Random Rantings

I think I've lost the plot yet again

2011-09-09T18:16:00.000+01:00

Today I start yet another journey to learning more. Its not like I don't have enough to do right now...I recently changed jobs, am still trying to finish the process of buying a house that started in March and the kids are bigger.

Anyway, a few months ago I hear about CIT's Cloud Computing Degree and decided to inquire. After a bit of time it came up again and I found myself looking for more info and then all of sudden I'm in.

There is a mad amount of work to do, I have 60 Credits to gain in 18 months, but it looks like I might get some RPL for my work experience and certifications. The course is all delivered through the internet from Adobe Connect and Blackboard.

The college have VMware View VDI for the students to access the backend, where they have spoken about VMware, Hyper-V, OpenStack, iSCSI, FoE, Fibre and a load more.

So I have Java to learn by January....anyone got a quick learning method?

Interested in the course check out http://cloud.cit.ie/
They have BSc and MSc options.

Google call them 'Cloud Mechanics'

2011-03-25T23:05:00.000Z

Was at a great presentation in one of the Google Engineering Buildings last night and again have had my head filled full of more dreams and goals by a Google Engineer/ Sysadmin/ SRE Dean called John Looney.

He has some amazing info, views and ideas on cloud computing - the how, where and why and it was real fun to hear it.

He mentioned something that has been mentioned to me before by Mark Minasi, Don Jones, Greg Shields and James Summerlin. Curt has mentioned it as well for the last 6 years I've known the guy.

If you want to keep your job as an IT person you need to get skilled up.

You need scripting skills.
You need networking skills.
You need security skills.
You need to get your A in Gear and be prepared.

What is coming?

IPv6
Wrapping traffic up in IPsec.
Loosing firewalls and actually probing the headers/ applications/ traffic sources and god knows what else.
Updates that add features not stability or reliability on a bi weekly basis.

John mentioned several things and I took notes for the whole time but will only post some of the snippets...mostly my words and opinions on the comments I heard and understood.

'THIS IS MY DATA, MIND IT, BUT I WANT IT BACK!'

Debugging Clouds....using what Winston Churchill said
...it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma...

SQL doesn't scale well, not a good cloud app.

50% of cloud admins complain system are 'too complex to understand fully' ( recent informal survey of 30 cloud admins)

Complexity+change+pressure= disaster

The two week release cycle.
A great excuse to ship something unfinished and fix it later.

All the failure models of old-school systems can be nitigated with scale.
(or the world is in big trouble)

Scale can't solve everything.
( wiped dns for 5 minutes - GOT A CALL FROM HOMELAND SEC)
Need a plan A, plan B, plan C and on and on.

Use two factor authentications for change.
Use SSL wrappers

There was more, hopefully there will be more, but the notion of a well paid Engineer was mentioned.

The specs that were given for a Cloud Mechanic was impressive though

They add value to a company by getting extra from the software/ hardware/ cloud.

Comprehensive OS knowledge.

Networking.

Software engineering.

Can design efficiency at scale.

Can self project manage and do it well.

Good under pressure ( made the mistakes in some other company)

Never screws up (see above)

They have 15 or 16 of these people and are looking to get 100 to 200 of them.

Where do I sign up? ( I promise I'll learn the stuff)

If you want the full list mail me at mcglynnDOTjoe@gmailDOTcom

SBS 2011 and a locked out Domain Administrator

2011-03-25T00:05:00.001Z

I did a silly....I changed the default domain policy and then locked out the only domain administrator account I had. I'd a lot of changes made to it and didn't want to have to redo it so dropped in ERD Commander 6 to reset the account. BUT its doesn't work on SBS 2011!

So what next, some googles, some posting into the minasi.com forum and I got a plan of sorts all culminating in the following steps to unlock the Domain Adminsitrator account on a SBS 2011 box.
Assuming you have the DSRM password, or if not a method to reset the local administrator password try the following.

Boot into DSRM

Then enable DSRM password to login while AD is running.

Edit the registry as follows;

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA\DsrmLogonBehavior

Default is set to 1
Change to 2 to allow DSRM Administrator to logon when AD is running.
0 is DSRM Administrator can logon only in DSRM.

Then get a copy of the Windows 2K3 Resource Kit tools copy the tools folder to the C Drive of the SBS Server. Use the following to add a service called EnableAccount
instsrv EnableAccount c:\tools\srvany.exe

Edit - One of the lads on minasi.com has mentioned that it may be possible to use sc create as opposed to loading the W2K3 Resource Kit tools. The syntax would be
sc create EnableService
I have not tested this, but I don't see a problem

Then open the registry again
Navigate to our newly created service:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EnableAccount
Create a key called Parameters
Inside the new key, create a new string value with name Application and set it to C:\reset.cmd

Open notepad and put in the following line to get an output of all accounts.

dsquery user -name * DC=SBS,DC=local > c:\accounts.txt your domain name will be different (DC=domainname,DC=local/loc/ etc)

Save the notepad file as reset.cmd and the file type as all types.

Now reboot the server.

