Just another blog about Small Business Server: July 2010

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Blackberry Enterprise Server - IEMSTEST "Failed to create a folder in mailbox"

Recently installed a Blackberry Enterprise Server Express v5. The installation went smoothly, very similar steps to previous versions. A big change compared to Blackberry Professional Server v4x is that there is no longer a CAL requirement for additional Blackberry devices.

However, I wasn't able to activate any users. I checked and rechecked the permissions and everything was showing correctly. I eventually resolved the issue by specifically assigning permissions to he Exchange Mailbox Store.

Assigning permissions for a BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account

How to use the IEMSTest.exe tool to verify that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account can access user mailboxes

Permissions set at the Administrative Group or Microsoft Exchange Server level are not inherited by the mailbox of the BlackBerry smartphone user

Monday, July 19, 2010

SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 Migrations

Having managed a number of successful migrations, I've pieced together a number of resources I find invaluable. Starting from the top is MPECS Blog Post.

http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2009/06/sbs-2003-to-sbs-2008-migration-guide.html

This is the official post, which is very comprehensive.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2009/02/19/sbs-2008-migrations-from-sbs-2003-keys-to-success.aspx

However, here are a couple of pointers to get you started:

· Your existing server needs to be as clean as possible and fully patched.
· Smarthosts will break the Exchange replication. The SBS BPA will flag this.
· Run the SBS BPA 2003 and ensure there are *no* issues.
· Run the Exchange BPA for a 2007 migration and ensure there are *no* issues.
· Ensure you have a backup *before* running the migration prep. You need this, if the migration fails, there is no rollback other than a restore.
· SBS 2008 is x64 only. You will have printer driver issues.
· Don’t create autodiscover DNS records, the migration will create a split DNS to handle this internally. Externally you need a SRV record, http://www.thirdtier.net/2009/02/setting-up-an-external-autodiscover-record-for-sbs-2008/
· A real certificate will save you pain. It doesn’t need to be a UC or SAN, just a real third party cert for remote.yourdomain.tld.
· You still have to manually move the data, applications.
· You only have *21 days* from when you start to complete the migration. After this the original box will reboot every hour.
· The old server must be completely removed, you can’t leave it to serve up apps once it’s dcpromo’d.

Wow! Somebody's actually out there!

Incredible, someone actually reads (or has at least looked at) my blog. I hope it's been useful.

New Zealand 28
United States 9
Russia 2
Hungary 2
Netherlands 1
United Kingdom 1
Canada 1

Friday, July 16, 2010

ML150 G6 Redundant Power Supply Option Kit - Issues with not redundant

It's all about the little green cable. After another member of our engineering team installed the ML150 RPS Kit, the PSU's were not showing as redundant. In the end, it turned out to be a single cable:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c02010464&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=3319912

MS Support Case resolved.

In the end, the resolution was a simple as bypassing the proxy server (WebMarshal), and everything sprung to life! MS Support were fantastic.

Problem Description:
You are unable to active Out of Office in Outlook 2007 for mailboxes that are resident on an SBS 2008 server.

Resolution:

Change the group policy by allowing internal network traffic towards your SBS server to bypass the proxy server.

Reference:

Overview of the Autodiscover Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124251(EXCHG.80).aspx

Troubleshooting Autodiscover Connectivity for Outlook 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397225(EXCHG.80).aspx

Using WinHTTP Tools
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384084(v=VS.85).aspx

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

All you wanted to know about SBS Backup and Restore

Here is a great series of posts from the Offical SBS Blog regarding backup and restore of an SBS 2008 Server with SBS Backup.

Introducing SBS 2008 Backup
System State Backups and SBS 2008
Proper Backup/Restore Methods for a Small Business Server 2008 Running as a Virtual Machine
How to Perform a Bare Metal Restore on Small Business Server 2008

Monday, July 5, 2010

Backup Exec - E00084F4

I am having a frustrating problem with BackupExec 12.5 and Server 2008 x64 on HP Hardware. The Firmware, Drivers, OS and Backup Exec are all patched. I have the issue occurring on both HP Proliant ML350 G5 and G6 servers. Drive is an external HP Ultrium LTO3.

Backup- C:
Storage device "HP 1" reported an error on a request to write data to media. Error reported: A device attached to the system is not functioning. V-79-57344-34036 - An unknown error has occurred.

E00084F4 is the error code

Adamm Mover Error: MoverDeviceIo::Write - m_wrapper.WriteData failed!
Error = ERROR_GEN_FAILURE
Drive = "HP 1"
{EB49ECC5-2EC6-4C93-953F-827B4F63D574}
Media = "LTO000002"
{D217388A-A8AC-4474-A487-3A74E385D10C}
Read Mode: SingleBlock(0), ScsiPass(0)
Write Mode: SingleBlock(1), ScsiPass(1)

The backup will run for between 5 and 10 minutes before failing. The error code is generic, suggesting a driver issue. I’m using the Symantec driver and have installed the latest Symantec drivers.

HP LTT’s tests run fine.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/jobs-failing-error-code-e00084f4-using-hp-ultrium-4-lto-external-scsi-tape-drive

The solution? Disable the HP Agents, specifically the HP Insight storage agent.

EDIT - This issue is now documented with Symantec. http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH61192&actp=search&viewlocale=en_US&searchid=1304024734667

Backup SBS 2008 to a Network Share

By default, SBS won't allow you to backup to anything other than a local disk. This is fine in many smaller cases, however in some of our virtualised deployments, with tape offload, this wasn't suitable.

Windows Backup, the solution behind the SBS wizards, can and will backup to shared. The key to this is utilising the WBADMIN command line tool.

Autodiscover issue links

Reinstall the Client Access Role in Windows Small Business Server 2008
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd767439(WS.10).aspx

How do I recreat autodiscover website
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/exchangesvradmin/thread/1f0b859f-b5a1-40a7-b0ff-5f328cb87090/

How to Delete the Default Autodiscover Service Virtual Directory
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa995958(EXCHG.80).aspx

Autodiscover problem
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchangesvrclients/thread/e240c025-c11c-4555-933b-4f0adcce5dd8

Autodiscover and OAB does not work internally - from the internet it works fine!!
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/exchangesvrgeneral/thread/49a9f467-7916-4b2d-933b-99469b217946

Configure Exchange Services for the Autodiscover Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201695.aspx

Service Principal Name Missing
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996905%28EXCHG.80%29.aspx

Autodiscover and Exchange 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232838(EXCHG.80).aspx

How to Configure Exchange Services for the Autodiscover Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201695(EXCHG.80).aspx

Change Control redux

After more issues with inherited sites, I've reinforced one of my peronal SBS rules. Don't change the SBS default objects. Create new ones. If the new can't co-exist with the old, disable the old.

Just another blog about Small Business Server