Server will not shut down
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
It might not be the issue, but it's a place to start.
Seems legit, lol.
I've done set ups using the iSCSI initiator before (I have two of them running here now -- Failover Clusters) and never had any problems at all. So something in this setup is the issue.
It has to work "most of the time" or they couldn't even include it. But like a lot of things in the Windows storage ecosystem (which includes Dynamic Disks, DFS and Software RAID), the iSCSI components are weak and fragile and can cause lots of issues. This is why companies like @StarWind_Software have taken the time to rewrite and replace those components for enterprise use because the built in ones just aren't up to the task. And now that Windows is "always" run as a VM and the standard pattern is using the SAN to the hypervisor, Microsoft has no reason to fix or improve what is included any longer. So now it is stagnating, as well.
I've never tried Windows with iSCSI setup and cloned. I'm wondering if cloning iSCSI is part of the issue.
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
It might not be the issue, but it's a place to start.
Seems legit, lol.
I've done set ups using the iSCSI initiator before (I have two of them running here now -- Failover Clusters) and never had any problems at all. So something in this setup is the issue.
It has to work "most of the time" or they couldn't even include it. But like a lot of things in the Windows storage ecosystem (which includes Dynamic Disks, DFS and Software RAID), the iSCSI components are weak and fragile and can cause lots of issues. This is why companies like @StarWind_Software have taken the time to rewrite and replace those components for enterprise use because the built in ones just aren't up to the task. And now that Windows is "always" run as a VM and the standard pattern is using the SAN to the hypervisor, Microsoft has no reason to fix or improve what is included any longer. So now it is stagnating, as well.
I've never tried Windows with iSCSI setup and cloned. I'm wondering if cloning iSCSI is part of the issue.
I would use it if it worked badly. But it does work, and in my experience, when it works, it works well... Or it works so badly that it's not even usable.
We're actually talking about the iSCSI stuff being in the clone now. We'll see what boss says when we all get back from lunch.
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
I would use it if it worked badly. But it does work, and in my experience, when it works, it works well... Or it works so badly that it's not even usable.
That could be what's happening here
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Yeah i was wondering if the cloned ISCSI stuff was the problem as well.
Does each VM get it's own LUN on the SAN?
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
I would use it if it worked badly. But it does work, and in my experience, when it works, it works well... Or it works so badly that it's not even usable.
That could be what's happening here
I'd expect nothing less from Microsoft. However, it would seem that our master image works flawlessly... So we'll still blame Microsoft, lol.
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
I would use it if it worked badly. But it does work, and in my experience, when it works, it works well... Or it works so badly that it's not even usable.
That could be what's happening here
I'd expect nothing less from Microsoft. However, it would seem that our master image works flawlessly... So we'll still blame Microsoft, lol.
I would expect the master to work, but i was wondering, did you sysprep the master, then run through the mini config and it's still working?
If yes, I wonder if there is some sort of hardware ID associated with ISCSI that needs to be unique to each machine, and if the master is online, then the clones won't work? just a thought.
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@Dashrender said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
I would use it if it worked badly. But it does work, and in my experience, when it works, it works well... Or it works so badly that it's not even usable.
That could be what's happening here
I'd expect nothing less from Microsoft. However, it would seem that our master image works flawlessly... So we'll still blame Microsoft, lol.
I would expect the master to work, but i was wondering, did you sysprep the master, then run through the mini config and it's still working?
If yes, I wonder if there is some sort of hardware ID associated with ISCSI that needs to be unique to each machine, and if the master is online, then the clones won't work? just a thought.
Yeah. The master has been offline the whole time while we are tinkering. I thought you may be onto something for a minute, but alas, the IQN (initiator name) does change with the system after it has been cloned & sysprepped.
I just tested it... it changes with the hostname if you don't set one yourself.
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Well, it turns out the fix was much easier than I anticipated. Not 100% certain, but we have at least one VM that is now cooperating with us, whereas before we had none.
It's one of those I feel stupid things... Both NICs are on the same subnet. So all we had to do was manually set the Metric for each interface, and then everything magically started working.
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@dafyre can you follow up with all of the details
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
Got an oddball problem here... We are working on setting up several VM clones for a project here. Each VM will be connected to the same shared storage via iSCSI.
Under the hood, right? Via the datastore, not iSCSI connecting to the OS inside of the VM, right?
Here is the post where I got the idea of what was wrong, but was confirming details as to what the issue was @Dashrender
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
I've never tried Windows with iSCSI setup and cloned. I'm wondering if cloning iSCSI is part of the issue.
And here is where I suggested the cloning issues two posts before @Dashrender
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
So now on the cloned systems, they boot up, and run painfully slow. And then when we tell them to reboot, they actually will sit there and never reboot, but they'll be stuck at "Restarting", like it's about to reboot... but it never does.
Anybody have any ideas that I can check?
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
I've never tried Windows with iSCSI setup and cloned. I'm wondering if cloning iSCSI is part of the issue.
And here is where I suggested the cloning issues two posts before @Dashrender
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@MattSpeller said in Server will not shut down:
Double entendre much?
I try for the coveted triple but I'll always take a solid double.
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@MattSpeller said in Server will not shut down:
@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@MattSpeller said in Server will not shut down:
Double entendre much?
I try for the coveted triple but I'll always take a solid double.
Two in a row, sir. I tip my hat.
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@scottalanmiller said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre can you follow up with all of the details
Well... You asked for it... takes deep breath
TL;DR: Don't Add iSCSI Devices in the iSCSI initiator in Windows before sysprepping.
So we did finally figure out what happened. Apparently, when you sysprep a system, it deletes device drivers, and it does something to screw up the iSCSI initiator to the point that it simply won't work.
Workaround is to set up the VM the way you want it, and then sysprep it.... then add iSCSI settings after the machine has been cloned successfully.
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
Workaround is to set up the VM the way you want it, and then sysprep it.... then add iSCSI settings after the machine has been cloned successfully.
Workaround, yes, industry best practice - yeah not so much.
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@Dashrender said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
Workaround is to set up the VM the way you want it, and then sysprep it.... then add iSCSI settings after the machine has been cloned successfully.
Workaround, yes, industry best practice - yeah not so much.
Preaching to the choir, man. VMware is my boss's baby. I go in and start making changes, and I'd find myself neck deep in... well, you get the idea.
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@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
@Dashrender said in Server will not shut down:
@dafyre said in Server will not shut down:
Workaround is to set up the VM the way you want it, and then sysprep it.... then add iSCSI settings after the machine has been cloned successfully.
Workaround, yes, industry best practice - yeah not so much.
Preaching to the choir, man. VMware is my boss's baby. I go in and start making changes, and I'd find myself neck deep in... well, you get the idea.
She needs to trust her baby more. The issue here, kinda, is that there was a distrust for VMware and the best practice approach and instead trust was put on Microsoft and the anti-pattern approach.
