• SC VMM: Moving or Creating a VM fails with errors (2912) 0x80041001

    Posted over 1 year ago
    by JonJor}

    BITSRecently I have seen a rush of VMM cases that involve moving a VM through migration, or otherwise moving data (VHD, VHDX, ISO, etc.) around. I have found that in many of these cases there are suspended Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) jobs. As long as there is a suspended job in the BITS queue on the VMM server or the Host you are moving data to, the move will fail.

     

    Problem

    Typical VMM trace showing the issue: In this case a VMM trace shows a copy job beginning. Locate the first step of an exception at the bottom of the stack and read upwards.The first line shows that BITS is starting a copy job: 'at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.Deployment.BitDeployer.Copy().'


    20:46:41.271 01-22-2014,0x09C4,0x0994,4,BitsDeployer.cs,506,0x00000000, Caught Exception,{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,
    20:46:41.272 01-22-2014,0x09C4,0x0994,4,BitsDeployer.cs,506,0x00000000,"Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WSManProviderException: An internal error has occurred trying to contact an agent on the Server.Domain.com server.
    17993 Ensure the agent is installed and running. Ensure the WS-Management service is installed and running; then restart the agent.
        at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.ErrorContextParameterHelper.ThrowTranslatedCarmineException(ErrorInfo ei; Exception ex)
        at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WsmanAPIWrapper.RetrieveUnderlyingWMIErrorAndThrow(SessionCacheElement sessionElement; COMException ce)
        at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WsmanAPIWrapper.Enumerate(String url; String filter; Type type)
        at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WSManRequest`1.Enumerate(String url; String wqlQuery)
        at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.Deployment.NativeDeploymentUtils.IsBitsRemoteApiAvailable(WSManConnectionParameters connectionParams; BitsRemoteApi remoteApi)
        at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.Deployment.LANAcceleratorFactory.GetDeploymentClientJob(WSManConnectionParameters connParams; WSManConnectionParameters remotePeerConnParams; String sourceFileName; String targetFilename; UInt16 port; Boolean privacy; UInt32 flags; String sessionID; Boolean resetJob)
        at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.Deployment.BITSDeployer.CreateClientJob(DeploymentFile file; CLIENT_JOB_TYPE clientJobType; WSManConnectionParameters clientConnection; WSManConnectionParameters serverConnection; UInt16 serverTcpPort; Boolean clientPrivacy; Boolean startAfresh)
        at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.Deployment.BitDeployer.Copy()
    *** Carmine error was: HostAgentFail (2912); HR: 0x80041001

    Resolution

    Perform these steps on the VMM server and any Hosts where data is being moved. Ignore any messages referring to the command being deprecated

    1. Open an elevated command prompt
    2. Enter 'bitsadmin /list /allusers'
    3. You will see the number of jobs suspended. Each job begins with a GUID
    4. Cancel each suspended job by entering 'bitsadmin /cancel {GUID}', where GUID represents the BITS job suspended
    5. Repeat the previous step for all BITS jobs
    6. Enter 'bitsadmin /list /allusers' when done and no jobs should show suspended

    I’ve written a KB article that details this same process. It will be available online soon.

     

     

      jonjor

  • SCOtrace – Orchestrator Trace Tool

    Posted over 1 year ago
    by JonJor}

    What is SCOtrace?

    SCOtrace increases the Orchestrator log level, provides time for you to reproduce a problem, then sets all log levels back to their lowest (normal) level. Log files are then gathered for you in a central location.

    How does it work?

    Orchestrator activity is logged all the time, whether you know it or not. The log level is very low and does not impact your system. There are times, however, when it would be ideal to generate very detailed logs in order to better understand a problem. Following this article it is possible to increase the level of logging significantly (The article discuses Opalis, but it works the same for Orchestrator).

    Why would I need this?

    The idea of this tool is to automate the collection of verbose logs for you or a Microsoft Support Professional to review. You can perform these exact steps following the article mentioned above, but this way is simply quicker.

    Where should I use this?

