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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

upgrade windows 2008 to server 2012 R2 - No Way

here is the message

Windows 8.1 installation can only be started from Windows 7. Windows 8.1 is not designed for installation on devices running Windows XP or Windows Vista - see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=313602 for important information.

Monday, December 30, 2013

move 2008 hyper-v VM around to 2012 R2 hyper-v

move 2008 hyper-v VM around to 2012 R2 hyper-v

well, like a joke, I can't do it with SCVMM 2012 R2, because V1.0 hyper-v is not support.

with errors like
-----------------
Error (12700)
VMM cannot complete the host operation on the MKCenter.yang11.homeip.net server because of the error: 'mksxp' failed to realize. (Virtual machine ID 9F24D933-A292-49C5-AB16-43F959CD29C4)

Failed to upgrade the VM version of the virtual machine mksxp: Unspecified error (0x80004005). (Virtual machine ID 9F24D933-A292-49C5-AB16-43F959CD29C4)

The VM version 1.0 of the virtual machine mksxp is not supported. (Virtual machine ID 9F24D933-A292-49C5-AB16-43F959CD29C4)
Unknown error (0x8000)

Recommended Action
Resolve the host issue and then try the operation again.
--------------------

now go back to basics,

in w2008, hyper-v manager to export the VM, then try to import to the server 2012 R2 hyper-v host, failed again,

now go back to raw basic, create VM in 2012 R2 host, in the wizard, instead of creating new vhd files, broswe to the export vhd file location. all working. you need note the VM setup details such as their original IP addresses




remove exchange 2003 from active directory

remove exchange 2003 from active directory

http://www.msexchange.org/articles-tutorials/exchange-server-2007/migration-deployment/Transitioning-Exchange-2000-2003-Exchange-Server-2007-Part1.html

I have a test lab with exchange 2003 and exchange 2007 , even with exchange 2010 in it.

I can't even remember how I installed exchange 2010.

anyway, I turned off exchange 2010 and began to decommision exchange 2003

To do this properly, exchange 2003 CD or install files stilled required ( exchange 2003 SP2 i386 can't substitute it)

1/ move mailboxes to exchange 2007 db, do this in exchange 2007 EMC

2/ replicate public folder over

3/ change RUC server to exchange 2007

4/ remove bidgehead connectors , if the exchange 2003 is bridgehead server. you can do this in exchange 2003 EMC


Friday, December 27, 2013

install SCVMM 2012 R2 agent on hyper-v hosts

install SCVMM 2012 R2 agent on hyper-v hosts

a good link is

http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2013/10/18/scvmm-2012-r2-quickstart-deployment-guide.aspx

I can deploy scvmm agent by following

2. Deploy an agent to an existing Hyper-V Host.
  • Open the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 console.
  • Connect to the SCVMM server.
  • In the lower left hand pane of the console – select “Fabric”.
  • In the folder list – Right click “All Hosts” and choose “Create Host Group”.
  • Name your custom host group something like “Demo
  • Right click the Demo host group and choose “Add Hyper-V hosts and Clusters
  • On the Resource Location screen – choose the first bullet for a trusted AD domain computer.
  • On the Credentials screen, click Browse.
  • Select “Create Run As Account
  • On the General screen, enter a Name of “Hyper-V Host Administration Account
  • Input a DOMAIN\username of an AD account that has admin access to your Hyper-V servers. This account will be used to administer the Host and VM guests. For the purposes of the POC, we will use the DOMAIN\scvmmadmin account.
  • After inputting the password, and accepting the new account, we will return to the Credentials screen with our existing RunAs account shown. Click Next.
  • Type in the computer names of your Hyper-V servers that you wish to Manage. Ensure that the DOMAIN\SCVMMAdmins global group is a member of the local admins group on all Hyper-V servers so that we can manage them. Click Next.
  • Select all the discovered Hyper-V servers, and click Next.
  • Assign the discovered hosts to the “Demo” host group.
  • Click Next, Finish.
  • A job will be created to deploy the SCVMM agent to the Hyper-V hosts.

change the most used documents list from 10 to 20

change the most used documents list from 10 to 20

in windows 7, right click on the start button, properties, click customize, then you will see the list settings , you can change the default 10 to whatever you like


http://www.city-data.com/forum/computers/1967582-windows-7-most-recently-used-file.html

install AD admin tools on server 2012 R2

install AD admin tools on server 2012 R2

fiddling to find it in the server manager GUI ?

in powershell , just one cmd line

Install-WindowsFeature RSAT-ADDS

reference:

http://exchangeserverpro.com/how-to-install-exchange-server-2013/

install system center 2012 R2 VMM on a windows server 2012 R2

install system center 2012 R2 VMM on a windows server 2012 R2

its sort of straight forward

it requires windows 8.1adk first

then you need SQL2012 with SP1 , I installed the x64 bit version

then you click all the way through

the first time I got a crash at ADREPOSITORY error.

google search turned up nothing, but bing search gave me some clue. btw, its the first time in my life bing beat google.

this happened because, I ticked put the key something in AD, and specified a conflicting CN.

change the CN to VMMDKM+my-domain , all good

not that bad on a boxing day

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

upgrade windows server 2012 data center ed to windows server 2012 R2 data center ed

upgrade windows server 2012 to windows server 2012 R2

it's easy

it took about 1 hour with lots of reboots on a low end IBM x3200 server

no brainer

Sunday, December 22, 2013

What is the difference between install images and boot images?

