Pharos Mobile Print: Print server Firewall

Pharos was nice enough to let us Demo Pharos MobilePrint and since there isn't much out there on Pharos Mobile Print I thought I'd post a few small things that might help some of you. I'm using Pharos MobilePrint version 1.2.

If your sending email to Pharos Mobile Print it has to verify your email address. From the documentation MobilePrint and Uniprint Integration located on the Pharos install media.

MobilePrint first checks if the user’s email address is in its internal cache (if the user has printed before their address will already be in the cache). If it is not found MobilePrint then checks in the Pharos Database.

If you are sure that the email account is correctly set on the user account. Either from Pharos Administrator or the DB.

SELECT  [user_id]      
,[active]      
,[id]      
,[email]  
FROM [pharos].[dbo].[users]  
where id like 'username1'

If its set and the service is still asking your accounts to register their email address instead it means the Pharos MobilePrint Server for what ever reason can't connect to the Pharos MobilePrint Auth Service. Check that the firewall port is open on the print server. Port 808. However if you have this issue refer to the Mobile Print Installation and Configuration Guide and check all the ports because its likely you have more than just this one firewall port issue.


The Pharos MobilePrint Log, which i set to “c:\PharosLogs” will display the following.

[2012/10/11 15:10:24 PDE8 T018 d MP_ConsignmentTracker] 84e2ba58-9023-561d-af42-3ee75a505f29 Indexing email from 'test1@test.nku.edu'
[2012/10/11 15:10:24 PDE8 T05F d MP_ConsignmentTracker] 84e2ba58-9023-561d-af42-3ee75a505f29 Starting Workflow for sender 'test1@test.nku.edu'
[2012/10/11 15:10:24 PDE8 T05F d MP_ConsignmentTracker] 84e2ba58-9023-561d-af42-3ee75a505f29 Sender email address not in cache
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T025 w MP_WorkflowService] An attempt was made to resume a Workflow Instances that has either completed or been deleted. This request will now be ignored.
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_WorkflowServiceExtension] An error occurred while attempting to process a response on the 'authentication' queue for message '465738ac-0a35-5c90-bfe2-b038a51f7dbd'.
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_WorkflowServiceExtension] Exception: The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state.
Type: CommunicationObjectFaultedException
StackTrace:   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelFactory.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelFactory.TypedServiceChannelFactory`1.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.ChannelFactory.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.ChannelFactory.System.IDisposable.Dispose()
   at MobilePrint.Service.Workflow.Extensions.AuthenticationManager.<.ctor>b__0(AuthenticateResponse response)
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_RestInterface] An unhandled error occurred while processing a REST command.
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_RestInterface] Exception: The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state.
Type: CommunicationObjectFaultedException
StackTrace:   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelFactory.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelFactory.TypedServiceChannelFactory`1.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.ChannelFactory.OnClose(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.ChannelFactory.System.IDisposable.Dispose()
   at MobilePrint.Service.Workflow.Extensions.AuthenticationManager.<.ctor>b__0(AuthenticateResponse response)
   at MobilePrint.Core.Workflow.Library.QueueManager.<>c__DisplayClass1`1.b__0(BaseQueueResponse o)
   at System.Reactive.AnonymousObserver`1.Next(T value)
   at System.Reactive.AbstractObserver`1.OnNext(T value)
   at System.Reactive.Subjects.Subject`1.OnNext(T value)
   at MobilePrint.Core.Workflow.Library.QueueManager.PushResponse(String queueName, BaseQueueResponse packet)
   at MobilePrint.Service.Workflow.RestResource.WebResource.PushQueue(String queueName, HttpRequestMessage request)
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T025 w MP_WorkflowService] An attempt was made to resume a Workflow Instances that has either completed or been deleted. This request will now be ignored.
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_WorkflowServiceExtension] An error occurred while attempting to process a response on the 'authentication' queue for message 'e71cfa3f-0d71-52b2-a538-9ab27ed45271'.
[2012/10/11 15:10:45 PDE8 T026 e MP_WorkflowServiceExtension] Exception: The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state.
Type: CommunicationObjectFaultedException

Vmware ESXi 5.0 update 1 Sending Traffic out unused VMNIC because of Failback

We've had some troubled with our Equallogic SAN Performance which lead to us really looking at the iSCSI/Equallogic best practices. This post with a few others will address what we've learned and I wish I could say the Support call to Dell Equallogic Team has been really useful but expect for the exception of one tech named "Chris" that really shared some useful information on the Equallogic side of things we've been on our own for the last 3 weeks.

