Exchange 2007 Backup Woes

We use Exchange 2007 and backup using CommVault Simpana 8.0. We had an issue with a store that ran out of disk space, and then dismounted. The store logs were moved to another drive and the store mounted again. From this point on, backups (full or incremental) failed with CommVault with the following error:
Error Code: [28:163] Description: The Exchange server returned the following error message: [0x50d] - [Unknown]. Api: [HrESEBackupSetup()], Item: [Fourth Storage Group]

NTBackup could backup the store but took 20 hours compared to ComMVaults just over 2.

Investigating the event log produced an event id 9840 with error 1293:
An attempt to prepare the storage group 'Fourth Storage Group' for backup failed because the storage group is already in the process of being backed up. The error code is 1293. (Note that if a backup was recently aborted, then it may take several minutes for the system to detect the aborted backup and initiate backup cleanup procedures, so this message may be generated if an attempt was made to backup a storage group before a previous backup attempt had fully terminated.)

Turns out, the store filled during a backup leaving the backup in progress flag set. NTBackup works because it uses the old Exchange backup API's, not the VSS backup used by CommVault.

The fix was to dismount and then mount the affected store. 

Ubuntu x64 10.04 - Inital issues

Decided to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 using an in place upgrade - This failed horribly. There were several errors to do with likewise-open (my laptop belongs in a Windows AD domain). The final one told me that it had left my distro in an unusable state (some 3 hours into the upgrade).

I took the opportunity to reinstall the x64 version of 10.04 but ran into a few issues.

1. The Citrix ICA client install is complicated somewhat by the x64 architecture. The ICA client assumes you're running an x86 environment with 32 libs and a 32bit browser. It's fairly easy to work round - See the previous post.

2. The Cisco VPN client is a bit flakey. I can connect fine from the command line using vpnc, but the Gnome GUI hardly ever works. Sometimes it asks me for the password, only to fail the connection. Sometimes it doesn't ask me anyhting, just tells me the connection has failed. Sometimes it does nothing at all. I would prefer to use the GUI because you get a nice visual app showing if you're connected to the VPN or not.

Citrix Receiver on Ubuntu 9.10 x86

1. Install libmotif3
sudo apt-get install libmotif3

2. Create libXm.so.4 as needed by the Citrix receiver
cd /usr/lib
ln -s libXm.so.3.0.2 libXm.so.4

3. Download the Citrix receiver as a TGZ file from www.citrix.com

4. Extract this to a tmp directory and install
cd ~/Downloads
mkdir /tmp/citrix
cp linuxx86-11.100.158406.tar.gz /tmp/citrix/
cd /tmp/citrix
tar xvf  linuxx86-11.100.158406.tar.gz
sudo ./setupwfc

5. Follow the prompts - This is quite straight forward

6. Stop the EULA showing (As a blank dialog box)
 touch ~/.ICAClient/.eula_accepted

This now allows me to run Citrix apps through the web interface using Firefox.

Things still to fix:
Fix ugly Citrix GUI font
Authenticate to Xenapp View
Run access in Chrome

Changes for x64:
I had to download libmotif3 manually and copy stuff into lib32
This post helped a lot:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=333534

Get Device Manager to show non-present devices as hidden devices

Start a command prompt and set the following variable:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Start Device manager from the command line:

devmgmt.msc

On the view menu, click Show hidden devices.
More info here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

Error installing Dell OpenManage Server Administrator 6.1.0

First I had an error saying Windows Remote Management wasn't installed. I got it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=845289ca-16cc-4c73-8934-dd46b5ed1d33&DisplayLang=en

Second problem was this error:

"The installer has detected that HTTPs Listener is not enabled for Windows Remote Management. Enable HTTPs Listener for Windows Remote Management to use Standards Remote Management capabilities. See "Remote Enablement Requirements" section in the Installation and Security User's Guide for detailed information. Note: Remote Enablement is applicable only for systems that support Server Instrumentation."

This led to this post:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384372(VS.85).aspx

The fix was to run:

winrm quickconfig

This enabled an HTTP listener, but not an HTTPS one. Re-reading the above url, this worked:

winrm quickconfig -transport:https

ActiveSync - Guest only

To force an ActiveSync to allow guest only access (therefore with no prompts) carry out the following registry edits:

HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft\Windows CE Services

Add a new DWORD Value called ‘GuestOnly’ with a value of ‘1’

Blog off the air - Oops!

