One Slipped By – AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Chassis Fail

A while back we posted about our experience with A-Open’s S145A Mini-ITX chassis that we picked up with a bunch of Intel Mini-ITX boards.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: AOpen S145A Mini-ITX Chassis – Total Fail

Well, one slipped by as we received a call from a client in the middle of last week that one of their systems had seemingly died on them.

It turned out to be one of the systems we deployed with the AOpen S145A Mini-ITX case. The power supply fans are quite weak on them with the PSU actually burning out.

When we contacted AOpen for a replacement power supply, fan, or even case they referred us to our Canadian distribution points for RMA purposes. We surmise that distribution dropped them as quick as they did due to this particular problem coming back to them.

With distribution dropping the S145A AOpen would not give us _any_ warranty support at all. So, we ended up replacing _all_ of the S145A cases with Antec Minuet 350 cases that we have had a lot of success with.

The whole mess ended up costing us a lot in terms of money and time lost replacing all of those cases.

With system building being a part of our business model we have always been quite particular about the system configurations we send out the door.

• Intel processors and boards.
• Kingston or Crucial RAM
• Antec cases
• Seagate hard drives
• Intel SSD drives
• Lite-On optical
• ATI/AMD video

The above recipe has served us quite well with the exception of the Seagate firmware bug we were hit with a year or two ago. We ended up swapping out quite a few AS and NS drives. However, Western Digital was not without their problems for the high end systems built on the Raptor and VelociRaptor drives either.

So, in the end, we have learned a very expensive lesson: Stick with what we know and run with it never looking back!

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 2008 and 2011 Active Directory Password Complexity

To manage the password setup in SBS 2008 and SBS 2011 Active Directory we use the SBS Console:

1. Open the SBS Console.
2. Click on the Users and Groups tab.
3. If not already selected, click on the Users tab.
4. Under Tasks click on Change password policies.
• 
5. Set the password policy settings accordingly.
• 
6. Click Apply and OK.
1. NOTE: All users will be required to change their passwords on their next log on if any changes are made to these settings!

This wizard is normally used during the set up process only.

If this wizard is used somewhere in the middle of an SBS Migration or SBS Swing Migration the consequences may be dire. It is best left as the final step _after_ at least one week of the post-migrated server being in production.

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 SP USB Flash Drive Must Have Drivers & Utilities

There are a number of different little utilities that we drop into the _Drivers folder on the USB flash drives we use to load the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 OS with. We also put these utilities on our Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 USB flash drives for standalone Hyper-V deployments.

• ServerNameJoin.bat
• NOTE: We drop all Server Core and Hyper-V servers into their own OU where we have all aspects of UAC disabled. Core management does _not_ work with UAC enabled.
• Change OU structure to match your own.
• Pause is there to allow us to see if the process succeeded or failed.
• MYSERVERNAME: Must be the name of the Hyper-V server.
• MYDOMAIN: Must be the name of the domain.
• DomainAdmin: Must be the name of an admin account with permissions to join the domain.
• netdom join MYSERVERNAME /Domain:MYDOMAIN.local /OU:OU=SBSServers-ServerCore,OU=Computers,OU=MyBusiness,DC=MYDOMAIN,DC=local /userd:DomainAdmin /passwordd:*
• pause
• John Howard’s HVRemote utility
• This utility makes configuring the host for domain/domain, domain/workgroup, and the other iterations a breeze.
• Chris Eck’s VHDTool utility
• We use this utility to create fixed VHDs on _new_ LUNs/LDs or ones that have been properly initialized.
• It is fast and easy.
• NOTE: The size format is in bytes so add those zeroes!
• Intel’s most recent PROSet driver and command line utility.
• Intel Download Center: Intel Server Adapters search results.
• We use the prosetcl.exe utility to configure our adapter teaming and VLAN setup for each team.
• Appropriate drivers
• Intel AXXSASIOMOD (LSI) Driver
• LSI 3442 x64 Driver
• Intel RAID driver

With the above on our flash drive we are able to jump right into configuring the Hyper-V node for clustering or standalone VM guest delivery.

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

Restructuring DAS/SAN Storage Requires LD/LUN Initialization

We set up the Promise VTrak E610sD RAID subsystem and its storage for the client deployment we are going to do over the next few days.

