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DC1 points to DC1,DC2,DC3 DC2 points to DC2,DC3,DC1 DC3 points to DC3,DC1,DC2 Which was the way I came up with after asking on here (previously it had the ISP's DNS in there as well which guickly got removed) The main reason being that if the other servers were offline that they should boot up happily in the knowledge that the DNS server is available. Didn't really happen in this case though

Ok, now I've taken a break and had another look, this seems to suggest it's normal behaviour: Initial synchronization requirements for Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 operations master role holders Please point out if I'm wrong.

Hi, not really sure where to put this and whether I'm worrying unnecisarily but it has me a little concerned with reagrds to what I had planned. Our power has been off all day today so yesterday I went in and shut all the servers down. Came in late on this afternoon to power everything back up but DNS failed to start until all servers were up and running which had me puzzled. The Forest is currently in Windows 2000 Mode, the Domain in Windows 2003. There are 3 DC's at present, 2 2003 and 1 2008 R2, the 2008 R2 being the one which holds all FSMO roles (or should do!) and all servers hold the GC. I started up the 2008 R2 server and even 10 minutes after starting DNS was still waiting for the Initial Syncronisation of AD before it would start. Started up another DC, which also wouldn't start DNS, then started the 3rd DC at which point the DNS zones could be loaded. I thought that DNS should be able to load from the 2008 R2 server if all the other servers were down. Is it likely there is something held by the 3rd DC I started that AD is dependant upon to do it's initial syncronisation, or does AD require all DC's running before an initial syncronisation can occur? If it does require all DC's for the initial synchronisation what happens if a DC fails while it's shut down? The only reason I'm slightly worried is that I was planning to remove this DC over the next half term to rebuild it with a bigger C Drive, but now I'm concerned that if I remove it and then at some point in the future have to shut all the servers down again I won't be able to bring AD back up. Any ideas where I should be looking or am I worrying unnecessarily?

I started using GLPI since I needed to get a new asset management system anyway. If you go into all the details of it, handy for linking to suppliers and pricing to keep an extra track of things, but I'm only just starting with that.

Our reception is shut and is only open on the two days the exam results are released. Even better is that since we had a new system installed at half term, I've found out that you can't dial any extension when it's diverting the calls to say we're shut as 2 pauses the message. Guess what all our extensions begin with? On the other hand, it's been very quiet when I've been in which makes a change.

