Fraser-09

Whooops, I've used the remote wipe feature for a number of our ex-employees. Imagine that, getting sacked and your phone factory resetting on the same day! I think 95% of our mobile devices use the built in apps. I've only seen one person use the OWA app. Thanks, Fraser.

Hi all, Just a quick question, what does the remote wipe of mobile devices on exchange server actually wipe? Is it just the active sync data (email, contact, calendar etc) or does it wipe the entire device including the users pictures, apps etc etc too? I had a look online but didnt find an exact answer. Thanks,

Hi all, Sorry for the late reply. I got the FSMO role migrated over without a hitch! The new DC is has now been physically moved to the new site and everything seems to be working well. Thanks for all the help. Fraser.

Stage 3 Complete. Will attempt to move FSMO roles over to the new server over the weekend. Do the roles need to be moved in any particular order? Thanks,

Thanks, Got the domain level updated and currently on stage 2 of the FRS to DFS-R migration. I guess migrating to DFS-R for Netlogon/sysvol will fix my FRS issue with that branch server Fraser. Edit: Stage 3 now - No going back now!

Ok so I ran dfsrmig /getglobalstate on SERVER-2 and it spat back: The current domain functional level is not Windows Server 2008 or above. DFSRMig is only supported on Windows Server 2008 or above level domains. It would seem this is escalating into a much bigger job than I intended! Am I right on thinking I need to update my domain Schema - If so can you point me in the right direction on how to do this? It's been a while since I've done this. I use DSF-R to replicate various folders between my DCs so I suspect its just NETLOGON and SYSVOL using FRS Thanks

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I have ran dcdiag /e on the PDC and all seems good except for the following: Starting test: FrsEvent There are warning or error events within the last 24 hours after the SYSVOL has been shared. Failing SYSVOL replication problems may cause Group Policy problems. ......................... SERVER-1 passed test FrsEvent and Starting test: Services IsmServ Service is stopped on [sERVER-1] ......................... SERVER-1 failed test Services I have started the IsmServ service and reran dcdiag /e and the second error has cleared. Regarding the FRS error, I have checked the event viewer and found the following 2 warning: The File Replication Service is having trouble enabling replication from SERVER-2 to SERVER-1 for c:\windows\sysvol\domain using the DNS name SERVER-2.Domain.local. FRS will keep retrying. Following are some of the reasons you would see this warning. [1] FRS can not correctly resolve the DNS name SERVER-2.Domain.local from this computer. [2] FRS is not running on SERVER-2.Domain.local. [3] The topology information in the Active Directory Domain Services for this replica has not yet replicated to all the Domain Controllers. This event log message will appear once per connection, After the problem is fixed you will see another event log message indicating that the connection has been established. and The File Replication Service has enabled replication from SERVER-2 to SERVER-1 for c:\windows\sysvol\domain after repeated retries. SERVER-1 is my PDC. The DNS server defined for each Domain Controller is its itself. It seems that these warnings appear once per day. I can confirm that if I put a file in NETLOGON on SERVER-2, it does replicate to SERVER-1 and vise versa. I can also confirm that both SERVER-1 and SERVER-2 can successfully resolve and ping each other. I have 3 DCs which replicate to SERVER-2 and all 3 DCs show the same 2 entries about SERVER-2 in their event logs so I suspect the problem lies with SERVER-2. However, what I did notice which I think may be the root of the problem, when SERVER-2 resolves it's self, it resolves to the IPv6 loopback address of ::1, rather than its IPv4 address. I have disabled IPv4 in the properties of the NIC but I believe I need to create the DisabledComponents Registry key as described here to completely disable IPv6 as loopback doesnt use the network card. Ideally, I'd like to get this resolved before I attempt to move the FSMO roles. Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, fraser.

