Optimizing XenServers and Hosts

I found this useful post about doing some optimizations for your Xen hosts and guests:

Link

Unfortunately, I had some trouble finding where to make the mods on the host.  The location you will need is /boot/extlinux.conf.  I think this may be the RedHat location...

Also, these lines are very long, and if you edit them with nano, for instance, you may screw up the file.  I did this once, and the machine would no longer boot.  You have been warned.  So use vi.  (Weren't you always looking for a good excuse to learn vi?)

I just added the kernel param to the 'xe' section.

Can't update XenServer

I tried using a DVD to upgrade some of my XenServers from 5.6 to 5.6SP2.  I got an error that there were no installations found that could be upgraded.  The solution to this was to apply the update from XenCenter.  It appears some updates have to be applied from XenCenter; some updates have to be applied from an DVD or ISO.  If one doesn't work, then try the other.

XenCenter blank concole screens, and stats not updating

For me this problem was related to some cache files.

I just saw the suggestion in this thread about clearing the cache....and it worked!

http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=154046&tstart=0


in short:

Stop XenCenter

run %AppData%\Citrix

delete everything there.

Start XenCenter
---

I also couldn't install updates until I cleared the cache...

Exchange intelligent message filter update fails, Exchange then not running

So I try and dutifully run Windows Update on my SBS2003 box.  Twice now, it has failed (hung) when doing an update to the Exchange Intelligent Message Filter.  When this happens, it leaves your Exchange server in a state where it doesn't work.  Isn't that great?

Anyway, I reboot the system and Exchange still doesn;t come up correctly.  Turns out, I had to go to services, enable the IISAdmin service (this must have been disabled during the failed update), then I went to a cmd prompt and ran "iisreset".  This seems to have solved the problem.

Reduce SQL Svr instance memory usage

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2005/02/04/34984.aspx

On our SBS2003 box, we sometimes have sql instances using upwards of 1.5Gb ram.  The machine ram usage goes beyond the available physical ram, and the machine slows to a crawl.

We've used this technique to reduce the sbsmonitoring instance and the ssee instance.

There is also a nice tip there for using taskman from the cmd line to get the sql instance.  Of course Process Explorer also will tell you this info directly.

XenServer 5.6 Realtek 8168/8111 problem

If you are trying to use one of these Realtek NICs and are having trouble with XenServer 5.6 fp1, then this may be your solution.


Link

BES not starting after server reboot

We have BES installed on a SBS2003. When the server reboots, BES does not come up. I believe this has to do with service dependencies. I added a dependency for Router and Dispatcher. I made them depend on the SQL server instance. I'm hoping this will fix the problem. Here is the cmd line I used:

C:\Documents and Settings\avp>sc config "BlackBerry Dispatcher" depend= MSSQL$BLACKBERRY/lanmanworkstation/eventlog/ntlmssp/MSExchangeIS

and

C:\Documents and Settings\avp>sc config "BlackBerry Router" depend= MSSQL$BLACKBERRY/lanmanworkstation/eventlog

3 things to note:

1. There is a space after "depend="

2. when I first used "sc config" I tried to just add the dependency, but this command replaces the dependencies. So I think I have the right dependencies for Router svc...
3. you need to use whatever SQL instance name you have; mine is called MSSQL$BLACKBERRY

When I reboot the server next, I will confirm whether this works or not...

Confirmed.  This did the trick, when the server reboots now, BES comes up functional.