Dan's questions

We have the Windows Sensu client running on several 2008 R2 systems. One of our checks calls a batch file to gather some info and report back. We are sporadically receiving "Unknown: Unexpected error: Access is denied (5)" messages for these checks - no standard frequency, no correlation... the next check runs correctly without issue.

I've traced the call through the stack and the Sensu Ruby code) spawns the child process of 'cmd.exe /c "/path/to/batch.bat parameters"' without issue. I can recreate the issue by removing all NTFS access to the batch file itself. If you run cmd /c batch.bat with these permissions removed, it will return with that same "Access is denied (5)" error.

Ok, great, it's having issues accessing the file. Why? I've run process monitor traces and can find absolutely nothing wrong with the process: ruby loads up, cmd.exe is called, cmd.exe reads the file with no visible errors, then it returns the check as Access is denied. What the...?

I'm out of ideas. Some additional background info in case it helps: the ruby binaries are running as 32-bit; the Sensu client is the latest from the Sensuapp site; the system is running System Center Endpoint Protection. What am I missing??

Let's say I have MS SQL Server 2012 Standard installed on Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. It's a single SQL instance that runs under the windows domain account DOMAIN\sql_user. There's two databases, db1 and db2. There's two Windows domain accounts that are granted permission to login: DOMAIN\user1 and DOMAIN\user2. user1 has access to db1 and user2 has access to db2; each user cannot access the other's DB. user1 has permission to create DB backups and restore DB backups for db1, user2 has the same for db2. Let's say the backups are saved to D:\SQL\Backups[db1|db2]. How can I restrict what backup files these users can backup/restore to/from so they can only see their respective backup files? Ex, how can I restrict user1 to only restore files from D:\SQL\Backups\db1\ and not from D:\SQL\Backups\db2\, and vice versa for user2?

Thanks for any info!

We have a shared mailbox on Exchange 2010 that multiple clients access using Outlook 2010. There are multiple distribution lists (that each have multiple email addresses) that point to this single shared mailbox. This was done to enable server-side processing rules to place messages into specific sub-folders depending on the email address that the message was sent to. For a (slightly) more visual example...

Email sent to [email protected] (Vendor 1 Distro) -> Shared Mailbox -> "Vendor 1 Folder"

At the moment, if a user clicks Reply, the From address is [email protected]. The user can manually change this to [email protected] and it will send without issue (Send-As granted ). What I would like is for the From address to automatically default to the email address that the message was originally sent to. Is this possible without some custom Outlook extension?

We are running WSS 3.0 SP2 on Windows Server 2003 R2 x64. We had recently upgraded our Sophos Endpoint Protection from version 9.7 to 10.0. Immediately, our alerts stopped working (although it wasn't noticed immediately). When you tried to create a new alert on a library the page would just hang once you pressed Ok. No workflows that used email would complete. (See http://community.sophos.com/t5/Sophos-Endpoint-Security-and/sophos-10-and-sharepoint-2007/td-p/20119) None of the fixes mentioned in that post worked for us, so we uninstalled Sophos 10 and reinstalled 9.7 which immediately allowed new alerts to flow.

My question is... are all of the alerts that were blocked by Sophos gone forever, or are they queued somewhere that we just need to kick some process to send? I've tried restarting the server, restarting the timer service, clearing the config cache... I'm not sure where else to look. Any tips appreciated!

EDIT: Workflow emails apparently did queue and send. Alerts did not though.

We currently have our single internal WSUS server configured for all computers, both desktops and laptops. The WSUS server is available internally only (either VPN or LAN). We have some remote users who are almost never on-site and semi-frequently VPN into the network. Instead of having them download Windows Updates across the VPN, I'd like to accomplish the following:

• While the clients are on the local network, they check the WSUS server for the updates that are approved and download them from our local WSUS server.
• While the clients are remote, they check in to the WSUS server and the WSUS server dictates which updates to download, but they download them straight from Microsoft.

