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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Unable to expand virtual machine hard disk that is backed up by VMware VDP

Problem

You have a virtual machine in your vSphere environment that you would like to expand one of the hard disks but as you browse to the hard disk that needs to get expanded, you see that it is locked:

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You’ve checked to confirm that there are no snapshots on the virtual machine:

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Reviewing the files for the virtual machine show that there are CTK files for the disks that are locked and unable to be expanded in capacity:

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Reviewing the disk for the VM in the vSphere Web Client displays the same behavior:

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Shutting down and reviewing the VM’s summary tab indicate that the disks need to be consolidated:

Configuration Issues

Virtual machine disks consolidation is needed.

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Attempting to consolidate the disks throws the following error:

Consolidate virtual machine disk files

Unable to access file since it is locked

See the error stack for details on the cause of this problem.

Error Stack

An error occurred while consolidating disks: msg.snapshot.error-DISKLOCKED.

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Solution

One of the reasons why this error would be thrown is if you have this virtual machine configured to be backed up by a VMware VDP appliance and the appliance hasn’t released the disk at the end of a backup job or perhaps it did not complete properly.  To determine whether this is the case, open the settings of the VDP appliance and review whether this virtual machine’s disk is attached to it as such:

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You can verify the disks that belong to the VDR appliance by reviewing the administration console as such:

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To correct the problem, simply remove the disk from the VDP appliance and select the Remove from virtual machine when prompted with the Removal Options (this does not delete the disk):

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Note that the disk will still be locked at this point:

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Proceed to consolidate the disks:

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The disk should be unlocked once the consolidation task completes.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Attempting to launch Citrix XenApp / XenDesktop 7.x desktop or application published by NetScaler fails with the error: “The connection to “XenApp Desktop” failed with status (Unknown client error 1110).”

Problem

You attempt to launch a XenApp or XenDesktop published application or desktop published by NetScaler but receive the following error message:

The connection to “XenApp Desktop” failed with status (Unknown client error 1110).

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Solution

One of the possible causes of this error message is if you have incorrect or have not configured any STA (Secure Ticket Authority) on your NetScalers.  Navigate to NetScaler Gateway > Virtual Servers, open the properties of the virtual server, scroll down to Published Applications and ensure STA Servers are configured:

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Monday, December 4, 2017

Attempting to run Windows update on a Windows 7 desktop fails with the error code 80248015

Problem

You attempt to run Windows updates on a Windows 7 desktop but notice that it fails with the following message:

Windows could not search for new updates

An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer.

Error(s) found:

Code 80248015

Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

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Solution

One of the ways to correct this issue is to navigate to the Windows directory and rename the SoftwareDistribution folder so that it would get recreated. 

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

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Restart the desktop once the folder has been renamed and Windows update should now work as expected:

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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Unable to move Exchange 2016 resource mailboxes to another database from Exchange admin center

Problem

You would like to migrate Exchange 2016 resource mailboxes from one database to another but noticed that the Move Mailbox To another database is not available when you select the resource mailbox:

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Shared mailboxes does not have this issue:

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Solution

I’m not sure if this is by design but to move the resource mailboxes to another database via the Exchange admin center, use the migration option as such:

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Using this wizard will allow you to select the resource mailboxes:

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Friday, October 13, 2017

VMware VDP 6.1.2.19 backups fail with the error message: “An attempt made to backup a client failed because no data was found that matches the type of data that the job was configured for.”

Problem

You’ve noticed that backup jobs within VDP have been failing with the following errors:

VDP: An attempt made to backup a client failed because no data was found that matches the type of data that the job was configured for.

VDP: An unexpected error occurred with the following error code: 30983. More information may be available in the client logs which can be downloaded from the configuration application (https://<VDP hostname>:8543/VDP-configure).

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Viewing the task failure report displays the following:

Reason: VDP: An attempt made to backup a client failed because no data was found that matches the type of data that the job was configured for.

Log file retrieved is empty.

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Reason: VDP: An unexpected error occurred with the following error code: 30983. More information may be available in the client logs which can be downloaded from the configuration application (https://<VDP hostname>:8543/VDP-configure).

