Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

By JM Lopez
9 min

Account Management

How can I reset my password?

Visit the VSKEY Self-serve site (https://vskey-pw.eis.utoronto.ca/?action=sendtoken). Enter your email address and username. This will send a link to your email where you can set a new password

How can I request a VM admin account?

For existing partners, please fill out this form https://utor.cloud/admin-request or scan the following QR code:

https://utor.cloud/admin-request

For new partners, please reach out to virtual.hosting@utoronto.ca. We look forward to discussing your needs and assessing if our service aligns with your technical and financial requirements.

General 

What version of virtual hardware is supported?

We are currently running vSphere 8.0, therefore the virtual machine virtual hardware version is up to 21 (vmx-21).

Can I deploy ESXi, VirtualBox or HyperV on a virtual machine?

Unfortunately, we do not support nested virtualization including ESXi, VirtualBox, HyperV, etc.

Virtual Machine Management

How can I request a new Virtual Machine?

If you have VSS VSKEY credentials, please login to https://vss-portal.eis.utoronto.ca and click on thebutton (lower right corner).

If you do not any VSS VSKEY credentials, send an email to virtual.hosting@utoronto.ca and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Self-Service Portal (https://vss-portal.eis.utoronto.ca) is only accessible using VSS VPN

How Can I change CPU, Memory,Network, HDD specs after a VM is created?

To know further about changing your VM config, please visit Change CPU, Memory, Network, HDD specs after a VM is created.

I requested a VMware Paravirtual SCSI HDD controller and I cannot see any HDD in the Windows Installer Wizard, what should I do?

Windows doesn't include the VMware Parvirtual SCSI driver in its inventory, thus we have to provide it during the installation. This could be done by requesting VSS the following:

  • Mount the PVSCSI driver in the VM's floppy drive. 

  • Load driver from floppy in the Windows Installer Wizard.

Once the driver is fully loaded, you will be able to start Windows installation as any other kind of HDD controller.

How can I verify VMware tools version?

You can use either the ITS Private Cloud Portal, Command Line Interface, vSphere Web Client do so. Refer to the following article for detailed steps can be found Verify VMware Tools version.

How can I fix Linux virtual machine's boot is slow and displays the warning: "RecordRoutingInfo: Unable to collect IPv4 routing table"?

This issue occurs when the Linux iputils package causes a delay in the boot process and to resolve this issue, see the RedHat Advisory RHBA-2013:1290 and install the proper patch. However, if the virtual machine remains stuck in the boot up process, please contact the VSS team to apply the workaround mentioned in the VMware KB Article 2048572

Memory hot added in Linux does not register in the guest. How can it be presented live?

In order to present hot added memory right away, we need to set up the memory online. Refer to the VMware KB article Hot adding memory in Linux (1012764)

How can I create Virtual Machine Snapshot?

Virtual machine snapshots can be created via the VSS Portal or VSS Command Line interface. For more information, please refer to the following How-To article Request Virtual Machine Snapshot.

How can I mount an ISO to a Virtual Machine?

We have a public repository with hundreds of ISO images and any can be loaded as described in the following How-To article Load an ISO image in a Virtual Machine. Also, you can mount your own ISO to a virtual machine following this How-To article Upload an ISO image to VSS.

Do you support Windows Server 2019 Virtual Machines?

Yes. According to https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/59222 you should select Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (64bit).

Can I import a VMX with VMDK on the ITS Private Cloud?

Due to security reasons, we only allow OVF/OVA direct imports. However, you could create a “shell” or empty Virtual Machine instance just as described in the VMX configuration file and then import the VMDK as described in the VSS-CLI - Import VMDK section. The conversion process is completely automated and the VMDK file will be available as a disk in your virtual machine.

Do you support reducing Virtual Machine disks?

No. vSphere does not support reducing disks. However, If data disk is to be reduced, it would be simpler to add a smaller disk, copy data over and remove the source disk. If a OS disk is considered, reducing the partition size and defragmenting the disk is required. Then our team could run necessary tasks that may take several minutes while the VM is powered off.

How do I archive a Virtual Machine?

