Looking at the world - from Down Under : SBS Technical

SBS Technical Training now in Canberra

calvert — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:27:00 GMT

Nick's just blogged this:

http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmayhew/archive/2007/09/14/sbs-partner-training-now-with-a-date-in-canberra.aspx

This follows on from my last post about the training for SBSers. If you're in Canberra please take advantage of this offer.

It's a simple matter of economics that if Microsoft can see the numbers in Canberra for these events then they'll continue to offer them there. If attendance is routinely low (and this is really for any place an event is run) then they won't be offered there in the future.

So - support yourself and your local community by attending these events and reap the rewards.

Microsoft SBS technical training for Australia

calvert — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 03:58:00 GMT

I've received an email from Microsoft with the following information in it regarding the next round of technical training sessions coming up. If you're working with Small Business Server then make sure you register for these events being held through September.

This technical training focuses on the Small Business Server 2003 Release 2 and will be delivered in two sessions, with each session focusing on a different aspect of SBS Server 2003 R2. The sessions will run for approximately three (3) hours with a lunch break in between the sessions. The session’s outlines are:

Session 1 - Microsoft SBS 2003 R2 – Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 SP2 Features

This session introduces the new features on SBS 2003 R2 in regards to Exchange 2003 SP2 and Outlook 2003 SP2. After completing this course, you will be able to:

· Describe the new flexible client licensing in SBS 2003 R2. · Identify ways to increase mobile security and efficiency through new Windows Mobile 5.0 policies and Direct Push technology. · Provide increased message hygiene by using the Open SPF standard as well as an improved Intelligent Message Filter. · Show how to allow for more storage with an increased mailbox size limit of 75GB.Session 2 - Microsoft SBS 2003 R2 – Windows SharePoint Services V2.0\V3.0 Features

This session will introduce WSS v2.0, however it will be mainly focused on WSS V3.0. Students will learn the advantages of using Windows SharePoint services in their SBS 2003 R2 environment. After completing this course, you will be able to:

· Describe the benefits of using SharePoint as an information sharing tool.· Show the advantages of using WSS V3.0 in their environment.· Preparing for and upgrading to WSS V3.0.· Integrate WSS V3.0 into Microsoft SBS 2003 R2 environment. · Utilizing advanced WSS V3.0 features to enhance the current environment.

Spread the word with your workmates, associates and anyone else you come across. I expect all Small Business Specialists to be there too

Calling all network manager type people

calvert — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:36:00 GMT

Put this onto your radar:

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/essentials/default.mspx

Had a meeting with some bodies here at the MS Australian partner conference just a while ago, in particular the lovely Frederique Dennison (Product Marketing Manager, Secfurity and Management) where we were discussing network management tools and processes.

Microsoft is certainly ramping things up for the SME end of town and if you work in this space then you need to start getting familiar with System Center Essentials (SCE) before the guy up the road does. It's going to change the way networks are maintained moving forward - making things easier, more visible, more pro-active rather than reactive (aka waiting for the phone to ring).

You can download a VHD of SCE to play with so you're not installing it into your production environment to begin with, and being a virtual machine you could even play with it whilst flying home from the conference

Hint: SCE is part of the wave hitting a network near you next year (http://msmvps.com/blogs/calvert/archive/2007/08/31/aussies-add-this-to-your-rss-feed.aspx), so get your board waxed and ready ahead of time.

LegacyDN to the rescue

calvert — Sat, 12 May 2007 01:55:00 GMT

Continuing with the swing migration from the last post, all continued to go exceptionally well with the process. We kicked off an Exchange backup remotly prior to heading to site so there was less waiting around. (I use RDP to manage servers just about everyday and I am still extremely impressed with how it has made my job so much easier).

The data transfer went a treat, in fact it was all going very well until it came time to mount the Exchange databases. The databases and log files were all in the right location but when mounting the databases we got error "ID No: c1041724" which I'd seen before.

Due to not seeing this error everyday I had to rummage through my notes and do some searching online, plus referred to Jeff's swing migration notes. The usual checks against file system permissions, database integrity etc didn't yield any change.

It was getting late and the client wanted to go home so I said I would keep working on this remotely for them to get it going (there's that wonderful RDP again).

One of the things about this site is the DNS domain name is VERY long such that the NETBIOS name has been truncated. Add to this the fact the original IT support person/people hadn't done things the SBS way and we have a rather interesting environment to move from. I figured there were some naming issues at play here and looked into using LegacyDN to resolve things.

