Friday 19 June 2020

Custom screen resolution for virtual machines



My remote VM have standard (default to any VMware VMs) 4:3 resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, etc.) and it set to 1024x768. My laptop is quite modern one and has widescreen with maximum resolution 1366x768 (Not very impressive, I know).

So when I am using LogmeIn, connection initiated within web browser and because of browser edges my 1024x768 gets squeezed and picture not always clear as I want it. I can obviously use full screen mode but this limit me only to my remote VM and I need to do few clicks to switch between full screen my “host” windows. This kind of ok, but it time consuming and I would like floating Window with screen of my remote VM inside with nice resolution.

So next try is TeamViewer. TeamViewer is better and it provide floating window independent of Web Browser but screen still squeezed because of TeamViewer window edges.
Now I can probably make my Remote VM to show correct resolution so it can fit my screen without affecting access to other important functions.

Forgot to mention that both LogmeIn and TeamViewer presenting console screen of the PC/Mac you connecting to, unlike RDP using extra software bits and allowing setting different resolution on per session.

So let’s begin.

First of all I would like to say thank to VMware for their great KB article which helped me to find my way out. This KB article explains how to set maximum resolution but not custom which probably similar I would assume :)
My aim was to set 1200x700 resolution which will fit perfectly into my screen. To accomplish this task I did the following:

1. Shutdown my VM
2. Remove it from inventory
3. Download .vmx file
4. Add the following two lines at the end of the file:

svga.maxWidth = "1200"
svga.maxHeight = "700"

5. Rename original .vmx file to something like remotevm_original.vmx
6. Upload corrected .vmx file to original location
7. Register VM in Virtual Center and power it up.
First my VM came up with rather strange resolution which it decides will be minimum/maximum/optimal 864x400. I open properties of the screen and was surprised that I can now change to my Max resolution 1200x700 Hurray. Mission accomplished I am going to bed now.

Ah and yes few links below and thanks then for their great products.
VMware
Adding video resolution modes to Windows guest operating system
LogmeIn
TeamViewer

Thursday 10 February 2011

VMware DRS Priority rules

I had this issue recently and want to know how VMware DRS prioritise rules. If it considering all setting in Guest VM setup? Probably yes but not in setup below, or I might be wrong.

Setup
My setup consists of two ESXi 4.1 server, one vCenter and about 10 VMs.
One particular VM1 has requirements for Security USB dongle which attached to ESX01 and connected via pass-through to VM1 (No vMotion support enabled).

My cluster DRS settings as follows:
Automation level: Manual
DRS Groups Manager:
Virtual machines DRS Groups:
USB – VM1 included in this group

Host DRS Groups:
USB-ESX01 – ESX01 is included into this group

Rules:
Name: VM1 on ESX01
Type: Run VMs on Hosts
DRS Group members: USB and USB-ESX01

Virtual Machine Options: Enabled individual virtual machine automation levels.
Automation level for VM1 set to Fully Automated
Others VMs set to default and inherited settings from DRS cluster, meaning Manual Level.

All other DRS settings set to defaults.

Scenario:
I move all VMs to ESX01. In the evening VM1 starts generate 100% CPU load. DRS move VM1 from ESX1 to ESX2 and then move it back a minute later (Probably realizing there was a rule to keep VM1 on ESX01). Obviously USB device was connected without vMotion enabled and was disconnected.

Conclusion:
After described above scenario my understanding VMware DRS moved VM1 without taking into consideration:
1.       USB attached to VM1 with no vMotion support
2.       Rule “Run VMs on Hosts” hasn’t been considered before DRS move VM1 to another host. However Rule was read after vMotion happens but USB device was disconnected and required manually reconnected.

And BTW “VMware vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS Technical Deepdive” book by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman ordered and should arrive by end of Feb. Hopefully I can find my answer there.

Sunday 6 February 2011

Creating/importing multiple user accounts on Windows servers. Domains or standalone servers.

Part of my day to day job is to manage and deploy cloud infrastructures. One of the probably simple tasks and time consuming is to adding new user accounts into new domains and standalone servers. When we talking about 5 -10 accounts it is easy, but when it comes to 50 and more and creating these on multiple standalone servers it become an issues which I wanted to resolve and make it as simple and possible. I don’t claim to be scripting expert or MS Excel guru. But I made it for myself and it works so I decide to share it with wider auditorium.
Resolution to this problem is incorporates into to one excel spread sheet where you put your details for new users and on another sheet you have readymade code which you simply copy and paste into batch file and run on your servers. It utilizing standard Windows commands and doesn’t required any special software to be installed on the servers.
Used commands:
AD: dsadd user
Local users: “net user” and “net localgroup”
Download file from here: add_users.zip

Please download and try it for yourself, if you find it useful please leave me your comment, or If you made additions and find a way to make it more easy with more features please share it.
Cheers
Ev

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Apple Mail and Exhcnage 2007 External website EWS

The following page describes how to configure Exchange 2007 to accept Apple Mail connections via External Website

In order to provide access for Apple mail EWS virtual directory required to be on External website. Obviously Exchange 2007 SP1 Rollup 6 and above should be applied before proceeding

1. Create new EWS virtual directory in External website
Open “Exchange Management Shell” and verify if EWS already created for External website by issuing command

Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory

If EWS already exist then try to recreate it or check if folder EWS/Exchange.asmx accessible via external URL “https://mail.domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx”

To create EWS directory issue the following command in EMShell

New-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -WebSiteName "External" -ExternalUrl https://mail.domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx

Verify that directory created by issuing

Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory


2. Adjust authentication permissions in IIS for EWS folder to “Basic Authentication”

Setup Apple Mail and try to connect. All should be working.

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Converting IDE vmdk file to SCSI

Requirements:
SSH access to your ESX host
Equal or more amount of space on your LUN to the size of your vmdk file

Procedure:
In order to convert your vmdk file you will need to SSH to your ESX host and cd to appropriate LUN with affected vmdk file. Check content of folder by issue ll command.

In this scenario we will be working with VM1_ide.vmdk file. Take a note of the size of the flat vmdk file.
Now we need to create SCSI vmdk file with same size. Issue the following command:
[root@esx04 VM1]# vmkfstools -a lsilogic -c 10737418240 VM1_scsi.vmdk
New file name will be VM1_scsi.vmdk
do ll once more to see what happened

We can delete VM1_scsi-flat.vmdk file, as we not going to use it.
Now open VM1_scsi.vmdk in editor
[root@esx04 VM1]# nano VM1_scsi.vmdk


Here we need to replace VM1_scsi-flat.vmdk with VM1_ide-flat.vmdk. Actualy point to ide flat disk. Save after edit.



Now edit your .vmx file and replace VM1_ide.vmdk with VM1_scsi.vmdk
Re-register your VM with Virtual Centre and start VM.
For safety precautions I've put this disk and others into Nonpersistent mode for first test start, so in the event of OS (mostly MS windows) failed to recognize drive, changes will be discarded as soon as I shutdown VM.
This scenario works for me for 3x 200gb disks.

Any comments more than welcome.

Sunday 27 September 2009

Test SMTP

Open Command prompt and start telnet

Telnet servername 25
EHLO test.com
MAIL FROM:admi@test.com
RCPT TO:user@dmain.com
DATA
.
QUIT