The ITS Private Cloud offers two options as archival methods: Export VM as OVF or Convert VM to Template. More information is shown in the following KB article: How-to archive a Virtual Machine .

How do I decommission a Virtual Machine?

Use the ITS Private Cloud Portal or VSS Command Line Interface as detailed in the following article How-to delete or decommission a Virtual Machine or Template.

How do I update a Virtual Machine contact information?

If you are an administrator of a single or many virtual machines in the ITS Private Cloud, it is important to ensure that your contact information is up-to-date to receive updates in a timely manner.

Refer to the following article for further details How-to update your contact information on a Virtual Machine.

Why does my Virtual Machine shows a different operating system than the running operating system?

The VM Guest Operating Setting informs vSphere about the OS family you plan to install, ensures hardware alignment with the selected OS, provides efficient resources for performance, and enhances VMware Tools functionality and communication. The VM Guest Running Operating System operates independently of guest OS setting.

In a nutshell, guest OS settings guide VM hardware, resources optimized for the given OS, while the running OS operates independently.

Our best practice is to balance both for optimal performance and security. Meaning that a VM Guest OS Setting update is required after a Guest Operating System Upgrade. Follow this KB for fixing a mismatchHow-to fix the mismatch between the VM Guest Operating Setting and the Guest Running Operating System

What is the difference between the different domains (FD1, FD2, FD3, FD4)?

Each fault domain (FD1, FD2, FD3, FD4) has its own distinct storage and compute infrastructure. While the servers and storage within each fault domain are of the same or similar make, the purpose of these fault domains is to provide separation for virtual machines (VMs).

This separation is particularly beneficial for high availability configurations. By placing VMs in different fault domains, you can ensure they run on separate hardware, enhancing reliability and fault tolerance.

What is the difference Between Non-Reserved and Reserved Memory?

Memory reservation guarantees a VM a specified amount of physical memory, ensuring consistent and predictable performance and availability, especially for critical applications or vGPU implementation. Non-reserved memory, on the other hand, is not guaranteed and depends on the host's overall memory availability, leading to potential performance variability. Reserved memory reduces available resources for other VMs, while non-reserved memory allows for more flexible and efficient use of host resources.

Why do I need to use Reserved Memory when using a vGPU?

Reserving memory for VMs using vGPUs in vSphere is essential to ensure consistent performance, meet the architectural requirements of vGPUs, avoid memory management issues, and comply with NVIDIA recommendations.

How to reinstall the Operating System (OS) on a Virtual Machine (vm)

To reinstall the Operating System on a Virtual Machine you can mount the required OS media ( How-to Load an ISO image in a Virtual Machine ), launch the Web Console via the vSphere client, shut down the virtual machine, power it on and press the ESC key while booting to select CDROM as the bootable media.

Networking

Do you provide public IP addresses?

Yes. When provisioning a new Virtual Machine or updating an existing Virtual Machine network adapter, select VSS-PUBLIC in the network tab for internet routable or EIS-VSS-CGN for on-campus routable IP address. These networks are DHCP based and you will receive a the IP address allocated for your virtual machine once provisioned in the email confirmation.

Both networks are NOT behind firewall, so please always enable local firewall.

Can I use other domains like .org, .net or .ca setup in my VM or does it have to end with .utoronto.ca?

Taking into account that we provide static IP addresses, you can use that IP address to register whatever hostname is needed. Since we only provide the IP address, you have to register the hostname by any of the following methods:

  • If a hostname in ".utoronto.ca" is required, then you should contact EIS Network Engineering or use UT campus network admin tools available from https://netadmin.utoronto.ca/

  • If a hostname outside of ".utoronto.ca" is required, then you have to contact a DNS registrar of your choice.

Please let us know what the hostname will be so that we can complete the PTR registration.

How do I request a new network?

Visit the ITS DNS and IP Address Management (IPAM) Portal (https://ipam.utoronto.ca/portal/), click Request a Network button and complete the form. Once Network Engineering has assigned the network they will forward the details to the VSS team, the network will be added to the VSS infrastructure and you will be contacted when it is ready to be used.

