Category Archives: Windows Server 2012

Copy Cluster Roles Hyper-V Cluster Migration Fails at Final Step with error Virtual Machine Configuration ‘VM01’ failed to register the virtual machine with the virtual machine service

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I was working on a migration of a nice two node Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V cluster to Windows Server 2012 R2. The cluster consist out of 2 DELL R610 servers and a DELL  MD3200 shared SAS disk array for the shared storage. It runs all the virtual machines with infrastructure roles etc. It’s a Cluster In A Box like set up. This has been doing just fine for 18 months but the need for features in Windows Server 2012 R2 became too much to resists. As the hardware needs to be recuperated and we have a maintenance windows we use the copy cluster roles scenario that we have used so many times before with great success. It’s the Perform an in-place migration involving only two servers scenario documented on TechNet and as described in one of my previous blogs Migrating a Hyper-V Cluster to Windows 2012 R2 for your convenience.

Virtual Machine Configuration ‘VM01’ failed to register the virtual machine with the virtual machine service

As the source host was running on Windows Server 2012 we could have done the live migration scenario but the down time would be minimal and there is a maintenance window. So we chose this path.

So we performed a good health check. of the source cluster and made sure we had no snapshots left hanging around. Yes it’s supported now for this migration scenario but I like to have as few moving parts as possible during a migration.

It all went smooth like silk. After shutting down the VMs on the source cluster node, bringing the CSV off line (and un-presenting the LUN from the source node for good measure), we present that LUN to the target host. We brought the CSV on line and when that was completed successfully we were ready to bring the virtual machines on line and that failed …

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-High-Availability-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-High-Availability
Date:          4/02/2014 19:26:41
Event ID:      21102
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      VM01.domain.be
Description:
‘Virtual Machine Configuration VM01’ failed to register the virtual machine with the virtual machine management service.

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Let’s dive into the other event logs. On the host the application security and system event log are squeaky clean. The Hyper-V event logs are pretty empty or clean to except for these events in the Hyper-V-VMMS Admin log.

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          4/02/2014 19:26:40
Event ID:      13000
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      VM01.domain.be
Description:
User ‘NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM’ failed to create external configuration store at ‘C:ClusterStorageHyperVStorageVM01’: The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed.. (0x800706FD)

 

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Bingo. It must be the fact that no domain controller is available. It’s completely self contained cluster and both domain controller virtual machines are highly available and reside on the CSV. Now the CSV does come on line without a DC since Windows Server 2012 so that’s not the issue. it’s the process of registering the VMs that fails without a DC in an Active Directory environment.

Getting passed this issue

There are multiple ways to resolve this and move ahead with our cluster migration. As the environment is still fully functional on the source cluster I just removed a DC virtual machine from high availability on the cluster. I shut it down and exported it. I than copied it over to the node of the new cluster  (we’re going to nuke the source host afterwards and install W2K12R2, so we moved it to the new host where it could stay) where I put it on local storage and imported it. For this is used the “Register the virtual machine in-place option”. I did not make it high available.

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After verifying that we could ping the DC and it was up and running well we tried the final phase of the migration again. It went as smooth as we have come to expect!

Other options would have been to host the DC virtual machine on a laptop or other server. If you could no longer get to the the DC for export & import or heck even a shared nothing migration depending on your environment can help you out of this pickle. A restore from backup would also work. But here in that 2 node all in one cluster our approach was fast and efficient.

So there you go. Tip to remember. Virtualizing domain controllers is fully supported, no worries there but you need to make sure that if you have a dependency on a DC you don’t have the DC depending on that dependency. It’s chicken an egg thing.

RDMA Over RoCE With DCB Requires Tagged Non Default VLANs

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It’s DCB That Requires This

For those of you who are experimenting with the RoCE variant of RDMA for SMB Direct in Windows Server 2012 (R2), make sure you have a VLAN tag in your configuration if this is more than a simple RDMA over two NICs. The moment you get DBC with PFC & ETS involved you’ll need non default tagged VLANs. Do note that PFC alone is good enough, ETS is strictly speaking not a requirement, but I’d consider doing it if you can.

With Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) the network traffic type is classified using the priority value in the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame. The priority value is the Priority Code Point (PCP), which is described in the IEEE 802.1Q specification and uses a 3-bit field in the VLAN tag with eight possible priority values (0 to 7).

Priority-based Flow Control (PFC) allows to individually pause priorities of tagged traffic and helps to provide lossless or “no drop” behavior for a certain priority at the receiving port. As  above, each frame transmitted by a sending port is tagged with a priority value (0 to 7) in the VLAN tag. So for the traffic pause and resume functionality to work we need a VLAN tag to carry the priority value.