Failed to retrieve log file. This can happen if:

* Management Services were recently restarted.

* Regular log maintenance has removed old log files.

* Logs may be empty or non existent.

*An error may have occurred.

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Solution

One of the reasons why the VDP backup jobs have failed and will continue to fail is if you have a mismatch between supported versions of VDP with the vCenter version that you are running.  In the example above, the failures started when the vCenter server was upgraded to:

Version: vCenter Server 5.5 Update 3e

Release Date: 2016-08-04

Build Number: 4180647

Installer Build Number: 4180646

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The VDP appliance in the environment was at version 6.1.2.19:

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The supported version for vCenter Server 5.5. Update 3e was 6.1.3 so updating the VDP appliance to 6.1.3.70 corrected the problem:

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Thursday, October 12, 2017

ThinPrint redirected printer printing issue with VMware Horizon View Client 4.6.0

I recently ran into a strange issue with a client that had a satellite office with 4 users who use a Lenovo Windows 10 PC and VMware Horizon View client to connect back to their desktops in the main datacenter.  The satellite office is relatively new so the VMware Horizon View client installed onto the PCs were version 4.5.0 but two of the desktops recently had to be swapped out due to hardware failures and since a newer 4.6.0 client was out, I decided to go with the latest version.  Shortly after the new Lenovo PCs with the newer client were deployed, I received reports that:

  1. Attempting to print a multiple paged email from their Outlook 2010 client would insert blank pages in between pages with content and/or skip some pages all together
  2. Attempting to print attachments (e.g. PDF) on emails would send the print job but nothing prints
  3. Word documents print properly

I originally did not suspect this was related to VMware Horizon View so I sent my colleague out to have her check the drivers and any other Windows components worth reviewing.  A day goes by without a resolution so the issue was escalated to me and that was when I realized the only difference between the two non-working PCs and the other ones that were working was the newer VMware Horizon Client 4.6.0.9732:

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Having exhausted most options that could be tried on the Windows 10 operating system, I quickly downgraded the client to 4.5.0.8090 and printing immediately functioning as expected:


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I’m not completely sure there is a known bug for this client as the release notes here does not mention such an issue:

VMware Horizon Client 4.6 for Windows Release Notes
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-Client-for-Windows/4.6/rn/horizon-client-windows-46-release-notes.html

I hope this blog post will be able to help anyone who may come across this issue and in case anyone wants to compare operating version versions, below is the Windows OS on the Lenovo details:

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Monday, October 2, 2017

Installing Exchange Server 2016 CU7 fails with the error: “…was run: "System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: The certificate is expired.”

Problem

You’ve started the installation of Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 7 but notice that it fails at the step Mailbox role: Transport service with the following error:

Error:

The following error was generated when "$error.Clear();

Install-ExchangeCertificate -services IIS -DomainController $RoleDomainController

if ($RoleIsDatacenter -ne $true -And $RoleIsPartnerHosted -ne $true)

{

Install-AuthCertificate -DomainController $RoleDomainController

}

" was run: "System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: The certificate is expired.

at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Task.Task.ThrowError(Exception exception, ErrorCatagory errorCatagory, Object target,

String helpUrl)

at Microsoft.Exchange.Management.SystemConfigurationTasks.InstallExchangeCertificate.InternalProcessRecord()

at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.<ProcessRecrod>b_91_1()

at Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.Tasks.Task.InvokeRetryableFunc(String funcName, Action func, Boolen

terminatePipelinelfFailed)”.

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Solution

The reason why the installation of the CU update failed is because the process attempts to validate the certificate Exchange Server 2016 is using for its services and if an expired certificate is found to be binded to a service, the update will fail.  What usually causes panic at this point is that the Exchange server services are not going to be up and trying to launch the Management Shell would prompting show that Exchange PowerShell cmdlets are not available:

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To get through this issue, you can simply assign a valid certificate via the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console:

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Note that the screenshot above has the binding configured with the self-signed certificate generated by the initial Exchange 2016 installation.  Using the self-signed certificate is a good way to workaround not being able to proceed with the CU install while you renew the certificate.

