Print spooler failing to start up

The issue was related to a HP monitoring driver. Somehow this software got installed.  Maybe it got installed trying to extract a driver...
Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947477

How SQL 2005 Report Server works

Nice blog (see Reference below) about how report server works and what the logs files are for.

Here are some queries that I use to check to see if jobs are stuck on our Report server:

use ReportServer

-- Jobs waiting to execute

select *
from event e
order by TimeEntered

-- Jobs that ARE executing

select n.processstart, n.notificationentered, n.deliveryextension, sch.scheduleid, sub.subscriptionid, sub.description, sub.laststatus, sub.lastruntime
from notifications n, schedule sch, subscriptions sub
where (n.subscriptionid = sub.subscriptionid) and (sch.eventdata = sub.subscriptionid)
order by n.notificationentered desc


Reference:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/2009/02/02/why-aren-t-my-subscriptions-working.aspx

Scheduled server reboots

To schedule a reboot, ie. like patching and having a server reboot during the downtime...

"at 23:00 shutdown /l /r /y /c"

See reference for details...

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317371

BusLogic SCSI controller not supported on Vmware VM

When a Windows virtual machine is powered on, the Tasks and Events tab of the virtual machine on the vSphere Client displays this warning under Events:

The guest operating system is and one or more virtual SCSI devices are installed in the virtual machine. does not support the BusLogic SCSI adapter that VMware ESX currently uses for virtual SCSI devices. Install the VMware driver in the virtual machine. Download the driver from "http://vmware.com/info?id=43". Click OK to continue or Cancel to cancel.
Fix is in reference below...

Reference:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007603

Fixing orphan database users

This is a good article on how to fix orphan users.  Works well when you restore a database and need to create/link the SQL logins that correspond to database users in the restored database.

Reference:
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/02/15/sql-server-fix-error-15023-user-already-exists-in-current-database/

Netapp Command Cheat Sheet

Just found this...  pretty useful...

Reference:
http://www.datadisk.co.uk/html_docs/netapp/netapp_cs.htm

Nice SQL setup checklist

Reference at the bottom is a good check list for installing SQL server.

Good resource for SPs and updates to SQL server:
http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/

Reference:
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2008/03/sql-server-2005-setup-checklist-part-1-before-the-install/

Reporting server stops updating fileshare

Ran into a case where report creator had created a report (non-unique file names) that updated to a fileshare every 15 mins.  If the file was kept open by a user, job output would fail and be set to retry in 15 mins. 

By default, RS maxretries=3 which means RS will try again 3 times before giving up.  This was causing issue where these timed subscriptions were blocking each other from being successful.  Ie. job runs, tries to save to file, but fails and will retry in 15 mins, but 15 mins later a new iteration of the job runs, tries to save to file, but that one fails as well and will retry in 15 mins, etc...

Resolved by setting Maxretries=0 so that if output fails, RS will NOT retry and next iteration of the job will have a chance to update the file.

Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms157273.aspx

How to mail-enable a security group in Exch 2007

Note: security group needs to be set to Universal or Exch 2007 will not see it.

Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb123805(v=exchg.80).aspx

Adding SSRS to existing SQL cluster instance

Good article that talks about this below...

Reference:
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2778/how-to-add-reporting-services-to-an-existing-sql-server-clustered-instance/

SSAS permissions

Good article on configuring permissions, etc. for SSAS.

References:
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2776/configuring-permissions-for-sql-server-analysis-services/

Kerberos skew may still allow login

"Kerberos tickets are issued even though the time difference between the client clock and the domain controller clock is greater than the "Maximum tolerance for computer clock synchronization" value" - KB956627...

Reference:
http://blog.joeware.net/2012/09/17/2599/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956627
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2012/08/24/friday-i-mean-saturday-mail-sack-very-wordy-edition.aspx

Windows Time Sync with Active Directory

Weird, but found Windows Time service missing from several servers.  Not sure how this could happen, but below is the article that helped me put the services back.

Basically, just unregister then re-register the service and start it again.

net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time

Then, check registry HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters for NT5DS "type" entry.

Reference:
http://tigermatt.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/windows-time-for-active-directory/

SQL 2008 agent roles

Ways to give finer control to owners of SQL jobs.

