Error while running health check script

Error Message: Configuration Issues – HA agent on host in cluster clustername in datacentre has an error : Error while running health check script.


If you get this error message, follow these steps:

• Unconfigure HA 
• wait for it to finish
• Reconfigure HA

ESXi Host Memory Swapping and Balloon not deflating - Solved

I came across an interesting problem where hypervisor's memory was ballooning although there wasn't a memory contention on the host. 


Problem:

Host has 32GB of RAM and provisioned RAM is 20GB, there was absolutely no reason for Memory swapping or Ballooning but when I did SSH and esxtop then 'm' for memory, you can see in the screenshot memory swapping is taking place:

This was confirmed from the VIClient Performance tab as well where 1.5GB  of hypervisor's memory was in used by Baloon drivers.
I've also added screenshot from VKernel vOPS

After going back to basis and checking esxtop again, I found that although MEMSZ  is 2048MB the GRANT memory is 449.11MB this tells me something is wrong with resource allocation.
On checking VM Properties, strangely there is a limit of 512MB on the memory  resources which is not visible in Summary and you can also see from the screenshot memory limit bar wasn't moved or adjusted to 512MB.

You can also run following command (change the VMNAME) to identify the memory size and maximum memory size

egrep "memsize|sched.mem.max" /vmfs/volumes/*/*/VMNAME.vmx | awk -F/ '{print $6}' | more

Solution:

If sched.mem.max is smaller than memsize, the balloon driver can start consuming memory (especially if the guest operating system application has periodic bursts of memory usage). However, this setting can cause the balloon driver to retain its hold on memory. If the guest operating system requires memory that is made unavailable by the balloon driver, the guest operating system starts using swap memory instead, which slows it down considerably.

To force the balloon driver to release its hold on memory and prevent the guest operating system from using swap space, use one of these options:

• Set the value of sched.mem.max to the allocated memory or greater.
• Select the virtual machine's Resources > Memory > Limit > Unlimited box.
• Migrate the virtual machine to another host.

After completing the VMotion check the performace monitor and see memory release from the Balloon drivers and difference in VM performance and VM memory chart.

Possible Cause:

Migrating a virtual machine from ESX 2.x to 3.x or 4.x may cause a carry-over of memory reservation that is smaller than the virtual machine's allocated memory (likely a customer-specific setting).

Auto delete files older than x number of days

Following script is ideal where you want to clear the space from backup repository and keep files created in last x number of day, I've been utilizing this to delete all SQL backup files *.bak from backup repository D:\foldername where anything older than 6 days should be deleted.

Create a batch file  Script.bat and Add it the Scheduled Tasks to run daily/weekly/monthly


forfiles /p "D:\foldername" /m *.bak /s /d -6 /c "cmd /c del @PATH"


Switches used:

/P    pathname
/M    searchmask
/S   recuse and check all the subdirectories
/D    date
Selects files with a last modified date greater than or equal to (+), or less than or equal to (-), the specified date using the "dd/MM/yyyy" format; or selects files with a last modified date greater than or equal to (+) the current date plus "dd" days, or less than or equal to (-) the current date minus "dd" days. A valid "dd"  number of days can be any number in the range of 0 - 32768. "+" is taken as default sign if not specified.


/C    command       Indicates the command to execute for each file.
                    Command strings should be wrapped in double quotes.

                    The default command is "cmd /c echo @file".

                    The following variables can be used in the command string:

                    @file    - returns the name of the file.
                    @fname   - returns the file name without extension.
                    @ext     - returns only the extension of the file.
                    @path    - returns the full path of the file.
                    @relpath - returns the relative path of the file.
                    @isdir   - returns "TRUE" if a file type is a directory, and "FALSE" for files.
                    @fsize   - returns the size of the file in bytes.
                    @fdate   - returns the last modified date of the file.
                    @ftime   - returns the last modified time of the file.

Internal CMD.exe commands should be preceded with "cmd /c".

