XenServer VM GUI on host - linux

I have an XenServer setup with multiple VM's running on it. I want to be able to interact with one of those VM's from the XenServer console. For example, if I have a windows VM I would like to interact with it from the XenServer host console all while the other VM's are running. Is that possible?
This is my first question and hopefully I posted it right. Sorry if I did something wrong. I searched for an answer but I was unable to find an answer.

By interact with it, do you mean login to it? If so, you're at the wrong place. You should login to your VMs from the XenCenter app, which you'll install on your windows machine by going to http://ipOfYourZenserver (ie. http://192.168.1.75 or whatever).
The only thing you might be able to do from you Xenserver is ssh to one of the machines running.

Install XenCenter from http://yourXenServerIp/
Connect to your XenServer, via Server -> Add
Click the VM in question in the left tree
On the right pane click the Console tab, which should display the output from your VM. If it's running and Windows has started you should see the Windows GUI.
Ideally you should install XenTools on your VM's to improve performance (this includes better console interaction).
We've found it best to enable remote desktop on our Windows VM's and connect using the Windows RDP client (Start -> Run -> mstsc).

It is possible to interact with VMs that are in XenServer, but you need XenCenter app to do that (make sure to get a compatible version of XenCenter eg if you are using XenServer 7 you must use XenCenter 7 or 8 etc).
After installing XenServer, connect it to your XenCenter and then all the VMs will appear in a list at the left side. Then, you can select any VM you want and from the "console" tab you can have interact in it like any other hypervisor (eg virtualbox).
If this isn't clear enough let me know.

Related

How to Run Blue Prism Scheduled Jobs on Cloud VM based BOT server

I am having architecture where my BOT server is on Cloud VM. To access that VM, I do RDP. I scheduled all the BP jobs on that BOT on VM. Now when I am connected to VM using RDP and keep the Blue Prism window in foreground, my BP jobs are running fine, means in Attended mode, they are fine. But if I minimize that BP window or if I dont do RDP to VM machine, I am getting error 'failed to navigate'. That means in unattended mode on my Cloud based VM BOT server, jobs are not running.
NOTE: My BP VM machine is always up and running also its not getting locked also, as I disabled windows screen lock (alt+ctrl+del).
In this scenario, will logon agent help or any other suggestions?
Utilizing an environment relying on RDP is not supported or recommended by Blue Prism, as it causes issues with automated processes (as you describe). Please refer to page 4 of the Blue Prism Data Sheet - Remote Access Tools (available in the Documents tab of the Blue Prism client portal):
The following tools have been deemed to be specifically unsuitable for providing remote access to Blue Prism environments:
Remote Desktop Connection (RDP)
The way that this Windows tool (and other tools that use the RDP protocol) handle session management is not compatible with Blue Prism:
The underlying operating system is aware as a connection is
established which can, subject to the automation techniques being
applied, result in the executing automation being interupted.
It requires the remote access credentials to be aligned with the
credentials used to authenticate the target system against the
network which presents a potential security risk.
As a user authenticates any previously connected users are locked out.
Each connection creates a separate desktop session.
The connection is not maintained throughout a system reboot.
It does not matter whether the VM is in cloud or within your own infrastructure, they both have same issue. Blueprism needs "screen" to be able to interact with applications. VM of course does not have a physical screen, but there is still a virtual one (I don't mean the RDP one by this) as the virtualization layer provides virtual GPU and monitor.
Imagine a non-virtual pc left unlocked. This is the same. Even if you don't see it (you have to look for "console", some clouds provide access to it), it exists.
There are more possibilities how to solve it, two of them are:
1) use Blueprism Login Agent
This will unlock the physical/virtual screen of the machine with given AD/Windows credentials, like a human user would before he starts working with the pc.
Please search internet for more infor about it or look up videos on youtube, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeeeu_iHjzk&list=PL4SEtvjUqihFh-iFvb_s0VAhPCX1tzg2A&index=43
(I am not the author of this video nor affiliated with the author)
2) modify Windows registry setting to log in automatically
More info: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/324737/how-to-turn-on-automatic-logon-in-windows
I've encountered this problem before.
Try using the BluePrism's "Login Agent"'s "Login" process with the BOT's credentials.
If you continue to get this error, try using a "Dynamic" Spy mode for a particular attribute.
Good luck.

