VMware vSphere woes

I decided to upgrade my 2 servers to ESX 4, since I’ll have to write the exam by year end, might as well get familiar with it

I run 2 ESX boxes, with about 10 workloads split between them. So first, I moved all my workloads to a single server, rebooted on the ESX CD and started a fresh install. The system has 3 NICs, 2 Intel PRO/1000 PT adapters and an on-board Intel gigabit NIC. The on-board one never worked, so no big deal.

ESX 4 detects all of them! Yeah! I’m happy! For a short period of time, until I realise that while it sees all 3 adapters, it doesn’t see that the link is up on 2 of them (the on board and one of the PT cards).

So one of the PT adapters is working, not the other one. Odd?! I know it’s not hardware related, it worked in 3.5 30 mins ago so…

After much experimenting and searching, I decided to do what anyone would do: I quit searching. It’s not on the HCL so it’ll never work. I then decide (just for fun) to install ESXi 4. Same driver base (I assumed) so I should get the same results.

Well guess what. All 3 adapters work! Properly! So I finished installing it, moved all my workloads to the new ESXi 4 box and proceeded to do the same to the 2nd server. But I HAD to try ESX one more time

On this second, IDENTICAL server, 2 of the NICs worked, not the on-board. Makes no sense to get different results on identically configured, same BIOS rev, same everything. Anyway, I installed ESXi on this box as well and all is good in my lab now.

Better than running trial versions of ESX anyway. I do have a 3rd system that I’ll try to get running with ESX as I’ll need at least one running instance for training…

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Microsoft Certification Part 1

Last time I took a Microsoft certification exam was in 2001, for Windows Server 2000 and Windows Workstation 2000. So I decided to update my certifications to Windows 2008.

Yesterday, I passed exam 70-640 (well actually the new format 83-640) Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, with a score of 933/1000.

The exam had two simulations with 10 tasks to perform in each, plus 30 standard format multiple choice questions.

With that one done, I’m moving on to 70-642

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Collective Soul

This has very little to do with my usual tech posts, but very much to do about my love for music. Like a lot of people, I discovered Collective Soul back in the 90’s. At the time I was living in Vancouver, BC and worked as a service technician on the road, so plenty of time to listen to music. Their music was always playing in my car (along with Garbage and a few select other bands).

In fall 2004, I won tickets to see them live at a radio station event in Montreal. Ed Roland and Joel Kosche played acoustic for the fans. I brought my then 7 year old son along for the ride and he really enjoyed the show. He actually sat on the edge of the stage in front of them We had brought my son’s guitar and they both autographed it. It’s still hanging on his bedroom wall today! (I ended up having to get him a new one, as we didn’t want the signatures to fade away lol).
We never got to meet the rest of the band to have them sign it though…

A year later, we saw them at the Metropolis in Montreal, then I won tickets for a show in Ottawa… I started to feel like I was stalking them lol. They put on a great show everytime!

One of the first songs I learned to play on guitar (and still do) is Shine. Also December and Satellite are in my limited repertoire lol

They have a new album coming out this year and a tour to go with it!

Check out their blog at : http://www.collectivesoul.com/blog/

They are also very active with their fan base! Check out their twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/collective_soul

See you at the show in Montreal guys!

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Photography

I just added a new page to the site, to show off my new found skills at photography Check them out and feel free to comment on either sites (DeviantArt or Flickr) where they are posted! Any input is appreciated.

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vSphere 4.0

Figures… 3 months after I take the VMware 3.5 certification exam, v4.0 comes out!

Oh well. Back to the books! Just wish I could find a good virtualisation mandate… There’s one hovering over my head right now where I’m at but nothing confirmed.

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