Fortunately I'd brought their old server home with me just in case (Dell 400SC with 512Mb RAM and 2 IDE hard drives!) and so fired it up to use LegacyDN to check the Exchange organisation name details. Cross checking this against the new server showed there was a mismatch.

You should refer to http://support.microsoft.com/?id=324606 for details on how to use LegacyDN and the tool itself can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5ef7786b-a699-4aad-b104-bf9de3f473e5&displaylang=en.

Once it's downloaded you need to run it from a command prompt as "legacydn /forcewrite" which runs it in edit mode. Be aware that this is a powerful tool and using it incorrectly can render your Exchange environment completely unusable - you've been warned.

I updated the organisation name and saved the settings....now for the big test.

I went to mount the private information store database and got another error message. Dang, what was it now? Ahhh yes - I'd not checked the box to say "this database can be overwritten by a restore". Checked the box and tried mounting again - this time it was successful. Same for the public information store.

We've had migrations where the database just mounted seamlessly but there are the odd times where we have to resort to additional steps. Next week we swing from SBS2000 to SBS2003 so I'm sure there will be some other issues to work with but in the case it was simply the organisation name that required massaging.

So there are several lessons here.

Firstly - the server should have been setup using the wizards in the first place. Get with the program folks - don't go playing with building servers if you don't know what you're doing!

Secondly - in future I'm going to run LegacyDN as a matter of course to at least document the organisation name settings. If nothing else this saves me from having to take away the old server for reference.

Thirdly - make sure you set the right perception for the client when performing work. I always make sure I let the client know there can be issues and problems that have to be worked out with anything involving server changes. Don't over promise or set false expectations.

Fourth - make sure you adjust the mailbox quotas to what they were before (or as agreed with the client) before you start the SMTP service. I missed doing this and they had some mail bounce before I worked out what was happening

Fifth - always, always, always make sure when making a server changeover that you have a way of connecting to the Internet for searching, IMing for help, downloading additional tools etc. SBS can be the gateway for the whole network and if it's not fully operational such that Internet access if not available then you can get very stuck. I fortunately had my 3G card with me so my notebook had a connection, plus I tend to carry a heap of resources with me but it's worth noting this anyway.

Perhaps it's time I starting writing a Tips & Tricks book?

Is your SWING not being TRUSTED?

calvert — Thu, 10 May 2007 06:07:00 GMT

We all know that SBS cannot have a trust relationship with another domain - that's a given. But SBS sometimes doesn't seem to know this.

We encountered this just now in performing a swing migration for a client.

The FSMO roles had been seized over and all was looking fine, afterall we've done plenty of swing migrations.

Anyway upon kicking off the SBS setup process we got an error message telling us we had a trust relationship that this was a show stopper.

We double checked the FSMO role assignments, ensured there were no phantom domain controllers or other funny things lurking around. A restart didn't yield any improvement either so it was off to search the 'net for an answer (since Jeff seemed to be sleeping too).

I found a newsgroup thread where someone else had received a similar message and had resorted to calling Microsoft PSS. I figured it was worth a try giving his posted solution a go.

So if you encounter this error here's what you do:

Click Start/Run and enter %temp% then hit OK. This opens up the temporary files folder for the account. In there you'll most likely find a folder called something like "SIT17477.tmp". In there is a file called SETUP.SDB.

Edit this file in notepad and look for the line that under the [GUID to Friendly Name Mapping] section that ends with "TrustCheck".

Delete this line and save the file.

If you have any other SITXXXXX temp folders remove them to be safe then re-run the SBS setup process.

When we did this the process ran fine.

I'm not sure what caused this to be borked up - I guess if someone knows they'll post a comment back but for now we'll keep swinging with this server and get another happy customer.

BTW - please don't try this "hack" to get around the 'no domain trust' block in SBS. This is only for the setup process and there's no telling what mess you'll be in if you try to do things outside the way SBS is supposed to operate.

Watch your bindings order

calvert — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:16:00 GMT

Just got back from installing an additional NIC in an ISA2004 firewall. The ole network bindings order gotcha hit me yet again so I thought it was time to write this down to remind me - and hopefully save you from this grief.

