Archives for 2009

Virtual Infrastructure Client Opens Off Screen

July 16, 2009 by Josh Townsend 1 Comment

A user reported an issue with one of the VM’s in my environment this morning. It seems that an automated process had spun up the CPU to 100% in the Windows guest and the system was deadlocked. I was still at home when I received the message on my BlackBerry, so I fired up the VPN on my Windows 7 laptop, opened the VI3 client and….., um, where is it? The VI3 client icon was in the taskbar, but the app was nowhere to be found – it had opened off-screen where my secondary monitor usually lives. This is nothing new for the VI client – I have experienced it numerous times in the past. But this was my first time with the problem on Windows 7.

Pre-Windows 7, I would have right-clicked the Windows taskbar for the app, selected ‘Move’, and then used the keyboard arrow keys to guide the phantom window home. Windows 7 does not have the same Windows positioning options on a right-click to the taskbar so I had to find another way. Enter Windows shortcut keys. Here’s how I brought the VI3 Client window back into view:

Make sure that the VI3 Client window is in the foreground by selecting it in the taskbar. You’ll know that it is in the foreground when the taskbar icon gets a white glow as pictured here:
Press the hotkey combination: “ALT+Space, M” for Move.
Use the keyboard arrow keys to move the window to your active monitor, pressing “Enter” once the window is visible to commit the move.
If the arrow keys fail to move the window and/or you hear the Windows error sound, your VI3 Client windows is probably maximized. The move option is not available when a window is maximized. To work around this condition use the hotkey combination: “ALT+Space, R” for Restore. You should now be able to move the window using steps #2 & #3 above.

If you are still really struggling, break out the trusty old registry editor and follow along:

Close any open VMware Infrastructure Client windows
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareVMwareVMware Infrastructure ClientPreferencesUI
Locate the ApplicationLocation key. This key provides the X-Y coordinate for the VI Client window at startup.
Modify the string value to 0-0. This value will cause the VI3 client to open in the center of your primary display.
If you run different sized/resolution displays, you may also want to change the ApplicationMaximized or ApplicationSize keys to fit your needs.
Launch the VMware Infrastructure Client and get back to work.

Joining a Mac to a Windows Active Directory

June 30, 2009 by Josh Townsend 1 Comment

We picked up a few new 17″ MacBook Pro’s at work. We’re a Microsoft shop, so Mac’s aren’t part of the basic knowledge for our IT staff, myself included. I don’t want to be the Windows guy who says “I don’t do Macs” – part of being a technologist is serving the user base where they are at with the technologies they require to do their job (but please, included me in determining your requirements and technological solutions – a Mac might be really cool, but might not fit with the organizations needs or your IT group’s ability to support your solution). Really, that’s what Web 2.0 is all about – compatible, interchangeable tools that offer customized functionality for the users’ abilities and needs. Come to think of it, that’s what VMware is all about too – the right resources in the right place at the right time, independent of underlying hardware, application/OS agnostic, able to rise above local shortcomings by pushing to the cloud….

To be fair, I was issued a Mac at a previous company, but didn’t care much for it as the programs I had to run for my job were Windows based. I ran VMware Fusion, but it could only take me so far – funny things start to happen when you are in a VM, RDC’ing to a client server, opening the VI client and console’ing to a VM. Shortcut keys behave strangely, and one can only create so many alternate key mappings before going insane. It wasn’t the right tool for me and my job, but Macs do serve some purposes very well – graphic design and iPhone app development in my current case.

I didn’t have a requirement to do much customization the new Mac’s, but they did have to allow users to authenticate to the current Microsoft Windows Active Directory Domain. I hit a few snags as I went through the process, including making domain users local administrators and allowing domain users to log in to the Mac while off-line. Here is what I came up with for a final process in my environment – adjust according to your needs:

1.) Configure OS X to talk to the Active Directory

Using Spotlight (LeftCommand+Space), open the ‘Directory Utility’
Switch to the Services tab
Tick the box next to Active Directory plug-in (Note: You may have to click the lock icon to make configuration changes).
Highlight the Active Directory plug-in and click the Configure icon (pencil icon).
Enter an Active Directory Domain, using the FQDN (example: mydomain.local)
Enter a Computer ID. This ID will be used to create a computer object in the AD.
Expand Advanced Options:
- On the User Experience Tab:
  - Check the box for ‘Create mobile account at login’.
  - Uncheck the box for ‘Require confirmation before creating a mobile account’.
  - Choose the ‘Use UNC path from Active Directory to derive network home location’ if your AD is set to map a user’s home location to a UNC and/or DFS path; if not, you may want to uncheck this option.
- On the Administrative tab:
  - Check the box for ‘Allow Administration By:” and then Add the Active Directory ‘domain admins’ and ‘enterprise admins’ group
  - Check the box for ‘Allow Authentication from any domain in the forest’ if appropriate for your environment
Click the Bind button and enter credentials for an account with permissions to join the domain on the Active Directory domain you are joining. Note: The computer account may appear in the default AD ‘Computers’ container even if the redircmp utility was used on the domain to change the default Organizational Unit (OU) of new computers joining the domain.
Click OK.
Verify that the Active Directory Domain that you configured correctly appears with a green dot on the ‘Directory Servers’ tab of the Directory Utility.
Close the Directory Utility.

2.) Configure basic login options

Open the Accounts tool from Apple | System Preferences | Accounts
Click Login Options (Note: you may have to click the lock icon to allow changes to be made).
Configure the Login Options settings as follows:
- Automatic Login: Disabled
- Display login windows as: Name and Password
- Check the box for Allow network users to login to this computer.
  - Click the Options button and configure all network users (i.e. – all Domain users) or only select users to have login permissions.
- Configure other options as desired.
Log out of the local Admin account

3.) Log in using a domain user account (with permissions to login to the server (see above) while connected to the network) using the AD user.name and password

The first login may take several minutes to complete as a local account is being created.
Open the Accounts tool from Apple | System Preferences | Accounts
Highlight the logged-in user’s account.
- Check the box for ‘Allow user to administer this computer’ as appropriate
- Verify that the ‘Settings’ button for Mobile Account is grayed out – this means that an offline account has been created for the user.

4.) Test the config by removing network connectivity (disable AirPort and/or pull the network cable) and log in as the user you just configured.

5.) Buy VMware Fusion so you can run Windows on your Mac when all the stuff you were used to just ain’t there anymore 😀

VMware Fusion Updated to 2.0.5

June 29, 2009 by Josh Townsend 3 Comments

While setting up a new 17″ MacBook Pro today I found that an update to VMware Fusion has been released. The update, version 2.0.5, has a release date of June 23. According to the release notes, the update includes:

Support for Mac OS X Server guest operating systems on Macs with Intel Xeon 5500 and 3500 Series processors (based on Nehalem micro-architecture)
Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server as a guest operating system (32-bit only)
Provides experimental support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as a host operating system (32-bit only)
Supports Ubuntu 9.04 as a guest operating system, including features such as VMware Tools pre-built modules and Easy Install
Reduces CPU usage when a virtual machine is idle under VMware Fusion
Contains fixes for more than 80 bugs

Download a trial version or update your purchased copy here: https://vmware.com/download/fusion/.

VMworld Content Catalog Released

June 29, 2009 by Josh Townsend Leave a Comment

The VMworld 2009 Content Catalog was released on Friday night according to a post on the VMworld.com blog. I have only started to browse the many breakout sessions, instructor-led labs, self-paced labs, and panel sessions that are currently planned for VMworld 2009. A quick glance shows a wide variety of content for all technical levels across many tracks, including Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, Desktop Virtualization, Enterprise Applications, Technology and Architecture, Virtualization 101 and Virtualization Management. It also appears that the catalog includes a nice mix of VI3 and vSphere content, as well as expanded desktop virtualization information.

Be sure to browse the catalog now so you are ready for session registration later in July. From past experience, knowing what session and labs you want to attend before registration, and then jumping right into registration once it is available, is the best way to ensure you get a slot in the hottest sessions.

VMworld Here I Come

June 26, 2009 by Josh Townsend 1 Comment

Today is the last day for VMworld early-bird registration, and I got in just under the wire. Here’s to hoping that VMworld 2009 is as informative, fun and valuable as last years. I remember sitting in Vegas last year as the first of the big financial institutions began to fall. It will be interesting to see how the current economic condition impacts attendance, vendor quality, tee-shirt availability, and the VMworld party. Here’s to fun, free beer, and virtualization!

I’m also hoping that my wife will be able to join me and ‘geek out’ (her term) this year. If so, I’ll have to get her connected with the unofficial VMworld 2009 Spouse Activities!