Month: June 2014

Outlook 2007 2010 2013 Transferring autocomplete contacts

Blenheim Resident Outlook and Exchange

NK2 files were incredibly handy for this, but now that they are gone, here’s a foolproof way of transferring autocomplete contacts.  This particularly applies to migration to a new server.

  1. Find the old profile and browse to users\username\appdata\local\microsoft\outlook\roamcache
  2. In roamcache you will find a file called Stream_Autocomplete_0_xxxxxxxx.dat .  Open it with notepad and copy the contents.
  3. Close the file to avoid confusion.
  4. Browse to the same file on the new profile and open the Stream_Autocomplete file there, and paste in the contents you have taken from the old profile.  Make sure Outlook is closed and save the file.
  5. Er.. that’s it.

Exchange 2007 Disk space backpressure error.

Blenheim Resident Outlook and Exchange

Source:  Experts Exchange http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/A_4259-Exchange-2007-2010-Backpressure-Quick-Fix.html

What is Backpressure?

Backpressure is a new ‘feature’ in Exchange 2007 / 2010 where Exchange actually monitors resources such as Free Disk Space on the disk where the Exchange Message Queue / Message Queue Transaction Logs live and the Memory that the Edgetransport.exe process is using and memory in general used by other processes.

How do I know if my server is suffering from Backpressure?

If one or more items being monitored hits a pre-defined limit, then Exchange will stop inbound mail-flow, so usually the first thing that you notice is that all of a sudden, you are not receiving emails from the rest of the world.  You will be able to continue to send emails, you just won’t receive any new emails.

Look in your event logs and if Backpressure is being applied, you will see Event ID’s 15006 or 15007 in the logs:

Event log entry for critically low available disk space
Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeTransport
Event Category: Resource Manager
Event ID: 15006
Description: The Microsoft Exchange Transport service is rejecting messages because available disk space is below the configured threshold. Administrative action may be required to free disk space for the service to continue operations.

Event log entry for critically low available memory
Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSExchangeTransport
Event Category: Resource Manager
Event ID: 15007
Description: The Microsoft Exchange Transport service is rejecting message submissions because the service continues to consume more memory than the configured threshold. This may require that this service be restarted to continue normal operation.

How do I get mail-flow restored quickly?

For a quick fix, modify the edgetransport.exe.config file (notepad works happily for this) found in c:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\bin (Exchange 2007) or c:\program files\microsoft\exchange server\v14\bin (Exchange 2010)

Search for and change the “EnableResourceMonitoring”

from “True” to “False”, save and close the file, then restart the Microsoft Exchange Transport Service.

  • 62 KB
  • Edge Transport Config File

Edge Transport Config File

Okay – so mail-flow has been restored – what to do next?

Once your inbound mail-flow has returned (assuming disk space is an issue, which has been the case every time I have seen Backpressure applied), then tidy up your drives and if you are not backing up your Exchange Server (which will purge the Exchange Log files), then make sure you do!  There is an excellent article written by Demazter which I have posted a link to at the bottom of this article which is applicable to Exchange 2010 and walks you through how to backup your Exchange 2010 server using the built-in Windows Backup software.

Create new W7 Virtualbox without activation.

Blenheim Resident Windows 7

Re: Which changes trigger reactivation in a Windows guest?

Postby JEGERT » 7. Dec 2009, 19:10

I was working on activation for Win7 this past weekend and found some helpful notes for anyone new to VBox
First off, if you change even one character in the machine UUID, reactivation occurs but the hard disk UUID did not matter (thanks Sasquatch and mpack)

If you want to save off a Win 7 activated environment, follow these steps (do not use the Export Appliances)
1) Backup the VDI file by just copying it or use CloneVDI and make sure to use “Keep old UUID” (you’re the best mpack! This tool works great)
2) copy the machine’s XML file and keep it with the VDI/VHD (C:\Users\Administrator\.VirtualBox\Machines\Win7\Win7.xml where Administrator is the user you are logged in with and Win7 is the VBox name)
You should have the VDI/VHD file and XML now (2 files)

Now to restore a Win 7 environment, here goes:
1) Create a new VBox machine entry from scratch including the HardDisk (does not matter what the settings are here since the XML file will overlay it anyway)
2) Copy the backed up XML file to the new VBox machine’s directory (i.e. C:\Users\Administrator\.VirtualBox\Machines\NewWin7\NewWin7.xml) and overwrite the one already there (NOTE: You need to close VirtualBox as it will probably have this file opened)
3) Copy the VDI/VHD file and overlay the one you created in step 1. The reason I do this is because if you import the VDI, it WILL change the UUID on the hard disk
4) Edit the VBox XML file and change the Machine UUID and hard disk UUID to match the file in step 2 above (i.e. C:\Users\Administrator\.VirtualBox\VirtualBox.XML). Make sure there are no duplicates or VBox will crash on COM registration!

Now run the VBox machine and you should not be asked to reactivate the OS

Thanks everyone!