Active Directory Health Check Script

netdom query fsmo > C:\temp\HealthCheck_FSMO_roles.txt
Dcdiag.exe /v > c:\temp\HealthCheck_dcdiag.txt
Dcdiag.exe /q > c:\temp\HealthCheck_dcdiag_erroronly.txt
Netdiag.exe /v > c:\temp\HealthCheck_Netdiag.txt
Netsh dhcp show server > c:\temp\HealthCheck_dhcp.txt
Repadmin /showreps > c:\temp\HealthCheck_rep_partners.txt
repadmin /replsum /errorsonly > c:\temp\HealthCheck_rep_erroronly.txt

Consolidate Helper- 0

If you are using VSphere 4.x or higher and Veeam Backup & Replication v6 and getting random 'Consolidate Helper- 0' snapshot(s) in snapshot manager, as shown in the screenshot, it is time to upgrade to Veaam Backup & Replication version 6.5. For whatever reason you cannot upgrade to 6.5 or downgrade to 5 then create an alert in VIClietnt Alarms to notify VMs running on snapshot and delete the snapshot manually as soon as you get an alert.

Having couple or more of these Snapshot will massively deteriorate your VMs performance specially if this is on your File, SQL or Exchange server which require high disk read and write IOs. Also not to forget the disk space they consume which carry great risk of bringing your VM(s) to a complete halt and the time it takes to delete them to bring your VMs up and online.

Easy Out Of Office for Exchange 2003, 2007, 2010

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bulkoutofoffice/files/BulkOoO-v4.zip/download

Bulk Out of Office Assistant for Exchange Admins

Download link:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bulkoutofoffice/files/BulkOoO-v4.zip/download
Name: 

Bulk Out Of Office For Exchange 2003 2007 2010 Admins
Description: 

• Handy tool for Ms Exchange Admins that allow:
  

Setup out of office message with just few clicks - No need to 'owa' user's mailbox to setup an Out of Office Message
Create bulk out of office message using a CSV file
Application detects Exchange Servers Names and populate Server Name box for you to select.
Progress bar updates keeps you updated when modifying OoO in bulk
Works on Windows XP, 7, Server 2003, 2008 (Ms Outlook required, see requirement section below)


Requirements:


Microsoft Exchange MAPI Client  (Ms Outlook) 
Microsoft Download Collaboration Data Objects CDO 1.2.1 or higher 

(Not required if you are running BulkOutOfOffice from Exchange Server)



For Outlook 2003 – Enable CDO from Add and Remove Programs

http://j-integra.intrinsyc.com/support/kb/article.aspx?id=113792

For Outlook 2007 – download and install from here

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=3671

For Outlook 2010 – CDO is not provided by Microsoft

Workaround is to uninstall MS Outlook 2010, install CDO and then reinstall MS Outlook 2010


And of course Windows XP, 7, Sever 2003, 2008 

Files:
BulkOoO-v4.exe
gradient-background.jpg
microsoft_office_outlook.ico
microsoft_office_outlook.png 
ExchangeCdo.MSI for Outlook 2007

Sample.csv –(missed during compilation, will be updated soon)

Example of Sample.csv





 


  

  

Mail Server Name

  

  

Mailbox Name or Email Address

  

  

Out Of Office Message

  

  

Enable/Disable

 

  

  

ExchServer1

  

  

testuser1@domain.com

  

  

This Mailbox is no longer monitored
  resend you email to newaddress1@domain.com

  

  

TRUE

 

  

  

ExchServer2

  

  

testuser2

  

  

This Mailbox is no longer monitored
  resend you email to newaddress2@domain.com

  

  

FALSE

 

  

  

MailServer

  

  

xyzuser

  

  

This Mailbox is no longer monitored
  resend you email to newaddress3@domain.com

  

  

TRUE

 

 
Problems:

Bulk Out of Office will freeze if :

