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Export a GPO to a File

Export a GPO to a file using Advanced Group Policy Managment

Download AGPM: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54967

  1. In the Group Policy Management Console tree, click Change Control in the forest and domain in which you want to manage GPOs
  2. On the Contents tab, click the Controlled tab to display the controlled GPOs
  3. Right-click the GPO, and then click Export to
  4. Enter a file name for the file to which you want to export the GPO, and then click Export. If the file does not exist, it is created. If it already exists, it is replaced

Additional considerations

  • By default, you must be an Editor or an AGPM Administrator (Full Control) to perform this procedure. Specifically, you must have List Contents, Read Settings, and Export GPO permissions for the GPO.
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Reset/Clear Nutanix Licensing violation

Too many times I have gone to do licensing in a newly created cluster (or log onto a clients Nutanix deployment) to be faced with the following

The below command run from any CVM cluster or for Prism Central CLI will clear it

–> ssh to Cluster or Prism Central IP (Depending which you have the message in)

–> ncli license reset-license

Log out of the GUI and back in again

Nutanix vSphere Cluster Settings

Following list provides an overview of the settings to configure as best practice on a Nutanix ESXi deployment

vSphere HA Settings

  • Enable host monitoring
  • Enable admission control and use the percentage-based policy with a value based on the number of nodes in the cluster
  • Set the VM Restart Priority of all Controller VMs toDisabled
  • Set the Host Isolation Response of the cluster to Power Off
  • Set the Host Isolation Response of all Controller VMs to Disabled
  • Set the VM Monitoring for all Controller VMs to Disabled
  • Enable Datastore Heartbeating by clicking Select only from my preferred datastores and choosing the Nutanix NFS datastore – I normally create two small heatbeat datastores, advertise as 10GB capacity and use these. However if the cluster has only one datastore, add an advanced option named das.ignoreInsufficientHbDatastore withValue of true

vSphere DRS Settings

  • Set the Automation Level on all Controller VMs to Disabled
  • Leave power management disabled (set to Off)

Other Cluster Settings

  • Store VM swapfiles in the same directory as the virtual machine
  • Enable EVC in the cluster

Disable SIOC on a Container

It is recommended to disable SIOC on Nutanix because this setting can cause following issues.

  • If SIOC or SIOC in the statistics mode is enabled then storage might become unavailable.
  • If SIOC is enabled and you are using Metro Availability feature, you may face issues with activate and restore operation.
  • If SIOC in the statistics mode is enabled, then this might cause all the hosts to repeatedly create and delete the access and .lck-XXXXXXXX files in the .iorm.sf directory in the root directory of the container.

Perform the following procedure to disable storage I/O statistics collection.

  1. Log into the vSphere Web Client.
  2. Click Storage.
  3. Navigate to the container for your cluster.
  4. Right-click the container and select Configure Storage I/O Controller.
    The properties for the container is displayed. The Disable Storage I/O statistics collection option is unchecked, which means that SIOC is enabled by default.
  5. Select the Disable Storage I/O statistics collection option to disable SIOC, and click OK.
  6. Select the Exclude I/O Statistics from SDRS option, and click OK.

Nutanix Cluster Re-IP

Warning: This step affects the operation of a Nutanix cluster – Schedule a down time before performing

1. Log on to the hypervisor with SSH (vSphere or AHV) or remote desktop connection (Hyper-V), or theIPMI remote console

2. Log on to the any Controller VM
→ vSphere or AHV root@host# ssh nutanix@192.168.5.254
→ Hyper-V > ssh nutanix@192.168.5.254

3. Change CVM IP
Stop the Nutanix cluster
→ nutanix@cvm$ cluster stop
→ nutanix@cvm$ cluster reconfig
→ nutanix@cvm$ external_ip_reconfg
Follow the prompts to type the new netmask, gateway, and external IP addresses

4. Shutdown each Controller VM in the cluster
→ nutanix@cvm$ cvm_shutdown -P now

5. Change hypervisor IP

6. Change IPMI IP

7. Reboot Hypervisor

8. Log on to the any Controller VM
→ nutanix@cvm$ cluster start

Configure AHV 1GBe Network Links

If you want to configure 1 GbE connectivity for guest VMs, you can aggregate the 1 GbE interfaces (eth0 and eth1) to a bond on a separate OVS bridge, create a VLAN network on the bridge, and then assign guest VM interfaces to the network.

To configure 1 GbE connectivity for guest VMs, do the following:

  1. Log on to the AHV host with SSH.
  2. Log on to the Controller VM. 
    root@host# ssh nutanix@192.168.5.254

    Accept the host authenticity warning if prompted, and enter the Controller VM nutanix password.

  3. Determine the uplinks configured on the host. 
    nutanix@cvm$ allssh manage_ovs show_uplinks

    Output similar to the following is displayed:

    Executing manage_ovs show_uplinks on the cluster
================== 192.0.2.49 =================
Bridge br0:
  Uplink ports: br0-up
  Uplink ifaces: eth3 eth2 eth1 eth0

================== 192.0.2.50 =================
Bridge br0:
  Uplink ports: br0-up
  Uplink ifaces: eth3 eth2 eth1 eth0

================== 192.0.2.51 =================
Bridge br0:
  Uplink ports: br0-up
  Uplink ifaces: eth3 eth2 eth1 eth0
  4. If the 1 GbE interfaces are in a bond with the 10 GbE interfaces, as shown in the sample output in the previous step, dissociate the 1 GbE interfaces from the bond. Assume that the bridge name and bond name are br0 and br0-up, respectively. 
    nutanix@cvm$ allssh 'manage_ovs --bridge_name br0 --interfaces 10g --bond_name br0-up update_uplinks'

    The command removes the bond and then re-creates the bond with only the 10 GbE interfaces.

