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Critical Update Available for ShadowProtect 3.x Customers |
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Valued Partners:
StorageCraft would like to announce the availability of ShadowProtect 3.5.1 for download now. This software patch fixes a rare issue found in ShadowProtect 3.x which affects some incremental backup images, but not full backup image files. This issue causes some incremental image files not to include all of the file system changes made since the last backup image. Any affected file will show chkdsk errors when mounted. This rare issue occurs on some systems running Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 – but is not limited to these systems.
If you are running ShadowProtect 3.x, StorageCraft recommends that you download ShadowProtect 3.5.1, run the patch, reboot your system and begin a new backup image set – starting with a new full image of your system. To download this ShadowProtect update, please select:
ShadowProtect Server Edition:
ShadowProtect Small Business Server Edition:
ShadowProtect Desktop Edition: http://www.storagecraft.com/downloads/ENU_Desktop_Setup_3.5.1.exe
The ShadowProtect 3.5.1 update does not affect your current ShadowProtect 3.5 recovery CD. Therefore, a new .iso download is not necessary.
If you have additional questions regarding this update, please visit the StorageCraft Support Center:
http://forum.storagecraft.com/community/
For more information about this update, please refer to the ShadowProtect 3.5.1 readme file.
http://www.storagecraft.com/documents/readme_3_5_1.rtf
Thanks,
The StorageCraft Team
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Archive for December 2009 – Page 2
New post by SBS superhero, Mark Stanfill, on how to correct for missing subject fields and how to manually install SSL certificates in Small Business Server 2008. Thanks Mark!
Here’s your chance to pummel us with questions. We’ll all be there. We’re opening the floor to you. Post a question and our staff will answer it live.
During this open Q&A we will also have special guest appearances by our friends and partners as we review the past year. This should be a really fun and informative hour! Please mark your calendar and plan to attend.
When: Thursday, Dec 17, 2009 12:00 PM (EST)
Scheduled to Occur: Every Third Thursday
Duration: 1:00
Third Tier has invited you to attend an online meeting using
Microsoft Office Live Meeting.
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=855GRH&role=attend&pw=rD%7DT9T%2B2G
Meeting time: Dec 17, 2009 12:00 PM (EST)
Add to my Outlook Calendar:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/meetingICS?id=855GRH&role=attend&pw=rD%7DT9T%2B2G&i=i.ics
One of the advantages of the activation process in newer versions of Windows is that you can install the OS in evaluation mode for 60 days without having to use a license key. Additionally, you can extend this evaluation for more than 60 days by following steps outlined in several public posts (I’m including this link to Sean Daniel’s post on this).
A critical step in this process, however, is the restart of the box AFTER the slmgr.vbs -rearm command has been run. If the system is NOT restarted after this process, some unusual behaviors can be observed. This post is to identify the specific errors that can result from this specific set of circumstances so that should someone run across this situation you can see what may be going on.
I recently ran into this issue with an SBS 2008 server. When signing into the server, the above error dialog appeared on the server. Closing the error allowed continued normal use of the server, both from an interactive login point of view as well as from a remote resource use point of view. Checking the state of the activation window using the slmgr.vbs script generated the error below:
The error appears quickly (unlike the normal response of the slmgr.vbs script) and the key element is the error code. The 0xC004D302 indicates that an slmgr.vbs -rearm has been run, but the server has not been restarted. In the case of this system, a normal restart of the system returned the box to normal operation without Activation errors and slmgr.vbs ran correctly.
NOTE: This does not cover ALL possible causes for the Windows Activation Errors tied in with slmgr.vbs script errors. It is possible that this behavior could indicate other issues. But if you can log in and use the system “normally” after seeing this error (other activation errors prevent you from completing the login process and you never get to a desktop), chances are you just need to restart the server to return to normal behavior.
Great blog post by Steve Knutson on his "Failed to create Edge Subscription" error in his Essential Business Server 2008 migration from Small Business Server 2003. We've seen this error in EBS installed into virtualized environments, but the timing issue with SBS and EBS was a new twist on the same error. Thanks for the screen shot and the log content too!
Microsoft's Windows Server and Windows Azure teams are now one, the Server & Cloud Division.
Fairfax, Va. — December 9, 2009 — SMB Virtualization, a firm providing virtualization information and training for small and medium sized information technology (IT) businesses, has partnered with Third Tier, a leading provider of remote support services for IT professionals, to offer advanced incident and project support services for virtualized networks.
SMB Virtualization supplies IT firms with the knowledge to sell and implement virtualization projects for their clients through training via whitepapers, books, videos and DVD sets. Third Tier will provide these same firms with the project and incident support needed to implement these projects successfully from a technical perspective.
By leveraging this relationship, IT firms can enter into this lucrative market, ready to sell virtualization tools and equipped with the technical backing and expertise needed to succeed.
“In my view, virtualization stands out as one of the most important vertical markets,” said Dave Sobel, CEO, SMB Virtualization. “As such, SMB Virtualization is pleased to partner with Third Tier to provide IT service providers with the comprehensive training and solutions needed for implementing a successful virtualization practice.”
“We’re excited about the opportunity this partnership presents to assist small and medium IT firms in delivering state of the art virtualization solutions to their clients. With this partnership behind them IT firms of all sizes can confidently move into virtualization.” comments Amy Babinchak, Managing Partner of Third Tier. “By combining our services, IT firms can deliver new and exciting solutions to their customers.”
About Third Tier
Third Tier’s expertise includes a wide range of SMB technologies including Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Active Directory, DNS, Hyper-V, System Center, Macintosh, Calyptix Access Enforcer, SBS, EBS and general networking. See www.thirdtier.net.
About SMB Virtualization
SMB Virtualization is a Fairfax, Virginia-based firm providing virtualization information and training for small and medium sized IT businesses. The company’s products include white papers, DVDs and books as well as pertinent industry information delivered via the company’s blog. Please visit us at www.smbvirtualization.net for the latest virtualization news.
Microsoft Joins Push for Better Computer Science Education in U.S. - Thanks to each of the organizations involved (Microsoft, Association for Computing Machinery, Google Inc., Intel Corporation, the Computer Science Teachers Association, National Center for Women & Information Technology and the Computing Research Association) for getting the awareness out there for this. In my opinion, what also need to be addressed in our schools is K-12 math and science. The current curriculum from what I've seen does not cover the enough of the basics, or enough problem solving, critical thinking, and research. I am not an educator, but as a father of an elementary student, and as a business owner who owns a technology consulting firm, I feel our public school system is setting the bar way too low for our students. Curriculum like what is being used by K12.com, is doing a much better job of this from what I've seen, but we need to have this level of quality across all our school systems.
Ok – so I have a somewhat funny story to share . . . About a week ago, I received a monitoring alert via Kaseya that free space on the C: drive on my SBS 2008 server was getting low. I logged in to the server, opened My Computer and it showed that I was using 73 GB of my 80GB C: partition. So I downloaded TreeSize Free to see what was taking up all of the space. The problem I ran in to was that TreeSize was showing that I was only using 31.9 GB of space on my C: – no where near the 73 GB that Windows was reporting. TreeSize did indicate that it couldn’t access the C:\PerfLogs or C:\System Volume Information. I manually verified the PerfLogs folder was empty, and I did find that I had approx 8GB in ShadowCopies for the C: drive that I didn’t need since all of my critical shares had been moved to a different partition, so I disabled ShadowCopies on the C: drive, but that still left me with a 33GB discrepancy between Windows & TreeSize . . .
At this point, I am going to share two crucial bits of information: 1) This is the first time I’ve dealt with low-drive space on a Windows 2008 box. 2) I’ve been using TreeSize for years, and by force of habit, I always open My Computer, right-click on the drive I want to scan and launch TreeSize from the context menu. So can you see where I went wrong?
Yep – I was quietly bitten by UAC in SBS 2008. By launching TreeSize in my normal fashion, TreeSize was not running with elevated permissions and was unable to access all of the directories on the drive, many of which were several layers deep. Interestingly enough, TreeSize Free didn’t throw any errors when it encountered a directory it couldn’t access. Once I launched TreeSize Free from the Start Menu with elevated permissions, it was able to scan the full drive and show me my smoking gun – 27GB of IIS logs for the WSUS Administration site collected over the last 12 months. So after cleaning up my unnecessary Shadow Copies & purging old IIS logs, I’m back to 41.2 GB (51.5%) free space on my C: drive . . .
So who wrote this blog and what do they do for a living anyway?
We’re Third Tier. We provide advanced Third Tier support for IT Professionals.
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LinkedINWith the release of Mac OS 10.6 (aka “Snow Leopard”), Apple has incorporated the ability to connect the Mail, iCal, and Address Book apps natively with Exchange 2007. Unfortunately, support for this is NOT available for Exchange 2003 servers. Here’s how to set up Apple Mail:
- Open the Mail app.
- From the Mail menu, select Preferences (or press Apple-; to open Preferences).
- Select the Accounts tab in the Preferences window.
- Click the Add button (the “+” button in the lower left corner of the Accounts window).
- Enter the Full Name, Email Address, and Password for the Exchange account (NOTE: the e-mail address needs to match the default e-mail address on the Exchange account. In other words, if your outbound e-mail shows your address as Jonathan.Dough@smallbizco.net, then enter it exactly that way. Entering it as jonathan.dough@smallbizco.net may cause problems) and click Continue.
- If your Exchange server is correct set up for Autodiscover, the server will be found and automatic configuration will be attempted. Also, if your mail server is using a private SSL certificate, you may see one or more prompts about not being able to identify the server. If you have concerns, contact the team responsible for your mail server. Otherwise, click Continue or Connect if you see these prompts, but understand that you may be putting some account information at risk by doing so.
- If your e-mail address does not match your login name (i.e., the address is Jonathan.Dough@smallbizco.net, but the login is jonathandough), you will be prompted to enter your login credentials. Change the username to match the username you use to sign into Outlook Web Access, then click Continue.
- Once the account setup has confirmed the connection to the server, you will be prompted to set up your Address Book contacts and iCal calendars. Uncheck these boxes if you do not want to synchronize your iCal calendars with your Exchange calendars or your Address Book contacts with your Exchange contacts. Click Create when finished.
- Close the Accounts window when complete.
Now you will see a set of mail folders for your Exchange account under the Mailboxes section of Apple Mail. It may take some time for the folders to synchronize if you have quite a bit of mail on the server.
NOTE 1: When setting up Apple Mail to communicate with your Exchange 2007 server in this way, you are working directly with the information that is on the server, NOT on a local copy that has been downloaded on your Mac. That means that if you delete an e-mail from Apple Mail, it is immediately deleted from the server and will NOT be available to any other mail clients you may be using to access the information on your Exchange server (i.e., Outlook on a PC or a mobild phone that has native Exchange connectivity).
NOTE 2: If you have done an in-place upgrade from a previous version of Mac OS 10 to 10.6, there is a change that iCal may not be able to synchronize with the Exchange server. I have run into this issue and have not yet been able to find a solution, but others have not encountered this problem, so it’s unclear what the exact cause is at this point.
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