Reference:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188283.aspx

vShere 5 vCPU

Built my first VM on ESXi 5 hosts and thought this was interesting.  When  you configure the vCPU count now, you can specify # of virtual sockets and # of cores per vSocket.  Basically, vCPU = #sockets x # cores and there is no performance difference from what I been reading.  The only technical advantage I could find is that you can add virtual sockets to a running VM.

The purpose of this new way to configure vCPU seems to be for licensing trickery as stated in the reference article below...

Reference:
http://kendrickcoleman.com/index.php/Tech-Blog/vsphere-5-hardware-version-8-a-new-vcpu-config-for-licensing-trickery.html

Netapp certain FilerView pages not working

If you go into FilerView and try to configure of autosupport or something else that requires the JRE to load and you can an error.

Check the java control panel and make sure TLS 1.0 is not selected.

1. Control Panel, select Java applet.
2. In applet, go to Advanced settings tab, Security
3. Look for TLS 1.0 option
4. UNSELECT it.
5. Close all browsers and try again. 

 

Vmware ESXi Unsupported mode

On the console:

1. Press ALT-F1.
2. Type "unsupported" and press ENTER.  No characters will show on screen.
3. Enter ROOT password when prompted should get you into # prompt.
4. Be careful, you are in unsupported admin mode.

To Exit:

1. At #, type CLEAR and press ENTER to clear screen.
2. Type EXIT and press ENTER to exit unsupported mode.
3. Press ALT-F2 to switch back to ESXi console page.

Reference:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003677

Old Reminders in Outlook 2007 still popping up

Download MFCMAPI from http://mfcmapi.codeplex.com/

1. goto Session->Logon->select Outlook to connect
2. goto Session->Advanced logon->Displace message store table
3. from the message store table window, expand Root-Mailbox, then expand IPM_SUBTREE
4. rightclick 'calendar', select 'open contents table'
5. find the celendar entries you wish to remove, rightclick the message to remove, select 'delete message'.
6. done
7. go back to outlook. from menu 'View', select 'reminders window', verify if the messages/reminders are gone.

Reference:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2007-outlook/cannot-turn-off-a-reminder-in-outlook-2007/d07286f7-f3b9-4dcd-94df-a1c0565a2e44

Non-sa access to SQL 2000 Jobs

Add users to role TargetServersRole in MSDB database for SQL 2000 SP3+.

Reference:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/2006/sqlagent-scheduled-jobs/

How to create linked server to Oracle

Basically, you have to install the Oracle client software on your SQL server, then using references in the tnsnames.ora file, you create the linked server using the "Oracle Provider for Ole DB" driver.

Reference:
http://gleew.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/sql-server-linked-server-to-oracle/

Migrating SQL Reporting Services

Good article.

Reference:
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2627/migrating-sql-reporting-services-to-a-new-server/
http://www.sqldbatips.com/showarticle.asp?ID=62

Dynamically create redirected folders

This works.

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=274443

Editting HOSTS file in Win 7

Basically, you "run as Administrator" NOTEPAD, open HOSTS, edit and save.

Reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923947

How to offline a volume in Windows Server

I wanted to offline a volume so I could remove HD from virtual servers. Found this command:

mountvol E: /p

Worked well.

Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772671.aspx

VM will not power on

One of my VMs would not power up. The error it was giving was:

"Cannot open the disk '/vmfs/volumes/......vmdk' or one of the snapshot disks it depends on. Reason: Argument list too long."

I went into "Edit Settings" for the VM and found that hard disk 2 was referencing was not valid, an empty file. I removed the hard disk, and re-added the hard disk, but pointing to the correct VMDK file.

After that the VM started up just fine.

Reference:
http://vkarthickeyan.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/virtual-machine-not-powered-on/

VMware: IP address already assigned to another adapter

To resolve this issue, make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry:

1. Select Start > Run, type cmd.exe, and press Enter.


2. At the command prompt, run this command: "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1"


3. Enter Start DEVMGMT.MSC and press Enter to start Device Manager.


4. Select View > Show Hidden Devices.


5. Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).


6. Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then click Uninstall.


7. Close Device Manager.

Reference:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1179