Recently in I Get Asked 'This' A Lot... Category

Nice. Easy, graphical, find out if your domain/email has been naughty.

http://bsn.borderware.com/

And don't forget www.mxtoolbox.com

We recently encountered an issue where Terminal Services was installed on a Domain Controller, and an administrator would try and use the 'Connect To' feature built into Terminal Services Manager, but would result in error. Whenever an administrator tried to 'Connect To' a Terminal Server user session, the administrator would be prompted to enter the end user's password, and after doing so, an error message would pop up informing the administrator that a 'wrong password was entered', and event ID 1326 was logged in the application event log. The administrator in question had tried all sorts of group memberships and GPO configurations, but all resulted in failure.

Although not reported by Microsoft as a problem (pretty much no info on the net), through some testing, we were able to ascertain that the problem was being caused by permissions and restrictions, more than likely because of the server being a domain controller. The test results concluded that if the end user was an 'administrator', the 'Connect To' feature worked perfectly in Terminal Services Manager, which gave us a flash back of the 'Windows 2000, Log on Locally' privilege. Of course, ever since Windows 2003, there's been the introduction of the 'Remote Desktop Users' group, that by default, is not granted the 'Log on Locally' privilege (although it allows you to connect to the server with a TS client). As soon as we granted the 'Remote Desktop User's group the 'log on locally' privilege in the Default Domain Controller's Group Policy object...BAM!...everything was working with 'as expected' functionality.

Thanks to Avi for the write up :)

So, this was nice of this guy, and handy. If you ever need to validate an IP route from somewhere other than where you are sitting (perhaps to ensure it 'isn't just you'), this guy gives a web interface to try the route from where his machine is sitting.

Cool.

http://www.bdhtechnology.com/tools/traceroute.php

And thanks to my buddy Karl, here's another:

http://www.net.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/traceroute

So then I figured I'd google for more - and sure enough, there are tonnes :)

http://www.traceroute.org

View All Message Headers in Outlook

To have Outlook 2007 show you a message's all header lines:

• Open the email in a new window by double-clicking it.
• Click the expansion button in the lower right corner of the Options toolbar box.
• The box by default holds the Follow Up and Mark as Unread buttons.
• Find the headers under Internet headers

View All Message Headers in Outlook 2000, 2002 and 2003

• Open the message in a new window in Outlook.
• Select View | Options... from the message's menu.
• All header lines appear under Internet Headers at the bottom of the dialog that comes up.

You'll need your organizational forms library recreated (you probably didn't replicate it during your Exchange 2003 to 2007 migration).

How to create an Organizational Forms Library in Exchange 2007 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933358

Looking to run VMware server in your environment and want to have 64bit guests? This keeps cropping up so it was time to catalog the information a little bit so I don't have to keep looking for it.

VMware knowledge base regarding having 64bit support:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1901

A nice breakdown of the issue and how to check your existing server if you've already bought it :)
http://www.petri.co.il/virtual_run_a_64_bit_guest_operating_system_in_vmware.htm

Ran into this tonight and after hours of scouring (and Microsoft's own KB not helping me find the answer via their search ... yeesh!) Google, etc., finally found the solution to the issue I had at a client site.

Default printer cannot be set

Microsoft KB : 933996- A user who is logged on to a Windows Server 2003-based Terminal Server cannot configure a printer as the default printer

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933996

Well, this was a frustrating experience, as I was trying to make Outlook Anywhere work with a single cert, only realizing later that I needed a wildcard cert, which I didn't have. Anyways, got it licked with the following information that I'm bookmarking so I don't have to chase it later. The first short blog was definately the most useful in sorting out where I was going wrong.

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/09/21/447067.aspx - in particular, this has the pro/con list defined for the various SSL options that exist, though it discusses a new SRV record option, which is supported with several requirements, such as particular hotfixes.

AutoDiscover WhitePaper

SRV Record details

'Bout Time. But does anyone really care anymore?

itgroove announces a new focus.

It was time for a change, and while we used to label ourselves 'Your Trusted IT Advisor' (and we still are), that slogan just simply did not do our abilities and service offering justice. We are now itgroove, 'Business Technology Solutions'.

