VADP / VCB backup failed with hotadd mode

I am testing the VADP backup and keep getting the following error.

"Unable to open a disk of the virtual machine"

Monitor the VC and do see snapshot created.  Run the same backup with nbd and it works fine.  Double check and find out ESX license in on Standard Edition with version 4.1.  

Remember this is a license issue and confirm from VM site VDDK 5.0 release note.

"Licensing. In vSphere 5.0, the SCSI HotAdd feature is enabled only for vSphere editions Enterprise and higher, which have Hot Add licensing enabled. No separate Hot Add license is available for purchase as an add-on. In vSphere 4.1, Hot Add capability was also allowed in Advanced edition. Therefore, customers with vSphere Essentials or Standard edition who use backup products (including VMware Data Recovery) are not able to perform proxy-based backup, which relies on SCSI HotAdd. Those customers must use alternate transport modes."

The most important benefit of using hotadd mode to me is to avoid presenting a VMFS lun to Windows proxy server.

P.S. HotAdd is not supported with VDDK 1.1.1 when proxy server is on ESX 4.1 even correct license is purchased.  See reference link VDDK-1.2.1 release notes

Error labeling new boost device on DataDomain

NetWorker 7.6.3 is out and I try to install the new code on my test VADP proxy.  When I attempt to label a new media for my new boost device,  I get the following error message.

nsrd rd=networkerSN:datadomain_DD0304 mount operation failed: Connecting to 'datadomain' failed ([5028] rpc connection failure).

From experience, this is DNS and connectivity related issue.  Check DNS records and even add all the entries to host file.  It still return the same error.  Finally, uninstall NetWorker 7.6.3 and install NetWorker 7.6.2 back to the test box, everything works fine.

Check release notes and find out NetWorker 7.6.3 requires DDOS running at 5.0 or higher if you are using DDBoost.

Only DDOS versions 5.0.x and 5.1.x are supported with DD Boost 2.4

Currently, DDOS is running at 4.9.2.x and I don't plan to upgrade to DDOS 5.0 any time soon.  Only other option is to use AFTD.

Expanding boot partition of Windows 2008 server

Originally, I have two partition on only one disk.  Finally, I get my new disk.  So, I use Ghost to copy the second partition D drive to the new disk.  To free up space, I remove the old partition D drive on the 1st disk in Disk Management.  Then right click on C drive and choose Extend Volume.  Follow the wizard and now C drive is expanded to occupy all the space on the first disk without reboot.

There is a Shrink Volume option.  Not sure how reliable it is though.