Your PC is member of a workgroup
Cannot communicate with the AD and Exchange Servers in your organisation

Automate FTP file copy - Batch Script

To Automate FTP file copy create two files, Import.bat and Script.txt rename to scr when finished editing (Script.scr)

Import.bat

REM @echo off
cd\
C:\



del importedfile
ftp -s:Script.scr
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 4 -w 1000 REM use ping to delay the copy of ftp file
xcopy C:\importedfile   \\destination\share   /Y


Script.scr

open ftpsite
ftp_username
ftp_password
lcd "C:\"
cd ftp_folder
get importedfile
bye

Run Import.bat to fetch importedfile to C: from ftpsite

SQL Flat File Daily Backup Job and Daily Checks script

Backup of MS SQL 2005/2008 Databases from SQL Maintenace job is way easier and quicker when it comes to restoring compared to BackupExec or similar products. 
Also SQL Agent maintains the log of scheduled maintenance task, successes and failures etc.

Following are the steps for creating automated SQL Backup Maintenance job and Batch script to check if your backup has been successful and drop you an email on daily basis
 

Create SQL Backup Maintenance Job
http://www.freetutorialssubmit.com/create-ms-sql-backup-maintenance-plan/1585

 
 Verify backup path and Backup file format


 

Create Batch script to monitor the Backup folders

Create a batch file sqlcheck.bat
  @echo off
FOR /F "TOKENS=1,2 DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('DATE /T') DO SET mm=%%B
FOR /F "TOKENS=2,3 DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('DATE /T') DO SET yyyy=%%B
FOR /F "TOKENS=1 DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('DATE /T') DO SET dd=%%A

set efin=%mm%%dd%%yyyy%
if %dd% LSS 10 set dd=%dd:~-1%
set /A dd=%dd%-1
IF %dd% LSS 10 set dd=0%dd%


if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 01 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=12

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 02 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=01

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 03 (
Set dd=28
Set mm=02

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 04 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=03

)
if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 05 (
Set dd=30
Set mm=04

)
if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 06 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=05

)
if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 07 (
Set dd=30
Set mm=06


)
if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 08 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=07

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 09 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=08

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 10 (
Set dd=30
Set mm=09

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 11 (
Set dd=31
Set mm=10

)

if %dd% equ 00 if %mm% equ 12 (
Set dd=30
Set mm=11

)


set ymd=%yyyy%%mm%%dd%
REM Backup file format Northwind20121217.bak

set y_m_d=%yyyy%_%mm%_%dd% 
REM Backup file format Northwind_2012_12_17.bak
 
:END

REM Examples
dir \\RepositoryServer\d$\backup\*.bak |find "/"
dir \\RepositoryServer\Backup\DatabaseName\*.bak | find "/"
dir \\RepositoryServer\Backup\DatabaseName\*%ymd%*1400.bak | find "/"
dir \\RepositoryServer\Backup\DatabaseName\*%ymd%*.bak | find "/"
dir \\RepositoryServer\Backup\DatabaseName\*%y_m_d%*1400.bak | find "/"

Schedule to run daily and email the report



download BMAIL.exe to email the report


Create second batch file sqlreport.bat to count number of lines to ensure all the databases are backed up and add it to Windows Scheduled Task:


sqlcheck.bat > sqlcheck.txt

REM following will count no of Databases backed up and add on the bottom of the txt file
for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%t in ('dir/b sqlcheck.txt') do (
for /f "tokens=* delims= " %%a in (%%t) do (
set /a N+=1
)
)
@echo ****************************** >> "SQLCheck.txt"
echo Total Backedup files count = !N! >>"SQLCheck.txt"
 
REM 120 are the number of databases my script was checking daily
Set /A p=120-%N%
echo Flat Files missed = %p% >>"SQLCheck.txt"


bmail -s smtpservername -t emailaddress@domain.com -f sendersaddress@domain.com-h -a "SQLCheck" -m SQLCheck.txt -c