With solutions like CMS, itGuardian (we watch your technology for you) and our laser beam focus on the coolest platform ever, Microsoft SharePoint, it was time to revamp our corporate message and website. Using our new CMS (Content Management System) we have rebuilt our website to reflect our new focus. Please check out our new website at your convenience @ www.itgroove.net.

Here’s a query for listing indexes… Needed this today…

select ‘tablename’=objectname(i.id) ,i.indid ,’indexname’=i.name ,i.groupid ,’filegroup’=f.name ,’filename’=d.physicalname ,’dataspace’=s.name from sys.sysindexes i ,sys.filegroups f ,sys.databasefiles d ,sys.dataspaces s where objectproperty(i.id,’IsUserTable’) = 1 and f.dataspaceid = i.groupid and f.dataspaceid = d.dataspaceid and f.dataspaceid = s.dataspaceid order by f.name,objectname(i.id),groupid go

Got this?

CGI Error
The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers.

You probably turned on 'Search Engine Friendly URL's in your Global Configuration. My webhost (Crystaltech) uses IIS for the webhost, and this setting doesn't work on IIS (only Apache from what I've read).

So turn that off... :)

Use this:

XMAP Module

Submit this (using google webmaster tools):

Xmap is a Joomla! extension based on the popular Joomap component. Xmap allows you to create a map of your site using the structure of your menus.

Detail Information

You can add your sitemap to your Google account in Google Sitemap to provide it with additional information about your site. The objective is clearly, to make your website Google-friendly so it will improve search engine optimization of your website.

How To Add Sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools with Xmap

1. Install Joomla! Extension, Xmap


2. In Administrator page, go to menu Components > Xmap. This will open the Xmap Configuration window.


3. You can add additional menu with click add menu.


4. Click the blue arrow, choose Preferences menu.


5. In XML Sitemap, copy and paste the url code to notepad. Just use the url started with index.php. This code will use in Google sitemap.


6. Go to Google Webmaster Tools. This will open the Dashboard.


7. Add your site url in Sites field. Click Add Site button. Verify your website first.


8. Go to Sitemaps menu.


9. Click Add a Sitemap.


10. Choose Add General Web Sitemap in drop-down menu.


11. Paste the XML Sitemap code (remember just add the url started with index.php, don't add your site url).


12. Click Add General Sitemap button.

SharePoint vs. the File Server

SharePoint offers...

1. Web based access to your files from anywhere (work, home, the airport and from anything (PC, MAC, mobile devices) - in a Web browser or familiar Explorer view
2. SharePoint offers a "Two Stage" recycle bin - if you delete a file in SharePoint, you can restore it from the sites recycle bin, if you delete it from the site, the administrator can still restore it for you, with the click of a button
3. SharePoint provides Check-In/Check-Out abilities - when a file is checked out, others that try to edit the file will be informed that you have it, and it will prevent them from overwriting your work
4. SharePoint provides Revision History (and backups). If you edit a document and don't like the changes since the last time you saved, simply revert to a previously saved version
5. SharePoint saves money (and storage) by storing only one copy of your document. If you want others to edit or review a document, you simply send them a link to the document, instead of the document itself. This means you always know where the original document is, and this prevents the common scenario of the document being spread around and stored on PC's and in users inboxes (and ultimately, backed up repeatedly as well)
6. SharePoint allows you to view and find your documents in whatever manner you wish - RSS feeds, customized views, Metadata/sorting filtering, whatever. And users can define their own individual preferences for finding their data
7. SharePoint provides Workflow capabilities - your documents are the Payload, and SharePoint provides the following workflows *out of the box* (with more that can be programmed) to manage them; Three State, Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signatures and Records Management Disposition Approval
8. You can email directly to a SharePoint document library (just imagine, being able to 'CC' your file server to store copies of documents (or better yet scanned receipts that are searchable!)
9. SharePoint document libraries can be moderated. Designate someone to manage the documents in each library, to ensure only the documents that have been approved, are available for viewing
10. SharePoint libraries can be RSS enabled - Cool. Not sure what RSS is? Click here to find out... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss)
11. SharePoint can notify you (by email) when a document has been added, modified or deleted. You can be alerted whenever you prefer; Immediately, or via a daily or weekly summary (digest)
12. When using Outlook, you can take a SharePoint document to work with *offline* (such as at 10,000 feet in Business Class) and it will synchronize it for you once you reconnect
13. SharePoint Search - find your data whether it be the name of the document or the text inside the document, in less than a second - 'Nuff Said!

