Unruly Behavior

Ok, I've been at the office since NOON YESTERDAY. We're trying to replicate our Exchange Server with a product called Double Take. We've had nothing but problems, solved one at a time through extensive troubleshooting.

Finally, just when it looks like things are working... I look up at the just started process and ask, "Why is Double Take deleting the Windows directory on the Target Server?" Over the tech support line, "Stop the process!"

Arrg...

Now they are waking up the Level 3 Support guy. I have this sneaking suspicion I am going to be loading Windows 2003 and Exchange 2003 from scratch again.

Update:

After a comment from a reader, I thought I should elaborate on what happend early Sunday morning...

In a nutshell, we were having some performance issues with our Target machine, and ainchient Compaq ML350 G3. We updated the Firmware on two RAID controllers and a NIC. We were not using Double Take Application Manager any longer to do the replication, we were using the Application Console. When we rebooted the machine after the updates, Double Take lost sight of the partitions on the seconed RAID controller. We did not catch this error, and the Application Console has fewer safetys than DTAM. As a result, it tried to wipe the C: drive to make it look like our first Storage Partition.

The techs at Double Take stayed on the phone with us for over 12 hours to work on the issues. They also called back the following day to tell us they had determined what happened. The logs were completely zapped, but they had a BOMGAR sessions recorded. Several of their Level 3 techs watched the BOMGAR session to figure out what happened.

They are also building in a safety to the Application Console to stop this from happening again. No data was lost, and everyone was very helpful. I also had a very solid tape backup of the Source and Data before we started on the project. It was mostly an inconvienence to reload an Exchange Server from bare metal at 4:30 AM.

Labels: 4 AM, bad support, double take, insomniac, microsoft

Ok, last month I got hit by the Microsoft Internet Explorer Zero Day bug. It might just be a coincidence, it might be the root cause of many of my problems.

Last week my Alienware 51M laptop started having the Wireless NIC fail when it would come out of Hibernate or Sleep mode. The NIC connects, shows the network. If I go to the Command Prompt and run IPCONFIG, everything looks good. But if I try to ping the gateway, I get HARDWARE FAILURE. This happens if I try to ping anything but 127.0.0.1.

Very odd indeed.

The only way to get the NIC back is to reboot. When I reboot, I get the following error in the System Log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: PSched
Event Category: None
Event ID: 14103
Date: 1/17/2009
Time: 9:22:37 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ALIEN2008
Description:
QoS [Adapter {F4518C6A-2EAD-44DE-9289-0B3C62A42D6F}]:
The netcard driver failed the query for OID_GEN_LINK_SPEED.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 04 00 02 00 56 00 ......V.
0008: 00 00 00 00 17 37 00 c0 .....7.À
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 0d 00 01 c0 ...À

If I follow the link to Microsoft support for this error I get this:

Details
Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 14103
Source: PSched
Version: 5.0
Component: System Event Log
Symbolic Name: EVENT_PS_QUERY_OID_GEN_LINK_SPEED
Message: QoS [Adapter %2]:
The netcard driver failed the query for OID_GEN_LINK_SPEED.

Explanation
This event record indicates a serious problem.

User Action
Contact your technical support group or the Microsoft Product Support Services.

Yeah, go Microsoft, this is a serious problem, but we don't have a solutoin.

So I called Microsoft support and got a far as I could with free support. They told me that they were aware of the problem, and that I should just continue to reboot my machine as a work around.

WTF? It is a laptop, rebooting it over and over kind of defeats the purpose of having a laptop.

I've disabled all power management on the NIC, still no change. I've tried manually turning off the NIC before shutting down, no change. I looked in System Restore, but I don't have a restore point before 1/2009. This is all very infurating.

Anyone else out there have a similar problem, know a solution?

Labels: bad support, microsoft, wireless, zero day

We're trying to do some power manaagement on our network as our crappy Samsung LCDs are burning in our network login screen. And before you e-mail me and tell me that LCDs are not supposed to burn in, I am aware of this fact and that is why I preceeded Samsung with the adjetive 'crappy'. In the meantime, I found this free GPO software from the Government, so I figured, hey, my taxes paid for this, we ougt to look into applying it to the network. Go Energy Star!

Power Management EZ GPO software : ENERGY STAR

Labels: active directory, freebie, gpo, microsoft, tech, work

,Ok, I've been so busy the last two weeks that I haven't posted a thing.

I only worked 58 hours last week, and that kept me from most of my internet fun. I did go to San Antonio and setup a new bank branch and completely overhaul anothr brach. Today I'm at the office, I'm moving from one cube to another, I seem to get moved every month. It will be nice when we get our new office/data center built out this summer. Right now we are getting to be like sardines in this office.