Backup to USB External drive on Freenas

Blenheim Resident Ubuntu and Linux

Backup to USB External Drive on FreeNAS

FreeNAS is an excellent operating system but one thing it lacks is the ability to schedule or otherwise automate backups to an external USB drive. Sure, you can setup ZFS snapshots and then hack it together to ‘zfs send’ these snapshots off to your external drive, however this isn’t always pretty and can sometimes be hard to restore from.

Source: http://www.spiderwebsolutions.com.au/backup-to-usb-external-drive-on-freenas/

Thankfully, we came up with a quick solution that doesn’t involve too much stuffing around.

  1. Mount your external drive within the FreeNAS GUI using the legacy UFS filesystem. Give it an easy name to remember, in this case we will call it ‘offsite’ (While technically the drive doesn’t sit offsite, the point of this is so that it can be taken home each night by a staff member)
  2. Head into view disks and take careful note of the device path. In this case we will be using /dev/da1
  3. Create a backup shell script called backup.sh or similar and chmod execute permissions on it to root.
  4. Stick something similar to this in the file:#!/bin/bash
    mount /dev/da1 /mnt/offsite
    rsync -av --delete /mnt/main /mnt/offsite/data | mail -s "Offsite Backup Log" "youremail@example.com"
    umount /mnt/offsite
  5. Make sure to substitute your device name with the one you found in step 2, and offsite with whatever name you called the volume. This is the case for FreeNAS 9.1.0 and 8.3.0
  6. In this scenario, our mountpoint /mnt/main is what we are backing up. Your location may be a little different.
  7. If using FreeNAS 9.1.1, the device name will be a little different to /dev/da1. You can find out what it is by running the command below. It will usually sit in one of the last lines of the output and be mapped to the mount point with the same name you called the volume.
    df -aTh
  8. Save the .sh file you have created and create a cron job within the FreeNAS GUI to run it at the specified days and times that you want. Redirect stderr.
  9. Remember that this is a current backup and does not include history. If a file is deleted on disk, so is the file on the backup when the backup is next run (–delete command). You can remove this if need be, however you may find the external drive will quickly fill up without further scripting.

That’s it! This has been tested on FreeNAS 8.3.0, 9.1.0 and 9.1.1. This is simply a script to backup when you wish to feel safe in the event of a fire. File versioning and snapshots should still be used where required.

*****************************************************************************************************************************

Simple alternative:  Map the drive on a Windows 7 machine, and use Cobian backup, which enables you to back up mapped drives.  Not as elegant, but it does work.  Cobian can either compress the backup or just copy the files as they are, using VSS.

Backing up SBS 2008 and Server 2008 to Network Share

Blenheim Resident SBS 2008

Source: http://www.wbadmin.info/articles/scheduled-backups-nas-windows-server-2008-backup.html

Method 1 – scripting “wbadmin.exe”

To script the backups, you’ll need to create a batch file and use the wbadmin start backup command. For a list of the options you can use with wbadmin, you can go to the command prompt and type in, “wbadmin start backup -help”.

A sample command you’ll use will be:

wbadmin start backup -include:c:,d:,e: -backupTarget:\\SERVER\SHARE -quiet

 

System state:

You create a batch file and use this command line :

wbadmin start systemstatebackup –backupTarget:e: (-quiet)

You must change the target

If you want to see jobs running :

wbadmin get status

This example shows you how to backup C:, D: and E: drives – but of course, you should customize this parameter to suit your system.

Optionally, you can use the -user and -password options to explicitly specify the username and password to use when connecting to the share.

Save this batch file to disk – for example, C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\RunBackup.bat

Note: you should run the file interactively from the command prompt so that you can test running your script before scheduling it.

When you have finished and are satisfied that your batch script runs properly, then you can schedule it using the Windows Task Scheduler. (Start menu > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler).  Follow the wizard to set up your batch file to run at the desired time every day. In the final step of the wizard, click the checkbox to Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish.

Now, on the General tab of the task’s Properties dialog, select Run whether the user is logged on or not, and check the Run with highest privileges checkbox. Also ensure that the user that the task is running as is an Administrator or part of the Administrators or Domain Admins group.

Note: If you do not follow these last steps, your backup will not run properly.

SBS 2008 set up internet address wizard fails

Blenheim Resident SBS 2008

New installation.  May be something to do with Sharepoint.  One suggested solution:  Reinstall Sharepoint

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd548327(WS.10).aspx 
 
Delete the current databases, and delete the two sharepoint websites in IIS before running the wizard after reinstall.  You will then have endless trouble getting companyweb working again, but hopefully the client doesn’t want it, as most clients don’t these days.

Windows update can destroy sharepoint.  Solution here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944154

 

i put mail.domain.com in the answer file and it obviously broke everything. no wizards would run because they all go through sharepoint. the problem was that mail.domain.com was set as the name of the local certification authority and it was distributing mail.domain.com certificate  as a local one that was signed by the sbs 2008.
what i did, i went to certification authority, MMC, Add, Certificates, Local Computer on SBS 2008 and deleted local mail.domain.com certificate from ALL authorities (personal, etc….) then i imported and installed the valid public certificate in place of all that i have deleted. Ran Install My Certificate Wizard and added a valid Pubclic cert. All wizards started running and all issues resolved themselves.