From what I've read, this is probably possible by having a secondary WSUS server that tells the clients to download from Microsoft and utilizing DNS netmask ordering to tell the clients which WSUS server to contact; is there a way to do this with a single WSUS server? All remote clients are Windows 7 SP1, WSUS is v3 on Server 2008 R2 SP1. Utilizing Microsoft RRAS for VPN services (IKEv2/SSTP/L2TP/PPTP).

I'm running Samba 3.4.7 with Likewise Open 6.0.0.8388 on Ubuntu 10.04 Server x64. This server is joined to a domain (functional level 2003) run by 2008R2 domain controllers. In a Windows server, I can grant permission for a folder and/or share to a computer account (represented by computername$). This allows services/processes running under the SYSTEM account to access these network shares. I'm trying to grant the same permissions on my Linux server but no matter what I do I cannot add a computer account to the ACL. setfacl doesn't recognize the user, and when adding it through the Windows permission dialog it just disappears after hitting apply. Is this possible with Samba?

I am currently re-architecting our backup solution and would like some input on how to do the replication portion. We have two sites, one much larger than the other, that we need to back up. I have two Linux servers that will share out their volumes via either NFS/iSCSI/SMB (I haven't fully decided which to go with yet). The files that will be stored on these volumes will most likely be VMDK - so just single, large files - which will contain backups using either VMWare Data Recovery or Veeam (also haven't decided which to use).

Now comes the tricky part.. I would like to replicate these VMDK's to both servers. So server A will have it's own VMDK, and server B will have it's own VMDK. Should I use something like Rsync to periodically replicate the files themselves to the other server, or would it be better to utilize something like DRBD+GFS2 to replicate stuff as it changes at the block level, essentially giving me an active/active clustered file system? Keep in mind that the VMDK's will not be modified in both locations. That is, server A will never modify a VMDK that is primarily housed on server B and vice-versa

Please let me know if you need any more information and thanks for any input!

I'm getting ready to deploy a new SQL server and realized that the memory limit of SQL Server 2008 R2 is supposedly 64GB of RAM (http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/compare.aspx). Potentially an upside, there will be many instances of SQL server on this box. Does anybody know if the 64GB limitation is per server or per instance?

Ok... I'm having a really strange IPSec issue (at least strange to me :-) ). I have a Sonicwall Pro 2040 connected to an ASA 5510. When the traffic initiated from the Sonicwall side of the network, it works fine... but if it originated from the ASA side, no dice. For instance, icmp echo from PC-A on the sonicwall gets received by PC-B on the ASA. PC-B responds with an icmp reply and PC-A receives it. If PC-B sends an echo request to PC-A, it never even traverses the IPSec tunnel (verified by no ESP traffic being generated across the wire). A wireshark on PC-B shows the EXACT SAME source IP and MAC on the icmp echo request as the icmp echo reply... any ideas as to what could cause this behavior? :(

Additional note: if I clear the isakmp on the ASA and try to ping from PC-B to PC-A, it doesn't attempt to bring the tunnel up... it doesn't seem to realize that this traffic is destined for the sonicwall network, even though when I send replies back it works fine.

Another note: I ran a packet capture on the ASA using the same exact ACL as the IPsec tunnel and it matched the icmp request packets from PC-B... so for some reason it's just not trying to send them across the tunnel even though it matches.

I currently have a Server 2003 R2 VM running SQL 2005 Standard. The requirements for Standard have gone away and we can suffice with Express. We also have a requirement to upgrade it to SQL 2008 R2. When trying to upgrade, the SQL installer bombs out claiming it's not a supported upgrade path (which it isn't). That being said, what's the easiest way to convert from SQL 2005 Std to 2008R2 Express? Do I need to uninstall 2005, install 2008R2 and then attach the databases and re-configure security?

We currently have a few modems (using standard POTS lines from the telco) connected to a server 2003 box running RRAS for remote access connections (mainly remote data pushes). We also have a Cisco VoIP system in place in our building utilizing two PRI's. What I would like to do is have any incoming RAS connection go down the PRI, get converted to SIP/h323, and then hit some software listening for SIP/h323 connections and then turn them into RAS connections - basically I'm looking for a server that rolls SIP modems + RRAS into one.

