User’s Guide Lab Manager 2.5.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Revision: 20071129 Item: VLM-ENG-Q407-359 You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on our Web site at http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com © 2007 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Protected by one or more of U.S. Patent Nos.
Contents About This Book 9 1 Introducing Lab Manager 13 Lab Manager Components 14 Lab Manager Benefits and Features 15 Using Lab Manager with VirtualCenter Management Server 16 Enabling High Availability for Lab Manager Server 17 2 Getting Started with Lab Manager 19 Setting Internet Explorer Options 20 Accessing the Lab Manager Console 20 Reviewing the Lab Manager User Interface 21 Default Landing Page 21 Specific Areas and Operations 23 Interface Features 24 Mouseover Menus 24 Breadcrumb Titles 24 Tex
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Changing IP or MAC Addresses 34 Setting Up Remote Desktop Connections 36 Taking Snapshots and Reverting the Snapshots 37 Inserting CDs 37 Ejecting CDs 38 Swapping CDs 38 Inserting Floppy Disks 39 Ejecting Floppy Disks 39 Swapping Floppy Disks 40 Adding Virtual Hard Disks to Virtual Machines (Templates) Adding SCSI Virtual Hard Disks 41 Editing Virtual Machine Properties 42 Reviewing the Properties List 43 Consolidating Virtual Machines 45 40 4 Working with Machine Template
Contents Changing Shared Templates to Private Templates 74 Exporting Templates 75 Consolidating Templates 76 Editing Template Properties 76 Deleting Templates 80 Deleting Published Templates After Managed Server Failure 80 5 Working with Configurations 81 About Configurations 82 Accessing Configurations 82 Reviewing Configuration Operations 84 Summary of Configuration Operations 85 Summary of Configuration States and Attributes 87 Creating Configurations 87 IP Address Assignment for Virtual Machines 89 A
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Synchronizing Lab Manager with Media Storage 109 Deleting Media from the Library 110 Sharing Media Files 110 Changing Shared Media Files to Private Files 110 Editing Media Properties 111 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 113 Monitoring Lab Manager 114 Monitoring the Activity Log 114 Monitoring the Server Pool 115 Monitoring Deployed Machines 116 Managing Users 118 Setting User Preferences 118 Defaults Tab 118 Password Tab 120 Viewing Users 121 Adding New Users 122
Contents Reviewing Additional Storage Server Operations 145 Configuring Network Settings 146 Viewing Network Settings 146 Reviewing the Settings tab 146 Reviewing the IP Pool Tab 147 Understanding IP Address Management 148 Adding IP Addresses to the Lab Manager IP Pool 148 Removing IP Addresses from the Lab Manager IP Pool 149 Configuring Lab Manager Settings 149 Accessing Lab Manager Settings 149 Reviewing the General Tab 150 Server Preferences 150 LDAP Preferences 152 Email Preferences 152 Default User P
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Permanent Failure of Managed Server Occurs 173 Temporary Failure of Managed Server Occurs (Reboot or Turn Off) 174 Temporary Failure of Managed Server Occurs (Networking) 175 A Client and Browser Support 177 B Guest Operating System Support 181 C Network Fencing 185 Why Should I Fence Configurations? 186 How Does Fencing Work? 186 Fencing Options 188 Processor Type Incompatibility 191 Viewing Virtual Switches for Fences 191 Reviewing Additional Fencing Operations 192 D Ext
About This Book The VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide provides detailed information about the VMware Lab Manager system and its components, commands, operations, configuration, and user interface. Intended Audience The guide is intended for experienced developers and testers of software applications.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Conventions Table 1 illustrates the typographic conventions used in this manual. Table 1.
About This Book Online and Telephone Support Use online support to submit technical support requests, view your product and contract information, and register your products. Go to http://www.vmware.com/support. Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on priority 1 issues. Go to http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html. Support Offerings Find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs. Go to http://www.vmware.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 12 VMware, Inc.
1 Introducing Lab Manager 1 VMware Lab Manager provides a robust solution for managing virtual machines in a test lab. Lab Manager does not assume extensive knowledge of virtualization and allows software developers and QA engineers to quickly provision, share, and tear down multimachine test cases or configurations. Specifically, Lab Manager streamlines the setup, capture, storage, and sharing of multimachine software configurations in virtualized environments.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager Components Lab Manager servers” collectively refers to the Lab Manager Server system, Managed Server systems, and storage servers. Figure 1‐1 illustrates the components of Lab Manager. Figure 1-1.
Chapter 1 Introducing Lab Manager Lab Manager client user – Clients who can use the Lab Manager Web console and the Lab Manager SOAP API. You can access the Lab Manager Web console with Internet Explorer or Firefox. Lab Manager Web console – The browser‐based console that enables management for all testing activities, regardless of physical location. You can access this component using standard HTTP protocols.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Self‐help – Allows engineers to individually create, set up, and tear down configurations without relying on IT. Outsourcing and distributed development – Allows geographically dispersed teams to work on the same machines and configurations over the Internet. Review these specific features: Templates – Create new, fully configured virtual machines in seconds. Configurations – Run, manage, and monitor multiple configurations simultaneously.
Chapter 1 Introducing Lab Manager Enabling High Availability for Lab Manager Server To take advantage of VMware HA, VMware DRS, or VMware VMotion, install the Lab Manager Server component on a virtual machine rather than a physical system. VMware, Inc.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 18 VMware, Inc.
2 Getting Started with Lab Manager 2 To get started with Lab Manager, you can become familiar with the main elements, operations, and navigation of the Lab Manager Web console. This chapter covers these topics: “Setting Internet Explorer Options” on page 20 “Accessing the Lab Manager Console” on page 20 “Reviewing the Lab Manager User Interface” on page 21 “Reviewing the General Workflow in Lab Manager” on page 25 VMware, Inc.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Setting Internet Explorer Options Review the requirements for client user machines in the VMware Lab Manager Installation Guide. When accessing the Lab Manager Web console with IE, make sure to enable the proper browser settings. To set IE options for machines accessing the Web console 1 Open the Control Panel from the desktop and click Add or Remove Programs. If you are using a Windows platform other than Windows 2003, proceed to Step 4.
Chapter 2 Getting Started with Lab Manager 3 To connect to a Lab Manager Server system, go to https:///. NOTE The first time you access the console, an SSL warning might appear. To avoid this warning, use fully qualified domain names or ask your administrator for more information. To add the certificate to your trusted certificate list, click View Certificate in the IE SSL alert, and click Install Certificate.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide The Performance Summary column includes these statistics: Total Slots – Number of reserved spaces across all virtual machines on the Managed Server systems. Slots Used – Number of deployed machines. Slots Available – Difference between Total Slots and Slots Used. Maximum Memory – Physical memory of the Managed Server systems. Total Deployments Over Time – Sum of all deployed virtual machines since the installation of Lab Manager.
Chapter 2 Getting Started with Lab Manager Specific Areas and Operations The Lab Manager Web console includes these specific areas and operations: Overview – Provides information on performance, support, documentation, and tutorials. You can specify whether to make the Workspace page the default landing page of the console.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Server Pool – (Administrators) Shows deployed machines, available slots, types of machines, and activities for Managed Server systems. Deployed Machines – (Administrators) Presents details on the virtual machines, configurations, IP addresses, Managed Server systems, and deployment. You can navigate to individual consoles.
Chapter 2 Getting Started with Lab Manager Using the mouseover menu to the left of the field, you can filter across all columns on the page or within a specific column. NOTE The filter text search does not recognize wildcards. If you enter a traditional wildcard, such as an asterisk (*), this function performs a literal search for an asterisk symbol. Column Sorting Most pages in Lab Manager present data in tables. You can sort the data in each column in ascending or descending order.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 26 VMware, Inc.
