Coming up for our September 7th meeting (Happy Birthday Lynne) we will have Jason Martin of Zenith InfoTech. He will be going over their Managed Services with bundled NOC, Business Continuity, and the launch of their new Smart Style Cloud Computing solution. He will be doing a high level short PowerPoint presentation and then would like to lead a open discussion about the changes in the industry with peers and even competitors. Jason feels this is a very necessary exercise to do from time to time. In addition he is hoping to stir some talk about the cloud movement, and our views on where it is going.

Jason and Zenith InfoTech would also like to spring for dinner, so we will be bringing in Pizza and Sodas, so please drop me a note and let me know if you are planning on attending, so I can get a reasonable head count.

Coming up for the October 5th meeting I will be doing a walkthrough of the Aurora install process, you did hear the public beta has been released right? You can signup at http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/beta.aspx

Then on November 2nd we will have a demo of Eriq Neale’s favorite new mail server Kerio, details to follow later.

Good info in the Cyber Slacking post at http://www.gfi.com/blog/control-cyber-slacking/

Keep an eye on the ever growing SBS 2008 Build Doc, we are up to revision 78 now, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/small-business-server-2008-build-document.aspx

 Upcoming FireStarter Events this year, http://blogs.technet.com/b/yungchou/archive/2010/08/18/2010-technet-firestarter-events.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage Charlotte is the closest offering unfortunately.

Free Windows Server 2008 R2 E-Book Offer http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/windowsserver.aspx#offers
Learn about the features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, written by industry experts Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker along with the Windows Server team at Microsoft.

The first ever Windows Home Server MVP Grey Lancaster (Grey was also one of the first batch ofSBS MVPs as well, but recently jumped ship to WHS) will be doing a demonstration of Microsoft Windows Vail (the next version of WHS) and Microsoft Windows Aurora (the recently announced cross-premise SBS family addition) for our August meeting on 8/3/2010. I have seen them both and they have some really cool new features, you will not want to miss this meeting. Especially if you missed WPC!

Make sure to sign up for the betas, details at http://forums.redmondmag.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?tid=7184&pn=1

Keep an eye on the community build doc for SBS 2008, http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/small-business-server-2008-build-document.aspx

Also time permitting I will give you a peak at the new Take Control feature in MAXrm, which gives you the ability to remote into attended or unattended workstations and servers with a couple of clicks of your mouse.

Meeting Space compliments of 

But I don’t think that is what they are really asking me. I think they really want to know how long before you have a working system. Well it just happens that I needed to know this as well for an upcoming project I am doing out of town next month. I have not done any real installs of SBS 2008 since the media refresh, so I though some practice was in order. The last couple of weekends I have done 2 dry runs following along the SBS 2008  Community Build Doc to get an idea of the timings of the different components. I thought I would share my rough notes with you from the last run to help in your planning.

By the way all through this post you will see that I use a script to reboot the SBS Server, mine is a quick and dirty little script with no logging. If you would like to use mine at your own risk it is at the end of this article, if you would like something more professional, take a look at Charlie’s Script, you may need to modify it a bit for SBS 2008.

Ready to start 2nd Dry Run SBS 2008 Clean Install, bios flashed, drives cleaned, dvd’s burned

Will use rtm MSDN Key with current media to make sure it fly’s

Start 6:00pm
* 2 physical drives
                Drive 0 500 Gb create partition C: 250 Gb balance unallocated
                Drive 1 700 Gb create partition D: 350 Gb balance unallocated
                Finishes 6:02pm

