resetting cisco switch to factory defaults

delete flash:vlan.dat
write erase
reload

Cisco Switch/Router Basic Console Configuration

configure terminal
hostname Switch-1

interface range fastethernet0/1 - 24

speed auto

no shut

no ip domain-lookup

line con 0
exec-timeout 0 0
password cisco
privilege level 15
logging synchronous
login


line vty 0 4
password cisco
 login
line vty 5 15
password cisco
 login
!
end




********************************************************
SAMPLE OF CISCO SWITCH SHOW VER
********************************************************

Switch-1#show ver

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software

IOS (tm) C2950 Software (C2950-I6Q4L2-M), Version 12.1(13)EA1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

Copyright (c) 1986-2003 by cisco Systems, Inc.

Compiled Tue 04-Mar-03 02:14 by yenanh

Image text-base: 0x80010000, data-base: 0x805A8000

ROM: Bootstrap program is CALHOUN boot loader

Switch-1 uptime is 11 minutes

System returned to ROM by power-on

System image file is "flash:/c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-13.EA1.bin"

cisco WS-C2950-24 (RC32300) processor (revision J0) with 20839K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID FOC0833X2NC

Last reset from system-reset

Running Standard Image

24 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

32K bytes of flash-simulated non-volatile configuration memory.

Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:0D:28:BF:11:40

Motherboard assembly number: 73-5781-11

Power supply part number: 34-0965-01

Motherboard serial number: FOC072017CS

How to consolidate a snapshot in VMware ESX when there are virtual machine errors

This is a compiled article from YouTube & VMWare KB, I thought of doing it when i ran into problems with Snapshots.

Videos are great !! and the KB's are so many. I was a bit lost and was required to compile my own material.

There are series of command being shown in this video which i am going to write in my blogs in steps

( KB1007849 and KB1004232 )

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1007849&sliceId=2&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=262958161&stateId=0%200%20262960208

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1004232&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=262958148&stateId=0%200%20262960165

THIS ARTICLE IS APPLICABLE FOR FOLLOWING SCENARIOS

• Virtual machines with snapshots or delta disks stop responding or fail during a storage migration.
• When powering on a virtual machine, you see this error message:
  
  The parent virtual disk has been modified since the child was created.
  
  
• A virtual machine unexpectedly powers off and you see this error when you attempt to power it back on:
  
  A general system error occurred: internal error.
  
  
• Virtual machine log contains the entry:
  
  vcpu-0| Msg_Question: msg.hbacommon.outofspace reply=0
vcpu-0| Msg_Question:
vcpu-0| msg.hbacommon.outofspace There is no more space for the redo log of W2003Sbs1-000001.vmdk.
vcpu-0| You may be able to continue this session by freeing disk space on
vcpu-0| the relevant partition, and clicking Retry. Otherwise,
vcpu-0| click Abort to terminate this session.
  
  
• You are unable to remove snapshots for virtual machines on one or more datastores.

This error can occur if:

• The base disk of the virtual machine has been modified after a virtual machine snapshot or delta disk has been created.
• You have run out of space on a datastore containing the snapshot or delta disk.
• The guest operating system suffered an exception or kernel panic when a virtual machine snapshot was taken.

Overview

A VMware ESX virtual machine disk consists of a descriptor (ends in .vmdk) and an extent (ends in -flat.vmdk). When a virtual machine has been snapshotted, the attached virtual hard disks (otherwise known as the base disks) no longer receive guest OS modifications or writes; they are stored in separate virtual machine delta disk files (ending in -delta.vmdk). There is one delta file per base disk that is snapshotted.

With exception to thin-provisioned virtual machine disks, virtual machine disks typically have a reserved or set space requirement on a datastore. Snapshots, however, require additional space and consideration. They increase in size as further modifications or writes are stored.

