Article Comments for Alan Sugano

VMware’s Virtualization Security

KirkS — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:52:05 GMT

KirkS
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:52:05 GMT
If you are not using a VPN, do not open 3389. Instead open up a high port number (50,000 and higher) and port forward at the firewall.

VMware ESX Disk Configuration Options

Lauren — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:10:59 GMT

Lauren
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:10:59 GMT
Mr. Sugano correctly identifies the trade-offs between thick and thin-provisioned VMs. Thin provisioning does save space until unexpected writes blow out all of the storage. Recovery from this situation is now easier. Raxco Software's PerfectDisk will defragment the files, consolidate the free space and then zero-fill the free space inside the VM. A VMotion to another data store compacts the VM and frees up all of the space that was zero-filled. The VM does not have to be shut down to carry out the PerfectDisk defragmentation and zero-fill process. Lauren @RaxcoSoftware www.perfectdisk.com

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Allen — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:39:58 GMT

Allen
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:39:58 GMT
It’s back....
Server 2008 x64 R2 Enterprise Core just upgraded SEP to 11.0.6200.754 (RU 6a, MP2) and it disabled my machine. The machine is a IBM Blade (HS21) running Hyper-V, 32Gigs of RAM, FC San Fortunately, I success on about 400 other clients, mainly XP, some Win7. I have yet to try more servers, but will definitely proceed with caution.
This was pushed out from the management server.
Good Luck... not the first time for me that SEP has done more harm than good.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Jake — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:47:33 GMT

Jake
Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:47:33 GMT
We had a similar problem but with Kaspersky 6 for Windows Server. Even when disabled Windows Server 2008 was struggling when using interface. I’ve noticed that any new process, task was hogging CPU and slowing down whole session dramatically. Even simple ’tasklist’ in from cmd was taking aprox. 5 min! Updates were downloading forever, everything was crippled. After uninstalling Kaspersky it came back to normal, like a breath of fresh air. We will try installing it again and do some tests.

Thanks for this article, it point us in the right direction!

The Advantages of Virtualizing Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint with VMware

Availability Advisor — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:14:40 GMT

Availability Advisor
Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:14:40 GMT
There might be big advantages of virtualising these tier 1 applications but there is still the potential for an administrators worst nightmare – if the host fails it might not be necessary to do a bare metal restore by manipulating some files and getting the service running on another platform.

I still maintain that this could be stressful and more time consuming than you think.

Even simpler would be to virtualise it on a truly fault tolerant server platform like ftServer, then no recovery would be necessary.

The Advantages of Virtualizing Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint with VMware

beanbrown — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:12:01 GMT

beanbrown
Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:12:01 GMT
You still need to consider HA for sql; just virtualizing does not accomplish this, and you also forego NUMA, SQL/OS, and clustering features by virtualizing. If you can get a server wiith 256GB ram for ESX, it would be prudunt to ask, "why would I ever virtualize SQL"? The others: exchange and sharepoint...well, virtualize if you understand the technology as there are some caveats that can take down you virtual envirnoments like log file space or proper san and vlan configuration.

I think virtualizing sql and other servers is very realistic, and not something to leap into without much looking.

Recovering from an Exchange Server Crash

Din Serjones — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:14:12 GMT

Din Serjones
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:14:12 GMT
Try EDB to PST conversion tool that perfectly do the edb conversion job and fix every edb file corruptions. read more about edb to pst conversion from http://www.edbtopstconversion.com

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

JohnR — Wed, 26 May 2010 10:15:48 GMT

JohnR
Wed, 26 May 2010 10:15:48 GMT
I had exactly this same problem and went through essentially the same steps on two DCs. It was taking literally 30 seconds to get the UAC popup after launching an app. We use Kaspersky AV, but after finding no other explanation for the slowdowns, I tried uninstalling it. Bingo! I had fast servers again. After reinstalling it, the problem did not return.

I had previously ruled out Kaspersky AV as the cause of the problem because I had just disabled it while leaving it installed. This changed nothing. It had to be completely removed to solve the problem. It took me a week to figure this out. I also run the Kaspersky Admin Kit on one of these servers, which I never touched (both servers were slow, so admin kit was not a likely culprit).

Thank you for posting this article!

Recover Your Exchange Server 2007 Environment in 16 Steps

Morton — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:30:18 GMT

Morton
Mon, 03 May 2010 17:30:18 GMT
Nice article, thank goodness for Exchange 2010.