Expanding Files Finishes @ 6:15pm

Installing features and updates, less than a minute

First reboot starts @ 6:16

Completing installation starts @ 6:18pm

Second reboot starts @ 6:22pm

First Phase finishes @ 6:27pm

 *Clocks and Time Zone 4:36

*Do Not Get Updates

*Configure Networking

*Company Info, Computer Name, Domain Name, Admin Info

*No Forefront for Exchange

Expanding & Installing Files Starts 6:32pm

Finishes and Starts 3rd reboot @ 6:45pm

Reboot @ 7:19pm

Delivers Success Message and Desktop @ 7:24pm

*Requires Admin Input to continue

Grab SP image of C & D

Start To-Do List 8:00pm

Turn off DHCP on Router

Connect to Internet

OK IP Addresses Server 192.168.4.2, Router 192.168.4.1  finish 8:03pm

Ok to feedback

Setup Internet Address 8:04pm

Router Warning manually open ports 25, 80, 443 & 987  finish 8:09

Import DigiCert Trusted Certificate (exported from older build, allow 30 minutes to purchase new one)  finish  8:23

Add 8 Users and configure e-mail finish 9:34pm

Quit for the evening 9:35pm

Start next morning 8:20am

40 updates ready, let them install

Reboot 9:04am w/ha script

Desktop back @ 9:11am

Snap SP image start 9:45am finish 9:54am

Start BPA 10:02am finishes at 10:08am

WSUS finds 3 more updates, install and reboot @ 10:10am w/ha script

Desktop back at 10:18am

Run Fix My Network Wizard @ 10:20am

                Reports missing mappings (not missing)
                Reports DHCP error on IP6, fix, finish 10:30am

Configure Backup start 12:02pm   finish 12:07pm

Install SBS Rollup 4 12:20pm-12:23pm

Add local printer (deskjet 1220c)  and share 12:25pm-12:27pm

Do first batch of BPA fixes, finish 12:40pm reboot

DNS Cache TTL fix

Fix Event ID 10016 & 10017  KB920783

                Note instructions say change location to local server, but actually you have to change to domain
                Finish in 5 minutes

Exchange 2007 SP3  KB 982423 (try doing this after wss next time)

Start decompression 2:10pm

Run Setup from Elevated Prompt @ 2:15pm

Finishes @ 2:57pm

Configure DNS Forwarders

Configure logging, errors and warnings only

5 minutes

Move Data Locations (while folders empty)  Start 1:55pm

                Exchange Server to D: Finish 1:57pm
                SharePoint 3 to D: Finish 1:58pm
                Users Shared Data to D: Finish 1:59pm
                Users Redirected Data to D: Finish 2:00pm
                WSUS to D: Finish 2:0pm

Disable IIS Logging  Finish 2:05pm

Disable License Logging finish 2:08 and reboot w/ ha script

Logon and Desktop Returns @ 2:17pm

Install PDF Icon fix took longer to find than install, actual install is a couple of minutes

Install Office iFilter Pack 2 minutes

Install Adobe iFilter Pack start 2:29pm  finish 2:42

Fix Gather 2436 errors (found it already done) 2:47pm

IIS Reset

Stsadm commands to reindex finish 2:58pm

Install KB 977022 to allow wss sp2, failed twice

Reboot and try once more

Still no joy

Approve optional updates for deployment
                Win internal db x64 kb955706
                Sql 2005 ex SP3 kb955706
                Ws kb981793
                Malicious software x64 kb890830
                Win7 kb981793
                Malicious software kb890830

Did not install yet these optional updates
               WSS SP2
               IE8
               WSUS SP2
               DotNet 3.5 sp1 kb 951847
               Will do these later

Decline optional update

Browser Choice EEA

Break for today 3:54pm

Start again @ 11:45am

Backup from last night is good

BPA to see what is broken, no errors reported just info messages, it will be a good day

4 Updates ready for install, start them going @ noon

                kb981793
                kb955706
                kb955706
                kb890830
                Successfully installed all 4 reboot at 12:17

Logon and desktop returns @ 12:25

Download and install SnagIt finishes @ 12:32

Snag pics of installed updates

Try kb977022 again, fails yet again

Extract the installer to c:\dhc\here and install sts-x-none.msp from there, install succeeds quietly, check app log and it was successful @12:49pm

Install Windows Search, start 12:55  finishes 1:04pm

Install SQL fix for monitoring finishes 1:18

Install Fax HotFix kb973640 finishes 1:24

Reboot before wss 3 sp2

Start WSS3 SP2 @ 2:30pm
2:41 configuration wizard starts, needs input to continue

2:47pm completes and companyweb is functioning

2:49pm au popup  kb970892  want to install let it start, finishes 2:53pm

Reboot before wsus sp2

Start WSUS SP2 @ 3:12pm , remember to not run the configuration wizard at the end

Needs input until it connects to ##SSEE

Cancel wizard and it finishes 3:25pm

Install Report Viewer 2008 SP1, takes a couple of minutes tops.

