Yesterday was my first time to get an install of Exchange 2010 SP1 up and running in a production environment with Windows 2008 as the OS. I ran into a few hiccups and would like to share.
In this particular project, the original OS install was done by someone else. This may have caused part of my confusion as I didn't closely checkout the installation before starting.
This is an Exchange 2003 environment where Exchange 2010 is being added and coexistence will continue for about a week. Exchange 2010 was installed from the Exchange 2010 SP1 download rather than any sort of upgrade.
During the installation, an option exists to install necessary prerequisites. I figured I'd try it out and see. Unfortunately, even on a fully patched Windows 2008 server, I was still forced to download 6 hotfixes and additional chunks of software. I don't recally downloading any of these for Windows 2008 R2. So, it may be OS specific.
The Web server role was added, but did not have the necessary service roles. So, I added everything that was requested by setup. I'm not sure whether the Web server role was added by setup or whether it was preexisting when I started and that is why the setup was off.
When the installation was done, I patched it with rollup 1 for Exchange 2010 SP1. Finally it's time to test.
The first big issue was OWA not working properly on Exchange 2010. It went to a blank page instead of providing the logon screen and no errors were generated. It turns out that the Web server role did not have redirection or static pages enabled. I enabled both and then it worked fine. I'm not sure that the static pages were required as it appeared to be a redirection issue, but since it's a normal option to me, I turned it on.
Again, I'm not sure whether the odd IIS configuration was due to the installation routine or the original setup performed by another tech. However, it is interesting that Exchange setup did not tell me that the redirection was required. And it definitely is for correct OWA logons with forms-based authentication.
When searching related to my OWA issue, I saw that there are a number of people that have various OWA problems after applying Rollup 1 for Exchange 2010 SP1. However, my issue was not related to that.
My second big issue was that no routing group connector was created between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010 as should have been. I created it manually (New-RoutingGroupConnector) and all was good. During my multiple install attempts after applying updates, I seleted the option to reuse the existing installation options. I think the requirement to create the routing group connector may have been lost because of that, but I'm not sure.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The Best Little KVM Cheap
I've used a number of inexpensive KVM switches in the past, starting way back with the mechanical ones. Until now, I've always found them to be quirky. Often they don't handle higher video resolutions well, or the mouse and keyboard don't reconnect properly on the first try.
Recently we've been buying D-Link KVM-221 2-port USB KVM switches for about $50. I can say this is the first time I've never had any hiccups at all in implementation. It even includes the cables.
Recently we've been buying D-Link KVM-221 2-port USB KVM switches for about $50. I can say this is the first time I've never had any hiccups at all in implementation. It even includes the cables.
Unable to Use a USB Mouse in XP
I ran into one of the strangest things a while back. An XP computer that could not use a USB mouse. You could plug the mouse in, the drivers would load, but it would not be usable.
Yesterday, I needed to replace the hard drive in that computer. After imaging the new drive I cleaned up some old junk software. One of the things I cleaned up was Flip software leftover from a Belkin KVM. It was running automatically at Startup.
After the Flip software was taken out of Startup, the mouse worked fine.
Oddly, the USB keyboard worked fine whether the software was installed or not.
Yesterday, I needed to replace the hard drive in that computer. After imaging the new drive I cleaned up some old junk software. One of the things I cleaned up was Flip software leftover from a Belkin KVM. It was running automatically at Startup.
After the Flip software was taken out of Startup, the mouse worked fine.
Oddly, the USB keyboard worked fine whether the software was installed or not.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Word Has Command-Line Switches
Until today, I had no idea that there were command-line switches (options) that you can use when starting Word.
I have both Office 2003 and Office 2007 installed on my PC. All of the doc files were opening automatically in Word 2003, but I wanted them to open in Word 2007 by default. I tried changing the file association, but it wouldn't take.
My final solution was to run winword.exe /r from the Office12 folder. This re-registered the registry keys for Word 2007.
If you are curious about other Word switches check them out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/210565
I have both Office 2003 and Office 2007 installed on my PC. All of the doc files were opening automatically in Word 2003, but I wanted them to open in Word 2007 by default. I tried changing the file association, but it wouldn't take.
My final solution was to run winword.exe /r from the Office12 folder. This re-registered the registry keys for Word 2007.
