Computer new Knowledge

Why Does Storage Group Health Show As Initializing?

2009-09-24T21:52:09Z

One popular observation that can be made in a CCR, LCR or even a SCR environment, all center around the status of the storage group copies. Take Figure 1 for example, you can see that the health of the storage groups is listed as Initializing under the Copy Status column.

Figure 1: Storage Group Status in Exchange Management Console

The same thing can be seen when running the Get-StorageGroupCopyStatus cmdlet, as you can see in Figure 2, where the SummaryCopyStatus property is shown as Initializing.

Figure 2: Storage Group Status in Exchange Management Shell

I remember first seeing this a long time ago after constructing a new test CCR environment for a customer. In fact, before I realized that the storage group copy status was set to ‘initializing’, I had actually attempted to move the Clustered Mailbox Server (CMS) between the two cluster nodes using the Exchange Management Shell, only to experience a failure of this particular cmdlet. It was then that I examined the properties of the storage groups via the Get-StorageGroupCopyStatus cmdlet.

The case where the storage group copy status is set to ‘initializing’ is actually quite normal in some specific cases, most notably in test environments. The main reason for this is that a transaction log file has not been processed by the system. In my case, I’d literally just created new mailbox databases and then attempted to move the CMS between cluster nodes. The newly created mailbox databases had not yet generated any transactions and thus transaction logs, hence the status display of ‘initializing’. The quickest way around this particular issue is to dismount and then remount each mailbox database. This act causes transaction log roll to occur and therefore creates a transaction log.

Installing Exchange Server 2010 (Beta) through command-line…

2009-09-21T21:49:18Z

If you decide to install Exchange Server 2010 using GUI all Schema, AD and Domain changes will be done automatically, however in a large environment where we have different administrative roles for each component we may need to prepare the schema and domain using different accounts. You will also want to control the replication process. In this kind of scenario the command-line becomes a requirement.

You will notice that we are not installing Exchange Server 2010 in a current environment with legacy exchange servers (Exchange Server 2000/2003). Because of this, we are going to prepare your lab for a pure Exchange Server 2010 environment. These are the steps to prepare our Schema, AD, and domain using command-line:

Open Command Prompt and go to the root directory of Exchange Server 2010 installation files.
To prepare the Schema, we must have SchemaAdmins permissions, and run the following command: Setup /PrepareSchema, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Time to create the Exchange Organization, we can accomplish that running the following command: Setup /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

The last step is to prepare the domain. The general rule to follow is to prepare the domain when we will have an Exchange Server or mailbox enabled users in the designated domain. The following command can be used to prepare the current domain: Setup /PrepareDomain, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

Now that we created the Exchange Organization we can install a server using command line, using the following syntax:

Setup /Mode:Install /Roles:

The ExtractWizard in use

2009-09-10T21:54:03Z

Let’s take a look at the PowerControls ExtractWizard in action. We’ll use it here to retrieve IS data from a DAT tape containing a 15GB mixture of file system data and MS Exchange 2000 IS data. The Wizard first asks if you are extracting the IS from a ,BKF file, or from a tape. In figure 1, you can see that the tape option is going to be used in this example. The tape used here was saved using Windows 2000 Backup, but Ontrack claim compatibility with several other backup applications. If you are considering buying the product, you will need to make sure that your backup package is supported by this utility.

Fig. 1 – Specifying the data source.

The ExtractWizard now reads all the data contained on the tape, attempting to locate an Exchange IS backup. This would probably be a good time to make yourself a cup of tea, because it actually takes rather a long time. My DAT tape contained some 15GB of data and it took the application approximately 45 minutes to locate it. Once the IS data has been found, you are then asked to specify which of the IS data files you intend to recover. In figure 2, you can see that I’ve selected the Exchange 2000 Private Information Store, Priv1.edb .

Fig. 2 – Specifying the data files to recover.

Next, you will need to provide the location that you want the data files to be restored to. You will have to navigate to this location later when you use the main PowerControls application to examine the data contained in the files, so pick somewhere memorable. In figure 3, I have selected the C:\TEMP directory as the location for the files, but the ExtractWizard will actually create it’s own folder tree within this directory.

Fig. 3 – Specifying the restore location.

Once you’ve selected the restore directory, the ExtractWizard rewinds the tape and reads the entire contents again. It takes just as long as it did before, so don’t wait around expecting anything to happen just yet. Time for another cup of tea, perhaps? When the IS data files you selected earlier have been recovered, you will be rewarded with the dialog box shown in figure 4.

Fig. 4 – The Exchange IS Copy Progress dialog box.

Exchange 2010 Database Availability Groups

2009-07-13T00:28:04Z

Because I deal a lot with HA/site resilience in my job as a Technology Architect, one of my favorite features in Exchange 2010 is naturally the new Database Availability Group (DAG) HA/site resilience feature, which replaces CCR/SCR/LCR. Also note that SCC has been deprecated/cut with Exchange 2010.

DAG built on the functionality we know from CCR and SCR, that is it still uses asynchronous log shipping and replay etc.

An interesting thing about DAGs is that you’re no longer required to form a cluster before you install the MBX server role. The limited cluster features that are used by DAGs (primarily cluster heartbeat and quorum) are configured automatically when adding the first MBX server to the DAG and thereby more or less invisible to the administrator.

With DAG you can have up to 16 copies of a Mailbox database. In addition, you can also have other Exchange 2010 server roles such as HT and CAS installed on the MBX server which is member of a DAG. Also, you can have DAG members located on different subnets and in separate AD sites.

There’s a lot to say about DAG, but I’ll stop here and instead let you know I currently am writing a multi-part articles series on this very subject. Look forward to seeing it published here on MSExchange.org in a near future.

Installing E2K7 and E2K10 Management tools on the same machine

2009-06-21T16:59:17Z

When the time comes where you need to transition from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010, depending on the size of your organization, it can take weeks, months or in some cases even years to complete the transition. During the co-existence period, you would need to manage both Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 users, groups, servers and so on. Since some Exchange 2007 objects must be managed using the Exchange 2007 Management Console or Shell and most Exchange 2010 objects must be managed using the Exchange 2010 Management console or Shell, it would be nice if you could just install both management tool version on the same machine right? Guess what? Yes this is in fact possible.

Just install the prerequisites for the Exchange 2010 Management tools. Then install the Exchange 2010 Management tools followed by the Exchange 2007 Management tools.

You can now open the management tools for both versions from the start menu as shown below.

You can even have the management tools for each version run side by side.

And since both Exchange 2007 and 2010 management tools are based on MMC 3.0, you could as well add the respective snap-in for each version to the same MMC console.

You can of course also run each version of the Exchange Management Shell by side.

Installing Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008

2009-04-09T10:43:44Z

In this article I will cover the installation of Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. I will lay out which versions of Exchange are supported on which OS version and also which domain controller version they can use. I will detail the supported methods to move from Exchange 2007 on Window Server 2003, to Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 and finally I will cover the prerequisites needed, before showing the actual install.

Note:
At this time, neither Windows Server 2008 nor Exchange Server 2007 SP1 have released to manufacturing. As I am therefore working with beta code, certain elements of what follows (in particular the screenshots, may change before the final version.