Hyper-V Migration Pitfalls

Alan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:59:47 GMT

Alan
Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:59:47 GMT
Just to clarify the SCVMM is $869 per managed Hyper-V Server. If you wanted to manage five Hyper-V hosts with the SCVMM, you must have five licenses of SCVMM.

Recover Your Exchange Server 2007 Environment in 16 Steps

madulu — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:40:01 GMT

madulu
Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:40:01 GMT
Exchange 2007 recovery, does not sync with windows 2003 server

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Brad — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:10:32 GMT

Brad
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:10:32 GMT
We have the same issue. We just deployed a new Server 2008 file server and installed the latest version of Symantec Endpoint Protection v 11.0.5. We’ll try installing 11.0.4202 MR4 MP2 and see if that fixes it.

Recover Your Exchange Server 2007 Environment in 16 Steps

dhananjaya — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:32:51 GMT

dhananjaya
Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:32:51 GMT
jj

8 Points to Consider Before You Implement SharePoint

Sudhir — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:05:28 GMT

Sudhir
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:05:28 GMT
very good starter with virtualization in the picture.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:04:14 GMT

Alan
Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:04:14 GMT
With earlier versions of Symantec it seems to be hit or miss and really not tied to any server roles. Some 2008 servers would work OK, while others would stop responding. However with Symantec Endpoint 11 MR4 MP2 all Windows 2008 Servers have been stable. I suggest upgrading ASAP to this version.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Verlyn — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:29:01 GMT

Verlyn
Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:29:01 GMT
I hit the very same problem on a 2008 server and after days of testing variations and ideas I found your article - uninstalled Symantec (version 11.0.4010.19) and the server was fixed. I wish I had found it earlier - it would have saved major headaches and delays- but thank goodness I found it. I had tried disabling Symantec early in my testing but not uninstalling. Still need to reinstall and see what happens. I have wondered - this is the only server I installed the file server role on and the only one that had conflicts with Symantec. Curious about what roles you installed on your servers.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:21:49 GMT

Alan
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:21:49 GMT
Good news! We have tested the latest version of Symantec Endpoint 11 MR4 MP2 (5/19/09) at several clients running Windows Server 2008 and so far so good. Servers have remained stable and appear to be working great!

Recover Your Exchange Server 2007 Environment in 16 Steps

Ken — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:27:42 GMT

Ken
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:27:42 GMT
This article is very useful in explaining to people why Exchange 2007 is not ready for prime time. What was wrong with the idea of putting together your new server and restoring your backup?

Recover Your Exchange Server 2007 Environment in 16 Steps

Dmitriy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:33:27 GMT

Dmitriy
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:33:27 GMT
This article for windows admin not for kid!

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:49:54 GMT

Alan
Tue, 26 May 2009 13:49:54 GMT
*** Update. Symantec has just released a new version of Endpoint 11 MR4 MP2 (5/19/09) that is suppose to address the issues with Windows Server 2008. We’re in the process of testing it and I will update you results.

10 Steps to Building a Sound Disaster Recovery Plan

jzientek@myeastern.com — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:18:06 GMT

jzientek@myeastern.com
Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:18:06 GMT
Very good article and great ideas.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Alan — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:53:56 GMT

Alan
Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:53:56 GMT
If you can access your Exchange Server with Outlook Web Access (OWA) via https: from the Internet that’s the best test. Remember you must not receive a Certificate error when accessing OWA otherwise your synch will fail. Remember to order a commercial SSL certificate that support mulitple identities that machtes the name of your exchange server both inside, outside and autodiscover..com

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:21:00 GMT

m
Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:21:00 GMT
Asugano where can I check in the server to make sure my exchange server is configured for activesync? :)

10 Reasons Not to Deploy Windows Vista

L. Jonathaan — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:39:45 GMT

L. Jonathaan
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:39:45 GMT
I have laptops with both XP Pro and Vista. I found Vista so annoying I installed opensuse 11 Linux on it, making it dual-boot. I found Linux to be intuitive, am already faster on most tasks, and can run most of the Windows apps under wine faster than they run on Vista. If some apps didn’t need Windows, I wouldn’t run it at all.

10 Reasons Not to Deploy Windows Vista

Elie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:59:59 GMT

Elie
Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:59:59 GMT
I don’t agree with Richard_d, Windows 7 is now running faster than XP and Vista, tests show that it outpaced both previous OS’s on slower machines. Microsoft did refine/trim the new OS to boot faster and run more effeciently.