Login as the DSRM user and open the accounts.txt
Get the full account domain admin name you have locked out
"CN=ABC Admin,OU=SBSUsers,OU=Users,OU=MyBusiness,DC=abcsbs,DC=local"
and put it into the following dsmod queries in the reset.cmd file.

dsmod user ......... -disabled no
dsmod user ......... -pwd Pa$$w0rd
dsmod user ......... -pwdneverexpires yes

In my case something along these lines

dsmod user "CN=ABC Admin,OU=SBSUsers,OU=Users,OU=MyBusiness,DC=abcsbs,DC=local" -disabled no
dsmod user "CN=ABC Admin,OU=SBSUsers,OU=Users,OU=MyBusiness,DC=abcsbs,DC=local" -pwd Pa$$w0rd (In my case here, Pa$$w0rd)
dsmod user "CN=ABCC Admin,OU=SBSUsers,OU=Users,OU=MyBusiness,DC=abcsbs,DC=local" -pwdneverexpires yes

Save the reset.cmd file and restart the enableaccount service in services.

Logoff and try logging back into the domain, remember to use your SBS domain name and user account as opposed to the DSRM which may be different.

W7/ Server 2008/ Server 2008R2 SP1 service pack issues.

2011-03-14T01:02:00.001Z

Microsoft have a KB out on the issue that appears to only be effecting OEM installs of W7/ Server 2008 and Server 200R2. The KB is http://support.microsoft.com/KB/975484 and has in the last 2 days had several re-writes already, so expect more!.

The fault appears to cause the machines to stop booting or get stuck in a failure to apply the new settings.The error message is 0xC0000034. If you get it, please pass on the info to the NOC/ IT Admins as quickly as possible so they can make changes to the WSUS server on site to limit the effects.

The fix for the time being is to apply the full service pack to machines and not the WSUS deployment of SP1.

Please be aware there are issues with editing the pending.xml file as discussed in the second link, so please read both before performing a repair.

Info on the issue and repairs;

The repairs;

~~http://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2011/03/09/error-0xc0000034-during-service-pack-1-installations-for-windows-7-and-windows-2008-r2.aspx~~

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/975484

The issue with editing pending.xml

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2011/03/11/why-you-don-t-want-to-edit-your-pending-xml-to-resolve-0xc0000034-issues.aspx

Will always look for more info on this, email me on mcglynn.joe (at)gmail.com

Unexpected error refreshing Server Manager: Attempted to read past the end of the stream.

2011-01-31T20:55:00.000Z

Got the following error on a Server 2008R2 machine I was trying to build.

Unexpected error refreshing Server Manager: Attempted to read past the end of the stream.
This appeared whenever I tried to open Roles or Features or tried to add a feature.

Some searching led me to an older version of a Microsoft product

Well the new one is here and its better;

System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821/en-us

No need to download anything other than the program update and run it. It pops off, finds the errors and downloads them.

10 minutes later all over and done with.

Direct link for those busy people.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=c4b0f52c-d0e4-4c18-aa4b-93a477456336&displaylang=en

Hope it helps someone.

New Microsoft MAP Toolkit 5.5 released

2011-01-18T00:24:00.000Z

Microsoft have release the latest version of the MAP Toolkit 5.5 after the Beta trial.

http://www.microsoft.com/map

Handy program for a lot of things;
What servers have I on my network?
What Clients have I on my network?
What software have I on my network?
What can I virtualise on my Network?

All in all very cool.

So what do you need?

Well for an OS, here's the list;

Windows 7
Windows Vista® Ultimate, Enterprise, or Business Editions
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later

Note: MAP will run on either x86 or x64 versions of the operating system. Itanium processors are not supported. MAP will not install on Home or Home Server editions of Windows.

What else do you need?

.NET Framework 3.5SP1 (3.5.30729.01) (download from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129686)

Windows Installer 4.5 (download from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129687)

Microsoft Office Word 2007 SP2 or Word 2010

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 SP2 or Excel 2010

Microsoft Office Primary Interop Assemblies For Microsoft Office 2007 you will need to install these from the Microsoft Office 2007 setup files.

Installation of all updates for the operating system and Microsoft Office. Note: In some cases updates may not install automatically. To download updates for your computer manually, go to http://update.microsoft.com.

By default, the MAP Toolkit will download and install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Edition during setup. You may also use an existing installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 if you create an instance named "MAPS" before running the MAP Toolkit installer.

What else?

If you have feedback try here, to the MAP team: MAPfdbk (at ) microsoft.com

MAP team Blog :http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog

I'll get some screen dumps next time.

TS 2003 and client based USB printers

2010-11-26T21:27:00.000Z

I had a problem installing client based USB locally connected printers onto a Terminal Server, especially the HP All in one printers.

You can have issues with the install on a server, it can kick off DEP, not install or some other idiotic issue.

To get around this I do the following;

Start the installer.

Open Sysinternals Process Explorer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Find the temp file location and copy out all the drivers from the temp folder to a known location.

Stop the install and then use the copied out folder for the install of the printer onto the Terminal Server.

Bingo - all sorted.