3 Working with Virtual Machines 3 A virtual machine is a simulated computer environment running a guest operating system and associated application software. Virtual technology allows a “host” server to run multiple virtual machines concurrently and isolate each virtual machine in a self‐contained environment. Lab Manager enables you to create virtual machines from machine templates and to create configurations composed of multiple virtual machines.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Accessing Virtual Machines From the Lab Manager Web console, you can navigate to individual virtual machine consoles and perform a range of operations. See “Accessing a Virtual Machine Console for the First Time” on page 29. For details on accessing a virtual machine console of the sample template (ttylinux‐4‐ESX3()) or configuration (Sample 1) packaged with Lab Manager, see the VMware Lab Manager Installation Guide.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines To access all virtual machines in a configuration 1 In the left pane, click Workspace. 2 If the configuration is undeployed, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Deploy from the menu. See “Deploy Options” on page 91 and “Deploy with Defaults Option” on page 92. 3 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Show Consoles from the menu. 4 Click in the console to work with the guest operating system.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 5 Click Install Now. 6 Close the dialog box and click the refresh button in the Lab Manager page. For some versions of Firefox, you might have to restart the browser. The virtual machine console is ready for use. Reviewing the Virtual Machine Console Page Review the elements of the virtual machine console page: Fencing – If the virtual machine uses Lab Manager network fencing, the internal and external IP addresses appear at the upper‐left corner of the page.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Revert Point – Displays a thumbnail icon of the last snapshot point. Remoting Tools – Displays tools to set up a Remote Desktop Connection for the virtual machine. Changing the Console Display Size You can change the size of a virtual machine console as you would for a physical machine. To change a virtual machine console size (Windows) 1 From the virtual machine console, open the Control Panel. 2 Double‐click Display.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Summary of Virtual Machine Operations Table 3‐1 summarizes the operation options for virtual machines. For information on related operations involving templates and configurations, see Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. . Table 3-1. Virtual Machine Operations Operation Add to Templates Description Creates a machine template from this virtual machine. NOTE: Depending on your Lab Manager settings, this option may only be available to administrators.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Table 3-1. Virtual Machine Operations (Continued) Operation Description Reset Restarts the virtual machine and clears the machine state. This operation is the equivalent of resetting a physical computer and does not shut down the guest operating system. If a boot image is not available in peripheral storage, the virtual machine boots off the virtual hard disk. Resume Resumes the operation of a suspended virtual machine.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Summary of Virtual Machine States Table 3‐2 summarizes the nontransitory states of virtual machines. Table 3-2. Virtual Machine States (Nontransitory) State On Description Virtual machine is deployed and running on the Managed Server system. You can see the thumbnail icon of the virtual machine console. Off Virtual machine is deployed (registered on the Managed Server system) but not running. Suspended Virtual machine processor is frozen.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines 3 If the virtual machine is deployed, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Undeploy ‐ Save State or Undeploy ‐ Discard State from the menu. NOTE For virtual machines that are turned off, you can only choose Undeploy, because there is no state information to save or discard. 4 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Properties from the menu.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide For Linux machines: a Log in as root. b Use the ifconfig -a command to retrieve the IP address of the machine and the name of the Ethernet Card Identifier. c Use the ifconfig command to change the IP address: ifconfig netmask Refer to this example: ifconfig eth0 10.10.10.10 netmask 255.255.0.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Taking Snapshots and Reverting the Snapshots After deploying a virtual machine, you can take a snapshot and revert the virtual machine to that snapshot at a later time. The snapshot is a captured virtual machine state at a specific point in time. Lab Manager stores snapshots persistently with the virtual machine image. If you undeploy a virtual machine and deploy it, the snapshot remains. NOTE Only one snapshot for a virtual machine is active at a time.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To insert a CD into a virtual machine 1 From the virtual machine console window (see page 28), move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Insert CD from the menu. 2 Specify the information for the ISO image: a Select an ISO file from the media library. VMware recommends putting your ISO image files in the default \\VMwareLM\ISO directory created during installation. Images in this directory are automatically populated to the Media Library list.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Inserting Floppy Disks You can upload data (for example, drivers) to a template from the media library. During the Insert Floppy operation available from the individual console of a template or configuration, you can access the floppy files in the media library. For more information on media and floppy file names, see “Working with Media” on page 107.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Swapping Floppy Disks After inserting a floppy disk to a virtual machine, you can eject the floppy disk and insert another with the Swap Floppy command. To swap floppy disks in a virtual machine 1 From the virtual machine console window, move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Swap Floppy from the menu. 2 Specify the floppy image as if you are inserting a floppy disk. See “Inserting Floppy Disks” on page 39, starting with Step 2.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines 4 Move the pointer over the virtual machine name and choose Properties from the menu. To add virtual hard disks 1 After accessing the page with properties information for either machine templates or virtual machines, click Add Hard Disk. 2 Enter the disk information: a Specify whether the bus type is BusLogic SCSI or LSI Logic SCSI. b Review these details on the bus number, bus ID, and disk size: Table 3-4.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To verify that the virtual machine network settings are unaltered 1 Log in to the virtual machine console window. 2 From the command line, run the ipconfig command. 3 If the IP address is not the same as the one listed in the properties information for the virtual machine, reset the IP address. See “Changing IP or MAC Addresses” on page 34. 4 If you get an error message when changing the IP address, click No.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Reviewing the Properties List Review the properties list for virtual machines: Name – Can contain only alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. Maximum length is 64 characters. Description – (Optional) Maximum number of characters is 128. Number of CPUs – Maximum number of processors is 4.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide VMware Tools Installed – Specification of whether VMware Tools is installed on the virtual machine. If you uninstall VMware Tools manually, fail to install VMware Tools properly, or import a template that was not previously exported from Lab Manager, you might need to select this check box because Lab Manager is unable to detect whether VMware Tools exists in these circumstances.
Chapter 3 Working with Virtual Machines Deployment Lease or Storage Lease – Depending on whether the virtual machine is deployed, this option allows you to specify or update a time to undeploy the template or a time to delete the template (or just mark it for deletion). The default option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. Most operations renew the storage lease because Lab Manager identifies the virtual machine as in use.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To consolidate a virtual machine 1 In the left pane, click Workspace. 2 If the virtual machine is deployed, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Undeploy ‐ Save State or Undeploy ‐ Discard State from the menu. NOTE For virtual machines that are turned off, you can only choose Undeploy, because there is no state information to save or discard. 3 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Details from the menu.
