Concepts,Best Practices,Step-by-step guides,Troubleshooting Technologies – Microsoft Technet

Technologies for Windows 2000 server
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727169.aspx

Overview of AD troubleshooting
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727052.aspx

Troubleshooting Active Directory—Related DNS Problems

AD Backup and Restore
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727048.aspx

Troubleshooting AD Installation Wizard problems
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727058.aspx

etc.. etc.. many more..

Diagnostics on Windows Servers – links in MSDN Library

Diagnostics

• Diagnostics
  • Debugging and Error Handling
    • Application Recovery and Restart
    • Error Handling
    • Basic Debugging
    • Debug Help Library
    • Structured Exception Handling
    • Wait Chain Traversal
  • Debugging Tools for Windows
    • List of Tools and Documentation
    • Debuggers
      • Debuggers in this Package
        • CDB and NTSD
        • KD
        • WinDbg
      • Installation and Setup
      • Debugger Operation
      • Symbols
      • Crash Dump Files
      • Security Considerations
      • Debugger Reference
    • Debugging Techniques
    • Extra Tools
    • Debugger Engine and Extension APIs
    • Glossary
  • Performance Monitoring
  • Windows Error Reporting
  • Windows Events
  • Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA)
  • Windows Troubleshooting Platform
  • Diagnostics Technical Articles

Download and Install Debugging Tools for Windows

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463009

Debugging Tools and Symbols: Getting Started

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg462988

• Debugging Tools for Windows 32-bit Versions
• Debugging Tools for Windows 64-bit Versions
• Download Windows Symbol Packages

Ntdebugging Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

Ntdebugging Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

How Windows Starts Up (part 1 of 4)
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/19/how-windows-starts-up-part-1-of-4.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

Troubleshooting the Startup Process
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457123.aspx

How Windows Shuts Down
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/archive/2007/06/09/how-windows-shuts-down.aspx

Q119467 How to Create a Bootable Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q119467

326215  How To Use the Recovery Console on a Windows Server 2003-Based Computer That Does Not Start

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;326215

Q153973 Recovering NTFS Boot Sector on NTFS Partitions

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q153973

Q272395 Error Message: Boot Record Signature AA55 Not Found

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q272395

 

                Q155892 Windows NT Boot Problem: Kernel File Is Missing From the Disk

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q155892

 

                Q228004 Changing Active Partition Can Make Your System Unbootable

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q228004

 

                Q155053 Black Screen on Boot

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q155053

 

                Q314503 Computer Hangs with a Black Screen When You Start Windows

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q314503

 

                Q153973 Recovering NTFS Boot Sector on NTFS Partitions

                http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q153973

Troubleshooting Active Directory Replication Problems: Active Directory

Troubleshooting Active Directory Replication Problems: Active Directory

Troubleshooting AD Domain Services for Windows Server 2008
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc949130(WS.10).aspx

Troubleshooting AD Domain Services for Windows Server 2008 R2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd378801(WS.10).aspx

Active Directory Services for 2008 and 2008 R2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd578336(WS.10).aspx

Browse Windows Server Technologies for 2008 and 2008 R2
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd283012(WS.10).aspx

How To Diagnose Active Directory Replication Failures
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2498185

 

How to extend the partition of a cluster shared disk
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736

Links for AD related issues and information in technet.microsoft.com

This is the link to the Official library site on technet.microsoft.com for Windows 2000 Server. Though this is for 2000 server, it explains many concepts, diagnostics and troubleshooting steps that can be used today on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc977985.aspx

Diagnosing and Troubleshooting Active Directory Problems
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc961826.aspx

Advanced Troubleshooting:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc961815.aspx

Active Directory Diagnostic Tool (Ntdsutil.exe)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc976711.aspx

User Rights:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc976702.aspx

Events and Errors

Events and Errors explained for all Windows OS related services and roles.

“Error unable to access a file since it is locked” – how did I do to save my day | ESX Virtualizatio

“Error unable to access a file since it is locked” – what did I do to save my day | ESX Virtualization

New vSphere Troubleshooting Video Training Release From Train Signal | VM /ETC

http://vmetc.com/2011/01/06/new-vsphere-troubleshooting-video-training-release-from-train-signal/

3 videos on troubleshooting vSphere

Broadcom.com – Ethernet NIC FAQs

Broadcom.com – Ethernet NIC FAQs

 – FAQs, troubleshooting steps for Broadcom NICs, and a wealth of info about the NICs and related issues.

VMware Communities

Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4 and ESX 4.0
VMware Communities: Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4 and ESX 4.0

Some links for Performance Troubleshooting:

http://blogs.vmware.com/performance/2009/09/performance-troubleshooting-for-vmware-vsphere-4-and-esx-40.html

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008885
 

ESXTOP

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/esxtop/

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9279
 

A couple of questions first – how many VMs are running on this ESXi host? What are their configurations in terms of memory and vCPUs? Did this recently start happening or is this been a problem since the server cam on line? What is the configuration of your ESXi host – memory, physical  CPUs, how do you connect to storage? 

The key metrics to look at are:

• For CPU contention look at the CPU Ready Time metric
• For Memory look at he Balloon Driver metric

Some best pracices –

• Make sure all your VMs have VMware Tools installed
• Make sure all your VMs have single vCPU unless absolutely necessary

 

Here are some additional links and are very good at explaining everything.

 

esxtop:

 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5240

 

vSphere

 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10352

 

CPU

 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5420

 

Storage

 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5490

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-6490

 

MEM

 

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5430

A useful document to download and keep at hand: Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4 and ESX 4 http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10352

It’s hard to say for sure what is causing the guest performance issue without more information.  What is the configuration of the virtual machine in terms of vCPUs and memory?  And what about the rest of the VMs on the host?  Have you tried using esxtop from the Service Console to try to narrow down where the performance problems might be?  One stat in particular that might be of help is the %RDY stat, which if higher than 10% would indicate performance problems on the guests.  If you’re unfamiliar with esxtop, here are some links to help get you started. 

Commonly used esxtop performance counters: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5240

Memory analysis: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5430

CPU analysis: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5420

Storage analysis: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5490

Network analysis: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5500