When adding a new network interface (phyiscal, wireless, 1394 etc) to a Windows machine (and I'm considering XP & Windows Server 2003 here but the same may well apply to other versions) you need to make sure you set the bindings order for all the network cards correctly in order to maintain proper operation.

For example, in your typical SBS2003 server there are 2 netowrk interface cards (NICs) and the server, when performing operations such as DNS lookups etc, needs to check with the internal NIC first because that's where things like DNS and WINS are bound first. Get the network card binding order wrong and you'll find DNS lookups will fail (this is why you ALWAYS USE THE WIZARDS!!! (excuse the shouting)).

Anyway, back to the story at hand. I installed an additional NIC into this firewall, giving it 3 interfaces in total. All appeared to be OK so I left the site. Got a call about 10 minutes later to be told "I can't browse the Internet from my computer". After spending some time RDP'd into the server (using my new Telstra Next-G card which totally rocks!!) I thought I'd disable the new NIC for now. Also noticed an error in the event logs about the proxy service not being able to bind to the internal NIC.

It was about this time that I thought of those darn network binding order settings. I checked them and sure enough the new NIC (for the DMZ) was at the top of the list. Moved it down to the bottom, restarted the ISA services but that didn't fix it.

We restarted the server and this proved the winner as everything was then able to start up & bind appropriately.

So, the lesson here is when installing an additional NIC into anything, in particular a server, check the bindings order. "Where is that?" I hear you ask?

Open your network connections folder and select the "Advanced" menu item. Click on "Advanced Settings...".

Check the list of connections for the order of the network cards - make sure the internal NIC (the one things are bound to) is the top one. {and one of these days I'll work out how to attach images to this thing so I can show you what to look for}.

Remembering this would have saved me from sitting on the side of the road for 25 minutes and let my client get out of the office a bit ealier.

Stymied by RWW & RDP 6?

calvert — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 03:43:00 GMT

We've had a few cases where RWW won't work on machines where they've had RDP 6 installed. The resolution when this happens is to uninstall RDP 6 as it appears there is a problem between the full RDP 6 client and the RDP 5.2 ActiveX component that RWW uses.

Whilst I've not personally tested this (I know - but it takes time!!) our "fix" in the meantime is to remove the RDP 6 client. Go to Add/Remove Programs, click the show updates checkbox at the top of the list and uninstall update KB925876. This takes you back to RDP 5.2 (in Windows XP).

Guess I'll do some trawling around to see if there are other articles about this anywhere but for the moment this is what we'll do.

If you know another "fix" that doesn't require removal of RDP 6 please let me know.

Stop that BUS...I mean USB...

calvert — Sun, 07 May 2006 11:18:00 GMT

There have been issues reported around the place about problems when using USB drives as backup devices on SBS2003. Simply unplugging the drive to switch over to another one so the latest backup can be taken off site yields error messages from the server complaining about volumes with no disk space left.

The best way to avoid these errors is to stop the device before unplugging it from the server. But what if you want to do this without having someone first log onto the server? There are some tools around that allow you to script a "USB stop" to run as a scheduled task but it would appear this too is not always the fix (if you want a copy of a tool that can be used with the scheduled task let me know).

Graham from the Adelaide SBS user group was having a problem with USB drives where the server would simply lock up and using the utility for stopping the USB device was simply not successful. A call to Microsoft's PSS and they were able to provide him with a fix - albeit not one from the public knowledge base articles.

It's tied in to "USB device selective suspend". Use this ONLY if you really need to.

Create a DWORD key called "DisableSelectiveSuspend" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CCS\Services\usb

Give it a value of 1 to disable selective suspend.

Once again - use this ONLY if you're having system lockups where using USB drives as backup devices and make sure you've got a complete backup of the system beforehand (kind of makes it hard to ensure you've got a backup in advance though doesn't it!!).

Be interested to get feedback on this one too...

SBS2003 SP1 was successful - ultimately

calvert — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 13:00:00 GMT

The days between Christmas and new year were going to be the days I caught up with a heap of things in the office that had not received the attention they deserved through the rest of the year. Instead I was busy by a few clients that simply refused to take some time off :)

Anyway, I did manage to get SP1 finally applied to our own server, in readiness for CRM 3.0 (see previous post). Overall the installation when fine, apart from the ISA2004 upgrade. Now don't get me wrong, our SBS2003 server is not overly customised - we built our own server the same way we build them for our clients. Makes it easier to support overall.