Introduction
It is nearly a year after the release of Exchange 2007 and many of us now have complete Exchange 2007 implementations. I guess that means we are looking for something new to do! If this is the case then you won’t be disappointed, as very soon we will be presented with the new challenge of moving our existing Exchange 2007 systems onto Windows Server 2008.

Table 1 lists the various supported scenarios for Exchange and OS versions.

Table 1: Exchange/OS versions supported for install

The first thing to note is that Exchange 2007 RTM is not supported on Windows Server 2008. To install Exchange 2007 on Server 2008 you must run Exchange 2007 SP1. This service pack, as many of you may know, is a little different from previous service packs in that it is a complete installation of Exchange. Effectively SP1 is RTM with the SP1 code slipstreamed into it. Having established that Exchange 2007 SP1 is required to install on Server 2008, what other considerations are there?

Probably the biggest consideration is Active Directory. Table 2 sets out the different Domain Controller versions supported by different versions of Exchange.

Table 2: The Exchange/Domain Controller support matrix

One new Active Directory feature of Windows Server 2008 which I haven’t mentioned is Read Only Domain Controllers (RODC) (and Global Catalog servers). These are servers which do not hold a writable copy of the AD and also do not hold account passwords. They are most likely to be used in branch office scenarios to prevent security breaches either intentional or accidental. So how do these RODCs affect Exchange? Simply put, Exchange doesn’t use them! When left to automatically associate with a domain controller (or global catalog server) Exchange will ignore the RODC or ROGC. The important thing for administrators to remember is not to manually set Exchange to work with a RODC as things simply will not work correctly.

One other area that will be welcome to administrators is that with the release of Exchange 2007 SP1, the Exchange Management Console will finally be supported on Windows Vista, and for that matter on Server 2008 as well.

Before moving on to how we upgrade, I think it is worth clarifying that Exchange 2007 SP1 will not install on Windows Server 2008 Server Core. Server Core, for those who haven’t heard, is a cut down version of Windows Server 2008 which only presents a command line interface. It has been stripped down to run various server roles including amongst others Domain Controller, DHCP, DNS, File and Print. However, because a lot of functionality has been stripped out to ensure a small footprint and less need for patching, important components such as the .Net Framework are not present to support Exchange.

Note:
As I mentioned we are currently working with beta code. It is because of this that the Unified Messaging role does not currently install on Server 2008. This will be rectified before release.

The upgrade path
So how do you actually get from Exchange 2007 running on Windows Server 2003 to Exchange 2007 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008?

Unfortunately, although understandably given the massive architecture changes involved, you cannot simply upgrade Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2007 SP1 and then upgrade the OS to Windows Server 2008. This simply breaks Exchange completely!

Even when you have a clustered mailbox server, you cannot perform a rolling upgrade by upgrading one node of the cluster failing over and then doing the other node.

The only way is to perform a migration! In other words you must do a clean install of Windows Server 2008 on a new server and then migrate your data. Mailboxes can be moved using the Move-Mailbox cmdlet and public folder data must be replicated.

This has caused a fair amount of discontent on various online forums but it is the only way!

Installation
Having looked at all the background, let’s get started with the installation. The first thing to cover is preparing your Windows Server 2008 machine for Exchange 2007. There are a bunch of prerequisites which must be met as listed below:

.Net Framework v2.0 or 3.0
PowerShell RTM
MMC 3.0 (installed by default)
IIS 7 (Various components needed by different roles)
For a much more detailed look at the requirements for each Exchange server role see Exchange 2007 System Requirements.

For now we are going to install an Exchange 2007 SP1 server in a new domain and new organisation. We will install the CAS, HT and Mailbox roles. In order to install the prerequisites we will run the following commands one after the other at a command prompt:

ServerManagerCmd -i RSAT-ADDS

ServerManagerCmd -i PowerShell

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Server

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-ISAPI-Ext

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Metabase

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Basic-Auth

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Digest-Auth

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Windows-Auth

ServerManagerCmd -i Web-Dyn-Compression

After the first command (RSAT-ADDS) you will need to reboot as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Installing Active Directory Management Tools and being prompted to reboot

After the reboot, I used a simple batch file to run the other commands in sequence. Part of the output from the commands is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Part of the output from the prerequisite installation

For more detailed information about the Windows Server 2008 roles/features required for the other Exchange 2007 roles (Edge Transport Server and Unified Messaging Server) see How to Install Exchange 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008.

Having successfully completed the installation of prerequisites, it is time to install Exchange. Start setup and click “Install Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1” as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Starting Setup of Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Next run through the usual setup steps as shown in Figures 4 – 11.

Figure 4: The SP1 Setup introduction screen

Figure 5: Accepting the license agreement

Figure 6: Opting into the Microsoft Error Reporting scheme

Figure 7: Selecting a typical install which installs CAS, HT, Mailbox roles and the management tools

Figure 8: Setting the new Exchange Organisation name

Figure 9: Opting not to create public folders for legacy clients

Figure 10: Exchange Readiness checks in progress

Figure 11: The not for production use warning before install about using a 32 bit version of Exchange 2007

Having completed the steps in Figures 3-11 installation begins. However, it is at this point that an error occurs as shown in Figure 12. It would appear that for whatever reason, the registry key “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Consent” does not exist!

Figure 12: The registry key doesn’t exist error message

Note:
It is highly unlikely that this problem will still exist once the products ship.

To rectify this problem locate the relevant area in the registry and create the required key as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: The newly created registry key

Having resolved the problem with the registry key you are left with no other option than to exit setup. On doing this you will be prompted to reboot, which you should do.

When the server is backed up, restart setup which will start in Exchange Maintenance Mode as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14: Exchange setup restarting in Maintenance Mode

At this point, step through the remaining setup screens as shown in Figures 15-17.

Figure 15: Selecting the relevant roles for installation

Figure 16: Again making the choice not to create public folders for legacy clients

Figure 17: Setup completed!

Once setup completes you will have a working Exchange 2007 SP1 install on Windows Server 2008 as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18: Exchange 2007 SP1 installed on Windows Server 2008

Before completing this article I thought it might be interesting to show the registry key that we created earlier. As can be seen in Figure 19, it is now populated with various values.

Figure 19: The values in the registry key created to solve the installation error

Summary
As you can see from the steps above, the install process to put Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 is basically very simple. At this time there is the odd glitch but there is no doubt these will be ironed out before Release to Manufacturing. I feel the only thing that has the potential to cause a delay in deployment are the usual worries about deploying a brand new OS and the fact that if you already have Exchange 2007 on Server 2003 you will have to perform a migration which requires extra hardware.

What can support pros learn from their auto mechanics?

2009-03-10T21:51:34Z

When I was recently arranging a routine service appointment for my automobile, I was struck by the fact that, for once, the shoe was on the other foot. I’m used to being the expert who has to explain a complicated technical issue to a nontechnical customer. When it comes to repairing cars, I know just enough to make myself sound stupid. Suddenly, I find myself in the position where I have to have things explained to me, often more than once.

I have a great mechanic, so when I work with him, I’m seeing customer service done really well. My visit to the garage got me thinking about some of the practices of good auto service professionals, and I realized that the techniques that produce a positive car repair experience could serve as a guide for creating a positive support experience for my users. Here’s the list I jotted down while waiting for my car to come down off the lift.

