Change Windows Server 2008 or 2012 Network Profile

Sometimes a Windows server is assigned to the incorrect network profile. It can cause applying the wrong Windows Firewall rules. Here is how to change its network profile.

For standalone server

• Can change the profile to public or private; but cannot set to domain
• For Windows Server 2012
• Open PowerShell as administrator
• Get-NetconnectionProfile | Set-NetconnectionProfile -NetworkCategory [Private | Public]
• For Windows Server 2008 or 2012
• gpedit.msc, Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Network List Manager Profiles
• Select the network name, Properties, Network Location
• Under Location Type, select Private or Public

For domain joined server

• Cannot change the profile manually
• It’s determined by Network Location Awareness (NLA) service (see “Network Location Awareness (NLA) and how it relates to Windows Firewall Profiles”)
• If the network profile is incorrect,
• verify the server can contact a DC via UDP port 389
• restart the Network Location Awareness service on the server

Extend Microsoft Cluster Shared Disk in VMware

A VM shared disk on Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) is running out of disk space. The VMs are on a single host (aka cluster in a box - CIB). I can think of two ways to expand the disk storage.

• create a new big shared disk for the cluster, migrate the data, then change the new disk to the same drive letter as the original disk
• extend the size of the existing shared disk

Obviously the latter seems simpler, but it requires special attention. The shared disk format in MSCS VMs must be in eager zeroed thick format. However, when extending an eagerzeroedthick VMDK, the extended chuck is in lazy zeroed thick format by default (reference “Extending an EagerZeroedThick Disk”. In my test, vSphere 6 has the same behavior)

Here is how I extend the MSCS shared disk

• Power off both servers in the cluster
• Increase the VMDK disk size. There are two ways:
• GUI: edit the VM settings, increase the shared disk size
• CLI: use vmkfstools -X <newsize> -d eagerzeroedthick <vmdkfile>
• For more info about vmkfstools, see my vmkfstools Examples post
• Using the GUI, the extended chuck will be in lazy zero thick format. The VM will fail to power on with the error “VMware ESX cannot open the virtual disk for clustering…”

• There are two ways to convert the extended chuck to eagerzeroedthick format
• Migrate the VM to another storage, and specify the eager zero thick format for the disk
• Use vmkfstools -k <vmdkfile>
  
• Once the entire shared disk is the eager zeroed thick format, the VM will be able to power on.
• Extend the Windows partition as KB304736

vmkfstools Examples

When searching an issue on expanding a shared disk on Microsoft clustering VMs (CIB), I have learned more about the vmkfstools command.

The vmkfstools --help displays many options, but lack of explanation. So I document them here. (reference: vSphere Storage, Using vmkfstools)

# vmkfstools --help

OPTIONS FOR FILE SYSTEMS:

vmkfstools -C --createfs [vmfs3|vmfs5]
               -b --blocksize #[mMkK]
               -S --setfsname fsName
           -Z --spanfs span-partition
           -G --growfs grown-partition
   deviceName

           -P --queryfs -h --humanreadable
           -T --upgradevmfs
   vmfsPath
           -y --reclaimBlocks vmfsPath [--reclaimBlocksUnit #blocks]

OPTIONS FOR VIRTUAL DISKS:

vmkfstools -c --createvirtualdisk #[gGmMkK]
               -d --diskformat [zeroedthick
                               |thin
                               |eagerzeroedthick
                               ]
               -a --adaptertype [buslogic|lsilogic|ide
                                |lsisas|pvscsi]
               -W --objecttype [file|vsan]
               --policyFile <fileName>
           -w --writezeros
           -j --inflatedisk
           -k --eagerzero
           -K --punchzero
           -U --deletevirtualdisk
           -E --renamevirtualdisk srcDisk
           -i --clonevirtualdisk srcDisk
               -d --diskformat [zeroedthick
                               |thin
                               |eagerzeroedthick
                               |rdm:<device>|rdmp:<device>
                               |2gbsparse]
               -W --object [file|vsan]
               --policyFile <fileName>
               -N --avoidnativeclone
           -X --extendvirtualdisk #[gGmMkK]
               [-d --diskformat eagerzeroedthick]
           -M --migratevirtualdisk
           -r --createrdm /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -q --queryrdm
           -z --createrdmpassthru /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -v --verbose #
           -g --geometry
           -x --fix [check|repair]
           -e --chainConsistent
           -Q --objecttype name/value pair
           --uniqueblocks childDisk
   vmfsPath

OPTIONS FOR DEVICES:

           -L --lock [reserve|release|lunreset|targetreset|busreset|readkeys|readresv
                     ] /vmfs/devices/disks/...
           -B --breaklock /vmfs/devices/disks/...

vmkfstools -H --help

vmkfstools Command Syntax

vmkfstools options target

Options: separate into three types - File System Options, Virtual Disk Options, and Storage Device Options.
Target: partition, device, or path

File System Options

• Listing Attributes of a VMFS Volume
  The listed attributes include the file system label, if any, the number of extents comprising the specified VMFS volume, the UUID, and a listing of the device names where each extent resides.
  vmkfstools -P -h <vmfsVolumePath>
  vmkfstools -P -h /vmfs/volumes/netapp_sata_nfs1/
• Creating a VMFS Datastore
  vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b <blocksize> -S <datastoreName> <partitionName>
  vmkfstools -C vmfs5 -b 1m -S my_vmfs /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.ID:1
• Extending an Existing VMFS Volume
  vmkfstools -Z <span_partition> <head_partition>
  vmkfstools -Z /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.disk_ID_2:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.disk_ID_1:1
  Caution: When you run this option, you lose all data that previously existed on the SCSI device you specified in span_partition.
• Growing an Existing Extent
  vmkfstools –G device device
  vmkfstools --growfs /vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID:1 /vmfs/devices/disks/disk_ID:1

Virtual Disk Options

• Creating a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -c <size> -d <diskformat> <vmdkFile>
  vmkfstools -c 2048m testdisk1.vmdk
• Initializing a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -w <vmdkFile>
  This option cleans the virtual disk by writing zeros over all its data. Depending on the size of your virtual disk and the I/O bandwidth to the device hosting the virtual disk, completing this command might take a long time.
  Caution: When you use this command, you lose any existing data on the virtual disk.
• Inflating a Thin Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -j <vmdkFile>
  This option converts a thin virtual disk to eagerzeroedthick, preserving all existing data. The option allocates and zeroes out any blocks that are not already allocated.
• Removing Zeroed Blocks (Converting a virtual disk to a thin disk)
  vmkfstools -K <vmdkFile>
  Use the vmkfstools command to convert any thin, zeroedthick, or eagerzeroedthick virtual disk to a thin disk with zeroed blocks removed.
  This option deallocates all zeroed out blocks and leaves only those blocks that were allocated previously and contain valid data. The resulting virtual disk is in thin format.
• Converting a Zeroedthick Virtual Disk to an Eagerzeroedthick Disk
  vmkfstools -k <vmdkFile>
  Use the vmkfstools command to convert any zeroedthick virtual disk to an eagerzeroedthick disk. While performing the conversion, this option preserves any data on the virtual disk.
• Deleting a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -U <vmdkFile>
  This option deletes files associated with the virtual disk listed at the specified path on the VMFS volume.
• Renaming a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -E <oldName> <newName>
• Cloning or Converting a Virtual Disk or Raw Disk
  cloning: vmkfstools -i <sourceVmdkFile> <targetVmdkFile>
  vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/templates/gold-master.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/myVMFS/myOS.vmdk
  converting: vmkfstools -i <sourceVmdkFile> -d <diskfomrat> <targetVmdkFile>
• Extending a Virtual Disk
  vmkfstools -X <newSize> [-d eagerzeroedthick] <vmdkFile>
  use -d eagerzeroedthick to ensure the extended disk in eagerzeroedthick format.
  Caution: do not extend the base disk of a virtual machine that has snapshots associated with it. If you do, you can no longer commit the snapshot or revert the base disk to its original size.
• Displaying Virtual Disk Geometry
  vmkfstools -g <vmdkFile>
  The output is in the form: Geometry information C/H/S, where C represents the number of cylinders, H represents the number of heads, and S represents the number of sectors.