Hello, I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have 14 Domain Controllers over 14 sites (1 DC in each site). I have now purchased a 15th DC to replace the PDC in the first site so I now need to transfer the FSMO roles over from the old DC to the new DC. The new 15th server has been promoted to a Domain Controller and it’s in the same site at the current FSMO server. My DCs are a mix of Server 2008 r2, 2012 and 2012 r2. The FSMO roles are currently on 2008 r2 and moving to 2012 r2. I have looked online and read various guides and the whole process looks fairly straight forward. When I come to do it, I think I will follow this one: http://www.techieshelp.com/how-to-transfer-fsmo-roles-graphical-and-command-line/ My questions to you are: Are there any gotchya’s or things to look out when attempting this? Is there anything I should do or check before attempting to move the FSMO roles to the new server? How long does it take for the updated FSMO server to be replicated to the DCs in other sites? Once all 5 roles have been moved, am I safe to demote the old DC and remove it from the network altogether? Sorry for the basic questions but I have never done this procedure before so it worries me that something could go wrong and I would need to seize the roles back which (by the looks of it) is a long dark windy road I've never been down and nor ever want to! Thank you, Fraser.

I use a 2830 at home too and a mixture of 2830 and 2860 all over the company. Think I've found one - TP-LINK TD-W9980 N600. Cost is about £50 but going to have a look at some reviews etc to see how well it will do. Fraser.

Hi guys, I have a homeworker who has a rubbish ADSL connection in her area so it gives her problems when using her VoIP phone. I would like to replace her router for a cheap VDSL wireless router that supports QoS. Normally I would install a DrayTek 2860n - but it seems a bit of an overkill (and pricey) for just the one home worker. What do you recommend instead? (Fibre is available in her area in about 18 months so would like to stick with VDSL rather then ADSL) Cheers, Fraser

Just reporting back with my final update - I replaced the PERC 5/i battery this afternoon. It took about 6 hours or so for the battery to charge before the controller went back to all green ticks. As soon as the battery was replaced, the Write policy changed from Write Through to Write Back - Even when the battery was still in the 'charging' state! All sorted now. Thanks everyone for their replies and comments. All the best for 2916. Fraser.

Well that's the RAID 5 finished rebuilding. All seems OK Just the battery left to do now which I'll do one night next week after hours. Thanks again for all your help. Fraser.

Thanks all for the replies and comments. I swapped the disk over this afternoon without a hitch. Old disk out, new disk in and it automatically started to rebuild When the disk failed 10 Days ago, I instantly got an email alert. For some bizarre reason Dell Open Manage does not have email alerts built into the utility, however email alerts can still be achieved using the "execute application" feature. See this link for how to create the email alert scripts. Or, if you are lazy like me, then you can buy them for £3 from this link. If I didn't have this set up then I wouldn't have known the RAID had failed and would probably be working from the degraded RAID for some time until I noticed the server's amber LED on the failed disk so IMO the £3 was worth it! Once the RAID has finished rebuilding, I will scheduled some down time to replace the battery. Currently the Write policy is Write through and Read policy is no read ahead. Happy new year y'all Fraser.

Awesome!! Just what I want to hear! haha. Thanks for the heads up. Fingers cross all goes ok - Will let you know. In the event it goes belly up, I should be ok. I have about 15 DC's (in multiple sites) so the AD is safe and the majority of the data is replicated to multiple servers too. The morning the disk failed, I spun up a new virtual Server (in the same site) and promoted it to a DC then replicated the all the files over to it too so in the event the server with the degraded RAID fails, I have a second DC pretty much ready to do (I'd just need to setup DHCP, printers and a few other bits and bobs which should get them back up and running. Then I'm free to rebuild the RAID5 and start from scratch! Fraser.

Thanks guys. I'll swap the disk out this afternoon and see how it goes. It bought the exact same disk (same part number) so the PERC should accept it without any fuss. Will get the battery in the new year once the array have been rebuilt. Is replacing the battery just as simple as powering down the server, popping the case off, disconnecting the old battery and connecting the new? There's no gotchya's or anything I should be wary about when doing it? Fraser.

