Installing DPM 2007 Agents on a Windows 2008 Server

Over the weekend I migrated over my DCs to Windows 2008 using completely new hardware for the new DCs. I ran into a problem with installing the DPM agents on Windows 2008 DCs. Here are some things I picked up along the way:

• My migration over to a Windows 2008 Domain blew out the DPMRADCOMTrustedMachines and DPMRADmTrustedMachines AD groups. DPM creates these groups when you install the agent on a DC. In addition, the DPM server’s computer account was removed from the Distributed COM Users builtin AD group. Recreating these groups and placing the DPM server back into the above groups didn’t solve all the remote agent install problems
  



• The current release of DPM does support Windows 2008
  
  However, I’m not the only one having trouble installing the agent
  
  I tried the QoS PS service fix but it didn’t work
  





• Finally was able to install the DPM agent on a Windows 2008 system (my test Windows 2008 box) by adding the Windows Backup Server feature and starting the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator service.
  
  
  However, this didn’t allow me to backup the server’s system state. Only could backup regular files. Apparently, DPM is having problems with Windows 2008 System State
  



• Found the lovely command call wbadmin. This command allows you to backup the complete server to a remote file location. Stores the data in a .vhd and .xml files.
  
  Ran the following command from my new DC:
  wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:\\myserver\dcbackup$ -include:c: -quiet
  It completed in around 20 minutes.
  



• To recover a system you will need to know the version information of the backup.
  
  run wbadmin get versions -backuptarget: -machine:
  
  C:\Windows\system32>wbadmin get versions -backuptarget:\\myserver\dcbackup$ -machine:MYDC
  wbadmin 1.0 - Backup command-line tool
  (C) Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corp.
  
  Backup time: 8/24/2008 2:09 PM
  Backup target: Network Share labeled \\myserver\dcbackup$
  Version identifier: 08/24/2008-21:09
  Can Recover: Volume(s), File(s), Application(s), Bare Metal Recovery, System State
  
  Then run wbadmin start recovery -version: backuptarget: -machine:
  
  wbadmin recovery options
  
  


• I configured a task on my DC to run this command every night at 1 AM. Since the backup location is on a file server DPM will back it up.
  During testing the command seemed to overwrite the backup files each time…I will test some more to verify this statement.
  Either way you could simply create different folders on the file server for each day and then create different tasks that go to different locations
  

Well now I have at least some kind of backup solution till the DPM team gets their act together on Windows 2008. Considering how DPM is totally reliant on a DC I might stick with this solution. I would hate to lose my DCs (in different buildings) and then not be able to recover my data due to no DC being available. Simply copy the files off the file server (if that is still standing) to an external USB drive and then attach it the new DC..in theory it should work but I don’t’ want to test it out or ever have to do it.

Moving Windows 2003 DHCP Service

In order to prep for migrating over to a Windows 2008 domain, I had to move the DHCP service from one of my Windows 2003 domain controllers to another. Below are the steps I used to complete this easy task:

1. Installed DHCP service on the new DHCP server


2. Ran the following command on the old DHCP server:
   
   netsh dhcp server export C:\dhcp.txt all
   


3. Copied the dhcp.txt file over to the same location on the new DHCP server


4. Ran the following command on the new DHCP server:
   
   netsh dhcp server import C:\dhcp.txt all
   


5. On the old DHCP server, right-clicked the Scope and selected Deactivate


6. On the old DHCP server, right-clicked the Server -> All Tasks -> Stop


7. On the new DHCP server, right-clicked the Server -> All Tasks -> Start


8. On the new DHCP server, right-clicked the Scope and selected Activate

Dell 5310n: error message is 900.00 service RIP software

A few of my users were having trouble with a Dell 5310n printer. The error message on the display was error message is 900.00 service RIP software. When printing large data files, such as a PowerPoint presentation, the printer would error out.

Per Dell's recommendation I configured the virtual printer to not spool the print jobs and send them directly to the printer. This seems to have corrected the issue so far.

Since I have HP printers on the same print server and none of them have had any kind of issue printing the same large files, I starting to think that the problem is due to either bad printer hardware or print drivers from Dell.

Exchange 2007 Mailbox Size Script

Below is a screen shot of my Exchange 2007 mailbox size script. This allows me to quickly view my users mailbox sizes in a nice color coded report.

PowerShell Script to Grant Full Mailbox Access

While testing out a new personal information scanner I discovered a need to grant one AD account full mailbox access to all mailboxes on my Exchange server. Below is the command I used to get the job done.

get-mailbox | select alias | foreach {

Add-MailboxPermission –Identity $_.alias –User myAdminAccount -Accessright Fullaccess -InheritanceType all

}

ColdFusion 8 on Windows 2003 64bit

Ran into problems when installing ColdFusion 8 on a Windows 2003 64bit server. Basically, the installer said everything was installed correctly but I was missing half of the ColdFusion files. The installer was ran straight from two different disks with the same result.

After the installation no IIS sites would work correctly. Reinstalling the OS with 32bit to see if that changes anything.

Ghetto OpenBSD Firewall\Switch

In an attempt to clear even more stuff off my desk, I created a ghetto OpenBSD firewall\switch. Basically, I added four network cards to an old Dell Precision 350. Loaded OpenBSD on it. Went the standard route when creating a firewall. The five network cards on the system are em0 (External), dc0 (Internal), dc1, sk0, sk1.

echo 'inet 169.xxx.xxx.xxx 255.255.255.252 NONE' > /etc/hostname.em0
echo 'inet 192.168.4.254 255.255.255.0 NONE' > /etc/hostname.dc0

Then I configured the remaining cards.

echo 'up' > /etc/hostname.dc1
echo 'up' > /etc/hostname.sk0
echo 'up' > /etc/hostname.sk1

Configured a Bridge between the Internal card and the three other cards.

echo 'add dc0 add dc1 add sk0 add sk1 up' > /etc/bridgename.bridge0

Using the same NAT rule set I had before (listed below) and with a few crossover cables (had my student assistant work on that portion) I now have a ghetto OpenBSD firewall\switch. Finally, I have a use for all those extra network cards and old systems laying around the office.

PF.CONF

ext_if="em0"
int_if="dc0"
ext_addr="169.xxx.xxx.xxx"

testDomain = "{192.168.4.0/24}"

set skip on lo0
set loginterface $ext_if

nat on $ext_if from $testDomain to any -> $ext_addr

pass in on $int_if all
pass out on $int_if all

block in log on $ext_if all label "Default block in"
block out log on $ext_if all label "Default block out"

pass out on $ext_if proto tcp from $ext_addr to any port { http https } \
flags S/SA modulate state

pass out on $ext_if proto udp from $ext_addr to any port { domain }