Gnome disable screen power off on lockscreen

Hi, a quick tip today. To keep screen on while lockscreen is activated you must disable DPMS. do it by typing in console:

xset -dpms

Because this setting is only active during current session, you must put it to some startup script. I have my scripts in ~/.config

I use gnome-session-properties for configuring startup scripts. 

I even registered to gnome bugzilla to suggest this workaround. Strange, that all those Linux gurus didn't found out this solution, me, Windows guy, had to do it ;)

VCAP - DCA 5.5 thoughts

Today I took VCAP - DCA 5.5 exam. And I passed :)

So now I'm officially:

Few thoughts about this exam, maybe someone will find it usefull:

- Many people already mentioned that. Time is your worst enemy. I wasn't able to do few questions, because time ran out.
- Because of that, don't spend too much time on one question. Do whatever you can and move along.
- Pay attention to question and required servers you're supposed to work on.
- Expect typos in naming, questions. Be intelligent.
- There is no option to "mark" question for review at the end. So if you want to read questions from beggining of the exam, be ready to click "previous","previous","previous"... It takes time, which you don't have. So either remember things you have to do or write it down.
- Yeah, it's slow... connection I mean, don't freak out if you'll loose connection for a short while (happened to me).


Generally, if you have an experience you'll pass it. Just watch this timer....

Static teaming causes packet lost on HP BL460c gen 8 with virtual connect

A quickie today. We had problems with packet lost on Windows Server 2012 R2 servers. It turned out that Virtual Connect doesn't support "Static" and "LACP" teaming modes, only "Switch independent".

Changing teaming mode resolved our issue.

Deploying multiple VMs fails with error "Error caused by file /vmfs/volumes/datastore_id/path_to/source.vmdk" on ESXi 5.5 u2

I've been puzzled over this issue for quite a long time.

Customer has some cloud solution on top of vSphere 5.5 u2 and deploying/cloning multiple VMs from template/VM fails with an error:

"Error caused by file /vmfs/volumes/datastore_id/path_to/source.vmdk".

This errors shown in vSphere client during "Apply Storage DRS recommendation".

I was able to replicate this behaviour with simple PowerCli script:

$vmquantity = 5
$template = Get-vm -Name "template_vm"
$dsclu = Get-DatastoreCluster -Name DS_clu1_foo
$clu = Get-Cluster -Name Clu1_foo
$vmlocation = Get-Folder -Name Folder_foo


1..$vmquantity |ForEach-Object {
$vmname = "testVM$_"

New-VM -ResourcePool $clu -Name $vmname -Datastore $dsclu -Location $vmlocation -VM $template -RunAsync 
}

Key here is "RunAsync" parameter, only then problem occur.

I did a lot of unnecessary steps, like disabling VAAI, changing datastore and storage controller queues, without success.

Simple solution resolved this issue: deleting ctk.vmdk file of source VM/template fixed the problem. Also, make sure that .vmx or .vmtx files doesn't have any reference to deleted files.

There is some VMware KB with this solution but it is not related to the error I was getting.VMware should update their KB's because solution was hard to find.

Update:

I noticed that backups also are affected by this (at least TSM backup can be), that is snapshots are not created and as a result backup fails. Deleting ctk file can help here also.

Powershell ISE usefull keyboard shortcuts

Here they are, why I forget them all the time is beyond me.

Ctrl + T - opens new PowerShell session in new tab.

Ctrl + Space - runs intellisense against typed text

Ctrl + J - allows to insert predefined code to your script

Ctrl + R - shows/hides script pane (maximizes console view)

Ctrl + I - goes t othe script pane

Ctrl  +D - goes to console pane

Ctrl + G - Go to line

F8 - executes one line on cursor position

F5 - executes whole script

Flex System x240 M5 PXE not booting

Hello, today I stumbled upon another problem. x240 M5 compute node did't start from PXE.
On pxe server I had tftp error:

tftp: client does not accept options

Problem wasn't on PXE server side, it was compute node configuration issue, more precisely - NIC config. So to resolve it one has to do following:

1. Log in to server's IMM (you can't do it from chassis CMM, it needs to be done from IMM) and go to Server Management --> Adapters.

2.   Next, select you ethernet adapter. In my case it is Flex System EN4172 2 port 10 Gbit Ethernet Adapter

3. Go to configuration tab and under "MBA Configuration Menu" change "Legacy Boot protocol" from NONE to PXE.

4. Reboot the node, it should now boot from PXE if you have legacy mode enabled*.


(maybe it'll work with UEFI also, but didn't veriy it)

Update: I checked and it doesn't work with UEFI...

Windows 8.1/Server 2012 (R2) classic Start Menu

Windows 8.1/Server 2012(R2) has some sort of classic Start Menu built-in.

Well, it's not a GUI thing, it's just a folder with all standard shortcuts, similar to "All Programs" menu in Windows 7.

How to get it?

1. Right click your taskbar and Toolbars -> New toolbar
2. In Select Folder windows nawigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and click "Select Folder"

That's it! Now you have "Start Menu" on your taskbar.