Increase root partition on VCSA

First aid if VCSA root partition turns out to be too small

I recent times I frequently see vCenter server appliances (VCSA), whose root partitions ran out of free space. As a result services are unable to start after reboot. There are some tricks to free some space on root but on the long run you should increase the partition size.

Sounds simple – but it’s quite tricky and a bit dangerous. Don’t try this at home! 😉

Continue reading “Increase root partition on VCSA”

Veeam Default Repository

System choked by data – Why you should remove the default repository after installation

A typical Veeam Backup & Replication installation consists of several sub-components. There is the Backupserver with the database, there are backup proxies, Mount Server, Gateway server and Backup-repositories. Repositories are datastores which hold your backup data. Right after initial setup the installer will create a repositoty on your system partition which is the default repository. Normally your system partition isn’t very big. Maybe 100 GB or less. One of the first tasks after installation is to define a new backup repository with Terabytes of free space. Sometimes you might forget about the default repository, which is pointing at your system partition. Under certain conditions this can turn into a timebomb which I witnessed in the wild recently. Continue reading “Veeam Default Repository”

Microsoft Patch KB4088875/KB4088878 has issues with VMXNET3 adapter

March rollup disconnects Windows Server 2008R2 VMs

Microsoft’s monthly March 2018 rollup KB4088875 contains a patch KB4088878 which seems to have issues with Windows Server 2008 R2 VMs and VMXNET3 adapter. Applying the patch disconnects Windows Server 2008R2 VMs.

Sounds familiar?

Yes, indeed! There used to be an old problem with Server 2008R2 VMs which had a VMXNET3 NIC. After restoring these VMs from backup, they’ve lost their static IP and instead switched to DHCP.  The problem is known by VMware and there’s a corresponding KB1020078.

Microsoft released in a hotfix 433809 (KB2550978) to prevent the issue. But you had to switch to DHCP first before installing the hotfix and then revert to your static IP. I’ve published the procedure in 2013. This blogpost is in German but the procedure is simple:

  • change NIC from static IP to DHCP
  • apply hotfix
  • reboot
  • revert to static IP

It seems that Microsoft now has included that old hotfix into a montly rollup. At least the similarity is striking.

Fun fact

Those who had already applied the Hotfix in the past to their 2008R2 VMs, seem to be immune to the problem.

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