  5. Create a separate OVS bridge for 1 GbE connectivity. For example, create an OVS bridge called br1 (bridge names must not exceed 10 characters.). 
    nutanix@cvm$ allssh 'ssh root@192.168.5.1 /usr/bin/ovs-vsctl add-br br1'
  6. Aggregate the 1 GbE interfaces to a separate bond on the new bridge. For example, aggregate them to a bond named br1-up. 
    nutanix@cvm$ allssh 'manage_ovs --bridge_name br1 --interfaces 1g --bond_name br1-up update_uplinks'
  7. Log on to any Controller VM in the cluster, create a network on a separate VLAN for the guest VMs, and associate the new bridge with the network. For example, create a network named vlan10.br1 on VLAN 10. 
    nutanix@cvm$ acli net.create vlan10.br1 vlan=10 vswitch_name=br1
  8. To enable guest VMs to use the 1 GbE interfaces, log on to the web console and assign interfaces on the guest VMs to the network.For information about assigning guest VM interfaces to a network, see “Creating a VM” in the Prism Web Console Guide.

Reset Prism stuck/incomplete task

1. SSH to Cluster of CVM IP
2. Enter the following to list running/failed tasks

ecli task.list include_completed=false

3. Enter the following to cancel required task

ergon_update_task --task_uuid='ENTER_TASK_UUID_HERE' --task_status=succeeded

4. Enter “Y” – Remember you do so at you own risk

5. Enter the following to confirm task have been completed/failed

ecli task.list include_completed=false

Rename AHV Hosts

1. Log on to the AHV host with SSH
2. sudo nano /etc/sysconfig/network
3. Edit the following line

HOSTNAME=new_hostname_here.mycompany.com

Tip: use FQDN as per DNS entries to fix the NCC “FQDN lookup error”
4. Restart the Acropolis host

Change CVM name in AHV

You may need to modify the names of the CVMs displayed in Prism to match the block/serial/hostname or however you reference the node

Note:
The CVM name should always start with NTNX- and end with -CVM

1. SSH into the CVM and shut it down

cvm_shutdown -h now

2. Enter the following from the AHV host

virsh list --all
virsh domrename NTNX-Old_Name_Here-CVM NTNX-New_Name_Here-CVM

3. Start the CVM

virsh start NEW_NAME

4. Configure autostart in KVM so the CVM boots up with the host

virsh autostart NTNX-New_name_here-CVM

Change Nutanix CVM Memory – AHV

Log onto the AHV hosting the CVM and issue the following command

[root@NTNX-1 ~]# virsh list –all
Id Name State
—————————————————-
8 NTNX-1-CVM running

Wait until the CVM is shutdown

[root@NTNX-1 ~]# virsh shutdown NTNX-1-CVM
[root@NTNX-1 ~]# virsh setmem NTNX-1-CVM 20G –config
[root@NTNX-1 ~]# virsh setmaxmem NTNX-1-CVM 20G –config
[root@NTNX-1 ~]# virsh start NTNX-1-CVM
Domain NTNX-1-CVM started

Proceed to other hosts & CVM’s

Create Nutanix Phoenix boot ISO

Step 1. Grab Hyper ISO

To generate an ISO image from a particular version of AHV, do the following:

  1. Log into the latest Foundation VM
  2. Download the latest AHV bundle
  3. Kill the Foundation service running on the Foundation VM. 
    $ sudo pkill -9 foundation
  4. Create an AHV ISO file 
    $ cd /home/nutanix/foundation/bin
$ ./generate_iso kvm ahv_tar_archive

    Replace ahv_tar_archive with the full path to the AHV tar archive, host_bundle_el6.nutanix.version#.tar.gz. The command generates an AHV ISO file named kvm.version#.iso in the current directory

Step2, Create the Pheonix Boot ISO

To generate a Phoenix ISO image, do the following:

  1. Log into the latest Foundation VM
  2. Download the latest AOS bundle
  3. Kill the Foundation service running on the Foundation VM. 
    $ sudo pkill -9 foundation
  4. Navigate to the /home/nutanix/foundation/nos directory and unpack the compressed AOS tar archive. 
    $ gunzip nutanix_installer_package-version#.tar.gz
  5. Generate the Phoenix ISO file. 
    $ cd /home/nutanix/foundation/bin
$ ./generate_iso phoenix --aos-package AOS_PACKAGE --kvm KVM --skip-space-check

    Replace AOS_PACKAGE with the full path to the AOS tar archive, nutanix_installer_package-version#.tar.

    Replace KVM with the full path to the AHV ISO image or bundle.

    Replace ESX with the full path to the ESXi ISO image.

    Replace HYPERV with the full path to the Hyper-V ISO image.

  6. Check in /home/nutanix/foundation/tmp/ for the Phoenix ISO