Office365 - Add a 'blank' A record

I have recently started moving customers across to Office365 in earnest. I have been very impressed by the level of functionallity backing the Office365 offering. Via PowerShell, I have yet to find a significant limitation in the online Exchange.

I recently had to transfer a domain where the website code referenced domain.tld instead of www.domain.tld. The Office365 domain management page doesn't allow an 'empty' A record to be created. However to achieve this, simply use the @ symbol for the host name.

Credit to this thread on the Office365 communities http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/146/t/2102.aspx

Completely recover Exchange on SBS 2008

http://exchangemaster.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/how-to-fully-re-install-exchange-on-sbs-2008-3/

SBS or Windows Backup Fails with SearchPoint server VSS Writer

The Windows Backup fails with an issue creating a volume shadow copy of a volume. VSSAdmin listed teh SharePoint search as in a inconsistant state.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/07/06/potential-issues-after-installing-sharepoint-foundation-2010-sp1.aspx

How to determine which version of SQL

A brilliant post listing each SQL server build number and it's corresponding patch levels

http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2007/09/21/3403958.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/jmayans/archive/2006/09/07/454716.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb332063(EXCHG.80).aspx#Scenario4

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178996.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028193

Extend a partion

With the Dell expart tool

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R64398&formatcnt=2&fileid=83929

OpenDNS Web Filtering

For small business and home users, http://www.opendns.com

Provides webfiltering and content protection based on DNS.

SBS Official Migration Portal

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sbs/gg981878

Microsoft tool to change disk ID's.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-nz/sysinternals/bb897436.aspx

Alternatively, you can use “diskpart” “select disk x” “uniquieid disk set=12341234”, then boot from a recovery CD which will fix up the boot loader configuration.

Data Protector Express on Server 2008 R2

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Tape-Backup/HP-Data-protector-express-error-2/td-p/1149682

Replacing a NIC on SBS 2003

http://msmvps.com/blogs/kwsupport/archive/2006/12/30/replacing-nics-on-an-sbs-server.aspx

Freeing up diskspace on SBS

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2010/03/02/recovering-disk-space-on-the-c-drive-in-small-business-server-2008.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2008/02/28/reclaiming-disk-space-lost-to-iis-logs-on-sbs-2003.aspx

SBS 2011 Standard and Essentials training resources

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/04/12/content-content-and-more-content-part-1.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/04/14/content-content-and-more-content-part-2.aspx

SBS 2011 Essentials CAL rights

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2011/04/12/so-what-server-cal-rights-do-i-have-with-sbs-2011-essentials.aspx

More scripting resources

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/windows-powershell-survival-guide.aspx

SBS 2011 Installation and Migration resources

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/small-business-server-2011-standard-build-document.aspx

http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2010/12/sbs-2011-setup-guide-v100.html

Exchange Services May Not Start Automatically After a Reboot

I've seen this on a couple of SBS 2008 servers, but never really been bothered enough to investigate why. Nice to know there is a fix.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2011/03/24/exchange-services-may-not-start-automatically-after-a-reboot.aspx

How to troubleshoot performance issues in Outlook 2007

Really useful support article from Microsoft on Outlook performance issues. However, it also serves as great ammunition to explain to a user why their 15GB mailbox is the root cause.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940226

Symantec Backup Exec - Exchange backup issue

Wh have a client who's backup intermittently reports as failed. The only clue in the backup log is the first storage group fails to backup.

The error references a VSS issue. A quick look at the VSS wrtiers

vssadmin list writers

This shows the Exchange Writter as failed. The only way to resolve this appears to be restart the information store.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930800

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH125176&key=15047&actp=LIST

SBS Installation hints

When installing SBS 2008 (and 2011 now), there a a number of potential causes for the installation to hang, or alternatively return vauge error messages. It's not immediately obvious as to how to troubleshoot this.

One of the first places to start is the SBS installation log, located here C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Logs\SBSSetup.log

But how do you open this from the SBS installation, since there is no task bar, start menu etc?

  will open a command prompt. From there you can continue your troubleshooting

More Powershell

http://www.thirdtier.net/2011/01/check-for-free-space-on-your-drives-lazyadmin-powershell-version/

UNC Printing from 'DOS' Application

http://serverfault.com/questions/191393/access-is-denied-when-copying-text-file-to-printer-unc-path

Exchange 2010 https IIS site wont start

Turns out to be a know issue where an update creates an additional binding, causing the site to fail to start.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973862/en-us?p=1#issues

Merge VHD's

Unfortunately I have had to manually merge snapshot's after a failed merge operation.

This post details the steps.

http://www.ms4u.info/2010/09/merge-avhd-with-vhd.html

Disaster Recovery tips and tricks

Symantec Backup Exec SBS Recovery Guide

SBS 2011 Migration Documentation

The fabulous SBS Documenation team have released further migration guides for migration to SBS 2011.
SBS 2011 Migration Guides

These guides are a must read for anyone considering migration. The SBS 2008 migration documents were fantastic. I expect no less from these.

This years goal, scripting

One of my 2011 IT resolutions is to ween myself off the GUI tools I have come to know and rely on, and to perform as many of those tasks as reasonable with tools like Powershell.

Here are two links to get started:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-powershell-commands-every-windows-admin-should-know/2052

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978526.aspx

SBS 2008 SourcePrep tool fails to run

I encountered a strange error trying to run the SBS Source Prep tool for 2003 to 2008 migration.

The application silently fails, with the only hint being the following error in the event log.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: .NET Runtime 2.0 Error Reporting
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 1/6/2011
Time: 5:29:59 PM
User: N/A
Computer: MMP1
Description:
EventType clr20r3, P1 sourcetoolwizard.exe, P2 6.0.5601.8532, P3 4c03eb7a, P4 mscorlib, P5 2.0.0.0, P6 4333ab80, P7 ee3, P8 0, P9 n3ctrye2kn3c34sgl4zqyrbfte4m13nb, P10 NIL.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

So I hit the search engines, and unfortunately found very little. I have included the following as they may or may not help others.