4 Working with Machine Templates 4 Machine templates are virtual machine images used as building blocks for configurations. You can build a collection of templates containing a variety of operating systems, application servers, databases, directory servers, and other infrastructures used in development and testing.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide By default, all users have access to the Templates page and can add machines to templates. If you want Lab Manager administrators to maintain control over templates, you can use a Lab Manager setting to hide template management from non‐administrator users. To hide templates from non-administrator users 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 Click the General tab. 3 In the Server Preferences section, select the check box for the Hide Template Management from User option.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Filter – View a subset of the templates. In the field to the left of the Filter button, enter text that appears in the attributes of the templates you want to view. Using the mouseover menu to the left of the field, you can filter across all columns on the page or within a specific column. NOTE The filter text search does not recognize wildcards.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Reviewing Template Operations Review the machine template operations, states, and specific procedures. Most operations are available from the mouseover menu or buttons on the Templates page. Summary of Template Operations Table 4‐1 summarizes the operation options for templates.In addition to these options, “Adding Virtual Hard Disks to Virtual Machines (Templates)” on page 40 is a procedure that applies to both virtual machines in a configuration and machine templates.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Table 4-1. Machine Template Options (Continued) Option Description Deploy Registers and runs the virtual machine on the Managed Server pool. After you deploy a template, you can view and use the virtual machine console. Export Exports the machine template to a network directory. NOTE: If a Lab Manager administrator chooses to hide high I/O operations from non‐administrator users, then those users cannot export templates. See “Server Preferences” on page 150.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Summary of Template States and Attributes Machine template states are transitory or nontransitory. Transitory states include Cloning, Deploying, Copying, Importing, Exporting, and Consolidating. These states and a spinning icon appear in the Status column on the Templates page. Nontransitory states (for example, Deployed and Undeployed) and attributes (for example, Published and Unpublished) appear in the Status column.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Updating Templates If you need to change an existing template with an update, such as a patch or service pack, complete these tasks: Unpublish the template. Deploy the template. Install the necessary updates. Shut down the virtual machine after completing all the necessary updates. Undeploy the template. Publish the template. (Optional) Share the template.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager supports these types of virtual machines for import operations: VMware Workstation VMware Server VMware ESX Server Lab Manager does not support templates with multiple NICs or IDE disk drives. If you are not sure whether your virtual machines can run in an ESX Server environment, you can refer to the VMware Converter product documentation for details on converting virtual machine formats.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates 3 Enter the information for the template: a Enter the UNC path to the appropriate directory (for example, \\10.10.10.10\importdir). Use English characters for the UNC path. b If the UNC folder needs authentication, specify the user name and password to access the files. c Enter the name. d (Optional) Enter a description. e Specify a time to undeploy the template.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 5 If you import a template that was not exported from Lab Manager, specify details on VMware Tools and LM Tools because Lab Manager cannot detect if these utilities are installed on the template: a Select the VMware Tools Installed check box if you know that VMware Tools exists on that template. If you select this check box, the Install VMware Tools button no longer appears on the virtual machine console.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Importing a Template from VMFS Storage If you have an existing virtual machine on an ESX Server system, you can use the Import from VMFS option to import it as a template under Lab Manager control. Because you are moving the virtual machine and not copying it, the original virtual machine is lost in this process. If you need the original virtual machine, make a copy of it.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide f Specify a time to undeploy the template. If an administrator sets a system‐wide lease time, a user without administrator privileges cannot override the value but can extend the lease to any value up to the value set by the administrator. If the administrator changes the value after the initial setting, the user can extend a lease to the original maximum value.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Creating Templates from Scratch Creating a machine template from scratch involves these tasks: Create a blank template without an operating system or additional software. See page 59. Deploy the template. See page 61. Install a guest operating system on the virtual machine. See page 61. (Optional but highly recommended) Install VMware Tools to allow the mouse to move into and out of the virtual machine console window. See page 63.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Specify the template information: a Enter a name. b (Optional) Enter a description. c (Optional) Select the storage server. d Select the guest operating system. If you select a 64‐bit guest operating system, the storage server must be connected to a Managed Server system that provides the required 64‐bit processor for that guest OS.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates j Specify a time to delete the template or mark the template for deletion. This lease is intended to delete unused or inactive templates. Most operations renew the lease because Lab Manager identifies the template as in use. This option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. Lab Manager allows you to renew a lease at a later time in the properties pages for templates, virtual machines, Workspace configurations, and library configurations.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Defining an ISO File An ISO image file is an exact representation of a CD or DVD, including its content and logical format. The ISO files that represent CD or DVD data contain an image of an ISO‐9660 file system. ISO 9660 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization defining a file system for CD‐ROM media. Many operating systems are distributed for download as self‐contained, bootable ISO file images.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates 5 Specify the information for the operating system: a Select an operating system ISO image. If your ISO image file does not appear in the media library list, enter the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) name of your machine image (for example, \\\VMwareLM\ISO\wind2k3.iso), user name, and password. Use English characters for the UNC path. NOTE Download your operating system ISO image files to the \\VMwareLM\ISO directory created during the Lab Manager insta
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To install VMware Tools 1 From the left pane, click Templates. 2 If the template is not deployed, move the pointer over the template name and choose Deploy from the menu. 3 Move the pointer over the template name and choose View Console from the menu. 4 Log in to the guest operating system. 5 Click Install VMware Tools. If the installation does not start, autorun might be disabled in the registry.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates VMware recommends installing LM Tools on templates except under these circumstances: The software in the template is configured to use specific network settings. You have virtual machines that must remain untouched for specific security or integrity requirements. You have guest operating systems that Lab Manager does not support. To review a list of supported operating systems for LM Tools, see Appendix B, “Guest Operating System Support,” on page 181.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 4 Click the Install LM Tools button. If the installation does not start, autorun might be disabled in the registry. To manually run LM Tools, navigate to the CD drive in Windows Explorer and run lmtools.exe. 5 Review the installation notes and click OK. 6 Complete the installation. If you are installing LM Tools on Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, LM Tools cannot validate passwords for these operating systems. Proceed with the installation when notified about this issue.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates For SUSE Linux, type: > > > > > mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom cd /etc/rc.d cp /media/cdrom/lm-tools . sh lm-tools install umount /media/cdrom For Solaris, type: > > > > > /etc/init.d/volmgt stop /etc/init.d/volmgt start cp -p /cdrom/cdrom/lm_tools. /etc/init.d/lm-tools sh /etc/init.d/lm-tools install eject cdrom 6 Leave the console. 7 In the Templates page, move the pointer over the template name, and choose Eject CD.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To install LM Tools after a failed attempt 1 In the left pane of the console, click Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the name of a deployed template, and choose View Console from the menu. 3 Though the Install LM Tools button is no longer available after the first installation attempt, you can instead move the pointer on the tabbed folder and choose Install LM Tools from the mouseover menu.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates To deselect the LM Tools check box 1 In the left pane of the console, click Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the name of the template, and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Deselect the LM Tools Installed check box. 4 Click OK. Shutting Down a Template Review the methods of shutting down a template: For Windows guest operating systems, navigate to the virtual machine console and use the Start menu to shut down the virtual machine.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Publishing a Template Publishing a template makes it available for use in building configurations. NOTE Storage leases are not applicable to published templates. Once a template changes from a published to unpublished state, the storage lease becomes applicable. For details on leases, see “Reviewing the Resource Cleanup Tab” on page 162. To publish a template 1 Verify the template is turned off and undeployed.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates 4 5 Specify the details of the template: a Enter a name. b (Optional) Enter a description. c Specify a time to undeploy the template. d Specify a time to delete the template (or mark it for deletion). This option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. e Click Add. From the left pane, click Templates. The Templates page appears with the new template.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To clone a template 1 From the left pane, click Templates. 2 Move the pointer over the template name, and choose Clone from the menu. 3 Specify the details on the template: a Enter a name. b (Optional) Enter a description. c Specify a time to undeploy the template. If an administrator sets a system‐wide lease time, a user without administrator privileges cannot override the value but can extend the lease to any value up to the value set by the administrator.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates For more information on cloning operations, see “Reviewing Template Operations” on page 50. Copying Templates Copy a template to create a complete (deep) copy. Like cloning, copying creates a new template based on the original template. The original template continues to exist. Unlike cloning, copying does not use delta disks, but rather creates a new template that is a consolidated version of the original with no dependencies on a “base disk”.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide If the administrator changes the value after the initial setting, the user can extend a lease to the original maximum value. Once the user alters the lease time, the lease choices reset up to the latest value determined by the administrator. e Specify a time to delete the template (or mark it for deletion). The default option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Exporting Templates You can export a template to SMB storage. This operation assumes that you enabled a shared folder with read and change permissions (also covered by full control permissions). Exporting can take up to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the virtual machine. NOTE Export and import operations require an open SMB port on the Managed Server systems.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Consolidating Templates Each time you clone a template, Lab Manager freezes the virtual hard disk associated with the original template and creates delta disks to store future changes to the clone and its source. Over time, the increasing number of delta disks stored across the directories of a storage server can affect performance. To improve access and deployment time, consolidate the template’s delta disks. Use this option when the VM chain length is ten or more.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Owner – Name of the template owner. Lab Manager administrators can assign ownership of the template to a different Lab Manager user. Number of Virtual CPUs – Maximum number of processors is 4. The storage server for virtual machines must be connected to a Managed Server system that provides the required SMP technology for the guest operating system.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide If you select this check box, the Install VMware Tools button no longer appears on the virtual machine console. You can still access the option to install VMware tools through the mouseover menu on the virtual machine console. The selection of this check box activates the LM Tools Installed check box because you cannot run LM Tools without VMware Tools. LM Tools Installed – Specification of whether LM Tools is installed on the template.
