I’ve been called to serve my country as a juror in a case. Today i attended and was selected for a juror panel so there won’t be anything juicy here for a bit. However if you are interested in the SSD’s the new HP server arrived on Friday along with the additional 2 SSD’s.

The server itself is a DL380G6 with the Xeon 5550 Processor. I purchased 4 SSD’d in total for a RAID 5 configuration with 1 Spare (just in case of failure, i’m wary of the reliability of the SSD’s). The HP 2.5″ SAS/SATA front bay caddy’s won’t be delivered until tomorrow/Wednesday. At that point we are installing Server 2003 Enterprise as the server has to run a legacy Borland Interbase 7.x database.

In other tech news i purchased myself a Nokia N85 and i have to say the prelimiary findings are that this phone is superb.
I’m also looking into setting up a test OCS 2007 R2, this may take some time however and will most likely be next year.

I hope to get more onto this in the coming days but its all trial dependant, so stay tuned.

jury, ssd

Tiny Receiver

I predominantly use this mouse because it is a laser mouse, because it looks like the Delta Flyer and because its pretty. If I’m honest i saw the chance to change my mouse for very little and felt it was worth the effort. My previously mentioned colleague Joe had terrible luck with the Logitech MX1100. So now that this new “goddess” has walked into my life i said goodbye to the MX1100 and hello to the Performance MX.

To date, running about a week on a single purchase charge of the battery the mouse is still going. A quick check of the logitech software, which i love, and I’m told that the battery is “low”. Pity really as i plan on playing some more Modern Warfare 2, buying X-Mas presents and general server messing with tonight. However as i speak i have plugged in the extremely handy USB cable and hey presto it’s charging and more importantly still working as i use it. I think Logitech copped something. Cradled mice need to have the PC on in order to charge them, the charge is slow and .. annoying. You cannot even use the mouse while its charging. Also what’s the point in docking the mouse when you turn off your PC for the night?

So it seems that they copied the XBOX 360 method, charge as you play. If this mouse’ battery runs out it will simply become a corded mouse, never a non functioning one. Quite like the humble escalator, it doesn’t break it becomes a staircase.

The unifying receiver is a welcome bonus, however i have no Logitech Keyboard, pointer or otherwise capable device to connect with. The size of the damned thing still impresses me as i look at these photo’s. It is simply astonishing and the amount of USB Dongle problems that a slim and tiny (almost flush) USB receiver can solve by existing.

The Receiver is Unifying or Tiny take your pick

It’s comfortable, its large which is frankly great for me as i have big hands/long fingers. I found the MX1100 to be stumpy and stiff in comparison. Overall comfort is great and the mouse works perfectly on my worn wooden desk. Distance has not been an issue, however if you use the mouse for a Media Center setup then you may require more distance than your standard PC desk. Logitech even provide a USB extender cable for just that with a slightly stylish design so you won’t feel too put out be the trailing cable.

darkfield, laser, logitech, mouse

In most businesses there is a request for a Director/Manager to be able to check his email remotely. More times than not he wants it on his PC @ home, mobile phone and the ability to access it anywhere in the world. Those with a Small Business Server operating system have this luxury from day 1. However in Exchange 2010 its not an “out of the box” solution. However since OWA is, half the work is already done for you. So i set about enabling my “users” to access email from their domain laptops in Outlook using a single sign-on.

Step 1: Install and SSL Cert for your remote site.
Step 2: Enable Outlook Anywhere in Exchange.

Step 3: Install the Windows RPC Over HTTP Proxy Component

For Outlook Anywhere to work correctly, the Windows RPC over HTTP Proxy component must be installed on your Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 server that’s running Windows Server 2008 (R2). So i install this new role, quick reboot and hey presto outlook works. At this point you can stop and continue to use Basic mode. However for NTLM you need to change the setting in Part 3.

Step 4: Set Outlook Anywhere to NTLM Authentication

Wait the required 15 Min’s and it will work. This is extremely beneficial as the user does not have to authenticate with his/her user name and password each time. Given that it also requires the user to type the domain name as a prefix “PTS\cscolard” NTLM allows you to rule out that horrible explanation into “why you have to type the domain name” where the answer is inevitably, “you just do”.

Resources: Outlook Anywhere Howto http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123542(EXCHG.140).aspx
Enable NTLM Authentication http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd776122(EXCHG.140).aspx

Exchange, ntlm, oma, outlook, owa, VPN

Finally, they arrived, 2 Corsair X64 SSD’s with my name on them. As all new SSD drives are 2.5″ i will need to locate some 3.5″ to 2.5″ adaptors and will post a link when i get it. However the SATA II Raid controller never showed up so I’m going to make do for now with my Desktop, in order to begin the tests i must first explain the rig i am using and the reasons.

