Here’s a nice simple post about how to recover from a failed windows cluster I’ve been running windows clusters at work on windows 2000/3 for both Exchange and SQL. They are nice, but a lot of the time they seem to add un-needed complexity.
It is possible to experience complete cluster failure, meaning both cluster nodes as well as the cluster disk fail. This article describes the steps to perform when repairing a failed cluster.
Repairing a failed cluster is a four-step process:
- Restore the first node.
- Restore the cluster disk.
- Restore the second node.
- Test the repaired cluster.
The first step in repairing a failed cluster is to perform a restore of the first node. This can be done by following the process described below:
- Install a new copy of Windows 2000 Advanced Server (or whatever version of Windows was previously installed).
- Restore the system and boot partition, the system state data, and any other information.
- Restart the cluster node.
Once the first node has been restored, you can proceed to restore the cluster disk. Restoring the cluster disk entails restoring the disk signature file. This file contains information necessary to identify and mount volumes. Obviously, if a disk is replaced, the disk with the original signature file will have to be restored. Here are the steps to restore the cluster disks.
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wow, the MS Exchange team blog has a great post on how-to use the Exchange Server 2007 Mailbox Server Storage Cost Calculator
The post lays out each stop and explains the results. Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll be moving to exchange 2007 in 09 
the CAL cost is just too much for next years budget. But we do plan on consolidating our 4 exchange 2003 servers within North American to a single exchange 2003 cluster. I’ve start looking into running a 1300 user exchange 2003 server on ESX. Most of the numbers and proof of concepts running exchange on ESX is for Exchange 2007. We’ll see how it goes.
Posted by jayb | Posted on 16-10-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, microsoft, technology
Tags: microsoft
Microsoft User Research is conducting a study focusing on the next version of Active Directory Users and Computers between November 10 and November 14, 2008. This is a great opportunity for IT administrators who have experience with ADUC to provide feedback and help improve the next version. You do not need to prepare anything for this. We want to learn from you, the experts. We highly value your feedback and will be offering you a gratuity option in appreciation of your time and participation.
We are recruiting individuals who:
• Have experience managing 4 to 40 Servers
• Are available for a 2 hour study session during the week of November 10, 2008
• Can make it to Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Washington
If you are interested or know someone who might be interested in participating, please email us at itusable@microsoft.com with ADUC in the subject line. For information on other studies and to learn more about Microsoft’s User Research program, email us.
Posted by jayb | Posted on 27-09-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology
Tags: hints, tips
I run two PCs on dual monitor – by which I mean each PC is connected to the same two monitors. So much of the time, although they are dual monitor configurations I live only on a single monitor.
This means that every now and then, when you run an app it appears on the taskbar but not on screen, because it’s on the other monitor currently viewing the other PC.
Here’s my quick trick to get items on screen without switching monitor inputs;
- Right click on program name on taskbar.
- Click on Restore if available.
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Posted by jayb | Posted on 13-09-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology
Tags: dvd
I’ve used ImgBurn and CDBurnerXP for my burning needs, but I never wanted to pay for authoring DVD. I’ll have to give DVDStyler a try
"What do you recommend for the best free DVD creator? One that lets you add a background to the menu and scene selections, etc.?"
I’m still searching for what I would call the "best" free DVD authoring software. Free DVD burning software is easy to find, but DVD authoring makes things more complicated. If you have Windows Vista Premium or Vista Ultimate, the bundled Windows DVD Maker is a solid choice. When I create DVDs, I frequently use Roxio MyDVD, which isn’t free, but is reliable and offers plenty of customization. If pressed to choose a good free product, DVDStyler would likely be the one and only choice on my list, although I typically still recommend you buy something.
Free DVD Authoring Software
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:10:48 GMT
Posted by jayb | Posted on 08-08-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, microsoft, technology
Tags: active directory, activedirectory, help, love, mac, search, servers, vista, windows, work, XP
Wow, check out these great ADUC saved queries from Ron Crumbaker at myITforum.com
Does anyone use the Saved Queries with in the ADUC?
I do, and I love them.
Here are some that might help you out.
Just Right Click on Saved Queries and Choose New and then Query.
Name the Query accordingly and then click on Define Query…
Then Find the Custom Search and click on the Advanced tab.
Paste each of these in the <add criteria from above to this list> area and then click OK.
Locked Out Users
(&(&(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(lockoutTime:1.2.840.113556.1.4.804:=4294967295)))))
Dial In Access
(&(&(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(msNPAllowDialin=TRUE)))))
Disabled User Accounts
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))
No Expiring Accounts
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=65536))
Active Accounts
(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))
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Posted by jayb | Posted on 24-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology, vmware
Tags: esx, mac, upgrade, vmware
I was pulling my hair out today, wondering why the bios screen was going by SO much faster since I upgraded to 3.5, even when I connected directly to the ESX box. Turns out that by default the bios screen is set for 0 milliseconds on a new machine. But you can chance this this is via the VM options in the VI client GUI. Remember the time is in milliseconds, plus there is a checkbox to force it to the bios setup on next boot!
Thanks for the heads up vinternals: VM boot screen timeout
I just got all six of my ESX servers up to 3.5 and VCenter updated to 2.5. Now I’m looking for good plugin’s and this one seems to fit the bill.
SVMotion is a VI 2.5 client plugin (the FIRST released, third-party plugin in fact) that extends the client’s functionality by providing an integrated, graphical tool that can be used to invoke storage VMotion (SVMotion) operations. This plugin is not supported by VMware. In fact, the plugin is not anywhere close to supported by VMware because it is the result of a two-week dive into the inner-workings of the VI client libraries with popular reflection tools (reverse-engineering). l o s t c r e a t i o n s is working on a white paper that describes how to build VI plugins.
Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin – SVMotion
esloof@ntpro.nl (Eric Sloof)
Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:06:56 GMT
Here’s links for more information and the download site.
Posted by jayb | Posted on 13-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology
Tags: altiris, fat, free, freeware, ghost, imaging, linux, search, servers, usb, windows, work
Wow, I just took a quick look at the list of features and I’m stunned. depending on how difficult it is to set this up. I maybe getting this going at work this week. We use altiris for desktop management. But we don’t use it for the servers, this could be a great way to image our servers.
I was just searching for a way to clone my laptop just in case disaster strikes. I found a cool tool called Clonezilla. It’s free, open source and very easy to use. You can burn a “live cd” or even copy the tool to a USB memory stick and just boot from it.
It supports a whole bunch of file systems: ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, and FAT, NTFS of MS Windows! Check it out.
Cool tool
Duncan Epping
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:53:11 GMT
Posted by jayb | Posted on 09-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, microsoft, technology
Tags: activedirectory, admin, GPO, microsoft, nac, scripts, security, servers, windows, WP, XP
Thank you so much Jorge and the activedir.org mailing list. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a junior admin access to restart the print spooler on a windows 2003 SP1 box for over a month.
Delegating permissions to manage services on servers is not the easiest thing to do. You can do it from the command line or through a GPO in the “System Services” node. Either way you MUST take the current configured permissions into account, otherwise you might/will experience issues!
I do not like to use a GPO to do this and prefer to use command line tools in scripts. I’m not going to post a script, but I’m going to provide the information for the delegation of the permissions required and how to achieve that. For the scripting part, what you need to do is retrieve the current SDDL, add what you want to add and write the complete new SDDL back.
Jorge ‘s Quest For Knowledge! : Delegating Monitoring/Stopping/Starting services on Servers
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