Category Archives: Software Development

backup of VMWare using ghettoVCB.sh

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You can back up VMware VM for free using ghettoVCB.sh script. Everything you need is here:

https://github.com/lamw/ghettoVCB

I was unable to download it directly to the the VMware server because wget v1.19 refused to download form https:// url.

Instead I downloaded the file to my Windows machine and used WinSCPPortable to upload the file to the server.

To extract the files do:

unzip ghettoVCB-master.zip

Go to ghettoVCB-master folder and make the scripts executable:

chmod +x ghettoVCB.sh
chmod +x ghettoVCB-restore.sh

Add a new NFS share as a datastore “backup”. This is where we are going to store the backup files.

Create some folders and configuration files. A typical way to execute the script is:

./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -g global_config/vm_global.conf

To schedule a cron job add the following line to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

0 0 * * 1-5 /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.sh -f /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/vms_to_backup -g /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/global_config/vm_global.conf > /vmfs/volumes/backup/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log

Then add the following to /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo “0 0 * * 1-5 /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.sh -f /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/vms_to_backup -g /scratch/ghettoVCB-master/global_config/vm_global.conf > /vmfs/volumes/backup/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log” >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond

In order to allow the script to send emails you need to:

Step 1 – Create a file called /etc/vmware/firewall/email.xml with contains the following:


  
    email
    
      outbound
      tcp
      dst
      25
    
    true
    false

Step 2 – Reload the ESXi firewall by running the following ESXCLI command:

~ # esxcli network firewall refresh

Step 3 – Confirm that your email rule has been loaded by running the following ESXCLI command:

~ # esxcli network firewall ruleset list | grep email
email                  true

Step 4 – Connect to your email server by using nc (netcat) by running the following command and specifying the IP Address/Port of your email server:

~ # nc 172.30.0.107 25
220 mail.primp-industries.com ESMTP Postfix

To perform a dry run restore do:

./ghettoVCB-restore.sh -c vms_to_restore -d 1

To perform a real restore do:

./ghettoVCB-restore.sh -c vms_to_restore

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable

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I recently had a problem with IIS on Windows 7 where trying to access http://localhost on the default port 80 was giving me an error:

“HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable”

I spent several hours trying to find the cause and trying different things without any success.
Finally I came across this post that helped me resolve the problem.

The root cause was an URL Reservation http://+:80/

To remove the reservation type the following in a command prompt (but first read the post to know what your are doing):


netsh http delete urlacl http://+:80/

Script to restore SQL Server database

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A lot of people know how to restore an SQL Server database using the SQL Server Management Studio. Sometime it will not work if the database is in use. You have to close all active connections or even to take database offline and then online again.

It is much easier to restore the database via the attached script. Just unzip the file to a folder called C:\RestoreDB and copy the backup file to the same folder. Then edit RestoreDB.bat file and update it with the appropriate information – server name, user name, password, backup name, etc.

The last step is to run RestoreDB.bat – you can double-click it in Windows explorer or can oped a DOS prompt change the folder to C:\RestoreDB and run the script by typing its name and pressing “Enter” key.

RestoreDB_Script

VMware ESXi

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Step 1. Connect to ESXi console and press the Alt+F1 key combination.

Step 2. Type unsupported and then press . Note that nothing will appear on the screen whilst you type this.

Step 3. When prompted enter in the Root password and press.

Step 4. You will now be presented with a prompt on the console. From this prompt type vi /etc/inetd.conf

Step 5. vi (the file editor) has now opened the inetd.conf file. Using the direction arrows scroll through the lines until you reach the line that has #ssh and remove the hash (ie: #). This is effectively un-commenting this line so that the ssh service can be started.

Step 6. Now that you have made this minor file you want to save this change and exit out of the editor (vi). To do this press the ESC key (to put vi back into Command Mode) and then type :wq *Note: If you want to exit without saving any changes to the file then just press the ESC key (Command Mode) and then type :q!.

Step 7. With the SSH service now un-commented from this file we want to restart the