Reboot @ 3:30 before dotnet kb951847

Cannot find standalone update, go to windows update, get just this one for now at 3:48pm

Finishes @ 3:53 and I rebooted because it was a dotnet

Sync WSUS Catalog, finishes @ 4:06pm

Install IE8 it wants a restart at 4:12pm, say later and use ha script now

Configure IE8 finish @ 4:26

Console working

CompanyWeb working

WU for other updates

Get 11 (84.7Mb) of the 12 updates, dotnet update can wait and go by itself

Finishes @ 4:40 and reboot with ha script

Logon and desktop back @ 4:52

Console working

CompanyWeb working

Snag image of update screen

Good time to break, backup will run @ 5:00pm

2 updates waiting for me this morning, let them start @ 9:59am
                Kb971119 report viewer
                Kb963707 dotnet assistant
               Finished @ 10:01am  no reboot required

Add Firewall policy mods for win7 management, finish 10:15am               

Download Vipre 4.0.4031

Reboot before installing @ 10:37

Logon and desktop back @ 10:47

Add firewall exceptions for Vipre to vista firewall policy 18082 & 18086 both directions, finish 10:51

Install & Configure Sunbelt Vipre
               use add 2005 express instance option
               use internal fqdn for smtp server
               use authentication
               finish @ 11:16am

1 update waiting to be installed, start it @ 11:17am
                Kb970892
                Finished @ 11:19am

Check WU (online) again, 2 available, do them separate 1 is dotnet
                Install PowerShell 2.0 & WinRM 2.0
                Finished @ 11:26 needs reboot,

Logon and desktop back @11:37am

Install dotnet 4.0 kb982671

Finish @ 11:54am

Final Reboot with ha script @ 11:58am

Console working, CompanyWeb Working, Vipre Console Working

Now at this point I have a server ready to support my network, all that remains is to join the workstation and add the data, but that is a story for another day.

I hope you found this helpful and now you won’t get lulled into thinking you can show up Monday morning and be done by lunch time.

Here is the scrip I promised you, use it at your own risk, all I can tell you is it works for me.

Copy the lines below to a text file and save it with a handy name like HAscript.cmd, when you want to use it, right click on it and run as administrator. If you want to schedule it, remember to comment out the pause line.

@Echo Off
Echo Use at your own risk!
Echo .
Echo This Will Restart the Server
Echo .
Echo “<Ctrl> + C to Cancel or”
Pause

net stop msExchangeTransportLogSearch /y

net stop msExchangeTransport /y

net stop msExchangeServiceHost /y

net stop msExchangeSearch /y

net stop msExchangeRepl /y

net stop msExchangeMailSubmission /y

net stop msExchangeMailboxAssistants /y

net stop msExchangeFDS /y

net stop msExchangeAntiSpamUpdate /y

net stop msexchangeadtopology /y

net stop msftesql-exchange /y

net stop msexchangeis /y

net stop msexchangesa /y

net stop iisadmin /y

shutdown /r /t 05

 :End

Create a temporary directory like C:\977022 and put the file you downloaded and extracted in it.

Expand the file by opening an elevated command prompt
 (right click the Command Prompt Icon and select Run as administrator)

Change directory to your temp folder
CD  \
CD 977022

Run the following command to extract the patch
“wss-kb077022-fullfile-x64-glb.exe /extract:.\here” you don’t need the quotes.
When it finishes, close the command prompt window

Click the check box to accept the EULA

Click next and then OK

Open windows explorer and navigate to C:\977022\here
Right Click the sts-x-none.msp file and select install

When it finishes check the Event Viewer in the Windows Application log for a message ID 1035 with an error code of 0 which means you were successful.