10 Reasons Not to Deploy Windows Vista

gary@informatics.co.nz — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:49:39 GMT

gary@informatics.co.nz
Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:49:39 GMT
All the fancy rubbish serves little useful purpose for SMB who are already suffering from the downturn. I advise "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it". The substantial cost of further training for my staff (the support team) and the clients’ staff is harder to justify. Vista is, in my opinion, another ME. Dump it, and wait for the next version. Oh! By the way, the upgrade had better be FREE......

10 Reasons Not to Deploy Windows Vista

Richard — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:43:08 GMT

Richard
Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:43:08 GMT
"Vista installs the patch, reboots, runs another process to complete the patch installation, then reboots again before you can use your computer." The only time I’ve seen this is with SP1; all other patches install with only one reboot. "Windows XP works well" So does Windows 3.1 / 95 / 2000. For that matter, none of them boot as quickly as MS DOS 6 - maybe we should all have stuck with that? "Windows 7 isn’t far away" Windows 7 is essentially Windows Vista R2. If your hardware or software doesn’t work with Vista, it won’t work with Windows 7.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Alan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:56:42 GMT

Alan
Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:56:42 GMT
The iPhone now supports native synching with Exchange. I suggest upgrading to the latest iPhone software update that supports Exchange 2003/2007. Here’s a link to the software http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/. We have a few clients running it and works pretty well. As long as your Exchange Server is configured for ActiveSync with Wndows Mobile Devices your iPhone should synch up fine.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Imran — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:08:26 GMT

Imran
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:08:26 GMT
If we put username just the username then it says cannot connect using SSL. Do you want to try setting up account without SSL

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Imran — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:05:29 GMT

Imran
Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:05:29 GMT
I m not able to access the email. I tried ways for the username but its not working. if i Put the username in this format then // it says that the cannot get the email becuase username or password is in correct. Please help

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Michael — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:58:37 GMT

Michael
Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:58:37 GMT
Cool article!...It would have been great to get a dump of the server while it was slow so we could get a foot print of the problem like what resources were held during the slow down or what processes were spiking the CPU. Great info and thanks for the follow-up.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:04:19 GMT

Alan
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:04:19 GMT
Maintenance Release (MR) 3 of Symantec Endpoint Security seems to help the problem. We’ve had numerous hang ups with file shares on Windows Server 2008 using MR2. Also disabling IPv6 seems to help. We’ve noticed a significant performance (+80%) increase in backups with Backup Exec by upgrading to MR3 and disabling IPv6 support.

Windows Firewall Proves Problematic for Symantec AntiVirus

aishel73 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:52:45 GMT

aishel73
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:52:45 GMT
Great article

10 Steps to Building a Sound Disaster Recovery Plan

Malcolm — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:22:28 GMT

Malcolm
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:22:28 GMT
Great

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Shivanandagowda — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:48:34 GMT

Shivanandagowda
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 06:48:34 GMT
very good helped to solve the problem

Disk Fragmentation: More Than Just a Performance Killer

Alan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:22:02 GMT

Alan
Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:22:02 GMT
It depends on the condition of your disks. In a worst case scenario it could take probably 12 to 24 hours. However if the server is not crashing you could probably let it run for two hours until it’s defragmented. If you’re only performing the disk defrag on Sundays it’s going to take several weeks to get it done. In our experience Disk Keeper does a good job at defragmenting the disk and keeping it defragmented - must better than the built-in defrag tools in Windows Server. With Disk Keeper you can defrag while users are still accessing the server, but give it a lower priority. My suggestion is to get Disk Keeper, especially with your maintenance window limitations.

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:31:51 GMT

Alan
Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:31:51 GMT
Symantec was able to reproduce the problem when pusing the Client Security Installation package from the Management Server. They’re working on a solution. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.

Disk Fragmentation: More Than Just a Performance Killer

Carl — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:34:09 GMT

Carl
Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:34:09 GMT
I know this is a pretty old post, but it seems to describe my current dilemma precisely - can you tell me how large the disk arrays were that you defragmented and about how long it took? I only have a 2 hour maintenance window on sunday mornings - I have two logical drives that need defragmenting, each about 650 GB and are composed of a single physical volume of 300 GB 15K SAS drives in a raid10. I can request larger maintenance windows but I have to give 30 days notice and coordinate with a lot of customers. Do you recall how long yours took?

