Intel’s New Server System SR1695GPRX 1U 1P 4 Hot Swap Drive

We just received a new Intel Server System SR1695GPRX 1U uni-processor system that has four hot swap SAS/SATA drive bays capable of handling both 3.5” and 2.5” drive sizes out of the box.

This new Intel Server platform is an excellent fit for the SMB space in that it offers the same enterprise class 1U server features as a dual processor unit but at a single processor price level.

This configuration has been on our wish list for _a long time_ now.

• 1U profile provides for lots of room in that 24U enclosure.
• Single processor leads to a lower cost point based.
• A single processor server board with extended RAM capabilities.
• 4 hot swap drive bays give us access to RAID 10 configurations.
• A full height PCI-E slot for a high performance RAID controller.
• Intel Remote Management Module 3 (LITE) capable.
• Takes over NIC5 to provide out-of-band console access via Web.

As we can see the server system also has dual redundant power supplies which is absolutely critical to providing our clients with needed hardware redundancy. On the right hand side at the bottom of the above shot are two ports where we can plug in a couple of additional I/O modules such as dual Intel Gigabit server NICs to bring the total NICs available on this box to eight (without the RMM3LITE NIC).

• The SR1695GPRX is dual power supply capable (watch that part number!)
• Can add another set of dual port Intel Gigabit server NICs.
• Can add an entry level performance SAS RAID I/O module without using the PCI-E slot.
• Some RAID I/O modules have the ability to add a cache battery.

Given that we can have up to eight NICs in this system we now have an excellent platform for a single server Hyper-V host when deploying SBS 2008 plus the second server or as an inexpensive node in a Hyper-V cluster attached to iSCSI storage for Clustered Shared Volumes.

The shot above is just prior to dropping the airflow baffle back on between the fans and the CPU and the memory.

The RAID controller is an Intel RS2BL080 with battery backup situated near the top of the shot (shiny object). We have an RS2BL040 on order but it will not be here until the end of the week. Since Intel RAID controllers can be inter-changed we have this Hyper-V server built up already and will swap in the production controller when it shows up.

From now on this particular hardware configuration will be our principle offering for any situations where we need a 1U server system whether the client is looking for standalone server systems, a couple of virtualized server operating systems, or even a small two node cluster based on two of these units and one or two NAS devices that act as iSCSI targets.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Toshiba Tecra S11 Core i7-620M 160GB X25-M WinSAT Score

We have just completed configuring a number of new Toshiba Tecra S11 laptops with 160GB X25-M Intel SSDs.

• Toshiba Tecra S11 PTSE3C-011013

Our own Tecra S10 WinSAT scores can be found here:

• Intel 160GB SSD Performance In the Tecra S10 Versus RAID 0 2x 80GB SSDs on DX38BT

The Tecra S10’s scores were:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read              203.74 MB/s        7.3
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                    39.33 MB/s        6.3
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write              88.15 MB/s          6.3
• Total Run Time 00:01:25.32

The Tecra S11’s scores were as follows:

• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Read                   240.75 MB/s          7.5
• Disk  Random 16.0 Read                       215.20 MB/s          7.8
• Disk  Sequential 64.0 Write                  103.40 MB/s          6.6
• Total Run Time 00:01:10.07

The second stat in the S10’s numbers must have been an anomaly. We will revisit the WinSAT test on that unit to see how the performance has stood up over time.

There is a tangible performance difference on the Core i7-620M based Tecra S11 versus the Core 2 Duo T9600. The system is a lot more responsive in so many ways.

So, it is not surprising to see that the SSD performance on the new S11 takes a step up versus the previous generation.

In the end, the cost of the SSD is more than made up by our client’s users increased productivity.

While one of the drivers for having the SSD installed has been Windows XP Mode on Windows 7, most of our client’s line of business applications have come up to date and are Windows 7 compatible. There are still a few hold outs, but for the most part XP Mode is slowly being deprecated.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Windows 7 Enterprise Upgrade Edition

Okay, so we cannot plug in a Windows 7 Enterprise OS based flash drive and do an in-place upgrade of Windows 7 Professional.

