VMware VMotion Issue: Host CPU is incompatible with the virtual machine’s requirements at CPUID level 0x1 register ‘ecx’.

I tried to vMotion without shared storage and I was getting this error. VMware VMotion Issue: Host CPU is incompatible with the virtual machine’s requirements at CPUID level 0x1 register ‘ecx’.  I tried this option and it didn't work. https://usefulglyphs.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/vmware-vmotion-issue-host-cpu-is-incompatible-with-the-virtual-machines-requirements-at-cpuid-level-0x1-register-ecx/#comment-1929

Then I noticed its VMware Hardware version was 8 and all of my other VMs that worked were version 9. Turns out hardware version 9 is required to vMotion.

To upgrade the version to 9 modify the VM using the vSphere Web and chose any version greater then 8. There is an option to upgrade VM version on next reboot. Select that and reboot the VM. Now you can vMotion across servers without shared storage.

Citrix Access Gateway VPX 5.0.4 with Citrix Receiver 3.1

I was able to setup Citrix Access Gateway VPX 5.0.4 using Webinterface 5.4. Using the following link: http://blog.benpiper.com/2011/07/deploying-citrix-access-gateway-vpx-with-web-interface-5-4-cag-setup-with-radius/

I wanted to be able for my iPhone, Android phone, or Citrix Receiver 3.1 to access my applications as well. So I created the following directions. This is for XenDesktop 5.5 and XenApp 6.5

Note: This document assumes you have setup a SSL certificate from a trusted certificate authority on your Citrix Access Gateway.

First you need to create a new XenApp Services Site. Log onto the server that has Citrix Web Interface installed. Now create a new XenApp Services Site:

Click Next then Click Next Again and Next Again. You will get a Creating Site progress window. Then you will see a Finished screen. Click next to specify initial configuration:

Enter your farm name and enter the servers in the farm. Click Next select the resource type you will use. I am using Online. Click Next. Then Click Finish.

Now click on your new site and click Secure Access to edit your secure access settings.

Change it to Gateway Direct and click next

Enter your Citrix Access Gateway Fully Qualified Domain Name and click next.

Enter your Citrix server that has secure ticket authority running. This could be your XenDesktop Delivery Controller.

Click Finished. Now the basic settings are setup on your web interface. Time to configure your Citrix Access Gateway.


Login into the admin section of your Citrix Access Gateway

Create a new login Point. Call it whatever you want I called it Receiver. Change Type to Basic and then check the box authenticate with Web Interface. Now click on Website Configuration.

Now enter the web interface address of your webinterface and the new XenApp Services Sites url.
You must create the /PNAgent and the PNAgent/config.xml for it to work.
Click Save then Click Save Again.
Now click on “XenApp or XenDesktop”.

Enter the IP Address Range of your XenApp and XenDesktop servers. You will need to create a ICA and Session reliability rule for each range of IPs.

Once you are done click on “Secure Ticket Authority”

Enter the fully qualified domain name for your Citrix server that has the Secure Ticket Authority running on it. You can use your XenDesktop 5.5 desktop delivery controller. Click ok now you are done with with Citrix Access Gateway configuration.

Next is to configure the Citrix Client. I opened up my Citrix Receiver and clicked Add Account

You can call this account anything you want. Enter the URL of your Citrix Access Gateway then add http/ and your Citrix  Web Interface URL pointing to the new XenAPp Services Site you just created. See Example below.

https://cag.test.com/http/wi.test.com/Citrix/PNAgentExt/config.xml

Enabling Windows 7 Look and Feel on XenApp 6.5

To enable the Windows 7 look and feel on XenApp 6.5 go to this link and follow the directions.

http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp65-admin/ps-csp-win7-desktop-experience.html

• You will first need to enable PowerShell execution policy on the server to be AllSigned.
• Run PowerShell as an administrator.
• Run this command to find the execution policy set on the server:
• Get-ExecutionPolicy
• If it is set to restricted run this command:
• Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned
• For more information about PowerShell execution policy check out this link:
• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176949.asp
• Run the script %Program Files (x86)%\Citrix\App Delivery Setup\CtxManagedDesktopGPO.ps1
• This will create the GPO policies 
• Assign the users/servers you want to each of the GPOs. The GPOs are below. The only policy I didn't use was the CtxRestrictedUser.

• CtxStartMenuTaskbarUser enables the Windows 7 look and feel for published desktops. It also changes the pinned shortcuts on the Taskbar and configures the user's Start menu to match the Windows 7 environment. This GPO includes a script that executes when a user logs on to the server for the first time. To ensure the script executes correctly, the PowerShell execution policy on the server must be set to AllSigned.
• CtxPersonalizableUser configures the user account that is accessing the XenApp server. It configures Windows policies to limit the available Control Panel applets and restricts users from installing programs, viewing properties, scheduling tasks, or shutting down the server.
• CtxRestrictedUser includes most of the policies from the CtxPersonalizableUser GPO. Additionally, this GPO configures the Desktop wallpaper policy to prevent users from personalizing their desktops and prevents users from modifying settings for the Start menu and Taskbar. I didn't end up using this policy.
• CtxRestrictedComputer configures certain restrictions on the XenApp servers allocated to the tenant. This GPO restricts users from accessing Windows Update or removable server drives. Assign this to your XenApp Servers.

Windows 8

Windows 8 is now available for download here.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

I have downloaded and installed it on a Dell Latitude L13N. I tried the 32bit edition. The laptop has a Intel Celeron M 743. Which is 1.3 GHZ fast and 2GB of RAM. Windows 8 installed pretty quick.The best part is I didn't have to install any drivers on the laptop. The wireless card and the volume up and down buttons on the keyboard all worked. 