Triage effectively. My mechanic, Jim, is great about making sure that emergency situations are given special attention. Engine threw a cylinder on the highway? He’ll immediately send a wrecker to pick you up. Just need your oil changed? If there are more pressing tasks, Jim will gracefully let you know he’s too busy and will ask you to drop off your car in a day or two. The takeaway here is that most customers don’t mind waiting for nonemergency service, as long as they’re given a firm date when they can expect attention.

Provide an estimate. When I work with Jim, his estimates usually have two parts: the cost and the timeframe in which the work will be done. Cost may not always be a factor when the help desk is serving a user, but there are other things to take into account. It may be necessary to order replacement parts, for instance. Providing your customers with estimates of what the work will entail and when it will be completed will manage their expectations and lower their stress level.

Offer alternate arrangements. In the auto-service industry, this takes the form of the courtesy car. Consider keeping a couple of serviceable machines on hand as cold spares that you can loan to users whose regular workstations may need significant repair. With a “courtesy computer,” at least the client can continue his or her work.

Update the customer. Mechanics revise their estimates; sometimes it’s necessary because the work required is more extensive. This can happen when a machine is on the repair bench, too. If the situation has changed — for the worse or for the better — make sure that the customer is informed.

Explain things clearly. Think of it this way: your customers won’t appreciate your work if they don’t understand your description of it. Avoid jargon as much as possible. Put the situation in terms that are easily understood, and contextualize things for the users. If they have an understanding of how you’ve helped, they’ll feel better about the experience.

Suggest future maintenance. Lots of car trouble can be avoided if the owner takes care of the vehicle. The same holds true for computers. If there’s a way that the user can avoid the inconvenience of future problems, share that knowledge with them.

I recommend my mechanic to anyone I overhear complaining about the last time their car had to be serviced. There may be a guy out there with more qualifications than Jim, but his work is solid, and his customer service is second-to-none. When I’m in a situation where I’m out of my depth, I appreciate working with a professional who is concerned about the quality of my experience. Your users will, too.

Five new developments in storage infrastructure solutions

2009-03-05T12:15:12Z

First there was Ethernet. Then, there was IP over Ethernet. Next came the mixed use of Ethernet, IP, and the SCSI command set (iSCSI) to simplify storage and to bring down the cost and complexity of storage. Today, iSCSI and Fibre Channel are fighting it out in all but the largest enterprises, and both have their pros and cons. Even though these are the two primary contenders in today’s block-level shared storage market, there are some other alternatives. The line is continuing to blur between these solutions as new initiatives are brought to market. Let’s take a look at some new developments in storage infrastructure solutions.

Faster Fibre ChannelTwo Gbps and 4 Gbps Fibre Channel are very common in the marketplace, and manufacturers are just now beginning to demonstrate 8 Gbps Fibre Channel gear. There are also standards in the works for Fibre Channel running at 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps. This venerable technology continues to improve to meet the increasingly robust storage needs demanded by the enterprise. In some cases, Fibre Channel solutions on the market rival iSCSI solutions from a price perspective (i.e., Dell/EMC AX150) for simple solutions. However, faster Fibre Channel still has the same skill set hurdles to overcome. Just about every network administrator knows IP, but Fibre Channel skills are a different matter.

iSCSI over 10G EthernetiSCSI has become a technology that deserves short-list status… and at a gigabit per second, no less. Many iSCSI naysayers point to its slower interlink speed as a reason that it won’t stack up to Fibre Channel. However, iSCSI solutions are now on the cusp of moving to 10 Gbps Ethernet, meaning that iSCSI’s link speed could surpass even the fastest Fibre Channel solutions on the market. Of course, iSCSI still has IP’s overhead and latency, so we’ll see how well 10 Gbps Ethernet performs in real-world scenarios when compared to 8 Gbps Fibre Channel.

Further, 10 Gbps Ethernet gear is still extremely expensive, so, for the foreseeable future, 10 Gbps-based iSCSI solutions probably won’t fit the budgets of many organizations considering iSCSI as a primary storage solution. All this said, interlink speed is not necessarily the primary driver for replacement storage infrastructure in the enterprise. Performance boosts are often achieved by adding more disk spindles to the infrastructure or by moving to faster disk drives (i.e., SATA to 15K RPM SAS or Fibre Channel).

Fibre channel-over-IP (FCIP)Fibre Channel-over-IP (FCIP) is a method by which geographically distributed Fibre Channel-based SANs can be interconnected with one another. In short, FCIP is designed to extend the reach of Fibre Channel networks over wide distances.

Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP)Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP) is an effort to bring an IP-based infrastructure to the Fibre Channel world. Much of the cost of Fibre Channel is necessary infrastructure, such as dedicated host bus adapters (HBAs) and switches. These components can, on a per-port basis, add thousands of dollars to connect a server to the storage infrastructure. In contrast, transmitting Fibre Channel commands over an IP network would drive down infrastructure costs in a major way, requiring only gigabit Ethernet connections, which are already found on most servers. Further, even high-density Gigabit Ethernet switches cost only a couple thousand dollars. The main drawback to this proposal is the limitation to 1 Gbps Ethernet; although 10 Gbps gear is available, it would negate some of the cost benefit. On the plus side, iFCP (even on 10 Gbps Ethernet) would open Fibre Channel solutions to administrators that have IP-based skill sets. iFCP was ratified by the Internet Engineering Task Force in late 2002/early 2003.

ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE)ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE) hasn’t enjoyed the popularity of iSCSI, but this isn’t due to any technical hurdles. The AoE specification is completely open and only eight pages in length. AoE doesn’t have the overhead of IP as does iSCSI since it runs right on top of Ethernet. Of course, this does limit AoE’s use to single locations, generally, since raw Ethernet can’t be routed. You can find more about AoE in one of my previous posts.

SummaryThe future of storage is wide open. Between iSCSI, Fibre Channel ,and even AoE, solutions abound for organizations of any size and as the lines blur between some of these technologies, cost becomes less of an issue across the board.

Exchange Server 2007 SPAM filtering features without using Exchange Server 2007 Edge Server

2009-03-02T21:52:40Z

Introduction
Many Exchange Server administrators know how to use features from Exchange Server 2003 which will not be available by default, if they do not use Exchange Server 2007 Edge Server Role as message hygiene server in the DMZ. This feature is only available within that role by default but can be enabled on each Exchange Server 2007 running Hub Transport Role. In this article we will have a look how to enable and configure this feature.

Activating AntiSpamAgent Feature
Adding this functionality to your Hub Transport servers is a pretty simple process. First, launch the Exchange Management Shell. In the Scripts folder that was created, you will find a PowerShell script to install the Anti-spam agents. After you run this command, you will need to restart your transport service and restart the Exchange Management Console. The script we need to run is called install-AntiSpamAgents.ps1.

Figure 1: Activating AntiSpamAgent Feature

After restarting the Exchange Transport Service, we have a new tab in Exchange Management Console available which will look like this:

Figure 2: The Anti-Spam Tab of Exchange Management Console

Note:

We will now take a closer look into each feature of Anti-Spam:

Content Filtering
IP Allow List
IP Allow List Providers
IP Block List
IP Block List Providers
Recipient Filtering
Sender Filtering
Sender ID
Sender Reputation
Content Filtering
The Content Filter agents works with spam confidence level rating. This rating is a number from 0-9 for each message; a high SCL will mean that it is most likely spam. You can configure the agent according to the message ratings to:

Delete the message
Reject the message
Quarantine the message
You can also customize this filter using your own custom words and configure exceptions if you wish.

