Tag: Windows

IP address change failed

We have changed IP addresses on a few SBS servers over the years and never had any real dramas using the Change IP address wizard from the server manager. That was until recently.
 
When we went to change the IP address we received an errors that IP change had failed. We set it back to the original and then tried to change it again. It took a few attempts but finally it did change.
 
We rebooted thinking everything would be fine but soon found errors with the DHCP server. It was working but we couldn’t view the DHCP server in the console manager. Also when we tried to do NSLOOKUP from the DNS console we got nothing.
 
The workstations all got their IP addresses correctly and everything seemed ok but we still felt that something was wrong. That night the backup software (Brightstor) failed backing up the Active Directory with Error E3156 EC8007003a. Also, the overnight SBS report was full of Exchange errors. There was definately something still wrong.
 
After extensive investigation as to why the server was still listing the old IP address in places, even after we successfully completed the change IP address wizard, it turns out that there was a manual entry for the server in the HOSTS file! Someone had manually gone into c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and inserted an entry for the servername and the original (old) IP address. Clearly this will cause a problem since the HOSTS file normally takes precedence when doing IP lookups. Not wanting to point the finger at any party but it would appear that the previous IT people had made this entry because they had issues configuring something and thought it would fix their problems. Sure hope it did for them because it caused us no end of grief.
 
Once we removed the old IP entry from the HOSTS file everything started to magically work again (as it should!).
 
Moral of the story? Never, ever set a static IP address in the hosts file.

Microsoft Exam insurance

Thinking of taking a Microsoft Certification exam? Maybe an idea to hold off just a little while until they announce their exam insurance for August.
 
 
It would appear that if you take an exam and fail during the period you can take it again without cost. Alternatively, if you pass on your first attempt you’ll get a discount towards yoru next exam.
 
No dates have been set but the web site says that it is coming in August. Check the above web site for more information.

Error 0x8004020f during Internet connection wizard

Working on a SBS system that involved a Sing Migration. On the new machine when we ran the Connect to Internet Wizard we received a failure on the firewall configuration. When we looked at the logs we saw :
 
error 0x8004020f returned from call to sending RUP intro mail()
 
After some searching it appears that error was DNS related.
 
Turns out that we are changing the server from a 2 NIC configuration to a single NIC configuration and there were still some entries for the old external IP address ins some of the DNS zones. Once we removed there and rebooted the wizard ran fine.

Corrupt Arcserve database

Have an installation with Arcserve 11.1 where when you attempt to access either the device screen or the database screen the console hangs and has to be terminated by task manager. The tell tale sign that there is a problem with the Arcserve database is the fact that the Arcserve backup job runs but the details are not recorded in the database. So bottom line corrupt database.
 
Normally, this is pretyy easy to fix, you simply go to the Arcserve server admin and reinitialize all the Arcserve databases. This basically empties them ready for new content. If you need the Arcserve database back then you can simply restore from a tape or restore the Arcserve database itself.
 
Problem is when we went to initialize the database we got the same hang. There are good arcticle from CA about Arcserve databases here. Down the bottom it mentions about deleting the rdm files. We did this and still had the same problem. Next it mentions editing the velocis.ini file which we did and hey presto we could go in and reinitialize all the Arcserve databases. Also our console manager no longer hung when we acccessed the database screen.
 
Interesting this site also from CA says that you should be running maintenance on the Arcserve databases weekly. First time we have heard of that! It is a good idea when you have very Arcserve databases but generally it is easier just to reinitialize them and start fresh. has worked everytime for us.

ISA no longer to be supported on SBS

Here’s some more confirmation that ISA on SBS is going bye, bye.
 
– SBS no longer will support being the edge box. You’ll need SBS to be behind a network firewall of some sort — could be a hardware firewall, could be a software firewall, such as ISA.

– ISA, itself, will no longer support running on the SBS server itself They’re building the SBS tools in the next rev assuming that the network firewall is elsewhere.

 
As we have said before this a good move we believe since it means less load and less services running on the poor old SBS box. It will also mean that users can still surf the net if there is problem with the SBS server.
 
Don’t get us wrong ISA is a great product and can do some amazing things but the bottom line for most businesses running SBS all they want is a firewall. They don’t want reporting or web publishing and so on. So the easiest option is to buy a dedicated firewall device that just does the basics and give more memory to SBS to do other stuff.

Some interesting things about Cougar

Been over reading Sean Daniel’s blog about the next version of SBS known as Cougar and the following points from the blogs struck us:

3. The SBS Backup solution is being completely re-vamped. However, we have made the full switch, and the backup solution will no longer support backing up to tape. Using snapshot technology, the backups will be extremely quick using incrementals that can be scheduled as often as every 30 minutes. A copy of NTBackup will be able to extract files from the old SBS 2003 format, but no new data can be added. If tape is super important to you, start sizing up 3rd party backup solutions.

So the next version of SBS will not only be 64 bit it will also not support tape drives. Backups appear to be moving to disk based snap shots. This is definitely the case with people like Symantec and Storagecraft developing excellent SBS offerings. No major surprise here but the interesting issue is how off site disaster recovery backups will be handled. One would guess that the most likely option when SBS Cougar becomes available is that off site backups will be done via the Internet. So you’ll do an regular backup image and this image will then be transferred offsite automatically. There are people that will do that now but it looks like we need to start getting up to speed with these sort of solutions before Cougar ships.

5. Cougar will need to be installed behind some kind of firewall and the single-NIC model will be the only mode. You must use a firewall in front of the SBS box, this can be a hardware router type item, or a software firewall such as ISA.

Now here’s something that we didn’t really know. There have been plenty of rumours that Cougar will allow you to migrate some of the SBS applications (typically ISA) onto seperate hardware and this makes good sense, but according to what Sean says this is going to be mandatory. So it appears that SBS willl come with any in built firewall and that you will have to use an external appliance for SBS Cougar Standard and ISA on a seperate box for SBS Cougar Premium.

The first ramification here is that any SBS Cougar sale is going to have include the sale of a dedicated hardware firewall or a new server to install ISA on. In summary, additional cost. Secondly, it means that there should be more memory for the remaining applications on the SBS Cougar box which is a good thing. More and more these days we are moving towards an SBS solution with a single NIC, for standard and premium, since it provides greater flexibility and removes the need for ISA on the SBS Premium box (which is already getting overloaded with applications now).

Interesting stuff but still needs to be taken with a pince of salt because thing certainly can and will change between now and release of Cougar. However, our take away is no more tape backups out of the box – so how do we handle offsite disaster recovery and secondly no more firewall on the SBS box – this means additional cost for systems. Luckily, we are already moving down those path and this information certainly confirms that we need to place more emphasis on this as Cougar gets closer to release.