How can I obtain a public IP for a cloned VM?

When you clone the VM, a new public IP will be automatically assigned if you use either of the public networks: VSS-PUBLIC or EIS-VSS-CGN.

VMware Tools

VMware Tools doesn't appear to be installed automatically via the vSphere Client, how can It be installed manually?

It is our best practice to install VMware Tools on each provisioned VM. Please, choose the right process according to your VM's platform listed in the following documents: Installing VMware Tools or Upgrading VMware Tools

Why does Windows is not detecting my VM network adapter?

Because operating system vendors do not provide built-in drivers for VMXNET3/VMXNET2 card, you must install VMware Tools to have a driver for the network adapter available. This is the case of Windows, which requires VMware Tools installed to load the VMXNET driver. Refer to the VMware KB article Installing VMware Tools in a Windows virtual machine (1018377) and install VMware tools on your VM, then the VM network adapter will be usable

How can I move from VMware Tools to Open VM Tools?

First, remove the current installation of VMware Tools. Then install open-vm-tools, either by using a package manager or by downloading the appropriate package for your distribution. For more details, please consult the How-To article: Move from VMware Tools to Open VM Tools (open-vm-tools)

Operating Systems

Why didn't the Guest OS Customization specification work on Ubuntu 18+?

Even though the customization specification is applied, the end state of the task is failed according to /var/log/vmware-imc/toolsDeployPkg.log is FAILED. Based on the following KB: 

1.  Open the tmp.conf under /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/tmp.conf file. Go to the line 11 and add the prefix # . For example: 

#D /tmp 1777 root root -

2. open the /lib/systemd/system/open-vm-tools.service file. Add the following line under [Unit]

After=dbus.service

3. Reload Unit:

systemctl daemon-reload

How to activate or license “Windows Server” in the ITS Private Cloud?

Windows Server supported workloads in the ITS Private Cloud are eligible for licensing. To activate, please run the following commands as Administrator from cmd:

cscript.exe C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /skms kms.si.utoronto.ca cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato

If your network is unable to access the Key Management Service (KMS), please submit a ticket to our support team via the following link: https://uoft.me/ssg .

When submitting your ticket, please provide the following details:

  • A clear description of the issue you are experiencing

  • Your network's CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) range

How to activate or license “Windows Desktop” in the ITS Private Cloud?

Windows Desktop workloads are covered by the University’s Microsoft Campus Agreement and the licenses are managed by the license server available at mskms.utorcsi.utoronto.ca only accessible from U of T Campus Networks. To activate, please run the following commands as Administrator from cmd:

slmgr.vbs /skms mskms.utorcsi.utoronto.ca slmgr.vbs /ato​​​​​​​ slmgr.vbs /dlv

IIf your network is unable to access the Key Management Service (KMS), please submit a ticket to our support team via the following link:  https://uoft.me/m365help .

When submitting your ticket, please provide the following details:

  • A clear description of the issue you are experiencing

  • Your network's CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) range

How to activate Ubuntu Pro in the ITS Private Cloud?

Any Ubuntu workload running on clusters FD1 , FD3 and FD4 can take advantage of Ubuntu Pro. To enable, please refer to the following how-to: How-to enable Ubuntu Pro on your VM .

Billing

Questions about billing? Refer to the Billing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) .

Tooling

VPN access and VSS Credentials must be set first. Refer to Steps 1 and 2 of the Getting Started Guide

How to install the vss-cli?

Refer to Installation and Configuration documentation to get started. Alternatively, you can access https://vss-cli.eis.utoronto.ca or ssh into vsscli-demo.eis.utoronto.ca.

How to install pyvss?

Refer to Installation and Upgrade | InstallationandUpgrade Installation for instructions.

Security

How to request an SSL/TLS certificate?

Information Security provides two options to get SSL certificates:

UTORlogin required for the KB articles

How to install SentinelOne endpoint protection?

Visit the FAQ or contact the Information Security team for more information about protecting your VMs with the Endpoint Protection Program.

Follow How-to install SentinelOne (S1) for Endpoint Protection if you already have a site token.

 

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