Windows File Protection - SFC

2010-11-25T13:44:00.000Z

System File Checker or SFC will run against you windows files and check that they are correct and accounted for. It does more but hopefully that will suffice.

There are 3 options I'm interested in to run it are
sfc /scannow
sfc /scanonce
sfc /scanboot

The SfcScan values are set in the following registry key's

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
0x0 = do not scan protected files after restart. (Default value)
0x1 = scan all protected files after every restart (set if sfc /scanboot is run).
0x2 = scan all protected files one time after a restart (set if sfc /scanonce is run).

HyperV Machine 'Bios did not load' error.

2010-05-26T00:29:00.000+01:00

Had great fun on a bad day with a HyperV Guest BES Server that had an on screen error in HyperV Manager that the BIOS did not load. Couldn't manage the server, reset it, power it off or even remote to it on the management console or RDP.

Turns out the machine was corrupt somehow.

In troubleshooting the issue I got pointed to this MS Article - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961804 and I have it on good authority that there have been 10 calls to MS about this ( I wonder how many calls were never made?)

Anyway, I'm updating my AV Exclusion list. This mostly applies to Server 2003, but I will update it on Server 2008 shortly.

Hope it helps someone.

Files to Exclude from AV scans

Need to add pagefile.sys and spool folder

Exclusions:

Exchange related:

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata (This is likely to move - check first!)

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mtadata

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\server_name.log (servername changes...)

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mdbdata

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\srsdata

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Conndata

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Exchweb

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\schema

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\res

C:\inetpub\mailroot

C:\windows\system32\inetsrv\metabase.bin

McAfee:

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\McAfee PortalShield\ (and all subdirectories)

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\Common Framework\

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Network Associates\Common Framework

IIS related:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv

C:\WINDOWS\IIS Temporary Compressed Files

Domain Controller related:

Active Directory database files = C:\WINDOWS\NTDS

SYSVOL C:\WINDOWS\SYSVOL

NTFRS Database Files = C:\WINDOWS\ntfrs

Windows SharePoint Services:

C:\Program Files\SharePoint Portal Server\ (and all subdirectories)

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web StorageSystem\

C:\windows\temp\Frontpagetempdir

Additional Exclusions:

Removable Storage Database (used by SBS Backup) = C:\Windows\System32\ntmsdata

SBS POP3 connector Failed Mail = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Networking\POP3\Failed Mail

SBS POP3 connector Incoming Mail = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Networking\POP3\Incoming Mail

Windows Update Store = C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore

DHCP Database Store = C:\WINDOWS\system32\dhcp

WINS Database Store = C:\WINDOWS\system32\wins

GroupShield:

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\McAfee GroupShield\bin\productlog.bin

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\McAfee GroupShield\bin\detecteditems.bin

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\McAfee GroupShield\bin\detecteditems.bin.qtn

GFI:

C:\Program Files\GFI\MailEssentials

C:\Program Files\Common files\GFI

C:\Inetpub\mailroot

If GFI MailEssentials is installed on the same machine as Exchange server, virus scanning software and backup software should be disabled from scanning C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Mailroot instead of C:\Inetpub\mailroot.

Workstation Exclusions:

C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore

C:\Program Files\Network Associates\Common Framework\

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Network Associates\Common Framework

HyperV Exclusions - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961804

Default virtual machine configuration directory (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V)
Custom virtual machine configuration directories
Default virtual hard disk drive directory (C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks)
Custom virtual hard disk drive directories
Snapshot directories
Vmms.exe (Note: May need to be configured as process exclusions within the antivirus software)
Vmwp.exe (Note: May need to be configured as process exclusions within the antivirus software)
Additionally, when you use Live Migration together with Cluster Shared Volumes on Windows Server 2008 R2, exclude the CSV path "C:\Clusterstorage" and all its subdirectories.

Notes

If virtual machines are missing from the Hyper-V Management console, you must configure the antivirus exclusions, and then restart the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service.

If you receive error code 0x800704C8, it is likely that the virtual machine configuration file was corrupted. In this case, and if restarting the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service does not resolve the issue, the virtual machine has to be re-created or restored from a backup.

Free Talks in Dublin Library

2010-01-15T23:53:00.000Z

Was listening to Tom Dunne a few days ago and some free Library in the Ilac Center, Henry Street, Dublin. On Thursday Rowan Manahan spoke about his subject matter - www.fortifyservices.com

I have to say it was an enjoyable evening with some free chocolate and jelly babies. The presentation was excellent and to the point and I have to say Rowan dealt with a heckler very well. I am curious, a heckler at a free event and he kept at it....

Anyway watch here ad I'll post up on any new talks that them have.

Minasi Forum 2010

2009-12-08T22:23:00.001Z

The new dates for the 2010 Minasi Forum Meeting have been announced. I for one will be making my merry way to the latest one for a very simple reason;

3 years ago I was at the Forum meeting and got a lot of new knowledge on Virtualisation and remote monitoring.
18 months ago I gained knowlwdge about Sharepoint and SQL.
Last April, I spoke about SBS 2008, learnt more about HyperV, Server 2008R2 and how a real work DR solution is in use using some simple components.

