0 (Build 16002) - IBM BladeCenter and System x

After upgrading the firmware, the problem was fixed!

Using Gnome Partition Editor (Gparted) to resize, move the partition Windows NTFS

GParted is a free partition editor for graphically managing your disk partitions. The latest stable version of GParted is able to handle comfortably the following file systems. See Gpart -- Features. Please check before you use Gparted.

I have used the Gparted to shrink my D drive, and expand the "C" Drive on a Windows 7. I was pleasantly surprised that after dhrinking my D drive, I can move "D" Drive to the "free space" and  create "free" space on the right of the C Drive. And all this is done with simple clicked, drag and drop.

Indeed a wonderful tool for System Administration

Installing Linux Kernal-Based Virtual Machine (KVM) on CentOS 5.4 Server

This guide is modified from the article from Howtoforge – “Virtualization With KVM On A CentOS 5.2 Server“  and IBM – Quick Start Guide for installing and running KVM.

1. Installing Linux Kernal-Based Virtual Machine (KVM) on CentOS 5.4 Server (Part I)
2. Installing Linux Kernal-Based Virtual Machine (KVM) on CentOS 5.4 Server (Part II)
   

Command line for Networking

Read this interesting article from Linux Journal 200th Issue of "Networking on the Command Line"

ifconfig is one of the utility discussed. It can be used to configure many aspects of networking. For example,

1. Using ifconfig to change and activate IP Address

# ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

2. Using ifconfig to change netmas

# ifconfig eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0

3. Using ifconfig to change MTU

# ifconfig MTU 1500

4. Using ifconfig to change network promiscuous mode

# ifconfig promisc

For more information, do look at "man ifconfig"

Wonderful Security Resource from LinuxJournal.com

Wonderful Security Resource from LinuxJournal.com. Feel free to bookmark this wonderful resource. http://www.linuxjournal.com/tag/security  

Yum install of Eclipse on CentOS 5.x

This entry is an addition to other blog entry on Eclipse. To install Eclipse on CentOS 5.x

# yum install eclipse-platform

1. Eclipse Integrated Development Environment ( IDE ) for Linux
2. Users encountering Invalid Configuration Location on Eclipse
3. Using Intel Compilers with Eclipse IDE on Linux
4. Install and use Eclipse for Linux on POWER

Wonderful System Administrator Resource from LinuxJournal.com

LinuxJournal.com has provided a wonderful resource for System Administration. Feel free to bookmark this wonderful resource. http://www.linuxjournal.com/tag/sysadmin