My Home PC is water-cooled and quite the effort filled task to undo drives and try not have my ICH9 Raid array decide to Rebuild itself, or worse run a check and repair which last time i ran it took over 24 hours. So without the RAID SATA 2 card (Adaptec) i had to run some tests using my Work PC.

Dell Optiplex 755
Windows Server 2008 R2
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500
8GB DDR2
ATI HD 2400 Pro 256MB

In order to run a benchmark i installed server 2008 R2 (trial) on a 250GB SATA 2 Drive as a 34.47 GB Partition.
I added the Hyper V Role, updated windows and ran a backup to a second drive.
This backup took a minor 2 minutes for a complete File and System Image backup. I then installed a single SSD and restored the image onto this drive.

A Table of Comparisons:

Some simple Disk Benching software showed the SSD’s to be over 600% more efficient at Random Disk Seeks on a simulated busy database server.
However i am not continuing these tests as the Adaptec SATA Raid Card arrived on Friday and on Monday i should have a new test server (HP ML350 G4) with SCSI 320 disks for comparison in RAID 0/1/10.

hdd, server 2008, ssd

It stole my evening!

No server work or nothing done just COD:MW2. Although i have been trying unsuccessfully to fix my XBOX 360 while attempting to watercool it. I guess i should do 1 at a time. Also my new mouse finally arrived in Komplett and was shipped yesterday so i’m hoping to get in tomorrow, if not it will be Thursday. Expect a glowing review. SSD’s wont be in until Thursday so midweek is a cracking failure so far.

360, logitech, mouse, ssd, xbox

More fun with Exchange has been had. Firstly by default exchange is configured for Internal .local domain mail only. So you need to add a new domain under Organization Configuration -> Hub Transport -> Accepted Domains. Then add a new Policy to make that external mail address default. This will enable the server to receive mail for this external domain.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. You now need to add a Send Connector, while you are not relaying through an ISP you still need to tell it to route mail via MX requests from DNS records. This is a given in SBS so i found it confusing at first but given the “Edge Server” that Microsoft try to push, it begins to make sense.

Now my server is setup and when i try to send a test email i get this error “530 5.7.1 Client was not authenticated Connection closed by foreign host”. This error is again down to Exchange 2010 expecting to see a transport server from the edge, and not a users mail server trying to deliver it directly to exchange. The work around for this will make your server accept mail from all servers but once you have your “Accepted Domains” in the section above listed correctly then it will not be a problem. For quick ease this is the command: Set-ReceiveConnector -Identity “Default <servername>” -PermissionGroups “AnonymousUsers”

Another snag in the remote mail setup. The self assigned certificate isn’t being accepted by outlook. I had gotten a free SSL certificate when i purchased my domain personatechsystems.com as my testing domain. The good folk at www.namecheap.com supplied me with a “Positive SSL” certificate.
Importing/exporting explained here http://www.digicert.com/ssl-support/pfx-import-export-iis-7.htm

Certificate installed and i still cannot add an Exchange mail account to Outlook 2010 with mail over https selected. I would have hoped that Microsoft had resolved this “issue” for fully remote users to not need to use a VPN to setup the mailbox initially. However the need for a VPN brings me to installing Routing and Remote access for a VPN. Guide source http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7E973087-3D2D-4CAC-ABDF-CC7BDE298847&displaylang=en . In Server 2008 R2, Routing and remote access is installed via the Network Policy and Access Services (NPAS) role. Configuring this is the same as server 2003, although it does require 2 NIC’s, choosing a custom install will get around this. Do NOT use 2 nics as it will install the server as a Router, which is not what we want.

My progress on this was hindered today due to a migration of data from an old server 2000 box in work to my new DFS. More tomorrow.

2010, Exchange, Office, Routing, VPN

So today began my first steps into Exchange 2010.
I created a new virtual machine yesterday with Server 2008 R2 and updated it. The prerequisites for Exchange 2010 are as follows. As has been customary on Server 2008, installing these roles and configuring them for first time use is simple.

Roles:

Active Directory (AD)
Application Server (.Net 3.5.1 & TCP Port Sharing)
Domain Name Services (DNS)
Web Server (IIS 7) and vitally important — IIS 6 Management Compatibility Role Services.
File Services (SYSVOL etc)

Applications:

2007 Office System Converter
.Net 3.5 (installs with Application Server Role)

Initial Problems

When trying to Install Exchange the prerequisites check failed on Connecting to IIS and checking is the WWW Publishing service had started. Installing IIS 6 Compatibility in Role Services resolved this. As such i have added it above as a Prerequisite.

