One or more users currently use a mailbox store on this server - Migrating from Exchange 2003 to 2010

We have a client who is gettign rid of their 2003 Exchange server.  This is a good thing because 2010 is pretty good.  After following all the Migration steps here, i attempted to uninstall exchange 2003 and i got this message

"One or more users currently use a mailbox store on this server"

After a google i found this article from Microsoft.  If you discover that you have a regualr user (Not the SMTP User) then either move their mailbox or delete it/remove their Exchagne attributes.

Now in my case i had moved all users and none of the results i got helped me, until i found this article below.

http://msexchangetips.blogspot.com/2008/04/exchange-one-or-more-users-currently.html

So briefly, we use an advanced LDAP AD search to find users that have had exchange attributes added to their accounts but they have not opened their mailbox.

Below is the LDAP command with what you need to change in RED so you can get results:

(msExchHomeServerName=/O=myexchangeorgname/OU=myorgname/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=myexchangeserver)(objectClass=User)

Also make sure there are no spaces in the command.

-Fr33ze

Blackberry Desktop 6 and SchoolZone Proxy

Now if you're like me and have a client wh has SchoolZone but would also like to have some control over what traffic goes out of the system and also have ISA server in the mix, chaining to an up stream proxy (schoolzone), you may have encountered an issue with BB desktop 6 and its requirement to connect to the internet before it will sync to the users outlook.

WELL it took me a little while but once i reviewed the logs from ISA i notice that schoolzone authentication was dropping off after a few minutes and wasnt asking for reauthentication.

So what i had to do to fix it was in the chaining properties for the up stream proxy i needed to enter static credentials into the isa server so that it wouldnt ask for authentication, after this blackberry desktop manager worked 100% and after the first sync it never needs to connect to the internet again.

I'll edit this blog with screenies so you can find your way, although its ISA and not that hard.

-Fr33ze

CODE 12 in Device Manager after WDS imaging

After imaging 26 computers with Windows 7 it was time to image a few more scattered around the site.  Fourtunatly they were all HP Pro 6000 series Desktops so they were all the same except the origianl image was made from an AMD based version and i was imaging onto an Intel based version.

The Imaging worked fine and booted into the OS, i found that it had add itself to the domain and everything seems functional except the video card.

After a look into the device manager i noticed a nice Yellow explaination mark indicating no driver has been installed.  I looked futher into the device and found:

CODE 12: Could not find enough resoruces.

After a few hours of deleting the reinstalling drivers reimaging the PC and pulling out my hair, i noticed a system driver called:

AMD pci express (3GIO) filter driver

This driver according to the system was working OK, i had noticed this driver earlier and even uninstalled it but it still came back and reloaded itself so i assumed it was actaully part of the system.

Now, i though this driver was odd and really shouldn't be on an intel system, so i uninstalled it but thsi time i noticed a tick box on the unisntall confirmation screen which said "Delete the Files for this Driver" so i ticked that box aswell.......BINGO

After Uninstalling the "AMD pci express (3GIO) filter driver" and Tickign the "Delete Associated Files" option the system then reinstalled all the drivers associated with the system and after another reboot the Display driver and all other drivers worked fine.

One thing to note is that i couldn't use the keyboard or mouse after i deleted the software, so either try a PS2 KB or press the power button to restart the system after you delete this drive.

-Fr33ze

WSUS and the PC's that don't want to report

Ok so below is a direct copy from this website.  It highlights a problem that exisits when imaging multiple PC's from WDS.  Now im not sure if this occurs when the origianl image is made from a PC that is on the domain or not.  I used the VB Script to ease my burden.