    Run SCOtrace on the Management server, and if you think Runbook servers are involved run it there as well. Only the Orchestrator components you have installed on a system will be traced.

    How do I run SCOtrace?

    The latest version of SCOtrace can be downloaded here.

    Remove the .txt extension from the file and run from an elevated command prompt.

    Note: The latest file from each log directory is gathered. You may find some files that are old. Ignore these.

     

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      jonjor

  • Orchestrator Functions and Regular Expressions (Regex)

    Posted over 1 year ago
    by JonJor}

    imageThere are a number of ways to manipulate data using the Orchestrator built-in Activities. Text manipulation is a common need with Runbooks. An Activity pulls a string of data that you need only a part of, or need it in a different format. Fortunately, Orchestrator has many built-in Functions that can be used to further manipulate strings. Use these tools in the same places you would subscribe to data and they will be processed.

    For example, the string below will be converted to all UPPERCASE.

    [Upper('this will be inserted in upper case')]

    You must enclose the entire string to be manipulated in square brackets, with the command and the string. Some other commands

    Here’s the link to Orchestrator Functions

    Functions

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh440537.aspx

    Function and Definition

    Upper - converts text to uppercase.

    Lower - converts text to lowercase.

    Field - returns text in a specific position.

    Sum - returns the sum of a set of numbers.

    Diff - returns the difference of two numbers.

    Mult - returns the product of a set of numbers.

    Div - returns the quotient of two numbers.

    Instr - returns the position of first occurrence of text within another text.

    Right - returns a subset of the text from the right side of the full text.

    Left - returns a subset of the text from the left side of the full text.

    Mid - returns a subset of the text from the middle of the full text.

    LTrim - trims leading spaces from text.

    RTrim - trims the trailing spaces from text.

    Trim - trims leading and trailing spaces from text.

    Len - returns the length of text.

     

    Regular Expressions

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh440535.aspx

    Regular expressions let you match a string to a pattern. This is a bit more complex, but allows for pulling really anything you need from a string.

    Character

    Meaning

    .

    Matches any character except a newline.

    *

    Matches the preceding item 0 or more times. For example, the "a*" pattern matches any string of a's in a row "a", "aaa", "aaaaaaaaaaaa", and an empty string "". To match any string of any character, use a dot followed by an asterisk. For example "a.*" matches any text that begins with the letter "a" and ends with any string of characters such as "abbb", "abcdef", or "automatic restart".

    +

    Matches the preceding item 1 or more times. This is like * but you must have a least 1 of the preceding item to make a match. For example, the "ab+" pattern matches "abbbbb", "ab", but does not match "a". To contrast, the "ab*" pattern matches "a".

    ?

    Matches the preceding item 0 or 1 time. For example, the "ab?" pattern matches "a" or "ab" but does not match "abbb".

    |

    Matches either the preceding expression or the following expression. Logical OR operator.

    $

    Matches the expression at the end of the input or line. For example, "ab$" matches "I took a cab" or "drab" but does not match "absolutely not".

    ^

    Matches the expression at the beginning of the input or line. For example, "^ab" matches "absolutely not" or "abacuses are great!" but does not match "I took a cab" or "drab".

    \

    For characters that are usually treated as special. This indicates that the next character is literal and is not to be treated as a special character. For example, "\." means match the "." character and not just any character.

    [ ]

    A character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. You can specify a range of characters by using a hyphen. For example, [a-zA-Z] matches any letter of the alphabet.

    [^ ]

    An excluded character set. This is the opposite of []. If any of the characters inside the brackets exist, the regular expression match fails. You can specify a range of characters by using a hyphen. For example, [^a-zA-Z] ensures that none of the letters in the alphabet are present.