I'm also working on my Exchange migration today. Got my tape drive library moved here and installed it in the Exchange server. For some reason Backup Exec is much happier if it runs on your Exchange server. So that is where it will be running, I'm even putting in version 11d, which looks like it kicks ass on the Exchagne backup portion.

Had a birthday a week ago Friday. Made it to 39. More folks loosing money in the Dren Death Pool. Guess all the ones that bet on didn't make it to 40 are starting to really sweat now. Work had a Snickers ice cream cake for me the week after my birthday. MMMM.... Diabetic delight!

Kids are getting bigger, our oldest is really starting to play and have fun with his brohter and sister. The twins are getting more and more animated and the little boy is just so very happy all the time. People keep commenting that they have never seen such a happy baby. And my daughter is just the sweetest thing.

The wife's last day on the job was Wednesday, she is now a stay at home mommy. She seems to like the change.

I think I have some cool pics on the camera to post soon, just have to get around to downloading them.

I might also be going to Atlanta this week, and on a private plane, so I can get some good arial photos without a stewardess yelling at me, that would be cool.

Labels: birthday, exchange, family, georgia on my mind, microsoft

(Or how I quit worrying and learned to love Remote Installation Services)

Ok, if you are a regular reader, you might remember way, way back in 2003 I was in a Coma for a while.

At that time I had recently upgraded a bank to Windows 2000, and had setup Microsoft's Remote Installation Services (RIS) on one of their shiny new servers, complete with a separate Image Partition. We were supposed to roll out all new computers to the bank that year, and I was looking forward to working out RIS, and getting the PCs setup that way.

Then came the Coma, and I was out for a little over three months.

While I was out, all the systems got installed, but no one bothered with RIS.

Flash forward to 2006 and now the guy I worked for at that bank is my new boss.

I get to install RIS.

Ok, so I've got a junked Compaq DL380 server with 4 9.1 GB HDDs that I can use as a test bed. Ok, setup one drive for booting, the other three as a 18GB RAID 5. Loaded Windows 2003, patched, joined the domain. Loaded and configured RIS as per the following documents from Microsoft:

Step-by-Step Guide to Remote OS Installation

An old Windows 2000 White Paper on installing RIS that a friend sent to me and I can't find a link for any longer.

Ok, loaded RIS and ran the RIS setup with my handy dandy HP Windows XP SP2 CD-ROM with no problems.

Loaded my new HP system using their media and my Windows NT SIF setup floppy without issues. However, when I went to run RIPrep.exe, it failed out. E-mailed my buddy, I have to go and find the updated version of RIPrep.exe for Windows XP.

Still had issues, getting the image up to the server worked well, but pulling the image back fails with an issue that no network card driver for my hardware was present in my image.

Back to the research. So, I found this article How to Add OEM Plug and Play Drivers to Windows XP at Microsoft Support, and using the instructions to create the Drivers directory structure in the Root of C:, then creating the Sysprep directory and configuration file.

Now I could push the image up and pull the image down. I have a good base image for our current standardized system.

Next step, try it with the machine joined to the domain, fully patched and with Office 2003 installed.

Works great.

As a final step, we actually have four discreet banks, and some of the software is unique to each bank, so I created four more loads, each prepped for one of the banks we own.

To test this we rolled out a RIS imaged set of systems to a brand new bank. It worked great. The only issue we encountered was the need of a DHCP server at the site where we were working. To resolve this problem, I found a great piece of software called ipLease that is a little tricky to use, but a great DHCP server. I used it to create a 2 address scope with a 60 second lease. So the two addresses are usually free after you set the static IP on your machine, you just have to remember to do an "ipconfig /release" command just before setting your static IP address.

Overall the project was a huge success, the time it took to rollout a new branch was much less than any branch rollout I have ever done. I even created and tested a Ghost DVD for system restore purposes and it worked with flying colors. RIS is a really great product.

Here is one more guide to Remote OS Installation I found while working on this project.

I'm off to Waco to setup a new branch this week and train our tech support company from that regoin on how to roll out a branch to my new standards. Should be a fun few days.

Labels: coma, health, microsoft, ris

Life goes on brahhh....

It's been a crazy two weeks since I started at the bank. Active Directory (AD) replication was broken when I got here, DNS was hosed up, WINS was not working properly. There were also a lot more sites, servers and users than I initially had been told.