I have been playing with the new UI and I think it would work good on a tablet. Everything is bigger so it would work better with a touch screen including the control panel. I find the UI slightly cumbersome for use with a touchpad. Maybe because I am not use to it. I also need to learn the new gestures for Windows 8. 

I am tempted to install this on a Acer Windows 7 tablet and see how much more touch friendly Windows 8 is over Windows 7.

Some features that has me excited is Windows 8 support from booting on a USB key. I can see this being very handy once USB 3.0 becomes widespread, where you can take your "Computer" with you wherever you are. The other feature I like is the new task manager. It shows all processes running and how much disk, CPU, memory, and network usage it using. Microsoft has merged all the cool features of Resource Manager into the Task Manager. 

If you want to see pretty screen shots of the installation of Windows 8 go here:

http://mikefrobbins.com/2011/09/15/installation-of-the-windows-8-developer-preview/

How to install Windows 8 in VMware Workstation 8 go here:

http://vninja.net/virtualization/installing-windows-8-developer-preview-in-vmware-workstation-8/

A more in depth review can be found here:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-8-unveiled/3953?tag=content;siu-container

Backup Academy

I am proud to announce I am now Backup Academy Certified. The website has 8 videos you watch then you can take a test and get Backup Academy Certified. The video are good refresher on some VMware and Hyper-V backup techniques. The website is put on by Veeam but the videos don't try to sell you Veeam products. Head over to Backup Academy and watch some videos.

The Videos are:

1. Why virtual machine backups are different
   David Davis (vExpert, CCIE, VCAP)
2. Core technologies used for virtual machine backup
   Eric Siebert (vExpert)
3. Disaster recovery of VMware workloads
   David Davis (vExpert, CCIE, VCAP)
4. Backing up enterprise applications: Transaction consistency is key
Elias Khnaser (vExpert)
5. Restore capabilities of VMware backups
   Eric Siebert (vExpert)
6. VMware backup integrity tools
   Eric Siebert (vExpert)
7. Best practices for VMware backups
   Rick Vanover (MCITP, vExpert, VCP)
8. Best practices for Hyper-V backups
   Greg Shields (MVP, vExpert)

Backup Academy

Mapping Outgoing Calls to a FXO Card on Cisco 2821

If you want to setup a 1 to 1 mapping from a analog line to a extension using FXO cards in a Cisco 2821 using Call Manager Express CME, you will need to use dial peers and translation profiles. The client had about 10 analog lines coming into their 2821 router. Each line has its own phone number and they wanted to make sure the caller id was showing the persons extension. They were originally using a pool of lines and they would get whatever line was free when they made a outgoing call. The problem is the caller id would show up as the number they were dialing out of from the pool and not their phone number. The solution was to setup 1 to 1 mapping for outgoing calls to their specific line.

I tried using this documentation from Cisco:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk652/tk90/technologies_configuration_example09186a00801bc341.shtml
But it didn't work because Call Manager Express was automatically creating dial-peers for a specific answer address and you can't change them.

I ended up assigning a translation profile and rule on the phone. So when you dial 9555124 it dials 195551234 and the dial peer sees the 19 in front of a number and drops the 19 and dials out the specific line the dial peer is assigned to. You can see an example of my commands below. Just make sure your dial peers don't end up dialing internal numbers.

This takes incoming calls from this port and routes them to the specific internal extension.

voice-port 0/0/0
 connection plar opx 1234
 description John Doe
 caller-id enable
!



You will need to assign a translation profile to the phone.

ephone-dn  12  dual-line
 number 1234
 label 1234
 description John Doe
 name John Doe
 call-forward busy 602
 call-forward noan 602 timeout 10
 translation-profile incoming Phone1
 hold-alert 30 originator
!



This assigns the translation profile from the phone to a outgoing translation rule.

voice translation-profile Phone1
 translate called 1
!




You will need to create a translation rule. This one takes an number that is dialed with a 9 in the beginning and replaces it with a 19.

voice translation-rule 1 
 rule 1 /^9/ /19/ 
!

This will take the 19T dial pattern and dial out on this specific port.

dial-peer voice 19 pots

 description 1234

 destination-pattern 19T

 port 0/0/0

!

I would like to add that using 1 to 1 mappings for users do have its disadvantages. You only get one analog line per use so they can't conference in multiple people unless their service provider supports it. Also you have to have a analog line for every person and a phone number for any extension that wants to make outgoing calls. You can setup a pool of outgoing analog lines and share that with people who don't need a caller ID to show up as their specific line. You can have your phone company make the caller id look the same for the pool of numbers. The real solution is to get a PRI or partial PRI. This way you can set your caller ID to the extension and it will show up when you dial out. Doesn't matter what port the call is using since you are providing the caller id on the outgoing call.

Citrix XenApp 6 Video Performance Issues

I was having Citrix XenApp 6 performance issues on published desktops while playing video with HDX Flash Redirect disabled. Also using a Wyse Xenith the performance was awful. After checking everything twice and making sure progressive display was enabled. I was still getting bad performance. While watching a video in full screen I was experiencing 1 frame every second if that. I thought there might of been a issue with Citrix XenApp running on top of VMware vSphere ESXi 4.1 Update 1. Currently I allocated 4 VCPUs and 8GB of RAM to each of my Citrix XenApp servers.

I decided to install XenApp 6 on a physical server and create a new desktop group to test against. On the physical server the performance was great. I couldn't figure out what was going on so I looked at the settings of each of the deployed virtual desktops. On the physical desktop under Advanced Settings Audio Settings, the box Enable Legacy Audio was checked. I checked the box on the desktop group running on the virtual servers and the performance was great.

So the moral of the story is if your performance on Citrix XenApp 6 sucks for video and flash make sure the Enable Legacy Audio is enabled on your Published Desktop.