In this case we are deploying one Intel Server System SR1695GPRX2AC (1U, Xeon X3470, 32GB, 600GB 15K SAS RAID 10) and the Promise VTrak unit. We will add the second 1U server in their new budget year and enable the cluster setup from there.

We did an initial storage configuration on the VTrak but made a few mistakes on sizes for the VMs that will be hosted by the one Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 node.

So, we needed to wipe the Logical Drives (LDs) and start fresh. Once we did so, we went in and initiated an Initialization sequence on each new Logical Drive that was created.

We initiate the Initialization process because the Hyper-V OS may pick up the previous disk configuration information from the new LD setup.

It can be a bit confusing to be looking in Disk Management and seeing the previous LD”s configuration still listed even after rescanning the disks!

The other consideration in all of this has to do with existing data if there was any. If there were VM VHDs on the LDs or even pass through information on them any new VHD created using VHDTool (previous blog post) would be able to scan the bits and see that existing data using a tool like GetDataBack (beware of imposters).

Initializing on the VTrak does not take a lot of time. So, it is well worth the wait to make sure we have nice client LDs to start with.

Done:

Now off to enable Microsoft MPIO on the node and configure it for performance.

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

Lots Going On!

We are in the process of setting up a 2 node cluster to get ready to deploy this week and into the weekend.

Posting may be a bit lite over the next few days or so.

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

Twitter, Tweets, and Tweeps

Okay, now that we have our Twitter account set up and the Tweets are starting to flow, the one thing that has become quickly apparent is that it is possible to hit Information Overload (IO) very quickly with this service.

Plus, the knee-jerk reaction is to drop every aspect of the day into our own Tweets.

But, upon further consideration we find that TMI and IO may become the norm and thus we get tuned out.

We also took some time to have a look at the plethora of Tweeps out there that we may wish to follow. But again, with so many 140 character posts flying by we would reach the TMI/IO point again very quickly.

We have seen some Twitter clients at the various IT events that have been attended.

For those of you that Tweet and follow what is the Twitter client of choice and why? Please do comment about your Twitter experiences and how you mitigate TMI/IO and also sift through it all!

What we are hoping to do is to enter into this new technology with “Baby Steps” (What About Bob – ****).

Thanks again 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

Hyper-V Failover Cluster 2 Node With 3TB RAW For Under $20K

As we have been going along we have been refining the two node Hyper-V Failover Cluster setup.

We are now at the point where the following base configuration would provide full Hyper-V failover capabilities for a very low cost:

• Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 Host (Requires 2)
• Intel Server System SR1695GPRX2AC
• Intel Xeon Processor X3470, 32GB ECC RAM, Dual 3Gbit SAS Controllers (SFF-3470 connectors).
• No local storage.
• Pair of SFF-3470 to SFF-8088 SAS Cables
• Promise VTrak E610sD Dual Controller RAID Storage System
• 10x 300GB 15K Seagate SAS (we use RAID 10 = 1.5TB usable)
• 2x 300GB 15K Seagate SAS global hot spares.
• Nodes boot from 75GB masked LUN on VTrak to eliminate the need for local storage.
• LUN Masking: Only the node will see its dedicated LUN as available.

With the above hardware configuration we are able to start our 2 node failover clusters at around $18K for the hardware setup.

For any client that currently has two or more servers and are conscious of the need for uptime we are promoting this setup.

At this price, there is no reason why we can’t be deploying Hyper-V failover clusters into most clients that have two good sized servers up for refresh ($6K-$8K/Server) or multiple small ones.

A big plus when talking about failover is the portability of the VMs. We can restore _anywhere_. Because of this portability we can promote our iSCSI backup target setup which then can eliminate the cost of any third party backup solutions.

Our goal is to go full on Windows OS native with as many tools as possible. And so far, we are being quite successful at making it happen.

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

ExchangeDefender E-Mail Outage – Our Client E-mail and Some Thoughts

The following is a copy of an e-mail we sent out to all of our clients that are protected by ExchangeDefender and/or using OWN’s hosted Exchange and SharePoint:

Hello and good morning,

First, we do apologize for the mail flow interruption yesterday. Up until now we have had very reliable services with ExchangeDefender. Since our first signing up with OWN about two to three years ago we have experienced a few hiccups along the way with one serious outage for hosted Exchange happening in the last 12 months.

