Network Connection Folder Empty

Recently I had an issue with Server not displaying the Network Adapters.

 

I checked and ping and it was okay.  But when I did a Failover Cluster Validation, it displayed error cause it couldn’t find the network.

The following are the steps that was carried out to have it resolve

• Open regedit .
• Drill to the following in the registry
  
  

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network

  
  
• On the right-panel look for Config.  Delete the key.
  
  
• No worries.  When delete this key, it’s just removing the configuration cache.
• Restart the server or just reopen the Control Panel – Network, it will display once again.
  
  

keywords : Network Connection missing, network not display, network connections folder is empty, not showing network adapter list

Cluster Disk in Failover Cluster Failed to Start (File Server)

Recently one of the customer had an upgrade in their firmware of their storage.  Their setup is as follow :

2 Hosts in Windows 2012 Server.  Using a shared storage and it’s setup with Windows 2012 Failover Cluster.

After both the hosts were rebooted, the Cluster Disk that was assigned as FileServer in the Failover Cluster failed to start.  From what I know it’s because both the hosts are assuming they are the owner of that particular Disk.  So both are locked to the resources.

I clicked on the “more details” to check it displayed as :

Further probing into the Disk Management and found that the Disk is in RAW. Before this it was in NTFS format.

Next I go into the shared Storage Management (which is the Dell Storage Manager in this scenario), tried to repair but in vain.  It displayed as follow :

After going through the logs as earlier on, found that the resource was locked due to both the hosts are assume they are the rightful owner and both are trying to write at the same time.  In a Windows cluster environment, there’s only one owner at any one time.

Therefore I launched a PowerShell ISE in Administrator mode.

Execute a command to clear the Cluster Disk Reservation on both the hosts

In my scenario as above, in the Disk Management it shows as Disk 6, I execute the command of :

Clear-ClusterDiskReservation –disk 6

 Note : change only the one in Pink according to the info from disk management

Resource of the command : https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee461016.aspx 

After that, I started the FileServer and no issue.  The format was in NTFS and content was intact.

In the Failover cluster of the File Server :

Hopefully this helps.

keywords : cluster disk reserve, error 219, dell storage manager, disk in RAW format, incorrect function, cannot start up cluster disk file server, the requested resource is in use, persistent reservation

Hyper-V VSS Writer State : [7] Failed Last error : Timed out

Had an issue of the Hyper-V VSS when I typed to check.

vssadmin list writers

In the event viewer I got as the following :

\

I want to get the VSS back to be stabilize but not wanting to restart the server, therefore I restart a service.

Service to restart : Microsoft Virtual Machine Management

Keyword :

Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error querying for the IVssWriterCallback interface. hr = 0x80070005, Access is denied.. This is often caused by incorrect security settings in either the writer or requestor process.Operation:  Gathering Writer Data Context:  Writer Class Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}  Writer Name: System Writer  Writer Instance ID: {bc497fa6-6627-47fb-a005-ac94fa83904e}Error : 8194 vssadmin list writer Hyper-V State 7 timed out

PowerShell–Listing of Folder Permission, export to CSV

Today would like to share with you about a way to list down all the Folder and subfolder permission into a CSV format.  This is good especially for internal or external audits.

There are two options that you can run.

• Run in the File Server (provided you have PowerShell installed)
• Run from your Computer (Map the File Server Drive, and also provided you have PowerShell installed in your computer)

The coding is as below :

# This is the file specified for the Output of CSV. Make the necessary change $OutFile = "C:\Download\Permission.csv" $Header = "Folder Path,IdentityReference,AccessControlType,IsInherited,InheritanceFlags,PropagationFlags" Del $OutFile Add-Content -Value $Header -Path $OutFile # This is the top path of where want to scan the permission from.  This will include the sub folders $RootPath = "C:\Download\Driver" $Folders = dir $RootPath -recurse | where {$_.psiscontainer -eq $true} foreach ($Folder in $Folders){     $ACLs = get-acl $Folder.fullname | ForEach-Object { $_.Access  }     Foreach ($ACL in $ACLs){     $OutInfo = $Folder.Fullname + "," + $ACL.IdentityReference  + "," + $ACL.AccessControlType + "," + $ACL.IsInherited + "," + $ACL.InheritanceFlags + "," + $ACL.PropagationFlags     Add-Content -Value $OutInfo -Path $OutFile     }}

Note : Make changes to the Pink in colour according to your CSV file and which path you want to scan your File Server and export out the permission listing.

