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Today I had to take a customers server that was running SBS 2008 on a physical box and convert it to a virtual machine as we were preparing to run a terminal server along side the SBS server on one physical box. This particular customer uses Symantec’s Backup Exec System Recovery 2010, soon to be renamed Symantec System Recovery 2011. I did my usual full backup and verification, then reformatted the server with Windows 2008 R2. I installed the Hyper Visor role, and installed BESR. I then selected the backup of the SBS server and selected to convert it to a Virtual Machine. During the selection, I selected to run Mini Setup

After you install Exchange 2007 service pack 3, and or rollup #1 or rollup #2 and you attempt to create a new receive connector, you receive the following error: Summary: 1 item(s). 0 succeeded, 1 failed. Elapsed time: 00:00:00 test Failed Error: Active Directory operation failed on SBS01.ks.local. This error is not retriable. Additional information: The parameter is incorrect. Active directory response: 00000057: LdapErr: DSID-0C090C26, comment: Error in attribute conversion operation, data 0, v1772 The requested attribute does not exist. Exchange Management Shell command attempted: new-ReceiveConnector -Name ‘test’ -Usage ‘Custom’ -Bindings ’0.0.0.0:25′ -Fqdn ‘test.test.com’ -RemoteIPRanges ’0.0.0.0-255.255.255.255′ -Server ‘SBS01′ Elapsed Time: 00:00:00

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This was a shock I was not expecting. Microsoft is actually moving it’s Windows Live accounts to WordPress. There must be some logic to this from Microsoft. Probably more focused on the cloud. Dear Windows Live Spaces customer, We are very excited to announce our collaboration with a premier and innovative blogging service, WordPress.com, to offer you an upgraded blogging experience. We’ll help you migrate your current Windows Live Spaces blog to WordPress.com or you can download it to save for later. On March 16th, 2011 your current space will close . With the new release of Windows Live services, we’ve made a series of changes and improvements across our products. We chose to partner to provide our users with a fantastic blogging solution. However, we realize the changes will have an impact on you – this email aims to address any concerns you may have. Why is this happening? Our customers have asked for richer blog functionality including an integrated statistics system, continuous saving of drafts and improvements to spam-fighting technology. To deliver the best possible blogging experience, we are collaborating with WordPress.com to provide their free service to you. For those of you that already have a blog on Windows Live Spaces, we will make it easier for you to get started while helping you move what you’ve already built up on Spaces. What is the timeline? Starting the end of September, 2010 , when you visit your Windows Live Space you’ll be given the opportunity to upgrade your blog by migrating it to WordPress.com and to download your content to save for later. As of January 4th, 2011, you won’t be able to make changes to your Spaces blog , but you can continue to review past posts, download your content to save for later and upgrade your blog to WordPress.com. On March 16th, 2011 Windows Live Spaces will close and you will not be able to access or migrate your blog on Spaces . What you need to do before Windows Live Spaces closes Starting the end of September , when you visit your space you’ll have the following options: Upgrade your blog by migrating to WordPress.com – We will provide a simple way to move your blog posts and comments to WordPress.com. Download your blog – You can download your old posts to keep a copy with you. You can also do this and then migrate to WordPress.com. Delete your space – If you decide that you do not want to have a space anymore, you have the option to delete it permanently. If you want to save your content, please make sure to do that before deleting your space. If you can’t decide, take some time – Over the next few months, Windows Live Spaces will continue to be accessible while you make your decision. But we’re very excited about what you can do on WordPress.com and hope you’ll decide to take advantage of this improved blogging experience. Note: some content such as gadgets, guestbook, lists, notes and draft posts won’t be migrated. See FAQs for more info on how to preserve this type of content. Go to your space to choose an option that’s right for you. What you can expect by moving to WordPress.com All of your posts, comments, and links will transfer, and you will have the option to share your blogging updates with your Messenger friends. On WordPress.com, you’ll get tools to help you track how your blog is doing and who’s visiting. You’ll get tagging that enables people to find you, and for you to find like-minded people. It includes great blog comment functionality, and trackback spam prevention to help keep your experience clean. Check out more . Thanks for using Windows Live and we hope you enjoy the new blogging experience. Sincerely, The Windows Live team Frequently Asked Questions Q: What is WordPress.com ? A: WordPress.com is a free blogging site, similar to Windows Live Spaces. On WordPress.com, you’ll find great themes and widgets to customize your experience, tools to help you track how your blog is doing and who’s visiting. You’ll get tagging that enables people to find you, and for you to find like-minded people. It includes great blog comment functionality, and trackback spam prevention to help keep your experience clean. Q: What happens to my Windows Live Spaces content and what can I migrate? A: Here’s a list of different functionality available on Windows Live Spaces today and what you can expect: Blogs and comments: If you choose to migrate or download, your blog content (including inserted photos, videos and comments) comes with you. Photos: Photos not part of your blog but part of Windows Live will continue to live on SkyDrive and, if you choose, you can continue to share them with others. Photos that were part of your blog will be migrated if you choose to migrate your blog. If you add any other modules provided by other services that shared your photos, those will not be migrated. Visitors will know where to find you: If you migrate, existing links to your blog and specific articles will continue to work and your visitors will be redirected to your new location on WordPress.com. You’ll also be able to keep your friends up to date with your latest posts on Windows Live Messenger. Private blogs: If you have a private blog, your blog will be checked as private unless you choose another option during migration. You’ll be able to share your blog back with your Windows Live Messenger friends or just choose to select a few people to invite to WordPress.com. Gadgets, guestbook, lists, notes, and draft posts: Unfortunately, you won’t be able to move these. You might consider publishing your draft posts over the coming months and moving content in lists and notes into your blog before migrating. Profile and Contacts modules: That information stays on Windows Live. You can add your new blog to your Profile and share it with your friends. Q: What can I expect between now and the date Windows Live Spaces closes? A: Starting at the end of September 2010, when you visit your space you’ll be given the opportunity to upgrade your blog by migrating it to WordPress.com and to download your content to save for later. Your space will continue to be available for you to publish to. As of January 4th, 2011, you will lose the ability to make changes to your Windows Live Spaces blog, but you can continue to review past posts, download your content to save for later and upgrade your blog to WordPress.com. On March 16th, 2011, Windows Live Spaces will close and you will not be able to access or migrate your blog. Q: Where can I learn more? A: Are you a parent of a child who uses Windows Live Spaces? Do you have a private blog? Do you use Writer to publish to Windows Live Spaces? Do you have other questions? Please visit our Help Center for additional information and resources. Share/Save

