Author: Ward

MDT 2012 Beta 2 Released

The latest version of MDT is now available on Connect (Join the MDT 2012 Beta 2 Connect program here!)

MDT 2012 Beta 2 offers new User-Driven Installation components and extensibility for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012 as well as integration with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) for Lite Touch Installation remote control and diagnostics.

Key benefits include:

  • Full use of the capabilities provided by System Center Configuration Manager 2012 for OS deployment.
  • Improved Lite Touch user experience and functionality.
  • A smooth and simple upgrade process for all existing MDT users.

New features For System Center Configuration Manager customers:

  • Support for Configuration Manager 2012 (while still supporting Configuration Manager 2007)
  • New User-Driven Installation components for Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2012
    • Extensible wizard and designer, additional integration with Configuration Manager to deliver a more customized OS experience, support for more imaging scenarios, and an enhanced end-user deployment experience
  • Ability to migrate MDT 2012 task sequences from Configuration Manager 2007 to Configuration Manager 2012

New features For Lite Touch Installation:

  • Integration with the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) for remote control and diagnostics
  • New monitoring capabilities to see the progress of currently running deployments
  • Support for deploying Windows to computers using UEFI
  • Ability to deploy Windows 7 so that the computer will start from a new VHD file, “Deploy to VHD”
  • Improved deployment wizard user experience

MDT 2012 the final release will be available download through to January 2012 I think.

VMware PowerCLI Configure Multipath Policy

Today i  needed to configure the Multipath Policy from “Most Recently Used” to “Round Robin (VMware) on our vSphere 4.1 and HP EVA4400 environment. After reading “Configuration best practices for HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) family and VMware vSphere 4” I decided to change the path status

To check the status of the Multipath Policy you can run the following PowerCLI script:

Per host:

Get-VMhost ESXHOST | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk
image9

Per Cluster:

Get-Cluster CLUSTERNAME| Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk

To change the Multipath Policy you can run the following command:

Per Host:

Get-VMHost ESXHOST | Get-ScsiLun -CanonicalName "naa.6005*" | Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy "roundrobin"

image10

 

Per Cluster:
get-cluster “Cluster Name” | Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk | Where-Object {$_.MultipathPolicy -ne “RoundRobin”} | Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

Special thanks to: VMPROS

VMware View XP persistent disk can not save outlook.ost c:\document and settings\…..

I’m busy with created a new a new pool with presentment disks.

The View desktops we’ve got setup are using linked clones and persistent disks which map to the D:\ in the users sessions. Of course this means the users profile is loaded to the D:\ instead of C:\ in the virtual desktops. My issue is, when a new users comes from our old environment into the test view setup, their Outlook is trying to find their OST file on the C:\ (c:\document and settings\…etc). The users data has been loaded to the D:\ though. The only way I’ve found to get around this is going into the Contol Panel in the users session, deleting their Outlook profile,

Solution:

Microsoft saves information about profile under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook

So, within regedit, I right-clicked on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook then chose Export. For Save as Type, I changed the value to "Text Files (*.txt)". I then opened the text file I created with Notepad. You can’t just search for "Outlook.ost", since there are null, i.e. 00, characters stored between each character. They show up in an ASCII representation as dots. E.g. Outlook.ost would be O.u.t.l.o.o.k…o.s.t.

Since the "Outlook.ost" could be broken across multiple lines, I decided just to search for o.s.t. I found the following in the text file I had created.

Value 31

  Name:            001f6610

  Type:            REG_BINARY

  Data:           

00000000   43 00 3a 00 5c 00 44 00 – 6f 00 63 00 75 00 6d 00  C.:.\.D.o.c.u.m.

00000010   65 00 6e 00 74 00 73 00 – 20 00 61 00 6e 00 64 00  e.n.t.s. .a.n.d.

00000020   20 00 53 00 65 00 74 00 – 74 00 69 00 6e 00 67 00   .S.e.t.t.i.n.g.

00000030   73 00 5c 00 4a 00 69 00 – 6d 00 5c 00 4c 00 6f 00  s.\.J.i.m.\.L.o.

00000040   63 00 61 00 6c 00 20 00 – 53 00 65 00 74 00 74 00  c.a.l. .S.e.t.t.

00000050   69 00 6e 00 67 00 73 00 – 5c 00 41 00 70 00 70 00  i.n.g.s.\.A.p.p.

00000060   6c 00 69 00 63 00 61 00 – 74 00 69 00 6f 00 6e 00  l.i.c.a.t.i.o.n.

