Windows Thin PC On Its Way

We have been so busy lately that we have not had a chance to log onto the Microsoft Licensing portal and download the most current version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) and other products.

Today, we are downloading MDOP 2011 and Windows Thin PC both of which are a Windows Desktop Software Assurance Benefit:

We will drop Windows Thin PC into a VM to check out its base install size and its features. We are looking to deploy the OS on a bunch of Asus Eee PCs configured with 1GB of RAM and Compact Flash storage for a VDI setup in the near future.

MDOP has been an excellent SA benefit for us since Microsoft acquired the SysInternals toolset and turned that into an SA benefit. It is worth the look. We have SA + MDOP on all of our desktops and VMs based on retail packaged Windows 7 Pro, Vista Business and XP Pro.

Machines change so much around here that OEM does not make sense. Microsoft Action Pack desktop OS licenses could be used to add SA onto if there was a need for it but we are careful around the licensing language for the desktop OS.

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

iSCSI Boot Means Disk-less Hyper-V Failover Cluster Nodes

As we are digging into the iSCSI remote disk setups for our Hyper-V Clusters we are beginning to see some neat possibilities for its use.

The one drawback to iSCSI that we can see when we look at our current commodity cluster setup using the Promise VTrak Ex10sD RAID Systems is I/O bandwidth.

With our two node setup we have an aggregate bandwidth of 48Gbit/Second via the external dual quad 3Gbit/Second SAS connections per node.

With our need for an iSCSI target for our clustered VM’s backup needs we can see a small cost savings for our two nodes by eliminating the need for internal drive storage for the host Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 OS installation.

Since I/O needs for the host OS would be relatively low, hosting the OS storage on our iSCSI Software Target setup could be an option for us.

• Intel Server Adapters: Which adapters support Intel iSCSI Remote Boot?
• Network Connectivity: Intel Ethernet User Guides
• A ZIP download of all of the guides.
• Once extracted the guides are accessed via HTML page.
• Network Connectivity: Intel® iSCSI Remote Boot: Intel® iSCSI Remote Boot troubleshooting and known issues help
• A list of links for troubleshooting iSCSI Remote Boot.
• Intel Support: Intel iSCSI Remote Boot
• The dedicated support page for the feature.

We will begin testing of this configuration once we have an HP ProLiant MicroServer set up to be the iSCSI Software Target.

Potentially, this setup would save the cost of two 15K or 10K SAS drives set up in each host node. The catch will be the cost savings versus performance costs. Once our testing has completed we will publish our results.

We are aiming this configuration test at our entry level 2 node commodity cluster which currently costs under $20K.

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

Utility: Convert Outlook NK2 File to Stream_Autocomplete*.dat File

This little gem came via fellow MVP Robert Pearman:

• Microsoft Office Forum: How to import/export .NK2 to Stream_Autocomplete*.dat file for outlook 2010

Quote:

Note: Please ensure Outlook 2010 is closed.

1. Download NK2Edit from http://www.nirsoft.net
   • Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.
2. Open the old Nk2 file (associating the file with NK2 does not work with version v1.12
3. Click Save As, Change the Save as type to "Outlook 2010 AutoComplete .dat file".
4. Navigate to the following directory in the address bar within the Save As Window. %AppData%\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache
5. Save over the current Stream_Autocomplete file.
• Note: To avoid unexpected problems, you can first back up the Stream_Autocomplete*.dat file to other place.
6. Test the AutoComplete feature.

Best Regards,

Sally Tang

Our previous post on this topic:

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Outlook 2010 – “My Address Book Is Gone” Importing The NK2 File

We mention this second option to the original process because the import process did not always work with us subsequently being stuck for a method to bring in those addresses.

It is surprising to see just how many folks use that list as their address book with their actual Contacts list being relatively empty!

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

iSCSI Initiator – Driver Causes Spontaneous Reboots BSOD STOP 0x0000000a

When things went sideways with the iSCSI Software Target setup yesterday our SBS 2011 VM started to spontaneously BSOD on a 0x0000000a.