What I have:
Remote site --> PSTN --> Telco POTS line --> Modem --> Server 2003 running RRAS --> LAN

What I want:
Remote Site --> PSTN --> PRI --> Cisco gateway --> SIP --> RRAS server running SIP and emulating a modem --> LAN

Any ideas on software/techniques that can be used to accomplish this? The only thing I found that would be close would be t38modem + null modem software (com0com), but that sounds ugly and sketchy...

Update: Our Cisco gateway is a 2851 and appears to have two PVDM cards... from a show diag:

PVDM Slot 0:
48-channel (G.711) Voice/Fax PVDMII DSP SIMM PVDM daughter card
Hardware Revision : 4.0
Part Number : 73-8540-05
Board Revision : B0
Deviation Number : 0
Fab Version : 04

PVDM Slot 1:
16-channel (G.711) Voice/Fax PVDMII DSP SIMM PVDM daughter card
Hardware Revision : 4.0
Part Number : 73-8538-05
Board Revision : B0
Deviation Number : 0
Fab Version : 04

WIC Slot 0:
VWIC2-2MFT-T1/E1 - 2-Port RJ-48 Multiflex Trunk - T1/E1
Hardware Revision : 0.0
Top Assy. Part Number : 800-22629-05
Board Revision : C0
Deviation Number : 0
Fab Version : 04

WIC Slot 3:
3rd generation - FXS DID Voice daughter card (4 port)
Hardware Revision : 1.0
Top Assy. Part Number : 800-27473-02
Board Revision : A0
Deviation Number : 0
Fab Version : 01

Update: We have a few driving factors to getting such a solution in place.
1) We have many sites all dialing in to our environment, with handfuls of the sites being configured to dial a different number (5 numbers in total). It's our crappy method of load-balancing across the modem lines. We looked at doing a hunt group at the telco level but that was quite expensive, so if we can do it using our existing infrastructure and PRI lines we can not only save the cost of the hunt group but also eliminate the POTS lines.
2) Our current RRAS server keeps locking up the modems for no reason and with no alert, so we just have to check every so often to make sure they're live.
3) Doing this at a software level gives us the ability to scale much easier, faster, and cheaper than using physical modems and lines.

This started out as an issue trying to deploy out VM's through VMWare vCenter - they previously were working flawlessly and then after I applied a few Windows updates they stopped working so flawlessly... I eventually narrowed it down to sysprep, specifically when I tell it to unattend join the domain. It fails 9 times out of 10, and I can't figure out what specifically makes it fail/work. If I remove the Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin section, it seems to work fine (kind of defeats the purpose of an unattended join though :-) ). Below are relevant log and sysprep.xml entries. I've tried this hotfix from MS, I've made sure that there are no orhpaned ProfileList registry keys, I've tried placing the XML in c:\windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml, according to the DHCP logs it is getting a lease, and wiresharking the machine shows that it was communicating with the domain controllers (a single ldap query for it's machine name) prior to bombing out... I don't know what else to check for :( Any ideas?

C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC\setuperr.log

2010-10-20 09:17:49, Error [windeploy.exe] Setup.exe failed, returning exit code [0x1f]
2010-10-20 09:17:49, Error [windeploy.exe] Failure occured during online installation. Online installation cannot complete at this time.; hr = 0x80004005

