Since ESX 6.0.0 Update 2 you’ve been able to use the Embedded Host Client in ESX. Which is great if (like me) you use a Mac because I don’t have to fire up a windows box to load the ‘Fat’ VI client anymore.
What about older version of ESX?
If you are running 5.5 (update3) or newer then you can install and use the Embedded Host Client.
Why didnt you just upgrade to 6.0.0 Update 2?
Well my second host is using the custom HP build of ESX, and I didn’t want to do a remote upgrade, to find my host then had no drivers for its network cards!
Solution
You will need to enable SSH on the host, connect via SSH and issue the following three commands;
When VMware released ESX 4.1, they took away the “Host update utility”, (which was a mistake!). For people without VMware Update Manager, you now have to either put in the CD/DVD and do an ‘in place upgrade’, or grow a ginger pony tail and put some socks/sandals on and do some Linux.
Below I’ve got a build of ESX with no updates on it, I’m going to apply the ‘Update 1″ then the most recent patch to bring the host up to date (at time of writing).
Solution
1. Whilst connected to your host with the VI client > Select the host > Configuration > Security Profile > Services Section > Properties > SSH > Options >Start > OK > OK > Exit the VI client.
2. Connect to the host via an SSH command window (PuTTy shown). Log on as the root user, to check your current ‘build’ version issue the following command;
[box]vmware -v[/box]
3. You should have a fair idea what piece of storage has the most free space already, this host only has one datastore (datastore1). That’s the one I’m going to download the updates into. To view the Datastores issue the following command;
[box]ls -l /vmfs/volumes/[/box]
4. Change directory, so that you are ‘in’ that datastore and create a directory called ‘UPDATE’.
6. From a browser visit the VMware patch portal, locate the update you want to download and install, (here it’s VMware 5.0.0 Update1). Right click the download link and copy the URL.
Note: Patches after major updates are cumulative, I also downloaded the ‘latest’ patch.
7. You need to remove the ‘s’ from the URL, I just paste the link into notepad, edit it then copy it again.
8. Back at your command window download the update with the following command;
12. When complete, you will need to ‘scroll up’ and make sure it says, “Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.”
13. After the update, I am applying the latest patch with the same esxcli syntax, like so;
14. Once again you will need to ‘scroll up’ and locate, “Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.”
15. Now reboot the host;
[box]reboot[/box]
16. Once the host is back online, connect and take it out of maintenance mode.
17. Then locate the folder containing the update software and patches.
18. And delete it.
19. Finally power your guest machines back on again.
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Seen while installing Nero Burning ROM, at various points along the install it will fail with the following error,
Error:
The Installation process cannot be resumed. A rollback of the failed component will be performed. Some applications have been installed successfully and can be used, Do you want these applications to be uninstalled?
3. Select “Clean” > Even if it says it can’t find anything, select “Yes” to continue.
4. Open Windows explorer, and navigate to c:program filescommon files > Delete the “Nero” folder, If it says some files cannot be deleted because the are in use, download and use “unlocker” on them, then delete them.
5. Click Start > Run > type %temp% {enter} > this will open your temp directory, delete the nro.tmp folder and any other files relating to Nero or nro.
6. Reboot the PC and then retry the installation.
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Deploying GFI MailArchiver with Exchange 2010, Using the Outlook Connector, Importing and Exporting Data.
KB ID 0000666
Problem
I’ve been involved with Exchange for a long time, either being directly responsible for it, or supporting others that do. And like all systems it would run a lot smoother if you kept users away from it! But unfortunately you can’t, so your system is probably full of users “Deleted Items” and “Sent Items” and a copy of every email that some users have ever received “Because I might need them”. And for years I’ve been saying “It’s a messaging system not a file storage system” and lecturing users about tidying up their inbox. Yes you can setup retention policies but most people don’t.
Even if you do have conscientious users, some of them click “Yes” when Outlook asks them “Would you like to Auto-Archive your old messages now?” Then you have PST files all over the place getting corrupted and not getting backed up.
