With the new 2008 Group Policy Preferences there are some great new tweak tools to manage without the need for login scripts.  Windows XP machines are not compatible with these new GPOs without first installing an update for Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions (CSE).  This update is downloadable from Microsoft as an executable via KB943729.  Unfortunately Microsoft didn’t package this in a .MSI file so it can’t be deployed through the entire organization via a GP Software Distribution rule.  If you have WSUS in place then it can be deployed there, but if not you’ll need to go back to good ol’ login/startup scripts to get this pushed out to all your machines.  First some credit to a post over at serverfault.com by Evan Anderson who outlined the strategy. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently had some problems with Public folder synchronization during an Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 migration.  Public folders were not syncing up to the new Exchange 2010 server with the following error message in the logs:

Event ID: 1020, Source: MSExchange Store Driver.  The store driver couldn’t deliver the public folder replication message “Status Request (PublicFolderDatabase@yourdomain.com)” because the following error occurred: The Active Directory user wasn’t found.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ten Reasons You Should Already Be Using Virtualization For Your Server Environment

According to Intel:

Virtualization technology is possibly the single most important issue in IT and has started a top to bottom overhaul of the computing industry

Virtualization is a relatively new technology, but it is not as new as one might think.  VMware, one of the pioneers of virtualization, has been creating and selling virtualization software for over 10 years now.  All 100 of the Fortune 100 companies are currently using virtualization, specifically VMware’s offerings.  Once the only player, VMware now has serious competition from Microsoft, Citrix, Oracle (who recently acquired Sun Microsystems), RedHat, and Novell.

Read the rest of this entry »

The problem is that Windows Updates will not run properly (giving you various errors) and when Roles or Features are selected un the Server Manager you get the following error:

Error: Cannot display data until your computer is restarted.

Read the rest of this entry »

Exchange Outlook Web Access is a wonderful feature, but directing users to access it on their own can be a patience testing proposal if you’re not using URL redirection.

For example: you’ve installed Exchange 2010, configured all the appropriate roles, including the CAS (Client Access Server; responsible for OWA), and deserve a hero’s welcome, or at least a pat on the back. You then send an email to staff telling them that they can access webmail from the following public URL – https://webmail.domain.com/owa; easy enough right? Wrong! A few days later, calls come streaming in with users attempting to access OWA using incorrect URL’s: http instead of https, forgetting to append /owa to the URL, etc.

Well you can clear all of this up and make it transparent to the user, and they’ll never know you did it; it will just work.

Read the rest of this entry »

To get the best performance out of VMware’s iSCSI initiator it’s a good idea to enable jumbo frames on the ESX hosts.  First configure a new vSwitch dedicated to the iSCSI network and if you’re doing this in the GUI delete the default port group that is created.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a tip if your ESX host freaks out and you happen to be storing a VMFS partition on the same volume as ESX: 

If an “upgrade” install doesn’t fix the problem then do a clean install and on the page that shows how it will cut up the partitions there is a checkbox that says not to touch the existing VMFS partitions on the volume.  Leave that checked and then proceed with the install. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Several of our customers recently purchased HP DL180 G6 servers.  They are perfect (and economical) servers for iSCSI storage as they support up to 14 drives in a 2u form factor.  We however ran into a logistical problem in the purchase as the servers ordered were a HP Smart Buy, meaning that it’s a preconfigured server for a bit of a discount. 

This particular Smart Buy came with a PCI cage in the rear of the server for 2 PCI-E slots and a slimline DVD drive.  Well it being a storage server we had no need for the DVD drive and really wanted additional expansion slots.  The standard PCI cage will allow for 3 PCI-E slots or 4 with an optional riser card.  So I called HP and they directed me to a part number and so I ordered it.  When it arrived I could tell by the box that it was too small and sure enough it was just a PCI-e riser card, not the cage.  So I called them back and explained the situation and after I talked to 3 different departments I was still not convinced that the part they were telling me to order next was the right one.  Being in a crunch I ordered all rear PCI-e accessories.  When they arrived I opened box after box and they were all wrong! 

Read the rest of this entry »

Woo Hoo!  The floodgates are now open:  starting today, you can officially purchase a retail copy of Windows 7 or an OEM version included with your new computer.  Microsoft is coming out in full force with this release, which promises to be the most stable and thoroughly tested release ever.  They have dedicated their home page to the Windows 7 love-fest today, displaying comments from satisfied users via twitter.

We, at Advanced Data & Network Solutions, are fully prepared to assist you with purchasing, installing/upgrading, and maintaining your new Windows 7 installation in a home or business environment.  In fact, most of us here have been using Windows 7 as our OS of choice for a few months, with some having gone through the beta testing for almost a year!

An exciting feature of Exchange 2010 is its support for message waiting indicators (MWI).  While this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, one of the biggest complaints about Exchange 2007 was its lack of MWI support.  Even though Exchange Unified Messaging is able to send voicemails to an email address, most users are accustomed to the phone notifying them when they have new voicemail.

Even more exciting were the reports that MWI with Exchange 2010 and Cisco CallManager 7 just worked out of the box without extra configuration. Many articles I read spoke of the ease of configuration at getting this feature enabled. This, however, was not the case in our lab.  As it turns out, some of the default settings for SIP trunks in CCM 7 will cause problems with MWI.

Read the rest of this entry »