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Monday, March 26, 2012

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

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

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 '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.

Friday, March 9, 2012

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.


Monday, March 5, 2012

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