    ( )

    A group expression. This groups an expression into an item that you can apply special characters to. For example, "a*(ba)+" matches "ba" "aba" or "ababa" but does not match "abbba" or "abaa"

     

     

     

    jonjor

  • Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 SP1

    Posted over 1 year ago
    by JonJor}

    imageThis blog focuses on VMM and Orchestrator, and for VMM alone there are 20 fixes in this update. Many of these corrections relate to networking. This update has helped a number of customers I have worked with resolve their issues entirely. Even in a controlled classroom environment (I’m out delivering training this week. Go OKC!) the update has made a strong positive impact. As for Orchestrator, there are a few fixes as well, both of which stemmed from customer cases I worked involving Oracle results and SNMP Traps.

     

    This is one update that should be installed immediately, or as soon as your outage window allows. There is one caveat: ‘In order to install Update Rollup 2 package for System Center 2012 SP1-  Virtual Machine Manager, you will need to uninstall Update Rollup 1 for System Center SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager package from your system.’ See this blog post for a great deal of information on the subject. Also, if you need to uninstall SC VMM for some unrelated reason, you will need to remove this update first to do so.

    Grab the update here. Description of Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1

    A list of fixes in the update…

    Virtual Machine Manager Server (KB2826405) and Administration Console (KB2826392)

    Issue 1

    The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 operating system is missing from the Linux OS list.

    Issue 2

    A virtual machine cannot start after migration from Windows 7 to Windows 8 when the DiscardSavedState method is used.

    Issue 3

    A connection to the VMware virtual machine remote console session cannot be established.

    Issue 4

    Externally published VMNDs are filtered incorrectly.

    Issue 5

    When you remove a virtual switch extension property or edit a virtual switch extension manager connection string, a user-interface generated script also removes the HostGroups that are associated with VSEM.

    Issue 6

    UPPSet is not set on a physical network adapter when you add the network adapter to a team and when the network adapter is the first in the list of network adapters.

    Issue 7

    The default gateway is missing on a host virtual network adapter after you add a second physical network adapter to the logical switch.

    Issue 8

    Static IP pool that has the first address in a subnet fails for external network type.

    Issue 9

    VMM crashes during host refresher when VMM is unable to create a CimSession with the remote host.

    Issue 10

    Standard (legacy) virtual switch creation on Windows 8 hosts with management virtual network adapter does not preserve the IP properties of the physical network adapter.

    Issue 11

    The administration user interface crashes with a NullReferenceException error when you click Remediate on a host instead of a virtual network adapter.

    Issue 12

    The Virtual Machine Manager user interface displays a network adapter in a "Not Connected" state.

    Issue 13

    The Virtual Machine Manager stops responding with high CPU usage for five to ten minutes when you configure a VMND that has 2,000 network segments.

    Issue 14

    The host virtual network adapter property for a management adapter does not show port classification.

    Issue 15

    Live Migration fails at 26 percent when the network adapter is attached to an isolated virtual machine network.

    Issue 16

    The Virtual Machine Manager Service crashes when a virtual machine that does not have a port profile is migrated to a cluster by using a logical switch that has a default port profile set.

    Issue 17

    Running Dynamic Optimizer on a cluster with incompatible host CPUs causes a Virtual Machine Manager Service crash.

    Issue 18

    The Host refresher crashes for any host that has the RemoteFX role enabled.

    Issue 19

    The minimum memory for dynamic memory greater than 32GB is a security risk.

    Issue 20

    The status of the network adapter is displayed as Not Connected in Virtual Machine Manager.

     

     

     

     

     

      jonjor

  • Update-Help: VMM PowerShell

    Posted over 1 year ago
    by JonJor}

    PowerShell iconIf you've opened the VMM 2012 SP1 PowerShell console and performed a command to get help on cmdlets, you may be in for a surprise. Examples are not included out of the box, and there were tons of great examples in VMM 2008 R2. The syntax below should, but does not, output all help including example use.

    get-help <cmdlet-name> -full

     

    There is a simple way of resolving this issue. Open the ‘Virtual Machine Manager Command Shell’ located in Start. Open this elevated as administrator. Now type the following and updated help will be available.

    update-help

    When this is done you can use a non-elevated VMM PowerShell and updated help will be available.

     

     

     

     

      jonjor