So each time I went to install ISA2004 as an upgrade from ISA2000 it would complain and roll back the installation. I ended up manually uninstalling ISA2000 (remembering to export the self-signed certificates first) but still had problems. Evertime I went tp stop the IISADMIN service and its dependant services it would start up again.

To make a long story short, I had to change the recovery settings for the service. It was set to restart on first & second failures and on subsequent failures to run "iisreset". I changed all of these to "no action" and tried again - this time I was successful. (I remembered to set the recovery options back afterward).

So if you're rolling out SBS2003 SP1, or even just upgrading ISA2000 to ISA2004, watch for the service recovery options on IISADMIN. Hopefully this will serve to save you a little grief.

Packing the podcast

calvert — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 03:13:00 GMT

I'm just packing my bag for the brief trip to Perth tomorrow for the first leg of the Microsoft for Partners Roadshow.

Toothbrush - check

Shirts - check

Socks - check

Podcasts - check

Shaver - check

“What???” I hear you ask? “Podcasts?” Why yes, of course. Time in the air, or waiting for a flight, or sitting in a taxi is a great time to catch up on the SBS podcasts. With my little trusty Creative Labs MP3 player and Sennheiser PCX-250 noise cancelling headphones I'm all set.

Check out the podcasts. The latest installment from Vlad Mazek, Chris Rue & Susanne Dansey is available at http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/ and you can get the podcasts from the Official SBS Support group at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/default.aspx

I figure I've got the flight covered at least, plus some taxi time. Much more workable than trying to open my notebook in the confined spaces of the 737 I'll be on tomorrow.

And for when the gizmos need to be turned off, I've got my latest book to read - more on that later.

CRM 3.0 EAP released

calvert — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:32:00 GMT

Attention Microsoft Partners, if you want to get your hands dirty with CRM 3.0 (for testing purposes only) check out http://microsoft.order-7.com/CRMpartnerBeta/ . You need to sign in with your MS Passport to get access to the downloads (462Mb for the SBE edition - just right for SBS).

WARNING: don't go installing this on your production server, it's not final code and so is for testing only. I understand the final product will be released over the next couple of months.

As covered at last Monday nights SBS user group meeting, my personal recommendation is you stick to your knitting when it comes to deployment of CRM or other specialised packages. If your focus is SBS infrastructure your best bet is to partner with an organisation that specialises in CRM. This will save you and your clients a lot of pain. Same goes for application development, web site creation etc. Stick to what you know best and work with those who can compliment what you do (see this post - http://msmvps.com/calvert/archive/2005/10/27/73027.aspx for more thoughts on strategy)

That being said, have a play with CRM 3.0 on your favourite virtual server so you can see what all the excitement is about.

Keep your eyes posted on the following sites for more updates:

www.mscrm.com.au

http://thenorwichgroup.blogs.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions/crm/default.mspx

Listen to the podcast

calvert — Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:18:00 GMT

I'm just finishing up listening to the SBS podcast prepared by Vlad Mazek & Chris Rue. Topic is Exchange 2003 SP2. The podcast is about 45 mins in length and well worth your time to download and listen to.

You can find it at http://www.vladville.com/sbsshow/ and downloads as an MP3 ready for playing on your MP3 player or Windows Media.

These are intended to be a weekly release, taking into account workload and relevant topics to cover (not to mention hurricanes), so make sure you check out the site for new podcasts.

Well done guys - keep up the good work

How many emails have you sent?

calvert — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 04:50:00 GMT

Got a call from a client earlier today a bit concerned about the number of email messages she's apparently sent over the last 2 weeks. The server usage report her SBS2003 server kindly sends to her was indicating she'd sent some 900 email messages, which she felt was a bit too high - several magnitudes of order too high (she's obviously not an MVP!!)

I'd seen something like this before on my own SBS2003 server so wasn't hugely concerned, but couldn't remember the exact cause of this (still battling jetlag following returning from SMB Nation in Redmond over the weekend - but that's another post…)

Super SBS-MVP Merv Porter put my mind at rest by pointing me to a kb article with the details of this problem (see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;867457) - thanks Merv.

And the fix? SBS2003 SP1 is the trick, however this isn't a trivial installation so just hold on there a second or 3.