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Alan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:09:07 GMT

Alan
Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:09:07 GMT
I spoke with them today (9/11/08) and they’re still trying to reproduce the problem. It may have something to do with the managed client and/or activating Network Threat Protection and Proactive Threat Protection. As soon as I hear something I’ll post it!

Troubleshooting a Slow-Running Windows Server 2008

Roy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:55:13 GMT

Roy
Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:55:13 GMT
Any response from Symantec?

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

ajgball,ajgball — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:42:18 GMT

ajgball,ajgball
Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:42:18 GMT
Great Articule, I do this all the time with VCB (any numptie can do that as it has good supporting documentation and teh scripts are already written for you) but I found it tricky to do with local storage and the linux agent. Thanks

Upgrading from Windows NT to Windows Server 2003

NIPUN — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:17:04 GMT

NIPUN
Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:17:04 GMT
good

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Alan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:33:20 GMT

Alan
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:33:20 GMT
Make sure that when you order the SSL Certificate it exactly matches the external fully qualified domain name of your IMAP server, otherwise you will still receive an error. This name must match the FQDN of the IMAP server you enter in the phone. You may need to create an DNS A Record on your external DNS server as well.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Alan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:28:03 GMT

Alan
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:28:03 GMT
We have this working at a client, and I did try it and it does work. You have to purchase a commercial SSL certificate, otherwise you will receive the certificate error and it will not work. SSL certificates can be purchased from Thawte, GoDaddy and other sources. Check out http://www.whichssl.com/ for more information on SSL Certificates. You have do install the SSL Certificate first before attempting to connect with IMAP and SSL. If you’re still having problems, make sure you can connect with Outlook Express before trying to connect with the iPhone to try and narrow down the problem.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

John — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:52:13 GMT

John
Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:52:13 GMT
Lousy ! I filled out all that infomation for that! Putting, "as I recall you have to specify the user name and password on one line" is terrible. How about actually trying it so we know. What about the certificate messages we get on the iphone that we can’t get around. I don’t think the author really tried this.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Alan — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:23:52 GMT

Alan
Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:23:52 GMT
Yes, outbound can be prolbematic. Another option is to use a company like http://www.synchronica.com/ for your outbound mail. It’s free. Of course, this is just a workaround until the iPhone natively supports Exchange 2003/2007.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

Don — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:27:56 GMT

Don
Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:27:56 GMT
Good instructions for inbound mail but, requiring SSL for outbound email results in an error that the server does not support a SSL connection. How should the server be configured?

Avoid Windows Server 2008 Integration Challenges

Steven — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:59:59 GMT

Steven
Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:59:59 GMT
Also note that Windows Server Backup no longer supports backing up to tape drives. You’ll need third-party software instead.

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

Alan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:58:08 GMT

Alan
Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:58:08 GMT
The pre/post scripts work on our server. We’re runing Backup Exec 11d build 7170. We backup our virtual server images once a week using this method and it works fine. We also have configured numerous client using this same method without any issues. Check out http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/other_resources/ent-using_symc_bews_with_vmware_05-2007.en-us.pdf . This document specifically references using pre/post command on page 14. All of the references you mention refer to earlier versions of Backup Exec.

Changing Your Network’s IP Address Scheme

Walt — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:23:58 GMT

Walt
Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:23:58 GMT
Nmap is very helpful in scanning your network for any fixed IPs you forgot about. To scan quickly I’ve used the following: nmap -p 53 -sA > c:\filename.txt where is easy to set, such as 10.1.1-254.1-254 - pretty self-explanatory. The -p 53 simply set nmap to scan only the dns port. Without this switch, nmap will go through over 17000 ports. Very good for security, but too time consuming for a quick check.

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

Bugrrr — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:24:45 GMT

Bugrrr
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:24:45 GMT
Veritas is NOT able to execute pre/post commands to Linux clients... was this article tested? Source: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/245844.htm And: https://forums.symantec.com/syment/board/message?board.id=103&thread.id=39003&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

Bugrrr — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:30:55 GMT

Bugrrr
Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:30:55 GMT
Esx-cellent!

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

subhash — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:58:31 GMT

subhash
Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:58:31 GMT
great article, thanks!

Backing Up ESX Guest Images

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:16:37 GMT

a
Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:16:37 GMT
Wanted to know how to do this with VCB. Any numpty could work out the above article themselves.

