leedesmond’s blog

A bug prevents XPS document types from being recognized under Windows Vista x64 installed with .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. Download the fix for this issue here. Note that Windows Installer 3.1 is a pre-requisite to install the latter.

Additionally, do not forget to apply KB959209 to address known application compatibility issues for the SP1 .NET Framework 3.5.

This topic may be of interest to users looking at deploying new services in OCS 2007 R2 (such as Attendant and Group Chat clients) where the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is mandatory on the client desktop.

Search for “OCS 2007 R2 (RTM) Client Deployment Considerations” on my blog for more information.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2, Vista

No Comments »

Unexpected errors can surface when the Active Directory Users and Computers or Sites and Services MMC is loaded. This happens immediately after the Windows Server 2008 DHCP Server role is installed for the first time and restarted on a domain member server with the correct TCP/IP settings.

Active Directory Domain Services
The domain mydomain.com could not be found because: Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password.

Active Directory Domain Services
Naming information cannot be located because: Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password. Contact your system administrator to verify that your domain is properly configured and is currently online.

Although the built-in domain administrator account is used to sign-in and specified for the purpose of authorizing the server in Active Directory while configuring a new DHCP scope (at the time of installing the DHCP server), the DHCP server in reality has not been authorized despite the Action menu showing “Unauthorize”.

In the System event log, error ID 1059 is logged with “The DHCP service failed to see a directory server for authorization”. Event ID 1046 may also be written:

The DHCP/BINL service on the local machine, belonging to the Windows Administrative domain mydomain.com, has determined that it is not authorized to start. It has stopped servicing clients. The following are some possible reasons for this:

This machine is part of a directory service enterprise and is not authorized in the same domain. (See help on the DHCP Service Management Tool for additional information).

This machine cannot reach its directory service enterprise and it has encountered another DHCP service on the network belonging to a directory service enterprise on which the local machine is not authorized.

Some unexpected network error occurred.

To fix, following the steps here:
1. remove the DHCP Server role and reboot the machine
2. Unjoin then rejoin the Windows Server 2008 machine to the domain
3. install the DHCP server role and specify the built-in Administrator account for authorization in AD
4. create and activate DHCP scopes

Technorati tags: Active Directory, Windows Server 2008

No Comments »

The next Swiss IT Pro User Group after work event in Zurich is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 3 March 2009 (from 1745 hrs CET+1). The theme centers around “SQL Server Business Intelligent Dashboards and Performance Tuning” with guest speakers from Microsoft Switzerland and Quest Software.

Registration and detail session information can be found here.

Technorati tags: Community/User Group, Events, SQL Server 200x/2008

No Comments »

Come join one of the 2 briefings in Zurich and Geneva to learn how Office Communications Server 2007 R2 can deliver the business value and costs savings realization for unified communications (UC) with the integration of enterprise telephony (VoIP), existing telephony, voice and e-mail infrastructure.

Zürich, 9th March 2009 (0900 to 1630 hrs CET)
Microsoft Schweiz GmbH
Richtistrasse 3
CH 8304 Wallisellen

Geneva, 10th March 2009 (0900 to 1630 hrs CET)
Ramada Park Hôtel Genève Suisse
Avenue Louis-Casaï 75-77
CH - 1216 Geneve - Cointrin - Suisse

Registration and more information here. The roadshow kicks off in Zurich, Switzerland and will run in other cities from London, New York, Paris, Seattle, Singapore to Melbourne throughout the months of March and April 2009.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2 , Events

1 Comment »

Imagine this. You are already login to Windows Server 2008 with a non local administrative account. After you locked the desktop and return after some time from being away, you may be faced with the following error message after you pressed Ctrl-Alt-Del.

The password for this account has expired. To change the password, click Cancel, click Switch User and then log on.
[OK]

To fix this, click the OK button to dismiss the message then hit Switch User. Sign in with the same credentials and follow the on-screen prompt to change your password. A successful change will log you right back in with the signed-in account.

Technorati tags: Security, Windows Server 2008

No Comments »

In a previous blog post*, I highlighted an excellent iSCSI Target product that can be deployed as a IP SAN with the Windows Server 2003/2008 Failover Clustering feature.

