A successful configuration of Samba and Winbind allowing users to login to a Linux virtual computer using one’s Active Directory credentials might stop working after a few weeks. If the virtual computer was reverted to previous snapshot between machine password changes in AD, the AD controllers will not let the computer authenticate again due to machine password mismatch.
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Category: Virtualization
How to install VMware Tools on Linux
VMware Tools is a set of drivers and utilities to make a virtual computer perform better and faster inside a virtual hosted environment. It makes a virtual computer aware of its host at least to some degree.
Once I managed to install the VMware Tools on a Linux based virtual computer properly, I have decided to write it down for good.
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How to install ESXi 4.x from USB drive
VMware ESXi hypervisor is distributed as an ISO image file. In order to install it on a computer without an optical drive, one needs to prepare a bootable install USB drive.
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How to upgrade VMware Tools and Linux kernel
VMware Tools is a set of drivers and utilities to make a virtual computer perform better and faster inside a virtual hosted environment. It makes a virtual computer aware of its host at least to some degree.
However, the VMware Tools must always be in sync with the running kernel on a Linux based virtual computer and keeping them up to date can be tricky business. Once I managed to do it properly, I have decided to write it down for good.
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How to virtualize PC
Have you ever come to the point when you had to perform a clean Windows installation on the working computer? However, you have all the software, you use on the daily basis, installed and configured. Reinstalling the Windows and all the software again usually takes you at least a week. Can’t afford to stay offline this long?
How about virtualizing your working copy of Windows, and make it run as the virtual computer? Once you have it running on the virtual server, you can safely reformat your physical one. This way you have time to do the installation and setup of the new environment, while you can always log in to the virtualized old computer and do all the regular tasks that come in meanwhile.
This procedure is also referred as physical to virtual conversion or P2V for short.
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How to resize VHD file
Ever run into a situation that a virtual disk drive proved to small after a period of use? You can always add extra new virtual disk drives to provide extra storage for your virtual computer, but what if you require extra free space in one particular drive?
On the other hand, you can favour fixed size VHD files, and later discover you overdimensioned the virtual disk drive. How to make the fixed size VHD file smaller without converting it to the dynamically expanding type?
VHDMount utility and Symantec Ghost saves the day one more time. Here’s the procedure:
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How to copy physical drive to VHD file
I am going to describe two possible methods to copy an entire physical disk drive to a Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive VHD file using Symantec Ghost. The method to choose depends whether you may remove source physical drive and plug it in another computer for the purpose of copying, or not.
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Handling VHD Files
Writing previous post I had so many advices on handling the VHD files I’d like to share, I had to put them down too. But it’s a subject that deserves an article of it’s own. Since VHD files are usually very large files they require special treatment.
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How to convert GHO to VHD file
I am going to describe a quick way to convert Symantec’s Ghost GHO file to Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive VHD file. The process will not require a setup of a virtual machine. You’ll need:
- The VHDMount utility, which is distributed as a part of Microsoft Virtual Server but can be installed seperately.
- The GHOST32 utility, which is a part of Symantec Ghost installation.