This took me quite a while to track this down so I decided to post a quick article on it.
Symptom: Getting page cannot be displayed errors when attempting to access a virtual machine’s (VM) console while using Safari, Firefox, or Chrome on a mac. This only applies for people using the VCSA (VMware vCenter Server Appliance) and running version 5.5.
Continue reading vSphere 5.5 Client Integration Plug-In on Mac OSX Error
After running an update on my Macbook Pro, my linux VMs stopped allowing me to login and would simply crash. I contacted VMware support and they advised that the update, along with Fusion update 5.02, don’t play very well together due to a graphics driver issue. See the short post: http://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2012/11/macbook-air-and-macbook-pro-update-2-0-and-vmware-fusion-5.html.
The workaround requires that you go into Settings > Display and turn off “Accelerate 3D Graphics”. While this fix works just fine, it hampers your ability to work in the Linux VM due to the fact that you can’t resize the VM’s work area.
Continue reading VMware Fusion 5.02 Linux VM Crashes During Login (Ubuntu)
Apologies to anyone that has tried to comment on my posts. I noticed some apache errors and decided to do some digging.
In an effort to keep commenting as easy as possible but not wade through tons of spam, I was using a wordpress plug-in called WP-Captcha free. It appears that it was breaking the comment section after one of the updates, but was awesome prior to that. I’ve removed it and am trying another now that will only ask you for captcha if Akismet flags the comment as spam.
Happy computing!
I’m not one to jump on the soapbox, well not usually ;), but SOPA/PIPA and other bills written as Anti-Piracy laws really threaten Internet freedoms. Politicians are paying far too much attention to the rights of corporations than they are to the rights of the people and that’s just not right… er… so to say.
Please vote and let politicians that back half-baked bills such as SOPA/PIPA, get it right. Did you know sponsors of SOPA/PIPA only caved in the last hour due to Internet outrage, … koff… Marco Rubio (from what I heard! It may not be true), and don’t really understand the technology or the ramifications of the tech laws that they are attempting to pass.
Rant over. 🙂
This is a quick tip on using a Synology NAS to backup with Time Machine in OSX Lion / Mountain Lion. If you have installed and are running the Synology Antivirus Essentials app, it is advisable to exclude the Time Machine backup location. You can do this by creating and running a ‘custom scan’ instead of running a ‘full scan’. If the antivirus makes any changes to the time machine sparsebundle it will likely cause the backup to become ‘corrupted’ from OSX’s standpoint, which will cause OSX to need to create a full backup again causing the loss of your backup history.
Sophos Antivirus for Mac is a good real-time scanning platform that you can use to protect your OSX based machines and it’s free. http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx
Bit Defender for Mac is also offered in the Mac app store and as with all Bit Defender products I’ve come across offers solid and superior protection. It’s free and can be used to scan your drives, however I did not see the ability to conduct specific items scans or provide live protection.
Good luck and hope this helps someone out.
Specific Error: Time Machine could not not complete the backup, .sparsebundle is already in use
I began backing up my Macbook Pro to my Synology NAS since I didn’t want to lug around an external disk with my laptop. It worked seamlessly for a week until one of a few things happened that caused the backup to fail in mid-backup. I either powered off the system or the system went to sleep during the backup.
Upon restarting the computer, I received an error message when Time Machine once again started to do it’s thing. The message read: Time Machine could not complete the backup, .sparsebundle is already in use. When I searched the error, I found easy solutions for people using an external drive while connected to an Airport Extreme and backing up to a drive attached to that. It involved simply killing the user sessions that were associated with the drive and in a few cases rebooting.
Continue reading Apple Time Machine Backup on Synology NAS Fails
I ran into this error the other night and wanted to make a quick post on it while installing VMware tools into Backtrack Linux.
Unable to create symlink “/etc/cups/ppd/VMware_Virtual_Printer.ppd” pointing to file “/usr/lib/vmware-tools/configurator/thinprint.ppd”.
Execution aborted.
There’s a really quick solution to this. Backtrack (5 R2) has cups installed by default so that’s not the problem, but for some reason the tools can’t create the ppd directory. Create the ppd directory in /etc/cups manually and you should be good-to-go. This occurred with VMware tools 8.8 and the KDE 64-bit build of Backtrack.
Good luck and hope this helps someone get a quick fix.
Can’t ping the domain controller via FQDN while on the internal network? Trouble accessing any of the internal domains that are available via Direct Access while on your internal network?
This is a quick blog post to document an error I encountered that took me a while to figure out, as is typical with errors that are caused by configuration mistakes, yes self-inflicted. In the Microsoft Unified Access Gateway administration documentation for configuring Direct Access (DA), it says 2 things that are extremely important but does not emphasize just how important they are, or the errors that will be encountered if they are not followed.
Your Network Location Server (NLS), which must be able to serve HTTPS requests, is used by your DA clients to determine whether they are on the internal network, this site must not and cannot be accessible through DA or any other means from outside your network, so make sure the HTTPS resource is NOT something you need to access from external networks. If your clients can access the NLS then they will not attempt a DA connection. If they cannot access the server, then they will attempt a DA connection. There are a few key points to this server that also cannot be overlooked.
Continue reading Direct Access Computers Can’t Ping Domain Controller on Internal Network?
I’ve been using internally generated SSL certificates for testing and publishing, as most developers, IT pros, and DIY people have, and though it works, it can be a little frustrating when dealing with CRLs and OCSP Responders if you don’t want to receive warnings from browsers and applications about them being untrusted. For public facing sites, there’s a vendor that is now providing free certificates and an excellent toolbox for managing them.
Read on for more info or take the link: https://www.startssl.com.
Continue reading Free SSL Certificates for Public Domains and Sub-Domains via StartSSL
I recently found a feature that allows you to quickly migrate the management network from a Distributed Virtual Switch (dvSwitch) to a vStandard Switch (vSwitch). It’s really simple actually. Just log on to a host physically or via iLO, not through the vSphere Client, and select “Restore Standard Switch”.
Continue reading vSphere: Migrate Management Network from dvSwitch to vStandard Switch
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