Tech for the Enterprise

May 3, 2010

Moving SharePoint 3.0 from one server to another

Filed under: Microsoft — Rick @ 8:21 am

(Specifically Windows 2003 32-bit to Windows 2008 R2 64-bit)

This should also work if you are moving SharePoint from a Windows 2003 32-bit to a Windows 2008 R2 64-bit. This is for a single server farm. The SQL Server can be on a separate machine.

Make a batch file. If you are using Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 make sure when you run the batch file to right click and click “Run as administrator”

********* Start Batch File *************

C:

cd\

cd Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN

stsadm -o backup -url https://sharepoint.domain.com -directory \\192.168.1.50\Wholesite -backupmethod full -percentage 10 -backupthreads 3

pause

********* End Batch File *************

The batch file needs to have the URL of the site you are backing up and a UNC path to the folder that will store the backup files. Note: The UNC path is only needed if the SQL Server is a separate machine from the SharePoint server. Without the UNC path the SQL Server would not know where to put the backups of the databases and thus error.

Run the backup batch file.

Install SharePoint on the new server.

When I install SharePoint I use the Advanced Option then I select “Web Front End…” then I click “Install Now” This gives you more options and allows you to select whatever SQL Server you want.

At the end I leave the box checked that says “Run the SharePoint and …” and Click Close.

When the Wizard runs I select “No, I want to create a new server farm”. Now is when you need to put in your database information. The user name needs to be a Windows login not SQL. Note: “If you are using both 64-bit SQL and SharePoint you may need to enable the TCP/IP protocols for the 64-bit the 32-bit seem to be enabled by default.

That is it. Now let’s restore.

Create a batch file. If you are using Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 make sure when you run the batch file to right click and click “Run as administrator”

Here you can use a SQL login

********* Start Batch File *************

c:

cd\

cd Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN

stsadm -o restore -hostheaderwebapplicationurl http://sharepoint.domain.com -directory \\sharepointtest\restoresp -restoremethod new -username sa -password xxxxxxxx -newdatabaseserver sql2008

pause

********* End Batch File *************

KEY: The SQL Server SQL Service has to be running under an account that has access to the Share where your restore files are located.

The first thing you will get asked is “New web application URL” and it will give you a default option but do not use it. This will be the default from the server you backed up from. The only exception is if this server has the same server name. We want to use something like https://servername:portnumber. The S in https is optional and will depend on if you used SSL in the backed up SharePoint site.

  1. Then it asks you for the “New web application name” I leave this at the default.
  2. Now it asks you for “New server name”. This is your SQL server name. You need to enter the name of the SQL server. It can be just the server name or you may need to enter servername\incidentname.
  3. “New directory name” I look at the default data path on the SQL server and I use that. Sample “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA”
  4. “New database name” you can select the default.
  5. “New web application URL” this is where you want to use the URL of your SharePoint Site. Example https://sharepoint.domain.com/ Make sure and use the S if you are using SSL.
  6. “New web application name” You can use the Default.
  7. “New server name” this is the SQL Server name again. Same as #2
  8. “New directory name” Same as #3.
  9. “New database name” You can use the Default.
  10. “New server name” Same as #2.
  11. “New directory name” Same as #3.
  12. “New database name” You can use the Default.

Now if you restored a site that uses an SSL Certificate you need to attach that certificate to the IIS web site that was created during the Restore.

April 12, 2010

ESX hosts upgraded to ESX 4.0 disconnect in vCenter Server 4.0 with a status of Not Responding

Filed under: Virtualization — Rick @ 9:20 am

I have a vCenter server 4.0 and I went to upgrade one of my host machines. They were all running 3.5. The upgrade could not have been easier using the vCenter upgrade manager. Once the host rebooted it would not stay connected to the vCenter server. I could not figure it out the remaining 3.5 hosts stayed connected just fine.

Did some searching turned out I needed to add the IP address of the vCenter server into the Managed IP Address field under vCenter Server Settings.

See this article. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011647

March 23, 2010

Backing up MS SQL Database with no access to the Phisical Console or RDP to the Server.

Filed under: Backup — Rick @ 8:50 pm

Before you do anything you have to create a dumpdevice. Once that is created I was able to backup no problem. This was done with Owner Rights to this Database in MS SQL 2005.

EXEC sp_addumpdevice ‘disk’, ‘anynameyouwant’, ‘E:\backup\databasename.bak’
BACKUP database databasename TO anynameyouwant
GO

Installing sql studio express Error 29506

Filed under: SQL Server,Software — Rick @ 8:33 pm

I tried to install SQL Studio Express and got and error Error 29506. Windows 7 – 64 Bit but I do not think that was the issue. I right clicked on the command prompt and clicked run as Administrator and then ran the msi and it ran with no error.

