Heading to Vegas!

On the U.S. side of the airport there is no Tims. :(

This morning was such a rush getting things together before leaving that I did not have a chance to stop and pick up a morning coffee!

Check the right hand column of the blog or our Web site for links to the various events I will be attending.

Have questions on SBS 2003 to 2008 migrations? Then the SMB Nation conference would be a great place to ask them!

For those that are attending both events, or either one, I will see you there! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

A Really Bizarre Question?

One time or another, we see folks post screenshots of pop-up messages that seem to have no meaning or questions that puzzle us more than anything.

While working on a client’s Lenovo T500, this question popped up during a post reboot logon sequence:

Rescue and Recovery

?

Needless to say, the answer was a resounding, “NO”!

That pop-up only appeared the one time and has not been seen since. ;)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SQL 2008 Setup and SAP + .NET No Goes

As part of the migration we did last weekend we needed to set up a SQL backend for both SAP and a .NET based application. The .NET app tied their proprietary data as well as SAP data together for a domain user app along with a Web client facing data publishing page.

Essentially their users manage the data in SAP as well as the client stuff found in another database all together with their clients having Web based access to their own data.

So, we discovered a number of important things along the way.

+ SAP will not work if the SAP database resides in SQL 2008. At least the version we were working with which was very recent. ODBC errors happened when trying to connect. When we nuked SQL 2008 and put 2005 on the server and attached the databases in SQL 2005 SAP was happy.

+ The .NET application had some internal structures that refused to run due to the SQL 2008 version. SQL 2005 fixed those errors too.

We placed a copy of the original databases in the appropriate directories before attaching them in SQL 2008. So, after switching to SQL 2005 we were no further behind.

By the way, SQL 2005 would not allow us to attach the databases that were touched by SQL 2008. We always try and work with copies of the original data for situations just like this.

When it came to getting the .NET app, resident on another server, to communicate with SQL, the following port exclusions in the SQL server's Windows Firewall with Advanced Security were needed:
+ The port the SQL instance was on (default is 1433).
+ The SQL Browser port at UDP 1434.

Once we had things straightened out with the SQL version, ports needed, and the user permissions setup within the databases we were good to go.

All servers were running Server 2008 Standard x64 SP2.

Philip

Sent from my SBS Integrated Windows Mobile® phone.
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SBS 2003: Recovering Deleted Items in a Public Folder

Short of using ShadowProtect to do a full database restore and utilizing a Recovery Storage Group, there is a little utility that can helps us recover items deleted out of a Public Folder.

But first, we need to verify that deleted items are kept in the first place:

Keep deleted items for (days): 21 

Once we have verified that there are going to be deleted items waiting for us, we need to go here:

• How to recover deleted public folders or items that are deleted from public folders by using the PFDAVAdmin tool in Exchange 2000 Server or in Exchange Server 2003

Download, extract, and run the tool. Follow the instructions to log in to the Public Folders. We used the domain admin account.

Then, make sure to change the radio button to Deleted Contents.

Then prepare to wait, and wait, and wait. :) The program may seemingly become non-responsive. Do not close it and try again.

It will eventually come up with the deleted items. Highlight the needed ones and then right click and Recover Items.

We know that there will be one relieved person looking at their Public Folders based calendar in the morning.

BTW, this may be one more reason a SharePoint setup would be a better place to have all of the calendars. The Recycle Bin setup would have made this all moot.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 to 2008 Migration Guide v1.4.0 Released

There have been a lot of additions, tweaks, and refinement in our Migration Guide:

• SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 Migration Guide

We are still working towards running an SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration process live via LiveMeeting.

As soon as time permits we will be making some announcements and setting a date!

Thanks for reading!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2008 and 16 Cores?!?

Well, maybe not:

The above screenshot is from a new HP ML350 G6 with a pair of Xeon E5520 2.26GHz CPUs installed. The new Xeon 5500 series CPUs support HyperThreading (HT).

The server configuration is rounded out with 8GB of ECC RAM and a 292GB RAID 10 array (4x 146GB 15K SAS2 6Gps drives) plus a hot spare.

While the new box is pretty snappy in its all-round performance though it still takes a while for the shutdown sequence to process.

At some point we hope to figure out if we can script a service shutdown sequence to speed things up.

But, for now, this particular box will do quite well for SBS 2008 and a client of this size running Web facing Line of Business applications on the Premium based second server.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

HP iLO 2 Remote KVM Console Licensing Gotcha

Our primary server product line for our local clients is for the most part Intel branded servers that we build.

