bwerks's questions

I have a VM in AWS. I has two ethernet interfaces, which have different security groups applied to them. One of those security groups white-lists all sorts of machine addresses in my domain. When resolving the machine's fully-qualified domain name, I want the interface with the domain-friendly security to be resolved, however at present it's the other interface that's being resolved.

When enumerating the ethernet interfaces using netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces, the unfriendly interface happens to be listed first in order of Idx:

Idx     Met         MTU          State                Name
---  ----------  ----------  ------------  ---------------------------
  1          50  4294967295  connected     Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
 13          20        1500  connected     Local Area Connection 2
 15          20        1500  connected     Local Area Connection 1

Based on the absence of better information, I might guess that Windows is just picking the first ipv4 interface it finds in this list when being asked to resolve the machine name. Is this the case? If so, is it possible to reorder this list? I poked around in the netsh help info but I couldn't find anything.

I'm doing some POC testing on a server 2012 environment, and during initial firewall configuration I find myself going to the GUI repeatedly when I'd really much rather be able to write a script. I've searched around but I can't find anything about new powershell commands in 3.0 nor anything via WMI.

Is there anything I'm missing or is this still largely a GUI-oriented task?

I need to be able to check for the installation of a particular feature from an msi installer. For context, I need to check whether the "Powershell Cmdlets" feature (TFPS from Feature table in Orca) was installed from the Team Foundation Server 2010 Power Tools installer (tfpt.msi).

I know how to check for installation of the product itself using WMI win32_product and the product code {B6DC31D8-A303-4D14-9C88-59F183F55BEC}, but the TFPS feature doesn't even install by default so it's quite common for it to be missing.

Is this possible?

I work on a small business network that runs on a windows server 2008 R2 domain. Right now we use a Cisco (Linksys) RV042 router to handle both VPN connections and a single Site-Site vpn. However, there has been mild-but-increasing interest in getting client VPN integrated into ADDS so that users can use their domain accounts. I also have some spare hardware around that could possibly be recommissioned into use to function as a vpn server.

The machine has only one network interface; however, the RV042 has a redundant WAN interface that can be configured as a DMZ interface instead. I'm wondering: Can I run this server connected to the DMZ so that it can perform VPN functions, while the RV042 continues to function as the router and my primary DC performs DHCP/DNS services?

Technet doesn't seem to indicate that there's much leeway concerning the dual-interface nature of VPN servers, so I'm hoping this will be a quick yes/no question.

Thanks!

This question may sound silly, and perhaps a bit insane, but--is there any way to run a process on a machine not joined to a domain using credentials from a user in that domain?

In my case, I'm running virtual machines installed with release binaries from our build process, as well as Visual Studio. Visual Studio is there to debug our release binaries, however it's being executed with vm-local user credentials. This means that it can't authenticate to our TFS deployment when executing "tf.exe view" to utilize our Source Server for debugging.

Team Explorer manages to authenticate to TFS using a UI prompt, however I suspect that it's because we supply it with the TFS deployment's URI, and it's designed to display a prompt to facilitate workgroup scenarios; i.e. it's not like we're getting it for free.

My instincts tell me the only way to authenticate on this vm is to join it or somehow form a one-way trust or something, but is there an easier way? For automation we're going to want to script this eventually, but I'm first surveying the feasibility of the thing.

First off, I have read through this post and a whole slew of non-SF posts which seem to address the same or a similar problem, however I was still unable to fix my problem.

I've got three machines in this situation:

• a domain-joined server that runs Server 2008 R2 Enterprise ("share server")
• a domain-unjoined test server running Server 2003 R2 SP2 ("test server")
• a domain-joined workstation running XP Pro SP3 ("workstation")

The share server is exposing a share on the network that the test server must access--it's a Source/Symbol Server share for our debugging purposes. I believe visual studio simply accesses the the share with its own credentials in this case, meaning that the share must be accessible anonymously since the test server isn't joined to the domain and there's no opportunity to supply domain authentication.

