Exchange: Can’t Delete a Database
KB ID 0001414 Problem Every iteration of Exchange comes up with some new system/hidden mailbox type that stops me deleting mailbox databases! This mailbox database contains one or more mailboxes, mailbox plans, archive mailboxes, public folder mailboxes or arbitration mailboxes, Audit mailboxes. To get a list of all mailboxes in this database, run the command Get-Mailbox -Database <Database ID>. To get a list of all mailbox...
Windows: Deploy and Configure DNSSEC
KB ID 0001524 Problem Like many protocols and solutions, DNS was designed in a time when we all trusted each other, and a ‘hacker’ was some sort of farm equipment. To ensure when you get a response form a DNS server it is coming from where you expect it to, and you can trust it. We use DNSSEC. Basically it signs the DNS record with a digital cypher. The client can then validate the DNS record when it receives it and it...
Veeam Restore Error: Copying Data from Deduplicated Volumes
KB ID 0001521 Problem If you attempt to restore items from a backup of a server where the data was stored on a deduplicated volume, you may see the following error; Copying data from deduplicated volumes requires that the console is installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 or later with the data duplication feature enabled. Restoring files from deduplicated volumes requires that the mount server associated with the source backup...
Azure: There is Currently a Lease on the Blob
KB ID 0001517 Problem This sort of highlights my lack of experience with Azure! But I had to Google it, so if you are here, you did as well 🙂 There is currently a lease on the blob and no lease ID was specified in the request. Solution I had been uploading .vhd files and creating VMs from them, and was tidying up, so I wanted to delete anything that had been left behind. All Services > Disks (or Disks (Classic)) > Select the...
Convert (VMware) VMDK to (Microsoft) VHD/VHDX
KB ID 0001516 Problem Recently I’ve looked a lot at converting VMware resources to either Hyper-V, or Azure. But what if you want to take a Microsoft machine (or workload) and run it in VMware? Well the easiest way is to use some freeware, “StarWind V2V Image Converter”. These days I’m dubious about any piece of freeware, because it’s either a) Not Free when you actually want to use it in anger, b) Full...
Microsoft Azure ‘Route Based’ VPN to Cisco ASA
KB ID 0001515 Problem This covers the, (more modern) Route based VPN to a Cisco ASA that’s using a VTI (Virtual Tunnel Interface). Virtual Network Gateway Options With VPN’s into Azure you connect to a Virtual Network Gateway, of which there are TWO types Policy Based, and Route Based. This article will deal with Route Based, for the older Policy Based option, see the following link; Microsoft Azure To Cisco ASA Site to...
Using Azure Site Recovery for Migrations (Part 2)
KB ID 0001514 Problem Back in PART ONE, we setup our Azure Site Replication Server, now we create a “Replication Policy”, and perform a test failover. In addition to the pre-requisites we needed before to perform the following steps, we will also require you to create a “Storage Account” in your Azure Subscription. Solution Locate the Replication Vault we already created > SiteRecovery > Prepare...
Using Azure Site Recovery for Migrations
KB ID 0001513 Requirement ASR (Azure Site Recovery) is primarily used to provide a ‘failover’ environment to be used in a disaster or major outage scenario. Essentially you deploy an Azure Site Recovery Configuration Server in your environment, then in your Azure Portal you create and configure a failover vault. OK, but we are talking about migrations, well we can use exactly the same procedure to migrate from on premises...
Manually ‘Installing’ Microsoft Integration Services Drivers
KB ID 0001512 Problem If your OS is 2008R2 or newer then you wont need to do this as the drivers are already included. But what if you have a machine that you want to put the drivers in before you virtualise or migrate it. Well if you mount the ISO and run it this happens; Unsupported Guest Environment The Hyper-V integration services can only be installed inside of a virtual machine running Hyper-V Bah! You are not the boss of me! I...
Veeam: Restore / Migrate a VM to Azure
KB ID 0001511 Problem Veeam is both a great company, and backup and recovery is the best product in its class by a country mile, (yes Zerto is great but it costs a fortune!) With Backup and Recovery 9.5 Update 4. You can recover a VM straight into Azure, (and Azure Stack). Which pretty much means you can use Veeam to Migrate your VMs (or physical machines) from vCenter (or Hyper-V) into Azure/Azure Stack. You need to have a successful...