Chapter 4 Working with Machine Templates Deployment Lease or Storage Lease – Depending on whether the template is deployed or not, this option allows you to specify or update a time to undeploy the template or a time to delete the template (or mark it for deletion). The default option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. Most operations renew the storage lease because Lab Manager identifies the template as in use. See “Reviewing the Resource Cleanup Tab” on page 162.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Deleting Templates Lab Manager allows only the administrator or the template owner (even if the template is shared with other users) to delete a template. To delete a template 1 From the left pane, click Templates. 2 If the template is deployed, move the pointer over the template name and choose Undeploy ‐ Save State or Undeploy ‐ Discard State from the menu.
5 Working with Configurations 5 Configurations are the core of the Lab Manager system and are composed of one or more virtual machines created from machine templates. Lab Manager offers the ability to group, deploy (“power on” to interact with a template), save, share, and monitor multimachine configurations. This chapter covers these topics: “About Configurations” on page 82 “Accessing Configurations” on page 82 “Reviewing Configuration Operations” on page 84 VMware, Inc.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide About Configurations Templates must be published before you can create configurations. For information on building and using machine templates, see Chapter 4, “Working with Machine Templates,” on page 47. Lab Manager provides the Workspace page to work with configurations and the configuration library to store and check out configurations. Accessing Configurations You can access configurations in the Workspace and in the configuration library.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations In the top left corner, use the drop‐down menu to determine the configurations that appear on the page: My Configurations – View only your configurations, both shared and private. Configurations Shared by Others – View all shared configurations except for your own configuration. All Configurations Accessible by Me – View your configurations, both shared and private, and configurations shared by others.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Using the mouseover menu to the left of the field, you can filter across all columns on the page or within a specific column. NOTE The filter text search does not recognize wildcards. If you enter a traditional wildcard, such as an asterisk (*), this function performs a literal search for an asterisk symbol.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Summary of Configuration Operations Table 5‐1 summarizes the operations for configurations. To access the options, move the pointer over a configuration name and use the mouseover menu. The displayed options depend on whether the configuration is currently deployed or undeployed. Table 5-1. Configuration Options Operation Description Capture to Library Captures the configuration and saves it to the configuration library.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Table 5-1. Configuration Options (Continued) Operation Import Description Imports the configuration from directory on your network. NOTE: If a Lab Manager administrator chooses to hide high I/O operations from non‐administrator users, then those users cannot import configurations. See “Server Preferences” on page 150. LiveLink Creates a URL for a configuration in the configuration library. Lab Manager can email this URL to another user.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Summary of Configuration States and Attributes Configuration states are transitory or nontransitory. Transitory states, such as Deploying and Suspending, exist for most operations. These states appear in the Status column on the Workspace page when active. When a configuration is in a transitory state, a spinning icon appears in the Status column. Nontransitory states (for example, Deployed and Undeployed) appear in the Status column.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To add virtual machines to a new configuration 1 Select the template for the virtual machine. The Template list contains the templates you created and the templates shared by others. If a known template does not appear in the list, verify that you published the template (see page 70). If you see (static IP only) at the end of the template name, the legacy template has an outdated version of the LM Tools utility and cannot support DHCP.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations IP Address Assignment for Virtual Machines On the New Configuration page, entering an IP address changes the information that Lab Manager has about the machine but does not necessarily change the IP address configured on the machine. This situation depends on whether the template has LM Tools. Review the scenarios in Table 5‐2. Table 5-2.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide c Specify the IP address assignment. Selecting Static (manual) from the list activates the IP Address text box. For more information on IP address allocation, see “Understanding IP Address Management” on page 148 and “IP Address Assignment for Virtual Machines” on page 89 d See your IT administrator to change network settings for the gateway, netmask, DNS 1, and DNS 2. e Enter an integer number (0–n) indicating the boot sequence for the virtual machines.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Deploy Options Review the options for the Deploy operation: Specify whether to deploy the configuration in fenced mode. Fencing is a technology that isolates or “fences” groups of machines on the same network from other machines. For complete information on this feature and consequences of deploying a fenced configuration after deploying it without fencing and saving its state, see Appendix C, “Network Fencing,” on page 185.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide CAUTION If you deploy a cloned or checked‐out configuration and you do not use fencing, errors about duplicate IP addresses appear when the original configuration is also deployed in unfenced mode. Other than fencing one of the configurations, your only other option is to manually change the IP and MAC addresses (and Security Identifiers on Windows machines) on each of the virtual machines in one of the configurations.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations To view configuration details on a virtual machine level, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Details from the menu. The details cover each virtual machine in the configuration and provide options to deploy and delete virtual machines, consolidate virtual machine chains, and access virtual machine properties.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To capture a configuration to the configuration library 1 In the left pane, click Workspace. 2 Move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Capture to Library. 3 Complete the capture process: a Enter a name for the captured configuration. b (Optional) Enter a description. c Specify a time to delete the configuration or mark the configuration for deletion. This option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. d Click Capture.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Most operations renew the storage lease because Lab Manager identifies the template as in use. See “Reviewing the Resource Cleanup Tab” on page 162. If an administrator sets a system‐wide lease time, a user without administrator privileges cannot override the value but does have the option to extend the lease to any value up to the value set by the administrator.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Cloning Configurations You can clone your own configuration or configurations shared by other users. Cloning creates a new configuration based on the original configuration. The original configuration continues to exist. For each virtual machine in the original configuration, Lab Manager uses the virtual machine’s virtual hard disk as a “base disk” and then creates delta disks to store the changes you make to both the original and cloned configurations.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations c Specify a time to delete the configuration or mark the configuration for deletion. The default value is Never. d Click Clone. The cloned configuration appears in the Workspace page with an Undeployed status. The status of the original configuration being cloned is Cloning. After cloning process, the status reverts to its previous state. Copying Configurations You can create a complete (deep) copy of your configuration or a configuration shared by another user.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 4 Specify the details of the configuration: a Enter a name. b (Optional) Enter a description. c Specify a time to delete the configuration or mark the configuration for deletion. The default value is Never. d Select the storage server for each virtual machine in the configuration. e Click Copy. The Status column for the configuration displays Copying. After a brief time, the new configuration is available on the page.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations 3 Enter the information on the configuration: a Enter the UNC (Universal Naming Convention) name of the directory (relative to the Lab Manager Server system) where you want your configuration files stored. A sample path is \\10.6.1.246\VMwareLM\ExportConfigs. Use English characters for the UNC path. 4 b If necessary, enter a user name and password for the export directory. c Click Export. Confirm to continue the export process.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide b If necessary, enter a user name and password for the import directory. c Enter a name for the imported configuration. d (Optional) Enter a description. e Specify a time to delete the template (or mark it for deletion). The default option for marking or permanent deletion is preset by an administrator. Most operations renew the storage lease because Lab Manager identifies the template as in use. See “Reviewing the Resource Cleanup Tab” on page 162.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Creating and Restoring Configuration LiveLinks A LiveLink is the HTTP URL of a configuration in the configuration library. You can email this URL to another Lab Manager user who can click it to return the configuration to its active state. To create a LiveLink 1 In the left pane, click Library. 2 If the configuration is not yet shared, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Make Shared from the menu.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Taking Snapshots and Reverting to Snapshots After deploying a configuration, you have the option to take a snapshot and revert to the snapshot at a later time. Review these points: A snapshot is a complete configuration (including all its virtual machines) at a specific point in time. Once set, Lab Manager stores the snapshot with the configuration. Only one snapshot for a configuration is active at a time. The most recent snapshot replaces the previous one.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations 3 Edit the appropriate properties: a Enter a name for the configuration. b Enter a description of the configuration. c Change the configuration owner. Lab Manager administrators can use the Owner drop‐down menu to assign ownership of the configuration to a different Lab Manager user. d Specify whether to share this configuration with other users. e Change the networking information for the gateway, netmask, and DNS settings for the virtual machines.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 For each virtual machine in the configuration, view details on the virtual machine status, IP addresses, template, and more. Library configurations do not include all of the details that appear for Workspace configurations. Review these highlights: IP Address – Provides the IP address of the virtual machine. External IP – Provides the external IP address for the virtual machine if it requires one.