Take some time to delve into all the SP1 information available in the community. Start by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/downloads/sp1/default.mspx then hop on over to www.smallbizserver.net. I recently presented at TechEd Australia on SBS2003 SP1, and have also presented on this at our local SBS user group meeting - but this is taking me off topic (I think an SP1 post is due - stay tuned).

So, if your server is telling you that you've been sending just a few too many emails over the last 2 weeks, it could just be a little bug in the system - and not the kind that you need to swat. Don't panic.

Following the Feb SBS users group meeting...

calvert — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:47:00 GMT

We had a great meeting the other week and covered a lot of ground. The PowerPoint deck will shortly be available for download on the www.sbsusers.net site (go to the meetings page).

We had a discussion about some issues being experienced with Backup Exec on SBS. Andrew (one of my team) has covered this ground several times and came up with the goods - in particular how to get jobs that get to 99% to complete successfully rather than just sit in a pending state.

Turns out David from the Sydney SBS group has the same frustrations, so for all of you with Backup Exec woes, get ready to smile...

How to configure VERITAS Backup Exec (tm) to automatically respond to media alerts, including when a backup hangs at 99%, until the user responds to a tape eject prompt

Identified by looking in Event Viewer – Applications: Event ID 58061 is shown

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/192055.htm

That should do it! And for some more little gems Andrew has found...

OFO: Initialization failure on: "Shadow?Copy?Components" Advanced Open File Option used: Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). VSS Snapshot error. Unexpected provider error.

Identified by looking in Event Viewer – Applications: Event ID 34113 is shown. Often also associated as being a METADATA error

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/265927.htm

And be aware of ports in use when installing Backup Exec 10

After a reboot or restarting the Backup Exec services, the Backup Exec Server Service fails to start with the following error: "An internal error (-14) occurred in object 10."

Identified by looking in Event Viewer – Applications: Event ID 57802 is shown.

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/275017.htm

You will need to use netstat –a to find what ports are open

Refer to “netstat /?“ for full usage details

Another topic discussed was clearing out badmail folder entries where there are HEAPS of them present. Opening the folder in Windows Explorer, or even a command prompt, can be unsuccessful when there are thousands of entries. So, Microsoft have a VBscript to deal with this (again thanks to Andrew for finding this one). Smply visit http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=867642

Finally, if you find an Exchange server that's being used as an open relay and want to get it cleaned up, visit http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=324958

Of course you're better of not being an open relay in the first place.

Right - time to get back to work. Oh, that reminds me, details for the March SBS users group meeting need to be posted here...stay tuned...

SBS2003 SP1 Beta has been launched

calvert — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 16:11:00 GMT

Wayne blogged about the SBS2003 SP1 beta launch already but I figured I post some more details.

This is the word from Microsoft...

The beta has been launched in English and German only at this time. Key goals include:

Maintain the OEM 15 minute install experience - personally I don't like this one as I feel it's going to give misleading perceptions to end users, however it's a great marketing story. The truth here is the 15 minutes is for the OEM install where you get to the To Do list and from here the real work starts in terms of creating users, computers, setting up shares, Internet connectivity etc etc. For the record I never use this though as I don't like all the components to be on the one partition with the operating system so I ALWAYS start from scratch. YMMV but most of the other SBS-MVPs concur with this line of thought.
Provide latest service packs and updates for our beloved SBS servers
Provide and support ISA2004 for SBS2003 Premium users

Whilst testing this beta, we'll get to see the integration between Windows Server 2003 SP1, Exchange Server 2003 SP1, Sharepoint SP1 and Outlook SP1. The Exchange IMF will still need to be installed separately if you don't already have it (I believe).

I hope to be able to download a copy of SP1 over the weekend and play with it a bit - I feel like it's Christmas all over again :) I plan to post back feedback on the beta - as much as I'm allowed to anyway without breaking my NDA.

Plus, I'd like to present this beta to the Adelaide SBS Users Group (see last post) at our February meeting (again I'll need to check with MS on this to make sure I'm allowed to show it).

Congratulations to the SBS dev team for a great product so far, which can only get better with this latest update when it's officially released. SBS Rocks!!

When “connectcomputer” doesn’t...

calvert — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 05:00:00 GMT

Here's a new one I found the other night.

I was rebuilding an SBS2k3 from scratch for a community group. They have about 15 clients (XPP) on the network all with wireless NICs and a couple of access points to service them. I took them off the old domain, changed the local admin password and installed & ran MSAS beta to find & nuke any bugs. I disconnected the APs from the switch whilst the server was being built and until it was patched and AV’d just to be safe.