Take that you lame-o file server! Go back to 1986! Tell Mr. T I said 'I pity you fool!'

...special thanks to Jess who pointed out I'm an idiot and I hadn't linked the wikipedia article. It's fixed Mr. Ribs.


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How to Enable Outlook Anywhere

Before You begin, to enable Outlook Anywhere, you must follow these steps in the following order:
Install a

1. valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate from a trusted certification authority (CA) that the client trusts.


2. Install the Windows RPC over HTTP Proxy component.


3. Enable Outlook

When you install Exchange 2007, you can install a default SSL certificate that is created by Exchange Setup. However, this certificate is not a valid SSL certificate that is trusted by the client. To use Outlook Anywhere, you must install an SSL certificate that is trusted by the client.

To perform this procedure, the account you use must be delegated the Exchange Organization Administrator role.

1. To install the RPC over HTTP Windows Networking component Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. On the Windows Components page, in the Components window, select Networking Services, and then click the Details button.
4. On the Networking Services page, in the Subcomponents of Networking Services window, select the check box next to RPC over HTTP Proxy, and then click OK.
5. On the Windows Components page, click Next.
6. Click Finish

Plus, this great reference/installation guide is quite useful.

Looking for values to stick in there and what they should be, for the Exchange Connection Filtering rule? Here's a quick overview and samples.

Entries you could use:

1. Spamhaus: sbl.spamhaus.org
2. SpamCop: bl.spamcop.net

Where to put 'em

If Spam is not being filtered before email is sent to Blackberry devices, this is for you...

This detail applies to installations where a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) is installed. If users are receiving spam and phishing on their Blackberry devices, configure the Blackberry server to wait for 45 seconds before forwarding messages to Blackberry devices. This provides time for CSE (or your antispam application) to complete its filtering.

NOTE: If you are running BES Server 4.1 SP2, the procedure below will not work. If you are running BES version 4.1 then you should upgrade to Service Pack 3, which is available from the RIM website.

Instructions for versions prior to 4.0:

1. On the BES Server, run REGEDIT.


2. Expand the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Research In Motion > BlackBerry Enterprise Server > Servers > ServerName


3. Find the DWORD value "ProcessMailDelay".


4. If this value is not found, create it.

Then...

1. Set the value of "ProcessMailDelay" to your preferred value for the delay (for example, 45 seconds).
2. Save the new value.
3. Restart the BES service

Instructions for version 4.0:

1. On the BES Server, run REGEDIT.


2. Expand the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Research In Motion > BlackBerry Enterprise Server > Agents


3. Find the DWORD value "ProcessMailDelay".


4. If this value is not found, create it.

Then...

1. Set the value of "ProcessMailDelay" to your preferred value for the delay (for example, 45 seconds).
2. Save the new value.
3. Restart the BES service

Reference from Cloudmark (our Antispam Solution of Choice):

As a little bit of value add for you, from your friends here at itgroove. We wanted to share 2 ways you can help your business be found on the Internet, by search engines and in particular, the most used one - Google (there are MANY techniques so we kept this first set of suggestions 'bite sized').

Cross Links
The more websites that link to your site and the more you link back to, helps a great deal in raising awareness about your website. Google values these relationships greatly. To see who Google believes you have a relationship with, go to Google and type this in for your search:

link:www.yoursite.com (e.g. link:www.itgroove.net)

So, sit down and make an effort to reach out to similar businesses, partners and vendors and request that you create some reciprocal links. It is worth sending that email.

Lengthen the ownership of your DNS Domain

Considering that $15 or so you are paying a year needs to be paid every year, why not just reserve it for the 10 and be done with it? Not only does this remove that annual headache but also, there is some belief that Google also weights just how long you plan to 'stick around' with your business and thus if your WHOIS (DNS information) is good for many years to come, they will value your site just a little bit more than the next one, in a similar space. While nobody really knows what Google does to value sites and rankings, it is believed this little one has an impact as well. You can spend the money now or later but you'll need to pay for that domain every year, so we suggest you lock it up for the next 5-10 years, just so that little Google bit helps as well.