All my computers on WSUS are currently sitting in Unassigned apart from the Servers which has worked quite well - until now. I want to control the Roll Out of XP SP3 to computers so that I can make my way arround them using WSUS without cause people any major problems because someone shuts the computer down, it starts to install and then the computer is needed for the next lesson. The Answer I thought - create a sub group of computers! One snag - Unassigned Computers can't contain a sub group. So, I decided to create a new Group and a Sub Group of that for SP3. Now, what about the approvals which I've just got on unassigned computers. There aren't a huge ammount, mostly just .net updates which I don't have room to install on the servers as of yet until they are rebuilt, however it still means going through and approving a few updates for that one group. I stumbled across an answer though! Through the API's you can access WSUS and the groups and copy the approvals between groups, but the GUI doesn't allow this. The solution came from this page: http://msmvps.com/blogs/athif/archive/2006/04/05/89368.aspx I've copied below for reference: 1) Copy the code between the two ----------------8<----------------- below and save it to a text file named "CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.cs" 2) Open a command prompt, and navigate to the directory containing CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.cs. 3) Run the following command line (all one one line, you will need to unwrap the line before running it!): %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\csc.exe /r:"%PROGRAMFILES%\Update Services\service\bin \Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.dll" /target:exe /out:CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.exe CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.cs This will create a tool called CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.exe. (Note if you use Visual Studio to compile the code instead of using the command line above, you need to add a reference to the file microsoft.updateservices.administration.dll in your project, see bottom of this Web page for more on this: http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/4/5/7458e392-11de-4543-936c-b5248e344487/readme.htm) Content of CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.cs: --------------------8<---------------------- using System; using Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration; // Usage: // copyapprovals <name of group to copy from> <name of group to copy to> class Program { static IComputerTargetGroup FindComputerTargetGroup( ComputerTargetGroupCollection groups, string name) { foreach (IComputerTargetGroup group in groups) { if (group.Name == name) { return group; } } throw new ApplicationException(string.Format("Computer group {0} not found.", name)); } static void Main(string[] args) { try { if (args.Length != 2) { //System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("TEST"); Console.WriteLine("Incorrect number of arguments."); Console.WriteLine("usage: copyapprovals <name of group to copy from>" + " <name of group to copy to>"); Console.ReadLine(); return; } IUpdateServer server = AdminProxy.GetUpdateServer(); ComputerTargetGroupCollection groups = server.GetComputerTargetGroups(); // get IComputerTargetGroup references for the source and destination groups IComputerTargetGroup sourceGroup = FindComputerTargetGroup(groups, args[0]); IComputerTargetGroup destinationGroup = FindComputerTargetGroup(groups, args[1]); Console.WriteLine("Copying update approvals from group {0} to group {1}.", args[0], args[1]); // loop over all updates, copying approvals from the source group to the destination // group as necessary UpdateCollection updates = server.GetUpdates(); foreach (IUpdate update in updates) { UpdateApprovalCollection sourceApprovals = update.GetUpdateApprovals(sourceGroup); UpdateApprovalCollection destinationApprovals = update.GetUpdateApprovals(destinationGroup); // for simplicity, this program assumes that an update has // at most one approval to a given group if (sourceApprovals.Count > 1) { Console.WriteLine( "Update {0} had multiple approvals to group {1}; skipping.", update.Title, sourceGroup.Name); continue; } if (destinationApprovals.Count > 1) { Console.WriteLine( "Update {0} had multiple approvals to group {1}; skipping.", update.Title, destinationGroup.Name); continue; } IUpdateApproval sourceApproval = null; IUpdateApproval destinationApproval = null; if (sourceApprovals.Count > 0) { sourceApproval = sourceApprovals[0]; } if (destinationApprovals.Count > 0) { destinationApproval = destinationApprovals[0]; } if (sourceApproval == null) { // the update is not approved to the source group if (destinationApproval != null) { // the update is not approved to the source group, but it is approved // to the destination group // unapprove the update for the destination group to match the source Console.WriteLine( "Unapproving update {0} to group {1}.", update.Title, destinationGroup.Name); destinationApproval.Delete(); } else { // neither the source group nor the destination group have an approval; // do nothing } } else { // the source group has an approval if (destinationApproval != null) { // destination group has an approval; check to see if we need to overwrite it if (destinationApproval.Action !=sourceApproval.Action) { // the approvals are different; overwrite Console.WriteLine( "Changing approval for update {0} from {1} to {2} for group {3}.", update.Title, destinationApproval.Action, sourceApproval.Action, destinationGroup.Name); update.Approve(sourceApproval.Action, destinationGroup); } } else { // destination group does not have an approval; approve Console.WriteLine( "Approving update {0} for {1} for group {2}.", update.Title, sourceApproval.Action, destinationGroup.Name); update.Approve(sourceApproval.Action, destinationGroup); } } } } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } } } --------------------8<---------------------- The only variation of the code I had to use was step 3. The line I had to use was: %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\csc.exe /r:"%PROGRAMFILES%\Update Services\service\bin\Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.dll" /target:exe /out:CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.exe CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.cs Initially got a File Not Found error, this was because the .net directory wasn't correct, so if you have the same issue, check what the .net v2 Framework folder is called and rename accordingly. Once it's compiled an exe, load a command prompt and run: CopyApprovalsBetweenGroups.exe "Source Group" "Destination Group" The group is case sensitive, so make sure you type it exactly as it appears in your WSUS console.

You could try using Smart Notebook Express which apparently (I say apparently, because I haven't used it, it was included in a licensing email I got) should run all the content without a problem. It's in beta and web based though. http://express.smarttech.com/

The licence is all held on the dongle and the dongles can be swapped between machines and the software runs ok providing the right licence is held on the dongle (as discovered when we had a faulty one and tested by swapping several over) so you should be fine just uninstalling the software and keeping the dongles labeled up so you know which licence is on which without faffing with the elicencer software to see whats on it.