00000070   20 00 44 00 61 00 74 00 – 61 00 5c 00 4d 00 69 00   .D.a.t.a.\.M.i.

00000080   63 00 72 00 6f 00 73 00 – 6f 00 66 00 74 00 5c 00  c.r.o.s.o.f.t.\.

00000090   4f 00 75 00 74 00 6c 00 – 6f 00 6f 00 6b 00 5c 00  O.u.t.l.o.o.k.\.

000000a0   6f 00 75 00 74 00 6c 00 – 6f 00 6f 00 6b 00 2e 00  o.u.t.l.o.o.k…

000000b0   6f 00 73 00 74 00 00 00 -                          o.s.t…

I could also have searched in the .reg file I created when I exported the registry information from the other computer. But, again, you can’t just search for "Outlook.ost" in the .reg file you created, either, since the information in it is the hexadecimal representation of the binary data in the registry keys. You would need to convert a string, such as "ost" to hexadecimal form. You can do that at String – ASCII, HEX, Binary Converter. In the String field, I put in ost. The converter showed me the equivalent hex value is 6F 73 74. Note: the converter shows decimal/ASCII, binary, and hex values. Make sure you use the correct one. Also note that the hexadecimal representation of "OST" is not the same as "ost". Since the error message I received referred to Outlook.ost, I converted "ost" to hexadecimal. Again, it may be better to limit the length of the string to reduce the chance it will be broken across multiple lines in the file.

Once you have the hexadecimal equivalent of the ASCII string, you still can’t just search for it, i.e. a search for 6F7374 wouldn’t work. The hexadecimal numbers are stored in the .reg file with commas and the null character, 00, between them. I.e., I would need to search for 6f,00,73,00,74 instead.

In the .reg file found it among the following lines:

"001f6610"=hex:43,00,3a,00,5c,00,44,00,6f,00,63,00,75,00,6d,00,65,00,6e,00,74,\

  00,73,00,20,00,61,00,6e,00,64,00,20,00,53,00,65,00,74,00,74,00,69,00,6e,00,\

  67,00,73,00,5c,00,4a,00,69,00,6d,00,5c,00,4c,00,6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,20,\

  00,53,00,65,00,74,00,74,00,69,00,6e,00,67,00,73,00,5c,00,41,00,70,00,70,00,\

  6c,00,69,00,63,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,20,00,44,00,61,00,74,00,61,\

  00,5c,00,4d,00,69,00,63,00,72,00,6f,00,73,00,6f,00,66,00,74,00,5c,00,4f,00,\

  75,00,74,00,6c,00,6f,00,6f,00,6b,00,5c,00,6f,00,75,00,74,00,6c,00,6f,00,6f,\

  00,6b,00,2e,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,00,00

I noticed it was associated with a "001f6610" entry. When I had searched the text file, I had also seen Outlook.ost associated with "Name: 001f6610".

You can delete the following registry key with group policy preferences to disable using Offline Folders after disabling Use Cached Mode in Group Policy:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a\001f6610

Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1

The Exchange CXP team released Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2010 SP1 to the Download Center.

This update contains a number of customer-reported and internally found issues since the release of SP1. See ‘KB 2608646: Description of Update Rollup 6 for Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1’ for more details.

This update contains a number of customer reported and internally found issues since the release of RU5.

The most Important Fixes:

  • 2627769 Some time zones in OWA are not synchronized with Windows in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2528854 The Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Replication service crashes on a computer that has Exchange Server 2010 SP1 installed
  • 2544246 You receive a NRN of a meeting request 120 days later after the recipient accepted the request in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
  • 2616127 "0x80041606" error code when you use Outlook in online mode to search for a keyword against a mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 environment.
  • 2549183 "There are no objects to select" message when you try to use the EMC to specify a server to connect to in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment

Other Fixes:

  • 2431609 An update is available that updates the message of a retention policy in OWA for Exchange Server 2010
  • 2449266 EWS drops the TCP connection to the EWS client application without any error message in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2480474 A Users do not receive quota warning messages after applying SP1 for Exchange 2010
  • 2514820 An incoming fax message is not delivered to the recipient in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
  • 2521927 Disabling the Exchange ActiveSync Integration feature for OWA does not take effect in OWA Premium clients in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2535289 The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes occasionally when you run an antivirus application on an Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox server
  • 2536313 Slow message delivery and mailbox access for journaling mailboxes on an Exchange Server 2010 server
  • 2548246 The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service crashes occasionally when a folder view is corrupted on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox server
  • 2549289 A RBAC role assignee can unexpectedly run the Add-MailboxPermission command or the Remove-MailboxPermission command on an Exchange Server 2010 server that is outside the role assignment scope
  • 2555851 A mailbox does not appear in certain address lists after you run commands on the mailbox in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
  • 2559814 A user cannot add or remove delegates from a mailbox by using Outlook in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2561514 Exchange Server 2003 user cannot view the free/busy information of a user in a different federated organization
  • 2563860 You cannot create a new mailbox database if you already have 1000 mailbox databases in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2567409 Certain free/busy messages are not replicated from an Exchange Server 2010 server to an Exchange Server 2003 server
  • 2571791 Retention policies are applied to Contact items unexpectedly in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2572052 Certain properties of a recurring meeting request from external email accounts are missing in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
  • 2575005 You cannot start the EMC or the EMS in an Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1 environment
  • 2578631 Certain users cannot send email messages to a mail-enabled public folder in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2579172 Items that are deleted or moved still appear in the original folder when you use Office Outlook in online mode to access an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox
  • 2579671 No results returned when you use the ExpandGroup method in EWS to retrieve a list of members of a Dynamic Distribution Group in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2582095 The SmtpMaxMessagesPerConnection property of a send connector is not replicated to the subscribed Edge Transport server in an Exchange Server 2010 environment
  • 2600835 The RPC Client Access service crashes when you delete an attachment of an item by using Outlook in online mode in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment
  • 2601701 The memory usage of the MSExchangeRepl.exe process keeps increasing when you perform a VSS backup on Exchange Server 2010 databases
  • 2617126 The Store.exe process crashes when you send an email message that has attachments in an Exchange Server 2010 SP1 environment

 

General Notes

An issue with management of RBAC roles when RU6 is partially deployed in the organization: Due to changes shipped in this update, certain warnings can be displayed when managing RBAC roles, if RU6 is not yet deployed to all servers in the organization. Please see the following KB article for more information:

Managing RBAC roles might display warnings or errors if Exchange 2010 SP1 RU6 is partially deployed in the organization
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2638351

Note for Forefront users: For those of you running Forefront Protection for Exchange, before installing the update, stop all Forefront services.

New VMware View Clients for iPad, Android and Cius ;)

The new VMware View Client for iPad is out and it offers some great new features including an innovative new presentation mode supporting Apple AirPlay. More on this shortly…

VMware View makes it easy to extend to your users the opportunity to work where you want and on the device they choose. Today, we are excited to make this even easier with the release three new or updated mobile clients:

  • VMware View Client for iPad 1.2 (Photo below showing new presentation mode!*)

ViewClient_iPad_Presentation_Mode

  • VMware View Client for Android Tablets

Android_touchpad

  • VMware View Client for Cius

Let’s talk about the new clients…

VMware View Client for iPad 1.2
Building on the earlier View Client for iPad we released in March, VMware View Client for iPad 1.2 makes it easier, faster and better than ever to connect to your View desktop.

Optimized for VMware View 5 Glimlach
With support for VMware View 5, you can get better performance with reduced bandwidth options as well as more resilient connections to your desktop than previous versions.

Move Back and Forth between Windows Desktop and iOS Apps
Now with support for background multitasking, you can jump from your Windows desktop to another iPad app and then right back into the Windows desktop to where you left off!

Simpler to Connect with Embedded RSA Soft Token Knipogende emoticon
If you need to use an RSA key to authenticate to connect to your View Desktop, just activate the RSA soft token built into the View Client for iPad and you just need to enter your RSA PIN when you connect to your View desktop.

Support for iOS 5 and Apple AirPlay
That right… VMware View Client for iPad 1.2 works well with iOS 5 and takes advantage of Apple AirPlay and an available AppleTV to use your big screen TV as a display for your View desktop. While some people might think that Apple TV is just for fun, it can now blur the lines between work and play and represents the best the post-PC era has to offer.

Work Smarter with Presentation Mode *
Use an external monitor or AirPlay in iOS 5 and the iPad display turns into a trackpad / keyboard while the external screen shows your View desktop!

Speaks Your Language
The latest VMware View client is now available in English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. When working multi-byte Asian languages, the new local input mode enables you to type in full lines of complete multi-byte words and then send them to your View desktop.

The new VMware View Client for iPad is available in the Apple App Store today! Check it out!