For example:

1. If 10GB of changes were completed on one snapshotted virtual machine, its delta disk file size will increase proportionally by 10GB.
2. Creating another snapshot causes the existing snapshot delta disk to retain its current size, however the next delta disk will begin to store all forthcoming modifications and writes. The base disk is still left unmodified since inception of the first snapshot.
3. If another 15GB of changes were performed by the guest operating system, a total of 25GB of snapshot delta has now been recorded over the respective virtual machine's two snapshot delta disk files.
4. For versions prior to VMware ESX 4.0 Update-2, the task of consolidating all snapshots (Remove All Snapshots task) causes unique changes stored only in the second snapshot delta disk to be copied upwards through the snapshot chain and into the first snapshot, or its "parent."
5. This effect is recursive for each preceding parent file. As a result, the first snapshot delta disk file will grow by up to 15GB, accommodating all new blocks. Any common changes stored in both snapshot levels does not require additional space, however.
6. The end result is a datastore requiring 40GB, or 25GB + 15GB.

Notes:

• Additional space is required if the virtual machine is running during a Remove All Snapshots task. The amount of space consumed is dependent the amount of snapshot delta information the virtual machine has to temporarily store while its consolidation process completes.
• If the same 10GB were changed in the second snapshot, and just 5GB of unique block changes occurred, then the first snapshot will increase by 5GB during the consolidation, not the complete 15GB.
• Opting to save virtual machine memory contents with each Create Snapshot task requires additional space from the VMFS datastore. The amount of space required is equivalent to the amount of memory assigned to the virtual machine. This requirement can apply multiple times over, if multiple snapshots including virtual machine memory contents are created. 

If a datastore fills up due to delta files accumulating too much space, or the datastore runs out of space during a snapshot consolidation effort, the symptoms outlined previously will occur. Migration or removal of stored data and snapshot consolidation will be required to resolve the issue.

1.     SSH to your ESXi machine

2.     vmware-cmd -l      ( to list virtual machines in this host)

3.     cd <virtual machine directory name>       ( to change to the vm directory )

4.     ls -ltrh   ( to view the contents in this directory )

a)     .VMX is the vm's own configuration file

b)     xxxxx-flat.vmdk is the base disk

c)     each xxxxx-flat vmdk file has a smaller .vmdk descriptor file

d)     xxxxx-0000??-delta.vmdk are snaphot files

e)     each xxxxx-0000??-delta.vmdk file has smaller .vmdk descriptor file

5.  Find out all the disks associated with the virtual machine. The disk maybe located on different datastore

            grep –i filename myVM.VMX | grep –i vmdk

this command will show the current disk in use

6. Find out the associated VM’s and the space which they are taking

      ls –lah *.vmdk

this should show you the myVM-flat.vmdk  base disk and the associated –delta.vmdk files

7.  Ensure the virtual machine is powered off. You can check by the following command.

        vmware-cmd  myVM.vmx getstate

8.  Check that there is enough free space on the datastore.

       vdf –h

            make sure that there is enough space on the drive.

     9.   Verify that the snapshot chain is intact

CID is a hexadecimal number identifying the disk.

           grep –i filename myVM.VMX | grep –i vmdk

            (get the current snapshot filename)

10.  you have to now verify manually if the current snapshot files CID matches parent CID

         less myVM-000003.vmdk | egrep –i “cid|parentcid|vmdk” –color

verify that myVM-000003.vmdk is referencing myVM-000002.vmdk and if all okay then goto the next step.

         less myVM-000002.vmdk | egrep –i “cid|parentcid|vmdk” –color

verify that myVM-000002.vmdk is referencing myVM-000001.vmdk and if all okay then goto the next step.

         less myVM-000001.vmdk | egrep –i “cid|parentcid|vmdk” –color

this should reference the base disk myVM.VMDK

         less myVM.VMDK  | egrep –i “cid|parentcid|vmdk” –color

this is to the check the CID of the base disk.

If the CID of the base disk does not match with the parent CID in the myVM-000001.vmdk than we have to manually edit the descriptor file of myVM-000001.vmdk to update the parent CID value to match

Vi myVM-000001.vmdk

Change the parentCID value to match the base disk value and save the file.

Verify that myVM-000001.vmdk file has the updated reference for the base disk.

         less myVM-000001.vmdk | egrep –i “cid|parentcid|vmdk” –color

Once we have verified the SNAPSHOT chain we will use VMKFSTOOL –i  tool to copy out and consolidate the snapshots all in one step.

The clone operation may take an extended amount of time depending on the number and size of the snapshot delta disks.