Chapter 5 Working with Configurations Accessing All Virtual Machine Consoles in a Configuration Lab Manager provides a page with all virtual machine consoles in a configuration. For details on operations related to a console, see “Reviewing the Virtual Machine Console Page” on page 30. To view all virtual machine consoles for a configuration on one page 1 In the left pane, click Workspace. 2 If the configuration is undeployed, move the pointer over the configuration name and choose Deploy from the menu.
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6b Working with Media 6 The media library enables you to store media (CD, DVD, and floppy) image files. You can upload data (for example, drivers) to a template from the media library. During the Insert CD, Swap CD, Insert Floppy, and Swap Floppy operations available from the individual console of a template or configuration, you can access the ISOs in the media library.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Accessing the Media Library Access the Media page to work with CD, DVD, and floppy image files. To access the media library In the left pane, click Media. The page highlights the owner of the file, the type of media, the sharing status, and the path location. You can view image files shared by other users. Administrators can view all media images. Lab Manager provides the (LMStorage1) vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp file in the media library.
Chapter 6 Working with Media You cannot add media from an NFS server, but you can synchronize the library with the contents of an NFS server. See “Synchronizing Lab Manager with Media Storage” on page 109. To add media to the library 1 In the left pane, click Media. 2 Click Add. 3 Confirm to abort any ongoing media upload. 4 Enter the details of the file: a Enter a name. You cannot enter a name that already exists in the library. b Browse for the file.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Deleting Media from the Library Administrators and owners of media files can delete media. Deleting a media file on SMB storage deletes the file in the storage server. Deleting a media file on NFS storage only deletes the Lab Manager database entry, not the actual file. To delete media from the library 1 In the left pane, click Media. 2 Move the pointer over a media file name and choose Delete from the menu. 3 Confirm to delete the file.
Chapter 6 Working with Media Editing Media Properties From the Media page, you can edit the properties of a media file. To edit media properties 1 In the left pane, click Media. 2 Move the pointer over a media file name and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Edit the properties: a Enter the name of the file. b Specify whether to share the template among users. c Change the media image owner.
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7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 7 Use the Lab Manager Web console to manage and monitor your Lab Manager system. Many operations appear only for users with administrator privileges. This chapter covers these topics: “Monitoring Lab Manager” on page 114 “Managing Users” on page 118 “Managing Managed Server Systems” on page 125 “Managing Storage Servers” on page 133 “Configuring Network Settings” on page 146 “Configuring Lab Manager Settings” on page 149 VMware, Inc.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Monitoring Lab Manager You can monitor these areas: Activity Log – View information about asynchronous actions. This feature is available to all users. Server Pool – View a graphical display of the Managed Server systems and current usage. From this page, you can perform configuration operations and access virtual machine consoles. Deployed Machines – View information about all deployed virtual machines.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Monitoring the Server Pool Administrators can view a graphical display of the Managed Server pool and its usage. To monitor the server pool In the left pane, click Server Pool. Review these elements of the Managed Server pool: The number of Managed Server licenses as indicated by the number of Managed Server systems that appear on the page. The number of Managed Server systems in use.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide After selecting a deployed virtual machine, additional information appears in the lower left panel below the machine details on the Managed Server system: Machine tab – Access information on the virtualization technology, virtual machine type, operating system, and storage server. To access the virtual machine console, click the thumbnail icon.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Configuration – Specifies whether the virtual machine is a template (indicated by a dash) or part of a configuration. IP Address – Provides the IP address of the virtual machine or specifies DHCP. External IP – Provides the external IP address for the virtual machine if it requires one. See Appendix C, “Network Fencing,” on page 185. Template – Shows the template that serves as the basis of the virtual machine.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Managing Users Managing users involves these procedures: “Setting User Preferences” on page 118. This feature is available to all users. “Viewing Users” on page 121 “Adding New Users” on page 122 “Deleting Users” on page 124 “Editing User Properties” on page 124 Setting User Preferences All users can set a range of user preferences. To set user preferences In the left pane, click Preferences.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Behavior on Undeploy – Specifies undeploy behavior for configurations: Save Memory State – Captures all data in RAM. This setting affects the Force Undeploy, Undeploy all VMs, and Redeploy all VMs operations and creates a file to store the data from the RAM of the virtual machines. Saving the memory state of virtual machines helps you to debug memory‐specific issues and makes virtual machines ready for deployment and use almost instantly.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide This option is useful in these circumstances: You are testing software viruses that need to remain isolated from the network. You are testing a client‐server application in isolation. NOTE When a user deploys a configuration using a LiveLink, the configuration is set to Allow Traffic In and Out, regardless of the user’s default deployment preferences.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Viewing Users Administrators can view all users. To view all users In the left pane, click Users. The Users page includes a Users tab and Notification tab. The Users tab includes these elements: Username – Displays an icon in this column. A gray icon indicates the user is disabled and cannot log in to the Web console. A blue and yellow icon indicates the user is enabled. NOTE A user can exist in the system without an enabled status.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Deployed VM Quota – Displays two numbers (separated by “/”). The first number indicates the number of virtual machines this user deployed. The second number indicates the number of virtual machines that the user is allowed to deploy. (The administrator sets that limit during the process of adding a user.) Stored VM Quota – Displays two numbers (separated by “/”).