C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC\setupact.log

2010-08-03 23:25:07, Info [windeploy.exe] ------------------------------------------------
2010-08-03 23:25:07, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe launched with command-line []...
2010-08-03 23:25:07, Info [windeploy.exe] Setup has not completed, adding pending reboot.
2010-08-03 23:25:07, Info [windeploy.exe] Found generalization state [0x4], setup.exe completion flag [False] --> launching setup.exe.
2010-08-03 23:25:07, Info [windeploy.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\setup.exe]...
2010-08-03 23:26:29, Info [windeploy.exe] Process exited with exit code [0x0]
2010-08-03 23:26:29, Info [windeploy.exe] Found completion flag [True], reboot requested flag [True] --> rebooting computer before proceeding with deployment...
2010-08-03 23:26:29, Info [windeploy.exe] Making sure that SystemSetupInProgress is cleared.
2010-08-03 23:26:29, Info [windeploy.exe] An immediate reboot or shutdown was requested/required... rebooting / shutting down computer
2010-08-03 23:26:29, Info [windeploy.exe] Flushing registry to disk...
2010-08-03 23:26:30, Info [windeploy.exe] Flush took 1110 ms.
2010-08-03 23:26:30, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe exiting with code [0x0]
2010-08-03 23:27:11, Info [windeploy.exe] ------------------------------------------------
2010-08-03 23:27:11, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe launched with command-line []...
2010-08-03 23:27:11, Info [windeploy.exe] Making sure that SystemSetupInProgress is cleared.
2010-08-03 23:27:12, Info [windeploy.exe] Found no unattend file.
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [windeploy.exe] WinSAT assessment failed with error 80040154
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [windeploy.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\oobeldr.exe /system]...
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] OOBELdr.exe launched with command-line [/system]...
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] OrchestrateUpdateImageState: Updating image state from [IMAGE_STATE_SPECIALIZE_RESEAL_TO_OOBE] --> [IMAGE_STATE_UNDEPLOYABLE]
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Parsing command line arguments...
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Parsing the following command line: [/system]
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Status for unattend pass [oobeSystem] = 0x0
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Found no unattend file for oobeSystem pass; skipping pass.
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] No reboot has been requested for oobeSystem unattend.
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Successfully ran oobeSystem pass.
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [oobeldr.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe]...
2010-08-03 23:27:13, Info [msoobe.exe] Starting service sppsvc
2010-08-03 23:27:14, Info [msoobe.exe] Service sppsvc reports as running
2010-08-03 23:27:14, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully created first boot reg key
2010-08-03 23:27:14, Info [msoobe.exe] Server, exiting...
2010-08-03 23:27:14, Info [msoobe.exe] Running mandatory tasks
2010-08-03 23:27:14, Info [msoobe.exe] Doing background work directly in MandatoryTasks; eType=1
2010-08-03 23:27:15, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully installed product key
2010-08-03 23:27:15, Info [msoobe.exe] Starting service netprofm
2010-08-03 23:27:16, Info [msoobe.exe] Service netprofm reports as running
2010-08-03 23:27:16, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully signalled event to start up services
2010-08-03 23:27:16, Info [msoobe.exe] Doing background work directly in MandatoryTasks; eType=0
2010-08-03 23:27:16, Info [msoobe.exe] Starting service Schedule
2010-08-03 23:27:18, Info [msoobe.exe] Service Schedule is already running
2010-08-03 23:27:18, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully verified and committed UI language settings
2010-08-03 23:27:25, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully notified UI language change
2010-08-03 23:27:25, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully installed Windows Recovery Environment
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [msoobe.exe] Successfully removed administrator profile
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [msoobe.exe] Exiting mandatory tasks... [0x00000000]
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [msoobe.exe] Cleaning up background work
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [oobeldr.exe] OrchestrateUpdateImageState: Updating image state from [IMAGE_STATE_UNDEPLOYABLE] --> [IMAGE_STATE_COMPLETE]
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [oobeldr.exe] OOBELdr.exe exiting with code [0x0]...
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [windeploy.exe] Process exited with exit code [0x0]
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [0x090008] PANTHR CBlackboard::Open: C:\Windows\Panther\SetupInfo succeeded.
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [0x090009] PANTHR CBlackboard::Close: c:\windows\panther\setupinfo.
2010-08-03 23:27:26, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe exiting with code [0x0]
2010-10-20 09:15:35, Info [windeploy.exe] ------------------------------------------------
2010-10-20 09:15:35, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe launched with command-line []...
2010-10-20 09:15:35, Info [windeploy.exe] Setup has not completed, adding pending reboot.
2010-10-20 09:15:35, Info [windeploy.exe] Found generalization state [0x4], setup.exe completion flag [False] --> launching setup.exe.
2010-10-20 09:15:35, Info [windeploy.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\setup.exe]...
2010-10-20 09:17:00, Info [windeploy.exe] ------------------------------------------------
2010-10-20 09:17:00, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe launched with command-line []...
2010-10-20 09:17:00, Info [windeploy.exe] Setup has not completed, adding pending reboot.
2010-10-20 09:17:00, Info [windeploy.exe] Found generalization state [0x4], setup.exe completion flag [False] --> launching setup.exe.
2010-10-20 09:17:00, Info [windeploy.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\setup.exe]...
2010-10-20 09:17:49, Info [windeploy.exe] Process exited with exit code [0x1f]
2010-10-20 09:17:49, Error [windeploy.exe] Setup.exe failed, returning exit code [0x1f]
2010-10-20 09:17:49, Error [windeploy.exe] Failure occured during online installation. Online installation cannot complete at this time.; hr = 0x80004005
2010-10-20 09:17:49, Info [windeploy.exe] Flushing registry to disk...
2010-10-20 09:17:51, Info [windeploy.exe] Flush took 1938 ms.
2010-10-20 09:17:51, Info [windeploy.exe] WinDeploy.exe exiting with code [0x80004005]