If you are curious about other Word switches check them out here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/210565
Monday, September 20, 2010
Blackberry Activation Error with Transport Rules
[40239] (05/12 01:29:44.514):{0x117C} {Userx@Companyx.com} Still handled by desktopAs you can see, it is complaining about being still handled by Blackberry Desktop. On further investigation, this really just means that the message coming back from the Blackberry for the activation has been modified. So, the BES server refuses to touch it.
[30160] (05/12 01:29:44.514):{0x117C} {Userx@Companyx.com} GetDeviceId() did not return a PIN, PIN currently is not set for this user.
[40371] (05/12 01:29:44.514):{0x117C} {Userx@Companyx.com} UserControl::HandleDatabaseChange - CalSyncState is empty
[40442] (05/12 01:29:44.514):{0x117C} User settings: email=Userx@Companyx.com, routing=Userx@Companyx.com, service=, device=, calendar=0, MDS=1, userOTAFM=0, incradle=0, SMIME=0, sentItems=1, dir=Userx, server=Exchange1
It turned out that there was an Exchange transport rule that was being used for add a CC for all messages delivered to this user. It was configured as an alternative to forwarding in the user mailbox, but had the same effect. After disabling the transport rule activation completed properly.
Disaster Recovery Is Not Just a Technology Issue
A basic disaster recovery plan for small business (and some larger ones) consists basically of redundancy in the server (RAID, redundant power) and a nightly backup. The theory is that server redundancy protects you most of the time and if that happens to fail, then you get your data from backup. We recently had a server failure just like that but with a twist.
A RAID 5 array failed in a server and took out information that was business critical. The failure occured on an Thursday evening. Reviewing the backup log, the backup Thursday night appeared to complete successfully, but in fact it hadn't. The RAID 5 array failed partway through the backup. This leaves us restoring to Wednesday nights backup. All of Thursday's data changes were lost.
Here is where the twist comes in. This organization scans in historical documents and then shreds them afterwards. After the document has been shredded there is no backup copy except on the computer system. This is one of the databases that was lost.
Because the document is shredded before a backup is taken, there is small window where loss of data is an issue due to only a single failure. To protect that data, shredding needs to be delayed at least one day to ensure there is a good backup. And depending on how paranoid you are, maybe two.
In this case, no documents were processed in the lost window, but it could easily have happened.
A RAID 5 array failed in a server and took out information that was business critical. The failure occured on an Thursday evening. Reviewing the backup log, the backup Thursday night appeared to complete successfully, but in fact it hadn't. The RAID 5 array failed partway through the backup. This leaves us restoring to Wednesday nights backup. All of Thursday's data changes were lost.
Here is where the twist comes in. This organization scans in historical documents and then shreds them afterwards. After the document has been shredded there is no backup copy except on the computer system. This is one of the databases that was lost.
Because the document is shredded before a backup is taken, there is small window where loss of data is an issue due to only a single failure. To protect that data, shredding needs to be delayed at least one day to ensure there is a good backup. And depending on how paranoid you are, maybe two.
In this case, no documents were processed in the lost window, but it could easily have happened.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Virus and Malware Removal
There are many web sites out there devoted to removing viruses and malware from your computer. All of them describe long and difficult processes required to identify and remove unwanted software. What makes the removal difficult is that many viruses and malware hide in memory. As you remove infected files from disk, the program in memory adds itself back to another location.
By far the fastest and easiest way to remove viruses and malware is to remove the hard drive and scan it in a different computer. By doing this, you ensure that the virus or malware is not running in memory when the scan is performed. As a best practice you should scan with multiple tools to be sure you catch everything.
I do this by using external USB enclosures for hard drives. I have three separate enclosures for SATA 3.5 inch, PATA 3.5 inch, and PATA 2.5 inch drives. This allows me to externally mount both desktop and laptop drives.
As an alternative, you can boot up by using something like the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and scan from there. It gets you to the same place, but you are limited to the tools included on that CD instead of your preferred antivirus tools.
By far the fastest and easiest way to remove viruses and malware is to remove the hard drive and scan it in a different computer. By doing this, you ensure that the virus or malware is not running in memory when the scan is performed. As a best practice you should scan with multiple tools to be sure you catch everything.
I do this by using external USB enclosures for hard drives. I have three separate enclosures for SATA 3.5 inch, PATA 3.5 inch, and PATA 2.5 inch drives. This allows me to externally mount both desktop and laptop drives.
As an alternative, you can boot up by using something like the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and scan from there. It gets you to the same place, but you are limited to the tools included on that CD instead of your preferred antivirus tools.
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