5. Imaged clients with a duplicate client ID will only appear once in the WSUS Admin Console. Each AU client must have a unique id which is created for each individual install. When imaging systems it is recommended always to use SysPrep. The WSUS admin console will only display one client for each unique ID. If you have multiple clients created from one image which are sharing the same ID, only one will appear in the WSUS admin console. All clients will check in and download updates, but only one will appear and display status in the WSUS admin console. In cases where clients are not checking in, and they were created from images without running SysPrep, the following steps will reset the existing duplicative client IDs.
a. Run regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
b. Delete the PingID, SUSClientID and the AccountDomainSID values
c. Stop and start the Wuauserv Service
d. From the command prompt run: wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow

or-

From the command line, once you are sure the AU client is properly configured and not disabled, you could run a batch file (which might look something like this sample) and get the same results:

rem Fixes problem with client machines not showing up on the server due to imaging method

reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v AccountDomainSid /f
reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v PingID /f
reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v SusClientId /f
cls
@echo Triggering detection after resetting WSUS client identity
net stop wuauserv
net start wuauserv
wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow
Additionally the following VBScript can be deployed via group policy to perform the above function automatically at logon. The script creates a registry key that will allow the script to check if it has been run on that client before. If it has it ends without performing any further changes.

Dim objShell, strKeyPath, strValueName,strComputer
set objShell = wscript.createObject("wscript.shell")
const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set objRegistry = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate"
strValueName = "SUSClientIdReset"

objRegistry.GetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strKeyPath, strValueName, dwValue
IF (dwValue = "1") THEN
            'do nothing
      ELSE
            'Fixes problem with client machines not showing up on the server due to imaging method
            objRegistry.DeleteValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath,"SusClientId"
            objRegistry.DeleteValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath,"SusClientIdValidation"
   Set colServiceList = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_Service where Name = 'wuauserv'")
   For Each objService in colServiceList
    If objService.State = "Running" Then
    objService.StopService()
    Wscript.Sleep 10000
    objService.StartService()
    End If
   Next
 
            objShell.Run("wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow ")
   Wscript.Sleep 10000 
            objShell.Run("wuauclt /r /reportnow")
            'Set reg value for SUSClientIdReset for checking against later.
   dwValue = "1"
            objRegistry.SetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strKeyPath, strValueName, dwValue
End If

Just save the above scipt as a *.vbs.

-Fr33ze

Wonderful world of routers and what they pass

So i have a couple of Fortigate 50Bs located at work.  one for our production system (which i still mess with) and one on our testing side (which i stuff up cause i can).  I have a requirement to get PPTP going through these boxes to whatever network is behind them.

So i set up both Fortigates exactly the same but the only difference between the 2 is that one has a Cisco Linksys ADSL router attached and the other one has a DLINK DSL-526b attached to it.

we generally setup our ADSL routers (Fortigate havent got an ADSL model out yet but the 60cx is comign soon) with all ports forwarding to the fortigates and let the fortigates manage the traffic.

So i setup both ADSL routers to forward all ports (1-65535) to the respective wan IP addresses of the Fortigate units.

Next the test, first i connected to our production system with the Linksys and the 50B, MAGIC it connected and i can get to our production network.

Next i connected to our test system, Verifying Username and Password....................................... Oh Dear.

Nothing!! oh wait let me check the specs on the DSL-526b ...... it says PPTP IPSEC passthrough ...... zzZzzzZZz what the hell is going on.

Maybe its a config problem on the Fortigate!!! did a backup of the config and restored it to the test system FG50B and changed IP addresses to suit, still no connection. 

Also tried swapping routers...nope the problem followed our DLINK router, oh dear have DLINK shit on me again?!??!?!?!.

Well no they didnt, yet they didnt seem to make it obvious either that (and heres the solution to the problem):

If you want VPN Pass Through to work on a DLINK DSL-526b you MUST add PPTP as a forwarded port and not rely on just forwarding all ports.

That is a bit shit since Linksys for only a few dollars more will forward PPTP with no problem.

So let this be a lesson to you all, if you are going to setup an ADSL router in front of a firewall then pass the specific ports especially if its a $78 DLINK ADSL router, tehehe.

-Fr33ze

3TB Seagate Go Flex Drive and StorageCraft Shadow Protect

WOOOOOOOO, i got a 3TB go flex the other day, MOAR STORAGE MOAR LEECHING.

Anyways i also got some 2tb internal disks to replace my 1.5tb drives that were 3 years old,  i backed up the 1.5 TB drive using ShadowProtect, i then installed the new disks in RAID 1 and proceeded to restore my backup....WTF i had a bazillion 4.9gb files on my drive.  Now you're probably thinking "What a DICK it is formatted as FAT32"....WRONG!!! its formatted as NTFS which confused me to being with.  After a quick search on google.com i came across this forum post which explains why i have heaps of 4.9gb files and not 1 500Gb file.

Long story short LBD formatted as NTFS with a block size of 4096 means that StorageCraft will need an extra tick box or else it will create multiple 4.9gb files.

-Fr33ze

Renewing an Expired SBS 2003 SSL Certificate

Most of you have probably already renewed your certificates as they started to expire in 2008.

Its a simple procedure it involves running the "Connect to the Internet" wizard in server configuration.

To renew an sbs2003 Certificate:

1. Click Start, and then click Server Management. In the console tree, click Internet and E-mail. In the details pane, click Connect to the Internet.
2. On the Connection Type page, select Do not change connection type, and then click Next.
3. On the Firewall page, select Do not change firewall configuration, and then click Next.
4. On the Services Configuration page, ensure that the appropriate network services are selected, and then click Next.
5. On the Web Services Configuration page, ensure that the appropriate Web services are selected, and then click Next.
6. On the Web Server Certificate page, select Create a new Web server certificate, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of your server (for example: server.contoso.com), and then click Next.
7. On the Internet E-mail page, select Do not change Internet e-mail configuration, and then click Next.
8. On the Completing the Configure E-mail and Internet Connection Wizard page, click Finish.

Now this is all good if it succeeds.

If you get an Error on the FIREWALL configuration stage click OK to continue, now you will need to restart the server to be able to restart the HTTP SSL Service which when you try to start it an error occurs stating Error 2: the File cannot be found.

After restarting our server this error disappeard and we had a new SSL certificate for another 5 years.

-Fr33ze

Exchange and IIS - Why these two should be sent in either direction.

So i had an issue with Mail not senging out after i removed an ISA server from the network.  Oh, i thought to myself i havent removed the SMARTHOST from the SMTP Connector.  Sure enough they it was...so removed it and selected DNS to send email.

Waited.....and waited.....and waited....and...... well the email was still not sending...GRRRRRRR

Checked all avenues the email wasnt even trying to send through the new firewall it didnt even know it existed yet there was alot of traffic hitting the firewall but none of it SMTP.   hmmmmm

I increase the Diganostic logging level on the MSExchangeTransport and found that my email server was still trying to send to the SMARTHOST, but WTF the smarthost is nowhere to be found in the system....or IS IT!!!!.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a problem with Exchange updating the IIS Metabase.

Using the Matabase Explorer found in the IIS 6.0 Resrouce Kit i was able to find the the SMTPSVC/1/DOMAIN had a few references in it that included the Default SMTP * also domains that were hosted by the Exchange server AND the bloody SMARTHOST was still listed in here.



Checking the data of the SMARTHOST entry i noticed that the routeaction value of the * domain was 2 and the routeaction of the SMARTHOST was 0, changing the SMARTHOST to 2 amd changing the * to 0 and deleting the content to the routeactionstring from the * domain freed the email to be sent over the internet rather than to a smarthost.

Although this is just a workaround the REAL problem lies with Exchange not able to update the metabase, stay turned i hope to have an answer for this soon.  If not Uninstall IIS reinstall IIS and the reinstall exchange.....OHDEAR!

-Fr33ze

NETBIOS NT 4.0 requires that you are still around.

So had another issue with a system that had a few NT 4.0 workstations and some Photocopiers that used SMB to scan files to the server.  One day it was working the next it wasn't.  So to my amazment (not) i discovered that someone HAD to have been playign around because this resolution to this wasnt as far out as you might expect.

NT 4.0 workstaions couldnt get onto the domain abut they could PING the domain controllers but they couldnt browse the file contents.  But for some strange reason they could browse files on other servers just not the DC.  The photocopiers used SMB to copy files to the server and that wasn't working.

I thought well since these 2 things (NT4 andSMB) where old technology there must be something OLD missing from the DC.

They NEVER had WINS installed on the DC so it cant be that.......OH LOOK HERE in the advanced section of the TCP/IP properties of the network card, under the WINS tab NETBIOS had been turned off once i turned it on again shit started to work.

Now if you have older systems like these i would suggest turning on WINS or if you have older systems that are on a WAN or seperated by a router turn WINS on.

Antoher crisis averted.

-Fr33ze

Exchange ActiveSync 0x85010014 and OWA Loading.... Screen

This problem has me going for HOURS!!!!! fucking Arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

After my upgrade of disks in an array to larger ones there was an issue that i noticed but though it was because the exchange databases were offline so i thought nothing of it.  Tunrs out that somewhere down the track someone had made a change which caused Activesync and OWA to stop functioning or to give strange messages.

Turns out that someone had changed the security on the EXCHANGE Virtual directory to BASIC only after changing it to include intergrated security it worked fine. 

What confused me was the client didnt explain that there was an issue with OWA aswell as ActiveSync so focusing on ActiveSync only caused me more problems it also didnt help that the event log had no leads to point to the issue.

Let me just state that if Exchange is working and you are only having Sync issues and the OWA Loading... page issue then it is purly IIS related and most likey directory security related.

Do not think that you need to reinstall exchagne or IIS or even delete the Virtual directories and recreate them, just think Directory Security.

If that fails then Google is your friend.

-Fr33ze

User Profile error Event ID 1508 on Terminal Server

I had an issue where a user profile would always be in use and the user could not login to the terminal server.  I used this program called User Profile Hive Cleanup Service.

This program clears any in use user profile and allows the user to login successfully.  This is also helpful because most times you would be required to restart the server to free the profile, this one prevents this.

-Fr33ze

Replacing Disks in a RAID Array with bigger ones

I must admit this one concerned me abit because i KNEW i would have to rely on a backup to get the data back on these disks.  What was more was this array had Exchange Databases on there zzZZzz.

So a client requires us to install larger disks into an array, now the current setup is a RAID 5 array with 5 146Gb disks, we need to replace those 146 Gb Disks with 300Gb disks.

The thing is, is we have to remove the current disks and array and create a new one, practically deleting the disk from the system.  The GOOD thing is with HP these days is that a copy of the RAID Array information is kept on the disks so you can remove it from the Controller and if in the event that something goes sideways you can reinstall the disks IN THE SAME ORDER THEY CAME OUT and get that array backup and running.  So when removing diskd from and array keep them in the order that they came out of the cage if you dont you will lose the array configuration.

So i started my job by doing my OWN backup using Shadow Protect i also knew that the client was doing a backup of the system using ARC SERVE to tape.  This server had 2 Arrays one mirrored set for the OS and a RAID 5 for the data (the RAID 5 is the one we are updating).  I backup up the ENTIRE SERVER so if in the event somethign REALLY when sideways i knew that ShadowProtect would be able to recover from it within minutes (depending on the size of the backups).

So after i had performed a backup and the client had comfirmed that their backup was successful i turned of the server and removed the 5 disks that were part of the RAID 5 array.  I installed the new disks into the server and turned it on.

I got a message syaing the the OLD array was degraded and there were members missing, it asked if i would Press F1 to continue booting or F2 to accept the lost data now here i pressed F1 because i knew that the BIOS was going to ask me to enter setup by pressing F8 so PRESS F8.