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My resume was horribly out of date. It still is less than I would like, but nonetheless, it was time to update it to at least a reasonable accuracy, so here it is... :)

In PDF: Sean_Wallbridge_Resume.pdf

This is a great little add-in (FREE!) that you should consider installing on every Domain Controller, to show you the itty bitty bits of details you need to know about user accounts such as when their password expires, etc. (you do set your passwords to expire, right?)

Free download, do it now, install it now, there when you need it.

Account Lockout and Management Tools

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7AF2E69C-91F3-4E63-8629-B999ADDE0B9E&displaylang=en

ALTools.exe contains tools that assist you in managing accounts and in troubleshooting account lockouts.

Here's some reference info and setup overview.

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Check out the Major_Change_Datasheet.pdf, now available for download and review.

Exerpt:

Uncontrolled changes are the single largest cause of unplanned outages and major IT issues. Change Management is the proven, industry standard method for reducing these risks to your business. MajorChange.com is a web-based application designed to allow your business to easily and efficiently coordinate and control the change
management process within your IT environment.

MajorChange.com will assist you in introducing and maintaining effective change controls for all changes affecting to your IT systems and services. These controls will help to ensure successful change implementation and minimize the occurrence and severity of unexpected service issues or outages.

• Minimize the risk from changes to your IT systems and services
• Suitable for all businesses, large and small
• Customizable to reflect your business and IT environment
• Fast, intuitive and easy to master user interface
• Secure and accessible from virtually anywhere
• Keep up to date with automated e-mail alerts

Learned a couple of things today about Mailbox Management policies (thanks Dougie).

1. You can only have one mailbox management policy per mailbox (anything lower priority is skipped)
2. Deleted items can't be moved to System Cleanup Folders (though the gui will give you the option - instead of being moved, these items are DELETED! Crazy, poorly documented...
3. Calendar items do not end up as appointment items in the calendar system cleanup folder but as regular messages - and if you try to delete the calendar items folder and recreate one with the same name but that will accept appointment items, you will be dissapointed (it will revert it back to a regular folder) :-(

Reference Article from Microsoft...

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Got Major Change?

Consider this nightmare...

It's 11pm, the mail server just crashed and now it won't come back up after a reboot.

You ask yourself...

• Who last worked on the server?
• What did they do?
• What did they install?
• Why did they do it and Why wasn't it planned?
• And most importantly ... Why Me? And Why Now?

Sound familiar? How many times has THAT happened (or similar)? Have you had that long, agonizing night because of a change or patch that should have been carefully planned, tested or maybe even never installed in the first place - because it was convenient?

Major Change can bring the Change Control
process to your Business TODAY.

Change Management is the process by which a desired change to a server, service or application is:

• Requested (Submitted)
• Reviewed (Approved or Rejected)
• Documented (Stored and Retrievable/Searchable)
• Closed (Marked Complete)

Major Change provides a simple, user friendly console that addresses all of the change management process steps above, in addition to providing timely notifications direct to your inbox by email.

Best of all, Major Change is a web based service which means you can implement Change Control in your business NOW, with absolutely no hardware or software investment.

Major Change is a web-based application designed to allow you to easily and efficiently coordinate the change management process within your IT environment. Major Change assists you in introducing effective controls on all changes pertaining to your IT systems and services. These controls help to ensure successful change implementations while minimizing the occurrence and severity of unexpected service issues and outages.

Major Change and the change management process allow for comprehensive documentation and tracking of existing and historical changes, often a requirement under corporate policies and certain government legislation.

Major Change follows the proven, industry-standard change management process through a simple and intuitive interface. The submittal, approval and completion of changes is managed and tracked entirely by Major Change. It also accommodates the external review and implementation processes, performed by your Change Advisory Board (or equivalent authority) and technical teams.

