Archives 2014

How to see which session has the Remote Console opened in VMware! (GUI and PowerCLI!)

So you ever been in that situation where you either see a message like,

Number of active connections has changed. There are now 2 active connections to this console

Or…

Unable to connect to the MKS: Console access to the virtual machine cannot be granted since the connection limit of ‘x’ has been reached.”  (This second one is most likely to come up when you have either a STIG or security defined limitation to the number of remote connections to use, thus by default you’re more likely to see message #1!)

Well, the question is… What do you do in these circumstances? You might ask yourself, “Damnit! Who is the other person connected!”   When looking for this answer you may come across responses in the forums such as:

  • Just use tsadmin to login to the server to see who else is logged in
    • Great if you’re on windows, but that doesn’t tell you show OWNS the SESSION
  • ssh into the box to see who else is logged in
    • Wow it’s like you’re not getting it. What if they’re not logged in, but simply sitting at the login prompt? I hear fail…
  • Use arbitrary application to arbitrarily see who is logged in!
    • Okay, seriously? (Yes I’ve seen NUMEROUS responses like this, which refer to lots of applications, and don’t solve the problem…)

Well, guess what, I don’t like these answers, which prompted me to write this blog post, thus I’ll show you how to do it via the GUI (Very Easy…) and also via PowerCLI because we love PowerCLI! Disclaimer: I do not show how to do this using the VMware Web Client, because I personally hate the web client, so if you’d like to document that part, go for it. :)

Checking for Remote console connected in the GUI!

image

So within the handy GUI from within a Virtual Machine (In this context I use the UI VM for vCOPS…) Just click on the “Tasks & Events” tab and you’ll notice the entry below, “Remote console connected” looking at the timestamp you’ll be able to note which user it was which connected and at what time.  Thus if this user doesn’t need to be logged into the console you can go kill their session as needed. Easy Peasy, right?! :)

Checking for Remote console connected using PowerCLI!!!

This one is just as easy if not easier, especially if you want to modify this script ultimately to query lots of objects, or you can even modify it to see which particular sessions a particular user has opened, that is outside the scope of THIS blog post, but nonetheless, here is the syntax!

Get-VM %VMNAME% | Get-VIEvent | Where {$_.Gettype().Name -eq "VMRemoteConsoleConnectedEvent"} | Select UserName, CreatedTime, FullFormattedMessage

What you have here is a Get-VM looking at a specific Virtual Machine (You supply) then it will pull up from that VM or VMs the Remote Console Connected event, After which point PowerCLI will dump the results of the Username connected, what time they did, and the FullFormattedMessage (Which I mainly have in there for errorchecking, you can omit if you’d like)

But lo and behold, BOOM you’re done! Hopefully this was easy for you, if you’d like there are a lot of VERY long and VERY complex scripts which do the EXACT same thing, but you know how I feel about One-Liners. :)

Good luck and stay Physical, VIRTUAL I MEAN VIRTUAL, OMG!

A look at #VMworld Day 1 and what you should know!

Let me start off by saying, WOW. I mean Mega-WOW.  If you haven’t watched the Keynote from 26AUG2014 yet you definitely ought to.   This VMworld and this keynote focused on what has been taken for granted within the community and the virtualization space for years from a corporate perspective.   This VMworld has focused all eyes and attention on the COMMUNITY.   When the executives of VMware get up and say that the community matters, that the VMware Users Group organization is not only visible but also important to the mission and the success of their business; They are finally getting it! Today as it stands the VMUG organization has over 100,000 members. If you’re not one of those members, you should be. And if you are one of those members, continue to get involved, grow, rock! 

But there have been so many other points which were hit on, discussed, leveraged.  Down below is a breakdown of the items which they mentioned and respectively discussed, including where you can sign up for the Beta programs for some items.   This is only a small portion of the products which will be unveiled, updated, released, so on and so forth!  (There will be more references in the coming days)

This as a whole breaks down just a small section of what was discussed at the Keynote (General Session), What products were mentioned, and some little ones you ought to know about which were not directly mentioned THERE but instead were referenced elsewhere and are now able to be talked about.

  • Policy as a Service (Congress – Being worked on by Tim Hinrichs and Peter Balland, Scott Lowe pointed them out to me at the CTO Booth.
  • Mentioned briefly in the KeyNote but the further integrations and validation of the Government Cloud First Program – FedRAMP (Which is huge)
  • A serious commitment to the Open Computing Project (OCP) joining as a Gold Member

There is much more which will come from this, not only announced today but the outliers and little enhancements (Which I’ll discuss in the next few blogs)

A look at some of the products featured today 26 AUG 2014!