In addition, just as techs like me are shouting at users to delete things, businesses are now finding that they need to keep ALL their digital messaging for things like Sarbanes-Oxley and Freedom of Information enquiries. Yes I’m sure you back up your Exchange server but what if you needed to produce a message thread about a particular project that was two years ago in the middle of a month?
Archiving
Is the process of taking a copy of mail messages as they pass through Exchange and copying them off to an external location, in this case a database. The advantage of doing this is that database can be on cheaper midline storage and (potentially) keeps the Exchange database sizes down. With Exchange this is done by setting up Journaling (that’s the process of sending a copy of all [or specified] mail to a journal users mailbox). MailArchiver then takes this mail and put it into its database.
Advantages
1. Performance: Getting all the ‘Old’ Data out of the exchange databases makes them smaller, and more efficient.
2. Elimination of PST files: There’s a big list of reasons why I don’t like PST files. If you’ve ever had a user lose email because of them, then as far as they’re concerned its YOUR fault. There are tools to import PST file into the database, (and to export as well).
3. Disaster Recovery: How nice would it be, the next time users email message ‘disappears’ (Users never delete emails they just disappear), they could restore it themselves, from within Outlook. the Outlook Mail Connector software will do this. Also your backup window for Exchange will be a lot smaller.
4. Compliance: Saving a copy of all messages in a database has the advantage, that it’s searchable, and you can export the data you find in a format that you can import straight back into Exchange or send to someone.
5. Investigation: MailArchiver provides some powerful search and reporting tools. If your HR department needed to see who said what to who about projectXYZ then using conventional methods would be a nightmare.
Solution
GFI MailArchiver 2012 Installation and Configuration
Enabling Journaling in Exchange 2010
Note: GFI Mail Archive setup can do this for you but I prefer to do things manually.
1. Launch the Exchange System Management Console > Recipient Configuration > Mailbox > New Mailbox.
2. User Mailbox > Give it a name and set the password > Don’t create an archive > New > Finish.
3. Option 1: Standard Journaling can be enabled on a mailbox store > Organisational Configuration > Mailbox > Locate the store> Properties.
4. Maintenance tab > Tick Journal recipient then browse for the user you created > Apply OK.
5. Option 2: (Note: Requires an Exchange Enterprise CAL) This is set up using a Journaling rule > Organizational Configuration > Hub Transport > Journal Rules > New Journal Rule.
6. Give the rule a name > Browse for the user you created earlier > Set the scope (in most cases you will want global) > New > Finish.
7. To test it’s working send and email then log on as your ‘Journal’ user and make sure you have a copy in the inbox.
Installing GFI MailArchiver 2012
8. Before installing the GFI MailArchiver server needs the Exchange MAPI Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 (Unless you are installing it on the Exchanges server).
9. Also (though not essential) I prefer to disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration, so IE wont get upset with the management console.
10. You can add the URL to trusted sites if you want, but I’m not a fan of IE ESC anyway so I simply disable it.
11. Now run the GFI MailArchiver installer.
12. Now this I DO LIKE, why can’t Exchange do this! These are the server pre-requisites, rather than just falling over and giving you an error (I’m looking at you Windows Exchange Developers!) It offers to do the hard work for you. It takes a while though, best go for a coffee at this point > Next > Select whether you want to check for a newer version > Accept the EULA > Set the destination folder > Next.
13. Here the default setting, WARNING if you already have web services on this server (or even UPS software using port 80), have a common sense check.