When the server was ready to roll the APs were reconnected and the PCs (sitting in a workgroup called "workgroup") picked up their new IPs from the server and we proceeded to run the connectcomputer wizard. The computer name accounts and user accounts had all been created on the server and in fact the names for the computers were the same as they had in the workgroup mode.

The wizard appeared to run OK with the double reboots going fine, although the APs were beavering away with all the traffic (802.11g). Some of the machines, when it came time to log in for the first time as the designated driver, reported an error that the domain was not available even though it was listed in the domain options at the logon screen.

I checked on the server and the account was still there but I was getting error messages in the server logs that the trust relationship with the computer COMPUTER2$ had problems (can't remember exactly). Hmm - still had connectivity (log into local admin account and ping server is OK, and can manually map a drive to the server so NBT is working). OK - I removed from domain, changed the PC name to something different and removed & recreated the computer account on the server and ran the wizard again.

This time I was getting errors about can't change the computer name and join to a domain at the same time!! It had been a long day already and this is not what I wanted to see. Again the same sorts of errors in the logs. Admittedly the wireless had been hammered a bit but had mostly stood up to things (this had been recommened and sold to them by another reseller).

The end result with all this was I removed the PC from the domain, removed & recreated the computer account, had the computer set at the name it was going to be and then joined it to the domain the non-wizard way (still remembered how to do that!). This worked - just had to add the user back into the local admins group etc etc.

After the reboot the assigned apps started to install (although I did install XPSP2 locally to save dragging all that across the wireless).

So, after all that, my question is - has anyone else found times where the connectcomputer wizard appeared to run but didn't actually connect the PC properly? I'm suspecting the wireless was being so hammered that some essential comms couldn't complete (couldn't even log into PC as domain admin - which I know is a no no but I was testing theories). Could it be the wireless or are there other conditions under which this may be a problem?

Got "companyweb" prompting you to log in?

calvert — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 04:02:00 GMT

This one has been bugging me for a while.

Nice shiney SBS2003 Premium and the network clients can happily access the companyweb intranet site. When we introduce a W2K3 terminal server into the mix though, whenever we go to access the companyweb it prompts for a username and password.

Hmmm - check event logs, security permissions etc etc but nothing makes sense. Even played around with ISA despite knowing this couldn't be part of the equation.

In chatting with some fellow SBSers, most of them would suggest I check DNS and making sure companyweb is in the Internet Explorer “trusted sites” site. But it already was!!!

OK, thinking about this....it's actually part of our own network, which we naturally trust anyway, and more specifically it's our intranet. Check that site - nup, not there. So I added it in (got prompted about moving it from the trusted sites to the intranet sites - hit the OK button and you're in) and voila - prompt removed.

I can now happily open and close my companyweb from my terminal server (aka remote desktop server) without being prompted. Time to go check group policy to see if I can have this done automatically for TS users.

So - remember the enhanced W2K3 Server IE security settings and that even though you can TRUST your SBS, you want it in your INTRANET site.

It's been a while since my last post...

calvert — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 16:54:00 GMT

actually it's been waaaay too long, but I guess it's OK when I consider how busy the last weeks have been.

I was just reading one of Chad's older posts (http://msmvps.com/cgross/archive/2004/12/02/22108.aspx) and it made me think of one of the swing migrations we did a couple of weeks ago - this was a new client who'd had SBS2003 Premium installed for them by another provider but had not followed the wizards to any extent.

To begin with, the users on the network were still using PSTs for their email so they didn't have any of the cool Exchange features available to them. Next, some of the machines on the network (XP based notebooks) were still in workgroup mode, so there was no possibility for them to take advantage of the power of group policy.

The “server” (which is just a PC acting as a server - a BIG no-no in my books) had a hardware IDE RAID card in it, but the 2 120Gb drives in the server were using software based mirroring which was placing a huge load on the server performance, so much so that at times their software became quite unusable.

The list went on and on. I had my first visit on new years eve to investigate a problem where the server would not boot properly - it would present a boot menu which the other providers had setup to allow booting from the mirrored drive, but the default boot option for SBS just didn't work. Quick fix of the boot.ini file and restarts were fine again.

I investigated further - another problem was email had stopped coming in and was in fact bouncing back to the senders. I found an incorrect primary MX record for their domain and managed to get the owner of their ISP on the phone and arranged for their DNS records to be updated accordingly.

As I went through tidying things up I came to the conclusion that I was applying bandaids to the system and it really needed to be rebuilt. I simply told my client “You know what I'd really like to do with this server? I'd love to just wipe it clean and build it properly for you, so that I know it will work”. She was keen and after a brief discussion of when & how we agreed on my rebuilding the following weekend.

I knew I was going to use Jeff's swing methodology to allow me to keep the Active Directory information which would mean the notebooks that were actually part of the domain could remain relatively untouched.

To make a long story short, we rebuilt the server whilst maintaining the AD settings, all notebooks are part of the domain complete with Exchange based mailboxes (with IMF happily running), anti-virus (went with Trend CSM on this one) and backups that work.

My client is very happy with the end result and I know that yet another SBS is running as it should.

So what's the moral to this story? I guess if you're an IT provider and you're asked to install SBS for a client, if you don't understand how SBS really works and why you need to use the wizards, please take your hands off that server and step away. If you just jump in like it's "normal" Windows you'll most likely break it, break the client, break yourself and damage SBS's great reputation. There is a whole community out there to help you understand WHY you need to do things the SBS way, as well as HOW. (Also see here)

At the very least find and join your local SBS users/partners group where you can safely ask the hows and whys. Oh, that reminds me, need to promote the next Adelaide SBS UG meeting...

SBS is just soooooo kewl...

calvert — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 03:21:00 GMT

OK - so Stu & I are in Sydney for the latest MS/HP SMB Partner summit. To keep costs down we're sharing a room (separate beds - c'mon now, cut it out!!).

There's only 1 Internet connection in the room. I decided to bring a spare Cisco PIX 501 with me so we could share the link, but alas it wouldn't work for some reason due to the way they set these things up.

We tried using ICS with my notebook plugged into the 'net and our notebooks “talking” over the wiresless cards but that was a problem too - with the XP SP2 firewall running.

So, hmmm, I realised I had a SBS server in Virtual PC on my notebook. Fired it up, made the wireless NIC the internal card and Stu's notebook became a DHCP client on the inside of the SBS. Got him connected and configured through ISA (it's an SBS Premium server I carry around) and voila - he's connected.

The speed is pretty cool too - so I'm also updating the SUS image I've got on the SBS. We were so impressed we called Wayne whilst he was ploughing through 2 years of inventory reports (that's another story completely) and told him to cheer him up.

So - even in a hotel room with a couple of notebooks, SBS provides an ideal solution. In reality it's a 1 user SBS network - now there's proof that SBS suits even the smallest network!!

And Harry Potter said...

calvert — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 17:51:00 GMT

Anyone who's spent time around the SBS community will most certainly have heard the name Susan Bradley, and if you subscribe to her blog RSS feeds, and read them, you'll have read multiple posts about the SBS wizards and why you should use them (try http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/09/03/12962.aspx , http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/09/01/12713.aspx , http://msmvps.com/bradley/archive/2004/06/24/8898.aspx ).

“The Diva” tells us to use the wizards - in a non-too delicate manner - because it's that important, and really that simple. And I support her (& the wizards) 100%. Even outside of “blog land” the SBS message is to use the wiazrds. So why is it that I visit a site today and find a “techie” trying to hand-tune the Internet connection in an SBS2003 server, just to get RWW working?!?!?! Lucky I didn't have Susan's 2x4 handy.

No I'm not paid by Susan, but she's got a strong virtual voice in the SBS community so I'm leveraging it. I can just hear it now...“excuse me people, why are you not using the wizards to do that? <big swig of Moutain Dew> Do you realise the SBS development team worked real hard for us, so we can work that little bit easier and just make this stuff work?“ I'm sure if you've met Susan you can hear it too - and see the hands waving around ;)

So, I told the techie to STOP what he was doing in the IIS and ISA consoles and run the darn wizard. Sure enough, after he'd spent who-knows-how-long fiddling with the server and just ran the wizard it all started working.

Please please please - don't try to reinvent the wheel. The wizards are there for a reason, USE THEM!!! Don't make life hard for yourself, your client or anyone who needs to touch the server after you've moved on.

Spend a little time playing Harry Potter (or Hermione for that matter) and make some magic.

Rant over - resuming normal transmission