VM Keeps restarting

I have a VM host in Azure, created using Resource Manager. I've come to use it today and can't RDP to the machine. When I view the Boot Diagnostics it has Please Wait. after a period of time it will go to the logon screen. When I view the CPU usage you can see it drop which assume is the VM restarting.
I've tried the following :
Reset Password
Reset Configuration
Redeploy
I've also looked at the network interfaces and tried adding it to a network security group with RDP rule but still nothing.
Is there anything else I can check?
EDIT
When I first start the VM up and look at the Boot diagnostics I can see the login screen. When I try and RDP to the machine it says it can't connect.
The CPU drops where I assume its restarting, I've tried RDP to the machine from another machine on the same VPN
I raised a ticket regarding the following. Support noticed the following in the logs "Rebooting VM to apply DSC configuration." The "DSC extension" was causing the machine to reboot.
They advised me to go to VM in the control panel and then extensions and uninstall the Powershell extension. Not sure what caused this ie I did not knowingly install this. But once I uninstalled it I was able to RDP. Support have asked me to try and install it again and see if the same happens again but at the moment not had a chance to do this.

Openstack horizon issues not starting up

I have installed a openstack sigle mode in my vm, but when I restart the vm I cant log in to the horizon web page.
Any ideas?
thanks.
Looks like you are using devstack, right? When you restart your VM, some of devstack services are failing, so Horizon cannot connect to these services.
You should go to the screen sessions and go through all windows to restart all services.
Now so long ago you were able to run ./rejoin_stack.sh, but is was removed because it does not do this job right (look like).
So I believe it would be better for you to run ./unstack.sh and stack.sh again.
As said in the same question
DevStack is not meant and should not be used for running a cloud.

Install Neo4j on Azure, cannot browse WebAdmin

I've just installed Neo4j 1.8.2 onto Azure by following this step-by-step process...
http://de.slideshare.net/neo4j/neo4j-on-azure-step-by-step-22598695
Unfortunately, when I browse to http://:7474/webadmin Fiddler says Error 10061 - No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
I've followed the instructions exactly and haven't received any errors.
Any help much appreciated.
So, I think I got to the bottom of this. I think it was due to the size of compute / VM I was creating. It looks like the problem is caused when running on Extra Small instances. I created a new installation using a Small instance and everything now works :).
Try setting the server to accept connections form all hosts, and maybe use a newer Neo4j, say 1.9.4
http://docs.neo4j.org/chunked/stable/security-server.html#_secure_the_port_and_remote_client_connection_accepts
The way the VM Depot image is set up, it's pre-configured to allow all hosts to connect, and the Neo4j server will auto-start. The only thing you need to take care of, when constructing your VM, is to open an Input Endpoint, with any public port you want (preferably 7474 to stay true to Neo4j) and internal port 7474.
Note that the UI changed a bit since the how-to was published: You can specify the endpoint as the last step before creating your virtual machine. Other than that, the instructions should be the same. And... once the VM is up and running (it'll take about 5-10 minutes), you just visit http://yourservicename.cloudapp.net:7474 and you should see the web admin. Note: this is not the same as your vm name. If you named your VM something like 'neo' then you do not want http://neo:7474 or http://neo.cloudapp.net:7474. You need to use your cloud service name (you had to create a name for the service when you deployed the VM.
I've deployed that image several times in demos, and just tried again right now to make sure nothing wonky happened. Worked perfectly.

Cloud environment on Windows Azure platform

I've got 6 web sites, 2 databases and 1 cloud environment setup on my account
I used the cloud to run some tasks via Windows Task Manager, everything was installed on my D drive but between last week and today the 8 of March my folder containing the "exe" to run as been removed.
Also I've installed SVN tortoise to get the files deployed and it not installed anymore
I wonder if somebody has a clue about my problem
Best Regards
Franck merlin
If you're using Cloud Services (web/worker roles), these are stateless virtual machines. That is: Windows Azure provides the operating system, then brings your deployment package into the environment after bootup. Every single virtual machine instance booted this way starts from a clean OS image, along with the exact same set of code bits from you.
Should you RDP into the box and manually install anything, anything you install is going to be temporary at best. Your stuff will likely survive reboots. However, if the OS needs updating (especially the underlying host OS), your changes will be lost as a fresh OS is brought up.
This is why, with Cloud Services, all customizations should be done via startup tasks or the OnStart() event. You should never manually install anything via RDP since:
Your changes will be temporary
Your changes won't propagate to additional instances; you'll be required to RDP into every single box to perform the same changes.
You may want to download the Azure Training Kit and look through some of the Cloud Service labs to get a better feel for startup tasks.
In addition to what David said, check out http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kwill/archive/2012/10/05/windows-azure-disk-partition-preservation.aspx for the scenarios where the different drives will be destroyed.
Also take a look at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kwill/archive/2012/09/19/role-instance-restarts-due-to-os-upgrades.aspx which points you to the RSS feed and MSDN article where you can see that a new OS is currently being deployed.

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