Yesterday, our e-mail sanitation and continuity provider ExchangeDefender experienced a catastrophic power outage in their Dallas data centre (DC). It just so happened that the component that failed was an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) about the size of a van that is supposed to keep power flowing into the facility by switching between the power grid or a backup generator.

Because that switch failed both power sources were cut off into the facility which eventually caused a system wide shut down. Statistically, the ATS failing is the equivalent to buying a 6/49 and winning the pot. A spare ATS was on-site, but we are talking about Kilo-Volts and Kilo-Amps of current so it is no easy task to switch them out and actually quite deadly.

The long and short of it is that Own Web Now, the owners of the ExchangeDefender services, have learned some lessons on where the system needs improvement. One place improvement will be made will be to set up additional data centres (DCs) to allow mail to continue flowing if Dallas has another outage.

We will also have LiveArchive access, which is your Web based access if our in-house servers go down, at additional DCs so that we can have access to our e-mail again if Dallas has a problem.

And finally, hosted Exchange 2010 will be set up for access across multiple DCs to eliminate the single point of failure in Dallas.

These changes are now in process. It will take about 3-5 months for the changes to be made.

Again, our apologies for the e-mail flow interruption.

While there are certainly other providers of these types of services out there, we prefer to continue our business relationship with OWN and ExchangeDefender. Why? Because we believe that OWN shares our vision, passion, and attitude about providing the best possible products and services for your hard earned money.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Thank you for doing business with us and have a wonderful day! :)

Along the way to where we are today as far as the products and services we at MPECS provide to our clients there have been hiccups, burps and outright failures.

We have come to standardize our server and desktop hardware configurations on certain vendor's products. Those configurations have come as a result of wasting both our client’s time and our time with the cheap stuff. BTDT and no thank you.

We have also come to realize the weaknesses in any given setup that we deploy as a result of unforeseen failures.

The good and bad experiences in our industry are a fact of life. And, as a result of those experiences we have come where we are today providing products and services that our clients can count on to run without virtually any interruption.

We will continue to stand by OWN and ExchangeDefender because they do share the same attitude as us. They, and thus we, will grow as a result of this experience.

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

Even Twitter Has Its Issues – @MPECSInc

Okay, so to receive SMS updates via Twitter we need to have an account. :(

Well, we now have one … somewhere in the TwitterSphere …

As more and more services go to the “Cloud” service outages or interruptions become a lot more costly to _all_ of the folks using that service!

Okay, so we are finally in though the confirmation e-mail will not show up until OWN has their own issues fixed up.

• MPECS Inc. Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/#!/MPECSInc

What we will do with this new Twitter account is left to be seen since our online time is already quite saturated. And, there is not a lot that can be said in such a short number of characters . . . as our faithful blog readers already know! :D

For now, we have one and it will be used to subscribe to @XDNOC and others of interest.

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

OWN ExchangeDefender Outage – Begs The Question: Where Is the Redundancy?

Currently, OWN’s services are all down. _All_ down.

• ExchangeDefender
• Own Web Now Site
• ExchangeDefender NOC Blog

We are able to get status updates from OWN’s NOC Twitter account here:

• Twitter: ExchangeDefender NOC
• http://twitter.com/#!/xdnoc

Note that the last tweet indicated above points to a power plant being offline thus hitting the Data Centre (DC). Given the heat wave going on in some parts of the USA having a power plant go offline is not an unexpected event anymore.

Even our own power systems here in the province of Alberta are running close to their limits.

With ExchangeDefender’s user base growing at such a high rate over the last number of years, having a single point of failure for the services here in North America becomes a drawback.

Not to be harsh, but this outage truly begs the questions:

• Where is ExchangeDefender’s service redundancy?
• And, if there is indeed a redundant DC located elsewhere what happened to the failover sequences?

As more and more folks sign up for the ExchangeDefender service, this has to be a question asked at the highest levels. Given Vlad Mazek’s business acumen and past responsiveness to service issues we sure hope that this incident will bring about a solution that will virtually eliminate the possibility of the whole service going offline again.

Perhaps this will be a “growing pain” experience.

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

Configuring Microsoft’s iSCSI Target 3.3 – Some Notes on Cluster Based Initiators

We just went through configuring an iSCSI Target setup for a three node Hyper-V Failover Cluster. Here are some thoughts on the configuration in no particular order.

iSCSI Target Name

Something to consider when connecting the cluster nodes to the iSCSI based storage is the name of the target. Only _one_ target will be used for the entire cluster. Therefore, we needed to give the target a rather generic name.

• Cluster-VM-BU-Target

Note that the naming convention for the target is very specific.

iSCSI Software Target – IQN

When we set up the target we need to log on to each node and start the iSCSI Initiator service. On Server Core or Hyper-V Server 2008 R2:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt
2. iscsicpl.exe [Enter]
3. Click the Configuration Tab
4. Highlight the server’s Initiator name and Copy
5. Repeat for each node

Back on the iSCSI Software Target server we use the Advanced Identifiers dialogue when setting up the iSCSI Target to past in all of the cluster node’s IQNs.

When doing so we will be warned for each IQN beyond the first:

Microsoft iSCSI Software Target

You have assigned multiple initiators to this iSCSI target. Unless the server is in a cluster or uses a SAN file system, you should only allow one initiator access to an iSCSI target. Are you sure you want to allow multiple initiators to access this iSCSI target?

The answer is obviously yes for each prompt! :)

Once our target is configured we add the iSCSI Software Target server’s IP to the Targets tab on each node.

We then click the Auto Configure button shown above with all of the target VHDs showing up if everything is configured correctly.

iSCSI Target VHD to VM Connection

Once we have our storage configured and connected to the nodes, we initialize all of the new disks in Node 1’s Disk Management. From there we format them, give them specific names to identify them, and then set them to Offline status.

For the other nodes in the cluster we need only refresh the Disk Management view, ignore any Initialize Disk questions if requested, and then set the drives to Offline.

From there we can use Hyper-V Management to connect the iSCSI Target VHD to a specific VM via Hyper-V’s SCSI bus which is hot swap capable.

When we have all of the storage set up and set to Offline, we log onto the cluster based VM and set up the storage as needed.

iSCSI Software Target and MPIO

Now that we have all of the basic building blocks in place we will look at specific scenarios where the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target server has a number of LAN connections to serve up those targets. Introducing MPIO brings with it a level of complexity that may not be needed for our needs at this time though.

We will continue to test and work with this setup for backup targets for now.

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 EeeBox PC – How To Install Memory

Instead of re-inventing the wheel, here is a link to an excellent post on how to get to the memory slots in an Asus EeeBox PC:

• Martin Bergek: Upgrading the RAM on Eee Box

A while back we had picked up a set of plastic pry tools for our iMac as we were intending to get into the case to have a look around along with upgrading what components we could. They would be perfect for this task if we could find them! :(

We ended up using a pair of PC case slot covers with straight ends to do the prying after first using a finger nail to pull the end away from the cover. We will try and dig up the Apple tools or pick up another set online as they would be the perfect fit to get things started.

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 Thin PC Release Notes

The following is a copy and paste of the Windows Thin PC (Microsoft Micro Site) “Release Notes.htm” content found on the OS’s ISO. The hyperlinks have been removed from the first section since they point to the ISO’s virtual drive letter as the root:

Windows Thin PC Release Notes

5/20/2011

This document contains important information about known issues in Windows Thin PC.

Known Issues

Recommended hardware configuration

Missing Search functionality in Start menu

Adding and removing Windows features in Thin PC

Keyboard Filter may block accessibility

Cannot install .NET Framework 3.5

No support for certain Windows products and features

Write Filters: System goes into safe mode on reboot

Enhanced Write Filter cannot be disabled without commit

Recommended hardware configuration

• 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86)
• 1 GB RAM
• 4 GB available hard disk space
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or a later version driver

Missing Search functionality in Start menu

To reduce the Thin PC image size, Search functionality is not included in Thin PC. As a result, the Search bar does not exist on the Start menu. In addition, the File Open, Save, Save As, and Browse dialogs do not provide support for wildcard searches.

Adding and removing Windows features in Thin PC

Due to the locked-down mode of the Thin PC image, adding and removing Windows features is not supported in Thin PC.

Keyboard Filter may block accessibility

By design, Keyboard Filter may enable you to block certain features that may be important for accessibility. If your application scenarios require specific accessibility functionality, make sure that you verify those scenarios after enabling Keyboard Filter.