The output will be something like below when open with Excel :

I’m executing on my PC, that’s the reason I have the output as above.

Thank you and hope this helps.

keywords : ACL, folder permission, powershell, File Server, fileserver, Access list, access control list, permission to CSV

Reset Local Administrator Password for Azure VM

Recently I had set up quite a couple of VMs in Azure and one of the VMs local administrator’s password I’ve keyed in wrongly and totally forgotten what is it anymore.

So in the Azure new portal there’s a feature to reset the password.

Local Administrator username : bkhoo

The steps taken are as below :

• Launch the new portal : https://portal.azure.com

• On the left menu bar click on the Virtual Machines
• In the Virtual Machines, select the specific Virtual Machine that want to reset the local administrator password.

• In the settings menu on the right, click Reset password .

• Key in the new password and confirm password, then click on Reset 

Then I test it, I can now RDP into the VM using the new reset password .

keywords : forgot password,local administrator password, Azure VM, Virtual machine password, how to reset local administrator password in virtual machine, VM, VMs, virtual machines

Killing a Hung VM in Task Manager (Another PowerShell command)

This is another command of how to kill a Hung VM by identify the Process ID using PowerShell command :

For Windows 2012

Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\virtualization -class msvm_computersystem | select elementname, operationalstatus, processid, name| ft –auto

For Window 2012 R2

Get-WmiObject -Namespace root\virtualization\v2 -class msvm_computersystem | select elementname, operationalstatus, processid, name| ft –auto

Once the Process ID is obtain, launch the Task Manager and kill the VMWP.exe process with the correspondence Process  ID to that particular VM.

Hope this helps.

keywords : hang VM, hung VM, stuck VM, Hyper-V virtualization stuck Server 2012 R2, vmwp.exe, killing vwmp.exe

Killing a Hung VM in Task Manager

Sometimes the VM we tried to stop hangs.  So in order to kill the process using the Task Manager, we can end process of VMWP.exe.  But the next question is which one.  Each VM has a unique Process ID.

Therefore, I launch the elevated Powershell by executing the following command below

Get-WmiObject win32_process -Filter "Name like '%vmwp%'" | Select-Object ProcessID, @{Label="VMName";expression={(Get-VM -Id $_.commandline.split("")[1]|Select-Object VMName).VMName}}|ft –AutoSize

So I go back to the Task Manager and Right-Click on it and end task,base on the Process ID of that particular VM.

Hope this command helps you as it helped me.

keywords : hang VM, hung VM, stuck VM, Hyper-V virtualization stuck Server 2012 R2, vmwp.exe, killing vwmp.exe

DPM 2012 Reporting Issue (ID : 220)

After upgrading from SCDPM 2012 SP1 to SCDPM 2012 R2, I hit the issue when I tried to configure the Reporting to be send out periodically in the Report Module of SCDPM 2012 R2.

The steps taken was the following :

• Launch the Reporting Services Manager (in my example is SQL 2008 R2, since it’s upgraded gradually from SCDPM 2012 SP1 to SCDPM 2012 R2)
• Ensure to the correct database that I’m pointing to  (e.g. MSDPM2012)
• Navigate to E-Mail Settings.
• Key in the valid Sender Address and SMTP Server.
• Click Apply

• Launch the SCDPM 2012 R2 – Reporting
• Configure the schedule reporting with emails, tested with no issues.keywords : SCDPM 2012, DPM cannot enable e-mail subscription for reports unless SMTP details are configured in the remote SQL Server Reporting Service Installation. SMTP details need to be configured manually when an existing SQL Server is chosen to be used for DPM during DPM setup.  Please enter the SMTP server name, SMTP port number and SMTP From address manually in the SQL Server Reporting Services configuration File.