So i create a new user for my laptop to login with. I log-in OK on the laptop, try to add the new account automatically but i get an error. Adding it manually fixes this and bingo i have email. The error was due to using my router for DNS and not the internal DNS. Auto configuration now works OK.

Tried to log-in via OWA failed on invalid user/pass. There are no errors in the event viewer or IIS logs. The realisation that i had not selected “Windows Authentication” under “Security” when i installed the Web Server (IIS) became a hope for a quick fix. That didn’t work. However the rejection for my user/pass is taking longer than previous attempts so i enable “Basic Authentication” as a Role Service. Bingo OWA is up and running.

More fun tomorrow!

2010, Exchange, server, windows 2008 R2

I recently purchased a WD 1.5TB hdd for my Desktop. About 2 hours into its use in my PC it burnt out. I sen this back to the nice folks at overclockers.co.uk and 2 weeks later (blame the UK postal strike) it arrived and was promptly replaced. So the new drive arrived and 24 hours later i deem it working OK. However with my current rig i have 1 x 160 GB SATA, and 3 x 1TB SATA. The 3 x 1TB drives are in a RAID 5 configuration. No more data loss for me. Recently my gaming habits have pushed my 160GB drive to capacity. So i figure its time to try Windows 7 Built in Backup and Restore.

Start -> backup. Simple eh?

Select the Library and Local Disk, also tick include a system image.

Now to the scary part. Installing the new HDD in the Antec 900 was easy and a prompt reboot and boot to DVD brought up the Recovery disk. This restore process detected my backup and offered to restore it. My fear of losing my raid array made me chose the custom route. However this was not necessary as the drive restore stated that the RAID would be excluded from the backup as it was the location of the backup media. My fears however were  not alleviated as i found in the past with Microsoft that sometimes they mess up the simplest wording of an action.

20 Mins later and the PC had booted into Windows 7. As it uses an image level backup my HDD was showing as 160GB. Thankfully microsoft were smart enough to remove the need for Partition Magic and other partitioning software and i was able to “expand disk” while windows was still running. No reboot needed at this point and no re-activation of windows.

Some benchmark tests will follow once i get my SSD’s up and running.

hdd, overclockers, raid, sata, windows 7

Having seen the recent release of Server 2008 R2 i decided to get rid of the 7100 Build (Release Candidate) that i was using and install a fresh copy at home. As with all my testing this will be done through VMWare Workstation at home on my Desktop PC. Installing the OS itself took 2 hours, probably due to windows updates.

Server 2008 R2

The purpose of this is the new features in Server 2008 R2, such as Direct Access (personal interest in this), and all the tech in Exchange 2010, Office 2010 and Sharepoint integration. Hopefully my dummy lab network i have on personaltechsystems.com will be up and running by next week to show off these features.

As for my comment the other day regarding SSD’s. I’m getting 2 Corsair Performance models @ 72GB each. Specs on these are 220/MB -170/MB read/write and a new Sata controller to go with them. I will have more specs once they actually arrive but they should be here early next week.

2010, Exchange, Office, R2, server 2008, Vmware

Today i arrived into work to a very … different sight.
I was missing my taskbar icons. Having seen explorer crash in the past in XP and Vista whereby it decides to take the quick launch away i figured that this was the same. Well i was wrong.

You see 1 icon there, thats the Problem Steps Recorder at work

 Further investigation revealed that i could pin and unpin new items at will. But the oldies would not reappear. Some well placed r-click’s lead me to “C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar”. This handy little place is the physical store for what we “pin” to the taskbar. So it was very surprising when i found that my icons were still there!

A quick jump to Microsoft support online and they had never heard of this issue before. So i record the problem i am having using the beautiful “Problem Steps Recorder”. For those that don’t know this is the greatest gift from Microsoft in Windows 7 for anyone who troubleshoots issues for remote desktop users. If you haven’t used it simply give it a try and you will see why this tool is excellent for troubleshooting your computer illiterate grandparents “errors” and to even make how to guides on navigation or setting changes.

My psr file was 13MB unzipped (in .mht format) due to the number of screenshots it took when i made it and the dual screen high res setup that i am using. (2x 22″ @ 1680×1050). Currently i am liaising with Sherry Jia, Partner Online Technical Community, and as my employer is a Microsoft Gold Partner it seems that i will get the support i need.

So finger crossed that tomorrow shows the results, not that it matters as i have installed Server 2008 R2 with HyperV on my second HDD in work and plan to make a fresh Win7 VM. That will hopefully push me onto Win7 backup and restore and finally HyperV backup and restore.

HyperV, missing taskbar, problem steps recorder, psr, Quick Launch, taskbar, windows 7