For our remote clients we have had a good experience with Dell servers and their server products . . . for the most part.

The migration being done this weekend is for a new client that already has an existing HP ML350 G5 that has SBS 2003 Premium R2 on it and a new HP ML350 G6 that we are installing SBS 2008 onto in Migration Mode.

Now, when it comes to the add-in remote management modules in the Intel (RMM2 or RMM3) and Dell (DRAC 5) the Java driven remote KVM console feature is built-in and enabled out of the box. All we need to do is configure the network setup, security settings, and the users to access the module.

This is what we discovered when we enabled the iLO2 on the ML350 G5 that has the existing SBS 2003 OS on:

And, in the iLO2 console itself:

iLO 2 Feature Not Licensed

Activate this iLO 2 feature by installing an optional license key.

Then, we look around for a bit more information and we find:

iLO 2 License Activation

Licensing iLO 2 Advanced enables true [emphasis ours] Lights-Out Management by enabling many features . . .

. . . that include the virtual KVM console.

Now, given our experience with the Intel Remote Management Module (RMM) and Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC), having the virtual KVM disabled out of the box was not considered as a possibility. If it is in the box, its features should be available . . . at least that was our assumption.

We now need to pick up a couple of the iLO Advanced licenses to enable functionality that we figured should have been enabled out of the box. After all, what is the point of installing the iLO 2 setup if it is not going to be used?

• HP iLO Site

The additional cost?

The cost is on par with the Intel and Dell parts when looking at them as options to the overall server configuration. The gotcha is the need to understand that just because the HP server has the iLO hardware installed does not mean that its features are available out of the box.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2003 Error: A Connection Cannot Be Made To The DNS WMI Provider In MS IT Environment Health Scanner

We are in the process of migrating a fairly complex SBS 2003 Premium R2 multi-server environment to SBS 2008 Premium leaving an existing Server 2008 Standard x86 TS box running in RemoteApp mode.

One of the errors we ran into via the Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner  while working on the Source SBS 2003 server was the following:

A connection cannot be made to the DNS WMI provider with a scope of \\sbs.sbsdomain.local\Root\MicrosoftDNS and a path of MicrosoftDNS_Server. Ensure that a DNS WMI provider has been installed.

A search on the error turned up the following:

• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (EBS) – Stages of Deployment and Deployment Timeline

In the above EBS blog post was this:

• Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Preparation Tool fails with DNS WMI Provider error

The link in this article takes us to:

• MSDN: Installing the Provider

Since the above article indicates that the DNS WMI provider was supposed to have been installed by default on Windows Server 2003, the Windows 2000 portion of the article contained a clue to the fix:

We ran the following at the command prompt as shown above:

•  regsvr32 dnsprov.dll [Enter]

After saving the above Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner results we reran the scanner and received:

No more DNS WMI error.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

A UPS Is A Necessity

You know you have bad power when:

In the last twelve weeks we have had 13 blackouts and one undervoltage event in that time period.

One of those blackouts was during a fairly crazy storm that jumped on us as we were coming back into St. Albert from Edmonton on St. Albert Trail one Sunday evening.

The lightning strike was absolutely spectacular and the explosion that followed it was just as spectacular and we practically had front row seats! Then almost every single light on the South end of St. Albert went out including the traffic lights.

Some folks did not know how to approach the huge intersection we were approaching just after that event. Six lanes in one direction and four in the other was one big intersection to run as a four way stop in the pitch black and a heavy downpour.

A number of our local clients were impacted by the blackout including the one whose UPS software above.

Our shop was fortunately tied to another substation so we did not lose power there.

All it takes is one spontaneous shutdown of the server due to a power outage or even a hardware failure to completely toast Active Directory, Exchange, SQL, database Line of Business applications, and other components on the SBS server or Windows Servers.

A UPS, we use APC, is a necessity for any server setup. The UPS needs to have sufficient run time to allow all SBS related services to shutdown properly along with the SBS OS.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Credit Card Agreement Changes – TWO On-Time Statement Periods Required Before Interest Free!

Okay, so we are guilty of not reading the new agreement that came out in the early spring from our credit card (CC) suppliers.

We have been so busy lately that a CC payment was missed by a couple of days.

So, when checking the transactions and balance on the card the interest debit was there and it was nowhere near the expected amount.

Apparently, if we took time to read the new agreement, the CC companies (that is VISA, MasterCard, and others) mandated that if an on-time payment was missed interest was calculated on all transactions, all transactions, from the beginning of the grace period to the date the interest debit was posted.

