I'm on Facebook

I have been a slacker when it comes to posting! But, fear not, I have some content stored up. Just no time to get it posted. Partially, because I just joined Facebook and have spent time playing. If anyone is interested in seeing boring pictures of me standing in front of things, come on down! :-)

Remote Desktop to Windows Server console connection not working

For the past several months, I have had an annoyance happening with Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1. When I use the Remote Desktop client - mstsc.exe - I cannot connect to the console session of my servers. I always use the command prompt mstsc /console but it no longer seems to work when connecting to the console session.

I finally did some research today and found that it was changed to where you have to use the /admin switch instead. So, now I have to start my sessions like this:

mstsc /admin

Downloading updates for Systems Center Configuration Manager

I found a neat trick the other day when setting up a Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager. The server is not connected to the Internet, yet during the installation, the installer expects to be able to connect to the Internet and download the latest updates for the software. However, the setup allows you to specify a local path to find these updates. If you just make something up, though, you will get the error:

Component manifest was not found or it was invalid

After some digging (okay, a LOT of digging), I found out how to get the updates download without running a full installation. You can run the setup.exe on a workstation that is connected to the Internet and download the updates. I ran this from my desktop computer that did have Internet computer:

\SMSSETUP\BIN\I386\setup.exe /download c:\SMS-temp

I then copied the contents of C:\SMS-temp over to the server I was installing and pointed the installer to that folder. It works like a charm!

E2K7 SP1, roll-up fixes, and services not starting

One of our Unix systems died a pretty horrible death a few days before Christmas. This system, amoungst other things, supported about 750 POP3 mailboxes. The hardware could not quickly be replaced and the Unix folks could not rebuild the OS. We quickly built an Exchange 2007 SP1 server and put the user's back to work by just pointing the user's to a URL for OWA. The Unix folks were not amused.

The last thing one of my guys did before leaving on Christmas Eve was to apply the latest updates (including Rollup 5 - RU5) that that server. He rebooted the server and did not check that everything was fucntioning.

Saturday morning, we all got called in because e-mail was not leaving people's Outbox and no new mail was arriving. On checking the services, most of the Exchange services were not started. We could not start them and were seeing events such as this one below:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event ID: 7009
Description: Timeout (30000 milliseconds) waiting for the Microsoft Exchange Transport Log Search service to connect.

I floundered around for about 45 minutes looking at the server configuration while the Unix guy made snide remarks about Microsoft, Exchange, and the decision to replace Unix to the big boss.

Microsoft KB article 944752 - Exchange Server 2007 managed code services do not start after you install an update rollup for Exchange Server 2007 - seemed to describe the problem pretty well. Embarrasingly, I had already seen this issue once a few weeks before, but did not recognize it right away. I quickly made the XML changes recommended in the KB article but the services would still NOT restart.

I also needed the .NET Framework 2.0 hotfix described in KB 942027 - .NET Framework 2.0 Performance Issues on 64 bit Windows 2003 server. Once this fix was applied, then the XML config file changes recommended KB 944752 were then recognized.

From a security perspective, I understand the need to check the validity of .NET managed code, but IMHO, it is a very bad assumption on the part of Microsoft to assume that Windows servers have Internet connectivity. With some VERY few exceptions, I do not allow any of my Windows servers to have direct Internet connectivity. Those that do have Internet connectivity, such as the servers that download antivirus signatures or WSUS servers, are allowed to connect only to specific Internet hosts.

Exchange 2007 - reboot from a previous installation is pending

Today I found an interesting problem when trying to install some Exchange Server 2007 SP1 components on a system. At first, I just tried to run the /PrepareLegacyExchangePermissions option of setup, then tried to install the admin tools, and finally tried to install the mailbox role on a Windows 2003 system.

I kept getting an error both from the command prompt and through the GUI setup that indicated:

Error:
A reboot from a previous installation is pending. Please restart the systemand rerun setup.

I tried rebooting, I tried applying all the pending service packs and hot fixes, and even installing the .NET Framework 3.5, but nothing worked. I finally found that the Exchange Setup checks the following Registry key for any pending file renames:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\PendingFileRenameOperations

If some installation program needs to rename a file on reboot (because it can't rename it during the setup process maybe because it is in use), then it puts it in this key. I found several entries like this:

\??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\FxsTmp\fxsD.tmp

I deleted these entries and then tried the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 setup again and it worked just fine. I am assuming that it is safe to delete these entries from this Registry, but always try a reboot first before doing so.