This just came out, Mass Email Worm Outbreak: W32.Imsolk.B@mm . Detailed information obtained from Symantec include: Symantec Security Response has observed a global mass mailer worm spreading and affecting hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. This appears to be a new attack – likely originating from a botnet – however, it is similar to the classic old school mass-mailing viruses like Nimda , Melissa and the Anna Kournikova virus from 2001. The new, malicious computer worm spreads using a socially engineered email attack. The threat arrives in the form of a standard email that directs the recipient to click on a link embedded in the email. This link points to a malicious program file that is disguised as a PDF file, hosted on the internet. When the user clicks on this link, their computer downloads and launches the malicious file. Symantec customers are protected from W32.Imsolk.B@mm both today and in the future using updates, as well as the products and services outlined below. How do I protect my organization against W32.Imsolk.B@mm worm threat? Customers with Symantec Antivirus (SAV) or Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) are protected Rapid Release signature of Sept. 9th rev 023 or later detects and blocks this threat. This signature set will stop all new infections. A fully certified regular definition set (dated Sept. 9th) known as rev 024 provides these protections. Symantec Security Response has created a Symantec Endpoint Protection Application and Device policy to prevent infections / execution of the threat and any side effects caused by the threat. The policy can be found here . What does the threat do? The worm uses e-mail for its initial propagation (an e-mail purporting to include a link to a requested document). The e-mail looks like the following: Hello: This is The Document I told you about, you can find it Here. Please check it and reply as soon as possible. Cheers, Once the link is followed, it downloads the W32.Imsolk.B@mm threat, which infects the computer. Once inside, it can spread rapidly via shared drives and removable drives. It also attempts to spread via e-mail by gathering e-mail addresses from the compromised computer. The main characteristics of the worm’s functionality are as follows: Primary mode of infection: email recipient clicks on link Infection spreads through Email send to contacts from address book of victims Mapped drives via autorun Instant messenger transmissions Disables various security related programs, but not Norton or Symantec products Best Practices Symantec is encouraging computer users to use the following security best practices: If you are currently suffering infection, your best protection is to obtain the latest signature updates for Symantec Antivirus or Symantec Endpoint Protection If your systems cannot get access to the latest updates: Disable network sharing for the infected systems and/or disconnect them from the local network and Internet. Disable AutoPlay to prevent the automatic launching of executable files on network and removable drives and disconnect the drives when not in required. Apply the updates. Remove the infection and restore the host to the network. Technical Support already has the following knowledge base articles on the topic: How to prevent a virus from spreading using the “AutoRun” feature Preventing viruses using “autorun.inf” from spreading with “Application and Device Control” policies in Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 11.x This includes specific instructions on how to use the policy feature of SEP to disable autorun.inf files. Keep antivirus definitions up-to-date. Avoid clicking on links and/or attachments in email messages. Configure mail servers to block or remove email that contains .SCR file attachments. Symantec products that can strengthen your organization’s security Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Outbreak detection : Identify that an active outbreak is occurring because of the volume of traffic generated by the same “Here you Have” email Internal mail filtering : Block all internal traffic of the “Here you Have” email using Content Filtering Mail store / inbox cleanup : Seek out and eliminate the “Here you Have” email from Mail Stores and end user inboxes More Information Purchase Today Brightmail Gateway Small Business Edition Multiple layers of defense : Has over 20 different antispam technologies that can block new threats as they emerge. Updated rules : Brightmail Gateway updated both antispam rules and antivirus rules to block this attack immediately after it was detected on Sept. 9th. Symantec deployed a combination of predicative and aggressive rules to ensure complete protection. Global Intelligence Network : Protection includes a 24

