NetApp Simulator 8 - Continuosly Rebooting

If you, like me, have tried out the NetApp Simulator 8 (7-mode), you may have encountered a couple of challenges.

I downloaded the VMware Workstation version, and opened it without a problem - accepting the default hardware configuration. I then started the virtual machine and watched DOT load, and then continuously reboot, getting to a point and reload again. Searching around the support forums, I discovered that it was a relatively trivial issue, that is described in the related documentation - which of course, is not available from the same place where you download the simulator from!

So if you're experiencing the continuous rebooting of your NetApp Simulator 8, the first time you run it, be sure to press CTRL-C when prompted, and select option 4 to reset the config and zero the "disks".

And if you are looking for the installation guide for NetApp Simulator 8 (you will need a NetApp NOW account), you can find it here: http://support.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/simulate_ontap/Simulate_ONTAP_8.0.pdf

Back to life

Ahh, I had long forgotten that I once created this blog with great intentions of sharing my IT experiences with the world. Well, I have found it again, and hopefully start posting some of my thoughts on various subjects.
Also be sure to check out my other posts on http://biosme.blogspot.com.

Hyper-V and Windows 2003 64 R2 w SP2 and NICs

I've been spending quite a bit of time playing with Hyper-V, and have come across a curious scenario, that just doesn't work as described in other posts around the web.

Creating a new virtual machine with Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 with Service Pack 2 (x64) seems to work all good and well, except that the network card just doesn't work. This version of Windows does not have legacy network drivers compatible with the O/S, and you need to use the synthetic drivers that are supposedly installed when you install the Integrated Components (or Virtual Guest Services as it's called in SCVMM). In order for the network drivers to install successfully, apparently Windows Server needs to have Service Pack 2 installed.

I've tried installing the guest services on the straight forward install (since it already has the service pack), I have tried re-installing the service pack, and now I am busy trying different distribution media (MSDN vs Licensing Center VL).

I just can't get the network card working. This is very frustrating, and it looks like I will have to revert to using the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2003 for those applications that don't yet work on Windows 2008.

UPDATE: I confirm that Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 with Service Pack 2 (x64) with integrated components does NOT install the synthetic drivers. I am not going to spend any more time on this, but the aforementioned distribution of Windows Server is clearly not compatible with Hyper-V.