Configuration file path : c:\Program Files\Microsoft DPM\SQL\MSRS10.MSDPM2010\Reporting Services\ReportServer\RSReportServer.config

The SMTP Server  details on the SMTP Servers tab in the Options dialog enables only DPM alert notifications. For more details, see DPM Help (ID : 220)

SCDPM Report error, Systems Center Data Protection Manager Report Error, cannot configure email distribution in DPM report

DPM Reporting – An error has occurred during report processing

I hit an issue on launching the DPM reporting.  The DPM is functioning well except the reporting.  It’s the issue of the SQL Reporting settings.

It stated as :

An error has occurred during report processing. (rsProcessingAborted).
Query execution failed for dataset ‘DataSet2’. (rsErrorExecutingCommand)
Invalid object name ‘vw_DPM_Replica’.

Steps taken to resolve :

• Launch the Reporting Services Configuration Manager in the DPM

• Select the Report Manager URL on the left panel
• Click on the URL on the right panel

• Double-click on the DPMReporterDataSource

• The Connection string is missing.
• Minimize this screen

• Create a file call dbtest.udl on the desktop (it’s a build in Windows)
• Double click on it.

• Once the Data Link Properties launch, Select the server name (using the drop down)
• Use the Windows NT integrated security for the credential
• Select the database (using the drop down)
• Click Test Connection

• Click OK once it’s successful

• Right-click on the dbtest.udl and open with notepad

• Copy the text from “Intergrated ….. “till the end of the line

• Maximize the DPMReporterDataSource
• Paste the copied text into the Connection string.
• Click on Test Connection (may request to key in password again)
• Once successful, click Apply.

Launch the DPM reporting with no issue occurred.

keyword : DPM, SQL, SRSS, Reporting Services, rsErrorExecutingCommand, rsProcessingAborted, dataset, query execution failed, invalid object name

Class 20409B - Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center

 

Just finished conducting a 5-days class on Server Virtualization using Hyper-V and System Center.  During class, I shared real life scenarios on how it was implemented, what are the obstacles they will face if planning were not done properly in the first place before rolling out.

Feeling happy that the students went back with knowledge.

keywords : 20409, Hyper-V, virtualization, backup, protection, VMM, virtual machine manager, dpm, azure, cloud, vmmlibrary,

System Center Virtual Labs

 

Let’s get our hands ‘dirty’ and I want to share the “Virtual Labs” that I found especially lots and lots of Systems Center labs.

The Website is in this link.

Let’s get started !!

 

keywords : systems center, virtualization, virtual, hyper-v, virtual machine, data protection, monitoring, SCOM, SCCM, Service Manager

Upgrade Windows Server 2012 R2 Evaluation Version to License/ Full Version

I had been doing a development or lab environment with Windows 2012 R2 Datacenter Evaluation copy.  Lots of work has been done.

Instead of reinstalling the entire copy of a Windows Server 2012 R2 Full Version and then reinstalling the application that I’ve been doing lots of work on it, I found a way to upgrade the Windows Server 2012 R2 Evaluation to a Full Windows Server 2012 R2.

(Note : This does not work for Domain Controllers running on evaluation license)

The following are the steps that I want to share.

The above shows the desktop of the Windows 2012 R2 that I’ve been testing and the 180 days is over.  I can do the slmgr.vbs –rearm , however had decided to go a full version and put into production since testing has been done for the application installed in this server.

Using the command slmgr.vbs /dlv would gather the information for the volume licensing.

As the arrow shows the information is an evaluation Windows Server 2012 copy.

Another way is to launch the command prompt in elavated (run as administrator).

Key in the command as below in the command prompt.

dism /online /get-currentedition

As you see, it shows the Current Edition is an Evaluation copy.

Next command is to check what version this current Evaluation can be upgrade to.

dism /online /get-targeteditions

If the evaluation copy is a ServerStandard, it will allow the option to upgrade to Standard Full or Datacenter Full edition

Next get the full license key ready. The next command will need to input in the command.  The command is as :

For DataCenter Edition key in as below :

dism /online /set-edition:ServerDataCenter /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

For ServerStandard Edition key in as below :

dism /online /set-edition:ServerStandard /ProductKey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx /AcceptEula

Only make the changes in the Pink colour (input your valid license key).  In my example I’m using the DataCenter edition.