Cannot install .NET Framework 3.5

.NET Framework 3.5 is not a supported environment. The alternative is to download .NET Framework 4.x, then recompile and test your managed applications. Only .NET Framework 2.0 is shipped as part of Windows Thin PC.

No support for certain Windows products and features

Windows Thin PC does not support the following products and features:

• .NET Framework 3.5
• Premium codecs: Microsoft AC3 Encoder (Dolby), Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder (MPEG-2, AAC), Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder (MPEG-2, H.264), MPEG-2 Audio and Video Encoder, MPEG Layer-3 Audio Codec (MP3), MPEG-4 Decoders, Windows Media Video Codecs (VC-1)
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Windows Live Essentials

Write Filters: System goes into safe mode on reboot

When you use the Enhanced Write Filter Manager (ewfmgr.exe) or File Base Write Filter Manager (fbwfmgr.exe) with the /enable command and then reboot, your device goes to a screen with options to Start Windows Normally or in Safe Mode. This can be fixed by setting the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store to ignore all boot errors, which is a default setting for write filter in the Thin PC image.

Type the following command to set the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) BootStatusPolicy to ignore faults:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures

Enhanced Write Filter cannot be disabled without commit

When in EWF RAM Reg mode, you cannot disable the write filter without committing changes. RAM Reg mode requires you to commit the overlay to disable the write filter. The settings are stored in the registry and the /disable command will not persist without a /commit command. This is a limitation of RAM Reg mode. The workaround is to restart the device before disabling write filter.

© 2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved.

With some of the noted restrictions it becomes quite clear that this OS is truly intended to be a thin client for an already existing or soon to be set up VDI/VDA infrastructure or virtualized application delivery.

We will be installing the OS onto an Asus EeeBox PC barebones unit (EB1012P-B0320) that we just received to get a better idea of what the OS is about, its usefulness, how we can further lock it down via Group Policy, and more.

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

Intel RMM3: Error Opening Video Socket Fix

Intel has released an update for the RMM3 module that is supposed to fix the error when trying to establish a remote KVM session.

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Intel Remote Management Module 3 – Error Opening Video Socket

The downloads for the Intel Server Board S3420GP series can be found here:

• Intel Download Center: Intel Server Board S3420GP

Note that the Intel Server Board S3420GPRX has a different firmware set than the Intel Server Board S3420GPLX.

There is also a catch in the BMC installation procedure that should be noted at step 3 of the BMC firmware Release Notes.TXT file:

=====================================================================
            INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
=====================================================================

  1. Copy the BMC_0124.ima, fwpiaupd.efi, ipmi.efi, upd_BMC.nsh files
     to a USB key, hard disk drive or floppy drive.
     All of these files must reside in the same directory.

  2. Boot to EFI and then run the upd_BMC.nsh script file to update the BMC FW.

     Using fwpiaupd.efi with your own command line parameters is not supported
     and doing so is at your own risk!

     *** If you have an Intel Remote Management Module 3 plugged into the baseboard ***
     *** then proceed to the next step otherwise go to step #4 and proceed ***

  3. Power off the system and cycle AC power

  4. Install latest available FRU/SDR package.
=====================================================================
                           KNOWN ISSUES/WORKAROUNDS
=====================================================================
  - Users of the KVM feature will need to update their client Java JRE to version
    1.6 (JRE 6) or later otherwise the KVM redirection application will not launch.
    The latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) update can be downloaded from here:
    http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

  - The following features are not supported in BMC FW :
    ∙ IPMI serial channel, COM port MUX switching and the terminal mode feature.
=====================================================================
                           ISSUES FIXED
=====================================================================

01.24
  -  Issue with Win7/IE8/Java 6 Update 22 through RMM3 connection/remote access.

Essentially it looks as though we are visiting most of our clients with RMM3 and RMM3LITE modules installed to run these updates to power cycle those boxes. Fortunately some have their servers hooked into a UPS or PDU that allows us to power cycle the A/C remotely!

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

USB 3.0 At 5Gbit/Second Versus Intel’s Thunderbolt at Dual 10Gbit/Second Full Duplex Channels

USB 3.0 has been a much anticipated update to the USB spec since we have all felt the I/O bandwidth pinch that the USB 2.0 bus provided (~30-35MB/Second).