Major Change is customizable to suit your business needs:

• Create multiple users, approvers and administrators - All users are kept up to date with email alerts when a request's status is changed
• Create multiple clients or subsidiary business units - Define logical partitions to match your business, each client/unit can be independently or globally managed and reviewed
• Create projects and project sponsors - Ensure changes are assigned to the right resources, run reports against specific projects
• Create a comprehensive list of nodes - Know exactly which devices, or groups of devices a change will be performed on
• Create a detailed list of services and applications - Know what services or applications a change will affect and whether it will impact your users

Got Major Change?

I'm going to start building a list of such tools, so I can find them. For tonight, there is just this one, from Microsoft:

• Microsoft Exchange Server SMTPDiag Tool

More later...

Don't mind me. Just bookmarking.

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Ever wondered how much uptime you are actually getting from your hosting provider? This matrix spells it out for you...

I've been asked this enough times, it makes sense to blog my response.

SharePoint vs Joomla

A small subset of SharePoint is about publishing, however SharePoint is much more than just a CMS (though it does incorporate Microsoft's first foray into CMS, the now-defunct Content Management Server).

SharePoint is an application framework, Joomla is a website CMS (website with a database backend that is skinned = easy/consistent and non-technical website management). Although there is some slight overlap in what can be done, they are completely different animals.

In general (mostly due to expense and overhead), I'd prefer having Joomla as my CMS. There are thousands of components allowing me to create a fully fledged website without having to code much of anything. Out of the box, SharePoint (web publishing feature) is quite limited, and the licence costs to expose it to the Internet are astronomical, whilst with Joomla most stuff is free, or otherwise, very good value.

I work with both (SharePoint fulltime, Joomla part-time - www.itgroove.net), both have their strengths and weaknesses, however they are for completely different markets. I'd say SharePoint's strength is good for Intranets, Internal Portals, knowledge sharing, document management and ideal for business seeking a remote access, collaborative, file server replacing platform - Joomla's strength is purely a good CMS.

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Here is a listing of best practices I put together for a client some time ago, enjoy or throw away. Whatever. :)

The following best practices are based on the amount of risk and expense a corporation can afford. For example, a small company running Small Business Server will typically only have one server so the Domain Controller (DC) role cannot be moved to a dedicated machine. Alternatively, a corporation such as a bank does have the monetary resources (and increased risk) and should separate Domain Controller roles from any Line of Business Applications or Internet Exposed equipment.

1. Domain Controllers (the centralized user account/password database) should not house applications that require specialized permissions or rights as these can result in compromise and weakness in a Windows Domain Design

2. Domain Controllers should never be Internet exposed (i.e. an Exchange Server, installed on a Domain Controller will likely be Internet accessible as it provides SMTP and WWW access, at a minimum)

3. Based on #1 and #2, if Domain Controllers are dedicated to their purpose and/or simply provide simplified capabilities (print serving, file serving, i.e. Non-applications), there should never be a need for a service account to ever require "Domain Admin" privileges

• A "Domain Administrator" has Administrative capabilities across ALL Domain Controllers, All Member Servers (by default) and All Workstations (by default)
• An Application, installed on a non-DC Member Server will only ever need "local administrator" access to the server (and perhaps rights such as "Log On As A Service" or "Run As A Batch Job") on which it runs OR possibly matching local administrator privileges across several Member Servers (Which you would manage by creating a dedicated application group)

4. Service Accounts are common (and perhaps important) as they provide a few things:

• A separate password that shouldn't be shared with others (set and forgotten)


• Typically, this account is set to 'never expire' its password. While this isn't a great idea (Service Accounts should be 'Managed'), it is common place for service accounts to have this attribute


• A user account or the default 'administrator' account should never be used for services as their passwords may expire, may be changed due to someone being terminated, etc. and thus applications could break immediately or even weeks later after a server is restarted

5. Service accounts should follow a naming convention, such as 'Service-SQL'. This is so that they can be easily identified as to their purpose. If SQL Server was no longer used, this account should be able to be safely disabled without any detrimental impact

6. Often, a single Service Account will be created, such as 'service-master'. While this will limit how many service accounts get created (just one), it typically results in several people knowing its password. Thus in the case of a termination, this account password will need to be reset and subsequently, services and applications will need immediate (and often production impacting) attention

