Month: September 2007

VSS Hotfixes

From the Diva’s blog.

A new Volume Shadow Copy Service update is now available that fixes various Volume Shadow Copy Service problems in Windows Server 2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/913648/en-us
Availability of a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) hotfix rollup package for Windows Server 2003 to resolve some VSS snapshot issues:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940349/en-us
are needed for the server and an update is available to optimize the way that the Shadow Copy Client accesses shadow copies in Windows Server 2003 and in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903234/en-us
is needed for the workstation

But if you have Windows Server SP2 installed, you have KB913648 already installed. 

Office 2003 Service Pack 3 released

Microsoft has release Service Pack 3 for Office 2003. Click here to go directly to the download. Click here for the Knowledge Base article on the Service Pack.
 
As yet we haven’t tested it on our internal machines so we can’t provide any feedback. Rest assured we will be applying soon and will provide some experiences then.
 
Ok, typically there are some issues after installing this service pack. See here or here for more information.

VPN passwords failing after applying ISA 2004 SP3 to SBS

So we apply ISA 2004 SP3 to a dual NIC SBS 2003 R2 Premium server, reboot, test RWW and OWA and everthing seems fine internally and externally.
 
Later on after we have left the site we try VPN’ing into the server and the login fails. Huh? So we try VPN’ing as another user with higher rights, still no go. This is a problem.
 
So back to the site we go. Firstly we think that maybe the ADSL modem/router needs firmware updating. We plug a laptop into the adsl/modem router and try VPN’ing to the second NIC and we get the same problem. So now we know that it is definately an ISA 2004 issue.
 
Next step is we try and run the Configure Remote Access wizard and it fails telling us to check the log. When we look at the log located at :\program files\microsoft windows small business server\support\rraslog.txt we see at the bottom :
 
*** Saving changes and restarting services returned ERROR c0040393
*** CRRASCommit::ConfigureISA2k4() returned ERROR c0040393
*** Configure ISA2k4 returned ERROR c0040393
*** CRRASCommit::CommitEx returned ERROR c0040393
So we done some Googling and come across the following article :
 
 
Which says :
 
Go Start | Admininstration Tools | Domain Controller Security Policy
Select Local Policies | User rights assignments and the policies are displayed on the right hand side.
Check of the following policies by double clicking :
 
– Adjust memory quotas for a process
– Generate security audits
– Log on as a service
– Replace a process level token
and ensure they have NETWORK SERVICE displayed in the list of users and groups that are assigned to that policy setting. IF not then you need to add it.
 
Close the policy editor when complete. Run a GPupdate /force from the command prompt and reboot the server.
 
After the reboot we went back in and re-ran the remote access wizard which now completed. VPN access was restored.
 
From the article the issue is due to :
 
“Group Policy settings that were applied at the domain level have modified the policy settings for the Network Service account on the domain controller. This issue mostly occurs after you promote a member server to a domain controller, or on a migration from a Windows 2000 network where SBS 2003 was joined to the 2000 domain.”
 
Which is exactly what happened because we used a swing migration on this server from an existing SBS 2000 machine.
 
Very interesting that it only raised its head when we applied ISA SP3, but at least it is now solved after much puzzlement.

KB931836 fails to install

Having a problem installing KB931836 on your XP Professional workstation? We’ll we were as well. What the hell is this update? Ah, ha a daylight savings patch from Microsoft – we should have known there would be problems.
 
The solution is to firstly uninstall KB933360, reboot and then install KB931836.
 
Simple eh? NOT.

Exchange message size restrictions

There are 2 locations at which you can restrict the message size that Exchange server will accept and send. Unsure of exactly which one takes precedence but at least know you’ll know there are two places to look :

a. Under properties on SMTP virtual server

Start | All Programs | Microsoft Exchange | System Manager
| Servers | | Protocols | SMTP | default
Right mouse click | Properties
Messages tab | Limit Message size to

Normally this option is not selected and therefore will not apply to your Exchange messages.

b. Under Message delivery under Global settings

Start | All Programs | Microsoft Exchange | System Manager
| Global Settings | Message Delivery
Right mouse click | Properties
Defaults tab | Sending Message or Receiving message size

On SBS this setting is configured for both send and receive and set to 10MB. Simply disable or increase the limit as required.

Interesting that it is two places and neither seems to get touched by the Connect to Internet wizard.

Downgrading SQL 2005 to SQL 2000 on SBS 2003 R2 Premium

We seem to be getting more and more of these requests as we upgrade clients to the latest version of SBS 2003. Seems like most developers have still not migrated their applications across to SQL 2005. Come on guys, SQL 2008 is just around the corner.
 
In the meantime here is an article from Microsoft that explains how to go about downgrading.