USB 3.0

So far, our experiences with the USB 3.0 implementation both on Intel’s motherboards via the Renesas USB 3.0 chipset and on add-in cards using the same or other USB 3.0 chip has been spotty at best. The new spec is definitely showing its immaturity at this time.

However, that 90MB/Second backup speed for ShadowProtect or the 110MB/Second copy speeds to a USB 3.0 connected hard drive (that copy speed is the sustained data throughput limit a 7200 RPM SATA drive has on average) is a real benefit to us here.

Thunderbolt

Enter in Intel’s “new” specification called Thunderbolt.

• Intel: Thunderbolt Technology Page
• 

Thunderbolt is a dual channel fully duplexed 10Gbit/Second I/O specification with a connection that is shared with DisplayPort.

• Apple: Thunderbolt Technology

From the Apple page linked above:

We came across Thunderbolt not because of our Mac involvement, which is currently minimal due to client server based needs, but because we had signed into the Promise Partner site and saw this:

• Promise Pegasus RAID Storage with Thunderbolt

So, we highlighted Thunderbolt Technology and ran a Bing Search out of IE:

• Bing Search Results for Thunderbolt Technology

Among the results was the following article:

• Engadget: Apple and Intel unveil Thunderbolt I/O technology

Thunderbolt was originally “Light Peak” which is tagged in the above Engadget article:

• Engadget: Light Peak Tagged Articles

A good portion of the above tagged articles have come in the last six months!

Some Thoughts on Thunderbolt

With USB 3.0 being relatively new to the I/O technology scene and now with Thunderbolt going live on Apple products we have what looks to be an I/O technology competition/war brewing . . . maybe.

The following snip is from Apple’s site showing the back of their current line of iMacs (as of this writing):

Note the distinct lack of a USB 3.0 port on the back of the iMac. :(

Back when we did start to see FireWire showing up on most PC motherboards after the technology was introduced on Apple platforms. However it was not adopted too widely by peripheral manufacturers beyond video camera manufacturers and a few external storage manufacturers.

One of the benefits to Thunderbolt is its use of an existing DisplayPort connector. Many Intel motherboards are already shipping with at least one of these ports on board so hopefully enabling Thunderbolt Technology on those ports would not be too much trouble.

However, the lack of a USB 3.0 port on an Apple forces manufacturers to configure their connectivity type devices with at least two ports to accommodate the two specifications . . . or run with one or the other as in the case of the Promise Pegasus that is Thunderbolt only.

Having to configure two separate connectivity technologies on any direct attached device can be quite expensive both in R&D and manufacturing.

Conclusion

Hopefully we are not on the brink of another form of technology competition much like VHS versus Beta or Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD.

FireWire had its place back when we had very limited I/O connectivity solutions.

But today, with USB 3.0 providing more than enough bandwidth to run a 7200 RPM SATA drive at its full sustained transfer rate we would be hard pressed to look to Thunderbolt as a “better” option.

We see a niche for direct attached storage devices like the Pegasus and others.

However, for most folks that are keen on streaming video, storing video, streaming music, and storing music there are a plethora of Open Source and Windows Home Server based solutions that provide ample storage _and_ are Mac compatible.

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 – Network Files Not Showing Up After Save, Copy, or Other File Activities – File Cache Lifetime

Once in a while we see a behaviour in our Windows 7 systems that is a bit puzzling.

While working on a Win7 VM creating our PDF invoices the local Windows 7 workstation where they are e-mailed out from does not see the file at all in Windows Explorer.

Yet, if the filename such as “Invoice 12345 Client.PDF” is punched into the Search field the file shows up as being there.

If the file in the search result is double clicked to open or copy there is an error stating that the file does not exist! Click the X to the right of the search term and the file is not listed there after the search either.

After much research we have figured out what we need to do to reduce the likelihood that the behaviour will happen, or if it does happen the time for the file to show up is greatly reduced.

• Windows Server Forums: How to Disable SMB2 Caching on a per application basis, or how to detect SMB2 ?
• MSDN Open Specifications Developer: SMB2 registry settings
• Posts on this forum topic are very informative.
• Microsoft TechNet: SMB2 Client Redirector Caches Explained

The last one has an explanation of all of the registry settings.