With the certificate bindings configured with a valid certificate, proceed to rerun the CU update and it should complete as expected:

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Friday, September 29, 2017

Adding SAN (Subject Alternative Name” into “Additional Attributes” field on a Microsoft Certificate Authority certificate request form does not generate a certificate with a SAN entry

Problem

You’ve completed the process of creating a new keystore with a CSR from the Portecle utility:

http://portecle.sourceforge.net/

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Since the Portecle utility does not provide the feature to include SAN entries:

https://www.sslsupportdesk.com/portecle-advanced-keystore-creation-and-manipulation-tool/

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This isn’t usually a problem because it is possible to add SAN entries in the Additional Attributes field when submitting the CSR to a Microsoft Certificate Authority server as described here:

How to add a subject alternative name to a secure LDAP certificate
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/931351/how-to-add-a-subject-alternative-name-to-a-secure-ldap-certificate

An example of the format of the string to include is:

san:dns=corpdc1.fabrikam.com&dns=ldap.fabrikam.com

You proceed to submit the request:

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… but notice that the generated certificate does not include a SAN entry.

Solution

One of the reasons why performing the above would not generate a certificate that includes a SAN entry is if the issuance policy of the Microsoft CA is not configured to accept the Subject Alternative Name(s) attribute via the CA Web enrollment page.  To correct this, execute the following command:

certutil -setreg policy\EditFlags +EDITF_ATTRIBUTESUBJECTALTNAME2

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Once the above command is executed, stop and start the certificate authority with:

net stop certsvc
net start certsvc

Proceed to use the CA web enrollment page to generate the certificate with the SAN entry.

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Security Concerns:

Note that as per the following Microsoft article:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff625722(v=ws.10).aspx

It is not recommended to enable the acceptance of the SAN attribute for the CA Web enrollment page so please review the Security best practices for allowing SANs in certificates section in the article above to be aware of the security concerns.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Attempting to assign a certificate to the Lync Server 2013 services via the Certificate Wizard console fails and generates the error message: “Command execution failed: The process does not possess the 'SeSecurityPrivilege' privilege which is required for this operation.”

Problem

You’ve created a new certificate for your Lync Server 2013 services and attempt to assign it to Server default and Web services internal:

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However, the assignment fails and the following error message is displayed:

Command execution failed: The process does not possess the 'SeSecurityPrivilege' privilege which is required for this operation.

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Solution

One of the reasons why the certificate assignment would fail with the error message above is if an administrator or group policy has removed the administrators group from the Lync Server’s Manage auditing and security log policy as shown in the following screenshot:

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To correct the problem, simply grant the local administrators group the Manage auditing and security log policy permissions:

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You should be able to assign certificates to Lync Server 2013 services once the above has been completed.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

A recent change to the SQL authentication account for an SRM database causes the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Server to no longer start

Problem

You’ve recently had to reset the password to the SQL authentication account used by your VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to connect to the SRM database so you proceed to update the ODBC System DSN as such:

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However, attempting to start the VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager service fails with the following error:

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The VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Server service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.

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The following event error is logged in the event logs after the failed start:

Log Name: Application

Source: vmware-dr

Event ID: 3

Level: Error

DBManager error: Could not initialize Vdb connection: ODBC error: (28000) - [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'vmware'.

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Attempting to modify the installation of SRM will display the following error:

A database error has occurred.

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Solution

The reason why the service is unable to start is because other than updating the ODBC System DSN, you’ll also need to use one of the steps in the following KB to update the password:

Migrating an SRM server to run on a different host (1008426)
https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008426

The step required to get the environment in this example up is #7:

Run the installcreds.exe utility to register account credentials on the new host with the old DSN:
installcreds.exe -key db:new_SRM_DSN -u sql_admin_user
The installcreds.exe utility can be found in the bin directory of the SRM installation:
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Site Recovery Manager\bin

The following is an example of the executed command:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\bin

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\bin>installcreds.exe -key db:SRMDR -u vmware
VMware internal use only. This program is intended for use only by the SRM installer.
Enter Password:
Installed new credentials for db:SRMDR

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\bin>

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The service should now start as the password has been updated:

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