IP Allow List
With this feature you are able to configure which IP addresses are allowed to successfully connect to your Exchange Server. So, if you probably have a dedicated mail relay server in your DMZ, you can add its IP addresses so that your server will not accept connections from other servers anymore.

IP Allow List Providers
In general, you are unable to configure your own “IP Allow Lists” without making mistakes that will lead to problems receiving emails from your customers or any other business partners. Therefore, you should contact a public IP allow list provider which does the work for you. This would mean that you will have more quality in this service and a higher business value.

IP Block Lists
This feature gives you the possibility to configure IP addresses that are not allowed to connect to your server. Contrary to “IP Allow Lists”, this feature provides a black list and not a white one.

IP Block List Providers
“IP Block List Providers” have been known in the past as “Blacklist Providers” too. Their task is to publish lists from servers / IP addresses that are spamming.

Recipient Filtering
If you need to block emails to specific internal users or domains, this feature is the one you will need. You can configure this feature and then add the appropriate addresses or SMTP domains to your black list. Another interesting feature is that it allows you to set up the configuration so that only you will accept emails from recipients that are included in your global address lists.

Sender Filtering
If you need to block specific domains or external email addresses, you will have to use this feature. You can configure a black list of what sender addresses or domains you will accept or not.

Sender ID
The Sender ID agent relies on the RECEIVED Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) header and a query to the sending system's domain name system (DNS) service to determine what action, if any, to take on an inbound message. This feature is relatively new and relies on the need of a specific DNS setting.

Sender ID is intended to combat the impersonation of sender and domain also called spoofing. A spoofed mail is an e-mail message that has a sending address that was modified to appear as if it originates from a sender other than the actual sender of the message. Spoofed mails typically contain a FROM in the header of a message that claims to originate from a dedicated organization.

The Sender ID evaluation process generates a Sender ID status for each message. The Sender ID status is used to evaluate the SCL rating for that message. This status can have one of the following settings:

Pass - IP address is included the permitted set
Neutral - Published Sender ID data is explicitly inconclusive.
Soft fail - IP address may be in the not permitted set.
Fail - IP address is in the not permitted set.
None - No published data in DNS.
TempError - transient error occurred, such as an unavailable DNS server
PermError - unrecoverable error occured, such as the record format error
The Sender ID status is added to email metadata and is then converted to a MAPI property. The Junk E-mail filter in Microsoft Office Outlook uses the MAPI property during the generation of the spam confidence level (SCL) value.

You can configure this feature to act as the following:

Stamp the status
Reject
Delete

Sender Reputation
Sender Reputation is a new Exchange Server 2007 anti-spam functionality that is intended to block messages based on many characteristics.

The calculation of the Sender Reputation Level is based on the following information:

HELO/EHLO analysis
Reverse DNS lookup
Analysis of SCL
Sender open proxy test
Sender reputation weighs each of these statistics and calculates an SRL for each sender. The SRL is a number between 0 and 9. You can then configure what to do with the message in one of the following ways:

Reject
Delete and archive
Accept and mark as blocked sender
Conclusion
As you have seen in this article, Exchange Server 2007 provides a lot of features to increase anti-spam functionality on each Exchange Server box. If you do not use a dedicated Exchange Edge Server, you can add this functionality to Exchange Server 2007 Hub Transport as described above. If you define a configuration for your specific server design, you will not have to add third party software to meet your basic business needs.

If you decide to have more than the described functions above, you should think of implementing Microsoft ForeFront Security for Exchange Servers.

Customizing Managed Folders in Exchange Server 2007

2009-03-02T15:55:35Z

Exchange Server 2007 allows an administrator to manage the default managed folders and also the managed custom folders which are used by the Message Records Management (MRM) feature. My fellow MVP Neil Hobson created an article series about Messaging Records Management and you can check this out at: Exchange 2007 Messaging Records Management (part 1).

In this article we are going to validate how an Exchange admin is able to improve the end-user experience with some features available in the Managed Folders. By using such features, we can educate the users to use these new resources properly.

Configuring a personalized display page for Managed Folders

First of all, let us pick a server with IIS installed. We will then create a virtual directory on this server to host a page that will instruct the users on how to use Managed Folders. This page will be accessed when a user clicks on the “Managed folder” item in their Outlook 2007 client. You can use your current CAS server to host this webpage or any other IIS in your environment.

Now that we are logged onto the chosen server we can follow these steps:

1. Open IIS Manager.
2. Expand Web Site.
3. Right click on Default Web Site and click on New and then on Virtual Directory.
4. In the first page of Virtual Directory wizard, click Next.
5. Virtual Directory Alias. Type in ManagedFolderHP and click on Next. (Figure 01)

Figure 01

6. Web Site Content Directory. Choose the local path where all pages related to the Managed Folder HP virtual directory will be kept and click on Next.
7. Virtual Directory Access Permissions. You can leave the default settings and click Next.
8. Final wizard page, click on Finish.

Note:
If you are using a IIS/CAS Server in NLB make sure that you copy and update the content of the Managed Folder page in both servers and also that the Exchange configuration that we are going to see next is using the NLB name.

Now, create a set of pages demonstrating how to use Managed Folders and instruct the users to use this resource step by step. By the way, you can use multiple pages and create a link between them (use pictures and so forth). Before testing the page, let us validate these points:

- Validate if you can access using http or https. If you website is configured to require SSL you will be able to access only using SSL unless you check that option.
- Make sure that in the properties of the Virtual Directory on Documents tab the main page that you created is listed.
- Try to access from any client computer the page that you have just created, if you are able to access it we are ready to go to the Exchange Server 2007 organization configuration.

Next step, Open Exchange Management Shell, and let’s set the page that we have just tested configuring the ManagedFolderHomePage attribute, as shown in Figure 02. The following cmdlet can be used:

Set-OrganizationConfig –ManagedFolderHomePage:http:///ManagedFolderHP

You can also run Get-OrganizationConfig cmdlet afterwards to validate the current organization parameter.

Figure 02

The Exchange Server configuration and website configuration are done, now we have to test the solution on the client side. In order to test it, just click on Managed Folders item under Mailbox and on the right side the page that we have configured, as shown in Figure 03.

Figure 03

If you have clients using Outlook Anywhere you should consider using a public URL instead of a local one, and also publishing it on your Firewall for external access. Besides that, the URL configured must be accessible from both locations: internal and external. In some cases you may have to play with DNS resolution.

Managing Folder description

Using Exchange Server 2007 we can configure comments for Managed Default Folders (like Inbox, Calendar, Outbox and so forth) and also Managed Custom Folders (those folders created by the Administrator and they are located under Managed Folders in the Outlook client). A comment can be seen in OWA, Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 SP2 or superior (In Outlook 2003 or higher, the comment does not appear like in the new versions, the user must click on View menu and Policy to see the comments).