• TechNet: Windows 7 Upgrade Paths
• Microsoft Forums: Upgrading Windows 7 Pro vs Enterprise

This is important to note when it comes to any time quoting for things like replacing spindle based hard disks with Intel X25-M SSDs and expecting to drop the OEM default recovery on the SSD and then upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise using the client’s Software Assurance.

Windows 7 Enterprise will always have a fresh install requirement if the base OS was Windows 7 Professional.

The Windows 7 Enterprise Upgrade version will upgrade certain prior Windows Vista versions though.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Laptop Start-up – Stalled At “Please Wait …”

We have been seeing a few situations where a laptop that is not connected to any wired or wireless network connection will hang at “Please wait” for quite a long time.

• Microsoft Forums: Boot up hangs at "Please wait" for "ever". NLA Service is culprit.

It took a long time to figure out the right search terms to bring up the above Forums post.

While the general consensus among folks on the forum post is to disable the NLA Service, this will kill any connection that the laptop may have to a Home Group, disable the laptop’s ability to change default printers based on location, and more.

So, we suggest trying to set the NLA Service to Automatic (Delayed Start). If that still causes the stall at start up, then change the service to Manual so that the OS can still fire up the service if it is required.

Once the setting change is complete, the laptop should boot up and display the logon screen in essentially the same amount of time whether connected to a network or not.

Hat Tip: Kevin Atkey

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Seagate’s New Model Numbering Scheme

We just received a Seagate Partner e-mail that indicates that Seagate is changing the product model numbering scheme.

• Seagate Is Rolling Out New Model Numbers. Are You Ready?
• A registration form fronts the video which is hosted on a third party site.

As we can see, the model numbers have changed significantly relative to the current model number structures. In the current scheme The prefix ST3 means 3.5” drive, ST9 means 2.5” drive while the suffix AS is SATA, ES is Enterprise SATA, and SS is SAS. The numbers in between the prefix and suffix would be the size of the drive and then three numbers indicating model specifics.

A breakdown of the model number and what each means is this:

What we will end up with will actually be a simpler way to order Seagate drives. No more needing to know the various model numbers for whatever feature we want with a 500GB drive for example. With the new model number scheme the number will remain the same for the 320GB drive across all of is various feature sets while the model number will be specific to those feature sets.

It means that internally we can track all of the various feature sets for inventory purposes but our externally facing collateral will use the one model number to describe a 320GB drive. This makes for a much simpler presentation too.

Ultimately, when it comes to ordering product the new model numbering scheme will not make too much of a difference when searching our distribution channels for product. Now, we can search ST31000*SS to find any 1TB SAS drives, ST3500*NS to find any Enterprise SATA drives, and so on. After modifying our wildcard location to ST500* we will find any and all 500GB SKUs available to us. We can then use the same methodology as above to limit our search results to ST500MX* for Mission Critical 500GB drive models or ST*MX to bring up all Mission Critical products.

Note that not all distribution search engines support wildcard searches beyond dropping the asterisk at the end of some alpha characters.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000

One of our Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Keyboard 6000s had its space bar button die. We tried to get things working, but it seems that it would not cooperate.

So, we needed a replacement.

For those of us with bad wrists, in my case due to slinging a wrench for so many years without initial training on protecting them, a wave style keyboard helps to reduce the need to wrist pivot the hands while typing.

We have found that the Microsoft wave style is one of the ergonomic keyboards available.

 

With this particular keyboard being Bluetooth enabled we were able to pair both the keyboard and the number pad with the workstation’s built-in Intel DP55KG Bluetooth in a matter of seconds.

Key action on the new 6000 provides great feedback with a smooth action. For comparison, it has the feel of a high quality laptop keyboard.

Due to its compact size though, there were some compromises on the number and type of keys included on the keyboard. The one button that we really miss is the right mouse click key. In its place is a blue Fn key for the page up, down, home, end, and other such keys.

When working in Word or Outlook it is much easier to tap on that key to gain access to the right click menu for copy and paste or to work with e-mail.