Internet Explorer 9 Published with permission from blog.korteksolutions.com Read the post at Lyle Epstein’s Systems Engineer Blog.

Have you received this error? The SBSMonitoring database is nearing maximum size on SBS 2008. I was getting this on a SBS 2008 server running the SBS BPA. From the error message, it’s pretty clear that the SBSMonitoring database is too large to work normally. There is a fix for this and it turns out the same SQL script that is used for an SBS problem where the Console displays too slowly is part of the solution. To shrink the database, Please follow these steps: Step 1: Download the following file to the server you are going to be working on: 1. http://cid-d5fe25afb6c3615f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/updateSBSMonitoring.sql 2. I recommend you save the file to an easy to access path, such as c:windowstemp. Step 2: Complete a backup of the SBSMonitoring Databases 1.Open Services from Administrative Tools , Services 2.Accept the UAC prompt 3.Find and stop the SQL Server ( SBSMONITORING ) service. 4.Make a copy of the files in the following folder: 1.C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft SQL ServerMSSQL.1MSSQLData 5.Once the file backup is completed, start the SQL Server (SBSMONITORING) service. Step 3: Proceed to run the following set of commands to implement the improvements 1. Open an Administrative Command Prompt (Run As Admin) 2.Type the following command, substitute the path to the updateSBSMonitoring.sql file as needed (We recommend that you do NOT copy & paste this command directly from the blog post): 1. Sqlcmd -S %computername%SBSMonitoring -E

Today I was working on a Eaton 9125 UPS and setting up the software to cleanly shut down the server in case of a power outage. After installing the software, I noticed the Powerware LanSafe could not detect the controller. Nothing found: Taking a deeper dive to see what was going on, I cracked out my trusty NirSoft CurrPorts software to see the ports. I found out that LanSafe Power Monitor uses ports 3068 and port 3069. Upon looking at the ports, I noticed Microsoft DNS was using port 3068. This would cause LanSafe Power Monitor not able to bind with that port since it was in use. What was tricky was it still showed the service as running which I would have expected it to fail since it could not bind. Here is how I fixed it. Since DNS randomly selects the ports it wishes to use, I stopped the Microsoft DNS service. I then restarted the LanSafe Power Monitor services and checked to ensure it was bound to port 3068 and 3069. I then restarted the DNS service, and ensured it didn’t bind to port 3068 as it was before. Now launching LanSafe, I am able to see the server and am able to login to manage my UPS device. Share/Save