In order to manage comments in a folder you can use either Exchange Management Console or Exchange Management Shell, we can follow these steps to manage comments:

1. Open Exchange Management Console.
2. Expand Organization Configuration.
3. Click on Mailbox.
4. Click on Managed Default Folders or Managed Custom Folders tab. In this article we are going to add a comment on Inbox folder, then let’s click on Managed Default Folders tab.
5. Double click on Inbox.
6. Inbox Properties. We can enter the comment that will be displayed for all users and we have a check box that enable or disable the user to minimize this comment. (Figure 04).

Figure 04

We can do the same using Exchange Management Shell using the following syntax:

"Set-ManagedFolder -Comment: " -"MustDisplayCommentEnabled:<$true/$false>"

We can take advantage of Exchange Management Shell and use pipeline to retrieve extra information that we cannot get from Exchange Management Console, such as:

Getting all the information about Managed Folder object
Get-ManagedFolder | FL
Getting all Managed Folders that have Comment associated
Get-ManagedFolder | where { $_.Comment –ne ‘’ }
Getting all Managed Folders that have Comment
Get-ManagedFolder | where { $_.MustDisplayCommentEnabled –eq 1 }

Now, we can go back to the Outlook Client and click on Inbox item and we will have the comment created before showing up on the right, as shown in Figure 05.

Figure 05

The comment configuration is also displayed in an Outlook Web Access session, as shown in Figure 06.

Figure 06

If you have done all the process described previously and the Folder Comment is not showing, we can use the following steps to troubleshoot the process:

1. Validate the Managed Default Folders and/or Managed Custom Folders

Validate which folders you have configured to use comments. In this article we are going to troubleshoot the Inbox folder.
Validate the Policy

2. Open Exchange Management Console.
3. Expand Organization Configuration.
4. Click on Mailbox.
5. Click on Managed Folder Mailbox Policies tab.
6. Double click on the desired policy and make sure that the folder that we have changed is listed, as shown in Figure 07.

Figure 07

Validate the user configuration

7. Open Exchange Management Console.
8. Expand Recipient Configuration.
9. Double click on the desired mailbox.
10. Click on Mailbox Settings tab.
11. Select Message Records Management.
12. Click on Properties button.
13. Make sure that Managed folder mailbox policy is checked and you are using the same policy that we have just seen in the previous step. (Figure 08).

Figure 08

Force the updates

14. You can force at server level or user level, these two cmdlets will do the trick:
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Mailbox
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant –Identity
15. Finally, you can go back to the client and the Folder’s comment will be there.

Conclusion

In this article we have seen how to manage Exchange Server 2007 to display information to an end-user using the Folder’s comments. We have also seen how to use a personalized page and utilize it with the Managed Folder features.

10 things to look for in an offsite backup provider

2009-03-02T12:17:11Z

Automated offsite backup services are all the rage. Remote Data Backups, and Online Backup are among some of the best-known contenders.

Unlike online storage services, offsite backup providers offer not only gigabytes of offsite file storage but also automated backup software designed to automatically back up the data you specify. That’s a critical difference that should be noted: Online storage services don’t provide automated backup functionality. Sure, online storage services are cheaper. But they’re useless in protecting your data if you forget to manually back up files every day as they change or as new files are created.

Unfortunately, not all offsite backup services are created equal. Some of the services work better than others, and pricing varies, as does the quality of the automated backup software. Here are some things to keep in mind as you evaluate offsite backup providers.

#1: Reliable software

Backup firms, like any other service provider, will promise the world. But actually delivering on all the promises (simple backup configuration, HIPAA-compliant security, easy recovery, seamless integration in Windows, etc.) is another matter altogether.

I’ve sampled and deployed automated backup services from a number of providers. Some that propose to provide easy 1-2-3 backup operations fail to run, prove incompatible on server platforms, or generate cryptic errors.

Backups are too important to trust to chance. Make sure that the backup software you deploy works well on the OS platforms you require. Many automated offsite backup services run best on Windows XP, while others perform well on Windows Vista and Windows server OSes. The only way to really know is to test a service’s application before rolling it out on production systems. That’s why item #8 (free trials) is so important, but more on that in a moment.

#2: Storage plans that meet your needs
Some offsite backup services bill by the gigabyte. That’s fine. There’s no trouble there, other than the fact that the fee structure makes budgeting backup costs more difficult.

Other service providers, though, sell accounts with specific storage limits (100MB, 4GB, 10GB, etc.) and flat fees. Those plans work well and simplify budgeting, at least until organizations unexpectedly exceed their storage limits.

Look for service providers with storage limits or pricing plans that meet your organization’s needs while also proving flexible. Remote Data Backups, for example, makes it easy (just a few clicks) to upgrade from a 4GB account to a 10GB plan (or from a 10GB to a 30GB account). Clients need only pay the difference between the two storage plans (not start from scratch).

#3: Stellar reporting tools
A leading benefit of automated backup services is peace of mind. Knowing critical data is automatically being backed up offsite is more than just a relief. With critical data safely secured, you can move on to addressing other tasks.

IT professionals, though, are typically (and rightfully so) a skeptical crowd. So they want, or require, more than just a promise that critical data is being backed up; they need confirmation.

Only with detailed and accurate backup reporting (Figure A) can you be sure that systems and data are being properly backed up. Insist on file-level reporting with any backup service provider. In addition to a daily list of every file that’s backed up, look for reporting tools that list file sizes, time of transfer, and any error details.

Figure A

Remote Data Backups creates log files that track numerous details about each file that’s backed up.
#4: An approachable backup application
The backup application itself must be easy to use and as close to foolproof as possible. Many leverage Windows Explorer-like interfaces (Figure B), where you just need to check boxes for those files and folders that require backing up.

Take advantage of a trial period. Work first hand with the software. Confirm the service’s backup application and interface are sufficiently simple to avoid confusion but flexible enough to meet the organization’s needs.

Figure B

The Mozy Backup tool features a simple Explorer-like interface for specifying which files/folders should be backed up.
In most cases, backup software isn’t Microsoft Exchange aware (or can’t properly back up active databases). In such circumstances, confirm that you can automate an Exchange or database backup (using Windows’ built-in or another locally installed backup program) and have the alternative backup program park copies of the backups it creates in folders the backup provider’s software can accommodate. Better yet, seek backup applications that can manage active database and e-mail systems’ data (but be prepared to pay handsomely for the privilege — I’ve yet to find one that justifies the cost).

#5: Simple recovery
When hard disks fail, users accidentally delete files, or other systems errors occur, IT professionals need to be able to recover files quickly. Conduct tests of backup providers’ recovery functions to confirm that file recovery is simple, fast, and secure.

In other words, make sure it’s easy for you to recover data that’s been backed up offsite but that unauthorized parties won’t be able to do the same.

#6: Secure file transfer
Security has always been an issue with backups. Whether strategies involved giving one set of IT pros backup rights and another set restoration privileges, organizations have always struggled for a reasonable balance between security and operational efficiency when addressing backup issues.

Security remains a concern when selecting an automated offsite backup provider. Insist on deploying a service that meets HIPAA and SOX/Accounting security requirements. Most backup providers support at least 128-bit AES encryption and SSL security. Don’t work with a provider offering anything less.

Further, when creating automated offsite backup accounts, protect the account information (and recovery hashes or passwords) carefully. Distribute such keys sparingly and change them whenever technology employees leave the organization.