7. Does the application even require a service account anymore? Perhaps due to legacy information or upgrades, a service account was assumed. Note that Windows 2003 was the first Windows operating system to introduce the "local service account" and the "network service account". Perhaps this is all that is required

8. The default 'Administrator' account password should not be known (nor should it be 'administrator', it should be renamed but that is for a different document). In addition, the Service-Account Passwords should be protected as well. It may be inconvenient to have the 'CTO' type in a service account password but it does ensure delegation of responsibility and access control

9. Procedures should be put in place to manage 'changing' of service account passwords. Typically this would involve:

• Notifying users of an upcoming change (change control, usually no impact)


• Changing the password for the service account in the domain


• Changing the password entered in the Windows Service dialog for the service(s) and possibly, within the application itself (many applications will manage the changing of the service password within the application interface)

Note: If your domain is Windows 2003 based and/or your Servers are Windows 2003 based, the following document should prove a worthwhile reference as well: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/guidance/serversecurity/serviceaccount/default.mspx

How Did We Get Here?

Q. Why are there often so many Domain Admins in a Windows Domain?
A. Typically, Laziness and/or Inexperience

• Service accounts often end up as Domain Admins because an application install will 'work the first time'. The service account has all the capabilities it needs (and then some) and thus the installation goes smoothly instead of smartly. No effort is taken after the fact to ensure the application is actually secure or aligns with the corporate security policy


• Sometimes IT Administrators (or 3rd party vendors onsite) just don't know any better. They always

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I'm starting to compile a list of SQL perforrmance tools:

SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports

The reports tool can be downloaded at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1d3a4a0d-7e0c-4730-8204-e419218c1efc&displaylang=en

The only prerequisite is to have SQL2005 SP2 installed, no reboot required.

Once installed, from the Management Studio you need to execute setup.sql for each instance on the server. Setup.sql is located in: %Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\PerformanceDashboard.

After the script execution you need to open performance_dashboard_main.rdl (available in the same directory) from Custom Reports (Right-click SERVERNAME > Reports > Custom Reports...).

SQLIO Disk Subsystem Benchmark Tool

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9A8B005B-84E4-4F24-8D65-CB53442D9E19&displaylang=en

SQL Server Health and History Tool (SQLH2)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=EEDD10D6-75F7-4763-86DE-D2347B8B5F89&displaylang=en

SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer (January 2008)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DA0531E4-E94C-4991-82FA-F0E3FBD05E63&displaylang=en

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Don't mind me, just screenshotting the SP1 Setup Switches

Text only version

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

I find a big piece of migration that is often overlooked is the fact that 'we don't need to migrate everything'. While it probably seems painfully obvious, I like common sense solutions so I'll state it anyways.

Before migrating, or during migration, there should be a step for 'vetting' whether a document should even be imported. If a document is 'dead, tombstoned, unnecessary', whatever, it should either then be:

1. Destroyed
2. Archived somewhere other than SharePoint
3. Leave it in the original location (say the file server h:) but mark it as read only - if they need the document later, they move it to the writable SharePoint library at that time
4. Archived in a different library in SharePoint

All 4 of the above, if applied against X number of documents, will also help trim the size of the stuff we need to index and view (performance gains) and backup (availability restore window requirements). Typically, 3 or 4 seems to be the best choice for documents that are no longer relevant as it can be backed up on a less frequent timetable, is still searchable via the overall search functionality, etc.

I just think it's important to state this expectation clearly. It's a win/win and if not stated, there is a strong possibility they'll just shove every document into this library, impacting performance and bloating it unnecessarily.

I get asked quite often about Vista and should customers be upgrading now. The answer comes with the customers comfort and risk acceptance level frankly. As such, it is important to consider Microsoft's Product lifecycle.

Microsoft Product Catalog

Microsoft Product Lifecycle information

For XP specifically...

• April 14, 2009 is when you can no longer get - Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims), Security update support, The ability to request non-security hotfixes
• April 8, 2014 is when you can no longer get - Paid support, Security update support at no additional cost, Non-security related hotfix support requires a separate Extended Hotfix Support Agreement to be purchased (per-fix fees also apply)

What is the Difference between BIS and BES?