In the Array BIOS setup screen i selected CREATE ARRAY except there were no disks available, this was an oversight as the OLD array that we had removed was still in the controller, we will need to delete this array, select DELETE ARRAY and delete the array that you removed.  Once this is done you will select CREATE ARRAY and be able to select the NEW disks to create the NEW array.

I created a RAID 5 array using all the disks.

After this was created i exited the setup and let the OS boot.  Everything was going good so far, after it booted into the OS i logged in and created the Volume in Computer Management (Server 2003) i gave the Volume the SAME label and drive letter as the old one.

Next was to restore the data so to the clients tape backup we restored the data back to the drive, now depending on how much data ther is this may take some time.

After about 3 hours the data was restored, the first thing i noticed was that the shares hadn't been recreated DONT RECREATE THEM reboot the server as the shares are still in the OS they just havent been applied because you booted the server without any data on the drive that you replaced.  Rebooting the server will put the shares back.  Next thing i noticed was the client didnt backup the Exchange Databases as FILES which can be a GOOD and BAD thing.  Good because we had to do an ONLINE resotre using the ARCSERVE exchange agent BAD bacuse if that AGENT ahdnt worked in other circumstances they would have lost their exchange data (perhaps, but i had 2 other methods of recovering echange BACKUPS PEOPLE BACKUPS!!!!!!!) So after finding last nights tape and begining a restore from ARCSERVE the backup was failing Eeeeeeeek.  But yet again it was an OVERSIGHT on my part as i had turned the Information Store Service off, for and ONLINE backup you need to have the Information store service running.  Dont worry this service will run even if there is NO database file on the server WOOHOO!!!.

ARCSERVE had some funny agent options that you will have to bypass firstly it will try and restore it to a recovery store area, UNITCK THIS as we need to recover the prodction database also there are options in the agent to mark the databases to be able to be restored and dismount and remount the sotre after backup TICK THESE.

After the backup had run it replayed all the logs and all email was restored.

There are other methods to replacing disks but i think this is the ONLY SAFE WAY!, i cant stress the BACKUPS are the MOST important thing when working with servers and data, make it priority to backup everyday and backup EVERYTHING!!! when backing up exchange backup both the Files aswell as the Information Store using the appropriate agent.

GOOD LUCK replacing your disks with large ones.

P.s Initial Planning of disk storage over 5 years is the best method of maintenace you could ever do, plan it before you install it.

-Fr33ze

The OverHeating Laptop

We had an HP laptop come into work and it was overheating bad and swtiching off.  So after some testing i found that it was reaching 90 degrees Celcius and then switching off to cool down.

I removed the Keyboard and button plate and then checked the system again to see if the fan was working.

1. The Fan was working fine.

When the fan turns on it cools the Copper heatsink which in turn cools to processor, when touching the heat sink close to the fan it was cool and touching the heat sink close to the processor was Fucking HOT!. 

I removed the Fan and the heat sink then removed the processor i cleaned the transfer paste off both the processor and the heatsink then applied more and refit the Processor, heatsink and fan.  Started the laptop up and performed a CPU burnin using CPU BUNRIN and waited for it to overheat or to stay at a reasonable temperature.

I was able to view the CPU temperature using a program called CPUID this showed me that my efforts were fruitless and the CPU was still overheating.

Luckly this laptop was under warranty.  So i ordered and Mainboard, a processor and a new heatsink.

When these parts arrived i decided to try the easy parts first so i removed the old heatsink and processor and installed the new ones.  BINGO!!! this fixed my issue.

It seems that the CPU may have been overheating and unable to cool properly but replacing the heatsink i think was also a sure thing as i wasnt sure whether the old heatsink may have been warped or bent in some way prventing proper cooling of the CPU.

A least if the laptop hadn't have been under warranty it wouldnt have cost me the world for a new mainboard.

So if your laptop or even your PC is overheating:

1. Remove clean and replace your heatsink using new heat transfer paste
2. Replace the heatsink
3. Replace the CPU
4. Pray it aint anything else or its gonna start costing some.

