Topic: VMware Server: "VM suddenly changed state: poweredOff" issues

[ylluminate]

I've started a thread here http://communities.vmware.com/thread/113260 regarding an issue I'm having in multiple SME Server 7.2 installation locations.  I've up'd the kernel versions as high as they'll go with RHEL rpms within RHEL4 and still am seeing no joy in resolving this issue.  Does anyone somewhat of an idea as to what may be going on?  It appears to be more of an issue of SME Server packaging than VMware I'm starting to believe.

I've also tried VirtualBox and have not had any real positive experiences with it either as it is having some odd abortion issues on installing a new OS and is not giving any indicative feedback in the logs.

So, I really feel that VMware is the right path to take, but this is insane and I must get through the issue.  Perhaps roll my own kernel and if so, any good suggestions?

[thomasch]

Your Topic Subject VMware Server "Re: "VM suddenly changed state: poweredOff" issues" and link provided confuse me what is the real problem you have with vmware. Please rephrase in simpler English and maybe some of us non english as mother-tongue user can help you.
(Hope you can understand my bad english too) 

If it is regarding vmware and host clock, please do a search in the forum. I recall there's more than one thread regarding vmware and host clock/time.

[cactus]

I've started a thread here http://communities.vmware.com/thread/113260 regarding an issue I'm having in multiple SME Server 7.2 installation locations.  I've up'd the kernel versions as high as they'll go with RHEL rpms within RHEL4 and still am seeing no joy in resolving this issue.  Does anyone somewhat of an idea as to what may be going on?  It appears to be more of an issue of SME Server packaging than VMware I'm starting to believe.

I've also tried VirtualBox and have not had any real positive experiences with it either as it is having some odd abortion issues on installing a new OS and is not giving any indicative feedback in the logs.

So, I really feel that VMware is the right path to take, but this is insane and I must get through the issue.  Perhaps roll my own kernel and if so, any good suggestions?

If I understand correctly you have upgraded your kernel (possibly to an unsupported one for SME Server, compiling your own certainly is not an option on SME Server).

What I do not understand is to what version you did upgrade. For SME Server you should only use the latest kernels in the smeserver default repositories. Latest kernel version is 2.6.9-55.0.12.EL.

If you have installed vmware-tools you need to reconfigure this in your guest os again as some modules need a new version matching the current kernel.

If this is not the answer you were looking for try to formulate your question more to the point, specifying at least from where you installed what kernel version and all actions you toke in the process. Also it is interesting to know what the OS of the host is (Windows/Linux, (kernel)version).

Perhaps it is worth reading this section on clock synchronization/time keeping in the VMWare documentation as well.

I have seen a lot of clock syncing issues and have been able to resolve them quite well using this howto, although I prefer the clock=pit parameter over the clock=pmmtr.

[ylluminate]

First off, I apologize, I pasted the wrong vmware community link.  I was going through another thread at the time and noticed a similar issue happening and I accidently grabbed that thread link instead of this one:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/118552?tstart=0

So please see this link for the proper explanation of the issue.

[ylluminate]

Just as an FYI cactus, it appears that that link is not functioning at the moment so I'm going to paste the contents of google cached text below for reference in case anyone in the future has need of the contents:

(Original, currently dysfunctional, link to the following text: http://synapticsolutions.com.au/?page_id=28)

Clock Running fast in CentOS 4.3 [SME7] Guest

First of all thanks to Sonora Communication Inc for for the original HOWTo on this subject.

Vmware White Paper on Timekeeping in Virtual Machines

However we were still gaining time on the Linux guest after applying the changes. After some further reading we came up with this configuration.

We had the same problem not using VMWare at all! it is related to the Duo Core 2 and cpuspeed
Debugged and tested by Robert Slater and Jehandan Jeyaseelan
This howto relates to:

Host System

Hardware.

A fast Xeon on an Intel SMP Motherboard .

Software:

CentOS 4.4 OS pretty much out of the box.
Guest System

SME server version 7 [based on CentOS 4.3]

On with the howto! All the usual disclaimers apply..

Host System Pre-VMware install.

