Author Archives: Nick

SBS 2008 Migration Tips

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I recently attempted an SBS 2008 migration to new hardware. It didn’t go well, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the server I was moving from was not working well. This was the main reason for the hardware migration attempt, but it also made actually getting the migration to succeed quite difficult. In this case, there was actually an NTFRS issue that was actually stopping the server from becoming a domain controller correctly, which was making the migration attempt when it tried to replicate the AD to the new SBS server. This is bad because it leaves the source AD with a half-installed domain controller that you need to get rid of. Plus, it takes about an hour or so to get to that point, so retries of the procedure are expensive.

Things I would recommend:
1. MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO OUTSTANDING ISSUES ON THE SOURCE SERVER. Run the SBS Best Practices Tool. Run the Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner. Fix anything you find there. Check your event log for errors and fix them as well. Make sure you’ve got a clean, recent backup. (That one really should go without saying, and I’m lucky it didn’t apply to me in this case).

2. Follow the migration document. I did have an issue where the new Domain Admin user I created didn’t seem to have rights to check some things. Follow the advice, create a new domain admin, and test it for some domain operations before using it for the migration.

3. Don’t run the migration in unattended mode. This migration is quite fiddly and you need to be able to check what’s going on at different points. You’re going to be sitting there waiting for it to finish anyway, toughen up and do it manually.

4. I had issues with trying to install updates during the migration as well. Not sure how much they were related to the other issues, but personally I would prefer to play it safe, and do the updates afterwards. If necessary, you might need to disable the WSUS in the new server while you install, to prevent it auto-updating the install while it’s occurring. Just remember, do the updates before moving your inbound connections from the internet to the new server.

Blackberry Enterprise Server troubleshooting

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Okay, so here’s some common issues with BES and the fixes:

  • Emails not being received on the device: This is the catch-all error. Things to check are: BES Admin permissions on Exchange, mapi32.dll and cdo.dll versions.
  • Calendar appointments being received as emails: Almost certainly a CDO mismatch. Check the CDO versions.
  • Calendar appointments not arriving: Could be to do with an obscure property of the AD user called homeMTA. If you are getting MAPI_E_NETWORK_ERROR errors in the MATG log, check this link: MAPI_E_NETWORK_ERROR

Festive Season!

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So the festive season is complete, and I’m back at work.

I had a really good festive season. Spent some time with the family, and time with Trang’s family as well. Spent an awesome couple of days with my dad, beginning construction of a new entertainment cabinet, which became particularly relevant later on in the holidays. Now all I need to do is finish it!

But I am, as you can see from my gamercard, really enjoying my 360. Especially since I bought a 42″ LCD 1080p TV. It. is. AWESOME.

It’s a Hitachi L42X01, in case you care, and I’m pretty happy with it, as you can tell. However, the HD tuner built in has a baffling omission: you can’t delete single channels from its database. Which means that I’m currently stuck with 20-odd channels of crap I don’t care at all about, with about 10 channels of crap I care slightly about.

I’ve also just ordered a component cable for the original xbox today – I don’t know if I’ll try to move my movie-playing functionality over to the 360 or not – probably not at this point.

Finished Ep2, playing Bloodlines

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So, I’ve finished HL2 Episode 2. I ended up just turning down the detail so that my machine would handle to multiple striders and hunters without gagging, and it only took me one try after that. Guess an increased framerate does make a difference after all…

I started playing Vampire: Bloodlines, and it seems pretty good so far. I don’t think it would make much sense unless you’ve at least taken a glance at an old World of Darkness book, but luckily I have, so I’m lucky in that respect. I’m playing a Malkav, and it’s great fun talking crap to everyone…

HL2 Episode 2 and Cartoon intros

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Previously in Nick’s life:
- Mal bought Halo 3, and I finished it on his 360, scoring myself some achievements in the process. I’m pretty happy with my current gamerscore, since I don’t have a 360.
- I bought the Orange Box on Steam. I love steam. I get the games I would have bought anyway at FANTASTIC prices, thanks to the currently-great Aussie dollar, and also the warm feeling of having purchased software where most of the money went to the creators.
- Portal was the best game I’ve played in YEARS.
- I paid around AUD$15 for Vampire: Bloodlines on Steam as well. Great deal.

HL2 Episode 2 has been great, but I really, really hate the Hunters. Especially in the last big fight, there’s heaps of other stuff going on, and they’re taking away 1/3 of your health and armour in one salvo. And they are difficult to kill with your standard weapons… It seems you basically have to run them over with your car to kill them quickly. Unfortunately, my machine struggles with rendering car + everything else going on…

In a completely unrelated note, presented for your edification, intro sequences for the same cartoon.

Firstly, one you may be familiar with:

And next, one you probably haven’t seen before – the Japanese intro for the same show.

It seems to me that the Japanese one contains a much higher awesome quotient than the Western one. Plus, they somehow manage to make Jubilee look bad-ass. I wouldn’t have thought it was even possible.

Halo 3 Long weekend!

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So, I’m going to be minding Mal’s Xbox 360 this weekend, and he’s just bought Halo 3. I’m going to try and finish the Campaign, hopefully on Heroic or Legendary. I’ll post what I think when I’m done.

I also finished God of War II the other day. I’m really impressed with God of War overall – they’re entertaining games to play, although God Mode on GoW2 is a son-of-a-bitch at times. I don’t think I’m game to try Titan Mode, which is harder still…