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

Diana — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:04:48 GMT

Diana
Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:04:48 GMT
Be sure to watch for our product showdown on virtualization software ii mid-2008. We’ll show you how the products stack up against each other. Diana May SQL Mag

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

Alan — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:30:28 GMT

Alan
Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:30:28 GMT
Wavel, Let’s say you’re really small company that only has a budget for a single server, but you need to run a SQL server 2005 x64, Exchange 2007 (requires x64), Terminal Server and a File Server. SQL and Exchange need x64, but you need the Terminal Server and File Server to run 32 bit for compatibility. One option is to purchase four servers (or maybe two but you would have to combine SQL and Exchange, File and Terminal Server. Possible, but not the ideal situation especially for the File and Terminal Server), but if you don’t have the budget for that, you could get a larger server and run four virutal guests on it. You might have some money left over to put the host server on a 24x7 4 hour service contract. To answer your patching questions, Blue Lane makes a in-line security product that works with VMware ESX. It will essentially "patch" all of the virtual guest running on a host running the Blue Lane product. Check out this link http://www.bladewatch.com/2007/03/15/blue-lanes-vmware-security-product/ for more info. But, it sounds like you’re already made up your mind, so probably running everything on dedicated hardware is your best bet.

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

RICK — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:45:27 GMT

RICK
Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:45:27 GMT
Alan: Your statement that the biggest advantage is security is interesting. Assume that the Sharepoint server is compromised. What assures you that there is no possible way of getting to the files on one of the other virtual servers? Or even better: DOWNLOADING the virtual image for those servers! You also said that you could create a fully patched instance in 15 minutes once you had your base image. But MS is patching monthly, so do you end up with new vm’s that still need patching? Or are you updating the base file each month? And once your new vm is running, it needs to be patched seperately from all the other vm’s right? As for testing in a vm that’s running on a production machine.... really?? Are you 100% sure that you can’t crash the hardware inside the vm? Seems pretty risky to me. The point I’m trying to make is that so far, I’m not seeing a good reason to run a vm. We are a very small company - every server we buy affects our bottom-line, so it’s not an issue of us being a fortune 1000 that can buy as much hardware as we desire :) Every point you’ve made as a reason why you’d want to run virtualization, seems to have a valid counter-arguement against it. I’m looking for the one big reason that makes me slap my head and say "Duh!".

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

Alan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:23:09 GMT

Alan
Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:23:09 GMT
Wavel: Probably the biggest advantage in your situation is security. Assuming you need to run Outlook Web Access or Sharepoint, you can install a virtual server and only have that front end Web Server exposed to the outside. If you have everything installed on one machine and it gets hacked all of the data that resides on that server is vulnerable. Since virtualization creates a consistent platform, it makes recovery much easier. If you have the virtual server images backed up, all you have to do is restore the image onto a new server and you’re done. If you’re not virtualizaed, you have to load the OS, install the backup software, install SQL Server and then restore the databases. We’ve also found that running separate applications per server, reduces the possibility of conflict between applications. We’ve seen instances where corruptions in certain components can cause other items to fail on the server when they’re all installed on the same server. For example, if the metabase in IIS is corrupted it can cause Exchange to crash. If you’re doing anytype of testing, it’s very easy to create a virtual test environment, and take it down without messing up your production environment. Once you have your base images installed, you can create a new server in 15 minutes, that’s fully patched and ready to go. That’s pretty difficult to do with a physical server. Even in small shops virtualization may have a place, espeically if you have to run 32 and 64 bit servers. I suggest playing around with the technology and start slow. If you’re not sold on technology I think you will be after you’ve had a chance to experience it first hand. Hope that helps! Alan Sugano

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

Alan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:08:04 GMT

Alan
Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:08:04 GMT
ge: If you’re experiencing heavy disk I/O, you could move to the x64 platform, load up the server with a lot of memory and cache everything. This will take a siginficant load off of the disk subsystem. Of course you have to use ESX which supports an x64 guest, and now supports up to 64GB of memory on a x64 guest. This is the same strategy that Microsoft is using for Exchange 2007. Run x64, load the server with a lot of memory and cache everything. Thanks! Alan Sugano

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

RICK — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:36:47 GMT

RICK
Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:36:47 GMT
I guess I need to be enlightened... the article ends with "...but the benefits are tremendous". What exactly are the benefits? I understand that if you needed to run different OS’s, virtualization is a great way to save on hardware, but why do I want to run the SAME os multiple times? Since when did it become practice to have one app per os? If I need to run SQL, Exchange and IIS, why is it better to run 3 copies of the OS (each needing updating and configuration) versus running them all on a single instance of Windows Server? If the answer is the ease of backing up the image files, the author even states that he’s doing a regular backup of his sql data every 15 minutes anyway. And we have to assume that backup hardware is available in case the server crashes... why not log ship or mirror to the backup hardware? If you really need seperate instances of sql server for all your apps, why not run new instances of sql? Doesn’t that simplify maintenance, not to mention licensing? Please point out the benefits to me.