While a user’s preference for a keyboard style is particular to them, there is an added benefit to having the separate number pad for folks that work in accounting offices. So, we will be suggesting this keyboard and number pad combination to our accounting clients.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Gearing Up – Back At It

The last three weeks have certainly had their fair share of ups and downs.

Today we are back in business, though it may take time to gain a full head of steam.

We have a lot to do to catch up with a long list of client requests that will need to be dealt with over this week and into the next.

We then have a few prospective deals that we are working on with some being close to being deals in principle.

So, posting may continue to be light over the next while as we catch up with everything and begin to work on new projects as well.

Thanks to all for your support both here and privately via e-mail and phone. We really appreciate it! :)

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

BESx On A Standalone Server – No Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services Eabled

It seems that after hitting the wall as many times as we have with our BESx install, we took advantage of the free support incident to find out what was going wrong.

It seems that BESx will not install the full server application set on a server that has TS/RDS enabled. The BB technician indicated that there should be a KB on BB’s site indicating such, but we have not been able to find it.

Needless to say, if BESx is going on a standalone server that will be serving Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Services, install BESx before the TS/RDS role.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Installation – Error Initializing System

We are having a lot of “fun” putting together a standalone BESx installation.

On this run through we received the following error when we restarted the BESx setup routine:

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Installation

Error initializing system

BlackBerry has a Knowledgebase article on the above error:

• BB Support KB23428 – “Error initializing system” error appears when starting BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 SP2 setup

The above knowledgebase article tells us how to work around the error:

1. Click Start > Run.
2. Type regedit.
3. Navigate to the following location depending on the version of Windows Server®:
   • If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
   • If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
4. Remove the Database registry key.
5. Navigate to the following location depending on the version of Windows Server:
   • If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
   • If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Research In Motion\BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
6. Remove the Database registry key.
7. Restart the setup.exe application and complete the installation

Once we had removed the above registry settings we were able to run the setup routine again. However, it continued on from where things went sideways in the first place.

Now we need to figure out how to uninstall everything manually as the Uninstall routine does not work at all.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Phone 7 – No GAL Access on Exchange 2003

It looks as though ActiveSync connectivity on the newly released Windows Phone 7 may not be totally there yet.

• Microsoft KB2463128: You cannot search the Global Address List with Windows Phone 7 when connecting to Exchange Server 2003

Quote:

When using a Windows Phone 7 device to connect to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, you are unable to resolve user names within your Global Address List (GAL). 

When creating a new e-mail message, you type the name or alias of an e-mail recipient in your organization's GAL in the TO field and the name is not resolved.  In addition, you are unable to Search the GAL, and can only search local Contacts.

A workaround for now is to use the full e-mail info@sbscougar.ca in order to send an e-mail on a Windows Phone 7.

Judging by the Windows Phone site, the release version of the product looks as though it is more focused on consumers as opposed to corporate users:

• Windows Phone 7 Site – Discover

There is no real indication as far as ActiveSync feature integration other than Email, Calendar, and some sort of “Social networking” address book integration. People Hub may pull from Contacts on Exchange, but the Tasks synchronization seems to be missing completely.

If Tasks are indeed missing, then there will be no real incentive to drop the ailing HTC Touch Pro that I currently use until Windows Phone 7 gets a more business like approach. The Tasks/To Do list is needed to manage the little things that may get lost in the rush of day-to-day business.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Troubleshooting HTTP and HTTPS Traffic With WFetch

This little utility has helped us out on numerous occasions when we were trying to figure out if a system was compromised, proxy settings were wrong, proxy server not responding, or browsers were just plain not working.

• WFetch 1.4 (Microsoft download site)

The above screenshot shows a successful connection from the workstation to Bing’s site. This is one utility that belongs in our Technician’s Thumb Drive (blog category).

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

One of Life’s Curve Balls

Last week very early (3AM) Tuesday morning Monique woke me up. What began then was eventually the loss of our fourth pregnancy by miscarriage.

As a result, I have not been posting as of late.

This week is the first week back up on my feet so-to-speak, but I am nowhere near ready to put too much energy back into our business or this blog.

Posting will continue to be low for the next little while as we take time to heal and discover just how much our lives have changed both good and bad since last week.

Thanks for reading.

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

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer