Lab Manager 4 Error: Unable to deploy virtual machines in resource pool

Problem

We  have cloned a configuration from the library to the workspace , afterwards we try to deploy the configuration and received the following error: “Unable to deploy virtual machines in resource pool”

Due to the fact that the lab manager server does not deploy the configuration equally between the hosts , we manually disabled all hosts except for the one that we wanted to deploy the configuration on, and when we try to deploy the configuration we received that error message.

Solution

• Stand on the configuration name > Delete Revert point

            

• Deploy the environment.
• After deploying the environment, power off the configuration.
• Take a snapshot for the configuration.
• Power on the configuration.

Fixed.

Idit & Yaron.

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Lab Manager 4: Invalid “.vmx” file containing “config.version” field value of “0”. vCenter Lab Manager only supports virtual machines with “config.version” field value of “8”.

Problem

I tried to revert into a snapshot to a certain configuration in Lab Manager 4 and received the following error: Invalid “.vmx” file containing “config.version” field value of “0”. vCenter Lab Manager only supports virtual machines with “config.version” field value of “8”.

It didn’t happen every time, it happens once in a while.

Solution

• Try to revert again (Lab Manager might undeploy the environment)
• In case the environment was undeploy, deploy the environment (without powering on theenvironment)    

            

• Go to Monitor > Activity Log ,and see if  prior to the unemployment the revert task completed successfully. If the answer is yes, after the deploy there is no need to revert the configuration again.

            

Fixed!

Idit 🙂

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Lost Connection to vCenter Server, Alert! vCenter Lab Manager is Currently Not Connected to vCenter

Problem

When we connected to lab manager 4 web console , all virtual Machines appeared as unavailable. In addition, in the Overview page we saw the following massage: Alert! vCenter Lab Manager is Currently Not Connected to vCenter (as shown below)

We restarted the Lab Manager service but it didn’t work. We even restarted the management service of the Lab Manager ESX hosts, but it didn’t work as well.

Solution

Go to System > Settings > vCenter® , and enter the user name and password again. That worked for us!

Yaron & Idit.

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Error: Lab Manager 4 Lost VirtualCenter Connection

Problem

I connected to our Lab Manager 4 environment and saw that in the lab manager web GUI, all workspaces appear as unavailable. I have noticed that a warning message appears: Lost VirtualCenter Connection. I went to the activity log and noticed in the following error:

I restarted the lab manager vCenter monitor service, but it didn’t help. I went back looking in the activity log, and noticed the following error:

Solution

This error Sais it all – I forgot that I have changed the vCenter user’s password that is used by the lab manager a couple of days earlier. I went to: System > Settings > vCenter® and I have changed the password that is written in the lab manager’s GUI to the real password. Afterwards, I restarted the  lab manager vCenter monitor service and everything came back to normal.

Idit.

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Some of Lab Manager 4 Virtual Machines appear as Unavailable

Problem

After a shutdown to the system, some of our workspaces appear as unavailable. I have checked in which ESX servers are the workspaces.

Afterwards, I went to Manage > Resources > Hosts and saw that these ESX servers appear to be unavailable, as shown below.

Solution

In order to solve this problem I restarted the management agent of the ESX server by entering the following commands: service mgmt-vmware stop and service mgmt-vmware start, afterwards I restarted the Lab Manager Service “VMware vCenter Lab Manager Monitor” and it fix it.

I repeated these actions for each ESX server.

Idit.

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VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4 Experiencing Problems When Settings Promiscuous Mode to Enabled while using a Fenced System

I wanted to share with you a problem which affected us greatly and caused  a lot of problem. I am hoping it could help you in case you are suffering the same problem.

Problem                                                                                                                                                                                                                        We have installed a new Lab Manager 4 environment. Our environment includes several ESX servers version 4 update 1. Our working method is to work with a large number of configurations at the same time, therefore we use fencing. In addition, each configuration includes a few virtual machines with two network adapters.

We have mapped the second network adapter in each virtual machine which had two network adapters to work with Promiscuous Mode, but we have noticed that it didn’t actually worked. As part of our troubleshooting, we deployed an unfenced configuration which includes the same servers and the Promiscuous Mode worked perfectly.

 In order to solve this issue, we have taken out the second network adapter from the fencing by changing the second network adapter (in every virtual machine which has 2 network adapters) in the vCenter server into our unfenced network adapter that was defined with Promiscuous Mode. Sounds good? Not Quite… The new problem was that after that change , effective immediately another vCenter process started which undo the change that we have made, and left the second network adapter unconnected.

Solution                                                                                                                                                                       After consulting with VMware engineering support, we were asked to update a certain record in the lab manager’s database which dismisses the monitoring of the vCenter server from the lab manager’s DB.

Please be aware that this solution is highly risky; please make sure you have taken a full and updated backup of your lab manager’s database.       If you would like to cancel the monitoring of the vCenter from the lab manager server, please follow the instructions below:

1. Connect to you lab manager server.

2. Download and install: “SQL Server Management Studio Express” on the server

3. Run the following command:

UPDATE config SET VALUE=’0′ WHERE name=’NicPortgroupChangedOutsideConfigCondition’ AND CAT=’Reactions’

Idit.

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All Lab Manager 4 Virtual Machines appear as Unavailable

I connected to the lab manager web interface and all of my VMs appear as unavailable

The problem was that the lab manager 4 was disconnected from the vCenter server.

I connected into the vCenter server and saw that the service was down, and started it.

Idit.

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Can’t Access Lab Manager 4 Web Interface After Defining a New User into a New Role

I defined a role as I wanted, and connected it into a user, but when I try to login – I am stuck! I can’t pass over the login page. Don’t understand why?

The problem is due to lack of the following permissions:

Go to System > Roles and Rights > Role properties

1. Uncheck “show only selected rights”
2. Check overview > overview: view as shown below:

Idit.

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How to Access Lab Manager 4 virtual Router

1. Discover the router whom you are interested in (in the vCenter server). According to the display name you will be able to know the proper folder which contains the router.
2. Open an SSH channel to the ESX host and go to the folder number which appears in the display name.
3. Shut down the router first, and then type the following command: cat ROUTER_NAME | grep “pass” , for example: cat 000056-VirtualRouter_C20F20_DoNotModify.vmx |grep “passwd”
4. This is an example of the output:
5. 
6. The letters after passwd=  until &KEYNUM is the password’s router. The user name is root.
7. Power on the router
8. Connect to the router using root user 

Useful Commands:

1. Ifconfig command for receiving IP information

2. Route command for receiving the routing table

3. iptables command for receiving the firewall table

Idit.

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