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At some point the VMWare Server  host run out of diskspace on which the virtual guest machines were stored. Windows started to complain about low disk space and only 32KB was left. I tried to open VMWare Server console and I got the error message below "511 vmware-serverd service is not running." All virtual machines were running except the one which consumed the remaining diskspace of the physical SAS drives.

To resolve this issue I shutdown one of the virtual machines with a RDP session and moved the directory to another VMWare Server host; next step I did I tried to bring other virtual machines down by a RDP session and at some point I was left with two other virtual machines which both were not accessible by RDP nor by SSH for the linux one.

I opened Task Manager and located the remaining processes for the virtual machines.

vmware-vmx.exe is individual process for each virtual machine. Two were left and I stopped both vmware-vmx.exe processes. Open Services.msc console and restart the "VMware Registration Service" service.

After the service was restarted the initial process of starting the virtual machines started and all virtual machines were up and running. This is how I resolved the problem with VMWare Server, but it brings me back to the root cause of why this happened and one of the import things is to really think how you are going to seize your virtual machines and their disk space. I am going to implement thresholds and notifications with CactiEZ appliance soon and hopefully something which can help you also.

Are you busy with your work, traveling and personal live like I am and you want to get started with Windows Server 2008 than check out this eBook?  I personally like the writing style from Realtime Nexus authors and their concept of writing eBooks.  This "The Definitive Guide to Building a Windows Server 2008 Infrastructure" eBook has 10 chapters and first chapter is available for download. PDF document with 32 pages which is easy to read and maybe schedule 2 hours to read it through.

Register your account on their website and download the pdf file.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Windows Server 2008
Chapter 2: Server Manager
Chapter 3: Active Directory Design & Domain Controller Management
Chapter 4: File Servers & Storage Management
Chapter 5: Server Core
Chapter 6: Managing & Customizing Group Policy
Chapter 7: Introduction to Terminal Services
Chapter 8: Advanced Topics in Terminal Services
Chapter 9: Securing Servers & the Domain
Chapter 10: Windows Failover Clustering

When you install the Directory Services for Microsoft Windows network it will feel like you install the heart of something that will become alive after you reboot the server. Since Windows 2000 the Directory Services has been the core component of the Windows network. 

Couple minutes ago I finished my first domain controller installation for AD DS (Active Directory Domain Services) for Windows Server 2008 RTM. The dcpromo wizard has couple new steps; check out my screencast of the AD DS installation.

Windows 2008 AD DS has the following improvements :

Read-only domain controller (RODC)
Staged installation of an RODC
RODC filtered attribute set
Administrator role separation
Improved installation wizard
Generate secure installation media
Restartable AD DS
Auditing AD Ds changes
Fine-grained password policy
Dynamic MAPI ID Support
Data mining tool