Hi all, Been a while since I've posted on here (all has been working!) So, I have a Dell PowerEdge 2950 which one of the hard drives has failed. There are 6 SAS disks in a RAID 5 configuration and it's only one disk that's failed. The server is working away quite the thing with only the 5 disks. Tbh, I haven't noticed any preformance decrease since the RAID was degraded. I've got a new disk ready to install but I just wanted to double check how to proceed with it: Do I: A) go ahead and swap the failed disk for new disk while the server is powered on and running? Then will the RAID automatically rebuild, or will I need to do this manually kick this off on Dell Open Manage? B) shut the server down, swap the failed disk for new, boot the server and enter Ctrl + R to rebuilt the RAID? I've read a few things online but didn't manage to get a definite answer. Read somewhere that said I risk destroying the RAID altogether by turning the server off however read elsewhere that this should always be done offline. (I thought these HDDs were hotswappable?). Anyway, my gut instinct is option A but thought I'd double check as can't be bothered with the hassle of rebuilding the server over Christmas due to making an arse of swapping the disk and completely destroying the RAID. My Mrs already complains that I spend too much time at work and she doesn't get to see me. Blah blah blah. Can't be dealing with the earache especially when Christmas is meant to be about spending time with your family. The RAID controller is a PERC 5/i and the replacement Disk is brand new so should be in the "ready" state. Also, to throw a spanner in the works, the RAID controller's battery shows a warning in Open Manage saying it's below the threshold. Been like this for a while and I just never got round to replacing it. From what I understand, the battery is minor and it is only required in the event of a power cut to write the controller's cache to disk. The server has been connected to a UPS all its life so that was another reason replacing the battery was never high in my priority list. I have a new battery now, and I understand this must be changed when the server is off - no big deal but I was thinking to rebuild the RAID 5 first, then replace the battery or would you advise battery first (which would mean powering down the server when it has a degraded RAID)? Look forward to your advice. Thanks, Fraser.

Hi all, I looking for some help/advice to a solution for an obstacle I have with Microsoft Outlook (2010) Signatures. My users do not have roaming profiles but instead they have a home directory (H) which is accessible from any computer. I would like to have the signatures move with the users as they move from computer to computer. A few months ago, I came up with a couple of simple scripts to move the signatures by using the Home directory. Basically, it worked like this, Log Off script: Check if %Appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures exists, quit if not delete h:\Signatures copy %Appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures to h:\ hide h:\signatures Log on Script: Check if h:\Signatures exists, quit if not. delete %Appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures copy h:\signatures to %Appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures unhide %Appdata%\Microsoft\Signatures Now this solution works however when a user moves computer, they loose their "Default Signature" setting so they need to manually select their signature when they compose a new email, or reconfigure the outlook signature options. Does anyone know where this setting is actually stored? I was hoping it was a registry entry (that I could export at logoff and import at login, similar to the way the signatures "roam") however I can't find it. Or, is their a better way to do this, without using roaming profiles ? Thanks for reading, looking forward to your suggestions/comments. Fraser

Hi Guys, Sorry for the late reply. Just a quick message to say thank you for all the ideas and suggestions. I think I have decided to go for AngryTechnician's solution and convert the server to virtual disk. Seems the easiest and safest . At the moment, the server has three physical hard drives. One for the OS, one for user data, and a third for backup. I'd like to configure a RAID1 for the OS, and another separate RAID1 for the user date. Would your advise be to convert both the disks to VHD's? This particular server also runs Exchange 2007 (databases stored on the OS disk) and I presume there wont be any issues with exchange after converting the box to virtual? Thanks Fraser

Hi, I have a Dell PowerEdge T110 server with a Perc S100 RAID controller. Currently the server is setup without any type of RAID and I want convert the existing setup to a RAID1 without reinstalling the Server's OS/loosing data. I'm 90% sure the RAID controller is not enabled in the BIOS. My question is: Can I image the current Hard Drive, install a new disk, setup a RAID1, then restore the image to the RAID ? Would the server still boot (due to drivers etc)? How can I install the RAID controller drivers so the OS boots as normal? Thanks. Fraser

Finally got round to fixing this today and ran the following command on the affected Server 2012 which worked a treat wmic /namespace:\\root\microsoftdfs path dfsrVolumeConfig where volumeGuid="{Volume-ID}" call ResumeReplication To find the volume ID, I did: (My DFS Folders are stored at c:\DFSFolders mountvol C: /L Then, I ran wmic /namespace:\\root\microsoftdfs path dfsrmachineconfig set StopReplicationOnAutoRecovery=FALSE on all my Server 2012 servers to prevent the problem occurring again. Fraser.

