At work, I took it upon myself to migrate our print server.  We were using an outdated Windows Server 2000 solution and I felt it was time to upgrade.  After the new Windows Server 2003 R2 was implemented, I was wondering how to get all the existing printers on there in the easiest manner.  Solution: Printer Migration tool 3.1 found here!  It is a simple stand alone application that is easy to use.  You can run it remotely as well.  So from my desktop, I choose a target machine to pull the printers from, in this case the Server 2000 box.  Once targeted, you choose where to backup the .CAB file it creates.  Run the program and Voila, after a few minutes you have the .CAB file.  Now you target the new server, in my case, the Server 2003 server, and you restore the .CAB file to it.  I did run into a couple of issues, but they were easily solved.  They are described below.

Symptom:
When using the printmig.exe tool to migrate print queues
from a Windows2000 server to a Windows 2003 server.  It
can backup OK.  When doing any kind of restore, even
a restore to itself the following error message occurs:

FAILURE – Can’t get printer driver directory:  1722

Solution: To enable Client Connections.
the RPC listening endpoint is not set on Server 2003 until one adds a shared
printer or turns on the RPC endpoint in gpedit.msc.  Printmig should work
locally but will always fail remotely on a fresh install.

follow these steps to fix this:

1. Run Local Group Policy by going to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc

2. Explorer Computer Configuration,

3. Select Administrative Templates,

4. click Printer.

5. On the Right pane, right-click on “Allow Print Spooler to accept client connections.”

6. Select Properties and check Enable.

7. Click OK to close the Local Group Policy.

Symptom:
When trying to restore printers using Printer Migrator on a windows 2003 server, you may receive this message: “WARNING: Kernel Mode Drivers (version 2) are blocked on the target machine. Disable Kernel Mode driver blocking and re-run Printer Migrator…”

Solution: To disable  Kernel Mode driver blocking, following these steps:

1. Run Local Group Policy by going to Start > Run and type gpedit.msc

2. Explorer Computer Configuration,

3. Select Administrative Templates,

4. click Printer.

5. On the Right pane, right-click on “Disallow installation of printers using kernel mode drivers”

6. Select Properties and check Disabled.

7. Click OK to close the Local Group Policy.

I decided today would be a good day to dual-boot my laptop with Windows 7 RTM. I figured with all of the hype around it, being faster and better than Vista, a trial run wouldn’t hurt. Worst case, I boot back into XP and delete the second partition. Since I’ve only been using W7 for an hour or so, I’m only going to touch upon some of the immediate highlights.

Installation. The installation is DVD-based, and just like Vista, it’s colorful (GUI). It also supported by USB wireless mouse and keyboard! The speed and ease of the installation is fantastic. I should have timed it, but I really don’t think it took more than 20 minutes. It felt quicker, but I’m sure it wasn’t.

Initial boot-up & log in. After adding the computer to the domain where I work, restarts, log-in’s, and desktop loads (to the point where all programs have finished loading) were extremely fast. Also, Microsoft has removed all of that fluff that’s included when you initially log into a Windows XP machine. The desktop is clean of clutter, and it already includes a cool background.

Device Manager – check device drivers. I figured as with all previous Microsoft operating systems, there’s bound to be a few devices that need the manufacturer driver. This was true for the video and sound driver. No big deal though, as I went to Dell’s website and downloaded what I needed. Obviously it was lucky for me that Dell has Windows 7 drivers for this laptop! After loading up both drivers, I did a quick reboot, and things started looking more clearly.

Antivirus. We run Symantec Endpoint 11 MR4, but it wouldn’t install properly. We downloaded MR5, and it loaded perfectly.

Legacy applications. We use Numara Track-It for our Helpdesk, which installed with no issues.  In addition, we use the typical Server Administrative Pack tools (for Windows servers). In Vista and Windows 7, the standard adminpak.msi found on Windows 2003 servers no longer works. I had to track down the new version, called Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) made especially for Windows 7 RTM. That dropped a nice shortcut in Control Panel that included all of our beloved tools. Even the once-hated Windows UAC has backed down quite a bit during all of these software installations and system changes.

So far, I’m very impressed with Microsoft’s new OS. Some will call it Microsoft’s redemption, some will continue to be haters. Take it for it is, and for what it’s worth! As I get to test out W7 in greater detail, you’ll read about it here. Below are screen shots of my system config, for your information.

The Chinese government is at it again. Could you imagine having such control over communications? They can shut down the Internet at will, block sites like Twitter so users can’t post updates about a riot in progress. It just seems so unreal!

http://www.cio.com/article/496575/Internet_Twitter_Blocked_in_China_City_After_Ethnic_Riot?taxonomyId=1436

I have a friend who’s home public IP is DHCP, and they have an IP-enabled thermostat for their house. I set up a free DNS “A” record from DynDNS.com, so they could access the thermostat remotely without having to remember the IP address. The URL is something simple like http://myhome-freedns.com. Since the public IP is dynamic, I set up a service on their home PC that automatically updates that free DNS “A” record to reflect the new public IP (whenever it changes). This is called Dynamic DNS (DDNS). The problem with all of this is that the home PC must be turned on whenever the DNS “A” record needs to be updated. At this point, I figured I would leverage his Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router to handle the DDNS updates.

Upon logging into the router, I discovered the DDNS service was no where to be found! Soon enough I figured out that the firmware had to be updated, which introduces the DDNS service. Downloading the firmware was simple enough, and the upgrade *should* have been straight-forward too – log into the router, go to the corresponding page for firmware updates, browse to where the file is saved, and update.

Unfortunately it wasn’t that easy. I was getting the error of “”Upgrade action is not finish. Upgrade file pattern error.” If the grammatical error was not bad enough, not being able to upgrade the firmware easily became frustrating! A simple Google keyword search resulted in a Linksys forum page with the same issue. It appears that the naming convention that Linksys gives their firmware files is not compatible with their own products! Simply renaming the file from “BEW1.52,blah blah.bin” to “code.bin” allowed the router to read the file and update the firmware successfully. No numbers, no mid-way periods, no commas – just “code.bin”.

After the update, DDNS was available on the router, and is now successfully updating the DNS “A” record as needed, without the use of a PC-based service.

LogMeIn is superb for assisting others remotely with their computer problems. No matter where they are in the world, if they have an internet connection, you can get to their computer to help. Best part of it all… it’s free!!

Now, you can support most mobile phones including Windows Mobile, Symbian, and BlackBerry (for a fee, sorry!) right from your desktop. InfoWorld mentions some more about it.

Found this video on Yahoo this morning.  If you work in an office, and have any grudges against other departments, you can appreciate this one.

Who will win the battle?

Just today there was a Helpdesk ticket created for the following NDR (non-delivery report):

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

      Subject:    test

      Sent: 4/15/2008 3:20 PM  The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:       Billing on 4/15/2008 3:21 PM            The message reached the recipient’s e-mail system, but delivery was refused.  Attempt to resend the message.  If it still fails, contact your system administrator.

            <server.domain.com #5.2.1>

Typically at this point, I go to Google and search for: exchange 5.2.1 The first link is for Microsoft’s Support website. I won’t bore you with the details, but they (the manufacturer of said product!) was way off. I remembered that I downloaded Microsoft’s Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant. From there, I drilled down through the following menus: Exchange Mailflow Troubleshooter >> (Symptoms) Users are receiving unexpected non-delivery reports when sending messages >> Delivery Status Notification Code (remember 5.2.1 from above!) 5.2.1. Right there in plain text, Microsoft has finally done something right! The following are possible reasons why the message was refused:

- Message is too big

- Absent Master Account SID on the recipient is missing

- Access permissions (for the recipient)

The first two were wrong, so I checked on the third. The recipient of the message is in fact a Public Folder in Exchange, and the Anonymous permission was set to “None”. What’s weird though is emails from outside the organization come in. Senders from another (internal) organization were getting the NDR’s. So I set the Anonymous permission to Contributor (one up from None), and sent another test message – viola! Success!

Moral of the story? When you are troubleshooting Exchange problems, get yourself the Troubleshooting Assistant and get some real answers, fast!

I’m reading through this article I found on Yahoo. In the IT world, the title might as well say “Get more inches with this pill!” Ok, maybe not that extreme, but close. There are a lot of articles out there that talk about how to remove spyware and viruses from your computer. How about first understanding how your computer became infected.

1. What type of websites are you visiting? Let’s face it, you’re not going to pick up spyware and/or viruses from checking out your local weather forecast.

2. Email – are you opening malicious messages? You should always be cautious of opening any email, even if you know the sender. Yes, sender names can be spoofed!

3. Downloaded software – “No, you mean this free software may come loaded with spyware?” I think I’ve made my point. If not… look back for important key word – free.

So now go ahead and read through the Yahoo link above if you feel it may be too late for your computer. And when all else fails, ask your in-house IT guru at work or call your favorite support group for assistance.

At my previous job, and last June at my current job, we integrated an all-in-one IT package called Track-It, by Numara. Some basic features of this program include:

• Asset tracking
• Helpdesk
• Purchasing
• Searchable knowledgebase
• Reporting (w/ the help of Crystal Reports)

 The module that has helped our department (here) the most is the Helpdesk feature. An email address is assigned to the software which the end users send their requests to. A web interface is also available, which is more robust (more on that later). Within a scheduled time frame, the requestor receives a conformation email from the Helpdesk system with their work order number and other customizable information. Once the request is in the Helpdesk system, the ticket is assigned to the appropriate technician. After the request has been completed, said technician will “complete” the work order with the details of the resolution, and the requestor will receive yet another email with that information. Additional features with the web interface include:

• Reviewing previous requests
• End-user ability to complete their own requests (the problem fixed itself, etc.)
• Searching the knowledgebase

The asset tracking (Inventory) module allows IT staff to audit and manage their inventory more effectively. As computers/servers are auditted, those records are merged into the database, which then that information can be used for a number of tasks – reporting, software tracking, corporate auditing, etc. As long as the database is properly maintaned (running monthly audits) you will always have a centralized view of all of your company’s assets.

Perhaps a module that doesn’t receive much attention is the Purchasing feature. This part of the software allows you to create PO’s (Purchase Orders), track when items are ordered and received, and apply those items as assets to end-user’s accounts. Just the same as the Inventory module, if this is kept up to date and maintained properly, it becomes very simple to see who has what hardware and/or software being purchased for them.

With more and more employees and offices becoming remote, it’s becoming more difficult to administer employee computers and network infrastructures. However, more and more manufacturers are noticing this, and making remote administration almost as easy and local administration.

Employee computers can be remotely managed by a variety of programs. One method is the built-in software titles from Microsoft called Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance. However, these programs are only available if said computer is on the same local LAN as the IT technician or via VPN link. What happens when the employee is remote and there is a VPN problem? One particular solution is from a company called LogMeIn (.com). LogMeIn provides a free remote administration program that only an internet connection is required. Once connected, you view the employee’s desktop just as if you are physically sitting in front of the computer.

Remote network administration can be handled in a variety of ways as well. One method is configuring the devices to allow specific connections to each device (normally via public IP address). Other methods include email notifications, SNMP, and an endless variety of free programs are available.