Changing the legacyexceptionhandler in the aspnet.config file as per the MSKB article Repairing .Net 2.0 Uninstalling and reinstalling .Net 2.0 Installing updates and patches for .Net 2.0 Trying the installation with a newly created Domain Admin account

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911816

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/32044986/net-runtime-20-error-reporting--event-id5000-application-crash.aspx

http://malcan.com/EN/Lists/Tips%20and%20tricks/DispForm.aspx?ID=18

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2021568

Given there was a very limited window that the client had given to complete the server upgrade, and that I have the benefit of working for a MS Gold Partner, I raised the issue with Microsoft Support.

The ususal standard 'have you tried' out of the way, we ran the app in debug, and also used process monitor to capture what was going on when the tool was running.

A bit of a 'why didn't I think of that' moment. Anyway, the Process Monitor log showed a write to a file call SourceToolUpdate.log. There was nothing of note contained in this file, but in the same folder was SourceTool.log.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511282.aspx

This did have some errors, specifically: a

01/07/2011 16:24:05 !Error! System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.ArgumentException: Font 'Segoe UI' does not support style 'Regular'.
at System.Drawing.Font.CreateNativeFont()
at System.Drawing.Font.Initialize(FontFamily family, Single emSize, FontStyle style, GraphicsUnit unit, Byte gdiCharSet, Boolean gdiVerticalFont)
at System.Drawing.Font.Initialize(String familyName, Single emSize, FontStyle style, GraphicsUnit unit, Byte gdiCharSet, Boolean gdiVerticalFont)
at System.Drawing.Font..ctor(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---

The server appear to have the correct font, so on a whim I grabbed a copy from a 2008 server. Frustratingly, the source tool now runs.

So, if you have issues with the SourceTool, locate the SourceTool.log. It might turn out to be the wrong version of a font.

What does the Migration Preparation Tool do?

During a recent issue with a SBS 2003 to 2008 migration, I was asked to explain what the Migration Preparation Tool does. Put on the spot, all I could remember as the AD Schema update and ...some other things.

So, here it is, verbatim from the MS Documentation:

The Migration Preparation Tool prepares the Source Server for the migration process by performing the following tasks:

Runs Adprep.exe, which extends the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) schema and updates permissions as necessary to prepare a forest and domain for a domain controller that runs Windows SBS 2008. The AD DS schema in Windows SBS 2008 is not the same as the schema for AD DS in Windows SBS 2003 or in Windows Server 2003. To successfully complete the migration process, you must update the AD DS schema on the Source Server if it is running Windows SBS 2003 or Windows Server 2003.

Important
It is recommended that you back up your Source Server before running the Migration Preparation Tool. All changes that the Migration Preparation Tool makes to the schema are irreversible. If you experience issues during migration, the only way to return the Source Server to the state before you ran the Migration Preparation Tool is to restore the system backup.


Installs an update that extends the time limit for finishing the migration process. Only one server running Windows SBS 2008 or Windows SBS 2003 is allowed to be a domain controller on your network. For a migration, you can have both domain controllers on your network for a limited time period. The update extends this time period to 21 days.


Prepares the server to migrate from Exchange Server 2003. For the migration process to be successful, Exchange Server must be in native mode, not in mixed mode. For more information about converting from mixed mode to native mode, see “How to convert from mixed mode to native mode in Exchange” at the Microsoft Web Site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=104943).

Service and Scheduled Task User Manager

Service and Scheduled Task User Manager

Changes service account passwords - here

Trend Micro EHS Server Lists

For some reason, which I haven't bothered to look into yet, some of the Trend EHS servers were on the IP Blocklist of one of our customers.

Unfortunately the consultant we took over from hadn't specifically configured the IP ranges in the IP Allow lists. This meant that some mail was being rejected, after it had been through and scrubbed by the clients own Trend EHS subscription.

The IP ranges to whitelist are here - EHS Outbound Server Lists

As an aside, we setup the Trend MX record additionally to the clients own, then setup the Exchange connectors to only accept mail from the above list of IP's. This permits switching from the Trend Services back and forth from the clients mail server much easier.

SBS 2008 Migration - Export SendAs Permissions from Exchange

One of the tasks that isn't taken care of by the migration process is setting SendAs permissions for mailboxes. This requires going through each account and reviewing the SendAs permissions. That sounded to much like hard work, so I went looking and found the following
post.

This PowerShell script provides a listing of mailboxes and SendAs permissions, and will even permit exporting this to CSV. Brilliant!

SBS 2008 - Don't disable IPv6

I received an interesting email from one of our engineering team today, informing of the problem they had resolved with Exchange 2007 services not starting on SBS 2008.

Apparently, they needed to turn IPv6 back on. Which leads me to the point of this post. Don't turn off IPv6, especially not on SBS 2008. My college was lucky, in that restoring IPv6 brought everything back to life.

SBS 2008 relies on IPv6, especially with Exchange. Some of the symptoms are:

Exchange services failing to start
Very (as in 30+ minutes) long startup or startup hangs.
Network icons show of line
Errors in event logs

Browse through the SBS MVP blogs, they all tell you, don't do it! SBS Diva - Don't Untick the IPv6 Box

Their motivation for disabling was on the surface a valiant one, disable features not needed (nobody uses IPv6 in their networks anyway). Unfortunately, this is the wrong assumption. Many of the 2008 and later features will use IPv6, so whilst you might not have configured it, your network is running IPv6.

If you must disable IPv6, do it properly. Check the Official SBS Blog post here