When it started to happen the first place we checked when we logged in was the MiniDump folder since the server was set to create one.

Unfortunately, the first run through with the Crash Dump Analyzer (part of Windows Desktop Software Assurance MDOP) the result was misinterpreted by myself.

So, as can be seen by the above, the server went through a few BSOD and reboot cycles before it sunk in that the problem was with iSCSI Initiator and _not_ the Hyper-V SCSI bus. :(

Once we managed to get into the iSCSI Initiator’s control panel and disconnect the missing iSCSI target and drive we regained stability.

Chalk the miss up to not taking a step back, taking a deep breath or ten, and then subsequently looking at the situation again with fresh eyes . . . which was done a bit later. ;)

Moral of the story: Make sure that the iSCSI attached backup destinations are _offline_ in Disk Management on the VM before making any changes at the iSCSI Software Target server.

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

iSCSI Target Update: Desktop Setup as “Server” Fail

Okay, so not long after yesterday’s post things started to go downhill big time.

The USB 3.0 ports and the docks started to break communication with each other randomly while the eSATA connections failed altogether.

So, it looks as though the desktop board setup will not work.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: A Tentative iSCSI Target Host System Setup
• MPECS Inc. Blog: Update on iSCSI Target via Desktop Hardware

StarTech Renesas USB 3.0 Card

We took the StarTech Renesas USB 3.0 card and installed it in one of our servers here in the shop. We configured the driver and connected two NexStar USB 3.0 docks to a NexStar USB 3.0 hub which was then connected to the USB 3.0 port.

We ran into the same funky behaviours with the NexStar SuperSpeed docks where we could not have more than two of them hooked in with live hard drives no matter what. before t The third drive connection would cycle in and out.

However, the two docks that have been connected to the StarTech card via USB 3.0 hub have been moving data non-stop since yesterday.

We have been moving the original iSCSI target VHDs from the drives we started with to a couple of large drives to consolidate the backups to two drive destinations.

The copy process runs at about 100MB/Second on average. We have moved Terabytes of data between the two docks without a hiccup as of yet.

Plus, we brought the iSCSI Software Target service online and hooked up our largest VHDs to their initiators to allow backups to run last night without a hitch.

StarTech USB 3.0 Drive Dock

As an alternative to the NexStar SuperSpeed docks we have ordered in one of these:

• StarTech 4 Bay eSATA USB 3.0 to SATA Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5/3.5 HDD
  • P/N: SATDOCK4U3E

It will be interesting to see if the StarTech dock can plug directly into the USB 3.0 card and allow more than one drive to be connected without a USB 3.0 hub.

Conclusion

For now, it is looking like a real server will be needed as our dedicated iSCSI Software Target. :)

Does the HP ProLiant MicroServer count as a “real server”? Well, we will see.

The next step in this investigation is to drop a StarTech USB 3.0 card into one and run through these tests again. If things work out then we will have a very reasonably priced setup for our smaller 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

A Little Road Trip – The Canadian Rockies Jasper to Banff AB Canada via the Icefields Parkway

We are very fortunate to live close to some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.

Since we have been working so much lately we decided to take a little break during a short lull in business and drive the Jasper to Banff Icefields Parkway with stops and stays along the way. We were gone from Friday until late yesterday.

We spent time at Athabasca Falls, around Nordegg, and in many places along the way. We hiked the Valley of The Five Lakes short loop while we were in Jasper.

The short loop starts at P15 then we took 9a to the right and cut back via 9b. The hike was beautiful with the kids and us really enjoying themselves.

Here are some shots taken via my HTC HD7 while on the road and in no particular order:

There is absolutely no cell coverage anywhere in there except Jasper and Banff. So it was nice to be disconnected for a while. ;)

We are now gearing up for a number of standalone and clustered virtualization deployment projects that will be keeping us quite busy!