Now, if we make our next payment on-time, we will still have an interest payment appear on our next statement despite the fact that we paid off the balance. That interest will span the previous statement period and the current statement period as we understand the explanation.

Essentially, under the new terms our interest payment was what we were expecting plus 63% of the dollar amount due on the missed statement!

Lesson #1 learned: Read and try and understand the Terms & Conditions!

Lesson #2 learned: Pay off those credit cards on-time.

For high transaction volume cards like this one, that 63% represents a pretty steep step up for the CC company’s profit margins.

Looks like this is the methodology being used to recoup some of the new 1%, 2%, or higher “payback” type credit cards hitting the market as merchants have been very resistant to giving the CC companies and further slices of their pie.

In the end, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it and it always ends up being the end user/consumer.

• Royal Bank VISA Agreement (T&Cs)

Quote:

Interest

When you or your Authorized Users use your Visa Card or your Visa Account number to make a purchase, we are loaning you the amount of the purchase. You can avoid interest on both purchases and fees by always paying the New Balance in full on or before the Payment Due Date every month. Your New Balance is shown on your Visa Statement and is made up of all purchases, cash advances, interest and fees incurred up to the Visa Statement period end date.

If you do not pay your New Balance in full on or before the Payment Due Date shown on your Visa Statement, you will lose your interest-free status for purchases and fees. In such event, you must then pay interest on all purchases and fees shown on that month's Visa Statement as well as interest on all new purchases and new fees. Interest is calculated from the transaction date (for fees this is the date the fee is posted to the Visa Account) until the day we process your payment for the total amount you owe.

To regain interest-free status on your purchases and fees, you must pay your New Balance by the Payment Due Date. Interest on previously billed purchases and fees which has accrued since the end of the last Visa Statement period to the date payment in full of the New Balance is received, will appear on your next month's Visa Statement.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Memory Distributor Mobel Gone – Considerations For the Future

We have done business off and on with Mobel Electronics based out of Quebec for as long as I have been in this industry.

We found out that they are no longer in business:

Note the last update of the site was this Spring. The site is still there but the phone numbers are disconnected.

There are any number of reasons why the companies we have seen go belly up over the last year or so.

The economy may definitely play a part in their demise, but there are other factors for those of us that provide I.T. related products and services to keep in mind.

One factor is the oncoming Cloud push and all of the logistics of saddling client’s data up there.

Getting to know the various Cloud vendors and their offerings and how those offerings can augment the solutions we provide our clients is critical to the longevity of our I.T. business.

For big enterprise, cutting wholesale the various internal I.T. departments to outsourcing business needs like e-mail, SharePoint, and other related services is an almost no-brainer.

At this point, and perhaps this is premature, we see that the SMB I.T. solutions will probably incorporate a blend of Cloud and in-house solutions for the near future due to specific Line of Business application needs.

Another factor in all of this is the ability to get beyond sitting there waiting for the phone to ring. For consumers of I.T. technologies, which most SMB companies are, the information for getting their company connected, accessible via the Internet, and some sort of mobile phone access will be acquired via search results.

Getting our name out there and in those search results can be done in any number of ways, but keeping a commitment to those methods and working hard at it is key to their success . . . much like the efforts we need to put into keeping our business growing.

This blog, for example, only started yielding business requests after being around almost 2 years!

No effort = no success.

A final factor to consider is partnerships. What companies are we going to partner up with to provide our clients with the best possible solutions for their business needs?

These partners may include hardware and software manufacturers, distribution channels for the hardware and software products we purchase, frontline tier 1 product manufacturers, and Cloud vendors.

The companies we team with will directly reflect the skill set we provide to our clients. If we limit our partnerships to only a few vendors that make it fairly easy to get to know their products and services, then we may end up in a lot of trouble.

Learning any new product offering is critical to our success going forward. The deeper the Cloud reaches into the traditional SMB company the more our knowledge and skill set will be the key to growing our I.T. services company.

And one more thought: The deeper the Cloud reaches into the traditional SMB company, the harder Managed Services providers will be hit.

Monthly revenues will need to come from another source.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

QuickBooks 2008 MC, XP Pro, and IE8 Error – Security Levels Too High

We just released IE8 on a network for the XP Pro client machines.

They are being used for QuickBooks 2008 Multi-Currency since a new set of Windows 7 Pro VMs have not been set up for this client yet.

