Neil versus PVS - Part III - More Fun Then Should Be Allowed!

Hi Friends,

Still fighting with PVS, I think I might have it under control now, but it was touch and go for a few days there!  More errors and possible solutions for you if you're tackling a large roll out.  All I can say is working with a large number of desktops on PVS, I have a new respect for people who work with this product every day!  It's a powerful product, but man is it particular!

I've created a CIFS share through Microsoft file sharing and put my vDisk on the share.  Everyone is happy, I'm able to create multiple desktops without a problem.  Now it's time to add a second PVS server to share the load, the plot thickens....  I add the new PVS server using the PVS Provisioning Wizard, it adds great, shows up, the store path validates, but when I look at the vDisk Pool or vDisks in my store it shows up as No Server.  No Server what the heck does that mean?!  You're there, you have the path, people like you, how can you be No Server?  So off to Google!

I look around and find a couple of articles on the Citrix forums, but not a 1:1 condition or concrete answer.  While reading there are a number of folks that talk about permission issues.  Now in the vDisk store you've got essentially three files, the vDisk itself which is the VHD, a LOK file and a PVP file.  Some advice, MAKE A BACKUP of the files before you start messing with or deleting them!!  I decided to start checking the permissions and I noticed that "Users" only had read, read/execute, so I added full control and the vDisk showed up as useable on my second server!!  The only problem is it kept acting weird.  It would pause a lot when I would click on the vDisk, sometimes get hung up, so I knew something else was still wrong.  To top it off when I tried to access the vDisk on boot from a desktop I would get vdisk is locked 0xffff800c.  If I tried using the XenDesktop Setup Wizard I got this error, A required PVS server in the selected site is offline or there is no server assigned to a required store.  I don't know about Denmark, but something was definitely rotten in San Jose!

The weird thing is the first server kept behaving fine, so what's the deal?  I deleted the vDisk and reimported it and now BOTH, yes BOTH showed No Server.  Hey, at least I'm getting somewhere, where that is, I have NO idea!  But I knew it wasn't some place I wanted to stay for long.

Off to the Microsoft share server!  I removed the share and noticed I couldn't add it back!  So I copied over the vDisk contents to a share that was behaving and guess what?  Both servers are now serving the vDisk!

So what's this teach us?  If you're getting weird access errors like this, check your shares.  I think by changing the permissions on the PVP file I was able to sort of fool PVS into sort of working, but the problem was at a higher level.  Why the first server was working, until I removed and re-added the vDisk, NO IDEA!  But if this can help just one person avoid some of the pain I encountered, my job is done!  :-)

Until Next Time
-Brain