This year, the world is our oyster. There is so much good stuff out there to be spoken about and told about, Exchange 2010, DPM 2010, Server 2008R2 in real use and whatever new tidbits that Mark and Rhonda can tell us about.

Further details available here
http://web2.minasi.com/forummeet2009/forummeet2009.htm
and here
http://web2.minasi.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=56

I look forward to seeing you there and maybe even having a pint to celebrate my birthday.

Joe

SBS 2008 and Backup Exec - SP3 Install Error

2009-12-04T12:16:00.008Z

I was installing Backup Exec 12.5d onto a SBS 2008 Premium Server and ran into an error.

Error: "LU1812: An update failed to install. A program that was part of this update failed . . . " when running LiveUpdate

This pointed to

http://service1.symantec.com/support/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2005072716150213?OpenDocument&seg=hho&src=_mi&product=LU&version=3.3&language=english&module=LU&error=1812&build=Symantec

After much contemplating my navel, installing the MSXML 3 SP7 and all the rest, I closed Backup Exec, right clicked on the Backup Exec icon and selected run as Administrator.

Service Pack installed..

Hope this helps someone.

What a ride

2009-10-07T11:24:00.003+01:00

Been too busy with too many things and as usual all I'm fooling is myself. I either need to do this or not. So as a new years resolution to myself I'm promising to try to keep this up.

So things I'm working on;

OCS installed into a SBS 2K8 domain.

Cisco ASA - how and why.

Sharepoint development.

I have loads of notes I should put together somewhere so here may be as handy.

Joe

Too long.

2008-07-18T00:11:00.002+01:00

What with work, kids, work courses, work and what ever else life has been going at 100%. The house is starting to wind down now as we have some big events soon.

Hopefully all will be OK, next week will tell on one, and probably by mid Aug the other big event will be over. now that's the family stuff over onto the other stuff.

Did a AD2008 and Hyper V course recently for a few days. All about some of the new things in Server 2008, AD DNS and of course Hyper V. And it was fun, saw some stuff, got to play with Hyper v away from the work load, work problems for a dew days and that's always cool. Its a nice product, missing some stuff in comparison to VMware server, but easier than MS virtual Server. Well it is in my head - I always seemed to have a mental block that I never bothered getting fixed on Virtual Server. It goes back to the horrible days I spent preparing for my MS exams.

Either way on with the info. I have a number of VMware virtual machines that I worked on, used, and just generally broke. I had what I called templates for these machines, so when I was bored, had done to much to repair it or just forgot to take snapshots, i blew them away and started again. Now trying out HyperV seemed like a good idea, but I couldn't find out how to convert from one to another. apparently there is a MS product coming down the tracks SCCMVMMTC$$%£$"£$ or something like that, but I don't have those bob's. VMware has a converter that's does other funky stuff, and again I don't have their bob's either.

I have Google, time, a great resource in the Minasi Forum, gratious plug, www.minasi.com and well a big happy server box at home that likes challenges. So I came up with this. Its heavily modified, borrowed, robbed and other stuff, but it works.

This will bring a Windows OS, from a physical box, or a VMware Server or any other variant into Hyper-V.

Install latest version of Hyper-V onto Server 2008, link at the bottom. Now changed, so Google some more folks. Its RTM for the last 2 weeks so should be picked up by Microsoft Updates on a purchased Server 2008 with Hyper V Role installed.

On the VMware version uninstall VM tools from your VM.
Shutdown the VM
Add a new IDE disk drive to your VM; (any size will do 2GB will make it quick)
Change this to be IDE Device 0:0, you will probably have to move the CD ROM drive to the other IDE port or channel.
Boot up your virtual machine with both drives connected and check that it detects your new IDE drive (along with a primary IDE channel and a disk device driver). You should be able to see the new drive as "not initialized" in Disk Management.
Power off your virtual machine and remove the newly created IDE disk from your VM (you can delete it from disk as well).
Do not power on your VMware Machine again!

Convert your VMDK file to VHD format using the Vmdk2Vhd utility, link at the bottom. Conversion performance was a lot quicker converting an image from one physical disk to another physical disk, over twice as fast.
Move image from VMware Server machine to Hyper-V machine.
Create a new Virtual Machine in Hyper-V.
Make sure you select “Use an existing virtual hard disk” and select the VHD file that you just created.
Power it on.
Install “Integration Services” and reboot when prompted

Assign the original IP address(es) to your new network card(s)
Check Network Discovery is on, and your host machines Network Addresses.

Do another reboot
Check that everything is running and working OK.
I found DNS had shutdown as well as DHCP.

Links.

HyperV RC1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7EDAA89F-9F64-488D-93C0-858D2D8799DF&displaylang=en

VMDK to VHD
http://vmtoolkit.com

Normally you need to use Ctrl-Alt+Left arrow to release the console, but you can double tap the Windows Key to do a similar job, except when in Full Screen Mode.

I've been up to some other training as well. Got lucky enough to get sent on ESX configuration training, but that'll be next week.

Virtualization - the bad stuff.

2008-04-27T22:53:00.002+01:00

This is important stuff, especially if your new to it like I am, and don't have the budget for iSCSI, SAN or whatever else is out there.

Have a backup of the data on the VM.
Raid is not a VM Data backup.

Have a backup of the VM.
Raid is not a VM VHD backup.

Have a backup of the Host machine.
Raid is not a backup of a Server.

Have notes on all the machines, including at least the following and anything else you care and if you have extra please email them to me at mcglynn.joe@gmail.com.NOSPAM -

IP's of all the machines both virtual and Physical.

Server names, FQDN and Netbios.

An odd one, but how long the physical machine needs to reboot, trust me, if your sitting there waiting for a machine to reboot and you thing that it should do it in 2 minutes, the 5 minutes it may take to reboot is real long and lonely.

Physical drive sizes, nice to know what should have been there.

Virtual drive sizes, again nice to know what should be there.

A set of Server XXX or whatever is your flavour disks, nothing like trying to rebuild a server when all you have is a XP Service Pack CD.

As a friend of mine calls it, a lifeboat machine. You need another box to run your VM's on if your main box crashes, I mean after all, isn't this part of the reason we are here...

Notes on the complete build, what did and did not go right. What programs are installed on each VM. This is real important if you have to rebuild a VM that did something...but what was it... Belarc will give you a nice report of all installed software.

All of this stored somewhere else other than on a VM or the Host machine. A printout is good, a CD is good, but whatever works for you.

A VM toolkit. start looking at some of the VM or VHD tools out there and see what can or cannot help you if a VHD disk gets corrupted.

Belarc - nice report on a server, hardware software etc.
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

VM Back - Driver Disk to open a VHD
http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vdk.html#top

WinImage - a program to allow you take a look at the data on a VHD
http://www.winimage.com/

Hope this is of some use.

Joe

Norfolk Airport.

2008-04-23T18:43:00.003+01:00

Just so I remember next time.
The VB Resort Hotel is about 20/ 25 minutes from the Airport.
The Marriot where we stayed in 2007 was about 45 minutes.

Thanks to Dave for the lift.

Minasi Forum 2008

2008-04-23T18:19:00.002+01:00

I have to leave.....I've had a great time, but between un-notified flight changes etc I had to leave early and I'm sad about that. I'm missing the end of JamesNT's talk on SQL, the finial words from Eric and Mark and the roundtable.

I was a bit aprehensive about the meeting as I wasn't sure that I'd have an interest in all of the stuff, but just the sheer energy comming from the speakers about their subjects is enough to infect their interest in you. I've had the hardest time trying to get my head around power shell and why I need it. But Don Jones, great speaker, made a point thats hard to not accept. If you want to be a 'high level IT' person in the windows world, you will have to be a Power Shell user. And PS2 is on its way. Everything in the Windows world will aparently be controlled from this interface.

For all its scareyness there appears to only be a few things in it. 16 Verbs as per some places, but 14 in others and approx 130 Nouns. Help actually works, and its almost close to readable language. At least I'm a bit more confident that I'll learn this thing.

Verb List
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/powershell/powershell_nouns.htm
Noun List
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms714428.aspx

I need to finish this up, but I think a plane is waiting.

Ooops

2008-03-05T00:06:00.003Z

Its been an age since I've put anything up here, yet I have a lot of stuff emailed to myself that I'm supposed to put up here!

Where does the time go?

OK I'm going to put up some rought stuff and edit it later....yea right!

SKU011.CAB Missing

This one I've met several times recently and this is the best fix I've found for it;

This is due to incomplete installation of an office...
You can check this MS article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896866/) for this issue.
You can search for the file for download on net. Sometimes, if the version of office is Basic, just word, excel and outlook you can repair it with the Basic Office CD.
You can have some registry modification, but before doing it, just back-up the registry keys.
Go into Registry Editor(Start->Run->Regedit)
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Delivery.
There should be only 1 directory under Delivery, which is your DownloadCode (indicated by some numbers)
Select that directory [or all if more].
On the right side of the screen, right-click on CDCache.
Change the value to 0 and the problem is solved.

Handy link to find ouyt the key of the MS Office that you are using is
http://www.skaro.net/cd-keyreader/

Following on from this I also ran into problems trying to add Exchange Mail accounts for people in a Domain with roaming profiles and a few otehr things.

Even though I had the right Server name and user name, Exchange could not resolve or find the user mailbox.
In ADUC (start->programs->admin tools->Active Dir Users & Computers)
Exchange Advanced tab - show exchange list, tick that box, and hey presto the users appeared again.

Wireless

I found this and as of yet have to try it all out, but it seems good

To secure their wireless access points without making it to maddening, we could try the following.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=587
Info on what/ how to secure a wireless access point with a radius server.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035-6148579.html
how to install a radius server.

Ok, bed calls, I'll tidy this up again.

2007-10-31T01:31:00.000Z

Gotta put this up....
http://web2.minasi.com/forummeet2008/

I was here this year 2007 and it was brilliant; beer, computers, great food and better company. Hopefully all going well I'll make it again next year and have just as much fun.

I'll paste some of the official post but essentially you'll get to see, in person, Mark Minasi, who'll give about 20 hours of free info to you, and you get to ask questions, and drink beer, and some more beer....did I mention that...that there may be some beer?

There will also be a few other guys there, well actually quite a lot of guys, who know stuff about computers, so much stuff its kinda scarey, but it is halloween so thats fair enough.

If your in the states and within 500 miles, I'd turnip (get it...halloween) just to see what its all about. If your like me on the other side of the pond, then its a good excuse for a weekend away, work, interests and beer. I hope I've mentioned the beer enough to get a few trawlers interested.... beer beer beer...

For more info see the following pictures...... http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mcglynn.joe/MinasiForum

MR&D Forum Meeting 2008

Please join us for the third annual Mark Minasi Technical Forum Meeting. We will once again be meeting in beautiful Virginia Beach, VA to learn new technologies, share ideas, and meet the people that have become our online friends.
Hosted by Mark Minasi and organized by Eric B. Rux , this meeting will have in depth talks on Windows Server 2008, Exchange 2007, Windows Home Server (WHS), Windows Vista as well as other hot topics. You won't want to miss this!!
Dates: Sunday, April 20th 2008 through Wednesday, April 23rd. We recommend that you fly in on Saturday.
Location: Virginia Beach Resort & Conference Center
Costs: hotel, airfare, meals and $450 registration fee
Talks
Speakers
Link to register (it's a "seminar registration" page but you'll see the Forum meeting as an option)
Link to pay with credit card if you've already registered but didn't pay when you registered

Technical Sessions
(Schedule Subject to Change)

Sunday, April 20, 2008
1:00 pm: Mark Minasi Keynote
2:15 pm: Break
2:30 pm: TBA Industry Keynote
3:45 pm: Break
4:00 pm: Eric B. Rux Fun with Windows Home Server; trust me, you’ll want one…don’t let the word “Home” fool you
5:00 pm: 'No Host' dinner at local restaurant (share your war stories and learn from the experts!)

Monday, April 21, 2008
9:00 am: James Summerlin Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
10:15 am: Break
10:30 am: Greg Shields Documentation & Change Control: Hating it to Loving it in 75 minutes
11:45 am: Lunch
1:00 pm: Mark Minasi Windows Server 2008
2:15 pm: Break
2:30 pm: Jeremy Moskowitz Group Policy 2.0: It’s freekin’ sweet! (with Vista & Windows Server 2008)
3:45 pm: Break
4:00 pm: Nathan Winters Exchange 2007 from the command line – what makes a good Exchange 2007 deployment
5:00 pm: Hosted Dinner at Pungo Grill. Mmmmmm! (we ate there last year, it was very good)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
9:00 am: Greg Shields Tips & Tricks for Preventing an Active Directory Failure
10:15 am: Break
10:30 am: Don Jones Dr. PowerShell: How I Learned to Stop Clicking and Love the Command-Line
11:45 am: Lunch
1:00 pm: Rhonda Layfield TBA
2:15 pm: Break
2:30 pm: Curt Spanburgh Journey to Planet Sharepoint
3:45 pm: Break
4:00 pm: Nathan Winters OCS 2007 – An Introduction to the new VOIP world of Office Communication Server 2007
5:00 pm: 'No Host' dinner at local restaurant (one last chance to rub elbows with people in the know)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
9:00 am: Don Jones Windows PowerShell: The Future of Server Administration
10:15 am: Break
10:30 am: Mark Minasi Windows Vista
11:45 am: Lunch
1:00 pm: All Attendees Roundtable discussion for as long as you want!
End of Forum Meeting. See you again next year!

I was there this year and had a ball. Discovered a load of new interesting and usefull stuff, but best of all, got to have fun, drink beer and talk computers for a few days.

Come all and have a ball...

Joe

October

2007-10-03T09:59:00.000+01:00

Where did the time go???

It only seems like yesterday that I was putting up my last one but its almost 2 months ago.

Lots of things happened, Moved location now back in Galway.

Have a new room in the house, now that the builders have finished. And when you think that with the building work done the room is finished, nope, the painter has to come in and the fumes from that will kill you.

New baby, now 8 weeks old almost and she's been keeping us busy.

And due to boredom or stupidity I'm doing a project management course...so homework every evening.

Damn I'll need to clone myself.

Hopefully when all gets settled properly I'll be back to posting some proper info.

Joe

Son of Friday the 13th

2007-07-13T06:13:00.000+01:00

I had the third worst day of my IT career yesterday, and it wasn't even anything I had done, knew about or was even expecting.

I suppose the 2 or 3 things I learned from the experience and that is at the end of the day what it is all about are as follows;

1. Never ever trust the trustworthy - A KVM, brand new and out of the box, worked fine on another 3 connected machines caused a new server to hang on boot-up, it never got past the black Server 2003 splash screen.

2. SQL ain't easy - The server in question was hosting a VM machine with SQL on it, all set, configured, patched and ready. It was a temporary fix while their new funky DL580 comes in. Of course with the host machine hanging, SQL had to be installed onto a new machine, one of the other servers on site.

3. When all else around you goes to pants Exchange wants to join in - Exchange always the trustworthy, was obviously feeling left out from all of the attention the new server was getting so it decided to throw a few wobblies.

I suppose the important things again are the lessons learned and what I can take from it and carry forward so here are some of them

Recovering deleted emails from Outlook;

The obvious way, click on deleted items, click on tools, recover deleted items.

A second way, exmerge out the mailbox and import the pst file to another, possibly administrator account and try the following
locate the pst in an easy accessible location
From the command line type the following lines, it corrupts the pst enough for scanpst to run on it

DEBUG C:\fullpath_to_pst\OutlookFile.PST
- f 107 113 20
- q

then find scanpst.exe, it can be in a few places,
Office 2003 it will be in \program files\microsoft\office 12\scanpst
Office 2000 \Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033

I was told on lots of occasions not to use SA authentication is SQL as its an easy attack, SQL programmers don't use decent passwords. So I installed SQL using windows authentication thinking I was doing good. I generated a new SQLAdmin account and gave it all the permissions I though it would need, knowing I could remove any necessary permissions etc ( I made it an administrator, domain admin etc). But no a SA account was needed and yes they don't really use strong passwords do they.

So to change Authentication mode on a SQL 2005 back to mixed mode and using the SA account follow this helpful article from Microsoft.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188670.aspx

And now for a whole new day of new problems.

Ain't google spell checking great!

Yahoo pictures

2007-07-05T06:59:00.000+01:00

Yahoo have decided to pull their Yahoo pictures site and replace it with Flickr or something similar.

Now I'm not a photographer or a camera expert but it was cool having a site I could post pictures to and share with family etc.

Now I don't want to use flickr or any of their other options, so I have to pull all of my pictures individually off the yahoo site after them giving me software to upload as many pictures as I wanted in one go....it just seems a bit mad folks. Do you think I'm going to automatically just move to whom you suggest.

I can do the tours, and look at the pretty expert arranged pictures etc, but all I want is an easy interface to upload pictures, and a handy way to edit them and I don't see it on any of your suggestions... Lots of sites to log onto but no easy winner. So I'm going to pull them all and go else where. Thanks for storing them safely and allowing me to use the service, but thanks a bunch for the ease of getting them off.

Joe

IMFv1, Exchange SP2 and error 0070002

2007-07-04T00:13:00.000+01:00

A customer wanted a free spam solution.

They read in an industry magazine that IMF would be the free spam solution.
They wanted IMF installed onto their Exchange Server as their Spam solution.
Their Exchange server had not been built to optimum specifications or availability. ( right....put your own English in here!)

They insisted we installed IMF, we advised a third party AV/Spam/ Greyware solution, it worked out at X per client or 27 by X for the company, we'd support it etc.

No....IMF all the way. So 13 chargeable hours later, and 2 hours every 2 weeks to make sure we hit the IMF update install window the client is now wondering why the trade magazine called it free!

For those stuck in the dilemma of IMFv1 and SP2 for exchange here are a few links I found.

Unbelievably or otherwise you need to uninstall IMFv1 before you install SP2 for exchange.
Now IMFv1 can give you trouble to uninstall so you actually need to install it again and uninstall it, but MS pulled it from the download sites!

So what now Joe?

Copy of IMFv1 download.
http://www.dehning.com/download/updates/Exchange%202003/ExchangeIMF.MSI

If your sure you have IMFv1 Installed but can't find it in add/remove programs, make sure updates is ticked, try this in the run window;

MsiExec.exe /X{DCE4D1BC-6E15-433F-99FE-D7F7A2FDC0FF}

There are various regedits and hacks but they didn't work for me so I haven't posted them.
Then go ahead and try SP2.

Long story short, the client would have been better off paying for the Third party offering we were supporting, as opposed to us trying, and I mean trying to get a free spam solution working and re-configure a god awful piece of high end AV software by a large software company with dreadful Tech Support.

Joe.

New Family addition

2007-07-04T00:07:00.000+01:00

I was wandering thru different people blogs and got extremely surprised by a quote I saw about myself......I aint there yet but hopefully someday I will.

I'm very lucky to have a collection of online, on the phone and at the bar mates who are the real source of info as all I do is re-iterate it all back to those who don't know yet.

Anyway, IT is starting to take a back seat as my family and I start making the necessary plans to welcome the latest addition to the family. Hopeful as much joy will be gotten as from the previous incarnation, and it will need as much care and attention as the last.

All things going well, a public display will occur around September and and that stage all of Europe will know about it....so hats off to the imminent arrival of my new iPhone, oh and a new baby as well.

Joe

Whisky Tour

2007-06-19T22:50:00.000+01:00

Email from my favourite shop, the Celtic Whickey Shop in Dublin.

I very very much doubt I'll even be capable of going, but hope springs eternal.

If your interested you can email Ally at ally.alpine@celticwhiskeyshop.com

Joe

Hi,

The (hopefully) much awaited Islay Trip has finally been arranged. I’ve extended the trip by one day from last year to allow us to take in Springbank & Glengyle Distilleries in Campbeltown as well as Auchentoshan Distillery, Glasgow and all the Islay Distilleries (Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Bunnahabhain, Kilchoman). This is just about the ultimate trip for whisky aficionados! We also, have lunches and dinners arranged in some of Argyll’s finest restaurants and hotels.

The Dates – Wednesday 17th October to Saturday 20th October.

The Cost – Cost is 750 Euro per person.
This includes all travel (flights, ferry, mini-bus, drivers), Lunches (x 4; 2 in distilleries, 2 in restaurants), Dinners (x 3 in top restaurants plus fish supper), Distillery Tours and/or Tastings ( x 11 – have requested all tastings to include something extra). Dinners & lunches (where applicable) include a half bottle of house wine per person. Most menus will be set due to large party. Most of the accommodation is in shared cottages. A surcharge of 50 Euro will be required if you require your own room as most rooms are twin. There are a limited number of double rooms. I’m waiting for confirmation but cost should include holiday insurance.

How to book – Places are available on a first come, first served basis. To confirm a place, I’ll need a non-refundable deposit (unless I resell the place) of 250 Euro. The balance will be due by end of September.

The Itinerary Below is approximate and might vary.

Wednesday 17th October

Dublin Airport
Aer Lingus EI224
Depart Dublin 9.20am Arrive Glasgow 10.15am
http://www.dublinairport.com/index.asp

10.30am – Collect Minibuses (I’ll try to book the correct amount this year!)

11.15am – 12.45pm
Auchentoshan Distillery, Tour & Tasting
Visit Glasgow’s distillery where all its whisky is unpeated and triple distilled.
http://www.auchentoshan.co.uk/

Scenic drive to Loch Fyne (If it’s not raining)
http://www.argyllonline.co.uk/

2.15pm-3.15pm
Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, Cairndow, Argyll
http://www.lochfyne.com/pages/content.asp?PageID=58

Another Scenic drive to Campbeltown

5pm-7pm
Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries, Tour and Tasting
http://www.springbankdistillers.com/
http://www.kilkerran.com/

8pm
The Hunting Lodge Hotel, Bellochantuy, Argyll
Dinner
http://www.thehuntinglodgehotel.com/

Thursday 18th October

7.30am Breakfast if you’re up.
The only free breakfast of the trip!

8.15 am Sharp
Depart for Kennacraig

Kennacraig
Calmac Ferry
Depart 9.45am, Arrive Port Ellen 12.05pm
http://www.calmac.co.uk/

12.20pm -1pm Lagavulin Tasting and visit to shop.
http://www.islayinfo.com/islay_lagavulin_distillery.html

1.30pm-3pm
Ardbeg Lunch plus Tasting and visit to shop.
http://www.ardbeg.com/

3.30pm – 5pm
Laphroaig Tour and Tasting
http://www.laphroaig.com/

5.30pm
Arrive at Bowmore Cottages
http://www.bowmore.co.uk/BowmoreCottages.aspx

7.30pm
Bus from Bowmore to Port Charlotte

8pm
Dinner Port Charlotte Hotel
One of the highlights of last year’s trip. Seafood was as good as I’ve tasted!
http://www.milford.co.uk/go/portcharlotte.html

10.30pm
Bus back to Bowmore

Friday 19th October

Breakfast
Make your own! Each cottage has their own cooking facilities. The Co-op across the road will open your eyes to the delight of Square sausage and morning rolls!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_sausage

Depart
9.30am
Drive to Bunnahabhain

10am-11am
Bunnahabhain Distillery Tour and Tasting
http://www.bunnahabhain.com/index.php

11.30am
Caol Ila Distillery Tasting
http://www.discovering-distilleries.com/caolila

12.45pm-1.45pm
Lunch at the Lochside Hotel
To ensure late night drinking in Bowmore’s late bar, I thought we should maybe have lunch there!
http://www.lochsidehotel.co.uk/

2pm-4pm
Bowmore Distillery Tour and Tasting
http://www.bowmore.co.uk/

Some free time to go to the pub, go to bed or take the famous Lighthouse trip!
http://www.islayinfo.com/portellen.html

8pm Dinner at the Harbour Inn
http://www.harbour-inn.com/

Saturday 20th October

Breakfast – Same story as yesterday!

Depart Bowmore Cottages 10am

10.30am-12noon
Bruichladdich Distillery Tour and Tasting
http://www.bruichladdich.com/web_cam.htm

12.30pm-2pm
Kilchoman Distillery Lunch and Tasting
http://www.kilchomandistillery.com/

3.30pm-5.35pm
Port Askaig to Kennacraig Ferry
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/islay/portaskaig/index.html

7.30pm
Inverary Fish and Chips or Deep Fried Mars Bar
http://www.mr-pia.co.uk/

Glasgow Airport
Depart Glasgow 10.15pm Arrive Dublin 11.10pm
http://www.glasgowairport.com/

I’d be delighted to answer any questions.

Sláinte

Ally.