I've attempted a lot of things to avoid the authentication window when accessing the share:

• I've enabled the Guest account on the share server and given Guest full sharing/NTFS permissions for the share.
• I've given ANONYMOUS LOGON full sharing/NTFS permissions for the share.
• I've added my share to “Network Access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously” in LSP.
• I've disabled “Network access: Restrict anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares” in LSP.
• I've enabled “Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users” in LSP.
• Added ANONYMOUS LOGON to “Access this computer from the network” in LSP.
• Added the Guest account to “Access this computer from the network” in LSP.
• Attempted to provision the share using the Share and Storage Management MMC snap-in.

Unfortunately when I attempt to access the share from the test server, I still see the prompt and I'm forced to enter "Guest" manually.

I also tried this workflow using the local administrator account on a workstation, and the same thing happens both with and without XP Simple File Sharing enabled.

Any idea why I'm getting these results, or what I should have done differently?

I'm administering a single instance of Windows Server 2008 for a small business, which is backing up daily onto a large USB hard drive. For about the past year, this has worked very well, however the drive is finally starting to fill up.

The backup is configured to back up bare metal recovery, system state, and the system volume. There doesn't seem to be any way in the server backup GUI to clear up space, and wbadmin exposes only "wbadmin delete systemstatebackup" which is unable to help me since my backups include system volumes. I'd prefer to avoid fiddling around in the file system on the drive if I can help it, because I doubt that was the intent.

The obvious brute-force solution would seem to be to wipe the drive and reconfigure the backup again, but I'd prefer not to nuke my entire backup store if I don't have to (not to mention it's not terribly elegant).

Anyone familiar with a situation like this?

I'm looking into the possibility of using Wake On Lan for a machine used in a test lab to run VMs. It doesn't really need to be on all the time, so it would be nice to be able to power it down when it's not being used to save electricity.

Looking through Dell's WoL support documentation, the NIC (Dual Embedded Broadcom® NetXtreme II 5708 Gigabit Ethernet NIC) should supposedly support WoL. The doc is a little old, though, and doesn't discuss Server 2k8, much less 2k8 R2.

Nevertheless, one of the steps in the Server 2k3 configuration details specifies that hibernation support should be enabled; however, when going into the power options for my server, there are no hibernation configuration options in the gui.

I should note that my understanding of WoL is fairly weak. Do systems monitoring the network for magic packets need to be explicitly hibernated, and not shut off as normal? I wouldn't think that the way the OS shut down the system would affect the motherboard's ability to run power to the NIC, but then again this is not my area of expertise.

I will assume for now that hibernation is specifically required. Looking around some more, there seems to be indication that hibernation is not supported for systems that run the Hyper-V role--something to do with the Hypervisor. If this is true, it means that my desired configuration would be impossible. Can anyone provide confirmation or additional detail about this?

I'm trying to figure out what to do for a small business that has been plagued by ridiculous hardware problems. Right now, this business runs on five or six desktop machines; no server infrastructure is in place. On top of that, and I'm not embellishing this, they have seen four hardware failures this year to date, and it's got them bordering on madness.

I've already discussed with them the notion of putting a Small Business Server in place (they're a microsoft shop), and they're receptive to the idea. I also plan on getting my feet wet with System Center Essentials to keep on eye on things. The focus then becomes ensuring that this server remains available.

Also, I've just read through this other high availability thread. Much like the guy in that thread, I'm very new to IT, coming from a programming background instead.

Some ideas come to mind:

• Simple raid-5 with hot-swap edit: and hot-spare
• Get two cheaper server machines, configure to run one virtualized server with hot-migration (I've done some reading but sadly I can't tell if SBS Standard and SCE will support this)
• Failover clustering? I got this term from the other thread but haven't been exposed to it in the past.

Is there a best practice when it comes to this? The business owner is willing to dig into his pockets a little for this because he's becoming terrified of downtime, but I've got no experience with these to lead me in one direction over the other.