Create a new directory for the new consolidated VM.

Mkdir  /vmfs/volumes/NewDatastore/recover

Pwd    (get current directory name)

Vmkfstools  –i myVM-000003.vmdk  /vmfs/volumes/NewDatastore/recover/myVM_new.vmdk

Here we are committing all snapshots in the chain into new disk, myVM_new.vmdk

This will start the clone process.

If the vmkfstools  command fails then

a)     This could be the reason of corrupt snapshot or

b)     You maybe running out of diskspace.

c)     Run the vmkfstools command with the next higher snapshot up in the chain.

Now at this point you have cloned the original vm disks into new vm into a new datastore. Now we have to point the existing VM to point to the new VM and new datastore.

1)     Go to ESX host

2)     Detach the existing Hard Disk from VM (don’t delete it)

3)     Attach the newly created disk myVM_new.VMDK which has all snapshots consolidated into the base disk.

4)     Browse to the new datastore and select the new VMDK file.

5)     Power on the virtual machine

Once the virtual machine powers up okay, we can go back to clear space used by the original disks and snapshot files.

     *** Thanks To Vmware For Showing Excellent Video ***
** Golden IT Rule : take good backups before doing anything ** 

Set-MailboxCalendarSettings Code Snippet

This code will autoupdate calendar entries and accept meeting requests automatically and delete non-calendar items

Set-MailboxCalendarSettings 

-Identity "South-Room" 

-AllowConflicts:$False 

-AddOrganizerToSubject:$True 

-AllBookInPolicy:$True 

-AllRequestInPolicy:$true 

-AutomateProcessing "AutoUpdate" 

-DeleteNonCalendarItems:$true

Converting Mail User to Mail Enabled User With Mail Forwarding to External EMail Address (Exchange 2007)

This snippet of code will convert a MAIL USER to MAILBOX enabled user and it will store and forward emails to his external email address.

**  The code below creates a dummy mail user Greg Perth and converts it to MAIL ENABLED USER **

$pwd = Read-Host "Enter Password" -Assecurestring

New-Mailuser -Name "Greg Perth" -ExternalEmailAddress "Greg.Perth@hotmail.com" -OrganizationalUnit "Perth" -Password $pwd -UserPrincipalName "Greg.Perth@mycompanydomain.com.au" -SamAccountName "Greg.Perth"
 
$obj = Get-MailUser -id "Greg Perth"
Disable-MailUser -id "Greg Perth" -confirm:$false

  $timer = [diagnostics.stopwatch]::startnew()
  $erroractionpreference = "silentlycontinue"
  $mailboxsuccess = $false
  while (($timer.elapsed.totalseconds -lt 900) -and (!($mailboxsuccess)))
   {
   $error.clear()

   New-MailContact -Name $obj.Name -ExternalEmailAddress $obj.ExternalEmailAddress -OrganizationalUnit "PerthContacts" -Verbose:$false

   if($error.count -eq 0)
    {
    write-host "Mail Contact successfully created"
    $mailboxsuccess = $true
    }
   else
    {
    write-host "." -nonewline
    start-sleep -s 30
    }
  }
  $timer.stop()
  $erroractionpreference = "continue"
  $secs = "{0:N2}" -f ($timer.elapsed.totalseconds)
  write-host "Mail Contact Process ran for: $secs seconds."

Enable-Mailbox -id "Greg Perth" -Database "Mailbox Database" -Verbose:$false

Set-Mailbox -id "Greg Perth" -ForwardingAddress $obj.DistinguishedName  -DeliverToMailboxAndForward:$true -Verbose:$false
 
write-host "*** *** **** "
write-host "Successfully Converted Mail enabled User to Mailbox User with external mail forwarding."
write-host "*** *** ****"

Converting Mail User to Mail Enabled User (Exchange 2007)

Simple Steps to Convert Mail User to MailBox Enabled User
 
Disable-MailUser -id "MailUser Id"
Enable-Mailbox -id "MailUser Id" -Database "Mailbox Database"

NOTE: Executing the Disable-MailUser will remove all the Exchange attributes from AD for "MailUser Id"

Restart Exchange 2007 Services From Powershell

If you are troubleshooting Exchange Server 2007 than it will be good to have a look at the Services on which Exchange Server 2007 depends.