Fixed DNS, that exposed AD replication problems and shut down one site for most of a day. Fixed that and discovered that a domain that had been phased out is still lurking aroiund in DNS, and have been working on expunging it from the current domain and DNS. Fixed WINS everywhere. Things are running fairly smoothly.

Mapped out the WAN in an E-Sized Plot, showing our nearly 20 point-to-point T1 connections. Looks like we are going to convert to MPLS and Local Fiber. That should be a fun project next year.

Haven't made it out to many branches yet, just getting everything documented and waiting for a new branch roll-out that keeps getting delayed.

Been working with Microsoft Remote Installation Services (RIS) to get ready for roll outs. what a pain in the ass. Typical Microsoft, great idea, poor documentation. Have had to search through countless Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles, get help from friends and generally be exasperated when I keep getting errors about missing NIC drivers that I know are present.

I'll try to put up some RIS resources in another post once I get this crap all sorted out and working.

This job is great. Never liked one better. Only complaint is that the coffee here is horrible. Guess I'm going to have to get my own coffee maker and stash it in my cube somewhere.

Labels: microsoft, ris, work

Ok, after my fun with Microsoft last week, the folks in India / Bangladesh / Wherever keep calling me back, trying to follow up. I keep telling them I'm not interested, that the problem has been resolved.

Today they asked me to rate the tech's performance on a scale of 0 to 9. I said, "I don't remember." They said "So from 0-9, where do you rate her?" I inquired, "Which part of I don't remember did you not understand?" They said, "The last part." Then repeated the question.

I hung up.

Just what I need after a long weekend of tequila drinking. People that don't understand basic English and work in customer support.

By the way, the PST Truncation Tool I needed I had to find on my own, the download link is supplied below, you don't have to go through Microsoft phone support to download the tool as they say in the Tech Net article.

Download details: Exchange 2000 Tool: PST2GB

Labels: bad support, microsoft

Ok, I'm working on a major migration today. Never any fun. There are always snage. I've run into an e-mail archive that is too big to import, so I found the article listed below and called Microsoft as recommended to get thier downloadable tool to fix my problem.

Of course, I am connected to a call center in India. I'm now on hold for my fourth tech in 40 minutes, to download this free tool that they won't just let me download on my own. Great, I can't just have this, and you don't hire people smart enough to route me to the right department to download the tool now in three tries.

The current tech asked me, "Can I place you on hold to transfer you to the right department?"

My response? "Sure, place me on hold, do you think the fourth try is any more likely to get me to the right department?"

At least the customer i getting a laugh out of the conversation.

Tank you! Com ugin!

"Outlook.pst can not be accessed - 0x80040116" error message when you start Outlook 2000 or open a personal folder file

Labels: bad support, exchange, microsoft

Passed my Microsoft exam, 70-297 just after noon today. Mom has the boy, and we're off for supper at Chuy's (See photo at left), some shopping and perhaps a movie.

Labels: certification, dining, microsoft

No photo could do justice to just how pretty it is outside today.

And I'm stuck with chores, studying for a test and other stuff indoors.

Studying for 70-297 from Microsoft, at the Goodyear (free wireless at West Pearland Tire & Auto) getting my oil changed, heading for a haircut next, then back home for more studying.

But I'm going to make up for it the evening. I'm stopping at the grocery store on the way home and getting something I can grill tonight and I'm going to sit out on the porch, cook, eat, drink and enjoy the lovely weahter. Maybe I'll post a picture then.

If you want to joing me for a drink, here is my Dren's World Famous Margurita instructions.

2 Parts Tequila
1 Part Triple Sec
2 Parts Rosie's Sweetened Lime Juice
Fresh Lime Slices

Fill a tall (20 OZ glass with ice cubes after salting the rim. Pour in Tequila, Triple Sec, Lime juice and stir a bit. Squeeze a couple of the lime slices on top.

Salt the rim of a shot glass, pour a shot of Tequila, shoot the tequila, then suck on a lime slice.

Now drink the Margurita.

Repeat as needed till you find your head on the floor.

Labels: certification, microsoft, tequila, vehicle

Right on CCN.com, Steve Ballmer admits to brainwashing. Says his children are not allowed to have an iPod or use Google. What a stupidly myopic idiot. Wonder why Microsoft is having so many problems getting things like Windows Vista and Office 2007 out the door on time.

Funniest part is that one of the big selling points of XBOX 360 is that you can use it with your iPod to play music while you are gaming. Guess not if you are one of Ballmer's kids. You will have to use one of those wonderful Microsoft MP3 players, if and when they ever get one to market.

Dumbass.

Steve Ballmer Brainwashes his own children

Labels: microsoft, xbox