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

Update on iSCSI Target via Desktop Hardware

A while back we published that we were testing a desktop board with Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard as a possible configuration to utilize the two eSATA and two USB 3.0 ports.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: A Tentative iSCSI Target Host System Setup

Here we are almost two weeks later with the setup providing backup targets for a number of different physical and virtual machines and things are moving along though not perfectly.

We had one NexStar USB 3.0 dock connected to a Vantec USB 3.0 hub which then connected to the USB 3.0 port on the motherboard and the other dock connected directly to a USB 3.0 port on the motherboard.

We set things up this way because there is some sort of conflict between the Vantec NexStar USB 3.0 hard drive dock and the USB 3.0 ports on the DQ67xx series Intel Desktop Boards (we have seen this with both DQ67SW and DQ67EP boards).

After our break this last weekend we came back to two of the four drives connected to the box being offline. We had moved things around prior to leaving to free up some space on the workbench however the connections were still online before we left.

The two drives that were offline were in one USB 3.0 dock and one eSATA dock. So, we could not pin the problem on either port set.

The eSATA drive turned out to be a cable that was not sitting quite right in the dock. Once the cable was pulled and re-seated at both ends the drive came online without a hitch.

The USB 3.0 drive however turned out to be the dock and the motherboard not playing nice anymore. We re-seated the cable with nothing happening. We power cycled the dock and sure enough the drive came online . . . and then it went offline, and then on, and then off, and so on.

Once we plugged the dock into the USB 3.0 hub that the other dock was already connected to the drive came online.

So, it is looking like while this setup may have been a good idea on paper the actual implementation is having poor results.

Now the kicker, we purchased a StarTech PEXUSB3S2 card (product site) as we had seen mention of the card being compatible with Windows Server 2008 RTM/R2.

The card arrived and we downloaded the driver:

It looks to be based on the same chip providing USB 3.0 connectivity on the Intel boards. :(

We will still plug the card in and run some tests with it on an actual server configuration. At least we can confirm that the NexStar USB 3.0 drive docks behave the same way when directly plugged into the card as far as the drive coming online and going offline in cycles.

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 Security Essentials–False Positive on Adware: Win32/Hotbar

A number of our machines have been throwing the following warning from MSE:

Adware: Win32/Hotbar

Category: Adware

Description: This program has potentially unwanted behavior.

Recommended action: Review the alert details to see why the software was detected. If you do not like how the software operates or if you do not recognize and trust the publisher, consider blocking or removing the software.

Security Essentials detected programs that may compromise your privacy or damage your computer. You can still access the files that these programs use without removing them (not recommended). To access these files, select the Allow action and click Apply actions. If this option is not available, log on as administrator or ask the security administrator for help.

Items:

file:C:\Windows\Temp\7E04B5FB-F941-4DE0-ACA3-C0C397211F5F-Sigs\643683E7-6213-45C6-B3D0-151E26E31C81mpasdlta.vdm.new.temp

file:C:\Windows\Temp\7E04B5FB-F941-4DE0-ACA3-C0C397211F5F-Sigs\643683E7-6213-45C6-B3D0-151E26E31C81mpasdlta.vdm.old.temp

We sent out an e-mail to find out what was up.

It turns out that the flag is a false positive on MSE’s own update files with a fix in the works.

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

A First Look At Intel’s RMM4

We deploy Intel’s Remote Management Modules in all of our client’s Intel Product Dealer based servers.

We just finished installing the new RMM4 into the Intel Xeon E3 based server we received at the recent TST.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Intel TST & Microsoft TS2 Registration Now Open

Note that we needed to re-run the integrated BIOS/BMC/SDR-FRU update since we installed the RMM4 and TPM modules after installing Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with the Hyper-V Role on the box.

The log on page:

We enabled USER3 in the BIOS, setting a username, and setting a password for the RMM4’s administrator. We then set the RMM4 to obtain an IP address dynamically for now.