Cut-Paste the following code in Powershell to RESTART Exchange Server 2007 services on your Exchange Server.

Stop-Service MSExchangeAdTopology
Stop-Service MSExchangeAntiSpamUpdate
Stop-Service MSExchangeEdgeSync
Stop-Service MSExchangeFDS
Stop-Service MSExchangeIMAP4
Stop-Service MSExchangeIS
Stop-Service MSExchangeMailSubmission
Stop-Service MSExchangeMailboxAssistants
Stop-Service MSExchangeMonitoring
Stop-Service MSExchangePOP3
Stop-Service MSExchangeRepl
Stop-Service MSExchangeSearch
Stop-Service MSExchangeServiceHost
Stop-Service MSExchangeSA
Stop-Service MSExchangeTransport
Stop-Service MSExchangeTransportLogSearch
Stop-Service msftesql-Exchange -Force

Start-Service MSExchangeAdTopology
Start-Service MSExchangeAntiSpamUpdate
Start-Service MSExchangeEdgeSync
Start-Service MSExchangeFDS
Start-Service MSExchangeIMAP4
Start-Service MSExchangeIS
Start-Service MSExchangeMailSubmission
Start-Service MSExchangeMailboxAssistants
Start-Service MSExchangeMonitoring
Start-Service MSExchangePOP3
Start-Service MSExchangeRepl
Start-Service MSExchangeSearch
Start-Service MSExchangeServiceHost
Start-Service MSExchangeSA
Start-Service MSExchangeTransport
Start-Service MSExchangeTransportLogSearch
Start-Service msftesql-Exchange

You do not have to start the services highlighted in GREEN if you are not using POP3 or IMAP4.

After running the above code give it a 30 seconds for all the services to come up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOU CAN DO THIS WAY TOO !!

Restart-Service MSExchangeAdTopology  -Force

Restart-Service MSExchangeAntiSpamUpdate  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeEdgeSync  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeFDS  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeIMAP4  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeIS  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeMailSubmission  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeMailboxAssistants  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeMonitoring  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangePOP3  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeRepl  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeSearch  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeServiceHost  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeSA  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport  -Force
Restart-Service MSExchangeTransportLogSearch  -Force
Restart-Service msftesql-Exchange -Force  -Force

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IF YOUR EXCHANGE SERVER IS UNSTABLE AFTER RESTARTING SERVICE THAN THIS CMDLET WILL MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE REQUIRED SERVICES ARE RUNNING 

Test-ServiceHealth | Select-Object -Expand ServicesNotRunning | Start-Service

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Automating IIS installation after Installation of Windows Operating System

IIS installation can be troublesome for Server Administartors but not anymore.

If you have just installed your Windows 2003 ENT or Windows 2008 OS than you can follow the steps.

 

You will need an answere file, similar to the one below and you can save the 2 sections below as a TXT file.

 

[Components] aspnet=on
complusnetwork=on
dtcnetwork=off
bitsserverextensionsisapi=off
bitsserverextensionsmanager=off
iis_common= on
iis_ftp=off
fp_extensions=off
iis_inetmer=on
iis_nntp=off
iis_smtp=off
iis_asp=on
iis_internetdataconnector=on
sakit_web=on
tswebclient=on
iis_serversideincludes=on
iis_webdav=off
iis_www=on
appsrv_console=on
inetprint=off
 

 

[InternetServer]

SvcManualStart=www
PathFTPRoot=
PathWWWRoot=c:\Inetpub\Wwwroot
ApplicationDependency=
ExtensionFile=
DisableWebServiceOnUpgrade=True 

(SAVE THE HIGHLIGHTED SECTION AS A TXT FILE ON THE SERVER)

(CHANGE THE SETTINGS IN THE ABOVE SECTION AS PER YOUR REQUIREMENT)

Open the command prompt on the server and type the following command

 Sysocmgr.exe /i:sysoc.inf  /u:%PathToUnattendFile%

If you still did'nt get it than look at the link below

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/80455459-01b0-4961-aeab-081ce2eb03a4.mspx