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VMware vSphere Client on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit

PROBLEM

When you install VMware vSphere Client on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, the client may not run and you will receive the following errors when attempting to launch the client:

vsphere1

Could Not Connect
Error parsing the server “<vCenterServerHostname>” “clients.xml” file.
Login will continue, contact your system administrator.

You click OK and then get another error:

vsphere client error 2

Error
The type initializer for ‘VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy’ threw and exception.

You click OK and then the vSphere client hangs or crashes.

SOLUTION

To resolve this issue, perform the following:

  1. Obtain a copy of the %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.dll file from a non Server 2008 R2 (or non-Windows 7) machine that has .NET 3.5 SP1 installed. (I took mine from my 32-bit Windows XP SP3 machine)
  2. On the Windows Server 2008 R2 machine where the vSphere client is installed, create a folder called “Lib” under the vSphere Client ‘Launcher’ directory. For example: C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib
  3. Copy the System.dll file from Step 1 into the C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib directory
  4. In the vSphere client launcher directory, open the VpxClient.exe.config file in a text editor and modify the file as follows:<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
    <configuration>
    <system.net>
    <connectionManagement>
    <clear/>
    <add address=”*” maxconnection=”8″ />
    </connectionManagement>
    </system.net>
    <appSettings>
    <add key = “protocolports” value = “https:443″/>
    </appSettings>
    <runtime>
    <developmentMode developerInstallation=”true”/>
    </runtime>
    </configuration>
  5. Create a batch file (e.g. vSphere.cmd) in a location of your choice with the following:SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib
    “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe”
  6. (Optional) Replace the shortcut on the start menu to point to the batch file created in Step 6. Change the shortcut properties to run minimized so that the command window is not shown.

You can now use the VpxClient.cmd (or the shortcut) to launch the vSphere client in Windows Server 2008 R2.

These instructions should also work for running vSphere client on Windows 7.

Additional references: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/211440

Posted in Virtualization, Windows. Tagged with , , , .

By Chris Burchell
September 10, 2009

1 comment

Nine Steps to Prepare Your Business for a Swine Flu Pandemic

1.    Consider the Impact of Missing People Within Your Organization

Plan for 40% of your staff to be absent. Do you have the cross-training, documentation, tools, and support to continue working with a significantly lower level of expertise? Consider whether it may be an option to share support roles from two or more geographic areas, to minimize impact on the potentially hardest-hit locale.

2.    Revisit and Reassign Responsibilities

If your workforce or organization has been restructured recently, some people may not be fully trained in their roles. Consider single points of failure among your staff from a knowledge perspective, and take action to identify alternate staff and to provide some level of cross training.

3.    Consider the Impact of Missing People Outside Your Organization

Expect similar absenteeism at key vendors should a pandemic develop. Review support relationships, and ask partners and vendors to share how they intend to meet requirements. Consider multiple vendors to diversify your risk, and develop those relationships now.

4.    Consider the Requirements and Priorities of Your Internal Customers

Business operations throughout the company may change based upon the local impact of the pandemic. Align resources to meet vital operations, and ensure that basic business operations can continue.

5.    Consider the Impact of More People Working From Home

Assess your infrastructure for remote workers, including technologies and support services. Home workers will still need application support, login and password support, and hardware support. You may see an increase in learning and awareness needs—how do I use remote access? Why can’t I get to X system?

6.    Prepare for Lights Out

Systems will continue running, but may degrade as maintenance is unavailable. Schedule planned maintenance now. Ensure system documentation is up to date and readily accessible by support staff working in a remote location. Encourage cross-training. Apply what you’ve learned from earlier tests.

7.    Understand Your Vulnerabilities

How will you provide remote support? How will you do preventive maintenance—particularly hardware maintenance? How would you deal with the loss of limited expertise? What systems require special care? How will you handle call volumes? Focus on solutions that can be implemented quickly and provide the greatest benefit against the pandemic threat.

8.    What Should I Do Now—Today?

General business preparedness for a pandemic should be covered by each business unit. For technology teams, consider limitations in people, process, or technology that would be exposed if your organization needs to respond to a “typical” disaster while operating without 40% of your staff.

9.    What If I Have No Pandemic Plan?

You still have some time to prepare. Determine who will make critical decisions in the face of a pandemic, and work with any corporate leaders or crisis management structure. Understand your vulnerabilities looking at systems and data to some extent—but particularly at process and people.

Source: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/IT-Management/Nine-Steps-to-Prepare-Your-Business-for-a-Pandemic-188265/

Posted in Uncategorized. Tagged with , , .

By Chris Burchell
September 10, 2009

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How to permanently delete your Facebook account

Update: check out this cool new site that provides up to date links to all major social networking sites and information on how to delete online profiles!

http://deleteyouraccount.com/

——————-

Facebook? We don’t need no stinking Facebook…

If you’re like the thousands of people that don’t like the idea of a site changing its privacy policy or Terms of Service on a whim (and you actually care $0.02 about your privacy), then you were likely one of the many people who was genuinely irate when Facebook started changing its Terms of Service.

After the privacy policy flap that made global headlines and brought thousands of complaints to Facebook’s doorstep,  a method to permanently delete (not just deactivate) your Facebook account was finally introduced.

You can find information on this on the Facebook site at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

Want the shortcut? Here it is…

Log in to your Facebook account for the very last time and then go to the following URL:
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

You’ll receive a nice notice about how the site screwed up with its terms of use and how it’s apparently made amends. Right.Complete the request and the notice that appears says your account should be permanently removed within 14 days.

Interested in learning more about why Facebook is a privacy nightmare? Read on:

Facebook’s Privacy Nightmare

New Facebook Connect: Federated Identity Or Privacy Nightmare?

Facebook’s new Terms of Use suck

Posted in Uncategorized.

By Chris Burchell
March 20, 2009

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