For those of you who follow this blog and use Android based tablets. Today we are happy to release our production Android clients for Android Tablets and the Cisco Cius. After all it is about supporting the tablet you choose.

VMware View Client for Android Tablets and the Cisco Cius
Whether you are using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 or 10.1, an LG/T-mobile G-Slate, a Motorola Xoom or any of the other newly available Honeycomb-based Android tablets or the Cisco Cius, you can get the most of your View desktop on the Android tablet you choose.

Optimized for VMware View 5
The VMware View Client for Android Tablets is the first Android client to support the PCoIP display protocol for best performance with VMware View 4.6 and View 5 users. With support for VMware View 5, you can get better performance with reduced bandwidth options as well as more resilient connections to your View desktop.

Move Back and Forth between Windows Desktop and Android Apps
Leveraging the power of Android multitasking, you can jump from your Windows desktop to another Android app and then right back into the Windows desktop to where you left off!

Speaks Your Language
The latest VMware View Client for Android is available in English, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. When working multi-byte Asian languages, local input mode enables you to type in full lines of complete multi-byte words and then send them to your View desktop.

The new VMware View Client for Android Tablets is available in the Android Marketplace and the VMware View Client for Cius will soon be available in Cisco’s AppHQ. Check them out today!

DPM force removal agent from server

Error:

clip_image002

How to Uninstall a Protection Agent

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb809113.aspx

Remove DPM agent from the DPM agent console

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff634203.aspx

Removing a Protected Computer

Remove-ProductionServer.ps1 -DPMServername [DPMServerName] -PSName [ProtectedComputerName]

clip_image004

DPM cannot create a backup because Windows Server Backup (WSB) on the protected computer encountered an error (WSB Event ID: 521, WSB Error Code: 0x807800A1).

Error:
The following alert became inactive at 27-9-2011 3:15:52.

Status: Inactive

Data source type:

Data source: System Protection

Computer: <ServerName>

Description: Last 1 recovery points not created.

DPM cannot create a backup because Windows Server Backup (WSB) on the protected computer encountered an error (WSB Event ID: 521, WSB Error Code: 0x807800A1).

For more information, open DPM Administrator Console and review the alert details in the Monitoring task area.

Solution:

Some noncritical volumes are included in the system state backup image when you use the "-allCritical" switch in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows 7 only for non SP1 systems. SP1 includes this hotfix.

DPM DCOM was unable to communicate with the computer <servername> using any of the configured protocols or A DPM agent failed to communicate with the DPM service on <servername> because of a communication error.

Windows 2008 R2

DCOM was unable to communicate with the computer <servername> using any of the configured protocols.

image

Windows 2003 R2

A DPM agent failed to communicate with the DPM service on <servername>because of a communication error. Make sure that <servername>  is remotely accessible from the computer running the DPM agent. If a firewall is enabled on <servername>, make sure that it is not blocking requests from the computer running the DPM agent (Error code: 0x800706ba, full name: <servername>).
image

DPM Server Warning
The DPM protection agent on <servername> could not be contacted. Subsequent protection activities for this computer may fail if the connection is not established. The attempted contact failed for the following reason: (ID 3122)

The protection agent operation on <servername> failed because the service did not respond. (ID 316 Details: Internal error code: 0x8099090E)

image

Solution:

On the Workgroup Server
SetDpmServer.exe –dpmservername <servername> -isnondomainserver –username <dpmuseraccount> –productionserverdnssuffix <fqdn>

On the DPM Server

Attach-NonDomainServer.ps1 –dpmservername <servername> –PSName <servername> –UserName <dpmuseraccount>

clip_image008

Don’t forget to set Password never Expires on the DPM User account

Running Windows Update on a TMG Firewall Fails with Result Code 80072EE2

Recently I have encountered a problem with the Windows Update client on a server with Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 installed. The Error is: Windows could not search for new updates with error code: 80072EE2.

When this occurs, Malware Inspection and Network Inspection Systems signature updates are received without issue.

To resolve this issue, open an elevated command prompt and enter the following command:

netsh winhttp set proxy localhost:8080

If you need to configure Windows Update on the TMG firewall to work with WSUS, read this blog post on the Forefront TMG product team blog.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator

lync-server-2010-logo2[1]

A handy spreadsheet for calculating a user’s hardware requirements based on information that the administrator supplies about number of users, types of communication and expected traffic has been made available by Microsoft. The download available by clicking here and the corresponding Microsoft Word document explains the tool and how to use it.

image

Translate »