Category Archives: Windows Server Technologies

System Center 2012 R2 – DPM – Failed Disk Recovery

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So we had a failed iSCSI target on our production DPM server and as the NAS unit was a bit old decided to upgrade it.

New unit was installed and iSCSI Target was mounted and disk was added to DPM.

The old disk was still there with status “Missing”

All Protection Group members were also marked as “Volume Missing” Continue Reading

Create a Custom View for NPS in Event Viewer in Windows Server

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We use radius –  Network Policy Server (NPS) to authenticate wireless clients and wanted to create a custom view for NPS in Event Viewer in Windows Server.
Sucessful and failed events are logged into the Windows Security Log, howevere there are other events logged in here which can make it time consuming to search through for just NPS events.
Searching the internet gave a few interesting pointers but the problem seemed to be filtering by task category was not as straightforward as you would think.

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DPM – Upgrading System Centre DPM 2012 to 2012 R2

System Center DPM 2012

Because we planned to implement a new Hyper-V Cluster using Windows Server 2012R2 we had to move to SCVMM 2012 R2 but in order to do this one of the steps we needed to complete was Upgrading System Centre DPM 2012 to 2012 R2.

I have detailed the steps I took below, there may be some differences for your specific configuration but you will get a good idea.

Firstly, there is a list of SCDPM build numbers here;
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4058.list-of-build-numbers-for-system-center-data-protection-manager-dpm.aspx

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System Center DPM 2012, Exchange Server 2010 and Eseutil.exe

System Center 2012 - Eseutil

System Center 2012

I recently had an issue where System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 was constantly reporting Replica Inconsistent on my Exchange Server 2010 Protection Group for the relevant Storage Groups, upon investigation I was pointed towards Eseutil as being a possible cause.
Basically if there is a mismatch between the versions of Eseutil on the Exchange Server and on the DPM Server then the replicas will appear to be inconsistent.

This can occur if you install a Service Pack on Exchange.

So the solution is to copy the version of Eseutil.exe and ese.dll from your Exchange Server to your DPM Server;

<Exchange Install Path>\bin\eseutil.exe to <DPM Install Path>\bin\eseutil.exe

<Exchange Install Path>\bin\ese.dll to <DPM Install Path>\bin\ese.dll

This should then solve the Replica Inconsistent problem, after a Consistency Check.

Full details and further information can be found on the following

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/91198fbb-3016-4571-b83c-0ece920588ed#bkmk_EseutilEse

Windows XP Error – “Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings”

I still support some Windows XP clients and when these clients have been visiting certain sites that they maybe shouldn’t have I get the following Windows XP Error – “Windows cannot display Windows Firewall settings” as shown below;

 

Windows XP Error

Windows XP Error

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System Center VMM 2012 Admin Console Crashes Every Hour

I recently came across a strange situation where the System Center VMM 2012 Admin Console crashes every hour.

There were 2 Errors displayed in the VM Manager Event Log;

Error : 19999

Error : 1

I carried out all possible configuration checks on the Hyper-V hosts and the VMM Server;

I checked the SPN settings using Setspn.

I updated the Nic Drivers and the Broadcom Software

I checked and changed how the SQL and VMM Manager and Agent Services log on.

I reassociated the Hyper-V hosts

I validated the Failover Cluster

I re-installed SCVMM 2012 (several times)

I removed all links between SCVMM 2012 and SCOM 2012

It was only after I had re-installed SCVMM 2012 for the umpteenth time that I tried to refresh the Library and this was when I saw the errors occur! Continue Reading

Windows 7 Rebuild Search Index

I experienced a problem today where I could not search for e-mails older than 1 day in Outlook. As I have over 10,000 email messages the search function is crucial to quickly find emails. The solution seemed to be a Windows 7 Rebuild Search Index. Continue Reading

Recover an Exchange 2007 Mailbox using DPM 2012

I needed to recover an Exchange 2007 mailbox using DPM 2012 recently and thought I would share with you the steps I took.

Although there have been many – very good – advances made in System Center Data Protection Manager 2012, the Exchange Item Level Recovery is still in need of some work. Continue Reading

Installing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012

I have had a huge amount of fun installing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 (he says sarcastically!).

I will just say one thing – SQL Server Collation!

I actually carried out the complete install only to find Reporting failed to install.

I went back and re-installed the SQL server with the correct collation;

SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

The details can be found on the following page;

Supported Configurations for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh205990.aspx

Another pre-requisite you will need for both the full install and later when you come to install the Operations Console is;

Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 Redistributable Package

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=6442

Another interesting page is the deployment guide here;

Deployment Guide for System Center 2012 – Operations Manager

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh278852.aspx

This also has a walkthru install (but without the pretty picture).

Any other pre-requisites which fail upon install are pretty self-explanatory and can be easily fixed and then re-check the pre-requisites.

And so on to the install……. Continue Reading

Updating System Center VMM 2008 R2 to System Center VMM 2012

I though I would do a quick blog to recount my adventures with “Updating System Center VMM 2008 R2 to System Center VMM 2012”.

The big problem I had here is that our existing System Center VMM 2008 R2 was running on SQL Server 2005 Express.

Here are the links for – System Requirements for System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610592.aspx

Most particularly – System Requirements: VMM Database

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/gg610574.aspx

One of the other Pre-requisites is to update WAIK –

The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=5753

So – on to the install; Continue Reading