Nathan Lasnoski - Infrastructure Architecture

Hello,

 

I was working on an OCS 2007 R2 implementation the other day and ran into a funny issue Live Meeting over the Edge Server.  Internally Live Meeting worked perfectly, but over the edge I was unable to connect to the meeting as a domain user or non-domain user.  I naturally checked all the entries on the edge server and in the enterprise pool to see if I mis-typed something, or had forgotten to complete an area.  Everything under web components looked good.  I then found this article, which solved the problem straight-away.

 

 

Nate

There is a great extension to STSADM that was developed that makes the process of exporting a subsite to the root of a site collection easier.  Here is a link to that utility and guide for using it:

 

I was working on a P2V when it failed and became stuck in a "creating... failed" status.  After trying all the GUI and PowerShell commands I found the following blog entry that gave me the solution.  http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/archive/2009/04/30/fixing-an-incomplete-vm-that-s-stuck-in-the-creating-state.aspx

 

 

I encountered a problem installing SQL Management Studio Express on Windows Server 2008.  The issue presented odd symptoms, as during the installation all appeared to go well, except at the end the installation failed with an error.  The error I received was "Product: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express -- The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 29506. The arguments are: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\\90\SDK". 

 

 

 

 

I recommend extending the AD schema prior to the installation of SCCM.  The "extadsch.exe" tool is located in the BIN directory (\SMSSETUP\BIN\I386).  Executing it will extend the schema and log the results to the file "extadsch.log".  Prior to extending the schem I always do the following:

 

1.  Validate a good backup of all AD domain controllers exists

2.  Validate all domain controllers are replicating properly.  I will typically force replication to prove it.

3.  Validate the user account can extend the schema.

 

A guide from Microsoft is available here:

 

 

Make sure you check the log!  A failed SCCM schema extension installation operation will produce something like this:

 

<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Modifying Active Directory Schema - with SMS extensions.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> DS Root:CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Code.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Assignment-Site-Code.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Boundaries.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundaries.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Default-MP.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Device-Management-Point.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Name.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Address.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Health-State.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Source-Forest.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-Low.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-High.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Version.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Capabilities.  Error code = 5.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point.  Error code = 8202.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Server-Locator-Point.  Error code = 8202.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Site.  Error code = 8202.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range.  Error code = 8202.
<06-12-2009 09:30:39> Failed to extend the Active Directory schema.  Your Windows NT logon ID does not have the necessary privileges to extend the Active Directory schema.

 

A successful one looks like:

 

 

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Modifying Active Directory Schema - with SMS extensions.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> DS Root:CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Code already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=mS-SMS-Assignment-Site-Code already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Boundaries already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundaries already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Default-MP already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=mS-SMS-Device-Management-Point already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Name already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Address already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:33> Defined attribute cn=mS-SMS-Health-State.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Defined attribute cn=mS-SMS-Source-Forest.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-Low already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-High already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Defined attribute cn=mS-SMS-Version.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Defined attribute cn=mS-SMS-Capabilities.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Class cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:34> Located LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Successfully updated class LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Class cn=MS-SMS-Server-Locator-Point already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Located LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Server-Locator-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Successfully updated class CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Class cn=MS-SMS-Site already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Located LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Site,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Successfully updated class LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Site,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Class cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range already exists.

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Located LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain

<06-12-2009 09:44:35> Successfully updated class LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=domain,DC=domain.

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> Successfully extended the Active Directory schema.

 

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> Please refer to the SMS documentation for instructions on the manual

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> configuration of access rights in active directory which may still

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> need to be performed.  (Although the AD schema has now be extended,

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> AD must be configured to allow each SMS Site security rights to

<06-12-2009 09:44:36> publish in each of their domains.)

 

 

 

 

I have been doing a lot of installs of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) on Windows Server 2008 and have run into prerequisite checker issues that didn't come up prior.  One of those is WebDav, which in IIS 7.x needs to be installed manually, as it isn't included out-of-box.  The actual error is "Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is required for the management point and distribution point site system roles. If you have selected to install a site role requiring WebDAV, and it is not installed, this rule will fail."

 

 In order to install WebDav for SCCM or SharePoint, I've used the following guide, which has worked well.

 

 

This is also relevant for SharePoint implementations on Windows Server 2008 where WebDav is required.

 

The site above also has the other preqrequisites like BITS described as well.

 

 

I was installing SQL 2005 on Windows Server 2008 for an SCCM installation and I ran into some pre-requisite errors.  For those trying to be as granular as possible in the installation of IIS, here is the site at Microsoft that indicates the required components in IIS 7.x for SQL 2005.

 

 

 

Exchange 2010 will be introducing existing an exciting new feature called Database Availability Groups, which can provide high availability capabilities to even two server implementations of Exchange.  This is a great enhancement on the CCR and SCR capabilities found in Exchange 2007.  Check out the video of the technology here:

 

 

Hello,

 

I ran into this issue today when troubleshooting an Exchange 2003 system that was having problems with a site that had forms based authentication enabled on the IIS site.

 

The mailbox server [exchange server name] does not allow "Negotiate" authentication to its [exchange] virtual directory. Exchange ActiveSync can only access the server using this authentication scheme. For information about how to configure Exchange virtual directory settings, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 817379, "Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook Mobile Access errors occur when SSL or forms-based authentication is required for Exchange Server 2003" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=817379). For information about how to properly configure IIS to support Kerberos and NTLM authentication, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 215383, "How To Configure IIS to Support Both Kerberos and NTLM Authentication" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=215383). This issue may occur after installing Windows SharePoint Services on a server running Exchange Server 2003. For information about how to properly configure a server to run both Windows SharePoint Services and Exchange Server 2003, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 823265, "You receive a "Page not found" error message when you use Outlook Web Access (OWA) to browse the Exchange Server 2003 client after you install Windows SharePoint Services" (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=3052&kbid=823265).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at

 Set Description: The mailbox server [%1] does not allow "Negotiate" authentication to its [%2] virtual directory. Exchange ActiveSync can only access the server using this authentication scheme.

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/215383/

The following was the resolution path:

NTAuthenticationProviders metabase property:

cscript adsutil.vbs get w3svc/WebSite/root/NTAuthenticationProviders

 

cscript adsutil.vbs set w3svc/WebSite/root/NTAuthenticationProviders "Negotiate,NTLM"

 

Disabled Forms in Exchange System Manager on the HTTP site

 

iisreset on Exchange Server

 

Enabled Forms in Exchange System Manager on the HTTP site

 

iisreset on Exchange Server

 

Hello,

 

I ran into a very interesting issue in a SharePoint install where it seemed that I could not connect to the SQL database when I accessed the "User Profiles and Properties" within the Shared Services provider.  Initially I suspected a SQL issue or network issue, but later found it to be several items. 

 

I found this blog, indicating a resolution:

 

Here is the overview of the article above:

 

1.  Applied .NET Framework 3.5 SP1=> Reboot

2.  Recreated SSL certificate using IIS 6.0 resource kit

3.  Reset the index server

4.  Reset IIS and search

5.  Install patch:  http://blogs.technet.com/damodar/archive/2009/04/05/error-while-setting-up-user-profiles-and-properties.aspx

6.  Reset IIS and search

 

Nathan Lasnoski