Does It Work Without?

But you’ll tell me that, as you may be lacking a DCB capable switch for lab purposes, you used a direct cable between your two RoCE NICs. And guess what RoCE, might have indeed worked for you without a VLAN tag. You can test & get a feel for what RoCE/RDMA can do for you with just the NICs. But as there is no switch involved you’re not using DCB for PFC/ETS and without that the need for the tagged VLAN isn’t there. Also see https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2013/05/03/smb-direct-roce-does-not-work-without-dcbpfc/.

So there you go. Design your RoCE/RDMA network based on DCB with PFC( and ETS) and not just on the tests with an direct cable or you might miss a few details that are quite important. Happy testing!

Reverting the Forest & Domain Functional Levels in Window Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2

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Since Windows Server 2008 R2 and now with Windows Server 2012(R2)you can roll back the domain and forest functional level under certain conditions. This was not possible before with previous versions of Windows. In these cases you would have to revert to a restore from backup. Yup pretty hefty so raising functional levels has to be done with care.

Now this isn’t a free fire zone there are some conditions as listed in the table below.

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So you cannot have advanced features like the AD recycle bin enabled in some conditions. Enabling this is irreversible, so you cannot revert the Forest Functional Level of your environment to a level that supports the AD recycle bin when it has been enabled. Today that means from Windows Server 2012(R2) to Windows Server 2008 R2.

You also need Enterprise Administrator rights to do so, which I hope you’ll understand. It’s also a Windows PowerShell only feature (Set-ADDomainMode).

I used this information recently during an upgrade of an Windows Server 2008 R2 domain to Windows Server 2012 where they wanted to raise the domain and forest functional level. As they had a Forest Trust between the (now) Windows Server 2012 forest/domain and another Windows Server 2008 R2 forest/domain. They had enabled the Recycle Bin when still at Windows 2008 R2. They wanted to know if they would have issues with the trust and if so whether they could revert the levels in that case.

Well I could put their mind at ease. Look at the table. Yes you can go back to Windows 2008 R2 Forest Functional level as that’s a version that also supports AD Recycle bin so it doesn’t matter that is enabled.  And no, the forest trust capability is not affected by the forest functional level in this case as all you need there is to be at a minimum level of Windows 2003 to be able to do a forest trust. Forest Trust is enabled from and above Windows Server 2003 Forest functional Level. In a Windows Server 2000 Forest functional Level, Forest Trust is disabled. That means you can do them between forests at different functional levels a long as non of them is lower than Windows 2003. In this case it’s Windows 2008 R2 that’s the lowest, so again, not an issue.

How? Very simple:

Set-ADDomain Mode mydomain.com -DomainMode Windows2008R2Domain

Set-ADForestMode mydomain.com -ForestMode Windows2008R2Forest

Take a look at these TechNet Resources Understanding Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Functional Levels  and Set-ADDomainMode for more information.

Windows Server 2012 R2 Cluster Reset Recent Events With PowerShell

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I blogged before about the fact that since Windows Server 2012  we have the ability to reset the recent events shown so that the state of the cluster is squeaky clean with not warnings or errors. You can read up on this here. Windows Server 2012 Cluster Reset Recent Events Feature.

You can also do this in PowerShell like in the example below:

#Connect to cluster & get current RecentEventsResetTime value
$MyCluster = Get-CLuster -name "W2K12R2RTM"
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime

#Reset recent events
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime = get-date
$MyCluster.RecentEventsResetTime

As you may notice, the RecentEventsResetTime is displayed in UTC when read form the cluster after connecting to it. Right after you set it it displays the time respectful of the time zone you’re in right until you connect to the cluster again. We demonstrate this in the 2 screenshots below (I’m at GMT+1).

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This comes in handy when writing test, comparison & demo scripts. Often you do things with the network that causes network connectivity to be lost when the NIC gets reset (disabled/enabled) and such. Also when something fails as part of the demo or tests scripts it’s nice to start the rerun or the next part of the demo/test with a clean cluster GUI when you’re showcasing stuff. Unfortunately an already GUI doesn’t refresh these setting if the reset is not done in the GUI. So you need to open a new one. For scripting you don’t have this issue. EDIT: In Windows 2012 R2 you can use the $MyCluster.Update() to reflect the new value of RecentEventsResetTime in UTC without having to reconnect to the cluster. In Windows Server 2012 this Update method isn’t available but it seems to happen automatic.