C:\sysprep\Sysprep.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="generalize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<OOBE>
<SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
<SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
<ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
<HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
</OOBE>
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<Value>EncryptedPassword</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<ComputerName>ComputerName</ComputerName>
<CopyProfile>false</CopyProfile>
<RegisteredOrganization>OrgName</RegisteredOrganization>
<RegisteredOwner>OrgName</RegisteredOwner>
<ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
<TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<Identification>
<Credentials>
<Password>UnencryptedPass</Password>
<Username>unattendjoiner</Username>
<Domain>domain.com</Domain>
</Credentials>
<JoinDomain>domain.com</JoinDomain>
<DebugJoin>true</DebugJoin>
</Identification>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe cleanBootExecute</Path>
<Order>1</Order>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe flagComplete</Path>
<Order>2</Order>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Path>C:\sysprep\guestcustutil.exe deleteContainingFolder</Path>
<Order>3</Order>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>

We just finished a migration from Exchange 2003 to 2010 (old servers have been removed from the org, wiped, etc) and most everything seems to be working. I do have an issue with Outlook 2003 users - they cannot view the Free/Busy information of other users. Running outlook with /cleanfreebusy results in a dialog stating that outlook is unable to clean the free/busy information on the server. Upgrading the user to Outlook 2010 had no impact. Users who were on Outlook 2007/2010 prior to shutting down the Exch 2003 machines do not seem to be affected.

I did find a KB article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945602/en-us) that seems to be relevant, but there already is a replica for the Exch2010 pub folder. However, it still has the old Exch org listed in free/busy... is this a problem? Should I just add a replica to that one? Should it be deleted?

get-publicfolder -Identity "\NON_IPM_SUBTREE\SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY" -Recurse | fl name,Replicas


Name     : SCHEDULE+ FREE BUSY
Replicas : {}

Name     : EX:/o=ExchOrgName/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)
Replicas : {Public Folder Database 1878261148}

Name     : EX:/o=ExchOrgName/ou=OldAdminGroup
Replicas : {}

I have a TMG 2010 SP1 server running on Server 2008 R2 in a single-NIC configuration - not live yet.

I will be allowing web access in three fashions:

1. one method is using the TMG as the default gateway for our network so that devices that don't support proxy for web traffic can still access the web (albeit filtered
2. another is using the TMG as an anonymous proxy for a separate domain/guest computers that don't have accounts on our primary domain
3. the other method is to use the proxy server to get clients to authenticate to easily track which user went where.

Mgmt wants to allow employees to override access restrictions if they are authenticated (so we can track who went where) so that people can still perform their duties without IT intervening, but if they abuse it we can track it.

I've tried creating two Web Access rules within TMG: one that denies access but allows override for the appropriate AD group, another below that that denies and does not allow override for "All Users". The problem is that even if the user is authenticated, it matches the request to the non-override rule; as soon as I disable the rule, they can override.

Any ideas on how to allow override only if the user is authed?