We were able to log on.

There look to be some new management and alerts features built into the BMC setup:

Having reports e-mailed to us to indicate a hardware problem is definitely a plus for this setup.

The key for us though is the remote KVM abilities:

Which give us complete out-of-band management of our servers:

We require RMM, iDRAC Enterprise, iLO Advanced, or other out-of-band management in all of our server deploys as their cost is paid for by saving us one or two visits to the client’s site.

We can even _fully recover_ the server using this ability.

Note that two ISP IPs are preferred for this setup. One for the gateway device and the other for a direct connection to the RMM.

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

SBS 2011 – Remote Desktop Gateway Management

The RD Gateway services are installed and configured by default during the SBS 2011 OS install and then by the Getting Started Tasks Wizards in the SBS Console.

Technically, we are licensed to use the RD Gateway service via the Remote Web Access portal.

If we create RDP files to gain direct access to our desktops on the SBS network or we install and configure an RDS server then we are required to have RDS CALs for each user.

When we have RD Gateway services being utilized in this manner though we may require access to the RD Gateway service.

To do so, we need to install the RD Gateway UI via an elevated command prompt.

• dism /online /Enable-Feature:Gateway-UI.

Note that there will be some errors that come up when opening the RD Gateway console that can be safely ignored. The errors are SBSisms.

• Microsoft Knowledgebase: KB2472211: How to Manage the Remote Desktop Gateway Service in SBS 2011.

Hat Tip: Susan Bradley

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

Some Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Resources

As we are delving into Microsoft’s free iSCSI Target software there are a number of key resources available to us for the product.

The download is available here:

• Microsoft Downloads: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3

There are a number of different resources available to us:

• TechNet: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Implementation Notes
• TechNet: Support Policies for Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 on Windows Server 2008 R2
• TechNet: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Known Issues and Updates
• Microsoft KB2535811: Supported and tested Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 limits
  • Note that this KB looks to be out of date as the TechNet Scalability Limits page has what looks to be a newer version of the KB content.

The following link is the the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Product Help:

• TechNet: Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Product Help

Under Product Help we find a list of operating systems that it can be installed on. Unfortunately it looks as though Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is not one of them.

iSCSI Target and Adapter Teaming

One of the notes in the KB and Scalability pages talk about network adapter teaming _not_ being supported.

• TechNet: Installing and Configuring Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

From that article we find:

Note

Use Microsoft MultiPath IO (MPIO) to manage multiple paths to iSCSI storage. Microsoft does not support teaming on network adapters that are used to connect to iSCSI-based storage devices. This is because the teaming software that is used in these types of configurations is not owned by Microsoft, and it is considered to be a non-Microsoft product. If you have an issue with network adapter teaming, contact your network adapter vendor for support. If you have contacted Microsoft Support, and they determine that teaming is the source of your problem, you might be required to remove the teaming from the configuration and/or contact the provider of the teaming software.

So, we see that the reason given here has to do with the teaming being provided by third parties.

So, off to Intel we go to see what they state:

• Intel Server Products Support: Is Adapter Teaming supported on any system which carries iSCSI traffic?

The answer is “No”. Unequivocally “No”. From the Intel support page:

Adapter Teaming using Intel's ANS is not supported for those ports transferring iSCSI traffic. This is due to limitations of the third-party iSCSI target/initiator software.

For load balancing and failover support in Microsoft Windows* operating systems, you can use Microsoft's* MPIO (MultiPath I/O). Check the Microsoft Initiator User Guide on how to setup MPIO.

If you are planning to use Microsoft MPIO on an Intel® Storage System, please ensure that your firmware supports multi path I/O.

Now, so far our test iSCSI Target box (previous post) has been running fine with the three NICs teamed in Load Balancing Mode. However, since we are running in an unsupported configuration we will look to see about how to configure MPIO on that box.

iSCSI Initiator

Once we have our iSCSI Target set up we need to connect to it!