This is the message from QuickBooks after the update:

 Internet Security Levels Are Set Too High

The security for Microsoft Internet Explorer has been set higher than the default levels. To use all features provided by QuickBooks, you must reduce the security levels for the “Internet” zone.

We click the Fix button and we get the Internet Properties’ Security tab:

Note the custom settings. The users on these machines are set up in a rather restricted way with the OS security settings tweaked a bit to accommodate QuickBooks 2008’s legacy code structure (Non-multicurrency is the product based on Intuit’s new codebase).

After clicking the Default Level button then Apply and OK, we were greeted with:

Now, the instinct is to close the program and start again. But, in this case we left QuickBooks alone as it thrashed through the system and we were eventually greeted with the company file’s logon page.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel Technical Solutions Training For Server Registration Open

This one fills up fast!

• Intel Channel Conference and Technical Solutions Training Registration

Note that the TST is open to Associate and Premiere partner level organizations.

This year’s TST build for $499US is:

• Intel Xeon processor X3450
• Intel Server Board S3420GPLC
• Intel SC5650UP Chassis
• 4GB DDR3
• 22x DVDRW Optical
• 250GB WD SATA

The build configuration has changed a bit from when it was first advertised. All in all, there is good value in the time spent putting the system together with the ability to talk to fellow I.T. professionals as well as Intel technicians.

The morning Intel Channel Conference session will be spend some time on Intel’s new Solid-state Drive solutions as well as some introduction to Windows Server 2008 R2:

We have always come away with a lot of good information on Intel’s product roadmaps that are important to know as every change in the technology impacts the way we support our clients.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

We Have A New WWW Site!

Well, in an almost kinda sorta way. :)

• www.mpecsinc.ca

The default SharePoint site is hosted by OWN, and we will be adding content as we go along.

One thing that we will try and keep up to date is the calendar of events that I plan on attending throughout the year.

From there, we have some ideas as to how to develop the site further along, but we have nothing concrete as of yet.

Thanks for reading!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Office 2010 TP – Remote Document In SharePoint Fails To Open

A while back, we posted about the ability to Favourite a SharePoint library in Windows 7 and how that virtually eliminates the need for a VPN for most user needs.

• With Windows 7 and SharePoint, Who Needs A VPN? And … It Network Drive Maps!

So, we have our General Documents library in our Companyweb (SBS 2003 WSS v2):

Once we click on the RWW – GD favourite we will be prompted for our network credentials:

Once our Windows Explorer window opens we will see the following in the address bar:

Double click on a Word or Excel document in the library and another prompt will come up identical to the one above. Once authenticated, we would expect the document to open. But instead, this is what we see:

A blank document. No amount of coaxing will get the remotely located document to open in Word. It needs to be copied to the local desktop to be worked on then copied back into the library.

We had installed Office 2010 TP on both the shop laptop and the Netbook as well as one of the shop PCs. But, for now this is a show stopper for the laptop and the Netbook.

Office 2010 will remain installed only on machines that are accessing documents on the local network.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

What Is Our Job?

For those of us putting together local, cloud, or blended solutions for our clients that question is pretty easy to answer:

• To make our clients make money.

“Okay Philip”, you say, “but how is that?”

There is a lot of talk about “Sell . . . sell . . . sell” in our business. There is a lot of belly gazing going on.

But, that does not wash with the business owner that has their hand tightly clenched to every penny.

The business owner does understand that we also need to make money. But, that is not the point.

When we talk to the business owner, we need to talk to them about how the solution we are going to provide them will make them money.

Have a look at most SMB/SME companies and we will find that most of them average a gross revenue of about $100/Hr per employee.

So, if we can demonstrate how our solution is going to save their employee’s 5, 10, 15, or even 60 minutes a week, that adds up very quickly.

They will see that the cost of the solution is minimal next to the productivity, and thus net revenue, they will make when the solution has been implemented. They will even see those monthly support costs in light of the net revenues too.

The GeekSpeak conversation (probably be pretty one sided with a set of Doe’s eyes on the business owner almost guaranteed) will die in its tracks.

Talk to the business owner about the dollars and cents they will save with a simple feature like Windows 7 tied into SharePoint (previous blog post) and the solution is pretty much won.

A good thing to hear from a client:

Philip, you guys do such awesome work for us because we never see you!

Have a great weekend! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Outlook 2010 – Search Is Broken?

We just set up a new workstation with Office 2010 Professional Technical Preview installed on it.