Use SPUID to check your runnign temps my i7 is running at 65 degrees Celcius ATM.

-Fr33ze

IdeaPOS and the Hidden Pending Sale

So IdeaPOS client rings up and says that they can't do an end of shift because a message pops up and says "You can't perform and end of shift when there is a pending sale".  So onto the back office machine i go and do a pending sales report, sure enough there is a pending sale.

I go back to one of the tills and hit the pending sales button, but .... Nothing.... i also look at the table map and all the bar tabs, but nothing.

This confused me so what i had to do was click on Setup, Yes/No Options and click Misc.  Option 20 - Prevent end of shift when there is a pending sale.

Now this is ONLY temporary because if there is an on going issue with sales then it needs to be addresses.  Also if you have a multi laned site then you should be using the POS Server which keeps all the tables and pending sales centralised so that if there is a change on a table all other lanes know about it.  Also if the POS Server is unavilable then you cant use tables feature until you change the POS Server location.

So after contact with IdealPOS they said for me to check to Table Summary button, what drew them to this conclusion was that when i did a pending sale report to totals were displaying as if they were oweing.

The next day i revisted the site only to find that the pending sale had gone, so unfortunatly it had fixed itself or someone had come across the pending sale and removed it.

So these places here are where to check to find a pending sale:

1. Pending Sale Button
2. Tables
3. Bar Tabs
4. Table Summary Button on table map

There is also away to remove pending sales by deleting it from the clear data section of the utilities menu item.  Tick the box and then overwrite the other databases.

Before you do any work on a site do a BACKUP so that you can recover from anythign that may go sideways.

-Fr33ze

Expanding Arrays and Logical Drives in HP ML/DL servers using Array Management Utility

So i have to expand a 0+1 array with new disks, i have 6 disks already in there totaling about 410Gb, i need to add 2 new 146Gb disks.

Step 1

BACKUP!!!!!!!

Even the easiest jobs can go wrong sometimes.

Step 2

Install the 2 new disks into the free slots of the 8 slot drive bay (Comes with the ML350).

Step 3

Open up the Array Configuration Utility located HP Management tools in the start menu.

Step 4

Select the Array Card and the array that you are Expanding, in here you should notice the you will see the arrays that you have configured aswell as Free Space which is the total of the new disks you have.

Highlight the array you want to expand the Click on Expand Array.  This will give you a wizard, Click Begin.  From the next screen you will be asked to select the drives to add to the array, in my case i had matching 146Gb drives which after the expansion i would have 8 146Gb drives in a 0+1 Array.  So select the disks that you want to add to the array and Click NEXT.  Click Finish to Save the changes.  The controller now reconfigures the array so that it is using all the new disks.

Keep in mind that the system was up and runnign during this expansion but it was done out of hours so there was no need for me to shut the system down.

This process took me 4.5 - 5 hours to complete, so go home and wait till later.  I was able to remote in a check the systems progress.

Step 5

After you have expanded the array not much seems to change, that because you havent done anything with the free space we now need to Extending the Logical Drive.

Click on Extend Logical Drive, and click the drive you want to extend, next select the new size of the drive the is being extended and click finish to save changes.

This part didnt take very long i dont think, but its still got a counted and progress bar so keep an eye on it.

Step 6

After that process has finished we have finished using the Array Configuration Utility so we can close that.  Next thing is to Extend the Volume within windows.

Right mouse click on "computer" and click on Manage now depending on yr operating system you will need to find Disk Management.  Find the drive the you have expanded and extend in the HPACU and right click on the partition and select Extend Volume.

One thing to make note of is that windows wont allow you to extend a system volume so if you have done this to a system volume then you will need to image that drive extend it outside of windows and then reimage the drive, unless someone has a better idea?  I would LOVE to hear it because i hate exteneding system partitions, i like shit thats easy.

haha FYI heres the HP ACU User Manual

-Fr33ze