Note: If you are not sure, the following command will tell you if port 80 (http) is in use;
[box]netstat -aon | find “:80″[/box]
14. Select Install > Finish.
Configuring MailArchiver 2012
15. The GFI MailArchiver management console will launch > Configure.
16. Next.
17. Enter your licence key and select verify licence key > Next.
18. Next.
19. In this example I’m using the Firebird database, in a production environment you should be using SQL server > Next.
20. Change the paths if required > Enter some domain credentials> Next.
21. Next
22. Next
23. Next
24. I’m selecting Auto > Next
25. As I set the user up myself I’m choosing Manual > Next.
26. Exchange Web Services seems to be less problematic > Enter your Journal user account > Next.
27. Next.
28. Finish.
29. We are now up and configured.
GFI MailArchiver – Outlook Connector, Import and Export
GFI MailArchiver – Using the Outlook Connector
30. Firstly you need to enable ‘Mailbox Folder Structure Retrieval’ on the GFI server > Launch the MailArchiver Management console.
31. Mailbox Folder Structure Retrieval.
32. Change Settings.
33. Enter a user account to connect to Exchange Web Services with, here I’m using my domain admin, whichever account you use needs to have administrative access on the Exchange and the GFI server. It also (domain admin included) needs the following Powershell commands running on the Exchange server before it will work, (change the user name to match your own);
36. I’ve already got a client PC setup with Outlook 2010.
37. I’m just connecting to the GFI servers management URL from the client and downloading the Outlook Connector.
Note: The versions are for Outlook 32 bit and Outlook 64 bit, even if your Windows client is 64 bit you may still be running 32 bit Outlook/Office. If you get it wrong it will tell you your version of Office is not supported.
38. Install the client software, accept the defaults, all you need to specify is the URL of the GFI MailArchiver server.
39. Now when your user opens Outlook, they get an additional mailbox called “GFI MailArchiver Mailbox” that carries a copy of ALL the users mail (Note: Not the mail from before the product was installed, to import that see the import section below, and choose ‘Import for Exchange mailbox’. In addition each user now has a MailArchiver tool bar from which they can search for their mails.
Note: If a user ‘loses’ a mail they can simply drag a copy from their GFI mailbox to their live inbox.
GFI MailArchiver – Importing Data from PST Files
Note: To do this the machine needs to have Outlook installed on it (and NOT Outlook 64 bit!)
40. Launch the GFI MailArchiver Import and Export Tool.
41. Import from .pst files.
42. Add PST file > Browse to your PST file > Open.
43. Select the folder(s) required > Next
44. Select a date range > Select the user that will own the imported data > Next.
Note: I’d rather have an “Import Everything” option!
45. When complete > Finish.
46. Now that user will have the imported mail as well (Note: The default view is “Emails in last 30 days” so don’t panic if you don’t see it all).
GFI MailArchiver – Exporting Data to PST File
47. Launch the GFI MailArchiver Import and Export Tool.
48. Enter the URL of the GFI server > Verify > Ensure it says OK > Next.
49. Select what you want to export (I’m going to search for email containing particular words) > Next.
50. Type in your search text > Find > Next.
51. Here you can restore the mail to a mailbox, export it to .msg or .eml format, or my old nemesis .pst files, I’ll choose the latter > Next.
52. And there’s my .pst file, ready to be sent out to satisfy my freedom of Information enquiry.
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After 20 minutes of Googling I was scratching my head. I wanted “Active Directory Users and Computers” on a 2008 server, that wasn’t a domain controller. I thought as Vista had the same codebase, then Vista RSAT would work, (but it wont.)
Solution
After a bit of stumbling around, I found it, its already on the server as a “Feature” its just not turned on.
Click Start > Server Manager > Features > Add Features > Scroll down to Remote Server Administration Tools > Active Directory Domain Services Tools > Tick > Active Directory Domain Controller Tools > Next.
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Seen on a “Brand New” Install of Windows Server 2008 R2, while attempting to install the Windows Server Update Service.
Windows Server Update Services Installation Failed The update could not be found. There may be a network connection issue.
Solution
1. Internet access was fine, though as it was complaining about an update, I did a full Windows update, and left it running while I went for a coffee.
2. Post update, the installation proceeds without error.
Update 24/05/16
Email From Efre: I had the same problem with WSUS, and the problem was that I was trying to install a new fresh WSUS, having had a previous installation that was out of service. But I had not removed the domain update policies from Active Directory. The new WSUS install reports the same error that you show in your post. Thanks to you I realised that.