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Stored VM Quota – Indicates the number of virtual machine images the user is allowed to store in the configuration library. Use an integer number to set a quota. You can leave this field blank or enter “0” to avoid setting a quota. Deployed VM Quota – Indicates the number of virtual machines at a time the user is allowed to deploy on Managed Server systems. Use an integer number to set a quota.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Use Server Boot Sequence check box – Boots virtual machines in a configuration according to the assigned boot order. For details on determining the order, see “Reviewing the Properties List” on page 43 and “Creating Configurations” on page 87. 4 Wait After Turn On (Seconds) – Sets the default value for the delay time (or “pause”) between booting each virtual machine in a configuration. Click OK. The new user appears on the Users page.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Select the Is Administrator check box to give the user administrator privileges. Only administrators can add users, change network settings, view all deployed machines and configurations, and add, delete and configure Managed Server systems and the Lab Manager Server system. Deselect the Is Enabled check box to allow the user to remain in the system but blocks the user from immediate access to the Web console.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Viewing Managed Server Systems Administrators can view a list of Managed Server systems. To view Managed Server systems In the left pane, click Servers. The Managed Servers page includes these elements: Filter – Shows a subset of the total number of Managed Server systems. Lab Manager matches the text entered in the field to the left of the button against the attribute data of the columns. Entries are not case‐sensitive.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager NOTE If the number of virtual machines running on the Managed Server systems frequently reaches maximum capacity, you can add more Managed Server systems. If you are unable to deploy the maximum number of virtual machines on a Managed Server system, you might need to add more RAM. Disk Used/Capacity (GB) – Displays two numbers (separated by ”/”). The first number indicates the amount of disk space that the ESX Server service console uses.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide 3 Enter the information for the Managed Server system: a Enter the name of the Managed Server system. b (Optional) Enter a description. c Enter the host name or IP address. d Enter a host administrator user name and password for when you log in to the Managed Server system. A Managed Server system is a “host” computer, while the virtual machines running on the system are “guest” computers. Do not confuse these fields with your Lab Manager Web console login.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Removing Managed Server Systems Administrators can remove Managed Server systems. To remove a Managed Server system 1 In the left pane, click Servers. 2 Move the pointer over the Managed Server name, and choose Disallow Deployments from the menu. 3 Undeploy all virtual machines running on this Managed Server system: a In the left pane, click Deployed Machines.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Status – Indicates whether the virtual machine is deployed or in the midst of an operation. Configuration – Specifies whether the virtual machine is a template (indicated by a dash) or part of a configuration. IP Address – Provides the IP address of the virtual machine or specifies DHCP. External IP – Provides the external IP address for the virtual machine if it requires one.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 3 Edit the properties that can be altered: Name – Contains alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. The maximum length is 128 characters. (Optional) Description – Maximum number of characters is 128. Host Name or IP Address – Domain Name System (DNS) name or IP address of the Managed Server system. Host Computer Administrator Username – User name of the administrator account on the Managed Server system.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Memory – RAM of the Managed Server system. OS Name – Version of ESX Server. Virtualization Technology – Version of ESX Server. Processor Type ID – Internal processor group ID. NFS capable (VMkernel networking configured) – Indicates whether the VMkernel network, required for NFS storage, is configured for the Managed Server system. (Optional) VMFS – Select the VMFS devices you want this Managed Server system to use for storage.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager The Undeploy all VMs feature leaves virtual machines in an undeployed state. If you want those virtual machines to continue running, you would need to manually redeploy one configuration at a time. If many configurations exist in the Workspace, you may have difficulty locating the correct configuration. The Redeploy all VMs option addresses this issue.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Viewing Storage Servers Administrators can view storage servers for virtual machines and media. To view storage servers In the left pane, click Storage. The Storage page includes the Virtual Machines tab and the Media tab. Review these elements of the Virtual Machines tab: Storage Server Name – Indicates the VMFS or NFS storage server for virtual machines.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager View Storage Usage – Enables you to view the high‐level topography of virtual machine directories, assess disk space, and perform maintenance operations. Rescan All Storage – Enables you to rescan all storage servers to update Used/Capacity (GB) information. See “Performing a Rescan” on page 136. Review these elements of the Media tab: Storage Server Name – Indicates the storage server for media files.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Performing a Rescan Lab Manager automatically rescans storage on a regular basis. If you want to manually initiate a rescan, use the Rescan All Storage command. Consider performing a rescan when: Any changes are made to storage disks or LUNs Any changes are made to storage adapters New datastores are created Existing datastores are edited or removed To perform a rescan 1 In the left pane, click Storage. 2 Click the Virtual Machines tab.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Review these elements of the Virtual Machine Storage Usage page: Machine Name – Provides a mouseover menu to view the high‐level topography of the virtual machine directories (see “Assessing Virtual Machine Disk Space” on page 138) and undeploy the virtual machine. Configuration Name – Indicates the name of the configuration containing the virtual machine. A dash appears in this column for templates.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Cleanup Date – Date to automatically undeploy or delete virtual machines. If Lab Manager flags a virtual machine for deletion and the storage lease expires, this column displays the date of expiration. Filter – Shows a subset of the total number of storage servers. Lab Manager matches the text entered in the field to the left of the button against the attribute data of the columns. Entries are not case‐sensitive.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager You cannot delete ancestor nodes under certain conditions: The ancestor directory has other “child” directories dependent on it. A virtual machine (for example, a template or virtual machine in the configuration library) is associated with that ancestor node. Another node uses the ancestor node as a revert point. For example, a copy operation could consolidate and create a new disk but refer to the revert point of the original chain.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Boxes with thick borders represent the virtual machines that you can see in the Lab Manager Web console. Boxes with lighter borders represent the “hidden” internal directories associated with the virtual machines. Deletion of internal nodes only occurs as a side effect of deleting the virtual machines associated with those nodes. Blue boxes indicate deployed directories while yellow boxes indicate the selected virtual machine.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To add NFS storage for virtual machines 1 Click Storage in the left pane. 2 In the Virtual Machines tab, click the Add NFS Storage button. 3 Enter this information: a Enter a name for the new server. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. The maximum length is 128 characters. b (Optional) If you do not want the storage server immediately available for use, deselect the Enabled check box.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Setting Up SMB Media Storage for Lab Manager If necessary, set the server computer name and DNS suffix. To set up SMB media storage for Lab Manager 1 From the desktop, choose Start > Control Panel > System. 2 Select the Computer Name tab and click Change. 3 Enter a computer name. 4 Select the Workgroup check box. 5 Click More. 6 Enter a DNS suffix (for example, VMware.com). 7 If you made changes, restart the computer.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To attach media storage 1 In the left pane, click Storage. 2 In the Media tab, click Add Media Storage. 3 Enter the details on the SMB or NFS server: a Enter a name for the new server. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods. The maximum length is 128 characters. b (Optional) If you do not want the storage server immediately available for use, deselect the Enabled check box.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Removing Storage Servers Administrators can remove a SAN (VMFS), NFS, or SMB storage server from Lab Manager. If virtual machines exist on the server, undeploy them before starting this operation. To remove a storage server 1 Click Storage in the left pane. 2 Click the Virtual Machines tab. 3 If the server is enabled, move the pointer over the server and choose Disable from the menu. 4 Move the pointer over the server and choose Remove from the menu.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Editing Storage Server Properties Administrators can edit properties for all storage servers. To edit storage server properties 1 Click Storage in the left pane. 2 From either the Virtual Machines tab or Media tab, move the pointer over the storage server and choose Properties from the menu. 3 Edit the properties that apply to your server: a Enter a name that only contains alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), hyphens, underscores, or periods.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Configuring Network Settings Configuring network settings involves these sections: “Viewing Network Settings” on page 146 “Understanding IP Address Management” on page 148 “Adding IP Addresses to the Lab Manager IP Pool” on page 148 “Removing IP Addresses from the Lab Manager IP Pool” on page 149 Viewing Network Settings Administrators can view network settings.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager In the Lab Manager Installation ID section, Lab Manager uses this ID to generate MAC addresses for virtual machines. Keep these points in mind: If you have more than one Lab Manager installation on the same network, each installation must have a unique ID. Lab Manager randomly assigns an ID and allows the administrator to manually edit the value in case an ID collision occurs.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Machine Name – Virtual machine names can be the same unless the virtual machines are in the same configuration. Configuration – Configuration that the virtual machine belongs to. Understanding IP Address Management When you create a virtual machine from a template in the Workspace, and you select a static IP allocation method, Lab Manager allocates an IP address from the IP pool to the virtual machine.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Removing IP Addresses from the Lab Manager IP Pool Administrators can remove IP addresses from the IP pool. To remove IP addresses 1 From the IP Pool tab, click Remove. 2 Specify the range of IP addresses. The “From” address must be less than the “To” address. You cannot delete IP addresses allocated to a virtual machine. 