I'd appreciate your wisdom!

edit: To provide some addtional detail on the problems they've experienced, it's been a weird mix of inexplicable failures.

• switch on chassis fails to power on the system: motherboard had onboard switch, which provided a stop-gap solution, however switching out the case didn't fix the problem. Later, switching out the motherboard didn't fix the problem either.
• Two identical machines have both suffered drive failures in their raid-1 arrays, and both machines were assembled no more than 5 months ago.
• Boot failure issues: one system in raid-1 fails to boot at all. Unfortunately I didn't write down the original error message, but in my notes I have that "Failed to save startup options" in Windows Repair & Recovery led me to this thread which supported my suspicions that it was a hardware-related issue.

edit: Also, the machines are running in a collection of home offices, so residential-grade electrical is at play. I guess this may be more of a contributing factor than I'd given it credit for. However, the machines are all run on desks (literally desktops!) and not on the floor; I don't believe dustiness is involved.

I'd like to use the windows vpn client for client-site vpn to my linksys rv042. As far as I can tell, the windows VPN client doesn't provide a lot of flexibility in its IPsec settings. Assuming full configurability on the site end of a client-site VPN configuration, does anyone how to configure the site to match the windows client?

Bonus points: how would I discover these settings for myself?

I recently set up SCOM in a small business network environment. The root management server is a Dell Poweredge 2950, and I'd like to use SCOM to monitor it using Dell's management packs. I've imported the management packs into the SCOM deployment and followed Dell's installation instructions, but it doesn't seem to be fully working yet.

Currently, the Diagram views in the Dell tree (Monitoring tab) seem to show me the server's place in the network topology, so it seems that at least part of it is working.

However, none of the reports under "Performance and Power Monitoring Views" provide any information. When clicking on one of them (Power Consumption (Watts), for instance), the display area is blank and there is a tooltip visible that reads "No performance counter is selected. To select a counter, place a check mark in the Show column in legend below." However, in the legend, there's nothing there for me to check.

I've installed OpenManage 6.2 on the server as per the Dell documentation, but I don't know what else I could have done that I missed. Does this sound like a familiar problem to anyone?

I've been looking into a routers to facilitate a vpn solution for a small business. While the Netgear FVS336G looks good on paper, it appears to have some fairly crippling setbacks that drag down what appears to be some great hardware.

First off, the unit has been around for a couple years now, perhaps before 64-bit operating systems were as common as they are now, and complaints are everywhere that claim that SSL or IPsec (or both) VPN connections will not work with 64-bit operating systems. However, most of these claims mention only Vista, which makes me think that these problems could have potentially been solved since then.

Unfortunately though, Netgear's support forums seem to be incredibly private, and policed by some troll named jmizuguchi who just closes down public posts in order to marshal them into the private ones. Danger, will robinson.

Apparently their firmware upgrade process is a nightmare too, but that's beside the point.

My question is this: has anyone configured one a Netgear FVS336G to operate in a server 2008 (or R2)/windows 7 64-bit network? If so, is it possible to use the microsoft vpn client or are third party clients still required?

If this thing has just failed the test of time, is there a feature-comparable unit that I've missed, at anywhere near the same price range?

Thanks!

I'm planning out a joinder between two domains, as would take place with contracting companies. Forests A and B exist in distant sites, and there is to be a one-way forest trust so that domain users in Forest A can be authenticated on machines in Forest B.

In order to facilitate this, each forest's domain controller must be able to contact each other in order to set up & confirm the trust, but my question is what underlying networking magic must take place beneath it.

So far the prevailing approach has been to maintain a VPN connection between the two sites, but the technet documentation seems to indicate that DNS forwarding may be the way to go. Is this the case?

Furthermore, if DNS will suffice, does that mean that there must be a server running DNS on boundary servers in each domain so that they can be reached from across the internet? How must they be configured?

Thanks!

I'm new to both OpenManage and System Center, but it sounds as if they're geared towards similar problems/goals. Are the features comparable enough that OpenManage can be forgone completely in favor of System Center products?