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

ge@familie-brander.nl — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:28:46 GMT

ge@familie-brander.nl
Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:28:46 GMT
Hi, good to have some info on this, but I miss good information on the biggest bottleneck on SQL Server, Disk I/O, which is in Microsoft Virtual Server a big problem for performance. I have some experience in VMWare ESX, and the difference is smaller there, but be sure to test a real life load on a virtual server before stepping over to virtualization.

Running SQL Server in a Virtual Server Environment

CURT — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:07:18 GMT

CURT
Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:07:18 GMT
Thanks for this article Al. I have been using Virtual SQL servers in production for four years now and received a good deal of flake from DBAs for doing it. This article vindicates the decision that has seemed so obvious for a long time.

Disk Fragmentation: More Than Just a Performance Killer

Alan — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:05:06 GMT

Alan
Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:05:06 GMT
Unfortunately for this client, there is no quiet time. They run differential backups during the week and full backups on the weekends, so there is no convienient window to run a defrag. That’s why we went with Diskeeper.

Disk Fragmentation: More Than Just a Performance Killer

DonnEdwards — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:16:01 GMT

DonnEdwards
Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:16:01 GMT
Why didn’t you just defrag using the built-in defragger first? Was the server really put into production WITHOUT an initial defrag or a defrag scheduled for a quiet time like Sunday morning?

Installing Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 at a Remote Location

Alan — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:45:35 GMT

Alan
Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:45:35 GMT
Assuming you running Exchange 2003, just make sure the server meets the requirements for an Exchange 2003 server, and make sure to join the existing Exchange 2003 Org when you install any additional servers.

Installing Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 at a Remote Location

Ayodeji — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:40:59 GMT

Ayodeji
Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:40:59 GMT
Very Helpful. We had a problem with Symantec installed on our exchange I never knew this was the cause. One more thing, I’ll like to know how to install additional exchange servers on a different machine. The first exchange is installed on our PDC.

Exchange 2003 Routing Engine Service Doesn't Start After Security Patches

Alan — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:17:25 GMT

Alan
Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:17:25 GMT
Yes, the first thing I tried was to uninstall the security patches. It turns out that the Exchange Program itself was corrupted and the reboot itself caused Exchange to blow up, not the installation of the security patches.

Getting your iPhone to Sync with Exchange 2003

OJE — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:40:21 GMT

OJE
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:40:21 GMT
Excellent Article. It’s reasons like this why I never let my subscription lapse!

Exchange 2003 Routing Engine Service Doesn't Start After Security Patches

christina — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:36:15 GMT

christina
Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:36:15 GMT
Did you try uninstalling the security updates first?

Exchange 2003 Routing Engine Service Doesn't Start After Security Patches

Scott — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:50:29 GMT

Scott
Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:50:29 GMT
Thanks for posting. It’s great to see someone else’s troubleshooting and logic process in case similar issues arise.

Backing Up Virtual Server Guests

VICTOR — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:30:11 GMT

VICTOR
Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:30:11 GMT
This article is not very usefull for those of us using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2. What about a script for backing up Microsoft Virtual Servers on a Virtual Server host one by one with a restart after each backup. For example: 1. Stop VS1 2. Copy VS1 folder and files to network location 3. Start VS1 4. Go to next server on the VS host server.

Disk Fragmentation: More Than Just a Performance Killer

Sancre — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 11:41:49 GMT

Sancre
Sun, 10 Jun 2007 11:41:49 GMT
Good article; heavy defragmentation can often be an often-overlooked cause of disk related issues. Recently, at my workplace lab, (about 10-15 people with heavy usage of shared network resources for engineering and scientific modeling) we had a problem with drastically reduced performance from the server side. Our sysadmin spent some time trying to get a handle on the situation....turned out to be nasty fragmentation on the drives (both server as well as workstation). Some time spent with Diskeeper 2007 fixed the problem quickly. Now most of our heavy use workstations run diskeeper for continuous automatic background defragmentation. Very nice software.