3 Click Delete. Lab Manager removes the IP addresses from the Network page.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Reviewing the General Tab The general tab covers server preferences, email preferences, default user preferences, and default deployment options. Server Preferences Review the server preferences: Login Mode – Lab Manager can retain the user name and password and can also log in the user. NOTE Like most browser applications, Lab Manager uses persistent cookies (physically stored in the computer hard disk) to retain the login information.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Managed and Storage Server Refresh Frequency (Seconds) – Frequency of updating page information about a storage server or Managed Server system. Storage Server Garbage Collection Frequency (Seconds) – Frequency of performing garbage collection (the automatic detection and freeing of images that are no longer in use) on storage servers. Lab Manager does not immediately delete files associated with a deleted virtual machine.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide LDAP Preferences LDAP Binding String (LDAP://server/path) – See “Active Directory and Lab Manager” on page 154. Refer to this sample Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) string: “LDAP://your_ldap_servername/department=’QA’,DC=companyabc,DC=com” For more information on LDAP binding strings and formatting methods, see this site: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en‐us/library/aa746384.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Sender’s Email Address – The email address from which email alerts will be sent. Lab Manager uses the sender’s email address specified here under the following conditions: A Managed Server system or storage server becomes not reachable or reachable. A storage server reaches its disk threshold (yellow or red). Deployment lease expiration alerts are enabled and a configuration or template falls within the specified alert time.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Block Traffic In and Out – Network traffic does not travel across the fence. Virtual machines in a fenced configuration cannot communicate with machines outside of the fence, and machines outside the fence cannot communicate with virtual machines in the fenced configuration.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Review the process of using Active Directory with Lab Manager: To point Lab Manager to an Active Directory domain, enter an LDAP binding string and optional group specification in the administrator settings area of the Web console. For details, see “LDAP Preferences: LDAP Binding and Group Strings” on page 156.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide To specify the user authentication method as a Lab Manager Administrator without LDAP server access 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 Clear the Validate LDAP Users when Edited check box. This action activates the Is LDAP check box described in step 5. 3 In the left pane, click Users. 4 Move the pointer over the user name and choose Properties from the menu. 5 Specify the authentication method.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager Use
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Using OUs and Groups In order to better understand how OUs and groups can limit access to Lab Manager, review the examples in this section. For the purposes of the examples, assume the following scenario: Domain Name: mydomain.com Top Level OUs: DublinOffice and HeadOffice Other OUs: LabManager (created inside of HeadOffice) Groups: Labusers group inside LabManager OU. The Labusers group contains users from both the DublinOffice and HeadOffice OU.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To upload a license file 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 In the License tab, click Upload License File. 3 Click the Browse button to locate and select the file containing the license key. 4 Click OK. To edit a license file 1 In the left pane, click Settings. 2 In the License tab, click Edit License. 3 Enter the new license key(s) in the text box. 4 Click OK.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide For details on guest operating support for SIDgen and Sysprep, see Appendix B, “Guest Operating System Support,” on page 181. To build a custom LM Tools ISO with Sysprep 1 For each operating system (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, or a 64‐bit Windows operating system), insert the Windows OS CD in the CD‐ROM. If you have an ISO, mount the ISO using a third‐party tool. 2 Locate the DEPLOY.CAB file in the \Support\Tools directory on the CD. 3 Expand the DEPLOY.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager 8 If you are not ready to use Sysprep because of testing activity or another situation, select the Use Pre‐Installed SID Generation Tool (SIDgen) option to use the default Lab Manager SID mechanism. If you are ready to use Sysprep, select Use User‐Supplied SID Generation Tool (Sysprep). NOTE A template with a null password affects the automatic Windows setup by Sysprep.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Reviewing the Resource Cleanup Tab You can define lease times for deployed templates and configurations. Specifically, you can schedule the undeployment and deletion of templates and configurations. If an administrator sets a lease time, a user without administrator privileges cannot override the value but can extend the lease to any value up to the value set by the administrator.
Chapter 7 Administering and Monitoring Lab Manager To set deployment and storage leases 1 In the left pane of the console, click Settings. 2 In the Resource Cleanup tab, specify the details for deployment and storage leases: 3 VMware, Inc. a Specify a time to undeploy Workspace configurations, library configurations, and templates. The default value is Never.
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8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager 8 This chapter addresses these troubleshooting topics: “Blank Screen Appears When Accessing Lab Manager” on page 166 “Lab Manager Does Not Display Virtual Machine Console” on page 166 “Duplicate IP Address Errors Appear” on page 167 “Addition of SCSI Virtual Hard Disk Fails” on page 167 “Mouse Navigation on Virtual Machine Console Fails” on page 167 “Remote Access to Virtual Machine Fails” on page 168 “LiveLink URL Error Appears” on page 168 “H
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Blank Screen Appears When Accessing Lab Manager Problem When I try to access the Lab Manager Web console, a blank page appears even though Done appears in the browser status bar. As required, I am using Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. Solution You might not have enabled all the IE options for client access, such as Allow paste operations via script. For details on setting up IE for client operation, see “Setting Internet Explorer Options” on page 20.
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager Duplicate IP Address Errors Appear Problem After creating a baseline configuration and saving it to the configuration library, I check it out and save a duplicate configuration to the library. From the configuration library, I navigate to the details page for the duplicate configuration and open the properties page for each virtual machine to modify the IP and MAC addresses. I deploy the original configuration and then deploy the duplicate configuration.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Solution VMware Tools is not installed on the guest operating system. If you do not install VMware Tools, you cannot move the pointer outside of the guest operating system unless you press Ctrl + Alt. Install VMware Tools to move the pointer freely between the virtual machine window and the host operating system. See “Installing VMware Tools” on page 63. Remote Access to Virtual Machine Fails Problem I cannot set up remote access to a virtual machine console.
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager Importing a Virtual Machine as a Template Fails Problem I try to import a virtual machine to serve as a template and see this error message: Disk too large to import. Consider using ‘VMware vdiskmanager’ to split the large disk. Solution You can import virtual machines up to 2GB per .vmdk file. For monolithic templates that exceed the size limit, create split disks using the VMware Virtual Disk Manager utility packaged with Workstation.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Inserting Media from NFS Server Fails Problem The process of inserting media (CD, DVD, or floppy images) from an NFS Server fails. Solution Pinpoint the Managed Server system involved in the operation. (The error message typically displays the name of the involved system.) Make sure all Managed Server systems meet these requirements: You properly configured the VMkernel. The VMkernel is attached to a NIC that has connectivity to the NFS storage server.
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager Virtual Hard Disk Space Is Low Problem I am out of virtual hard disk space for the virtual machine. Solution You can either add more virtual hard disks or expand the primary partition on the guest operating system. To expand the virtual hard disk 1 Consolidate the virtual machine. See “Consolidating Templates” on page 76. 2 Locate the virtual machine directory ID. See “Editing Virtual Machine Properties” on page 42. 3 Locate the virtual machine disk (.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Lab Manager Server Fails, Loses Connectivity, or Reboots the System Table 8‐1 describes the behavior and recovery options for a Lab Manager Server failure. Table 8-1. Lab Manager Server Failure and Recovery Options Failure Behavior Recovery Behavior and Actions Additional Steps The user interface stops working. The Lab Manager Server system reconnects with the deployed virtual machines and resumes control.
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager Permanent Failure of Managed Server Occurs Table 8‐3 provides details on addressing a permanent Managed Server failure. Table 8-3. Managed Server Failure (Permanent) and Recovery Options Failure Behavior Recovery Behavior and Actions Additional Steps Within two minutes, the Lab Manager Web console notes the lost Managed Server system is “unreachable.” Automatic recovery does not exist. Review the manual steps for recovery: No additional steps are necessary.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Temporary Failure of Managed Server Occurs (Reboot or Turn Off) Table 8‐4 describes the temporary failure of the Managed Server system after someone reboots or turns off the server. Table 8-4. Managed Server Failure (Reboot or Turn Off) and Recovery Options Failure Behavior Recovery Behavior and Actions Additional Steps Within two minutes, the Lab Manager Web console notes the lost Managed Server system is “unreachable.
Chapter 8 Troubleshooting Lab Manager Temporary Failure of Managed Server Occurs (Networking) Table 8‐5describes the temporary failure of the Managed Server system because of a networking glitch. Table 8-5. Managed Server Failure (Networking) and Recovery Options Failure Behavior Recovery Behavior and Actions Additional Steps Within two minutes, the Lab Manager Console notes the lost Managed Server system is “unreachable.
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A A Client and Browser Support Review the matrix of browsers and operating systems for client machines that allow access to the Lab Manager Web console. Table A‐1 and Table A‐2 specify the support for 32 and 64‐bit operating systems. Table A-1. 32-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support Operating System IE 5.5 IE6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 1.5 Firefox 2.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Table A-1. 32-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support (Continued) Operating System IE 5.5 IE6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 1.5 Firefox 2.0 2.
Appendix A Client and Browser Support Table A-2. 64-Bit Client Operating System and Web Browser Support (Continued) Operating System IE 5.5 IE6.0 IE 7.0 Firefox 1.5 Firefox 2.
