jeremYprieS.com

Setting up somewhere to run VC1.x SDK perl scripts is not alot of fun. Here is some info that should help you get started. Also, when troubleshooting make sure you verify your web service.

Required Perl Modules

• HTTP::Cookies
• SOAP::Lite 0.55
• Tie::IxHash
• Getopt::Long
• Crypt::SSLeay (required for https, which is the virtual center default)

Activestate perl on windows should work, but I have never tried it. I always use a linux box, any flavor. If you haven’t messed with the perl modules on the box, you should expect to install the following plus dependencies:
HTTP::Cookies
SOAP::Lite
Crypt::SSLeay
Tie::IxHash

Here is an informal log that I kept when trying to install the modules on a RHEL 4 update 4 box.

################################

Here are my rpm’s related to perl.

[root@myhost Xscripts]# rpm -qa | grep perl
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4
perl-DBI-1.40-8
perl-XML-Parser-2.34-5
perl-Filter-1.30-6
perl-URI-1.30-4
perl-HTML-Tagset-3.03-30
perl-libwww-perl-5.79-5
perl-HTML-Parser-3.35-6

cpan install HTTP::Cookies

yes – satisfy dependencies
yes – More pre-req’s

Crack a fresh Guinness (hey I’m on my personal time here)

Do you want to install lwp-request? [y]
Do you want to install lwp-mirror? [y]
Do you want to install lwp-rget? [y]
Do you want to install lwp-download? [y]
Do you want to install the GET alias? [n]
Do you want to install the HEAD alias? [n]
Do you want to install the POST alias? [n]

yes – More deps
yes – More deps
yes – More deps

Install SOAP::Lite – this is the wrong version, keep reading.

cpan install SOAP::Lite

Need to add SSL here.
Do you want to proceed with this configuration? [yes] no
Do you plan to use Client HTTPS support? [no] yes
Do you plan to use Client SMTP/sendmail support? [no]
Do you plan to use Client FTP support? [yes] no
Do you plan to use Standalone HTTP server? [yes] no
Do you plan to use Apache/mod_perl server? [no] no
Do you plan to use FastCGI server? [no] no
Do you plan to use POP3 server? [no]
Do you plan to use IO server? [yes] no
Do you plan to use MQ transport support? [no] no
Do you plan to use JABBER transport support? [no]
Do you plan to use MIME messages? [no]
Do you plan to use DIME messages? [no]
Do you plan to use SSL Support for TCP Transport? [no] yes
Do you plan to use Compression support for HTTP? [yes]
Do you plan to use MIME interoperability w/ Axis? [no] no

Now, yes this list of options is good with me.

Do you want to perform these tests in addition to core tests? [no]

yes, install deps
yes, install deps

cpan install Tie::IxHash

I’m still missing some SSL stuff. I will try the rpm on the CD.

rpm -ihv /mnt/loop2/RedHat/RPMS/perl-Crypt-SSLeay-0.51-5.i386.rpm

Now, if you have the wrong version SOAP::Lite, you will get something like this when you try to run a script.

Can't call method "name" without a package or object reference at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.5/SOAP/Lite.pm line 3005.

Need to install the correct version 0.55.

cpan install K/KU/KULCHENKO/SOAP-Lite-0.55.tar.gz

Do you want to proceed with this configuration? [yes] no

Defaults except:
Client HTTPS support (SOAP::Transport::HTTPS::Client, require OpenSSL) [no]
Crypt::SSLeay

Do you plan to use this module? [no] yes

Follow defaults….crack another Guinness (HA. I bet you are at work).

Works now.

jeremy esx2

The following URLs are useful when setting up and troubleshooting the Virtual Center 1.x Web Service.

FAQ:
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/WS_FAQs.html

Verifying Web Services Install
http://www.vmware.com/support/vc13/doc/c3verifywebserv17.html

Changing options after install (including username and password).
http://www.vmware.com/support/vc13/doc/c3chgwebserv18.html

jeremy esx2

There seems to be some confusion about patching esx2 for the US 2007 DST changes?
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=70539

Here is VMware’s KB on the subject.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/8695824

So how do I determine when DST starts and ends on my box? Seems like a logical question. Try This command…

zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2007

Disclaimer – I still need to confirm this is the definitive answer by rolling the date on a test box forward.

You want to see Daylight Savings Time start on March 11 and end on November 4.

/etc/localtime  Sun Mar 11 07:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 01:59:59 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600
/etc/localtime  Sun Mar 11 08:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 03:00:00 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime  Sun Nov  4 06:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Nov  4 01:59:59 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime  Sun Nov  4 07:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Nov  4 01:00:00 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600

Here is an old box that hasn’t been patched yet.

/etc/localtime  Sun Apr  1 07:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Apr  1 01:59:59 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600
/etc/localtime  Sun Apr  1 08:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Apr  1 03:00:00 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime  Sun Oct 28 06:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Oct 28 01:59:59 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime  Sun Oct 28 07:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Oct 28 01:00:00 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600

jeremy esx2

I ran into this situation the other day and thought I would pass it on. It happens occasionally in a VI2 environment. Maybe this will save someone a support call. This information applies to esx 2.x

I don’t know what caused this situation, but VC1.x showed the VM turned off. An attempt to turn it on immediately failed. The vmware.log file showed nothing. Last thing in there was a couple weeks ago. The VMDK file’s modify time was a couple weeks ago. Nothing in /var/log/vmkwarning or /var/log/vmkernel that looked relevant.

So, try to see what ESX thinks the power state is.

vmware-cmd /home/vmware/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx getstate

This took a while to come back with a message talking about unable to communicate with the vmx process.

Sounds like the VM is running, but not really = hosed process. We need to kill the pid of the vm, and then fire it back up. Now, normally I would lookup the pid using vmware-cmd. Even if it did return a pid, I would question it given the confused state of the VM.

vmware-cmd /home/vmware/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx getpid

In this case, it is busted so we need to find another way.

grep VMNAME /proc/vmware/vm/*/*

You will get something back like this:

/proc/vmware/vm/214/names:vmid=214    pid=12083  cfgFile="/home/vmware/VMNAME/VMNAME.vmx"  uuid="50 2c 9d fc 5a c3 9d a8-c1 d9 9b b3 b9 e5 0e 89"  displayName="VMNAME"

Here pid 12083 is the process in question. It needs to be killled. But, first double check it given the broken state of the process.

[root@myhost01 vm]# ps -ef | grep 12083
root     12083     1  0 09:51 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx -
root     12084 12083  0 09:51 ?        00:00:00 vmware-mks -A 11 -D 13 -S -L /tm
root     12090 12083  0 09:51 ?        00:00:00 vmware [Floppy]
root     12091 12083  0 09:51 ?        00:00:00 vmware [ide0:0]
root     12092 12083  0 09:51 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx -
root     14291 10267  0 10:02 pts/0    00:00:00 grep 12083

It’s a vmware-vmx process – meaning it really is a VM. But we don’t know what vm – we really do but let’s check it anyway.

grep 12083 /proc/vmware/vm/*/*

The only one back is our broken VM. I am now 99% sure that is the correct one.

So, kill the pid and go restart your VM.

kill 12083

jeremy esx2