Nearly two weeks ago, I wrote a blog post (VMware Horizon View space reclamation fails) about failing space reclamation on automated desktop pools with linked clones. Today I write about the same error, but caused by another problem. In both cases, the error is logged in the View Administrator and the vSphere (Web) Client. On the View Administrator, the following error is shown: “Failed to perform space reclamation on machine COMPUTER NAME in Pool POOL NAME”

A customer notified me, that he observed an issue with the space reclamation on two automated desktop pools with linked clones. His environment is based on Horizon View 6.2.1 and vSphere 5.5U3. The error was logged in the View Administrator and the vSphere (Web) Client. In the View Administrator, the following error was visible: “Failed to perform space reclamation on machine COMPUTER NAME in Pool POOL NAME” [caption id=“attachment_2762” align=“alignnone” width=“1078”] Patrick Terlisten/ www.

VMware vSphere 6 is now an year old and it was time to update my lab to vSphere 6. The update went smooth, and everything has worked as expected. Some days later, I updated the master VM of a small automated desktop pool. I’m using VMware Horizon 6.2.1 in my lab to deploy a small number of Windows 8.1 VMs for tests, administration etc. The recompose of the pool failed during the guest customization.

Yesterday I did an upgrade of my vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 U3 to 6.0 U1. This was the first step to update my lab infrastructure to vSphere 6.0. A bit late, but better late than never. The update of the VCSA itself went smooth. No problems with certificates, hosts, VMs or PernixData FVP. But then, I discovered two errors on the old vSphere C# client (I know that I should use the Web Client…)

Today, I was at a customer to prepare a two node vSphere cluster for some MS SQL server tests. Nothing fancy, just two HP ProLiant BL460c Gen9 blades and two virtual volumes from a HP 3PAR. Each blade had two 400 GB SSDs, two 64 GB M.2 SSDs and a 1 GB MicroSD card. Usually, I install ESXi to a SD card. In this case, a MicroSD card. The SSDs were dedicated for PernixData FVP.

Late last year, I applied a third time for the VMware vExpert program. This title is given from VMware to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community and have spread the message of VMware to customers and partners worldwide. This is nothing you get by passing an exam. It’s given to you by VMware in respect of your work. The vExpert title is something which differates you inside the commnity.

A load balancer is an integral component of (nearly) every VMware Horizon View design. Not only to distribute the connections among a number of connection or security servers, but also to provide high availability in case of a connection or security server failure. Without a load balancer, connection attempts will fail, if a connection or security server isn’t available. Craig Kilborn wrote an excellent article about the different possible designs of load balancing.

Generating a certificate signing request (CSR) is the first step towards a signed certificate. The requests is generated with the applicants private key and consists of the public key, a name and optional attributes. To generate a CSR, you can use tools like OpenSSL on a Linux box, or sometimes the application itself can generate a CSR. But if you have a Windows box, you don’t have OpenSSL by default. And it’s unhandy to install something just for a single CSR.

Moving VMs from an old cluster with old ESXi hosts to a new cluster with new hosts can be so easy, even if the clusters doesn’t share any storage. A PowerCLI one-liner or the Web Client allow you to migrate VMs between hosts and datastores, while the VMs are running. This enhancement was added with vSphere 5.1. I’m often suprised how many customers doesn’t know this feature, just because they are still using the old vSphere C# client.

On December 8, 2015, VMware released VMware ESXi 5.5 patch ESXi550-201512001 (2135410). This patch is known as U3b and it contains general and security fixes, nothing special. Usually, you would install this update without notice. But this time, you should better take a look into the release notes of ESXi 5.5 U3b, before you install this update. This is taken from the release notes: Note: In your vSphere environment, you need to update vCenter Server to vCenter Server 5.