Specifically I'm hoping to achieve storage monitoring and remote administration, although if someone with experience with both wants to provide a quick compare/contrast (objective, of course) I won't complain.

I'm setting up a Dell PowerEdge 2950 for a small business, and I've just spent a while with Dell OpenManage Server Administrator 6.2, trying to clear the installation process of errors before I execute it. Right now I'm getting the following warning from the installer.

The installer has detected that the HTTPS listener is not configured for Windows Remote Management. You can either configure the HTTPS listener before installing Remote Enablement, or install Remote Enablement now by selecting the "Custom" installation screen and configure the HTTPS listener later. See the "Remote Enablement Requirements" section in the "Dell OpenManage Installation and Security User's Guide" for information on configuring the HTTPS listener. Note: Remote Enablement is required to manage this system from a remote Server Administrator Web Server and is applicable only for those systems that support Server Instrumentation. Click here to configure HTTPs Listener for Windows Remote Management.

The italicized line is a link, which executes...something...via cmd, and doesn't seem to help the problem. Not knowing exactly what to do here, I consulted the documentation. I read through the Setup and Administration section of the User's Guide, but all that it contained was a weird primer on role-based security and some SNMP stuff. The next section skips installation entirely and moved on to features of the suite.

Thinking myself crazy, I consulted the readme, which told me that for installation I should consult the "Dell OpenManage Installation and Security Version 6.2 User's Guide" which not only doesn't exist in the documentation, but also not in all of google?

Soo yeah, if anyone is familiar with this problem, drop me some knowledge!

I recently expanded a raid-1 to a raid-6 with six drives. I ordered all four of the new drives from the same place, and all of them were advertised to be the same drives as the original two--Seagate 15krpm 146gb.

However, when I was looking at the drives in the perc6/i utility, one of them appeared to be an earlier firmware version; it had S515, compared to the other five drives with S527. Sure enough, after inspecting the drive itself, the label advertised the earlier firmware version. Running Dell's SAS firmware upgrade utility should have in theory moved them all up to S52A, but when I ran it it moved the S527 drives up to S52A, and left the S515 drive untouched.

Is this something to be worried about? If it's something that should be corrected, is there a way to target a particular drive for upgrade since the firmware utility didn't seem to do it by itself?

Dell includes a fair amount of software with its servers, but I'm having a hard time determining from the documentation what each of them does, and whether or not I should install it. Dell's support site (unless I'm doing it wrong) seems fairly opaque to me and its offerings fairly unstandardized in terms of their usage, so if possible I'd like to stray away from them. Specifically, I'm curious if any of the features offered are duplicated in something like Microsoft System Center.

For additional background information, I'm working with a Poweredge 2950 that was just rebuilt with an expanded raid-6, but initially I just installed Server 2008 R2 directly instead of using the Build and Update utility. There's nothing of use on it at the moment so I'm totally open to wiping it again.

I've recently just started working with Hyper-V, and so far it's quite nice. However, I've been running into problems with what seems like it should be the most basic of workflows. I've set up a baseline Server 2008 R2 configuration, and exported it with the intention of using the export for cloning. I entered "C:\Exports\" as the export folder.

However, I run into problems when I try to import the image. From the Hyper-V manager, I select "Import Virtual Machine" and in the resulting window I entered "C:\Exports\BuildServer\" as the folder, set the radial to "Copy the virtual machine (create a new unique ID)" and checked the checkbox for "Duplicate all files so the same virtual machine can be imported again." Doing so results in the following error:

"Import failed. Import task failed to copy file from 'H:\Exports\BuildServer\Virtual Hard Disks\BuildServer.vhd' to 'C:\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks\BuildServer.vhd': The file exists. (0x80070050)"

Have I somehow messed something up in configuration? Or is this a known thing? I've read it should be possible to clone VMs by copying them in the filesystem but I'd prefer to keep things in the management Ui if possible.