We just drilled a small hole on one of the blanking plates at the back and fed a USB extension cable through and that worked quite well for the dongle.

There's an upgrade guide and release notes available on Capita Education Support Services if you want to take a look there.

It's best to log a support call about this, although after a week of playing and talking to Capita I pin pointed the cause. As Neilenormal suggests, part of it is to do with the SQL Service not running as the Local System Account - This needs to be changed from Network Service to use the Local System Account using the SQL Server Configuration Manager. You might, depending on if you are running Server 2008 or not, need to follow KB38502 on Supportnet to re-enable the use of the Scheduled Tasks (I fixed mine by removing the Scheduled Tasks from The Task Library, then going to C:\Windows\Tasks and removing any .job files which seemed linked to SIMS because part of the problem seems to be the Network Service has permission to create the .job file but not the scheduled task in C:\Windows\System32\Tasks - By Removing these .job files from C:\Windows\Tasks SIMS was then able to recreate the scheduled task.). The only reason I would still recommend opening a Support Call is that I've only just resolved this issue with Capita but need them to check an additional Aspect of it because something isn't working as I would expect it and don't know if it's a major thing or not (The Scheduled Time in the SIMS UI isn't updating, but I don't know if this is vital or not, at the moment I'm assuming not)

Don't think it's running apps, so much as the last 5/10 (depending on the version) that you last used since powering on.

Just had an email through from SMART saying that they are releasing a new Servicepack for SMART Notebook soon with a new licence agreement to clarify it, stating it can only be used with a SMARTboard unless purchased otherwise. Attached the letter I recieved if anyone's interested. Notebook_license_Letter_ Americas FINAL.pdf

Don't know if the ramblings I put on this blog so I knew they were somewhere safe is of any use for you? The joys of migrating files - Blogs - EduGeek.net The other thing I might suggest (which is what RM did at my old school) was to backup the user areas and just restore the backup to the SAN.

Sounds a bit like the Bloxx Media Filter that I had demo'd shortly after easter.

I've recently discovered orange do a fairly nice Extra now, £5 for 250MB of data which will last for a month. Made my use of PAYG justifiable again rather then having to look at moving to contract with data on.

All mine use GPP to deploy per User and just filtered out per machine. If you use roaming profiles, just make sure you have a delete printer preference for machines that aren't supposed to have it (is not a member of group) and then update the printer connection for that group and it should all work as you want it.

That's good news, makes my planning easier for next summer when the lease comes up!

The homepage and google are the internet. If either isn't available, the internet is down!

Ah right, so they extended it to 2003R2 but not the original 2003. Guess I'll cough up for another 2008 licence then. Thanks all.

Might be the wrong area, but could we worth following this through to make sure the catroot2 isn't corrupted in some way: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows/12659-usb-drives-require-administrator-access-install.html

Hi all I'm just checking I've got this straight in my head before I start rebuilding servers over the holidays. If I have a Server 2003 Standard edition, am I licenced to have the host machine and a virtual machine running on the same box? Is it just a single virtual server I'm licenced for, or is it for (or is that enterprise edition or something to do with server 2008?). Thanks

You might be able to come up with a script based on info in the admin guide: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_player_admin_guide/flash_player_admin_guide.pdf - Chapter 3 has command switches for the flash player uninstaller, so maybe a batch/vbs file that will call the exe and pass the switch?

Nope, the server was one I installed myself using 2008R2 and the Dell drivers/tools that were included with the drive. Not changed anything else on the config or checked for firmware upgrades. I did do a lot of searching before purchasing it and nothing I found said that it wouldn't work, the imation site mentioned the Dell RD1000 which what made me plump for it in the end. Imation - RDX® HDD Cartridges - on the features tab if that's any use.

I bought an Imation 160GB cartridge about two weeks ago which has been working quite happily in a RD1000 in a Dell T310 server.