I hope this helps some else.
Regards
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The very fist time I tried this was on ESXi 4.1, if you try and install Windows 8 Server on that platform, you will see the following.
Your computer ran into a problem and needs to restart. If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this code: HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED It’s collecting error info and will restart in: x seconds
Note: You will also see this in VMware player, and VMware workstation 7.
Solution
Some internet searching told me that as far as VMware was concerned, I needed to be running VMware Workstation version 8, so I installed Workstation 8 and, accepting the fact I got the same install error that the windows 8 consumer preview gives you, (the fix is the same). It works flawlessly (unless you install the VMware tools).
Running Windows “8” Server in ESXi
I knew that the developer preview worked on ESXi 5, And VMware Workstation 8 uses VMware hardware version 8. So I guessed that it would run under ESXi 5. I set the machine type to “Windows 7 x64”, and it installed it, to my surprise it ran straight away.
And Installing VMware tools went smoothly as well.
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This weekend I needed to install Windows 7 on my shiny new Acer HTPC, but having no internal CD/DVD drive I needed to do this via USB.
Quite a few times now I’ve needed to install Windows (Particularly Server 2008), on a machine that has no DVD Drive. You can now install both products from a bootable USB drive by doing either of the the following.
Note: You will need a USB Drive with enough free space on it to hold the Windows setup files (Windows 7 and Server 2008 require 4GB ish, depending on versions).
Solution
Option 1 (The quick and dirty techie way!)
1. Pop in your USB Drive > open a command windows and execute the following commands:
[box]diskpart {enter} [launches the disk partition program]
list {enter}[Displays all the disks you can work with]
select disk x {enter}[Select the USB Drive number]
clean {enter}[Wipes the USB Drive][/box]
2. Execute the following commands:
[box]create partition primary {enter} [Creates a new primary partition]
select partition 1{enter}[Select the partition you have just made]
active {enter}[Makes the partition bootable]
exit {enter}[Closes diskpart][/box]
3. Now use a utility like 7-Zip to extract the Windows Install media .ISO file to your USB drive.
4. Now boot your device from USB, (Enter the BIOS boot section and change the boot order), or press the key the machine says will load the boot options when you first turn it on.
Note: Some machines require you to change USB emulation before you can boot from them like so.
A few weeks ago my boss asked me to take a look at Microsoft Lync. Because he was interested in the Lync Client (formally Microsoft Communicator) for instant messaging.
Decent info is a bit thin on the net, and I don’t have the patience to read stupidly long PDF files. So to redress the balance I thought I would publish my findings below.
Solution
Note: The following procedure is carried out on Server 2008 R2 with Windows 7 Clients, on my VMware test network.
Walkthrough
I know a lot of people don’t like watching videos so heres my notes:
Pre-Requisites
1. Download and install, Microsoft Silverlight. (link)
2. IIS (Roles > Add Roles > Web Server IIS) > Next.
Also add:
i. ASP.NET
ii. Logging Tools
iii. Tracing
iv. Client Certificate Mapping Authentication.
v. Windows Authentication
vi. IIS Management Scripts and Tools
Next > Install > Finish.
3. RSAT Tools (Features > Add Features > Remote Server Administrative Tools > ADDS and LDS Tools) > Next > Install > Close > Select Yes to Reboot > Post Reboot Installation will continue > Close.
4. Have a Certification authority set up in your domain. OR a certificate ready for the Lync Server to import.
Install
1. Run Setup > It will ask to Install C++ let it do so.
2. Once it’s finished, It will ask for the install location > change if required > Install.
3. Accept the EULA > OK.
4. When the Deployment Wizard starts > Select “Prepare Active Directory”.
5. Prepare Schema > Run > Next > Finish.
6. Allow domain replication.
7. Prepare Current Forest > Run > Select Local Domain > Next > Finish.
8. Allow domain replication.
9. Prepare Domain > Run > Next > Finish.
10. When all are completed, add your administrators to the newly created AD group CSAdministrators > Then click “Back” to return to the main page of the Deployment Wizard.