It will look something like the above displayed.  Press enter to execute.

Press Y to restart the computer

The computer will restart/reboot twice.

Once it’s done, login the Windows and you’ll have the full version of the Windows 2012 R2

Reference : Evaluation Versions and Upgrade Options for Windows Server 2012

keywords : upgrade evaluation to full copy, windows 2012 R2, Windows 2012 server, upgrade eval, full license, server 2012 eval, slmgr, rearm

DPM 2012 R2 with Azure Recovery (Backup Vault)

I would like to share my experience on how to configure DPM 2012 R2 with Azure Recovery.  Which means I’ve already had a Disk to Disk backup in place in the DPM.  I would like to extend my backup to the Azure.

Firstly the DPM 2012 R2 needs to patch with at least UR5 and the Hotfix for UR5

The Download Links are as follow :

UR5

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/search.aspx?q=3021791

Hotfix for UR5

http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=45914

 

The blog will cover the following :

• Creation in Azure Recovery (Backup Vault)
• Register DPM into Azure Recovery
• Manage Certificate
• Install Microsoft Azure Backup Agent (MARS)
• Attach Vault Credential to DPM

Azure Recovery

• Launch the Windows Azure Management Portal  (https://manage.windowsazure.com/)
• Click on Recovery Services
• Click +NEW at the bottom left hand corner

 

• Key in the Name (must be unique) and select the region
• Click Create Vault to finish it.

• Should have the screen something like the above.

Manage Certificate

In the DPM Server, launch the command prompt in elevated mode

C:\>makecert.exe -r -pe -n CN=ICG-AP-SCDPM01 -ss my -sr localmachine -eku 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2 -len 2048 -e 01/01/2017 ICG-AP-SCDPM01.cer

Change the values in pink and yellow only.  The rest of the syntax stays.

Pink = The DPM server that will be register into the Backup Vault
Yellow = Not more than 3 years for the validity of the certificate.

It should look something like the above in the DPM Server command prompt.

Next must upload the certificate to the Windows Azure backup vault.  Launch the Windows Azure Management Portal.

• Click on the Recovery Services | Select the backup vault | Click on Manage Certificate

 

• In the Manage Certificate, click Browse for the certificate file that was created using the command prompt of makecert.
• Click on the Tick to confirm

• Progress will show it has been successfully uploaded.

Install Microsoft Azure Backup Agent

• Still in the manage Windows Azure Portal, click on the Download Agent for the DPM. Left click on it.

• Click Save or Run (according to your preference)
• If Save, then double-click on the file and execute it.

• Click Next

• Click Next if not using Proxy.
• Then click Install .

• Click Close once it’s completed.

Attach Vault Credential to DPM

The next step is to attach the Backup Vault for the DPM.

From Windows Manage Azure Portal | Recovery Services | the specific backup vault.

• Click on the Download vault credentials.

 

• Save the File

Then back to the DPM Console

• Click on the Management | then click on Register

 

• Click Next.

• Next is Backup vault  section, click Browse
• Next in the following of the Backup Vault, click Browse
• Select the certificate file and click Next.

• Once it’s done, click Next.

• Next is the Throttling Setting, input the necessary badwidth allocated, else click Next.

• In the Recovery Folder Settings, key in or browse the Restore Folder assigned to the DPM server, then click Next.

• In the Encryption section, click Generate passphrase (or you can key in your own)
• Click Copy to clipboard
• Open Notepad, then paste and save the file.
• Then the Encryption Setting, click Register.

• Click Close once the Register Server for Azure Backup is completed.

• Click on Management in the left panel.
• In the Online, verify it is registered,

Hopefully the above steps helps.

keys : System Center Data Protection, DPM, SCDPM, Azure Backup, Azure Recovery, Backup vault, Cloud backup, disk to disk to cloud.