I've been reading up on this tonight to try and fully understand A) what happened, B) how to fix it, and C) how to prevent it. During my search, I found this: DFS AutoRecovery - LedHed's Wiki Now, would I be right in saying I need to run the first command on the broken server which will resume the DFS ? Then, the second command on all my DFS servers which run Windows Server 2012 to prevent this happening again ? Thanks Fraser

Hi, I have multiple Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 Servers connected across WAN links that are members of a DFS-R group. Recently, one of my 2012 Servers has stopped replicating files with the other members. Both old and new files are not replicated to and from when created on either side. I've checked the DFS Replication event log on the affected server and found the following event: The affected server has 5 replicated folders under 1 namespace, all of which replication isn't working for. Can someone please advice how I should proceed as I am quite new to DFS and worried in case I mess things up and cause loss of data. Thanks Fraser

Hi, I’m in the process of setting up a new server at a new remote office and I want to create a couple of Distributed File Shares across the two servers with folder replication between two different WAN sites. I think I’ve configured everything right however there is definitely something fishy going on that I can’t seem to workout. I have some GPO’s that map network drives to the DFS folders and they are failing. Event viewer says: '0x80070035 The network path was not found. Once I have logged in, I can successfully open \\travel.local\data\Admin, yet the GPO is mapping the drive to the exact same path. (The DFSRoot is Data). If I browse to the server by \\IP_Address or \\Travel.local and double click on Data share, it opens as normal. Other GPO’s that map to non DFS shares map just fine. I’ve attached some screenshots of my configuration and some command prompt outputs. Any help would be much appreciated. There’s very little data being replicated and as this is a new setup, users do not have access to the DFS shares yet so I can recreate if need be. Fraser Server-AYR_IPCONFIG.txt Server-PIK_IPCONFIG.txt

Hi, Is it possible to prevent a user saving certain user file types, such as audio, locally to their hard drive or removable disk ? and, Can I prevent a user copying files from a network share where they have read access to ? Why you ask? Well our phone systems run on Asterisk and every telephone conversation is recorded, encrypted then archived away each night on a file server. Sometimes sensitive information is exchanged during a telephone call which is why we encrypt them in case our systems were ever breached. From time to time, we need to pull call recordings for users, decrypt them and copy them to a network share that has tight access rights for a small group of users to retrieve. I have a script which runs through this location on a weekly bases and shred's all it's contents. Here's some background info: We run Server 2008 r2 or greater across multiple sites. Roaming profiles are not enabled Each user has a home directory drive mapped to H which is replicated across all the sites. Unencrypted call recordings are in saved in the wav format. We are only allowed to store calls for upto 7 days in an unencrypted format. Workstations are all Windows 7 Ultimate, with the exception of about 30 x Vista SP2 Business Machines. All workstations are switched off after hours. Users can only write files inside their user profile. Problem: Once we have retrieved a call and moved it to the special network share, users can go in and listen to the call(s). As users can read files from this directory, they can also copy from it so that can make it difficult for us to keep track of the unenrypted calls and recently we've discovered some users are copying the call locally hard drive to avoid the call being deleted on a weekly bases. In most environments, this wouldn't be an issue however we (IT Depart) don't know the call has been copied so it could sit unencrypted locally on their local hard drive for weeks if not months before it's picked up by an IT staff member who would then shred it. Back to my questions: Is it possible to prevent a user saving certain user file types, such as audio, locally to their hard drive or removable disk ? And, can I prevent a user copying files from a network share where they have read access to ? Or is there a better solution ? Any help an/or advice would be much appreciated ! Thanks in advanced It's been a while since I posted in here and I see the site has had a wee face lift - looking good guys! Fraser

I'll call the laptop back in for "maintenance" on Monday and let you know how I fixed it