11. Prepare First Standard Edition Server > Next > SQL Express will install > Finish.
12. Install Topology Builder > It installs very quickly and gets a green tick when complete.
13. Start > All Programs > Microsoft Lync Server 2010 > Lync Server Topology builder > When promoted select > New Topology > OK.
14. Save the topology as requested.
15. Under “Primary SIP Domain” > enter your domain name > Next.
16. Enter any additional domains if required > Next.
11. Give the site a name and description > Next.
12. Enter site details > Next > With the option to “Open the new front end wizard..” selected > Finish.
13. At the “Define a new front end pool” wizard > Next > Enter the FQDN of the server and select Standard Edition > Next.
14. Select features (Everything except PSTN, because I don’t have a PSTN gateway) > Next.
15. Choose to Collocate Mediation Server > Next.
16. Don’t add any further server roles > Next > Next.
17. Let it create a new share > Next.
(Note manually create the share and make sure it has appropriate permissions).
18. Set external URL if required > Next > we are not adding PSTN > Finish.
19. On the Topology Builder Select > Edit Properties > Central Management Server.
20. Add in the admin URL (Note: Make sure this resolves in DNS), and FQDN of the server > OK.
21. Select Publish Topology > Next > Next > Finish.
22. Re-launch or swap back to the Lync Server Deployment Wizard > Select Install or Update Lync Server System.
24. Run step one “Install Local Configuration Store” > Select “Retrieve directly…” > Next > Finish.
25. Run Step two “Setup or Remove Lync Server Components” > Next > (If you get a Prerequisite installation failed: Wmf2008R2 click the link) > Finish.
26. Run Step three “Request, Install, or Assign Certificates” > Request > Next > Send request immediately > Next.
27. Select your CA > Next > Next > Next.
28. Choose a friendly Name > Next.
29. Fill in your Organisation information > Next > Enter country > State and City > Next > Next > Next > Next > Next > Next > Finish. > Close.
30. Run Step 4 “Start Services” > Next > Finish.
31. Check the service status if you wish.
32. Close the deployment wizard.
Launch “Lync Server control Panel” and Configure
1. Launch the ” Lync Server Control Panel” > Log in with an admin account (created above at step 10).
2. Navigate to Users > Add.
3. Add in your users and assign them to your pool.
Post Install Tasks
1. You need to create a DNSSRV (Service Location) so the client can locate the Lync server:
i. service: _sipintenaltls
ii. Protocol: _tcp
iii. Port Number: 5061
iv. Host offering service: the FQDN of the Lync Server.
Install the ‘Lync Client’ on the client machines.
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After I managed to break my test Exchange 2013 Server the other week, I built a new one and migrated all the data into it. But while trying to decommission the old Exchange box, the process failed and I was stuck with this error.
Setup previously failed while performing the action "Uninstall".
You can't resume setup by performing the action "Install".
So now I couldn’t uninstall, or attempt to ‘repair install’ in an effort to remove Exchange.
Solution
This happens because when you attempted to uninstall, the process adds some registry key(s) and sets them to the uninstall state, you need to locate and delete them before you can proceed.
1. Windows Key+R > Regedit {Enter} > Navigate to;
[box]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > ExchangeServer > (version)[/box]
Here you will need to check the sub-keys, for the roles that were installed on this machine, below you can see the ClientAccessRole sub-key has a value called Action, that has been set to Uninstall, that needs to be deleted.
2. Here you can see the mailbox role is clear and requires no action.
Note: This is an Exchange 2013 Server, so it can only be a Mailbox or a Client Access Role Server. With earlier versions of Exchange you may also want to check HubTransportRole.
3. Once the values have been removed you should be able to proceed.
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