October 2004 - Posts - Windows Server Clustering & PCNews

1) For Windows Server 2003 follow http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817064 on each machine BEFORE you install the cluster service. This is important, if you go out of order you may corrupt your the Cluster Registry (see Note below for a fix). For Windows 2000, proceed to step 2.

2) To increase the size of the MSDTC log. On each node:

Open component services
Computers
My Computer
Properties
MSDTC tab
Capacity = 12 or 16 or anything larger then 4 MB
Close it out

Configure both machines with the same size MSDTC log.

3) Install Microsoft clustering.

4) Follow http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301600

5) Install SQL/Exchange into the cluster.

SQL Note: SQL MSDTC could be used daily, it depends on how the SQL applications are written. If MSDTC is used with SQL, you should ensure it is in it's own group, on it's own disk resource. Lastly, Microsoft recommends to run the MSDTC & SQL group on the same node, and that the MSDTC is brought online first when the groups are moved.

Exchange Note: Exchange Server 2003 only uses MSDTC for the install of Exchange or a service pack. Normal Exchange operations, do not use MSDTC. It is ok to place MSDTC in the Cluster Group for an Excahnge installation.

Note: If you skipped step 1, or did the steps out of order you may have to install Availability of Windows Server 2003 Post-Service Pack 1 COM+ Hotfix Rollup Package 5 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896729

revised 12-12-2004 - Modified for current recommendations.

revised 6-27-2006 - Add Com+ support and minor wording changes

Posted by clustering | 8 comment(s)

Filed under: Windows Server Clustering

Mon, Oct 25 2004 10:34

Exchange, XP

Exchange:

Solution Accelerator for Exchange Consolidation and Migration

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=51e6ef23-0ba3-4f55-bfc0-7727dd1e74e8&displaylang=en

MS Exchange and Outlook, Market Analysis 2004-2008.

"At the end of 2003, there were 51.8 million Exchange 5.5 users, 40.8 million Exchange 2000 users and 1.4 million Exchange 2003 users, according to The Radicati Group. For the end of 2005 the forecast is for Exchange 2003 to hit 49.4 million users, Exchange 5.5 to be at 31.9 million and Exchange 2000 at 47.8 million, Takahashi said."

"(Microsoft) has had over 175,000 requests for evaluations of the product and more than 31,000 people have participated in Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003 classes."

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1389055547;fp;16;fpid;0

XP:

Critical Update for Windows XP (KB887811) - After you install the MS04-032 Security Update for Windows (KB840987) on a computer running either Windows XP or Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and then try to run an Open MG compliant music software, the Open MG compliant music software may not run as expected or respond. Also you may BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). The fix is to uninstall 840987 in safe mode.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=bf04aca3-7c7c-428b-9e59-72057a21021e&displaylang=en

Updates to "Deploying Secure 802.11 Wireless Networks with Microsoft Windows"

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=65951a75-2dc9-4211-a48a-f9a09ff4df8c&displaylang=en

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Fri, Oct 22 2004 10:39

AD, SPS, Misc.

AD:

Active Directory in Networks Segmented by Firewalls - Windows 2000 document recently updated.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c2ef3846-43f0-4caf-9767-a9166368434e&displaylang=en

SPS:

Technical Guidance for Connecting Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 to SAP R/3

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4a581c05-4a3f-4daf-b96d-804b83f34868&displaylang=en

Miscellaneous:

Windows XP Media Center Edition Test Kit v2.0

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=44473cb2-133b-4513-9367-3d8045ca29cd&displaylang=en

Media Transfer Protocol Porting Kit - Cool :)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7976db5d-afa4-4dff-83bd-3f83635d2d5b&displaylang=en

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Fri, Oct 22 2004 9:55

Server Clusters Management Pack for MOM 2005

Server Clusters Management Pack for MOM 2005

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0a533e00-098a-46dc-a8a5-e22f77d47c64&displaylang=en

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Filed under: Windows Server Clustering

Thu, Oct 21 2004 11:15

Exchange, MIIS, MOM

Exchange:

Mi8's Exchange Hosting - Voted MSExchange.org Readers' Choice Award Winner - Exchange Hosting Category

http://www.msexchange.org/news/Mi8s-Exchange-Hosting-Readers-Choice-Award.html

RIM Previews New BlackBerry Handheld for WLAN Networks

http://www.rim.net/news/press/2004/pr-18_10_2004-02.shtml

MIIS:

Update for Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 (KB842531) - cumulative update for MIIS.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=fa9dbb67-4654-4c94-b073-aa59676130af&displaylang=en

MOM:

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Conceptual Guide

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e06970bb-02f9-40da-b986-00d98d595696&displaylang=en

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Wed, Oct 20 2004 13:29

Exchange, SPS, XP, 2003, 2000

Exchange:

Background on Virus Scanning API (VSAPI)

http://blogs.msdn.com/exchange/archive/2004/10/20/245157.aspx

You Perform 1.1

http://hellomate.typepad.com/exchange/2004/10/you_perform_11.html & http://www.yousoftware.com/perform/

SPS:

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Help

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b189b0b9-d8c9-4149-8f88-685b509d48e5&displaylang=en

XP:

Microsoft Helpdesk Use of Remote Assistance in Windows XP Professional

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=718989eb-12a5-424b-b7f1-c21ef9b175d0&displaylang=en

2003:

Windows Server 2003 Security Guide

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8a2643c1-0685-4d89-b655-521ea6c7b4db&displaylang=en

Threats and Countermeasures: Security Settings in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b6acf93-147a-4481-9346-f93a4081eea8&displaylang=en

2000:

Securing Windows 2000 Server

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9964cf42-e236-4d73-aef4-7b4fdc0a25f6&displaylang=en

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Wed, Oct 20 2004 13:22

MOM 2000 MP for Microsoft Windows Server Clusters

MOM 2000 MP for Microsoft Windows Server Clusters

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8ce27fde-12b0-4375-a158-82f37b4f58b1&displaylang=en

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Filed under: Windows Server Clustering

Tue, Oct 19 2004 9:53

SPS, Table PC

SPS:

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 1 - Re-released for some reason?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=fd3ab750-c622-4488-bd06-8f5d8347e3d2&displaylang=en

Tablet PC:

Microsoft Physics Illustrator for Tablet PC

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=56347faf-a639-4f3b-9b87-1487fd4b5a53&displaylang=en

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Tue, Oct 19 2004 9:49

Network Load Balancing Management Pack for MOM

Network Load Balancing Management Pack for MOM - The Network Load Balancing (NLB) Management Pack detects, sends, alerts, and automatically responds to critical events.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=95c3aa67-c2c0-46d1-bb62-9ddc694712d4&displaylang=en

Posted by clustering | 1 comment(s)

Filed under: Windows Server Clustering

Mon, Oct 18 2004 7:21

Exchange, Misc.

Exchange:

Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Add Root Certificate Utility for Verizon Smartphones

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5d7e27ee-4654-480c-876d-442aed8f47ae&displaylang=en

Sample: How to add root certificates to Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 2002 Smartphones

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9f812d36-ee54-48cb-9703-7619b1a9e1ad&displaylang=en

How to kill a BlackBerry

http://www.engadget.com/entry/9390631316451507/

Publishing OWA Sites using ISA Firewall Web Publishing Rules (2004)

http://www.isaserver.org/articles/2004pubowartm.html

Miscellaneous:

ASP.NET ValidatePath Module Scanner

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be7366f5-82a1-444f-9ebc-d70b6c8830dd&displaylang=en

The Security Risk Management Guide

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c782b6d3-28c5-4dda-a168-3e4422645459&displaylang=en

Enterprise Logon Scripts

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3533b6bb-7ac7-4f42-825f-b122474d9a89&displaylang=en

PSS Service Center Labs - 2004

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=aec18337-887f-4ec6-a858-81f84de8082f&displaylang=en

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Data Sheet

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9e99e6d4-1c90-490e-9520-4a4111cc3a09&displaylang=en

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Thu, Oct 14 2004 11:30

Exchange, XP, ISA, RRAS

Exchange:

Exchange Disk Sizing (it's not just for cluster anymore!) Great article :)

http://blogs.msdn.com/evand/archive/2004/10/14/242127.aspx

XP:

Deploying Windows Firewall Settings for Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 - Version 2.6

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4454e0e1-61fa-447a-bdcd-499f73a637d1&displaylang=en

Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6 - Excellent tool to migrate users to Windows 2000/XP. A must have resource.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4af2d2c9-f16c-4c52-a203-8daf944dd555&displaylang=en

ISA:

The ISACTRL and WSPSRV Services Do Not Start When You Install ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition on a Multiprocessor Computer (884569)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c1970983-3164-4a1f-86b5-b0bbd66107e0&displaylang=en

RRAS:

Enterprise Deployment of Wireless and Remote Access with RSA SecureID and Microsoft Internet Authentication Service

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2466f0e3-231b-46b5-ae1e-0e5d3c3cacad&displaylang=en

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Wed, Oct 13 2004 11:02

XP, Exchange, Access, Tools, Searches made easy

XP:

Windows XP Professional Provides Easily Managed Mobility for the Enterprise

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d4d61afd-9d7b-43b9-b433-19228847d5cd&displaylang=en

Exchange:

Security Update for Exchange 2003 (KB885882)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=313bec77-0845-46d4-bb43-06c792adb2ea&displaylang=en

The 12 commandments of Exchange Deployments - great article:

http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid43_gci1014964,00.html?track=NL-368&ad=494224

Access:

Access 2.0 Converter for Access 2003

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=91c944f8-f3ab-41e9-902a-2255a66e1c4a&displaylang=en

Tools:

MS04-028 Enterprise Update Scanning Tool (Standalone)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=70e1c04d-47e2-4ea6-a638-11ab6ad9bd6e&displaylang=en

Searches made easy:

Make your life easier. We all search, all the time. Below I have Internet Explorer search information.

Here is what you do, highlight the GREEN section below, copy it to your clip board, open wordpad, paste the text, save the file as iesearches.reg, then run the reg file and accept the dialog box.

That said and done, what do you get? Open Internet Explorer, next to address try:

dict platapus Merriam-Webster search, cause I can't spell.

eventid 567 Event ID - great for looking up events

g NASA Google anything

gg clustering Google Groups anything

ggms sql 2000 Google Groups Microsoft anything

mskb 301600 Microsoft Knowledge Base articles anything

rfc 1918 Request for Comment anything

msdn objects Microsoft Developers Network anything

md calculator Microsoft Download anything

See the pattern yet? 1-4 characters shortcut and then what you want to search for. If you use the Google bar (http://toolbar.google.com/) make sure to turn off Enable Browser By Name in your Browser's address bar.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\dict]
@="http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\eventid]
@="http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=%s&source="

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\g]
@="http://www.google.com/search?q=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\gg]
@="http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\ggms]
@="http://groups.google.com/groups?meta=group=microsoft.public.*&q=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\gm]
@="http://www.google.com/microsoft?q=%s&hq=microsoft&btnG=Google+Search"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\mskb]
@="http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?Query=%s"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\rfc]
@="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc%s.txt"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MSDN]
@="http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?qu=%s&View=msdn&st=b&c=0&s=1&swc=0"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\MD]
@="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?productID=&freetext=%s&DisplayLang=en"

Posted by clustering | 2 comment(s)

Filed under: PCNews, Miscellaneous

Wed, Oct 13 2004 7:24

Exchange, MP10, VPC, Tools, News

Exchange:

Exchange Memory Allocation

http://www.msexchange.org/articles/Exchange-Memory-Allocation.html

TechNet Support WebCast: Welcome to Hosted Exchange 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;887284

Media Player 10:

Is out and I really like it. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b446ae53-3759-40cf-80d5-cde4bbe07999&displaylang=en

Virtual PC 2004:

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b07c9ef0-265a-4237-ae3b-25bc8937d40f&displaylang=en

Readme for Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ef9d823f-3aae-40da-b4e9-dabe2a6b5bf9&displaylang=en

Tools:

MS04-028 Update Scan Tool

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c4745685-9521-4b63-a338-0b3e2dcbf2bb&displaylang=en

News:

A Mall for America's Geeks:

http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/riverroad/0,2704,65138,00.html?tw=rss.CUL

