August, 2008

VMWare Infrastructure Client now runs on 64-bit

Hi folks, just a quick update to a previous blog post. The VMWare Infrastructure client now runs on 64 bit as of 3.5 update 1 and VC 2.5 update 1. No need to perform any tricks or hacks to get it to work. Just install it as per usual and it should work just fine.

-RP

Microsoft relaxes licensing around virtual mobility for 41 server applications

Hi folks, before when you had to move virtual machines from one server to another using technologies like vmotion you had to ensure you had a license for the server applications on both host physical servers. The only way you could move this was if you did it once every 90 days.

Microsoft has now announced that they have removed the 90 day restriction and are allowing moving of virtual machines between host physical servers for 41 server applications. They call it “Application Server License Mobility”.

This is great news for the virtual world and Microsoft has obviously done this only now due to Hyper-V. Like I said before, this competition can only be good for the consumer. When licensing expensive server application products this can save a significant amount of money in your IT budget!

You can read about this further at these links:

Microsoft Press Release regarding the relaxing of it’s license policy

Microsoft: Application Server License Mobility (word doc)

-Raj

How to configure your BlackBerry to delete messages on the BlackBerry device and in your Outlook Inbox in a BES environment

One of the simplest configuration checks you should do when having BlackBerry synchronization issues with deletions in a BES environment is to check your reconciliation settings.

First go into the Messages section of your BlackBerry. Then click on the BlackBerry button to access the menu for Messages. Then click on options and select Email Reconciliation which will take you to the appropriate settings. Ensure that the settings look as follows:

Delete On: Mailbox & Handheld

Wireless Reconcile: On

On Conflicts: Mailbox Wins

 If these settings aren’t set, then go to each field and change them to match my settings. That should do the trick!

-RP

Deleted messages on BlackBerry are not showing up as deleted in Outlook Inbox and read messages are not showing up as read.

Another common BlackBerry synchronization issue is also when you delete messages on the BlackBerry and the message does not get deleted from your Outlook inbox even if you click on “Reconcile Now” from the BlackBerry menu. Also another common effect is that when you read a message it doesn’t show up as read on the other side and still shows up as a ‘NEW’ message.

This problem usually stems from a DLL mismatch. There are two very important DLL files that are integral to the proper running of your BES server and those are cdo.dll and mapi32.dll. The versions of these DLL files need to be the same on your BES server and your Exchange server. The easiest way to do this is when you are patching your Exchange server you ensure that you patch your BES server with the exact same patches. This will ensure that things are always in ’sync.’ You can check the version of a file by right clicking on it and going to it’s properties and then checking the ‘Version’ tab.

Now if you think you have patched everything and the DLL files are still mismatched, then you can just copy the DLL file from the Exchange server to your BES server and then register the DLL file using the regsvr32 command and then the path to the DLL. For example, to register cdo.dll you would type: regsvr32 cdo.dll ‘C:\program files\exchsrvr\bin\cdo.dll’.

I of course would like to remind you that before doing any of this to ensure that you always have a full backup of the server you are working on in case you blow something up. Also I would not copy DLL’s from the BES server to the Exchange server, that can cause some interesting results and it is probably a path you do not want to go down. Instead make sure you are copying from the Exchange server to the BES server as I had mentioned above.

After the DLL files that have the version mismatch have been copied and registered, then reboot the BES server and test out deletions and read messages again. You should see that things work as intended now.

-RP

Shift deleting of message in your inbox not deleting on your BlackBerry?

Another common BlackBerry question I get is regarding deletion of messages. I could probably write a whole novel about all the different issues you can run into with BlackBerry synchronization but I’ll spare you the pain and just mention a few things.

When people hold the shift key down and hit delete to permanently delete items in their Outlook it doesn’t give the BES server (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) time to process the deletion so the deletion doesn’t synchronize and in turn your BlackBerry still shows the message as available. How do you fix this? You need to turn on “Hard Deletions” in your BES server. What this does is it allows the BES server to process the shift-deletion of emails so they synchronize properly.

You can do this by following the instructions at this Blackberry Knowledgebase Article Doc ID KB14142.

-RP

Remote access when on the road

So I thought i’d talk a little bit about remote access since I was just away on vacation for a week. There are a lot of technologies out there you can use for remote access, all of them promising complete access to your network while you’re on the road. I’ve always found adopting multiple technologies for a good comprehensive remote access strategy works well.

One of the easiest things to implement for the network administrator on the road is Terminal Services. As long as you own Windows Server you can purchase terminal services licenses to give you remote access to your network for multiple users. If you just want administrative access then you can just use RDP (remote desktop). However if you want extra control and power then I would suggest using a product like Citrix to achieve your goals. For the small business Citrix Access Essentials is a great single server product you can use to give you access to published applications and granular control over what users can access remotely. You can also combine this with the Citrix Access Gateway and give yourself SSL access to your network and everything integrates quiet nicely.

You can get more information regarding Citrix at http://www.citrix.com.

 -RP

Intel releases USB 3.0 Spec

Hi folks, it looks like we have yet another new technology on the horizon, the next USB spec, USB 3.0! Intel just recently released the spec.

The new USB 3.0 spec suggests speeds of up to 4 GB/second. This is great news for the IT industry as USB has quickly become the predominant connection standard of choice for users looking for a way to connect their peripherals to their computers.

 You can read more about it here.

-RP

VMWare Update 2 Bug Fixed

As you may have now heard, VMWare has fixed the bug with update 2. They pulled the update and were finally able to release a fix. What does this tell us?

Even the largest of companies can have issues with their Q&A processes. No matter how perfect we endeavour to be there is always the human error factor. Does this mean you should abandon all your VMWare projects and head to greener pastures with Hyper-V and XenServer? I’m sure with the FUD machine in full swing, quite a few people from opposing camps will advise you to do this.

The fact of the matter is that will serve you no good as all of these companies will be sure to run into their own problems at some point in time. Like I’ve said before, if you adopt a proper patch management strategy you can avoid 99% of these problems.

Here is the link to the knowledge base article that outlines the issue and the fix with VMWare.

http://kb2.vmware.com/kb/1006716.html

-RP

VMWare - Major Bug with ESX 3.5 Update 2

Hi folks, breaking news in the virtual world! Apparently ESX 3.5 Update 2 is wreaking havoc with people’s ESX servers. According to reports it is throwing “A general system error occurred: Internal Error”. This is a known problem at VMWare and there is no known fix as of yet.

 You can read more about it here.

 This goes back to a rule of thumb I always like to follow with patching. When a patch comes out, don’t apply it right away. Sit on it for awhile and adopt a wait and see approach to see if there are any ill effects experienced by others in the industry before you apply to your production systems. Also install the patch in a sandbox environment and do a flurry of tests to see if you can get it to break.

After it seems that the patch is acceptable then you can apply it to your production systems. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

 -RP

Packet sniffing is your best friend…

Sometimes when you are troubleshooting network issues, you just can’t seem to put your finger on the source of the problem. Whatever it is that is causing your network issue is evading you and you’re wondering how are you going to track it down.

I find using a packet sniffer to actually look at the traffic flowing on the network is helpful at this point. You will most likely have to configure your switch to mirror all traffic to one of the ports on the switch so you can plugin a laptop with a packet sniffer onto that port to monitor the traffic.

One of my favourite packet sniffers to use is Wireshark, formerly known as Ethereal. You can also use Network Monitor which comes builtin with Microsoft’s operating systems. Once you have it up and running you can watch network traffic scroll past your screen live and hopefully find the source of your problems.

-RP