#7: 24/7 support
Disk failures and other data loss episodes don’t always occur during office hours, and they almost always require repair and recovery operations after hours (to minimize disruption to other users). Thus, you should confirm that your backup service provider’s technicians will be available when you need them most. Many backup providers boast 24/7 support. Before signing any contracts or purchasing service, make sure you’ll be able to reach its support personnel during odd hours should troubleshooting assistance ever be required.

#8: Free trials
The best way to determine whether an offsite backup provider works well for your organization is to sample its wares. Not only should you test the backup software application, support procedures, and reporting tools, but you should conduct a test recovery as well.

Only by walking through the process (creating an account, installing the backup client application, running backup operations, contacting technical support, reviewing report files, and performing a data restore) can you accurately determine whether a backup service provider offers an approachable backup program, quality support, and reliable reporting and recovery processes. Also, potential incompatibilities (between data files, databases, Windows, and the actual backup software itself) are too numerous to ever reasonably forecast, so the process of testing online backup tools on systems with similar configurations to those running in production environments will help eliminate any surprises and potential downtime when the time for real-world deployment arrives.

#9: Version tracking
Several backup providers support the ability to maintain multiple file versions. The ability to go back and reference several versions of a particular file can prove quite valuable.

When simple backup operations run, files from the previous backup (such as those backed up the night before) are written over. Most organizations back up data daily (at night). With such backup schedules, little time exists to discover errors (such as an accountant realizing he or she entered incorrect data in a budget file). If such errors aren’t caught within a day, of course, the budget file with the correct data will be written over by the file containing errors that night. With versioning file systems, several versions (or historical copies) of the same file can be maintained to recover from just such mistakes.

Look for this feature. It can bail out harried users who mistakenly corrupt good data.

#10: E-mail alerts
Numerous distractions demand IT professionals’ attention. Whether failed routers, nonfunctioning remote connections, new user accounts, or other common break/fix issues arrest your workday, backup operations must still be monitored. Unfortunately, in the heat of putting out fires and attending other crises, it’s easy to overlook backup issues until it’s too late.

Some offsite backup providers support sending alerts, bringing your attention to problems via e-mail. Without this feature, you might remain unaware that backups are failing or larger issues exist. By insisting on selecting a backup provider that supports forwarding e-mail alerts when backups fail or encounter errors, organizations can ensure their IT staff stays on top of backup operations and receive SOS messages when troubles do arise.

Routing Protocols

2009-02-02T00:16:53Z

The routed vs. the routing
There has always been a great attraction for me to the networking protocols. I don’t know why I have always been fascinated by them, but they do interest me greatly. A good deal of my time has been spent studying and playing with the protocols contained in the TCP/IP protocol suite. What all those protocols have in common is that they are routed protocols. This begs the question of what routes them? A very good question indeed, and one that a great many books have been written about.

What I shall cover in this article is a breakdown of what routing protocols are. How they work, and what kinds of routing protocols there are. Things I won’t be covering are the Cisco IOS syntax used when configuring these routing protocols. Quite a few excellent books out there already do an admirable job of doing just that. Instead, as mentioned, I will concentrate on giving you a high level overview of what routing protocols are, the various types, and what it is that they do.

Onwards and upwards
Well we already know that the packets generated by our computers are comprised of routed protocols. These protocols in turn need to be routed if they are to reach their intended recipients. How does a packet ultimately get to its destination? Well this is accomplished via it being routed by a series of routers, and this is also done primarily via the IP address listed in the IP header. With this simplistic explanation in hand we will now take a look at the two categories of routing protocols.

The routing protocols themselves are broken down into two groups. Those are the IGP and EGP, or Interior Gateway Protocols, and Exterior Gateway Protocols. Much like their respective names infer, one group is used internally and the other externally. For example the IGP series of routing protocols are used on internal networks, and the EGP series of routing protocols is used on the actual Internet itself. What does that all really mean though? Well it means that when you do the initial configuration of your, in all likelihood, Cisco router that you will need to choose what type of routing protocol to install and configure.

Now is as good a time as any to list the various types of routing protocols for each group. Interior Gateway Protocols are comprised of the following;

IGRP: Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
EIGRP: Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
OSPF: Open Shortest Path First
RIP: Routing Information Protocol
IS-IS: Intermediate System – Intermediate System
For Exterior Gateway Protocols there are;

EGP: Exterior Gateway Protocol
BGP: Border Gateway Protocol

Interior Gateway Protocols
We can see from the above noted examples of IGP protocols that there are several of them. Are they all used in today’s internal networks? Well I suppose they very well could be, but likely the most common ones used today are OSPF and RIP. With that in hand let’s go over RIP. RIP is what is called a dynamic routing protocol. What that means is that it will automatically figure out routing tables on its own. In other words the system administrator does not have to manually input all the various routes. That would be a serious pain in the butt!

So RIP will automatically compute the routes, as well as secondary routes to be used in case a primary path should fail. If you are thinking that this sounds like “load balancing” you would indeed be correct. Another key piece of information to remember about RIP is that it is a “distance vector” protocol. Seen as this article is only a high level overview I will say only that “distance vector” involves the method of discovering routes. For more information on this very important topic please click here. Some key points to remember about RIP are that it uses port 520 and uses UDP as its transport protocol.

OSPF is the other commonly used IGP. A key differentiator between RIP and OSPF is that OSPF is a “link state protocol”. This simply means that it uses a different way to build its routing tables. OSPF enabled routers will advertise metrics which contain the information that the other OSPF enabled routers will use to build its routing tables. It is as simple and as complicated as that. Further reading can be found here. Also, as above, some key points to remember are that OSPF supports multicasting and subnets. Lastly, OSPF uses IP, and not TCP or UDP.

Exterior Gateway Protocols
Well we covered the two main IGP’s at a very high level, but what about the EGP protocols? Well let’s indeed take a look at the two better known ones. BGP or Border Gateway Protocol is the routing protocol in use today by the routers which populate the Internet. By that I mean routers that are used by your ISP for example, or what are also called Internet facing routers. These routers form the backbone of the Internet and BGP v4 is what is currently running on them. Much like RIP above, BGP is essentially itself a distance vector protocol or algorithm. One notable fact about BGP is that it uses TCP for its transport protocol and will communicate via port 179. In other words, routing tables are exchanged using TCP for transport and done via port 179. With that said about BGP, what is there to know about EGP? Well realistically not a whole lot as it is not really used anymore. It has been replaced, if you will, by BGP. Should you wish to read more about it please click here.

Wrapping up
Well as you can see I was not kidding about the high-level overview of routing protocols. There have literally been thick books written on BGP alone. It really is impossible to cover all about these routing protocols in one article, let alone a book. What this article hopes to convey rather is the diversity within the routing protocols themselves, and the difference between them and the routed protocols. What can you do to learn more about these routing protocols? I have always been a big believer in putting concepts into practice. It is, in my opinion, the only way to really learn and furthermore cement lessons learnt.

To that end you should, if financially possible, pick up some used Cisco networking gear. They are not all that expensive to buy and will pay dividends in your quest to know more about how traffic is actually routed. Further to buying some networking gear I would advise you to use programs such as Nemesis which will allow you to craft RIP, OSPF, and IGMP amongst others. Being able to craft some routing protocol packets will also let you see how they react to certain stimulus. Packet crafting is how I initially taught myself about TCP/IP, and I would certainly encourage you to do so with these routing protocols. Doing so will force you to learn more about the protocol itself and how it works. Lastly, as mentioned, getting some networking gear really is the key as much of the protocol configurations must be done via this hardware. You will only get so far by actually reading. If you really are on a limited budget then you may wish to buy one of many available simulators.