February 11, 2010

Netflix streaming we want Star Trek

Filed under: Misc — Rick @ 10:30 pm

Netflix we want Star Trek on streaming. You have a lot of great shows on but why don’t you have Star Trek (any of them). Also you have no way for your customer to tell you what they want via your web site. You should have a feedback page to know what your customers want.

February 7, 2010

An I/O operation initiated by the Registry failed unrecoverably. The Registry could not read in, or write out, or flush, one of the files that contain the system’s image of the Registry.

Filed under: Microsoft,Misc,Software — Rick @ 9:51 pm

As time went on I realized this did not fix the issue. I restored the machine to an earlier vision and then restored the databases and that did work. This is a virtual machine this made restoring very easy.

Started getting this error* the other day. I look on line and searched but could not come up with anything that fixed it.

*An I/O operation initiated by the Registry failed unrecoverably. The Registry could not read in, or write out, or flush, one of the files that contain the system’s image of the Registry.

Seeing it was an I/O error and I saw something on Microsoft saying something about disk operations I thought why not try a chkdsk /f and sure enough that fixed it. I took a re-boot because this was the system drive but it worked.

February 3, 2010

mapi32.dll is an invalid Extended MAPI Library and Mail is not installed

Filed under: Exchange Server,Microsoft — Rick @ 11:00 pm

I had a customer that uses Word 2007. They were having a problem when they clicked Send and “Send as PDF” and was getting this error “mapi32.dll is an invalid Extended MAPI Library” and “Mail is not installed”. I could not figure it out.

Finally I got to another computer in the office and compared the mapi32.dll files. They both had Office 2007. They were quite different  in size so I renamed the mapi32.dll on the machine throwing the error and copied over the mapi32.dll from the second computer and after that it worked fine.

Before I copied the mapi32.dll I also installed “2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS” but I do not think I really needed to do that.

January 30, 2010

Invalid LBAI Ghost HP 6735B

Filed under: Desktop,Misc — Rick @ 8:41 am

I’ve been beating my head against the wall on this one for 2 days now. In case any of you have this same issue I will document what I did.

I was setting up to image about 30 HP6735B machines and after I would image one I kept getting an Invalid LBAI when I rebooted. Normally I would simply run gdisk32 /mbr and that would fix it. Now I did not set up the master machine as this was from a customer but as I investigated I finally figured out they had changed the BIOS setting for the Disk. The reason they did this is XP does not support the AMD SATA AHCI Controller unless you press F6 during install and add the AMD SATA AHCI Controller Driver. This is a pain to do because you need to have a floppy so it was easier for them to just change the BIOS.

Generally if you have this error you can just use gdisk or gdisk32 /mbr and that will fix it. Sometimes you will also have to use the switch /p that would be after the /mbr. Example: (gdisk32.exe 1 /mbr /p). The 1 stands for the disk number.

But in the HP 6735B it did not do it. So here is what I did to fix it.

First thing the configuration:
HP 6735B
Windows XP SP 3
Symantec GhostCast Server 11.5.0.2113

First thing you need to do is change the Bios.
See image below.
System Configuration / Device Configuration / SATA Device Mode.
Select IDE then Save, also click, File (on the left), Changes & Exit

Then you still need to run: gdisk32 1 /mbr /p

I also ran the ghostWalker to change the SID. This is really not needed if you are going to join these machines to a Domain but I do it anyway. What I did is create a BATCH file that I run after the ghosting is done. I called it walker.bat and here are the lines:

gdisk32.exe 1 /mbr /p
GhWalk32.exe /BV=1:1 /CN=”ELM-<RANDOM_HEX>” /SURE

Invalid LBAI

BIOS Screen Shot

January 29, 2010

Is it possible to “power off” a suspended VM? Workstation

Filed under: Virtualization — Rick @ 8:56 am

Is it possible to “power off” a suspended VM Workstation? Yes. I had this problem when I tried to resume a suspended VM on Workstation 6.5 and it kept getting an error. I knew there was nothing going on when I suspended it so I decided to just power it down. Well, there is no option for that.

What you have to do is go into the folder that contains the VM and delete or as I did rename the .vmss files. If you rename them make sure the name change is in or after the extension. Example: myvmfile.vmss.old. This essentially pulls the plug on the power. You should be able to boot up your VM now.

January 6, 2010

Google leaves ATT out in the rain with Nexus One.

Filed under: Google Apps,Misc — Rick @ 9:31 am

Google just released their new phone the “Nexus One”. Seems like it is compatible or will be shortly with all major networks except AT&T. Verizon will be coming soon and it is unclear if it will work with Sprint or not. Actually if you just want to use the phone for voice calls and maybe use EDGE it will work fine but NO 3G data on AT&T. Who wants that?

Well then again who would want AT&T if you could get the phone on Verizon’s network anyway.

http://www.google.com/support/android/bin/answer.py?answer=166507

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