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B Guest Operating System Support B Review the guest operating systems supported by Lab Manager. Table B‐1 and Table B‐2 specify support for 32 and 64‐bit operating systems, uniprocessor (“UP”) and multiprocessor (“MP”) operating systems, and the SIDgen and Sysprep components in LM Tools, a key utility in Lab Manager that various features are dependent on. As noted in these tables, VMware offers experimental support for certain guest operating systems.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Table B-1.
Appendix B Guest Operating System Support Table B-1.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Table B-2.
C Network Fencing C Lab Manager uses network fencing, a technology that isolates or “fences” virtual machine configurations while allowing full network access. Fencing enables you to work with live instances of the same configuration on the same network. For example, when you want to have concurrent development or testing on the same configuration, you can duplicate or clone the configuration and avoid any IP or MAC address collision with this technology.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Why Should I Fence Configurations? Typically, you want to enable network fencing under these circumstances: You have a configuration with one or more servers, and you anticipate cloning the configuration numerous times. You have a configuration involving a difficult and complex setup, and cloning the configuration is an easier route than repeating the setup. With fencing, engineers can run multiple, independent tests on a configuration deployed multiple times.
Appendix C Network Fencing Figure C‐1 illustrates configurations without fencing and with fencing. Figure C-1. Configuration A (Without Fencing) and Configuration B (With Fencing) II M P1 AC 9 2 00 .16 :5 8.0 0: .1 56 :0 0: 00 II M P1 AC 9 2 00 .16 :5 8.0 0: .2 56 :0 0: 00 :0 IIP 2 M 1 AC 9 2. 1 00 6 :5 8.0 0: .1 56 :0 0: 00 IIP :0 1 M 1 AC 9 2. 1 00 6 :5 8.0 0: .
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Fencing Options You can deploy fenced configurations in three ways: Allow Traffic In and Out – Virtual machines can communicate with machines outside the fence and machines outside the fence can communicate with virtual machines in the fenced configuration. See Figure C‐2. Figure C-2. Allow Traffic In and Out Fencing Mode Managed Server system VM1 fenced network VR configuration network 188 VMware, Inc.
Appendix C Network Fencing Allow Traffic Out – Virtual machines in a fenced configuration can initiate communication to machines outside the fence and can receive messages back on the same connection. Machines outside the fence cannot initiate communication to virtual machines in the fenced configuration. This option is useful when virtual machines need to obtain data or execute code outside the fence (as seen with Web services or databases) but do not want to receive messages that may disrupt testing.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Block Traffic In and Out – Network traffic does not travel across the fence. Virtual machines in a fenced configuration cannot communicate with machines outside of the fence, and machines outside the fence cannot communicate with virtual machines in the fenced configuration. When you deploy a fenced configuration with this option, Lab Manager does not create a virtual router or assign external IP addresses. See Figure C‐4. Figure C-4.
Appendix C Network Fencing Processor Type Incompatibility Deploying a configuration in fenced mode hosts all the virtual machines on a single Managed Server system. You must have a Managed Server system connected to the storage server where the templates that serve as the basis of this configuration reside on. The Managed Server system must have sufficient resources, such as memory, slots, and fences.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide Reviewing Additional Fencing Operations If you need to view current fencing options or change the switch that Lab Manager uses for fencing, follow these instructions (instead of uninstalling and reinstalling the Managed Server agent software). For more information on switches, see the VMware Infrastructure 3 documentation. NOTE Undeploy the virtual machines before changing the switch for fencing or adjusting the number of fences.
D Extending LM Tools D Installing LM Tools allows Lab Manager to customize the network settings for a virtual machine made from a template. For general information on LM Tools, see “Installing LM Tools” on page 64. In some cases, you might want to extend the customization of LM Tools. Review some examples: If you have an application that depends on the SID, you might need to prevent LM Tools from changing the SID but still allow LM Tools to make other changes.
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide How does LM Tools work? The configuration file for a virtual machine, the .vmx file, contains a machine.id line. If you install VMware Tools on the template, the guest operating system can read this line. The Lab Manager Server system sets the values for this line while deploying virtual machines. See this example of the machine.id line: machine.id = "ip=10.6.11.101&netmask=255.255.0.0&gateway=10.6.0.1&dns1=10.5.1.20&dns 2=10.5.1.
Appendix D Extending LM Tools Extending the LM Tools Script Review the instructions to extend the customization of the LM Tools script. Extending the LM Tools Script on a Windows Guest OS The Windows script, win_autoconfig.vbs, is installed in the LM Tools program files folder (usually C:\Program Files\VMware\LM Tools). Write your own script based on win_autoconfig.vbs, and perform the required customization using the settings passed to the Lab Manager Server system.
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Index A C Active Directory 154 ActiveX control capturing installing 29 activity log monitoring Lab Manager 114 adding IP addresses to Lab Manager pool 148 Managed Server systems 127 media 108 users 122 virtual machines to configurations 89 Administrators configuring Lab Manager settings 149 configuring network settings 146 managing Managed Server systems 125 managing storage servers 133 managing users 118 monitoring Lab Manager 114 All Deployed Machines page 116 attributes for configurations 87 B brea
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide defining 81, 82 deploying deleting 105 configurations 90 deploying 90 deploying in fenced mode 91, 188 leases 45, 55, 58, 60, 72, 73, 79, 92, 103, 162 exporting 98 templates 61 importing 99 operations 84 properties 102 resuming 95 reverting to snapshots 102 E expiration alerts leases 120, 154 exporting configurations 98 sharing 100 templates 75 states and attributes 87 stopping 95 F suspending 95 filters taking snapshots 102 for text 24 Firefox turning off
Index ISO images troubleshooting 165 customizing with LM Tools 159 Web console 15 defining 62 working with configurations 81 working with machine templates 47 K knowledge base accessing 10 L Lab Manager accessing 20 activity log 114 administering 113 all deployed machines 116 authenticating users with LDAP 154 benefits and features 15 client user 15 components 14 general settings 149 general workflow 25 getting started 19 introducing 13 Lab Manager Server 14 working with media 107 working with virt
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide guest operating system support 181 NFS storage 109 installing on Linux and Solaris 66 operations 108 installing on Windows 65 privatizing 110 modifying templates after installation 68 properties 111 overview 64 sharing 110 prerequisites 65 reasons to install 64 uninstalling 68 upgrading to work with DHCP 88 removing NFS servers 144 synchronizing Lab Manager with media storage 109 Media page 108 mouseover menus 24 M N MAC addresses network adding IP addresses 1
Index P states privatizing of configurations 87 media 110 properties of templates 52 of configurations 102 of virtual machines 34 storage expired virtual machines 138 of Managed Server systems 130 of media 111 of storage servers 145 of templates 76 of users 124 leases 45, 55, 58, 61, 70, 72, 74, 79, 94, 97, 98, 100, 103, 162 storage servers about 14 of virtual machines 42 adding media storage 141 R disabling 145 remote desktop connection enabling 145 for virtual machines 36 removing managi
VMware Lab Manager User’s Guide creating from scratch 59 managing 118 defining 47 properties 124 deleting 80 setting preferences 118 deleting after Managed Server failure 80 deleting with force 80 viewing 121 Users page 121 deploying 61 V exporting 75 virtual hard disks installing additional software 64 installing guest operating systems 61 installing LM Tools 64 installing VMware Tools 63 operations 50 properties 76 publishing 70 sharing 70 states and attributes 52 adding 40 expanding and shr
Index ejecting floppy files 39 VirtualCenter Server expiration alerts 120, 154 using with Lab Manager 16 VMware community forums expired 138 inserting CD images 37, 38, 40 inserting floppy files 39 installing ActiveX 29 installing VMware Remote MKS Plugin 29 leases 45, 55, 58, 60, 61, 70, 72, 73, 74, 79, 92, 94, 97, 98, 100, 103, 162 manually configuring IP addresses 89 operations 31 properties 42 remote desktop connection 36 accessing 10 VMware Remote MKS Plugin installing 29 VMware Tools about 25 in
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