Hybrid Cloud
Software-Define Your Data Center
SDDC Management
Rapidly Scale Your Infrastructure
  • VMware EVO: Rail
    • EVO:RAIL announced partners: Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Inspur, Net One Systems and SuperMicro. More to follow!
Mobile!

The point is, this is just a taste of more to come.  Look forward to Video interviews with Engineers, Architects, Founders and more on some of the game changers in the industry, as well as highlighting particularly cool technologies, and doing my best to avoid the companies with crappy products. <3

Review of #VMworld Day’s –1 and 0! The word of the days is Community

If we had to sum up what those days were about, it has to be community.  Break it down with me…

Saturday hit on some major items, such as vBeers, VMworld Community Kickoff, and what followed with vKaraoke!

Sunday added to that with the 5K Fun-run, v0dgeball, the vBrownBag opening acts including the VMUnderground party which started after the VMworld Welcome Reception in the Solutions Exchange.

welcome reception

If you attended one or more of these events the underlying theme across all of them has got to be put as Community, the convergence of peoples, whether getting together and sharing a drink, getting to know one another, getting to re-unite with one another, hell even SINGING with one another!

This is truly what these leading on days are all about.   Sessions are not generally available at this point, so this leaves AMPLE opportunity to get to know your fellow VMworldian attendee, whether talking with old friends or meeting entirely new friends.   This day in particular we made a number of new friends which was borne out of conversation with people which lead to friendships being forged and built.   It can be as simple as someone overhearing a conversation you’re having about something and adding their two cents or contribution.   Again, this is EXACTLY what the VMworld conference is about (Hint, it is about YOU :))

Hopefully you too got to enjoy some of that time getting to know one another before the onslaught of sessions and so much more happens this week!

As we go throughout the week (and beyond) there will be numerous plans of video recorded interviews, deep dives and general information on some new technologies which are likely to be game changers, and more!  Enjoy and keep keeping virtually on!

At VMworld 2014 US? Remember VMware Certification Exams are 50% OFF!!!

What, say it ain’t so! With a title like that?!?!

Yea you heard me! VMware Certification Exams are 50% OFF THIS WEEK! Albeit, this week, located AT VMworld, but hey that is half the fun!

The full scoop of details can be found out here, with a few select items borrowed from said link ;)

VMware Exam Testing Center Hours

Register HERE with promotion code 2014VW50 to take these exams:

  • VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization (VCP-DCV)  [VCP550 or VCP510]
  • VMware Certified Professional – Cloud (VCP-Cloud)  [VCPC550 or VCPC510]
  • VMware Certified Professional – Desktop (VCP-DT)  [VCPD510]
  • VMware Infrastructure as a Service exam  [VCPVCD510]
  • VMware View exam  [VCP510-DT]

Register HERE with promotion code: 2014VWADV50 to take these exams:

  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Design (VCAP-DCD)  [VDCD510]
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Administration (VCAP-DCA)  [VDCA550 or VDCA510]
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Design (VCAP-CID)  [VCID510]
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Infrastructure Administration (VCAP-CIA)  [VCIA510]
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Design (VCAP-DTD)  [VDTA510]
  • VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Administration (VCAP-DTA)  [VDTD510]

And of course Pre-Authorization is REQUIRED: Refer to my blog post A Must-Read before taking your next #VMware VCP or VCAP Exam!!!

So enjoy and go get certified! Booyah and all that jazz! <3

Staying up to date with #VMworld 2014 with mobile apps! (iPhone)

So here I was wondering, “Ooh… I wonder what is on the Agenda for this years VMworld!” only to initially find disappointment, disappointment and sadness.

A search for “VMworld” from my iPad Mini revealed there was one application available for download, I pulled it down ‘registered’ using it, and well, THAT didn’t work, Do not download or use the app which looks like THIS.

Do not download the VMware Customer Programs app for VMworld 2014 US!Do not download the VMware Customer Programs app for VMworld 2014 US!

I mean, it is cute and all but it does not have any data loaded for the event and will not return the results you are looking for!

But I also noticed that when I went to do the search in the first place that it would auto-fill to “vmworld 2014 us” so I figure, let me try that search not on iPad Only which the iPad defaults to, but instead switching it to iPhone only for apps.. and lo and behold BOOM! The Application I so desire!

  IMG_1290

Launching the application was simple, straight forward… okay, it took a little longer than expected but nonetheless it was set and I was ready to rock!

VMworld 2014 US Mobile App Excited for VMworld?! Look ma! I'm logged in!

And once you’ve launched the application it is pretty simple to search around, in fact, log in using the credentials for your VMworld account and you can noy only view your schedule you configured, you can partake in Gameification among other active items! I’ll keep it running on my iPhone as I travel about the show to see what other goodies will reveal from it!

So be sure to check it out, oh and don’t use the jacked up version like I did initially. Let this be a lesson from you, Don’t do what I did. :)