• Checking and Repairing Virtual Disks
  vmkfstools -x <vmdkFile>
  Use this option to check or repair a virtual disk in case of an unclean shutdown

Storage Device Options

• Managing SCSI Reservation of LUNs
  Caution: Using the -L option can interrupt the operations of other servers on a SAN. Use the -L option only when troubleshooting clustering setups.
  • vmkfstools -L reserve <deviceName>
    Reserves the specified LUN. After the reservation, only the server that reserved that LUN can access it. If other servers attempt to access that LUN, a reservation error results
  • vmkfstools -L release <deviceName>
    Releases the reservation on the specified LUN. Other servers can access the LUN again
  • vmkfstools -L lunreset <deviceName>
    Resets the specified LUN by clearing any reservation on the LUN and making the LUN available to all servers again. The reset does not affect any of the other LUNs on the device. If another LUN on the device is reserved, it remains reserved
  • vmkfstools -L targetreset <deviceName>
    Resets the entire target. The reset clears any reservations on all the LUNs associated with that target and makes the LUNs available to all servers again.
  • vmkfstools -L busrest <deviceName>
    Resets all accessible targets on the bus. The reset clears any reservation on all the LUNs accessible through the bus and makes them available to all servers agai
  • When entering the device parameter, use the following format:
    /vmfs/devices/disks/vml.vml_ID:P

Hidden Options (reference: “Some useful vmkfstools ‘hidden’ options”)

• VMDK Block Mappings
  vmkfstools -t0 <vmdkFile>
  Display the chuck file format in a VMDK file.
• VMFS -- = eager zeroed thick
• VMFS Z- = lazy zeroed thick
• NOMP -- = thin

VSAN v6 Provision Thick Disk

I always think when creating or migrating VM on a VSAN datastore, its disk should be thin provisioned. However, I discovered some VM disks in our VSAN datastore are “thick” provisioned even all the VM storage policies are set to 0% object space reservation. How is it possible? After some digging, here is what I learn.

Thick Disk Format on VSAN

VSAN defines the disk type (thin or thick) via the Object Space Reservation setting in the VM Storage Policies. By default, this value is 0%, implying the disk is deployed as thin.

If the value is set to 100%, meaning the space for the disk is fully reserved, which can be thought of as full, thick provisioned. This behaves similarly to thick provision lazy zeroed. There is no eager-zeroed thick format on VSAN. (reference: Virtual SAN 6.2 Design and Sizing Guide, page 65)

Benefit to Provision Thick Disk on VSAN

Based on my understanding of VSAN disk IO operating (VSAN mirrors write IOs to all active mirrors, there are acknowledged when they hit the flash buffer!), typically there is no performance difference between thin and lazy zeroed thick provision on VSAN. Remember, there is no eager-zeroed thick format on VSAN (see above). Also see the Yellow-Bricks post. (PS: Duncan’s post may misspeak about VSAN eager zero thick provision.)

Provision Thick Disk on VSAN (Intentionally or By Accident)

There are several possible ways to provision a thick disk on VSAN.

• Possibility #1
• Define a thick VM Storage Policy
• Set the Object Space Reservation to 100%
• Use vSphere Web Client (cannot use vSphere C# Client)
• Select the thick VM storage policy
• Possibility #2
• Use vSphere C# Client
• Select “Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed” or “Thick Provision Eager Zeroed” on the disk type
• I don’t know what the actual impact on VSAN when selecting eager zero. In my test, the VM disk is still created correctly. I will do more research and post an update.
• Possibility #3
• P2V a physical server to VM
• By default, P2V uses thick provision on the disk
• Change to Destination Disk to thin provision by select Advanced, Destination layout, Type, Thin
• 
• 
• For VSAN 5.5, there is one more method, see here.

Change Thick Provisioned Disk to Thin on VSAN

Unfortunately, there is not a simple way to change a thick provisioned disk to thin on VSAN. Simply changing the VM storage policy on the disk has no impact.

In order to convert a thick disk to thin provisioned, do a storage migration of the disk to a SAN / NFS / local storage, then migrate back to the VSAN datastore. Make sure select the thin provision storage policy during the migration.