With VMWare and vCenter, I'm used to creating folders in a filesystem manner to delegate permissions to users within the organization. For example, I might create a folder named QA, place all the QA VM's within that folder, and allow the QA Active Directory group to only have console access to this VM (unable to change it). I'm now evaluating HyperV R2 with VMM 2008 R2 and I can't find any such functionality. I've found "User Roles", but that seems to be more of a host-level solution, not VM or folder-level. Does such functionality exist yet within HyperV/VMM?

I currently have an Exchange setup as follows: two Exchange 2003 servers clustered together set up as the current mailbox stores, one Exchange 2003 setup as a frontend, one Exchange 2007 set up as a frontend (was set up for testing by my predecessor, never really used intentionally), and now four Exchange 2010 servers - two mailboxes in a DAG and two with Hub/CAS. Everything seems to be working fine with one exception - Outlook 2007/2010 clients are still autodiscovering the test 2007 frontend and not the 2010 CAS array. I know this because there's an expired cert on the 2007 box so the client displays a cert error when you attempt to autocreate the outlook profile. From what I've read, there is an SCP (Service Connection Point) in AD that is pointing to the old server and it is getting returned first, causing Outlook to try it first. How can I prevent Outlook from even attempting to connect to this 2007 box from now on?

http://www.msexchange.org/articles_tutorials/exchange-server-2010/management-administration/exchange-autodiscover.html

When Outlook 2007 is installed on a domain joined workstation then the Outlook client will query Active Directory for the Autodiscover information. Active Directory will return a list of SCP’s and the Outlook client will automatically select the first SCP in this list. Using the information found in the SCP the Outlook client will contact the Client Access Server for its configuration information and the Outlook client will be configured automatically.

We currently have an Exchange 2003 clustered environment (two machine cluster) that we're looking to upgrade to 2010. We recently purchased a VMWare virtualization environment (three Dell R710's with an EMC NS-120 serving up NFS datastores - iSCSI is available) that we wish to use for this new environment. I'm seeing that Microsoft does not support Exchange 2010 DAGs with a virtualization high availability solution (see links below). I would like to utilize the DAG to ensure the data stays available if one host goes down, and HA to ensure that if the physical host goes down, the VM will come back up on the other available host.

• Does anybody know why MS does not support this? VMWare HA will only restart the VM if it is hung/down - I don't see any difference between this and restarting the physical box if someone pulled the power...
• Will we only run into issues with support if it has something to do with HA/DAG failover or will they see we have HA and tell us to put it on a physical box even if it has nothing to do with HA?
• If we disable HA for these VM's will that satisfy them on a support case?
• Has anybody set up an Exchange 2010 DAG on VMware with HA enabled?
• Will they have any issues with using an NFS datastore? We have much greater flexibility on the EMC with NFS vs iSCSI, so I would prefer to continue utilizing that.

Thanks for any input!

http://www.vmwareinfo.com/2010/01/verifying-microsoft-exchange-2010.html Take a look at the second image under "Not Supported"

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx "Microsoft doesn't support combining Exchange high availability solutions (database availability groups (DAGs)) with hypervisor-based clustering, high availability, or migration solutions. DAGs are supported in hardware virtualization environments provided that the virtualization environment doesn't employ clustered root servers."

Is there a way to silent install Office 2010 Pro Plus with Visio 2010 Premium and Project 2010 Pro all at the same time? I've configured the msp's for each individual product and when I have the install directories all in the same folder, running setup.exe brings up a dialog asking me to choose which product to install. I want it to automatically install all three products as soon as setup.exe is launched. Any ideas?

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, is there any way to audit what records were viewed by a particular individual at what time without any special plugins? If you need a plugin, can you install the plugin and then look at past data?

Currently, I use tar to write my backups (ntbackup files) to a tape drive fed by an autoloader.

Ex: tar -F /root/advancetape -cvf /dev/st0 *.bkf (/root/advancetape just has the logic to advance to the next tape if there is one available or notify to swap the tapes out)

I was recently handed the requirement to encrypt our tape backups. I can easily encrypt the data with no problems using GPG. The problem I'm having is how do I write this to multiple tapes with the same logic that tar uses to advance the tapes once the current one is filled? I cannot write the encrypted file to disk first (2+TB). As far as I can tell, tar will not accept binary input from stdin (it's looking for file names). Any ideas? :(