How to Fix vCenter 5.5 upgrade to 6.0 VCSServiceManager failed with error code 1603?

I decided to upgrade my home lab‘s vcenter 5.5 to 6.0 few days ago and what I thought would be a straight forward process turned into a 3 days of researching and scratching my head as to what was wrong with the upgrade and more troubling, what was I doing wrong? I knew that with… Continue reading How to Fix vCenter 5.5 upgrade to 6.0 VCSServiceManager failed with error code 1603?

Fix Vmware ESXi vMotion Fails at 14% and error ESX hosts were not able to connect over the vMotion Network

We recently deployed 5-6 new hosts in one of our production Vmware ESXi clusters in order to migrate VMs off older hosts and upgrade them. If you are attempting a vMotion migration between two ESX/ESXi hosts, and the vMotion task reaches 14%, then times out with this error message: The vMotion migrations failed because the… Continue reading Fix Vmware ESXi vMotion Fails at 14% and error ESX hosts were not able to connect over the vMotion Network

VMware Vcenter Sysprep Error: Customization of the guest operating system ‘windows7Server64Guest’ is not supported

I ran into an issue in VMware vcenter in my lab where sysprep would not start on virtual machines (VMs) deployed from a windows server 2008 R2 template. The template along with the sysprep file were created before the lab was upgraded to 5.1. I created new sysprep config, changed VM settings and pulled my… Continue reading VMware Vcenter Sysprep Error: Customization of the guest operating system ‘windows7Server64Guest’ is not supported

Taking Ownership of VM fails, VM appears to be in use, stuck in state error

While working in Vmware workstation, I lost connectivity to a LUN where I’m hosting virtual machines for workstation. As it turns out, the VMs were powered on and after restoring the connection, I could not get into the VM (windows 7) or power it off/restart it. When trying to open the VM in workstation, it… Continue reading Taking Ownership of VM fails, VM appears to be in use, stuck in state error

How to fix “System logging is not configured on host” warning message

When deploying new standalone host within vCenter or in a cluster, VMware vSphere gives you a warning message about system logging not configured on the host. The syslog service (vmsyslogd) logs messages from the host and its components to log files on a syslog server (most likely vCenter server in this case). In this how… Continue reading How to fix “System logging is not configured on host” warning message

Turn off Network redundancy message when configuring VMware HA/DRS

In my lab, when configuring VMware vSphere 5 HA/DRS in vCenter Server, you see the message under the “summary” tab in vSphere Client: Configuration issues: This host currently has no management network redundancy This message appears if VMKernel port does not have network redundancy configured at all or not configured properly. Normally, in production environment,… Continue reading Turn off Network redundancy message when configuring VMware HA/DRS

Exchange 2010: External email fails Delivery to a Distribution List Email Address

In your exchange server setup, you have the ability to create distribution lists or distribution groups as they are commonly known in Exchange Management Console. Distribution groups allow you to provide single email address to your clients, partners and users in order to send email to many users, using just one email address. For external… Continue reading Exchange 2010: External email fails Delivery to a Distribution List Email Address

VMware vCenter 5 Installation Fails / Error code 1603

In preparation for VCP-510 exam since I passed VCP4 couple of days ago, I am in process of upgrading my vsphere 4.1 home lab to vSphere 5.0 and started upgrading vCenter yesterday. Apparently, during the initial installation, as vCenter 5 install is about to complete, it gave me an error: Installation Completed The Wizard was… Continue reading VMware vCenter 5 Installation Fails / Error code 1603