MBRALIGN caused "Error Loading Operating System" on template

[alliantenergynjk]

We were told by NetApp to run the MBRALIGN on our servers.  Seeing this as a LOT of work, I decided to do it first on our Windows 2003 template so that at least any NEW VMs would have correct alignment.  I started in our LAB first before attempting production.

So I scanned the VMDK files in our lab and indeed it flagged the template VMDK file as not being aligned - cool...so far so good.  The template was off, obviously cause its a template, and had no snapshot.  I ran the alignment process on it and after about 45 minutes it completed, 100%, no errors.

I converted the template to a VM this morning to power it up and make sure the OS was still OK before I deleted the backup files the alignment tool created.  I get this error:

Error Loading Operating System.

I also could not edit the VM in Virtual Center.  It gave me this error:

The server fault 'SystemError' had no message.

Error Stack

Call "PropertyCollector.RetrieveContents" for object "propertyCollector" on vCenter Server "ourservername" failed.

Cool - love it....

Does anyone know what might cause this or what might have gone wrong?  Was I not supposed to run this on a template?  Should I have converted it to a VM first before running the alignment tool on it?

Thanks

NK

[f_duranti]

I got the same problem on a Win2003 machine with the latest version of mbralign (the one in VSC 2.0 and esx_host_utils 5.2). I used it on ESX 4.0update1 machine and got exactly the same errors.

I was thinking about a "compatibility" problem and was waiting to upgrade to ESX 4.1 (but I cannot because there's no SRA for SRM 4.1 available).

Using the mbralign utilities from esx_host_utilities 5.1 (the one with separate mbrscan/mbralign programs) I had no problem to align Windows 2000/2003 machines.

I've never tried with a template, I just converted it to VM then run the mbralign then converted it back to Template.

I thnk the problem can be the new MBRALIGN, what version of it are you running and on what vsphere version?

[alliantenergynjk]

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

I am running the Host Utils version 5.2 (where mbrscan has been merged into mbralign) and ESX 4.0 in our lab.  I am running vCenter 4.1, but our lab is ESX 4.0 still.  None of our lab environment is running on NetApp (yet) - but I was told the alignment problem is a global issue with both physcial and virtual servers running on ANY type of storage.  My understanding was the MBRALIGN could be run on any storage backend - not just NETAPP.  But we are planning on migrating to NETAPP and so that is what started this whole thing.

Thanks

NK

[forgette · Accepted solution]

Hello.  I'm sorry to report you've stepped on a bug in 5.2.  The following Knowledge Base article should help: kb59502

The work around at this point is to download the ESX Host Utilities Kit 5.1 and extract the mbralign utility from it.

[alliantenergynjk]

Thank you.  I will try out the older version.

NK