The workstation is SBS 2003 integrated with Windows Vista Business SP2 as the base operating system.

This is what Outlook 2010 looks like when it fires up for the first time on a system with a rather large mailbox:

Be prepared to wait for that little window to run through all of the folders in Outlook before Outlook itself will open.

Now, once everything was installed, activated, and happy we left the workstation alone overnight to allow the Windows Indexing service the time it needs to cache all of that stuff.

The next morning, this is what we found:

We put in the name of one of our clients looking for a specific e-mail. And, we get:

Outlook Search

No matches found for “scott”.

Now, there should be lots of items found since we have no less that three client contacts that share that name as either their first or last name!

Manually sort our e-mail folder by name and we find:

Okay, so something is not hooking up in the search service.

When we look at the status of the Indexing service we see:

There are over 75,000 items seemingly indexed! That sure does not jibe with what is happening in Outlook though.

What we need to do is to reset the Index service so that whatever missing Outlook content gets re-indexed.

In Windows Vista or Windows 7 click Start –> Index [Enter].

Click the Advanced button and through the UAC.

Click the Restore Defaults button:

A warning will pop up:

Take note of any custom index locations in the initial Index service window as they will need to be added back after the reboot.

Click OK and reboot the system. After a couple of hours the Index service should have some positive results. It did in our case. 

UPDATE 2011-08-03: The proper procedure is:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. ALT --> Folder Options 
3. Search Tab
4. Restore Defaults
5. Reboot

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Why We Use ExchangeDefender

A while back we had a client that had booked a series of flights online.

A few minutes later, an e-mail with an attachment happened to arrive in his inbox with the airline’s “itinerary”. Without even thinking about it he opened the e-mail and the attachment and that was the point of no return.

The A/V, Trend, did not stop it.

So, we ended up in a bad situation that got worse when we discovered that the local laptop backups were not being done.

We had tried the cloud A/V and spam filtering that Trend had but we ended up having way too much grief with their service.

In comes Own Web Now’s ExchangeDefender.

The analogy we use when explaining why we prefer having the filtering done in the cloud before e-mail enters the corporate network works quite well.

The Anti-Virus program is like a 6’6” 275Lb bouncer that sits close to the front door. They can move about the place with relative ease and have access to all entry points in the place.

For the most part, the bouncer – name him/her whatever – catches any baddies that try to get in through the doors or the windows.

But, every once in a while a slim and short baddie does get by the bouncer because baddie is just too quick and new.

It then takes a bit of training for the bouncer to pick up on the new baddie and squash them at the point of entry. That delay can cause a big problem if the biddies' siblings happen to try and get in too.

With that imagery in mind, we can explain how Vlad’s service is set up to do just that long before the baddie even reaches the door. They get squashed out on the street! ;)

And, because the service is dedicated to this task alone, the filtering that is done will be that much better than anything the Anti-Virus vendors can do in real-time.

This morning, this was in an Inbox:

The file was culled before it reached the corporate network. A file culled out there is a file not clicked on by a user. Leaving that file to some form of Exchange based filtering or the endpoint workstation is a dangerous game we are no longer willing to play.

Given the fact that the cost of the ExchangeDefender service is very minimal relative to the level of services received it is not a difficult sell. We also include the ExchangeDefender service in our Hybrid Managed Services plans to add value to them too.

And, once our clients are onboard with our services and ExchangeDefender they do notice a big difference in the amount of time they no longer spend processing all of the junk e-mail.

Being a partner with Own Web Now is an important part of our business model (previous blog post). As we build up our client’s usage of the OWN services, the more confident we are going forward.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Only A Couple Of Weeks To The Vegas Events!

I am getting pretty excited about my visit to Las Vegas to attend the Zero Downtime Migration Deep Dive Seminar on October 1, and then the SMB Nation 2009 Fall Conference from October second through the 4th.

If you plan on being there, I hope we can meet and chat!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Third Tier Webinar with Susan Bradley on Patching Tomorrow

Third Tier offers Webinars on various subjects as part of their ongoing commitment to the SBS/SMB community.

Tomorrow, Susan Bradley the SBS Diva will be speaking on WSUS and patch management and all that entails.

•  Third Tier with Susan Bradley LiveMeeting Link
• Outlook Calendar item for the event.

The Third Tier post: Third Thursday with special guest Susan Bradley.

Susan provided some awesome feedback and encouragement back in the early days of this blog. To this day, I can still remember the first time I saw her site’s referral link and my following back to her blog post and the really big smile that hit my face.