The next (4th) generation of the StarWind Server storage virtualization software now comes packed with advanced, high-performance features for the enterprise such as CDP & Snapshots, Mirroring & Replication, Virtual Tape Library (VTL) and Thin Provisioning.

Besides optimized for Windows Server clusters and cluster-aware applications (like SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle, etc.), popular virtualized environments from Citrix XenServer, VMware ESX/ESXi to Microsoft Hyper-V are now supported thereby facilitating data migration and server consolidation.

StarWind Server 4.0 is scheduled for official release tomorrow Wed 18 Feb 2009. Find out more and download a trial version here. You hear about this exciting release here first

* search for “Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering, iSCSI Initiator and iSCSI Target”

Update (18 Feb 2009):
StarWind Releases iSCSI SAN 4.0, Support for Virtualized Environments and Windows Server Clusters

Technorati tags: Windows Server 2008, Windows Cluster

No Comments »

Network or system administrators should check out the latest version of PrimalScript 2009 to complement their arsenal of tools. This versatile and customizable integrated environment from SAPIEN Technologies supports a wide range of popular scripting, programming, web, XML, database and Adobe Flash development.

Different feature sets in the Standard, Professional and Enterprise packages from previous editions are now included in one single version of PrimalScript 2009. Check out the new features here. Registered owners of PrimalScript Enterprise are entitled to a free copy of the new PrimalSQL database management tool as part of the upgrade (more).

Download a fully functional trial version which you can unlock with a purchased license within 45 days. To qualify for any upgrade, registration of the PrimalScript product must be successfully completed online. Read the PrimalScript 2009 Upgrade FAQ and this official blog post here.

Side note:
I have been fielding questions on what I use to run scripting demos (with PrimalScript) in several of my presentations (virtualization, infrastructure, messaging, unified communications, etc.). Like since the PS 3.1 days, it is currently being used in a major global project to develop MS-DOS batch files, login scripts, VBScript, system programming (C/C++) and of course PowerShell (v1 and v2) to automate several Active Directory tasks (Windows Server 2008 and Server Core) supporting in excess of 10′000 accounts worldwide!

Technorati tags: Powershell, Scripting

No Comments »

Messenger for Mac 7.0.2
- updated client application for PowerPC- and Intel-based Mac machines running Mac OS X version 10.4.9 (Tiger) and higher with specific improvements in quality and conversation with the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 client. Fall back to the Messenger for Mac Version 6.0 client is necessary if used against Live Communications Server 2005 in the organization. See Microsoft Mactopia for more information.

OCS 2007 R2 Client Group Policy Documentation
- downloadable package containing the Communicator.adm administrative template and Group Policies settings (in a spreadsheet) for Office Communicator 2007 R2, OCS 2007 R2 Attendant and OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat clients.

Microsoft Unified Communications Client API SDK
- flexible and powerful API for developers to build client applications that integrate OCS 2007 features such as VoIP, video, instant messaging, conferencing, telephony, contact management and presence. Available for download as UccApiSdk.msi version 2.0.6362.123. This updates the original SDK released on 8 Oct 2007. See KB960721 for details.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

No Comments »

Prior to running the Active Directory preparation steps in OCS 2007 R2 (RTM) setup, ensure that you have first migrated the OCS global settings to the Configuration Partition in an existing R1 environment. This is highly recommended as the global settings are replicated to all domains in the entire forest. By default, the settings are stored in the root domain System Container.

It will not be possible to perform the migration once the AD preparation steps for R2 are completed. This could cause problems under certain conditions for OCS servers and UC-enabled users deployed in child domains, different sites or locations with less than ideal network connectivity to root domain controllers and global catalog servers.

Search for my earlier post entitled “OCS 2007 Update Digest” for related information.

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007, Unified Communications, VoIP

No Comments »

The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Planning Tool* is a free Microsoft resource that runs on Windows Server 2008, Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. Like most R2 (RTM) applications, Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is a pre-requisite to execute this Windows Presentation Foundation standalone client application.

The Planning Tool Wizard aids the UC architect in drawing up specific planning and deployment tasks with hardware recommendations that correspond to the topology specified by the UC architect.

More information and download available here.

* OCSPlanningTool.msi version: 6907.2

Reference:
- Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Technical Library

Technorati tags: LCS/OCS, OCS 2007 R2

No Comments »