Blackberry Internet Service

- Self-management of inbox; integrate up to 10 e-mail accounts
- Push e-mail /every 15 min (default, dependant on ISP)
- Contacts, appointments and tasks synched manually via USB only
- Deleted Messages: from device only

Blackberry Enterprise Server

- Complete real-time wireless synchronization of email, calendar, tasks and contacts
- Security level: AES encryption
- ITS Managed Security includes password protection and auto-erase in case of theft
- Deleted Messages: Can be deleted from both device and server

So, if you end up with Windows VM’s that were copied (not imported), you can end up with the same MAC Addresses. This can lead to ‘wierd’ behaviour if Windows Virtual Machines/Guests are on the same network and you will get intermittent (and often unexplainable) behaviour in regards to connecting, pinging, routing, whatever.

To fix:

1. Down the VM

2. Find the 'ethernet_card_address_type' in the VM's VMC file - such as... 0003FFxxxxxx

3. Remove the number so the line appears as follows:

4. After you remove the number, Virtual Server will create a new MAC address the next time you start the virtual machine.
Karel, cc’d you for your notes as although today was a little different, the problem/fix described above is what we had to deal with a few weeks ago and I imagine there might be a few VM’s floating around the office based on that original copy.

Reference: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/8f68598a-95e0-402d-b22b-c34db68397b41033.mspx?mfr=true

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I have found a solution as follows:

Here's the quick fix...

1) Backup the log file by right clicking on the database and selecting backup

2) Set the Config database to simple recovery model (Right Click on database / properties / options)

3) Right click on database and select Tasks/Shrink/Files and select file type = log, action = release unused space

Reset back to full recovery model, if desired.

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Note, before you read this, you should have an SMTP edge server in front of your Exchange Server. These details are for those of you that don't have an SMTP filter, can't afford one or just can't fix your SMTP blobbing issues any other way. I've had to do this twice recently, so thought I'd blog it.

Basically, if you start seeing a bunch of XEXCH50 errors in your logs and can't receive emails from a foreign domain (usually running Exchange by the way), or can't receive messages with attachments (in our case, over 256kb in size), you may need to 'dumb down' your SMTP verbs in Exchange.

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257569

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/843106/en-us

In my case, a client had a Sonicwall with old firmware that was gobbling up emails and not letting the SMTP complete its little chat.

So, to resolve this (until we can deal with the Sonicwall), do the following (again, try and use a real SMTP gateway instead):

1. cd "c:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin" (or wherever your path is)
2. regsvr32 /u peexch50.dll
3. iisreset

By the way, to determine before and after....

Before doing the above, do the following...
telnet localhost 25.
Then issue the command "ehlo somewhere.com"
If 250-EXEXCH50 is there, then the EXCH50 sink is enabled

After the change, do the same - you should see that it is gone...

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Concerned your fancy email stationary, or recent marketing email you sent is awfully 'Spammy'? Send an email to spamcheck@sitesell.net with the word TEST (in uppercase) in the Subject Line and you will get an email back complete with a basic report of how well your email did.

Go to http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/ to learn more.

For quick reference, this is how my own Outlook Business Stationary stacked up:

Your TOTAL SPAM SCORE for your e-mail was 1.

How To Interpret Your Score:
--------------------------------------------------
The higher the score, the more likely the e-mail will be considered spam by ISPs, which means the more likely it is to get filtered. Levels...

0.0 - 4.5 - nice and clean, no problems except tiny ones below; no action required

4.6 - 7.0 - the strictest may object; clean up the easy-to-find issues (below)

7.1 - 10.0 - getting into dangerous territory; clean up any big issues and the easy-to-find smaller ones

10.1 - 13.0 likely over ISP limits; requires good review and cleaning up

13.1+ major problems; overhaul needed -- systematically clean, point by point and then re-test (this may require two or three checks).
--------------------------------------------------

In order of importance, here are the mistakes that we found in your e-mail...

(0.8 points) An exceedingly large amount of HTML coding is often used to disguise common spam phrases. Consider reworking slightly.
(0.2 points) BODY: I wonder how many emails they sent in error (0.0 points) B