Getting Microsoft hotfixes without calling PSS

One of the most annoying waste of times that I occasionally have to endure is to have to call Microsoft PSS and request a hotfix. A few years ago, Microsoft made it a bit easier by specifically having that option on the call menu, but it is still time consuming.

However, Microsoft has now made it even easier. If you know the specific KB article for the hotfix you are looking for, you can visit the Microsoft Support Hot Fix Request page. Search for the article, and there is a link in the article that will allow you to request the hotfix. Much, much easier.

Of course, this feature is for experienced systems folks that know what fixes they need and know the dangers of deploying a fix that is not fully regression tested.

The scammers and spyware guys are getting better

The other day, a friend asked me about this security alert.


It looks convincingly real and seems to warn you about a Trojan called Trojan.Zlob.G. However, it is a scam and they are trying to get you to buy their worthless spyware protection. Don't let your friends fall for this.

MagicJack and No Audio Devices found

A few days ago, I decided to move my MagicJack VOIP thingy from my laptop computer to another machine. The only machine in my home office that is up all the time is my server, though. I plugged the MagicJack in and it was immediately recognized and the software was installed. The phone could get a dialtone, but I could never successfully dial-out.

Each time I tried to dial, a dialog box on the computer popped up saying "no audio devices found no output/input devices are found". The other sympton was that on the MagicJack software menu, under Volume/Headset Control, the only option available was Headset/Other, not Telephone.

I finally figured it out. The soundcard drivers must be installed and the Telephony and Windows Audio Services must also be started.

U.S. Election Day is tomorrow

If you are a registered voter in the U.S., don't forget to get out and vote on Tuesday!

Free voice conferencing

If you have ever needed to schedule a voice conference call, but did not want to pay for an expensive conferencing service, check out Free Conference. It seems to work really well and it is free. Of course, you have to use a phone number that is probably a long distance number, but, it is still free...

Good text, HTML, XML editors

If you are in need of good text, HTML or XML editors, try Notepad++ and JEdit. I like Notepad++ because it is simple and easy-to-use. My developers like JEdit because it is not only powerful, it is also easy to use and has lots of 'plug-ins'. Both are free!

The world's smallest political quiz

Are you a liberal? A conservative? A statist? Take the World's Smallest Political Quiz and find out. I promise, it takes less than 2 minutes and you may be surprised...
And, yes, if you are wondering, I am *still* fuming from the bailout bill.

Bail out turncoats

If you are like 90% of the country, you are still a bit peeved about our elected officials pushing the bail-out bill (which may approach $1,000,000,000,000 - that is a trillion dollars). Want your own "vote'em out" banner for your site, visit the Constiutent Response Team site.

Opus nears his end....

The end of "Opus"... how entirely depressing, but I understand.... Berke: if you ever see this, thank you. Me thinks that says it all.

Transport Rules and Hub Transport servers

A good discussion came up today on a mailing list I am on. I thought some of the information from this was relevant and should be shared.

• Microsoft has tested up to 1,000 transport rules with the RTM release of Exchange Server 2007. You could scale past 1,000 transport rules with more RAM and faster processors in the Hub Transport servers. And, of course, more rules=more AD replication.
• If a message crosses more than one Hub Transport server, the rules "fire" only when the message hits the first Hub Transport. An internal header is added to the message that tells other Hub Transport servers that the transport rules have already been applied to that message. This header is stripped if the message is sent outside of the organization.
• If a message is bifurcated during the categorizatoin process (such as breaking a single message up in to to messages - one for internal recipients and one for external recipients), then the transport rules apply to each messages separately.

Exchange Server 2007 on Windows 2008

Deploying Exchange Server 2007 SP1? Should you use Window Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008? There are a lot of issues, both good and bad. This blog is an anchor posting for ongoing discussions on my experiences with Windows Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2007.

Whatever happen to polite discourse and realism

Has our political process fallen so far down in to mud with pigs that our politicians can't be polite or realistic? The answer is, of course it has. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. It is a sad day when Rush Limbaugh is the voice for conservatives.

This past week, John McCain stepped in to politely defend Barak Obama when one of McCain's supporters yelled that Obama was a terrorist. McCain said "a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as President of the United States.

That raises McCain up a notch in my book. McCain is now being attached by his own parties extremists. The mob mentality at some of today's political events and the push by some of these extremists for their candidates to go for the opposition's throat is nothing short of dangerous. Let's talk about the issues and how the candidates plan to fix them and stop the childish name calling.

Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Roll Up 4 (RU4)

Microsoft released Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Roll Up 4 (RU4) today to the Microsoft Download Center. This update will not appear in Microsoft Update. It contains all of the updates and fixes that have been identified and fixed since Exchange Server 2007 SP1 was released.