You should now be able to install KB953338 WSS SP3

Read the entire write up on Eric’s Blog

At SMB Nation’s Spring Conference, fellow MVP and IT Guru Amy Babinchak of Third Tier introduced me to the folks at Equus and I have really been impressed with their products as well as their service. They seem to be one of the best kept secrets in IT. Well the secret is about to be exposed, I asked them to come in and tell the group about their offerings and they accepted. Jim Lewis will be coming out to talk to us. Here is a bit about Equus

Equus Computer Systems, Inc. is one of America’s largest manufacturers of build-to-order desktops, notebooks and servers.  Equus is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Microsoft Platinum OEM, and they are Intel’s 7th largest customer in North America.  Over 2,000,000 Equus desktops, notebooks and servers have been built since 1989, primarily distributed to business and educational institutions through our extensive network of Value Added Resellers. 

 Some of the things that make Equus different from your typical computer manufacturer include: average 48 hour build time for custom desktops and notebooks; assembly and support in the USA; open-architecture / non-proprietary desktops so Resellers can support clients with off-the-shelf components; name-brand components for consistent and predictable high quality; ability to private-label your systems; talk to the same dedicated account manager each time; 100% employee-owned.

Hope you can make the meeting and learn why this is such a better solution than the tier ones and how to keep more money in your pockets.

Meeting Space compliments of

First Download the patch KB974417

At a command prompt enter NDP20SP2-KB974417-x86.exe -x c:\KB974417
Open windows explorer and goto C:\KB974417
Double Click on NDP20SP2-KB974417.msp and let it install
Reboot the server
run wuauclt.exe /detectnow

This worked like a champ for me, hope it helps you,
HA

He sends us to a place called Club LeConte, so we head over there. When we arrive at the address we find an office building. We park and go inside and find out it is on the 26^th floor. We go up the first elevator and then the next elevator and finally get to the desk of the restaurant where they tell us it is a private club for members only. Then the maître d’ looks me up and down and tells me he could not have served us anyways because I have on jeans. Anyone who knows me knows it is all I wear. Anyways I tell him my sad tale of woe about being from out of town and really looking forward to a great meal and where could he suggest. He thinks for a bit and says, well if you can wait for 30 minutes, I can seat you in the lounge and you can order off the full menu, he was really trying to feed us.

We said sure, and sat down for our half hour wait. In about 10 minutes another guy came over and said please follow me and seated us in the lounge and I was excited to see they served my all time favorite Steake Diane, this was turning out to be a fine evening after all. I ordered a crown and Kathy looked over the menu, we ordered some wonderful sounding appetizers and while we were waiting some guy came up behind me a lit a cigarette, there went my evening. Apparently in TN they can smoke in there, who knew. Well I was broken hearted as I was going to miss out on my Dianne but we got up to leave and pay for what we had already ordered, while we were standing in the hall, the original maître d’ came over and asked what was wrong. I told him and he said no problem, there was another alcove where we could eat and they would make it non-smoking for us. Wow they were really going out of their way for us. He brought us to the alcove and took us to the table and said wait just a minute he was going to set it for us. Well this is where the title of this post comes from, expecting to see him return with some silverware, we are waiting when Kathy says look behind you, there comes the waiter and the maître carrying the table from the other room still set they way we left it. Well we sat down and had a wonderful meal and those guys probably got the best tip they have gotten all year. I highly recommend it if you are in Knoxville, but make sure to wear good pants so you can sit in the dining room :>)

Btw, if you are wondering what I ate, I had the California Seafood Cocktail, Cesar Salad, Steake Diane, Strawberry’s Romanoff and stole some of Kathy’s Banana’s Foster, the espresso machine was broken so we swung by Starbucks on the way back to the Marriott

2010 SBS Migration Conference

Come meet the folks who are living and breathing the Migration issues, you are or will be facing as you do your own upgrades and your client’s. Mingle with the movers and shakers in the SBS Community and get invloved yourself. I’ll be there will you?