Daylight Saving Time 2007 Updates

Eric — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:56:24 GMT

Eric
Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:56:24 GMT
Don’t forget about Java, especially if you’re supporting any type of J2EE application server. Sun released patched packages of the various runtime and development kit versions, but then found out that even the patched packages had a problem and so you have to re-patch them manually. Oh, the joy!

Daylight Saving Time 2007 Updates

Simon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:49:08 GMT

Simon
Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:49:08 GMT
Interesting, we did not apply the Exchange 2000 patch as everything I’d read indicated that it was only required if CDO apps were used. Since DST rolled over for user scheduling an apt with 3rd party outside our domain the time (same TZ) is 1 hour off. Server OS TZ patches all applied with out issue, I still need to figure this one out. May be this patch realy does more than that.

Desktop Provisioning and Management

Richard — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 04:51:45 GMT

Richard
Mon, 29 Jan 2007 04:51:45 GMT
Very disappointing - I was expecting to see a list of possible products that we could start looking at, not just a list of issues to consider - we know most of the issues already, we are not familiar with what some of the solutions may be .....

Securing Communications with Certificate Services

Surya — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:15:28 GMT

Surya
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:15:28 GMT
This article is very useful who are planning for Windows CA.

Exchange Server SMTP AUTH Attacks

dave — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:04:47 GMT

dave
Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:04:47 GMT
Thank you so much... This article help me alot!

Don't Retire your 32-bit Windows Server Just Yet

Fernando — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:16:37 GMT

Fernando
Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:16:37 GMT
Please note, VMWare ESX 3.01 DOES support selected 64-bit guest OS’s, officially. Please read: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_systems_guide.pdf I would have thought that an article from Windows IT Pro would have been more accurate...not what I expected from this magazine.

Changing Your Network’s IP Address Scheme

bakera67 — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 08:24:05 GMT

bakera67
Tue, 03 Oct 2006 08:24:05 GMT
My suggestion is to not take a small class C address range and make it a huge class A or B. Consider smaller networks to limit the broadcast domain.

PIX Firewall Configuration Tips

Gavin — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 17:29:17 GMT

Gavin
Tue, 07 Feb 2006 17:29:17 GMT
This had no actual "How to" on the config of an internal Exchange server

Exchange Server Event Errors

fceledon — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:16:00 GMT

fceledon
Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:16:00 GMT
I had the same error, however, my problem was that during upgrade from W2k to W2K-R1 Terminal services was not upgraded (2003-R1 assumed that was upgrade from 2003 not from 2000) and many "Terminal Server" service related keys were missing. My error was due the lack of regsvr32 TsCfgWmi.Dll Francisco Celedon

10 Steps to Building a Sound Disaster Recovery Plan

Anonymous User — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 02:08:46 GMT

Anonymous User
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 02:08:46 GMT
This has to be the worst issue ever ! Article is uninformative and only repeats what everyone else on the web has said over the last couple of years.

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Jonathon — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 08:10:05 GMT

Jonathon
Thu, 16 Jun 2005 08:10:05 GMT
Running the recovery console in XP, I tried about everything. CHKDDSK /R said unrecoverable problems, FIXBOOT did not detect filesystem, and FIXMBR scared the hell out of me. I tried putting it on another system (actually put another HD on this box) and ran about every recovery program you can think of. I just emailed OnTrack for a quote :-( Damn Gateway, this machine is <6 months old. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know... Kidd6488-at-aol-dot-com thanks, Jonathon

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Anonymous User — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 01:48:55 GMT

Anonymous User
Thu, 24 Mar 2005 01:48:55 GMT
Everyone with issues should also know that you CAN take the drive out of the particular computer. Put the drive in another computer that has a working windows 2000, xp, 2003 server drive. Then run chkdsk from that. For the laptop guy above me, this will probably fix you up to. You can buy a laptop drive convertor to standard IDE for about $10. If you have questions, sorebie @ yahoo . com

Can't Add New Users to Exchange 2003

Anonymous User — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 10:43:40 GMT

Anonymous User
Thu, 17 Mar 2005 10:43:40 GMT
I want to reactivate a user on the Exchange server 2003.but i am not able to find it is there any place where i can find it. Also when i try to recreate it the system tells me that it is already existe so do not know what to do any advice

Installing Servers at a Remote Location

Anonymous User — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 04:22:32 GMT

Anonymous User
Wed, 16 Mar 2005 04:22:32 GMT
What happened to Page 2 - it comes up the same as page 1

Exchange Server SMTP AUTH Attacks

Anonymous User — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 06:32:37 GMT

Anonymous User
Sun, 13 Mar 2005 06:32:37 GMT
To jest test

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Anonymous User — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 07:39:13 GMT

Anonymous User
Tue, 08 Mar 2005 07:39:13 GMT
I have an IBM Thinkpad 600E Series...I am receiving the same error message, inaccessible boot device but cant access anything to run a chkdsk...hellllp

Setting Up a Local Administrator to Manage an OU

Anonymous User — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:34:18 GMT

Anonymous User
Wed, 16 Feb 2005 03:34:18 GMT
Perfect this works for me, Only thing missing is the way to block the view of the entire AD, i just want to see the delegated ou’s. and to exclude groups and users in other ou’s (when moving users to sub ou) (find) etc.

Exchange Server 2003 Disaster Recovery

Anonymous User — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:42:01 GMT

Anonymous User
Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:42:01 GMT
Hi , Article was useful ,but better to explain in simple steps

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Panchanadam — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 12:34:40 GMT

Panchanadam
Sat, 29 Jan 2005 12:34:40 GMT
I have difficulty running chkdsk g:/f on windows-2000 command prompt. I wonder how this do***ent describes that they were able to run chkdsk f:/f to fix the problems. I appreciate if somebody can give some insights on running chkdsk utility using /f option. My e-mail address is given below. spanchanadam@yahoo.com Regards, Swami

Exchange Server 2003 Disaster Recovery

Anonymous User — Wed, 19 Jan 2005 19:55:18 GMT

Anonymous User
Wed, 19 Jan 2005 19:55:18 GMT
This Exchange configuration has two servers, each in their own Admin Group. The Exchange program and its configuration were restored with the first system restore. Unfortunately, the system crashed before the Exchange backup started, so I there were no logs to restore from Thursday. Alan Sugano

Exchange Server 2003 Disaster Recovery

Anonymous User — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:17:53 GMT

Anonymous User
Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:17:53 GMT
How did you install Exchange? Was this a single server organization, or were there multiple Administrative Groups? Also, what about the logs from Thursday? If the backup crashed before it finished, were you able to play those back into the database?

Exchange Server SMTP AUTH Attacks

Anonymous User — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:31:55 GMT

Anonymous User
Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:31:55 GMT
I would like to know if a typical Account Lockout Policy (such as 5 wrong password attempts locks the acct for 10 minutes) also applies to the Exchange server. That would essentially prevent dictionary actacks by making them take forever. Anybody know?

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Anonymous User — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:20:19 GMT

Anonymous User
Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:20:19 GMT
I run a computer shop and had a problem with the business pc running W2k. It froze during web activity. Reboot got the "inaccessible boot device" error. I rebooted using the second drive (XP) but it failed to read the volume. I took it home and my home pc failed to read the volume as did all the various file recovery utilities. All my drives are FAT32 Hex editors read the volume but will not recover FAT info. Now for the rub. Booting from my second home drive ( Win ME) it would read the volume. It always reads the directory structure but sometimes it fails to retrieve files - claims drive not formatted. If the drive is powered off for a few minutes all recovers. I also get the ME blue screen sayinf "unable to write to ...." whatever the drive letter happens to be. It seems that for some reason NT based OS will not read the drive but 98/ME will Weird !!!! C orford pencoluk@yahoo.co.uk

Troubleshooting Exchange 2003 Internet Mail

Anonymous User — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 17:55:21 GMT

Anonymous User
Mon, 03 Jan 2005 17:55:21 GMT
We have been trying to fix this problem for months! Thank you for such a great informative article. There needs to be more info on the web about the implications of Antivirus software on Exchange servers

Exchange Server SMTP AUTH Attacks

Anonymous User — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 19:18:32 GMT

Anonymous User
Fri, 24 Dec 2004 19:18:32 GMT
I am still under attack and will see I a Win ;>) Olivier

You've Been Hacked. Now What?

stphxu — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:10:12 GMT

stphxu
Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:10:12 GMT
A wonderful article with extremely useful information. Hope we can have more of this kind.

Windows 2000 Inaccessible Boot Device, Recovery Console, and Chkdsk

Anonymous User — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:46:20 GMT

Anonymous User
Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:46:20 GMT
how do i run chkdsk if i dont have the 2000cd or anything what do i need to do to run it on my laptop it did teh same thing

Troubleshooting Exchange 2003 Internet Mail

Anonymous User — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:32:18 GMT

Anonymous User
Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:32:18 GMT
Just the answer that I was looking for!