Along with Susan, there were others that provided some key encouragement that really helped to get past those moments of discouragement when I thought that this blog was going nowhere.

Thanks Susan!

And thank you all that have supported us here by your comments, encouragement, and of course, thanks for reading! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Integration Notes

This is one tight chassis to work with:

When putting a system together based on this chassis there are some considerations to keep in mind:

• The 3.5” SATA drive is upside down under the optical drive taking up most of the available space there.
• The optical drive should be lined up with the bezel once the hard drive has been mounted. Once lined up, then tighten up the mounting screws.
• The included slimline optical drive mounting screws may be too long and interfere with the tray mechanism on some models of slimline drives.
• The bezel needs to be off before inserting the optical drive or something may get scratched on the drive or bezel.
• The PSU to motherboard power adapter cable is huge. The best routing for the adapter cable is right behind the optical drive.

The chassis itself provides some good ventilation holes on the top to allow that small fan just “above” the optical drive in the above shot to breath.

In the initial rush of getting things together for the Intel special order that included the AOpen chassis it was initially overlooked that we could not install a 2.5” 7200RPM drive as part of the system configuration.

Keep this in mind when it comes to creating a system specification. Power wise this is not a problem since the chassis comes with the 160Watt PSU that should be more than powerful enough to handle even a Western Digital Raptor drive.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Intel SSD Generational Shift – Performance/Part Number Ordering Considerations

While researching our purchase of Intel SSD drives, the plethora of part numbers for what seems to be the same product needed to be sorted out.

Here is the product grid from Intel’s Solid State Drive page (Intel Partner Site):

Now, SSD drive technology has been known to have issues out of the box with performance degradation over time:

• Long-term performance analysis of Intel Mainstream SSDs
• Excellent article explains a lot about SSDs, performance degradation, how to maintain performance, and more.
• Intel can't yet replicate published SSD performance drop
• The controversy continues.

Intel’s performance grid also from the Intel Reseller site:

It seems that the second generation 34nm products are showing themselves to be a vast improvement over the 50nm first generation products:

• AnandTech: The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD 

Okay, so how do we figure out what product is in which generation?

Let’s have a look at one of our supplier’s pricing grid:

Note that the pricing reflects what we see in the actual grid.

Now, the listing is essentially for the same product. An 80GB Intel X25-M SSD.

But, two things stand out in the grid:

• Obviously one version is less expensive than the other.
• The less expensive items have a product code of xxxxG2C1 or xxxxG2R5.

In the product part number, the G2 near the end of the part number indicates the generation, second or 34nm version, of the Solid-State Drive.

Keep this in mind when considering an order for Intel SSDs. The newer generation drives deal with the fragmentation issue and are less expensive.

The catch is, at this time we need to wait for at least a couple of weeks or more before the G2 product is available. That may be too long for those that require the products now.

We still see a lot of first generation, G1xx, product stock with our various suppliers, so some may be a bit leery of stocking the newer generation products at a lesser price.

Intel’s public product site:

• Intel® X25-M and X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives
• Solid-State Drives and Caching

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

The Verdict Is In: Eee PC and Windows 7 = ~7 Hours Of Battery Life

We posted earlier about loading Windows 7 on a new Asus Eee PC (previous blog post).

Last weekend there was some writing to do but I did not want to lug home the Tecra S10. It was used, on battery, for about a couple of hours in total on the weekend.

This morning we had an on-site to install four new workstations on our client’s SBS 2003 network. The Eee PC was not plugged in to charge up before the service call.

The on-site started at 0830Hrs (830AM) this morning and ended at 1330Hrs (130PM) this afternoon. The Eee PC finally gave up around 13:15Hrs which was about 15 minutes too soon! :)

All in all, the unit gave us about 7 hours of uninterrupted work time while on battery with an active wireless N (2Hrs) and a cellular modem (5Hrs).

Note that the Eee PC 1000HE comes with an 8700mAh (62Wh) battery versus the smaller 6500mAh batter in other Eee PCs. Bigger cells means a longer on-battery life.

The unit was plugged in when we got back to the shop and took about three or so hours to charge fully while off.

Having the ability to run the unit on the battery while doing service calls is pretty critical in that some of the server closets we work in have no available sockets or are running their 15Amp circuit to the max already.