One of those problems I noticed and shared with the Equallogic team was that following Equallogic's Configuring and Installing the EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module for VMware vSphere and PS Series SANs  guide to MPIO for iSCSI targets Traffic on the ESXi Host was coming out of the incorrect  vmnic.

The Environment:

• ESXi Host 5.0.0 build 768111 fully patched as of 9-16-2012
• Dell Equallogic PS6100XS with firmware 5.2.5
• Using EqualLogic-ESX-Multipathing-Module v1.1.1

The Problem

If you follow the install guide for the EqualLogic-ESX-Multipathing-Module and use the setup.pl script for the configuring of a vSwitch or Distributed Switch  (vDS) you'll create two ISCSI vmk's and a storage heartbeat vmk.

vSwitch Setup for just iSCSI

On both of those iSCSI networks you configure Nic Teaming and Failover to only use one of Physical Adapters and mark the other unsed and of course alterternate which one is marked unused for the other ISCSI Network.

The Dell setup.pl script marks the failback to No on each iSCSI Network. So  following these best practices in my setup I would expect that vmk2 traffic could only come out vmnic2 as vmnic3 is set to be Unused. And vise versa vmk3 traffic would only come out vmnic3 as vmnic2 is marked as Unused for it.

However when I SSH to the ESXi host and run "esxtop" and hit "n" for network I see the following showing that vmk2 is infact using that what is suppose to be an "unused" vmnic3.  I pointed this out to Dell and they sais it was odd didn't have any answers yet they ever followed up with me on it. I got asked for vmware supports but not even asked to recreate it.

The Fix

After setting this up every way I could think of; trying it using both vSwitches and Distributed Switches, rebuilding my hosts from CD, trying different ESX hosts with different hardware, tried hosts on different network infrastructure. All with the same issue of it using the incorrect nic.

After all I used the script to create the setup to ensure it was correct and best practice. I create it by hand instead of the script and double checked every setting to ensure everything matched. Still no luck. So of course after it was already time to go home I checked ESXTOP one last time on a ESX host I wasn't finished configuring  and behold it was working correctly. Each vmk was bound to its correct vmnic.

vmk using the correct vmnic

What I hadn't done was set the failback to no yet. Everything else was done.

The Reason this Happened
After doing some reading in this epic post by Joshua Townsend that laid out the resent changes round VMware iSCSI Networking. In fact his quick fix at the time was to in fact turn on failback to no. Looking at the EqualLogic-ESX-Multipathing-Module v1.1.1 setup.pl you can see it following Joshua's quick fix and setting the failback option. I also found the same thing in version 1.1.0. The scripts comments even say that its doing so because of a Vmware bug. However VMware says that bug is now fixed (VMware KB 2008144) and instead looks like setting this option introduces a bug instead.

So if you used the Dell EqualLogic-ESX-Multipathing-Module setup script or followed the install guide you may want to check if you do in fact have this problem because Network throughput, Multipathing and Network Redundancy may not work as you expect.

VMworld is about to Begin.

And we have great seats right down front.

Issue Installing FTP within IIS when you have the Firewall Enabled

So in Windows 2008 R2, there is a bug when installing FTP within IIS when you have the firewall enabled.

After you install the role service, the system automatically sets up the firewall rules needed and enabled them.  One of those inbound rules is “FTP Server (FTP Traffic-In)”.  Though this port should be open you see that if you enable firewall logging its dropping any traffic on this port.   The problem comes from the service “ftpsvc” didn’t get its service SID set correctly.  More on service SIDs can be found at http://sourcedaddy.com/windows-7/understanding-service-sids.html  and http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2008/02/03/ws2008-windows-service-hardening.aspx.

To view the current SID for ftpsvc run the following from a command problem.

sc qsidtype ftpsvc

                (Note: You can’t just use “sc” in PowerShell because “sc” is an alias for Set-Content.)

Which should give the following output.

[SC] QueryServiceConfig2 SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: ftpsvc

SERVICE_SID_TYPE:  UNRESTRICTED

This looks correct, but if you run the following command that sets the service sid to what it already is:

sc sidtype ftpsvc unrestricted

               

                Then restart ftpsvc with:

                                net stop ftpsvc

                                net start ftpsvc

The service now works, this has been a problem of over 2 years and a bug report exists at http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsServerFeedback/feedback/details/524831/default-ftp-firewall-port-21-rule-is-broken-in-windows-2008-r2.  Thank you Transsient77 for the fix.

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Mvc, Version=1.0.0.0 ...

Today while updating a previously Visual Studio 2010 Website to use Visual Studio 2012 I got an error building the website in VS2012. The website calls some web services and error occurred any way I tried to build the site.

Reference.svcmap: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Mvc, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. App_WebReferences/WebServiceName/

This seemed odd because I hadn't used System.Web.Mvc in that project and it wasn't used as namespace or an added assembly. After looking around I did find several posts talking about similar issues and my best guess is that one of the used DLL's actually require it.

Solution

While I don't know the exact cause the solution was simple enough. Add the following to the web.conf file.

  .....
  
    
      
        
          
          
        
      
    
   
 ........

After which I finally found an answer on stackoverflow with the same solution.

When you add  Service References and  use the advance settings and but chose to not reuse types in referenced assembles. If you already added the Service Reference edit by clicking Configure Service Reference on the svcmap.

Add Service Advance Settings - Do not Reuse Types

I currently don't know why either of these fix it and don't have the time today to dig in and figure out why.

Goodluck.

VMWorld 2012

I'm surprised  and excited to announce that I"ll be attending VMworld 2012 this year and even more surprised to say I'll actually sitting on a panel to talk about “Doing More with Less” by Leveraging Desktop Virtualization to Reduce Costs While Improving Learning. I'll be speaking about how Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is offering more services to our students and faulty. Offering a better experiences, faster delivery of professor needs, using less time of support staff, and doing it all without spending more than we were previously.

I'll be attending VMworld with Paul Ritter, NKU's Server Team Manager,  so expect additional VMworld posts from us in the coming weeks. Also remember that if you attending VMworld to register for our session and if you have questions please leave them in the comments and I'll attempt to get answers ahead of time.


EUC3380 - Live Panel Discussion on How Education Customers Are “Doing More with Less” by Leveraging Desktop Virtualization to Reduce Costs While Improving Learning


I'll also try and take this chance to release some projects I built for NKU but honestly never got around to publishing or polishing enough for general release.

For an example I wrote a website for reporting VMware View Statistics (a feature sorely missing from the VMware product).

Active Connections from the Statistics Site

I modified the powershell scripts in I use for the Thin Client made using Windows 7 to provide a Lab Status Web Page for students that shows in real time which labs have Thin Clients and how many.

SAP Solution Manager - Web Site not clickable

Working with Solution Manager 7.1 transaction solman_setup I was surprised to fine that while the web page opened; buttons and and links were not clickable. I was using IE 8 and did try comparability mode but no difference. Here's the error in detail.

Message: 'UCF_Properties' is undefined
wd_sise_main_app
Line: 1
Char: 1222
Code: 0
URI: http://:8000/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/wd_sise_main_app?sap-language=EN

Solution

1. In Transaction SE38, enter and execute the report WDG_MAINTAIN_UR_MIMES. Under "Menu:, double-click "Delpoy MIMES". Then when that has finished, double-click "Force MIME deployment".
2. In  Transaction SMICM, choose the "Goto --> HTTP Plugin --> Server Cache --> Invalidate Globally. Click "Yes".
3. Delete Temporary Internet Files out of Internet Explorer: Tools--> Internet Options --> (General Tab, Browsing History section) Delete.
4. Make sure that IE  comparability mode  is turned off the close the browser and re-run transaction solman_setup.

Links 

http://scn.sap.com/thread/1974122#10513070

SAP Solution Manager 7.1 - Path component contains reserved character (':'): K:NaN.exe

Problem

While installing SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SR 1 on Windows with SQL today I ran into the following error trying to run the Installer.

An error occurred while processing option SAP Solution Manager 7.1 SR1 > SAP Systems > MS SQL Server > Central System > Central System( Last error reported by the step: Path component contains reserved character (':'): K:NaN.exe). You can now:

• Choose Retry to repeat the current step.
• Choose Log Files to get more information about the error.
• Stop the option and continue with it later.

Log files are written to C:/Program Files/sapinst_instdir/SOLMAN71SR1/SYSTEM/MSS/CENTRAL/AS/sapinst_dev.log

Solution

From the log sapinst_dev.log it looks like it fails to find the JAVA_HOME Path. 

TRACE      2012-05-31 11:53:48.877
NWDiagAgent.getJavaHome()
TRACE      2012-05-31 11:53:48.888 NWOption(sapjvmHome).value()sTRACE      2012-05-31 11:53:48.888 NWOption.getDefaultValue(sapjvmHome)
TRACE[W]   2012-05-31 11:53:48.891 [ianxcreghelper.cpp:283]           CNTRegistryKey::CNTRegistryKey(., HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit, ...) Error 2 (The system cannot find the file specified.
) in execution of a 'RegOpenKeyEx' function, line (78), with parameter (Software\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit).
TRACE[W]   2012-05-31 11:53:48.892 [ianxcreghelper.cpp:465]
           CNTRegistryKey::CNTRegistryKey(., HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit, ...)
The subkey 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JavaSoft\Java Development Kit' does not exist on the 'localhost' host.
ERROR      2012-05-31 11:53:48.912 [syxxcpath.cpp:63]
           CSyPathComponent::CSyPathComponent(const iastring& stringValue, bool mightBePrefix)
           lib=syslib module=syslib
FSL-02107  Path component contains reserved character (':'): K:NaN.exe

That wasn't my first guess of course because if you read the Selection 1.1 New Features of

SAP - You are not authorized to make changes

Ran into a problem today during a fresh setup of SAP Solution Manager and I found very little about it on google so I thought I would share.

While following the SOLMAN_SETUP Transaction I started to get an error saying "You are not authorized to make changes" when trying to make any changes. This was after I had restarted the configuration and really puzzled me as it had worked a few minutes before and the account I was logged in with was 'ddic'.

After some investigation thinking I had messed something up in the SAP installation or the system corrupted something I noticed that when I reran the SOLMAN_SETUP Transaction I got the following login prompt from Netweaver.

I finally figured out that the SSO Browser Logon ticket was the problem. I had opened another SAP Portal Instance to look at some settings and that had caused the issue. Easy solution to just completely close all the browser windows and rerun the SOLMAN_SETUP Transaction, I had just been I had been over thinking the problem.

More on the SAP Browser Ticket.

Expanded Guide for Windows 8 on VMware View

Last week I started trying to get a Vmware View Pool working for Demoing Windows 8 for users. At my boss's request because we could show what we can do with View and also preventing people from digging up old PCs and laptops to install it on.


I quickly found the post made by Andre Leibovici at http://myvirtualcloud.net/?p=2991 on the steps to creating a VMware Pool of Windows 8 VMs. Great blog by the way. This post was exactly what I was looking for but I ran into a few problems like others in the comments of his blog that I wanted to try and answer if possible.


Normally we can we can install windows and then the VMware Tools followed by the VMware View Agent. Then create a pool selecting that VM to be replicated/cloned. However currently after looking at the logs I believe there is a issue with the VMware View Agent communication with the View Server which shows up as "Waiting for agent".

Waiting for Agent Problem

Before I had started to follow Leibovici's post I tried to create a Windows 8 VMware Automated Pool like I normally would. This is where one of my problems came up. I created the Windows 8 VM, Installed the VMware tools, then Agent and tried to create a Pool. I cloned my windows 8 VM to 5 VMs , customized them and started them. Then started "Waiting for agent". For anyone that has tried this might know this is as far as the VM ever gets. You can see the errors by checking out the logs on both the client and server.

View Agent Log Events Path: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VDM
View Server Log Events Path: C:\ ProgramData\VMware\VDM\logs


At this time I know of no solution for this issue. These VM's do exist in the ADAM Database under the Servers OU but changing the pae-OSVersion has no effect. You'll find the following links talking about it it but none of which provided a solution as of yet.

VMware KB : 1010441 - Waiting for Agent
VMware Communities: Windows 8 with View 5

While I had no luck finding a solution for this I believe its why Leibovici guide has your create a manual pool and connect the Windows 8 vm's as "Other Sources" in order to get around this problem.

Other Sources

If your like me you may never use this feature of View. If so you let me show you it should look like. From inside the VMware View Admin web site expand View Configuration and select Registered Desktop Sources. You'll notice that i have a Zero here because in this screen shot I have not yet successively connected a machine as a Other Source.

This shows you two types of sources Terminal Services Sources and Other Sources. Other Sources is what were interested in. Other Sources are normally Physical machines with the VMware View Agent Installed so that View Offer these machines in a Manual Pool. Because following Leibovici's post we want our Windows 8 VM to show up under Other Sources.

How to Search VMware View ADAM Instance

A few of the VMware View posts I've read recently had people searching for Objects by hand from the Servers OU in the VMware View Adam Database.  I"m not sure if they just didn't feel like explaining how to search it but I figured I'd five a quick guide on how to do this because even in a small View deployment this can be like finding a needle in a hay stack as there can easily be hundreds of objects.

First we need to Connect to the VMware View ADAM instance which I covered here. .

Next Right Click the "Default naming Context..."  and select New, and then Query.

Open a New Query Window. Enter what ever you want for the name.
Most likely for the "Root of Search" you want the to click browse and select the top node.
and finally the Query String you'll need to edit to find what your looking for.

Usually I'm looking for a Pool of Vms or specific VM.

When looking for a pool of VMs with same base name I can use a '*' as a wildcard search. Be sure to replace basename with your vm pool name.


(&(objectClass=pae-VM)(pae-displayname=basename*) )


If I know the full VM name then something like the following.


(&(objectClass=pae-VM)(pae-displayname=FullVMName) )

Play around and see what works. To edit your query right click it choose settings.

You can also use any type of boolean search to do more complicated searches.

Logical Operator	Description
=	Equals to
&	AND
!	Not
|	OR

Lync Enterprise fails establishing a connection to SQL Server

Today I tried updating are Lync 2010 environment with CU4 in order to add the Mobility Service only to run into issues trying to do the database update. First let me say if you want to do this update please follow an amazing post by ZeroHourSleep. I however had additional issues I believe to be caused by the fact that we have an Standard instance and an Enterprise instance of lync in our enviroment.

The reason for this is because we originality setup Lync to just work for campus internal IM, for this standard was fine. Then our telcom/networking team wanted to deploy Lync as maybe a video and chat service. We get it up and running Lync Enterprise and then telcom/netowrking lost interest and only wanted to look at Cisco systems instead. So now we have both Standard and Enterprise instances deployed with users on both. I left the system as they left it but people are wantingto use the mobility features so now I'm trying to update it and get it working again.

As part of the CU4 updates I tried to use the database update command but I only get errors like the following.

PS C:\Users\towlesd> Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn SQLC2MAIN -SqlInstanceName MAINDB2 -UseDefaultSqlPaths


Install-CsDatabase : Parameter set cannot be resolved using the specified named parameters.
At line:1 char:19
+ Install-CsDatabase <<<< -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFqdn SQLC2MAIN -SqlInstanceName MAINDB2 -UseDefaultSqlPaths
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Install-CsDatabase], ParameterBindingException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : AmbiguousParameterSet,Microsoft.Rtc.Management.D eployment.InstallDatabaseCmdlet

After more research I figure out that the enterprise environment machines can not download the Topology.

PS C:\Users\towlesd> Get-CsTopology -asxml
Get-CsTopology : Cannot read topology. Verify that the topology data is accessible.
At line:1 char:15
+ Get-CsTopology <<<<  -asxml
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) 
[Get-CsTopology], SqlConnectionException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : A network-related or instance-specific error occurred
 while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible.
 Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections.
 (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified),Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Xds.GetOcsTopologyCmdlet

I find this command finaly which told me the server and database database the enterprise system was trying and failing to connect. (I've change my server name and instance name of course) Run this from the Enterprise Lync Server management Shell.

PS C:\Users\towlesd> Get-CsManagementConnection

StoreProvider : Sql
Connection    : Data Source=(sqlserverfqdn)\(sqlinstancename);Initial Catalog=xds;Integrated Security=True
ReadOnly      : False

Following this I tried to extablish a remote connect myself to that database and instance with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. The connection failed which is good because if it had worked I would of been really confused as to what to try next.

I remote to that database server which is the Lync Standard Pool Server. Because its a VM I take a snapshot of the VM just in case something goes wrong. Lets just I once had OCS installed but an OCS  upgrade patch destroyed it and it was easier to just re-install with Lync.

At the Lync standard machine and find that while users are connected just find remote systems can not access its SQL instance. On the Lync Standard server I try to open its SQL Server Configuration Manager.

SQL Server Configuration Manager - Invalid Class.png 

SQL Server Configuration Manager: Cannnot connect to the WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2008 and latter servers with SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Invalid Class [0x80041010]

Looking are round I found a great post by Michael Aspengren on how to fix it here.

C:\Users\towlesd> cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared> mofcomp sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof
Microsoft (R) MOF Compiler Version 6.1.7600.16385
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp. 1997-2006. All rights reserved.
Parsing MOF file: sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof
MOF file has been successfully parsed
Storing data in the repository...
Done!

This cleaned up the issue of SQL Server Configuration Manager not starting. I rebooted here hoping to clear any starting issues SQL might have had but the connections fail all the same. Looking I find that Firewall is turned on and controlled by a GPO policy yet the server is in a Servers OU that is suppose to block GPO that controls firewalls. I added the SQL Server Firewall Ports following the Microsoft guide here.  I added the following rules:

• Rule to allow TCP 1433
• Rules for SQL Server when using dynamic ports for a program
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.RTC\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe
• And be sure to add a rule for the SQL Server Browser to open UDP port 1434 because we are trying to connect to an instances of the Database Engine that is not listening on port 1433.

After opening those and rebooting I was able to remotely connect with with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. Then testing from the Lync Enterprise back-end I was finally able to download the Topology.

Downloaded Topology 

Successful

The bottom line is that this was all caused because a GPO turned on a machines local firewall. While I wish I had just checked to that begin with its easy to say that after you've already tracking down the cause.

Getting back to the Lync database upgrade


Working on updated the database still failed.

Result of trying to updating the Lync Enterprise Database

I know this is probably related to having the CS database with the Lync Standard store and my follows will be to move the CS database to the Enterprise database and not the Standard Pool I'd rather fix my current problem before adding more issues or variables.

Lync Database can't Move Central Management Store

I was finally able to update the database as part of CU4 by running it on the Lync Standard Server which held the Central Management Store and then rebooted all the Enterprise Lync Servers.

Install-CsDatabase -Update -ConfiguredDatabases -SqlServerFQDN (lync server)

Other Links

• http:blog.insidelync.com - Great Guide one the Lync Databases for both both local and back-end

Vmware View use of USB Document Camera

Since the roll out of  VMware View has been so successful here at Northern Kentucky University I was asked to look into using VMware View to replace the classroom computers. While I personally believed this wasn't the best fit for VMware View I still figured I would see if it was capable of it from a technical stand point.

One of the requirements for this was the use of External USB devices like document cameras. I borrowed a Epson ELPDC11 and connected it via USB to my Windows 7 machine. Windows 7 found and installed the correct drivers and I followed by loading the document camera software and ensure that it worked on my Windows 7 Machine.

Document Camera working from Physical Machine

Now I closed the document camera software and used VMware View to connect to another Windows 7 VM. On that View VM I installed the document camera software like I did on physical machine. Launching the software it fails to find the document camera; this is expected because I have to tell VMware View to connect to the USB device. To do this from the toolbar chose "Connect USB Device" make sure there is a check next to the Document Camera.

VMware View Connect USB Document Camera

Vmware View Client may fail to connect to the document camera because the device is in use by my physical machine. 

Unable to Connect 'Seiko Epson EPSON ELPDC11' device. Device may be in use by another application."

unable to connect to Vmwware View USB Device

This is because some software on the physical machine still has control of the device, close the software there and any background process that maybe listening for button presses on the document camera. Once that software is found and closed the View should now allow the USB connection to the device. Windows 7 should now find and install the driver. Once that completes now the document camera software should connect.

Results 

Document Camera  connect to Vmware View

So the VMware View VM successfully connects to the document camera but its very laggy and fails to get a clean picture. This is just a guess but I'd bet the connection is to slow for the constantly updating picture. I left this running for 20 minutes it never managed to sync the entire picture before it continued back to nearly all grey.

My VM's are running hardware version 8 with View Agent 5 on ESXi 5.0. I tested with both VMware View Client 4.6 and 5.0 and while I got slightly better results with 5.0 it wasn't very much. Basically client version 5.0 displays more of the image before going all grey.

I"ve looked for more information but not found much. Vmware says USB redirection performance is affected by processing speed and for my test I was using 2 CPU 3 GHz machine. Luckily we aren't using Hardware Thin Clients because of my previous work on Creating our Thin Clients but I wouldn't think they would provide better results (Let me know if i'm wrong on this).

I've also looked at the Vmware View KB post here for a way to make the USB faster but haven't found any. Looking at thinkvirt.com explains the cause more but no solution.

Blogger Draft Missing "Google Scribe"

I sadly just recently starting using "Google Scribe" in helping to write my blog posts and I can not describe now nice it was. Over the years using IDEs like Visual Studios I've often wished i could have an auto complete for regular writing as well. I was so happy with it I showed everyone in the office.  I found that programmers that often used IDE's love it and others that did not, like my wife didn't see the point. I think they would in time but I was literary in love with it.

However today I began writing a new post only to find the "Google Scribe" option was no longer in Blogger Draft. I can't find a notice or even anyone complaining about it so rather than giving up I figured I'd post something hoping to find others that also miss the feature as greatly as myself.

Blogger In Draft Iintroducing Google Scribe in Blogger

Please bring this feature back, there are few things in technology that completely change the way I work but this was one of them. Here's hoping it comes back soon.

HP Quicktest Professional error with ALM/QC Connection

After installing the HP QuickTest Professional Add-In to the ALM/QC I tried to connect a QTP client to the HP ALM server.

• After opening the QTP client. 
• Under File toolbar click "ALM/QC Connection"
• Enter http://:8080/qcbin/
• Example: http://SapALM1:8080/qcbin/
• Check Reconnect to server on startup
• Click Connect.

Trying to connect runs then after trying to updating the QC connectivity it fails with the following error.

HP QTP Following client components were not downloaded successfully

Following client components were not downloaded successfully:

1. WebClient.dll :
Access is denied.

2. tdclntui.dll :
Access is denied.

3. OTAClient.dll :
Access is denied.

4. tdclient.dll :
Access is denied.

5. bp_exec_agent.exe :
Access is denied.

Close all connections to HP ALM Server and try again

Researching the cause I also found an issue loading the Application Lifecycle Management Web interface failed to load because of Extension manifests merger failed but resolving it did not affect the QTP issue connecting to ALM.


Solution

Figured out it was resolved by starting QuickTest Professional as an administrator. You would think it would work considering I was already logged in as an Administrator account and User Account Control was set to never notify but it didn't work till I right clicked and said to run as Administrator.


Links
http://www.sqaforums.com/showflat.php?Number=676438
http://www.sqaforums.com/showflat.php?Number=534035
http://eyeontesting.com/questions/1014/what-is-required-to-install-qtp-add-in-for-qcalm-without-qtp-installed

Application Lifecycle Management Web interface failed to load because of Extension manifests merger failed

I ran into the following error trying to load the HP Application Lifecycle Management Web interface. My client machine was a Windows 7 VM accessing HP ALM 11.

Following client components were not downloaded successfully:

1. CLoader:
Extension manifests merger failed. See mmerge.log.txt for details.

Close all Connections to Server and try again.

CLoader Extension manifest merge failed

Solution


Turn off Internet Protection Mode and restart Explorer.

Turn Off IE Protected Mode

HP LoadRunner Software for SAP Applications acronyms

I recently given the project to install and setup testing for our SAP systems.  I was provided the downloaded zips and rars but found everything was labeled with acronyms. Since I have no experience with the HP/SAP products I needed to look them up and I figured someone else might also need them defined as well.

SAP QC = SAP Quality Center by HP
SAP TAO = SAP Test Acceleration and Optimization
QTP = HP Quick-Test Professional
ALM = HP Application Lifecycle Management

Note: HP Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is also available in three editions which provide subsets of ALM functionality — HP Quality Center Starter Edition, HP Quality Center Enterprise Edition, and HP ALM Performance Center Edition.

I’m finding very little information about the setup and installation so if anyone has a good guide or "how to" please post it in the comments.

Links
http://forums.sdn.sap.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2117694 
Integrated Testing Solution Using SAP Solution Manager, HP-QC/QTP and SAP TAO

How to clone a Pharos Server for Development and Testing Purposes

Currently I'm working upgrade our Pharos 8.1 to 8.2 and thought I'd share how I first work out the upgrade process on a cloned VM of our production Server.

Disclaimer: Before we start, this process is at your own risk and is easy to make very harmful mistakes to your Pharos Environment. If your not clear on what your doing please stop and don't continue until you are clear you will not be harming anything. Also I'm betting this process is not recommend nor supported by Pharos Systems nor am I responsible for any loss or harm to your systems.

I'll note here this process isn't needed if you truly have a development environment that closely matches production and is completely isolated from your production environment. For myself while we have a development environment it doesn't have any were near the printers and clients to consider it a printing development environment. Ours is missing Mac clients because its primarily all VMware VMs.

Firstly clone the production Pharos Server or Servers VM, in and do not run VMware customization on the VM and don'ts power on the newly created VM. If your production Server(s) is not a VM you can do a Physical to Virtual create a VM of it.

Now I don't have the SQL Database on the local Pharos machine but in on a remote SQL cluster. Also there is a static IP Address assigned in the VM so its critical that the cloned VM not be allowed to talk on the production network at all until we're done making our changes. After the VM is cloned remove the Nic from the VM, you could just disconnect it but I want be very sure someone else doesn't reconnect it till I'm ready for it to talk on the network. Also this will allow us to be sure the new Nic doesn't have a statically assigned IP address settings on it.

Copying Database Errors in Microsoft SQL Management Studio

While using the Copying Database task Wizzard in Microsoft SQL Management Studio I've run into the following issues. Also when the Wizard fails it says to check the Log on the destination server.  It means the Windows Application Event Log on the destination.

SQL Server Agent Service Permissions

If the Error in the event log looks like the following.

Date  2/9/2012 2:05:25 PM
Log  Windows NT (Application)

Source  SQLISPackage100
Category  (0)
Event  1074802950
User  NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
Computer  DestSQLServer.domain.com

Message
Event Name: OnError
 Message: Failed to connect to server SourceSQLServer\NamedInstance.
StackTrace:    at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ConnectionManager.Connect()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Tasks.TransferObjectsTask.TransferObjectsTask.OpenConnection(Server& server, ServerProperty serverProp)
InnerException-->Login failed for user 'NKU\DEVPHAROSSERV1$'.
StackTrace:    at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.CompleteLogin(Boolean enlistOK)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, SqlConnection owningObject)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(String host, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Int64 timerStart)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(SqlConnection owningObject, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, String newPassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SqlConnection owningObject, Boolean redirectedUserInstance)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreatePooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnectionOptions options)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.CreateObject(DbConnection owningObject)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.UserCreateRequest(DbConnection owningObject)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.GetConnection(DbConnection owningObject)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection)
   at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
   at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ConnectionManager.InternalConnect(WindowsIdentity impersonatedIdentity)
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ConnectionManager.Connect()
 Operator: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE
 Source Name: SQLC2MAIN_MAINDB2_devpharosserv1_Transfer Objects Task
 Source ID: {4379DC83-9D53-4EE2-BF0F-F74234DF7898}
 Execution ID: {3C047A78-59C8-4AEC-8EF1-4FFDF5C372A2}
 Start Time: 2/9/2012 2:05:25 PM
 End Time: 2/9/2012 2:05:25 PM
 Data Code: 0

This is caused by permission problems when the SQL job is started by the SQL Server Agent but that Account the SQL Server Agent is running as doesn't have permissions on the Destination SQL Server to connect or copy the database.

I changed the Logon Account for the SQL Server Agent Service from Network Service to my own Active Directory account and then restarted service. Then restarted the Database move.

When the Move is complete you should change the Logon Account back to what ever it was when you started.

Copying Database Missing Stored Procedures

Event Name: OnError
 Message: ERROR : errorCode=-1073548784 description=Executing the query "sys.sp_addrolemember @rolename = N'RSExecRole', @m..." failed with the following error: "The role 'RSExecRole' does not exist in the current database.". Possible failure reasons: Problems with the query, "ResultSet" property not set correctly, parameters not set correctly, or connection not established correctly.
 helpFile= helpContext=0 idofInterfaceWithError={C81DFC5A-3B22-4DA3-BD3B-10BF861A7F9C}
StackTrace:    at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dts.DtsTransferProvider.ExecuteTransfer()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Transfer.TransferData()
   at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Tasks.TransferObjectsTask.TransferObjectsTask.TransferExtraObjectsViaSmoTransfer()
 Operator: NKU\towlesd
 Source Name: CDW_SQLC2MAIN_MAINDB2_DEVPHAROSSERV1_0
 Source ID: {E0FD95A2-A75E-4BCC-9A2A-7FD76F61F73F}
 Execution ID: {04283ACD-30DF-43E4-B3FB-50CE71DE37D7}
 Start Time: 2/9/2012 2:47:44 PM
 End Time: 2/9/2012 2:47:44 PM
 Data Code: 0

This error was resolved by included Stored Procedures in the Wizard's  Select Server Objects. I'm not sure of all the implications of choosing this option but in my case I was just getting a devlopment server up. If this is for a production you should likely do some further research on the subject.

Error 1722 Installing "Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client"

Helping one of our students trying to use our Cisco VPN with the Windwos VPN AnyConnect Client I found the installer running then failling and logging the following error in the Windows Application log.

Event ID:  11722

Product: Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client -- Error 1722.
There is a problem with this Windows Installer package.

A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. 
Contact your support personnel or package vendor.  
Action kdf_acsock64_Install, location:
 C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco\Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client\VACon64.exe, command: kdf -install "C:\Program Files (x86)\Cisco\Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client\\" acsock 

Looking around the net I found a link to expert-exchange about the problem but the solution was hidden from public view. Always frustrating.

As little later in put it together that the machine had had a virus completely remove the Windows Firewall service from the machine. Not just turned off but completely removed. Then when the Cisco AnyConnect Installer went to what I guess is register with the Windows Firewall, it fails and doesn't know how to handle it and rolls back the installation of AnyConnect VPN Client.

No good solution at that point, I might try to work out how to reregister the firewall like it did for NetBT when a virus removed it similarly. But most likely the only thing you can do is reinstall the operating system.

Links
http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1201&L=IT-DISCUSS&D=0&T=0&P=32275