The iSCSI Initiator Guide for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 can be downloaded here:

• Microsoft Downloads: iSCSI Initiator Users Guide for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

When working with Server Core R2 installations the iSCSI Initiator GUI can be started by the following command:

• iscsicpl.exe [Enter]

Server Core iSCSI Initiator GUI

Here is a blog post on enabling this functionality in Server Core 2008 RTM:

• Windows Storage Management Blog: How to add the iSCSI Initiator User Interface to Windows Server 2008 Server Core edition

iSCSI MPIO Configurations

One aspect that we will need to look into will be how to enable and configure multiple I/O paths to our iSCSI located storage if we were looking to use that storage for clustered VM VHD storage.

• Windows Storage Server Blog: Shared storage for Windows Failover Cluster with MPIO
• Off Campus Blog: Configuring iSCSI MPIO on Windows Server 2008 R2 (full)

For now we will be sticking with our DAS configurations, but there may be a need to look at iSCSI MPIO as an failover cluster storage alternate especially if this type of configuration brings the cost of a 2 node cluster down.

Conclusion

As we can see, there is a _lot_ of reading that needs to be done in order to understand the ins and outs of using Microsoft’s iSCSI Software Target. Plus, we need to check into our backup box’s configuration to figure out how to work iSCSI with multiple NIC ports.

KB2535811 Hat Tip: Susan Bradley

Our previous post: MPECS Inc. Blog: Microsoft Releases iSCSI Software Target Version 3.3 For Windows Server 2008 R2 . . . For Free!

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

Device Manager Unknown Device? VEN_10DE and DEV_0AA3 – Check the PCI Database

After publishing our post on the Eee PC unknown chipset device (Asus Eee PC – Unknown Hardware - Coprocessor VEN_10DE&DEV_0AA3) that we needed to search for we received a couple of great pointers in a comment on that post.

• PCI Vendor and Device Lists (PCI Database)

The PCI Database makes it pretty straightforward for us to figure out what the device is and who made it.

1. Figure out the Vendor Code:
1. VEN_10DE = 0x10DE
1. 
2. Figure out the Device Code:
1. DEV_0AA3 = 0x0AA3
1. 
3. Highlight and search for the Chip Description and:
1. Bing Search Results for nForce 730i SMBus Controller (http://www.bing.com/search?q=nForce+730i+SMBus+Controller&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IE8SRC)
2. Result number four:
1. 
3. Click through and:
1. 

Wow, that was _so_ much simpler than trying to sift our way through all of the chaff that came up in our original searching.

Note that nForce driver v15.51 looks to be the most current version available for this chipset.

Another pointer given was to the Driver Easy utility site. Essentially, they keep track of every driver providing a one stop shop for loading the most recent drivers on a freshly installed OS (non-OEM image).

A technician’s license is $0.99/Computer loaded. For a small IT shop that does not keep a lot of driver content readily available this would be a good way of saving time for those one-off OS loads as it would save a lot of time hunting around for the right drivers.

For larger shops there would need to be an evaluation against current practices to see if there was value in using the Driver Easy tool.

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

A Tentative iSCSI Target Host System Setup

We are looking at a number of different system configurations to run Microsoft’s new iSCSI Target Software 3.3 on that will provide us with VM to external storage access.

Now, one of the drawbacks to using one server box with today’s hardware is that we are limited to USB 2.0 data speeds.

Our goal is to find a configuration that will work under high I/O loads over longer periods of time with at least four (4) externally connected hard disks at USB 3.0 and/or eSATA data speeds.

We have tried to run with PCI-E USB 3.0 host bus adapters but so far all are aimed at the consumer desktop space and thus we would not risk them in a server setting. We are looking into some that state that they have USB 3.0 support for Windows Server 2008 R2 but have not yet tested them.

So, tentatively, we are looking at the following configuration to be used as an iSCSI Target box _only_. Other than the external drives connected to the box that will be hooked into both standalone and cluster based VMs for backup the box will not be used.