Having a laptop, or the Netbook, while working at a client site is truly a necessity. Having access to the Internet via cellular modem allows us to download drivers, do research on any problems we may be faced with, update our service requests, or any other mundane Internet related task that should not be done from a server . . . especially a client’s server.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Server 2008 R2 MMC – Windows Server Backup Error Not Compatible

Since we do not have our network migrated to SBS 2008 yet, we need to have a Server 2008 full install box on the network for some specific Server 2008 management needs such as configuring Volume Shadow Copies and Windows Backup on our many Server Core installations.

Both features cannot be managed from a desktop OS even with the RSAT installed.

For now, that means running a full version as a VM on one of our Hyper-V servers:

The partition scheme shown above was after clicking OK in the previous warning pop-up. We ended up with the 60GB primary that the OS was going into, the 15GB we left over for the swap file partition, and then the 100MB partition that Windows Server 2008 R2 setup created.

We have seen Windows 7 installations do the same (Bing Search). For now, we will leave it be.

Once installed, we will set up an MMC that contains the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, Computer, and Windows Server Backup snap-ins for each of the Server Core based servers we have.

Or so we thought . . .

Windows Server Backup (Server Name)

An internal error has occurred in the backup engine or the computer that you are connected to remotely is running a version of backup application that is not compatible with the version on your local computer. The local and remote computers must be running the same version of backup application for you to manage backups remotely.

Oops. So, we fired up a new VM and are installing Windows Server 2008 RTM. Once installed, we will service pack the VM up to SP2 and force WSUS updates to get things on the level with our Server Core installs. From there we will be able to manage them.

When we have a bit more time, we will migrate our VMs across our various Hyper-V servers so that we can begin updating them to Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core versions.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

UPS Battery Life = Monitor Or Possible Problems

One of our own UPS units, an APC SUA1500RM2U threw a battery alarm code not too long ago. We received the replacement battery set this week.

This is what we found when we eventually pried the existing battery set out of the unit:

Note the bloating in the battery housings. The battery without the label was the one that caused the most grief when prying the tray out of the APC UPS.

Some of the terminals on the batteries themselves were also showing some signs of frosting along with leakage.

The APC is hot swap capable, so we were able to swap out the batteries while the servers were still up and running. This particular unit is about 3 years old.

Ironically, while working in the server closet at a client’s site not too long ago, one of their SUA1500RM2U units threw a battery code as well.

So, today we will be heading down there to swap out both battery sets as they have two of the UPSs and both are somewhere around the same age of 3-4 years old.

Even with the UPS self-tests running every two weeks, the above battery condition did not show itself until something inside one of the batteries collapsed enough to cause a ground condition between the plates. Depending on the failure method, things could have been a lot worse when the batteries failed.

We will take to visually inspecting the batteries in these units on a yearly basis now.

We have seen the results of a spontaneous breakdown of a UPS’s internal components . . . along with the panicked phone calls about the noise and smoke that brings if it happens during business hours.

Fortunately none of the SUA1500RM2U units we have out there have ever done that. The units that we have seen combust were smaller pedestal style 350-1200VA units. We now tend to recycle them after 2-3 years instead of putting in a new battery.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

Windows 7 Ultimate x86 On An Eee PC with N280 Atom and 2GB RAM

Unfortunately the Asus Eee PC 1000HE is not x64 capable.

However, it was not a difficult decision to install Windows 7 on the new Asus Eee PC we picked up for shop duties, some of the longer forthcoming trips, as well as quick client trips.

Remember our experiences installing Windows 7 on the Toshiba Tecra S1? They were actually quite pleasantly surprising.

• Toshiba Tecra S1 laptop
• Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz
• Single Core
• 400MHz Front Side Bus
• 1MB Level 2 Cache
• 24.5 Watt Thermal Design Power (TDP)
• 1GB RAM

Now, let’s look at the Netbook:

• The Asus Eee PC
• Intel N280 Atom 1.66GHz
• Single Core with HyperThreading
• 667MHz Front Side Bus
• 512KB Level 2 Cache
• 2.5 Watt Thermal Design Power

Pound for pound, we are looking at 10% of the S1’s power consumption (TDP) and at least as good as, if not better, all around performance on the Eee PC. The major performance boost on the Eee PC will be the HyperThreading capability of the Intel Atom as well as the front side bus speed. The Pentium M is only a single core unfortunately.

That translates to about 2 hours of battery life on the stock battery with the Tecra S1 and at least ? hours for the Eee PC. The box and book says that it can run about 6 hours on the somewhat larger battery included with this model. We shall see.

Last night’s first battery only run after a full charge yielded about 2.5 hours on 33% battery consumption. So, the number may not be far off.

A nice feature of the Eee PC’s 945 chipset is that it supports Aero and all of the Aero goodness in Windows 7. Also, the x86 version of Windows 7 picked up all of the hardware components with the exception of the Asus proprietary button device. Windows 7 x86 also picked up all of the SBS 2003 delivered printer drivers and setup without a hiccup too.

The big difference between the full sized Tecra and the Eee PC is the screen. The Eee PC’s small screen may be good for odd jobs and the like, but other than typing out this blog post on it and the other odd jobs it will be tasked with, the smaller screen is definitely a liability . . . at least until we get use to it! ;)

The small keyboard will also be a bit of a task to get used to for big fingers and thumbs. We have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5 different keyboard styles around here including desktop keyboards and the various laptops and now Netbook. So, switching between them becomes a blend of touch typing with a bit of hunt & peck when the keyboard is not so familiar.

Finally, the touchpad leaves something to be desired. That goes without saying for any laptop. An external mouse such as the Logitech VX Revolution, or any wireless mouse, is a necessity for anyone that does not like touchpads. That is the case here.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

New Intel Uniprocessor Servers – 1U And Pedestal Get Awesome Enterprise Level Features For SMB!

Our number one complaint when it came to the SMB focused server systems, read uniprocessor,  we implement for our more local clients are the following missing features:

• Remote Management Module built-in.
• More than 8GB of ECC RAM.
• No plug-in I/O or LAN modules to save the one PCI-E slot in 1U form factor servers.

The biggest drawback was the lack of the remote management module. For the cost of the module to be included in a server we only needed one or two visits to our client’s site to pay for it.

We found an alternative in the StarTech IP KVMs and their PDU units that would allow us to manage the server remotely along with the ability to power cycle it if need be.

With the release of the new SR1630GP and SR1630HGP 1U servers as well as the Intel Server Board S3420GP for pedestal applications we now have access to the following options:

• Remote Management Module 3 in plug-in module format.
• SAS 4 port RAID plug-in module.
• 32GB of ECC Registered RAM supported.

Both the RMM3 and the SAS 4 port modules plug directly into the server board thus saving the PCI-E slot in a 1U configuration for something important such as a 2 or 4 port PCI-E Gigabit Server NIC for virtualization needs.

For the first time in immediate memory, we have a notation that the product line was developed with Small Business Server in mind. From the Intel Xeon Processor 3400 Series Product Brief (PDF File) on page 6:

For those of us that prefer to build our own servers based on the Intel name brand that also ties in the Intel Channel Partner Program, these new features are a huge step forward.

We are no longer at a disadvantage with the Tier 1 server builders that could offer the above features in their step up from entry level server systems.

We build our servers so that we can know them through and through. This product knowledge facilitates the troubleshooting process significantly. Another advantage is that we do not get caught between the hardware vendor and the software vendors blaming each other for a stability problem.

The new 1U SR1630HGP server systems will be perfect for small business virtualization needs. Since the new Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 now includes failover clustering and its free, we will be looking to basing our entry level clusters on these units.

Lots of neat things to come! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2008 BPA Error – EdgeTransport.exe process should listen on SMTP port 25.

We have started seeing some of our SBS 2008 sites come up with this interesting flag in the SBS 2008 Best Practices Analyzer:

SMTP Port (TCP 25) Status

The Edgetransport.exe process should listen on SMTP port 25, but that port is owned by the _ process.

Note that there is no name associated with whatever the supposed process is that is holding port 25.

When we did a Telnet test to the SMTP port 25 the ESMTP header showed up which indicated that Exchange was listening and happy.

It has been suggested that this error is due to the IP settings on the Receive Connectors listed in the Server Configuration node’s Hub Transport not being assigned to a specific value but instead to “All available”.

After going through each of the connectors we did indeed find the one we created for the copiers to relay e-mail via Exchange:

So, we changed the setting on the server to the server’s IP:

We then restarted the Exchange Transport service:

Then we reran the SBS 2008 BPA:

It seems that Exchange 2007 UR3 brings this situation about as the BPA has been somewhat happy on this server since we implemented it. So, the suggestion was indeed correct.

Thanks to Chris Puckett for that one.

We tend to run the SBS BPA after each round of updates just to make sure nothing was taken out of kilter by the updates. Also, running the BPA on a regular basis is a good idea so that it can update itself and thus catch anything else that may require attention.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac! (previous blog post)

Windows Live Writer