My blog has been off the air for a while. I moved the blog to a new server and recreated the domain.

Turns out the account used to run the blog needed modify access to C:\Windows\Temp - Looks ok for now!

Transistion to Cloud Servers

I'm moving all my locally hosted content to cloud based servers. So far I have moved my email to Google Apps For Your Domain and I have created a new blog (no content yet) to replace this one.

The Gmail move went pretty well as all I had to do was update MX, SPF and some CNAME records. The only non-working part was the start page as Google seem to have dropped support for this. I had actually setup apps before this limitation was implied, and I can activate the start page but it just doesn't work. There are others who mention this and the work-round seems just to use a Google Sites page if you want this. In fact there's quite a complete template for sites, just for this. I don't really need it anyways.

The blog will move slower. I have moved it off to a smaller sevrer for now and I'm trying to find a way to export the posts from CommunityServer to Blogger. I may just have to use the smaller server to setup redirects to the new blog.

Latest hotfix for DPM 2007

I think I explained earlier that my DPM 2007 product does not get updated by Microsoft update.

I tried reseting Windows Update components, but that didn't help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

I've discovered I'm a little bit behind on hot fixes, and that Microsoft have released KB976542 on October 23rd 2009.

This seems to include all the hotfixes posted since DPM 2007 SP1:

• KB961502
• KB963102
• KB968579
• KB970867
• KB970868

Still, looks like DPM 2010 will soon be here.

Wireshark on Snow Leopard

Nasty startup problem solved thanks to Nick Klienschmidt.

Run:

cd /Library/StartupItems

sudo chown -R root:wheel ChmodBPF 

http://kleinsch.com/2009/10/03/wireshark-chmodbpf-errors-on-snow-leopard/

Belkin N1 Expresscard with DLink DIR-615

I was supplied with a DLink DIR-615 router as part of my Virgin Media package. Tried connecting my personal laptop using a Belkin N1 Express card (F5D8071), but it just wasn't happy. This same card would connect with a Belkin Vision N1 quite happily (surprise, surprise).

Anyway, I downloaded the Vista drivers and they worked fine. Find them here:
http://en-us-support.belkin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/468

My card was the 3000 version.

Creating a dynamic distribution group with advanced filtering on Exchange 2007

In Exchange 2003, it was very easy to build a dynamic distribution group with the GUI. Exchange 2007 is much more limited unless you use Powershell. I needed to create a dynamic distribution group targeting a particular server, as long as the user mailboxes didn't have a forwarding address. The reason for wanting to avoid the mailboxes with forwarding addresses is we still have Quest's Exchange Migration Wizard creating forwarding details for users on the legacy Exchange system.

The process is a two part process:

• Create the dynamic distribution group
• Set the filter criteria for the distribution group

To create the dynamic user, type the following all on one line in the Exchange Powershell console (don't type in the bold italic comments):

New-DynamicDistributionGroup 'The applett

-Name "Group name" 'What the group should be called

-IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers 'Just include users with mailboxes

-OrganizationalUnit "domain.com/ou1/ou2" 'Where to create the dynamic distribution group
e.g. New-DynamicDistributionGroup -Name "Group name" -IncludedRecipients MailboxUsers -OrganizationalUnit "domain.com/ou1/ou2"

To set the filter:

Set-DynamicDistributionGroup 'The applett

"Group Name" 'What the group is called

-Notes "Blah blah blah" 'Description

-RecipientFilter {ServerName -eq 'ServerX' -and ForwardingAddress -eq $Null} 'Mailbox exists on ServerX and the forwarding address is empty

-RecipientContainer "domain.com/ou1/ou2" 'What container the recipients are under - It can just be the domain

e.g. Set-DynamicDistributionGroup "Group Name" -Notes "Blah blah blah" -RecipientFilter {ServerName -eq 'ServerX' -and ForwardingAddress -eq $Null} -RecipientContainer "domain.com/ou1/ou2"

Once set with Powershell, they can be viewed by the GUI, but not changed. Beware that the preview button does not take account of the -RecipientContainer parameter - It will show you all users in the domain that match.

Inspiration from:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123796.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738157.aspx

DanW

Windows 7 on an HP DV9000 (DV9292EU)

I've been having a bit of an install fest this weekend with Windows 7 Ultimate on my HP DV9292EU, Windows 7 Enterprise on my Work laptop and Android (!) on my trusty ASUS eeePC 701. All went fine except the HP laptop which had three unknown devices in device manager after the install.

One was labeled as a co-processor. I don't know what it was, but downloading the NVidia Nforce 430 drivers from here solved it:
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

Select Legacy, NForce 4 and then one of the 430 drivers. It downloaded this file which worked for me:
15.49_nforce_winvista_win7_32bit_international_whql.exe

The two other device were labeled Base System Devices and proved to be some sort of Ricoh devices.
Downloading the Windows 7 drivers from the Lenovo site fixed these for me!
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/WIN7-BETA.html#rmcr

It now all looks good!

Google Wave invites

These are looking really hard to get - Any one have one?
Please send an invite to Karl.Foley@gmail.com.

How-To Prepare A Certificate With Subject Alternative Names Using Exchange Powershell

1. Use powershell from an Exchange 2007 box to generate a certificate request (all on one line and replace italics with your details):

New-ExchangeCertificate
-GenerateRequest:$true
-Path C:\NewCert.req
-DomainName fqdn1.domain.tld,fqdn1,fqdn2.domain.tld,fqdn2
-PrivateKeyExportable:$true
-FriendlyName "fqdn1.domain.tld"
-IncludeAcceptedDomains:$False
-Force:$true
-SubjectName "CN=fqdn1.domain.tld,OU=Department,O=Organisation,L=Location,S=County,C=GB"

2. Request a certificate from your AD certificate server, (http://yourcertserver/certsrv). This needs to be an advanced request, using the request file generated above, and for a web server. Download it to your local drive as C:\CertNew.cer.

3. Import the certificate into your Exchange server using:

Import-ExchangeCertificate C:\NewCert.req

4. On the Exchange server, use the MMC certificate snap-in, export the certificate. Export it with the private key to a PFX file. Make sure you target the computer certficate store when loading the MMC. Use a password to protect the exported certificate.

5. On the target server, load the certificate MMC, again targeting the computer store and import the pfx file.

6. Using the IIS console, switch your webserver to the new certificate.

7. You can delete the original certificate from your Exchange server if you wish.

Vista\2008 SP2

This has been RTM for a while, and I was expecting it to show up on Windows Update today, but it didn't. I downloaded it from Technet but just noticed it on the Microsoft main site here.

I particularly like the combined Vista\2008 32bit\64bit DVD here.

How to get the latest build of Chrome

Hacked off by the fact that IE8 had stopped responding my system, and not wanting to reboot right now, I decided to start using Chrome again.

I had been using the beta builds before but forgot how to get them.

You can find out how here:
http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel 

Isinteg fails to run on Exchange 2007 with Error: FULLCHKMGR::EcReadRowCountGlobalFlag failed with error JET_wrnColumnNull

I had a corrupted mailbox, so created a temporary store to move the mailbox into. I then wanted to run an isinteg on this store before returning the mailbox back to the original store.

The first part went ok, but when I went to run isinteg I received the following error in the logfile:
Error: FULLCHKMGR::EcReadRowCountGlobalFlag failed with error JET_wrnColumnNull

Searching around prodeuced a few solutions, but none in English! I found the following post:
http://www.spurius.nl/?p=46

My Dutch isn't very good, but I surmised that the command to run was:
isinteg -s servername -fix -test rowcounts

I ran this, and indeed I could then run an isinteg with -test alltests. Thanks to whoever that blogger is!

Feb 2009 Hotfix Package for DPM 2007 (KB963102)

For some reason, my DPM server doesn't seem to pick up on updates from Microsoft, so I occasionally scan download.microsoft.com for any updates.

Today, I found a new hotfix download for DPM 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8a551a13-270e-46c0-91ee-4a6d3d8bf034

It patches some issues detailed here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;963102

Can anyone tell me how to make DPM 2007 register with Windows update on this server?

Communicator 2007 Automatic Sign-in Failure

In my case this was caused by lack of DNS entries.
Just creating a sip CNAME to my OCS 2007 server was enough, but there are others you can create.

I found a tool that helps you troubleshoot DNS issues here.

A\CNAME records:
  sip.domain.com
  sipinternal.domain.com
  sipexternal.domain.com

SRV Records:
  _sipinternaltls._tcp.domain,com
  _sipinternal._tcp.domain.com
  _sip._tls.domain.com