Well this brings to an end my high-level overview of routing protocols. I hope that this is enough to whet your appetite and push you to further study this critically important area of computer networks. As always I welcome your feedback, and on that note till next time!

10 common mistakes you should avoid when flashing your BIOS

2009-01-10T21:23:59Z

The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is critical to the proper operation of your computer. It is the first code that is executed at start-up and defines the way your motherboard will communicate with the system hardware components.

The decision to flash your BIOS should not be taken lightly. It is essential that you do it mistake free if you still want to be able to use your computer.

For the purposes of this article I am going to assume that you understand the risks of flashing your BIOS and have a good reason for upgrading your existing BIOS. If are not familiar with the basics of flashing the BIOS or if you are not 100 percent sure that flashing your BIOS is the right thing to do then please read the companion article Three Good Reasons for Flashing Your BIOS.

Disclaimer: Flashing the BIOS incorrectly can lead to an unusable system. Flash the BIOS at your own risk.

I have detailed ten common mistakes that are made during a BIOS upgrade listed in order from the beginning to the end of the BIOS flashing process.

1. Misidentification of your motherboard make/model/revision number
If you built your computer then you know the brand of the motherboard that you purchased and you will also likely know the model number. The revision number may be less well known to you.

If you purchased your computer prebuilt, as most people do, then you probably don’t know what is under the hood. You might be able to get the information by entering the serial number of the PC on a Web site, but when it comes to flashing your BIOS you need to be 100 percent accurate and the information on the Web site could be incorrect. The only way to know for sure your motherboard make is to pop off the side panel or open the case and take a peek. (Figure A) Look for the manufacturer, model number and a revision number. (Figure B)

Figure A

The motherboard make is printed on the motherboard. Do not get the name from the fans.

Figure B

The motherboard model can be printed on the motherboard or as in this case, on a sticker placed on the motherboard.

You can also get pertinent information from the initial POST screen. (Figure C) The first line in the upper left portion of the screen shows the BIOS maker and version. The second line shows the motherboard model, BIOS version and date. The lower left section of the screen shows the BIOS version date, motherboard model and BIOS ID.

Figure C

2. Failing to research or understand the BIOS update details
Even properly researching the changes in the BIOS upgrades may not be enough to completely understand exactly what was changed. Often these BIOS upgrade notes are written by techs with little or poor knowledge of English and rarely are the details noted in full. It is not uncommon to find something similar to this.X38-002A BIOS Upgrade

Fix to E6400 S3 resume problem

There are several issues with this. You need to know what E6400 and S3 are. Even after learning that an E6400 is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and S3 is one of four sleep functions in the PC’s power settings, you then need to know if you have an E6400 CPU. If you do, are you using the S3 STR (Suspend To RAM) Sleep option in Windows and having problems with it?

You can’t expect your motherboard manufacturer to explain what E6400 and S3 mean, but they should be able to explain what the problem was that was fixed. Perhaps if more people requested this, more detailed information might be included in the BIOS update notes in the future.

Most BIOS updates are cumulative. You will need to review all of the BIOS update notes after your current BIOS version in order to know all of the changes made with the latest upgrade version.

3. Flashing your BIOS for a fix that is not needed
As you can see from the example above, it is often difficult to understand exactly what fix was implemented with a BIOS upgrade. It is equally difficult for the average PC user to determine if any of the hardware in their system is included in the fix. As a rule of thumb if your computer is operating normally, leave it alone.

If you are unsure if a BIOS update will fix a problem that you are having with your PC, you can ask for more information from the manufacturer. Be 100 percent sure that the BIOS update will fix any issues that you may be having before flashing the BIOS. Hoping a BIOS update will fix a problem that you are experiencing is a poor reason to risk a BIOS flash.

4. Flashing your BIOS with the wrong BIOS file
Most BIOS updates come as a zipped file containing the binary code file, the flash utility, and sometimes a README file. Flashing the erasable memory of your BIOS with the wrong code is almost certain to cause failure the next time you try to boot. Be careful when selecting the file. Many motherboard model names are similar within a single manufacturer. Download the file for the exact make/model/revision of your motherboard.

The flash utility included in the download should match the BIOS manufacturer information on the initial POST screen. In the example above, I have an Award BIOS from Phoenix Technologies (Phoenix Technologies and Award merged in 1998). The older version of the Award flash utility that I received in my BIOS update file was called AWDFLASH.EXE. The latest version is called AFU869.EXE. The acronym AFU . It also coincidentally 5. Using an outdated version of the manufacturer flash utility or tool
You may be tempted to pull out the CD that came with the motherboard or computer and use the utilities on the CD to flash your BIOS. It is well worth your time to download the latest utilities from your motherboard manufacturer or computer maker. There is usually a good reason why a new version of the flash program has been made available.

You will need to go to the motherboard manufacturer or computer makers Website to download the latest version of the BIOS code anyway, so plan to download the latest flashing utilities or tools at the same time.

6. Not following or understanding the motherboard manufacturers specific directions
Most of you reading this article and considering a BIOS upgrade are probably of the male persuasion. Like me you probably don’t like reading and following directions. This is one time when reading and following the motherboard manufacturer instructions are essential. Each motherboard has specific steps that must be followed to have the upgrade succeed.

One example of this is a jumper on some motherboards or a setting in some BIOSes that must be changed to enable BIOS memory writing.

Instructions for flashing your make of motherboard can usually be found on the manufacturers Website. Specific instructions are sometimes placed in a README.txt file that comes with the BIOS flash file. Look for and read the instructions in this file carefully.

If you have read all of the steps needed to flash your BIOS and there are some steps that you don’t understand, get help from the manufacturer or consider having a professional do the install for you.

7. Flashing your BIOS without an UPS or at higher risk times
It is best to flash your BIOS with a UPS installed to provide backup power to your system. A power interruption or failure during the flash will cause the upgrade to fail and you will not be able to boot the computer.

Don’t assume that this can’t happen to you. I was converting the file system on the root drive on a PC once at 2:00 in the morning when I heard a loud pop outside. The lights blinked and the conversion failed. Apparently a transformer had blown in the neighborhood interrupting my power just long enough to ruin my day, or rather night. I had to reinstall the operating system from scratch.

If you don’t have access to a UPS, flash the BIOS in the late evenings or when the risk of power outages are lower. Avoid flashing the BIOS during thunderstorms, windy days, high peak electrical usage, prime drive time or any other time when power outages are more likely.

8. Flashing the BIOS from within Windows with other applications running
Flashing your BIOS from within Windows is universally discouraged by motherboard manufacturers. If you absolutely must flash your BIOS from within Windows and are willing to accept the additional risks involved, close all running applications and unnecessary processes. Antivirus processes running in the background are notorious for causing problems.
TechRepublic has a list of services that can be disabled in XP and in Vista.

9. Flashing an overclocked system
Some information I found while researching this article recommended not flashing your PC while it is overclocked. You may be able to successfully flash your overclocked system, but why take the additional risks? I don’t recommend overclocking except for the most experienced users with minimal changes and only for good reason. If you have an overclocked PC, you should be familiar enough with the BIOS to be able to reset the settings to their default values. Play it safe and throttle back.

