Windows 2003

Feb 14 2009   11:22PM GMT

Configuring NFS in Windows

Posted by: Raj Perumal
Windows Services for Unix, Windows services for Unix 3.5, NFS, SFU, MMC, Mount Windows Share as NFS Share, mount windows folder as NFS share, NFS Server for Windows, Windows 2003, backups, virtual machine backups, VMware backups, backup ESXi, backups VMware ESXi, VMware ESXi, VMware ESX, backup free vmware, VCB, backup without VCB, backup script, ghettoVCB, ghetto VCB, ghettoVCB.sh, William Lam, lamw, http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760, how to implement ghettoVCB, how to backup virtual machine, how to backup ESXi, how to backup ESX, how to backup VMware, file level backup, virtual machine level backup, putty, plink, Allegro NFS, how to backup virtual machines, script to backup vmware

Hello again folks! As I had mentioned previously, I want to talk a little bit about configuring NFS in Windows. Since last we spoke I had mentioned using the Allegro NFS product and that I was considering purchasing it after my trial was over.

NFS is a great solution to use along with the ghettoVCB scripts I mentioned in my previous posts. This way you can backup your virtual machines to USB storage connected to a workstation or server.

Well my trial is over and I have now purchased it for use in my home lab. I have to say it works flawlessly. I experimented with some free NFS software that is out there but nothing seemed to work perfectly. I found that a lot of products would just stop working after a period of time and then you’d have to restart the service or program in question.

Allegro NFS is pretty easy to configure. You start the program, you specify the windows path name you want to share out via NFS, then you specify the hosts and rights you want to give to the share. Then you just go to your client computer and mount the NFS share as you normally would. Pretty straightforward, it doesn’t get any easier than this. This is a great solution for users using workstation operating systems such as Windows Vista to share out external USB drives as NAS storage.

However if you want to use a workable free solution in your server environment then I would suggest using the Windows Services for Unix download with your Windows 2003 install. To get this working please do the following:

• Download the files /etc/passwd and /etc/group from your ESX or ESXi server using WinSCP
• Create a folder on your C drive called c:\nfs and place the passwd and group files in there
• Download Windows Services for Unix 3.5 from here and install it
• Make sure you install the Server for NFS and User Mapping components during the install
• During the user mapping configuration portion of the install, choose Local User Name Mapping Server and choose Password and Group files
• In the User Name mapping screen type in the path name for the passwd and group files (c:\nfs\passwd and c:\nfs\group)
• After it’s installed, click on Start and Run then type MMC
• Add the Windows Services for Unix Snap-in to the MMC console
• Select User Name Mapping on the left hand pane and then select the MAPS section in the right hand pane
• Ensure Simple Maps is checked and then click on Show User Maps
• Then click on list Windows Users and list UNIX users
• Select Administrator from the Windows user list and select root from the UNIX users list and then click Add
• Check the Display simple maps in Mapped users list checkbox
• Click on Apply in the top right hand corner of the MMC console
• Close the MMC console
• Create a folder and right click on it and choose Sharing and Security
• Click on the NFS Sharing tab
• Click share this folder and give it a share name, in this example we’ll call it NFSBackup
• Click on permissions
• Check the Allow root access box
• Change the Type of Access drop down menu to Read-Write and then click OK and then click OK again

Now you can mount the share from VMware. When you go to add NFS storage just point it at the IP of the server and the path. So if the server’s IP address is 192.168.1.10 for example, then the serer name would be 192.168.1.10 and the NFS path would be /NFSBackup.

That’s it!

-Cheers, RP

Sep 27 2008   3:12PM GMT

Problems moving disabled Exchange 2003 mailboxes to a new server…

Posted by: Raj Perumal
Exchange 2003, SID, Mailbox Rights, SELF, Disabled mailboxes, disabled accounts, move mailbox wizard, Associate External Account, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278966, Article ID 278966, Microsoft support, Q278966, Associated External account, msExchMasterAccountSID, Windows 2003

Here’s an interesting problem that will come up for you from time to time when doing Exchange server migrations. If you go to move mailboxes using the mailbox migration wizard built into Exchange, you’ll find that the wizard will fail on moving any mailboxes that have had their Active Directory account disabled. This can be a problem especially if you still want to keep that e-mail in your new Exchange server because you plan on re-enabling that account at a later date.

The reason this happens is because when you disable a mailbox you might lose the msExchMasterAccountSID attribute off of the account. To fix this you can just regenerate this attribute. It’s fairly easy to do. Just go into the account in the Active Directory Users and Computers console and go to the properties of the account. Then you can go to the Exchange Advanced tab and click on Mailbox Rights. In there you will find the SELF object listed as one of the users and then just add the Associated External Account permission to it.

 This will fix the problem however you will have to wait for a long time before you can move the mailboxes again. According to Microsoft you might have to wait up to at least 2 hours before the mailboxes will be ready to move due to directory replication and Exchange cache refresh latencies. But then once you wait and come back, you will see that the mailboxes move like a charm.

This doesn’t help you however if you have a billion disabled mailboxes to move. Going into each mailbox individually and modifying it could literally take forever and a day. So instead Microsoft has a way for you to do it for large amounts of disabled accounts. You can find their instructions here in their knowledgebase article. Happy migrating!

-RP