Unable to start execution of step 1

On SQL 2005, I created a simple database and log file backup job using the Maintenance Plan wizard and scheduled it, but it does not work. When I run it, it generates an error:

"Unable to start execution of step 1 (reason: line(1): Syntax error). The step failed."

I can't believe MS would have this kind of bug. Something generated by a wizard needs to work. PERIOD.

Anyway, the fix for me was this:

1. Go to SQL Server Agents\Jobs. Select job and click Properties.
2. Go down to Steps
3. Highlight your SubPlan and click Edit
4. Add a Backslash to the beginning of the path listed in the "Package" box

And, like magic, no error and job runs.

Hope that helps!

Event ID 4292 - The IPSec driver has entered Block mode.

Full event properties:
The IPSec driver has entered Block mode. IPSec will discard all inbound and outbound TCP/IP network traffic that is not permitted by boot-time IPSec Policy exemptions. User Action: To restore full unsecured TCP/IP connectivity, disable the IPSec services, and then restart the computer. For detailed troubleshooting information, review the events in the Security event log.

Possible Cause:
A corrupted file in the policy store causes this problem. An interruption that occurs when the policy is being written to the disk may cause the corruption.

Check:
When you try to open the Internet Protocol security (IPSec) Microsoft Management Console (MMC) policy on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer, you receive the following error message:

"The IPSec Policy storage container could not be opened. The following error occurred: The system cannot find the file specified. (80070002)."

Resolution:

1. In Registry Editor, locate and then DELETE the following subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\IPSec\Policy\Local
2. Close Registry Editor.
3. Rebuild a new local policy store. To do this, Click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 polstore.dll, and then click OK.

References: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870910

Netbackup Restore to same hardware

Using Netbackup to do an OS restore onto same hardware requires this procedure below.

Running W2koption.exe
1. Begin the recovery of the system by building the PC that you wish to recover. Follow the steps outlined in the Troubleshooting Guide in the section titled Disaster Recovery. (The links to the Troubleshooting Guides can be found in the Related Documents section below.)
2. Before the restore starts, run the w2koption with the following command syntax:
\VERITAS\Netbackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1
3. Then, restore the data files and the System_State. Do not reboot the server yet.
4. Repeat the w2koption command as done earlier.
\VERITAS\Netbackup\bin\w2koption -restore -same_hardware 1
5. Stop the NetBackup Client Service and verify the bpinetd.exe is no longer running.
6. Reboot the PC.

References: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH22365
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH56473

IIS "The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted"

This one was a strange one. Our WSS server crashed and rebooted. When it came back up again, users could not login to WSS or IIS and got the error above.

Turns out that due to security configuration we have CrashOnAuditFail set to 1 in the registry and when the server ran out of space, it could not log to the Security event log which caused the CrashOnAuditFail to be set to 2. This caused the server to refuse all, but Administrators to login.

To fix, free up disk space, reset CrashOnAuditFail = 1 and reboot server.

References: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832981

VMware virtual machine NIC not working

For a Windows 2003 VM running on ESX appears to be ok, but cannot access the network. The NIC appears to be connected and server is functional, but pings fail.

If you check Windows event viewer, you will see an IPSec error like this:

Event ID 4292: The IPSec driver has entered Block mode. IPSec will discard all inbound and outbound TCP/IP network traffic that is not permitted by boot-time IPSec Policy exemptions.

To fix, disable the IPSec service and reboot the VM.

If that does not work, as specified in the MS KB below, you will have to rebuild the registry policy.

To resolve this issue, delete the following registry subkey and then rebuild the policy:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\IPSec\Local

Delete the local policy registry subkey. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\IPSec\Policy\Local
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the subkey.
5. Quit Registry Editor

Rebuild a new local policy store. To do this, follow this step:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regsvr32 polstore.dll, and then click OK.

References:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1000797

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870910

Upgrading to SQL 2008

Issue: "Rule "Security Group SID (Security Identifier)" failed." from Upgrade Rules check.

Found solution at referenced link, post by nctmyers...

Basically, you need to make sure the group SID of SQLServer... related local groups match with is in the registry. ie.

SQLServer2005MSFTEUser$ServerName$MSSQLSERVER
SQLServer2005MSSQLUser$ServerName$MSSQLSERVER

Download the free PSTools utilities and use "psgetsid.exe" to display the SIDs for the SQL user groups.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897417.aspx

psgetsid

Then use "regedit" and go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\Setup] to see the SIDs for each group...

For example...
AGTGroup="S-1-5-21-2065109431-430523663-1844936127-1037"
FTSGroup="S-1-5-21-2065109431-430523663-1844936127-1039"
SQLGroup="S-1-5-21-2065109431-430523663-1844936127-1038"
ASGroup="S-1-5-21-2065109431-430523663-1844936127-1040"

Replace any SIDs that do not match the local group SIDs found with psgetsid and re-run on the SQL 2008 Upgrade Rules page.

Reference: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqlsetupandupgrade/thread/0ca885d2-cd8d-4815-a258-d2962d477c35

Access Denied to SSIS remotely

Note: These steps are performed on the remote server that you cannot connect to:

• If the user is not a member of the local Administrators group, add the user to the Distributed COM Users group. You can do this in the Computer Management MMC snap-in accessed from the Administrative Tools menu.
• Open Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Component Services to start the Component Services MMC snap-in.
• Expand the Component Services node in the left pane of the console. Expand the Computers node, expand My Computer, and then click the DCOM Config node.
• Select the DCOM Config node, and then select MsDtsServer in the list of applications that can be configured.
• Right-click on MsDtsServerXXX and select Properties.
• In the MsDtsServer Properties dialog box, select the Security tab.
• Edit "Launch Permissions" to include the Distributed COM (DCOM) user group with
• Remote Launch
• Remote Activation
• Be sure to customize “Access permissions” to include the Distributed COM (DCOM) user group with "Remote Access"
• Make sure all remote access boxes are checked appropriately
• Restart the SSIS Service after making these changes.

Update 1/12/2011: When deploying remotely, make sure you specify "sqlserver\instance"
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa337083.aspx