10. Failing to have a recovery plan if the BIOS flash fails
When things go wrong it is a good idea to have a recovery plan. If your flash utility offers it, make a backup of your existing BIOS code. If this option is not available, download a copy of your current BIOS version or find a utility that will back up your current BIOS code. The original BIOS file should be on a bootable floppy with the flash utility and ready to install.
Prepare in advance for a floppy read failure by making bootable backup copies to have on hand. Mark your floppies with the BIOS version to know which are the new, and which are the original versions. It is also a good idea to copy the files to a Temp directory on the hard drive to verify that the files can be read or you can run CHKDSK to verify that there are no bad sectors on the floppy.

Research possible recovery options in advance and print them out. If you plan for a failure you will be less likely to panic if one occurs. If a failure does happen to you, do not turn off your computer. A failed flash means that the BIOS is likely corrupted and a reboot will fail. Keep the support number for your computer written down and available.

Plan for the worst case scenario; consider keeping a backup PC handy and ready to use.

The Final Word
If you have noticed some themes in this article then you are quite perceptive, patient reader:
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!
Minimize the risks
Become educated and do your research
Double and triple check your work
I hope that these ten tips will aid you the next time you upgrade your BIOS. Happy flashing

A look at some more AX4/iSCSI availability diagrams

2009-01-07T22:17:35Z

Your comments on AX4 & iSCSI high availability were very informative and provided a number of idea for improving on the described availability scenario. In this post, Scott Lowe continues the availability discussion.

You guys gave me some great thoughts in my last posting in which I discussed my AX4/iSCSI highly available architecture. In this posting, I will continue the thread and give you a look at what the Westminster College architecture will look like in a few weeks. Some of this information is based on ideas provided in your comments. Although I’ve had the basic architectural diagram in mind for quite some time, your comments have helped to refine it.

Let’s start with a look at how VMware ESX will fit into our architecture.

This diagram is very similar to the one from the previous posting with one change. At the bottom of the diagram, I show an ESX cluster, fully VMotion-enabled. Each ESX server has multiple connections to the iSCSI storage network as well as to the primary network the users use to connect to the ESX servers. Under this scenario, we will achieve a high level of service availability for all of the servers running on the individual ESX servers. We’ll get to a highly available architecture with our SQL servers — and well as some other non-ESX services — through clustering, which will also entail a setup like the one above.

The next scenario expands on the scenario shown in the previous discussion.

I mentioned in that posting that, for simplicity’s sake, I wouldn’t show the connections to our core switch — an HP Procurve 5412zl. One of the comments on the previous posting recommended that we use the HP 5412zl for our primary iSCSI VLAN rather than our Dell blade-based M6220 switch. Under this scenario, we would bond together the four uplink ports on the M6220 to the 5412zl. The only downside to this scenario is that all iSCSI traffic from our blade chassis will have to traverse both the M6220 and the 5412zl. An alternative would be to use one uplink port on each of the M6220’s to connect to the AX4 and connect the other pair of iSCSI ports on the AX4 to the 5412zl. Doing this, we would have only two ports available to bond together from the M6220s to the 5412zl. We will test both scenarios, but I suspect that we will go with the alternative scenario I just described as it provides a higher level of redundancy.

iSCSI is the future of storage

2009-01-05T22:21:19Z

iSCSI is here to stay and will eventually supplant a significant portion of the installed base of Fibre Channel SANs out there. Further, as organizations make their initial forays into block-level shared storage, iSCSI will beat Fibre Channel more often than not.

This week, HP announced their $360 million acquisition of LeftHand networks. Last year, Dell surprised the tech industry with a $1.4 billion purchase of the formerly independent EqualLogic. With these iSCSI snap-ups by true tech titans, iSCSI has officially arrived, is here to stay, and, I believe, will become the technology of choice for most organizations in the future.

This is not to say that iSCSI has been sitting in the background up to this point. On the contrary, the technology has taken the industry by storm. Both of these companies based their entire business hopes on the possibility that organizations would see the intrinsic value to be found in iSCSI’s simplistic installation and management. To say that both companies have been successful would be an understatement.

I’m a big fan of both EqualLogic and LeftHand Networks offerings, having purchased an EqualLogic unit in a former life. At that time, I narrowed my selection down to two options - LeftHand and EqualLogic. Both solutions had their pros and cons, but both were more than viable.

It’s not all about EqualLogic and LeftHand, though. The big guns in storage have finally jumped feet first into the iSCSI fray with extremely compelling products of their own. Previously, these players, including EMC and NetApp, simply bolted iSCSI onto existing products. Lately, even the biggest Fibre Channel vendors are releasing native iSCSI arrays aimed at the mid-tier of the market. EMC’s AX4, for example, is available in both native iSCSI and native Fibre Channel versions and is priced in such a way that any organization considering EqualLogic or LeftHand should make sure to give the EMC AX4 a look. To be fair, the iSCSI-only AX4:

-Does not support SAN copy for SAN to SAN replication
-Is not as easy to install or manage as one of the aforementioned devices, but isn’t bad either
-The bandwidth to the array does not increase as additional space is added
-It does not include thin provisioning, although this was rumored to be rectified in a future software release
-The AX4 supports up to 64 attached hosts

But, the price per TB is simply incredible and a solution based on a different vendor would not have been attainable. This year, I purchased just shy of 14 TB of raw space on a pair of AX4 arrays-4.8 TB SAS and 9 TB SATA-for under $40K. For the foreseeable future, I don’t need SAN copy and space can be managed in ways other than through thin provisioning. Over time, we’ll run about two dozen virtual machines on the AX4 along with our administrative databases and Exchange 2007 databases. By the time I need additional features, the AX4 will be due for replacement anyway.

iSCSI started out at the low end of the market, helping smaller organizations begin to move toward shared storage and away from direct attached solutions. As time goes on, iSCSI is moving up the food chain and, in many cases, is supplanting small and mid-sized Fibre Channel arrays, particularly in organizations that have never had a SAN before. As iSCSI continues to take advantage of high-speed SAS disks and begins to use 10Gb Ethernet for a transport mechanism, I see iSCSI continuing to move higher into the market. Of course, faster, more reliable disks and faster networking capabilities will begin to close the savings gap between iSCSI and Fibre Channel, but iSCSI’s reliance on Ethernet for an underlying transport mechanism brings major simplicity to the storage equation and I doubt that iSCSI’s costs will ever surpass Fibre Channel anyway, mainly due to the expensive networking hardware needed for significant Fibre Channel implementations.

Even though iSCSI will continue to make inroads further into many organizations, I don’t think that iSCSI will ever completely push Fibre Channel out of the way. Many organizations rely on the raw performance afforded by Fibre Channel and the folks behind Fibre Channel’s specifications aren’t sitting still. Every year brings advances to Fibre Channel, including faster disks and improved connection speeds.

In short, I see the iSCSI market continuing to grow very rapidly and, over time, supplanting what would have been Fibre Channel installations. Further, as organizations continue to expand their storage infrastructures, iSCSI will be a very strong contender, particularly as the solution is updated to take advantage of improvements to the networking speed and disk performance