• Intel Desktop Board DQ67EP
• Intel Core i5-2400S
• 4GB Kingston Non-ECC RAM
• 2x 250GB Seagate 2.5” SATA drives in RAID 1
• Antec ISK 300-150 case
• Intel dual Gigabit Server NIC configured for low profile use

Once we have the Win2K8 Standard R2 SP1 OS installed along with the necessary drivers we installed Microsoft’s free iSCSI Target software. We then teamed the three NICs using the PROSet utility in Load Balancing mode.

Note that the USB 3.0 driver does install correctly while the OS picks up the eSATA ports with built-in drivers. And, both eSATA and USB 3.0 ports support hot swap for the drives.

NOTE: We ran into the same weird behaviour with the USB 3.0 ports and the Vantec NexStar USB 3.0 drive docks where one connected fine but the other would not until we dropped a USB 3.0 hub in between the second NexStar drive dock and its port.

Microsoft iSCSI Software Target

We begin by running the downloaded file:

Once the extraction was complete our IE browser opened with:

From there we ran the install routine:

At one point during the install we were asked about the server’s update settings:

We left the setting where it was since our network is managed by WSUS which would pick up on the iSCSI Software Target’s presence.

Once the install was complete we opened the new MMC:

And we were greeted with:

We will run through a separate blog post on how to set up the target and connect the initiator in a separate post. The only quirk we ran into when setting up an iSCSI Target was that we were required to know the IQN for the Initiator ahead of time.

So far, we have run through creating a number of targets, connecting them, configuring the backup, and running the backups.

On the iSCSI Target Host we see:

On the guest that is running a backup to the iSCSI Target host we see:

The throughput shown above is to a target VHD located on an eSATA connected hard disk. So, the real throughput would be about 80MB/Second to 85MB/Second.

We will keep testing the configuration, but it looks like we have a winner here. The box configured without OS is under $1,000.

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

Asus Eee PC – Unknown Hardware - Coprocessor VEN_10DE&DEV_0AA3

We have an Asus Eee PC 1201N that we have had here in the shop for a while. When we set it up we searched around for an unknown piece of hardware in the Device Manager and came up blank.

When we brought up the Hardware ID for the device:

Coprocessor Properties

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0AA3&SUBSYS_84021043&REV_B1

Searching for the Device ID string brought up lots and lots of fluff.

Since the device was probably associated with the nVidia ION chipset we downloaded the latest ION driver:

After downloading and installing the driver the unknown device status remained.

After digging into the results for the device string a bit more we came across a site that wanted us to pay for the supposedly associated download. However, the site did give us a clue:

• “ . . . for your nVidia MCP79 Coprocessor.”

So, off we went to search out a driver based on the above. It took quite a while to find the needle in the haystack:

• NotebookReview.com New nVidia MCP79 Chipset Driver Posted

That forum post had a link to a Dell driver download. We clicked the Other Versions link see if there was a newer version of the driver which there was:

The download auto-installed the driver after it completed. We were able to then see that our unknown was now known:

The ReadMe.TXT file had enough information in it to point us to the generic nVidia download that also contains that driver set:

NFORCE Driver 15.56 WHQL approved.

Note behind the browser window we can see the various nVidia drivers installed by the Dell version. The nVidia NFORCE download shows the same list plus graphics related drivers so it is quite a bit heavier.

What we needed to do to resolve the unknown hardware after the fact:

1. Download the newest nVidia ION driver and install it.
2. Download the newest nVidia NFORCE driver and install it.

A link to nVidia’s Web site:

• www.nvidia.com

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

SBS 2011 Setup Guide v1.9.5

[REDACTED]

Somehow I managed to split things up. The newest edition of the guide is here:

• SBS 2011 Setup Guide

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 XP Professional Service Pack 3 – Fresh Install Has How Many Updates?

We are setting up a couple of retail Windows XP Professional SP3 VMs. Once the base OS install was complete and the Hyper-V Integration Services were installed we allowed XP to cache updates.

The first round of updates state 100 available:

We allowed all updates but four:

Included in that first round was IE8:

We removed the Download and Install Updates check mark to just install IE8 since we are looking for the next round’s true update requirement.

Round 2 wanted two of the four dropped updates:

From there we received notification for one:

We then went to Microsoft’s Update site and updated to Microsoft Update.

Once we went through the Genuine Advantage Tool install we were able to choose from the remaining updates:

We had thought that we were done updating after the above Microsoft Update process but Windows Automatic Update chose to toss more our way after that.

Start to finish the update process for the freshly installed Windows XP Professional SP3 took a little over an hour and a half.

Note that the XP Pro base image used to install the OS was a trial version so the OS image was quite dated.

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

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 – Error Applying New Virtual Network Changes – SP1 Specific Fix

A while back we posted instructions on how to reset Hyper-V’s virtual networking if something choked so as to not have to remove and reinstall the Hyper-V Role.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 – Error Applying New Virtual Network Changes – Binding failed . . . because it is already bound to another virtual network

We are setting up a test box with the Hyper-V Role installed for a client that needs to demonstrate to the powers that be that virtualizing desktops running an LoB Terminal client is going to be the best option for them going forward.

When we went to set up the Hyper-V Role but it choked on setting up the vSwitch due to the Intel PROSet team being set to ALB instead of VMLB.

We could not get things to work after that so we went and ran the following commands in an elevated command prompt:

1. netcfg –u vms_pp [Enter]
2. netcfg -l c:\windows\winsxs\amd64_wvms_pp.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_beda85050b13680c\wvms_pp.inf -c p -i vms_pp [Enter]

The result for the reinstall command failed though:

C:\>netcfg -l c:\windows\winsxs\amd64_wvms_pp.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.1638
5_none_beda85050b13680c\wvms_pp.inf -c p -i vms_pp
Trying to install vms_pp ...

..failed. Error code: 0x80070002.

The command failed with error code 0x80070002. A search for this code brings up a lot of different results. But, it looks as though Microsoft KB201318 indicates that it is a “File Not Found” error.

Now, the original post was written for Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM. We are working with Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, so the first thing to check is whether the folder referenced in the install command above even exists.

It does not.

So, looking at what we do have we now need to figure out _which_ of the two indicated folders that share the common prefix is the right one.

Here is a screenshot of the same search from a Win2K8 R2 RTM:

There is definitely a significant difference between the freshly installed R2 SP1 and the R2 RTM:

1. R2 RTM only shows _one_ folder with the correct prefix.
2. R2 SP1 shows shows not one, but _three_ folders with the correct prefix!

So, what are we to do? One would think that we would find the .INF file in the folder with the highest version number. But, this did not turn out to be the case:

The higher version numbers, 6.1.6701.17617 and above, only had the vmsntfy.dll file in them.

The right folder turned out to be 6.1.7601.17514:

Sure enough:

Our Hyper-V networking was now reinstalled and now cooperating or so we thought:

Virtual Network Manager

Setup switch failed.

The operation failed because the file was not found.

Well, since we just ground zeroed Hyper-V networking the last thing to do was to reboot the box.

Once back up and in we then tried to create an externally connected vSwitch and saw the following result:

We had our production network access for the VMs that will be running on this test box.

How To Reset Hyper-V Networking In Win2K8 R2 SP1

The correct sequence for resetting the Win2K8 R2 SP1 Hyper-V networking structures are:

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. netcfg –u vms_pp [Enter]
3. netcfg -l C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_wvms_pp.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7601.17514_none_c10b98cd0801eba6\wvms_pp.inf -c p -i vms_pp [Enter]
• Copy and paste into NotePad to verify that there are no line breaks.
4. shutdown –r –t 0 –f [Enter]
5. Create the external vSwitch in Hyper-V Manager.

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