We will be configuring the registry settings into our Windows Computers Policy GPO with reduced time settings to see if the changes make a difference. When waiting for the file to show up in Windows Explorer it sure does not seem like 10 seconds!

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

Intel DQ67EP and Antec ISK 300-150 or 300-65 Integration Notes

We have been building a number of Mini-ITX desktop systems in the Antec ISK 300-150 case. The unit is a great value for the money with good quality and construction built into the unit.

Protect The Finish

One of the things that we noticed right away was that the black finish scuffed _very_ easily relative to other Antec cases we have used in the past.

So, we make sure to take one of the box’s foam pads and use it as a pad to keep the case on while installing the system’s components. We use the other pad to store the case lid while building the system and installing the motherboard sticker on the lid.

Drive Height Caveat

Seagate’s new Constellation.2 1TB SATA drive is a lot taller (15.0mm) than a laptop standard height 2.5” drive (9.5mm). This must be kept in mind when integrating any enterprise class 2.5” drive at 15.0mm into a consumer class case or even USB enclosure.

Note that the drive tray has a lip on one side of it where the Intel 320 Series SSD is installed. So, we need to make sure to install the drive on the side of the tray that does not have a lip.

Also, the drive sits a little high relative to the case cover by about ~1.0mm. Given that some care needs to be taken to set the cover back in place. Once installed though, everything fits well together.

Intel DQ67EP and USB 3

We have had our fair share of struggles with the new USB 3.0 chipset made by Renesas found on the Intel motherboards.

In this case we had a Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 (DTU30G2/16GB) plugged into the USB 3.0 port on the Intel Desktop Board DQ67EPB3 (BOXDQ67EP) with all of the needed OS and driver files on it.

We managed to boot to the Kingston, though we had to change USB 3.0 ports once or twice during our initial run through to get it to be recognized as a boot device in the BIOS, load the Renesas driver as requested by WinPE, and try to move forward from there.

As soon as we clicked on the SSD for the OS to install to create a partition and move forward the setup routine failed with an error stating that it could not create a System Partition.

We ended up needing to use a USB 2.0 flash drive to install the Windows OS. In our opinion USB 3.0 has a ways to go before it will be “mainstream” and foolproof.

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 Interesting Mobile Device Security Reading

These links are courtesy of Security MVP Harry Waldron.

• Harry Waldron – Computer Security News blog: Mobile Device Security - Best Practices
• Some thoughts on how to protect a device from various attack vectors.
• Symantec Community Security Blog: Android Threat Trend Shows That Criminals are Thinking Outside the Box
• While Symantec has a vested interest this post has some good reading on the various attack vectors.
• PCMag Blogs: Security Watch: Is 2011 Finally the Actual Year of Mobile Malware?
• References the Symantec blog post.

This final link comes via Susan Bradley:

• DailyTech Gadgets: Lost Your iPhone? Someone Can Grab Your Password in Six Minutes
• The title is pretty self explanatory. There is a bit of skill involved with the process but it _can_ be done.

It is up to us to advise our clients on any attack vector that may present a problem for their business and some ways to mitigate exposure. This is especially true for clients that hold sensitive client information in their systems.

The more integrated into our client’s systems mobile devices get the greater the need for caution _before_ integrating any device into those systems.

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

Kingston DTR500 Series USB 2.0 Gives Great Performance For the Money

We have been looking for a USB 2.0 replacement for the OCZ ATV Turbo USB 2.0 flash drives that give us consistent 35MB/Second read and 30MB/Second writes.

At the recommendation of one of our local suppliers we picked up a 16GB DTR500 flash drive to do some testing with.

Their advertised read/write is 30MB/Second and 20MB/Second respectively.

• Kingston DataTraveler R500 Datasheet page

So far in our testing the flash drive has come pretty close to their claimed read and write speeds. Because we use these flash drives for OS loading we need the read speeds much more than the write speeds.

So, we will be picking up more of these flash drives soon.

By the way, cost wise they are quite reasonable for the size of the drives too. We can now store the required OSs on the flash drive itself and move the required OS to the root to boot and load it with in seconds.

Plus we can augment with the required drivers for the specific boards we work with all on one device. This will make our system loading setup a lot more efficient.

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