The theft threat

http://www.nwfusion.com/careers/2004/101104man.html?fsrc=rss-security

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Tue, Oct 12 2004 13:58

October Microsoft Critical Updates

Important MS04-029 Microsoft Windows Information Disclosure and Denial of Service

Important MS04-030 Microsoft Windows Denial of Service

Important MS04-031 Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-032 Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-033 Microsoft Office Code Execution

Critical MS04-034 Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-035 Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-036 Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-037 Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

Critical MS04-038 Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-oct.mspx

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Mon, Oct 11 2004 22:59

XP, Exchange, SMS, Tablet PC, New Design - Old Site

XP:

New Q's -

PostScript fonts that are not valid are incorrectly installed when you use Control Panel Fonts in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;822084

Update package that includes Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) version 2.0 and WinHTTP 5.1 is available for Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;842773

Hotfix that lets you control whether a user can save a password for Remote Desktop Connection sessions to a terminal server in Windows XP or in Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;839918

Download.Ject Payload Detection and Removal Tool

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;873018

Control Panel stops responding in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;843551

A USB device is not recognized if you attach it immediately after your Windows XP-based computer comes out of standby or hibernation

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;871233

Windows may not respond when you try to load a registry hive

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;836435

Exchange:

A few basic concepts in disk sizing Excellent blog on Disks, I mean excellent. http://blogs.msdn.com/exchange/archive/2004/10/11/240868.aspx

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool - UPDATED

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4f2f1339-cbcd-4d26-9174-f30c10d7ec4c&displaylang=en

Protecting Microsoft Exchange with ISA Server 2004 Firewalls

http://www.msexchange.org/articles/2004protectexch.html

SMS:

Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 SP1 International Client Pack 1 - English - Just how international is English anyways? (hint - see www.engrish.com)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=f22bc238-c609-45f6-acbb-7f0050706b68&displaylang=en

Tablet PC:

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 - Energy Blue Theme Pack - Now I really want a Tablet baby!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=86268ffa-70b1-4814-bd00-2d380dc5a89d&displaylang=en

New Design - Old Site:

Have you been to this page lately? http://support.microsoft.com/. It has been modified. Hmm, this will take some getting used to.

Posted by clustering | with no comments

Filed under: PCNews

Sun, Oct 10 2004 2:49

XP, Exchange, SMS, Mappoint, Streets and Trips, Misc.

XP:

Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB885894)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=36dd19df-bc5e-44b7-a339-6794d97994a2&displaylang=en

Exchange:

ExBPA Baseline FAQ

http://hellomate.typepad.com/exchange/2004/10/exbpa_baseline_.html

From the same Blog site - Transcript of BPA chat:

http://hellomate.typepad.com/exchange/files/exbpa_webcast_questions.txt

SMS:

Systems Management Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Installation and Operations Release Notes

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d1e9c976-e131-4525-b035-dd4f7e460064&displaylang=en

MapPoint:

MapPoint 2004 and Streets and Trips 2004 Construction Update

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e3197c7d-c287-4780-9eba-801c48f6a624&displaylang=en

MapPoint 2003 Streets and Trips 2003 Construction Update

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8f4c6909-1264-420c-a85c-e321b4bcaaba&displaylang=en

MapPoint 2002 and Streets & Trips 2002 Construction Update

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0deaca2e-592f-4472-a6bc-22f1b0f8c39f&displaylang=en

MapPoint 2001 and Streets & Trips 2001 Construction Update

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7d046884-2445-498d-bd97-5adf06f36106&displaylang=en

Streets and Trips 2005 Construction Update

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=522994de-80a4-46a5-b4f9-6ea38de335cd&displaylang=en

Misc.:

Microsoft Time Zone - Pretty darn cool program that will tell you the time zone for 5 other areas and with just a couple clicks allow you to change your machine's time zone.

**You will have to validate your Windows OS to download this one** This involves downloading an Active-X control to due this. Its a real pain the first download you do, but it after that your machine is fly through the process. Still not sure if I like this or want this process slowing me down.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=bff59fcf-3148-40b8-a286-fe7274f6e4d8&displaylang=en

SANS Top 20 security vulnerabilities for 2004

http://www.sans.org/top20/

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Fri, Oct 8 2004 1:23