management console | PeteNetLive

Problem

Seen when trying to connect to the Exchange 2010 Management Console.

Initialization failed.
The following error occurred while searching for the on-premises Exchange server: No Exchange servers are available in any Active Directory sites. You can’t connect to remote Powershell on a computer that only has the Management Tools role installed. It was running the command ‘Discover-ExchangeServer -UseWIA $true -SuppressError $true -CurrentVersion ‘Version 14.1 (Build 218.15)”.

Solution

Even though it looks like it’s something pretty serious, it isn’t. You are simply logged on as a user that does not have the rights to run the management console.

This commonly happens when you logon to the Exchange server as the servers local administrator. You need to be logged on the the Exchange server as a user that is a member of the ‘Organization Management’ group.

KB ID 0000952

Problem

It’s been a while, since I deployed ePO, and as I’ve got a big McAfee roll-out coming up I thought I’d better run it up on the test bench and see how much it’s changed since version 4. As the prospective client is going to use Server 2012 and Windows 8, that’s what I tested it with.

Despite my best efforts the the McAfee agent (8.6) refused to deploy to the clients as long as I had the windows firewall on. A quick Google turned up a myriad of suggestions for ports and services, and most of them were for older versions of ePO or were simply incorrect.

Solution

Basically you need to to do two things with the firewall;

Allow in ICMP echo requests
Allow in File and Printer sharing

Set Firewall to Allow McAfee Agent deployment via Group Policy

This is the simplest option, especially if you have a lot of client to deploy to.

1. On your Domain Controller > Launch the Group Policy Management Console > Create a new policy (or edit an existing one), that is linked either to the root of the domain, or the OU that your computers are in.

2. Edit The policy, and navigate to;

[box]Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesNetworkNetwork ConnectionsWindows FirewallDomain ProfileWindows Firewall: Allow ICMP exceptions[/box]

3. Set to Enabled > Select ‘Allow inbound echo request’ > Apply > OK.

4. In the same location select ‘Windows Firewall: Allow inbound file and printer sharing exception’.

5. Enable this policy > Then enter the IP address of the ePO server > Apply > OK.

6. Then either reboot the clients, wait a couple of hours, or manually run “gpupdate /force” on them. Then Re-deploy your McAfee agent.

Set Firewall to Allow McAfee Agent deployment on an Individual Machine

1. Windows Key +R > cmd {Enter} > firewall.cpl {Enter}.

2. Allow an app or feature though Windows Firewall.

3. Locate ‘File and Printer Sharing’ and enable (Note: Here I’ve enabled for Domain, Public, and Private, you may only want to select Domain) > OK.