Test Layout

We have an SBS 2003 server with a WSS 3.0 SharePoint site configured on it. As part of preparation for a migration to SBS 2011, a whole bunch of updates have been applied to it. Unfortunately, one of these updates killed SharePoint. It appears that the SharePoint databases were orginally part of  a server\SharePoint SQL instance but were migrated to MSSQL$Microsoft##SSEE. So, at some time the databases were migrated from the old SQL 2000-based windows Internal DB to SQL 2005 Express Edition. My best guess is that this was done by some of the updates. There was an error: SQL Database 'STS_Config' on SQL Server instance 'np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$Microsoft##SSEE\sql\query' not found. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below. Looking in the SQL error log at C:\WINDOWS\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSQL.2005\MSSQL\LOG\Errorlog has further info: Error: 17207, Severity: 16, State: 1. FCB::Open: Operating system error 5(Access is denied.) occurred while creating or opening file ...

I am by no means an Apple product expert. However, here's my tip of the day. Apple devices such as iPods and iPads have a deep sleep mode that they go into when the battery gets very low. When they are in this deep sleep mode, it appears that they can't turn on. To bring an iPad or iPhone out of deep sleep: Hold home button (lower middle) and sleep button (upper right edge) for 10 seconds To bring an iPod touch out of deep sleep: Hold the sleep button (upper right edge) for about 10 seconds It may also help if the device is plugged into power when this is performed. We've also seen some of these devices go into this deep sleep mode for no apparent reason. I suspect an odd user button combination, but can't tell for sure. So, even if the batter charge is OK, this may be your issue.

I'm doing some work with the release candidate of System Center 2012 - Operations Manager. It requires .NET Framework 4 and I made the mistake of installing .NET Framework 4 before installing IIS on the server. As a result, ASP.NET for .NET Framework 4 is not registered in IIS. Happily it's an easy fix: Open a command prompt Change to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319 Run aspnet_regiis.exe -i  After registering you still need to enable it in IIS Manager. Open IIS Manager and browse to the server Double-click ISAPI and CGI Restrictions Allow both ASP.NET v.4 instances Run iisreset.exe

If you use the Exchange Management Shell to define the SendOnBehalfTo property of an Exchange 2010 mailbox then the user that you provide overwrites any existing users with SendOnBehalfTo permission. This happens because the list of users is stored as an array. When you provide a single user, you overwrite that list with the single user. Instead, you need to add a user. This is not the most concise way to do it. I just find it understandable this way. #Get current list of users $mailbox = get - mailbox "HelpDesk" $SendList = $mailbox .GrantSendOnBehalfTo #Add to list of users $newperson = get - user "NewPerson" $SendList = $SendList + $newperson #Set new list Set - Mailbox "HelpDesk" - GrantSendonBehalfTo $SendList For more details about why this works see my posting on adding additional managers to a distribution group at http://byronwright.blogspot.com/2011/08/adding-additional-distribution-group.html . It uses a similar process to modify the list of ...

Today we got a call from a client that messages were stuck in the Submission queue on an Exchange 2010 server with all roles. There were no specific error messages in the Application log. A little bit of searching indicated that this can be caused by locally installed anti-virus/anti-spam software that has hooks into the transport service. So, we disabled GFI MailEssentials on the server and mail began to flow. When we re-enabled it, mail stopped immediately. The client is now contacting GFI, but my best guess is that it is a bad update that got pushed out. We've seen similar things with other anti-virus products in the past. It will probably be fixed in the next update.

Yesterday Microsoft released service pack 2 for Exchange 2010. I haven't had time to go through the details yet, but you can check it out on the Exchange team blog. http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/05/released-exchange-server-2010-sp2.aspx Due to the problems with rollup updates earlier this year (two of them were pulled and updated), I'd wait at least a month before considering implementation of SP2. Update: Summary of New Features Things I think will be useful to me: Disable auto-mapping for mailboxes with full access. Auto-mapping automatically opens any mailbox to which you have full access when using Outlook 2010 (or 2007 with updates) and Exchange 2010 SP1. This is great if there are only a few shared mailboxes. There is a work around to stop this by editing an attribute with ADSIedit, but that is a bit clunky. Now there is an option to disable automapping when using the Add-MailboxPermission cmdlet. Mini-version of Outlook Web App. I haven't teste...

Exchange 2010 has multiple levels where you can configure message size limits. You need to be aware of where they are located to ensure they provide the message delivery infrastructure you want. The most common places that you configure message sizes are: User. The maximum send and receive sizes that you configure for a user override the settings configured for levels. The allows you to create exceptions for specific users that are larger or smaller. Configure in the Mail Flow Settings tab of the user. Organization. This controls the maximum send and receive message sizes used by all Hub Transport servers in the organization. The default size is 10 MB. Configure in Organization Configuration > Hub Transport > Global Settings > Transport Settings > General tab. Receive connector. Each Hub Transport server has receive connectors with a default maximum receive message size. This should match the setting for the organization unless you want a specific connector to be more restr...