What is the difference between install images and boot images?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732729(v=ws.10).aspx

Install images are the operating system images that you deploy to the client computer. Boot images are the images that you boot a client computer into to perform an operating system installation.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

hyper-v wont start , IBM x3550 , excution disable bit - disabled

hyper-v wont start , IBM x3550 , excution disable bit - disabled ....

now you think hyper-v is gaining ground against VMware, wrong. in my case, hyper-v is replacing their strategic partner Xen.

Xen 5.0.3 used to be installed on the IBM x3550.

now I installed windows server 2012 R2 as hyper-v host.

I created two virtual machine, and try to install VMs as a project to do exchange 2013 hosting. To my surprise, the hyper-v won't start.

frantic goofle search....

1/ VT bit enabled in the bios -- yes
2/ DEP enabled in the bios - in this IBM server , its called execution disable bit, its disabled -- change it to Enable

now I can get to the next step with hyper-v , exchange 2013 multi-tenant hosting

 

Ransomware in the Enterprise - its happening

some resources here

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/security/dn535790.aspx

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/help/mss.aspx

quote here:


Crilock encrypts your files using an AES-256 key that is unique to each file and then encrypts the file-specific AES key using a 2048-bit RSA public key. The malware authors demand payment for key recovery as part of their ransom scheme. The threat targets the most useful and potentially damaging file types on any connected drive, including network shares. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

my Friday rescue series continues, restore a crashed HP ML300 server to a new IBM low end server

my Friday rescue series continues, restore a crashed HP ML300 server to a new IBM low end server

very sad for this customer, they got a windows 2008 R2 server as their terminal server, the server hardware is HP ML300 tower. the error is that one of fans is not strong enough, hence the server keeps shutting down.

I tried to take an image of the server using storagecraft shadow protect IT key, but the 60GB C: partition got 40GB data, and it need 35 minutes. I am at one stage 7 minutes to finish the imaging.

I just don't have the extra 7 minutes out of the HP server.

at the suggest of co-worker, I took one of the mirrored hard drive out and put it in the new IBM server, attached to a sata connector. then start the IBM server from the shadow protect IT cd, with the IT key attached to another USB port.

run the shadow protect backup to take an image of the hard drive from the defunct HP server.

then load raid driver , and restore the image to the new raid-mirrored disk in the new IBM server.

the restore finished with errors/warning in the shadow protect console, like shadow protect v4 has no license . ( of course the IT key is licensed )

 I got problem on the first start on the new server, black screen error 0x0000225; namely it asks for windows repair disc.

I restarted the IBM server again from the IT shadow key, did a scan / repair on the BCD of the hard drive. shadow protect reported it repaired the broken windows .

I felt thrilled when the new server started , but upon restarting, the famous 0x0000007B blue screen crash dump appeared.

I know it got something to do the new raid controller driver, so I started the server with IT key again, and inject the windows installation with x64 bit raid driver.
(correction, I used last know good configuration to get to windows again, then use the downloaded IBM raid driver to update the current raid driver. the raid driver update failed previously , the error is current raid driver is not stable. this time the raid driver update worked, and the new system works so far I am writing this)

reboot , yeeessss, I have a working windows 2008 R2 . then download ibm updateXpress to update all the drivers for the new server.

 

weeked joke: please use chrome if you can't login to office 365 using internet explorer

weeked joke: please use chrome if you can't login to office 365 using internet explorer

what a joke, but Sugar of Microsoft online support told me to do that while trying to figure out an issue

updates: chome did work for me either, I used the firefox to login to finish what I have to do

Sunday, December 1, 2013

netbios name resulution issue and printing / scanning issue after un-install end-point security (Panda)

netbios name resulution issue and printing / scanning issue after un-install end-point security (Panda)

the director sold his company and started another business at home.

I got called in to do the home network setup.

he got a network printer and a HP MFC as his scanner.

his notebook had N-Able agent and end-point security installed.

I need un-install those as he is no longer part of his previous company.

I un-ticked the security manager via the N-Central interface. the Panda anti-virus is un-installed. the notebook restarted.

then I installed Nod32 anti-virus, nod32 picked some virus which Panda doesn't regard as virus / trojan.

When I was just about to go, the customer said the printing stoppped working.

bit surprised, as it was working before. so I moved the PC out of the domain, to get rid of domain group policy,

downloaded the latest driver and install, install finished sucessfully, but it just wont print.

I get the owner agree to use a usb cable, the director grudgingly agreed.

but the network scanning is not working either. I realized this is a bigger problem.. I noticed the host file is not working, the w7 pro x64 cannot ping local netbios name.

google frantically, eventually my thoughts are on the security-manager (Panda anti-virus), I logged a ticket with N-Able support asking for a standalone panda removal tool.

N-Able sent me a uninstaller and a reg file. I run the uninstaller, I got a very quick prompt, ok.

I tested host file name resulution, yes, finally the host file is effective, so is netbios name resolution, i.e I can  ping local hosts by their netbios name.

funny enough (or sad enough), there is a post on Panda website regarding someone installed Panda, printing stopped working.