Disable CPUSpeed:

chkconfig –del cpuspeed

Force the host system to use the clock=pmtmr option on next boot:

Edit the file below with your favorite text editor: Be careful…

/boot/grub/menu.lst

EXAMPLE ONLY. YOUR KERNEL WILL BE DIFFERENT
title CentOS (2.6.9-34.X.2.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.X.2.EL ro root=/dev/main/root clock=pmtmr
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-34.X.2.EL.img

Set the Host system to use a timeserver. Please see Centos Documentation on ntpd for this.
Now we have modified the CentOS host sytem we can install Vmware to the system.

Download, install and configure the latest server RPM file. The kernel-source RPM file needs to be installed, as well as the gcc compiler package.

rpm -Uvh VMware-server-xxxxx.i386.rpm

vmware-config.pl

In vmware-config.pl, choose these options (or adjust as desired):

* default file locations
* networking - yes
* vmnet0 bridged to eth0
* NAT - no
* default console connection port [902]
* virtual machines location - the default is fine, but you may want to change this
* serial number - get from VMware web site
If upgrading, don’t bother running the vmware-config-mui.pl just yet

Download, install and configure the latest server web interface file. This interface allows viewing the status and control of the VMware Server remotely via a web browser.

tar -xzvf VMware-mui-xxxxx.tar.gz

cd vmware-mui-distrib

./vmware-install.pl

In vmware-install.pl, choose these options (or adjust as desired):

* default file locations
* run vmware-config-mui.pl - yes

then:

cd ..

Download, install and configure the latest server console file. This can be installed on most any PC. These instructions are for a Linux client.

unzip VMware-server-linux-client-xxxxx.zip

rpm -Uvh VMware-server-console-xxxxx.i386.rpm

/usr/bin/vmware-config-server-console.pl

Install Guest OS

You now have install SME 7 as you would for a physical machine.
Configure the Guest OS

Edit /etc/modprobe.conf . You will see a line like this:
pcnet32
make it look like this:
#pcnet32
Save the file

Next we are going to do the same for the guest OS as the host OS.

Edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst

EXAMPLE ONLY. YOUR KERNEL MAY BE DIFFERENT
title CentOS (2.6.9-34.0.2.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL ro root=/dev/main/root clock=pmtmr
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL.img



Install the VMware Tools RPM

At VMware Console, click VM->Install VMware Tools.

At SME host console, enter:

mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

rpm -Uvh /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-*.i386.rpm

vmware-config-tools.pl

Follow the instructions displayed on the screen to implement the vmxnet driver.
Start VMware Tools

At the SME console:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware-tools start

Make VmTools tools start on reboot:

ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/e-smith-service /etc/rc7.d/S19vmware-tools

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration set vmware-tools service status enabled

/sbin/e-smith/signal-event post-upgrade
/sbin/e-smith/signal-event reboot

Shutdown the SME 7 Guest machine again if you have it set to autostart on host reboot.
Edit the *.vmx file, the default location for the virtual machines .vmx file is:

/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines/VIRTUAL_MACHINE_NAME.vmx

Add the line below to this file.

tools.syncTime = “TRUE”

Save the file.

Shutdown all guest operating systems

Shutdown main server. This may take some time…Don’t think it’s hung. Wait for the shutdown to complete.

Time Setup

Configure SME 7 to use local time not a a network time server.

For a full explanation of this please see the white paper.
VMWare Clock running slowly!!

This howto stop the clock running to fast.

If your clock is running slowly then add some more kernel parameters.

title CentOS (2.6.9-34.0.2.EL)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL ro root=/dev/main/root clock=pmtmr nosmp noapic nolapic
initrd /initrd-2.6.9-34.0.2.EL.img

These are not tested by us, but are from the vmware white paper.

This document is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU GPL

[brentonv]

running SME Server 7.2 (RHEL/CentOS 4) dual processor 2 GB RAM, running 3 Windows XP instances. Have been struggling for months with spontaneous workstation/client power off situations

I am just curious to know if [and how] this issue was resolved.

regards,
brentonv