disaster recovery -- windows 2008 R2 datacenter on IBM x3650 after major hardware upgrades

disaster recovery -- windows 2008 R2 datacenter on IBM x3650

cpu upgrade - it exchange au sent a good match for the existing one.

do a server start ... good

memory upgrade --- 2 * 8 GB kits --- all good ... after the server

before the upgrade, I took a shadow protect image . in restrospect , this is not enough,

then I put in $79.50 JMicron pci-e esata card, boot the server, it is asking for driver, pop in the cd, it loaded a driver with easy ... but looked weirdo.

then shutdown the server, and loaded back to the rack.

when I just about to go home, I noticed the server booted to recovery mode.

oh dear another disaster recovery operation .............

so we un-did everything remove the second cpu, extra memory and the esata card ...

the server was still rebooting .........

phew ..... in the recovery mode the windows 2008 R2 is asking for system state backup.... ah s!ttsd ... I should have done that

god ... raid controller took so long each time initialzie ... that made me press F8 hard

eventually I got the "Last known configuration ..." screen

select it ,   ........ voila.... I can go home now.

the result is new 2nd hand cpu added, new 16GB RAM added without that e-sata card

bitter lession learned: backup your server before you do upgrades; do a full windows server backup if possible; or at least a system state backup

yeah, windows 2008 system state backup, it is so slow , my co-work wants to go home

8.89GB system state data for this server, it took more than 45 minutes to back it up to an external USB 2 drive. ... quite disappointing

install SCOM 2007 SP1 agent / monitor on a standalone server

install SCOM 2007 SP1 agent / monitor on a standalone server

the CEO wanted their web server be monitored. that web server is a standalone server.

to get standalone server working with SCOM 2007 SP1 ... certificate communication is key.

CA need be setup in your domain, then a particular certificate need be issued to the SCOM server and the standalone server.
then on both the SCOM server and the standalone server (or workgroup server if you like), run MOMcertimport, there are 32 /64 bits of this util s/w.
next, you can manually install the agent on the standalone server.
it may take a while before the communication established, watch the opmgr log for details.
the certificate must match the server FQDN name, otherwise you will get errors.

in my case , the CA is windows 2008 R2 STD, the workgroup server is windows 2008
to generate certs, first get the CA web interface going like http://myboomer/certsrv
then in certificate MMC, duplicate a template to be issued , it should do client and server authentication
then in CA website, you can generate and download and install the scom cert.
the interesting is in the workgroup server , I can't do that directly, the error is something like I should use https rather than http. the trick is add the CA site to the trusted site and enable "ignore active x scripts signing" ; another problem is that I can't change trusted site default settings coz it is all greyed out. the solution is right-click on IE, then select run as administrator, then you should be able to change it

now the links
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb735413.aspx

and I copy some here

To create a certificate template

1. On the computer that is hosting your enterprise CA, on the Windows desktop, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Certification Authority.
2. In the navigation pane, expand the CA name, right-click Certificate Templates, and then click Manage.
3. In the Certificate Templates console, in the results pane, right-click IPSec (Offline request), and then click Duplicate Template.
4. In the Properties of New Template dialog box, on the General tab, in the Template display name text box, type a new name for this template (for example, OperationsManagerCert).
5. On the Request Handling tab, select Allow private key to be exported, and then click CSPs.
6. In the CSP Selection dialog box, select the cryptographic service provider that best suits your business needs, and then click OK.

here is another one which got the cmd line , to generate request , and accept certs
http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/archive/2008/06/02/obtaining-certificates-for-ops-mgr.aspx

recover a windows 2008 server ... driver corrupted ... ignore driver signing

recover a windows 2008 server

it was chinese mid-autumn festive day, yeah, it must be a very good day, and good night ...

yeah , it was a good night as I recovered someone's windows 2008 without too much hassle and stress

the server was shock turned off , as it was not responding,

after switching the UPS,  push the power button again , alas ... blue/blank screen of death ...

the message is adu320.sys corrupted or something ... adaptec driver ... phew ...

I dont think that server got a adaptec card in  it anyway

anyway, press F8 last good known ... no luck ...

it keeps ask for windows 2008 CD to do the repair./.

eventually I choose ... ignore driver signing to ... get the w2008 to boot to the logon screen.,..

lesson learned .... shutdown server properly

use proper server board rather than desktop board to run windows server

windows 2003 random freezing ; failed to start error

windows 2003 random freezing ; failed to start error

with this company, the windows 2003 server has windows 2003 random freezing ; failed to start error.

I thought it was some incompatibility between via-chipset gigabyte MB and LSI scsi320 and addonics raid card ....

until today ... it failed to start badly,,, it showed the initial screen , ,, then tuned itself off.

my old trick to turn it on by turning off power and turning on again failed to work...

it got two memory modules, I tried each one, then I found out one memory module works better.... the other memory module must be faulty..,,.

oh , dear ... when doubt a hardware problem always test memory first ,  always test memory first ...

install addonics storage array

install addonics storage array

to hard set raid5 need press a button, also after mode change ..., and press the button to save the settings again phew ...
i have done one, but didn't change after change the mode to raid 5 ,,,

the result is the 2005 gigabyte mb only detects 2.7GB ... the first hard drive size ... then I have gone down the wrong road assuming the bios can't see more than 3GB, the boss pointing out that wont be, because 3GB is not multiples of 2.

he is right, then we have to press the button to save the raid5 settings, then the mb can see 11TB, convert to GPT, make a huge 11TB hard drive

when it fails read the manual carefully ... follow it carefully ...

bitter lesson learned ......