ESXi 4.1 changing the default Block Size

http://www.vmware.com/support/product-support/vsphere-hypervisor/

vmware are pushing ESXi as the vmware product to use, so I thought I'd try it out. The install wizard was super quick, but didn't really have any options.

By default it created a Datastore with a 1MB block size for my 1.5TB drive. This limits the size of any file on that store (so VM hard drives) to 256GB. Which would probably be fine, but seems a bit restrictive.

 So I'd need to reformat with a bigger block size.

Official reformatting instructions.. Not easy

Reformatting the local VMFS partition's block size in ESX 4.x (post-installation)

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1013210

Increasing the block size of local VMFS storage in ESX 4.x during installation

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012683

But then I found a super easy way to do it using the vSphere client. I simply deleted the storage and then added it again (there's a wizard to add new storage) selecting the new block size. Obviously this will delete anything on that datastore so make sure there’s nothing on there that you want.

 You can choose

1MB for 256GB max size

2MB for 512GB max size

4MB for 1TB max size

8MB for 2TB max size

Overall it took about 5 minutes including reformatting to the new block size! This was all on a single internal hdd with no partitioning other than the defaults.

McAfee Virus (false positive)

McAfee VSE 8.7 with DAT 5958 falsely detects C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe as W32/Wecorl.a

It then deletes the file, which causes the following error:

System restart in 60 seconds: DCOM Server Process Launcher service terminated unexpectedly.

This can be aborted by typing shutdown -a

However if you do this, you will have lost your svchost.exe file. If you leave the machine to reboot it's likely that the svchost.exe file will be recreated, but it will then get detected again and deleted and another reboot will occur. This will also happen in safe mode if the file is scanned.

To resolve the issue, either rollback to DAT 5957 or upgrade to a newer DAT.

This can be tricky with a missing svchost.exe file though, as you will have no network and no USB drive support. The 5957 super dat can be installed with the /f option from a CD or the 5959 super dat can be installed by double clicking the file from a CD.

Once you are no longer on 5958 you can recover the svchost.exe file, either by restoring from the quarantine or copying from a known good machine.

Allowing more than 1 user to manage the group membership of a Exchange 2007 Distribution List

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc164350.aspx

As with most simple things in Exchange 2007 this needs to be done using powershell. It's fairly simple once you know the commands though, see below for the Microsoft example.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to delegate management of distribution group membership to a user

Run the following command:

Add-ADPermission -Identity -User -AccessRights WriteProperty -Properties "Member"
For example, to grant John Smith the right to add members to the Marketing Department distribution group, run the following command:

Add-ADPermission -Identity "Marketing Department" -User "John Smith" -AccessRights WriteProperty -Properties

Encrypting and compressing backups

Just found this. Common sense really but handy to know.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/285648.htm

"When using encryption it is not recommended to use hardware compression. If the data must be compressed it is recommended to use software compression. When using software compression the data is compressed first then encrypted. When using hardware compression the data is encrypted first then compressed. Encrypted data does not compress well because the data is randomized. In some cases using hardware compression with encryption will cause the data to become bigger rather than smaller."

Basically we created a new encrypted backup job, but left it to Hardware compression only. Needless to say the job was not compressed and so did not fit on to the tape. Have now changed the job to use software compression.

Vista/7 - Wireless Site Survey

Vista and Windows 7 has a built in way of doing a wireless site survey.

To do this go to a command prompt and type the following:

netsh
wlan show networks mode=bssid

Cross Domain Availability Service

How to publish free/busy information between 2 domains (without trusts) using Exchange 2007.

List of prerequisites:

1. An account on each domain that can be used to access the free/busy information.

Create a new account on each domain. This account should have minimal privileges and should not have a mailbox.

2. Ability to resolve the autodiscover address. e.g. autodiscover.domain.com

Each client wishing to access the free/busy information of a remote user, must be able to resolve the autodiscover address of the remote users domain.

You can test this by using Outlook 2007's "Test E-mail AutoConfiguration" tool. Found by Ctrl + Right clicking the Outlook task bar icon (you will need credentials for the remote domain).

Microsoft article describing how autodiscover works: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232838.aspx

Microsoft article describing how to configure autodiscover: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201695.aspx

3. A contact in your GAL (global address list) for the remote user.

You will need a contact in the GAL for every remote user whose free/busy information you wish to see.

How to configure exchange:

All exchange tasks are performed using Exchange Management Shell.

1. Firstly you will need to set your new local domain account (that you created in step 1) to have privileges to see all free/busy information on your domain. This will need to be done for both domains if you wish the sharing of free/busy information to go both ways.

On Exchange 2007 server in Domain 1
set-availabilityconfig -orgwideaccount "domain1.local\domain1fbacct"

On Exchange 2007 server in Domain 2
set-availabilityconfig -orgwideaccount "domain2.local\domain2fbacct"

2. Secondly you will need to add the remote domain as an Availability Address Space on both domains, specifying the local domain account of the remote domain as used above.

On Exchange 2007 server in Domain 1
$a = get-credential
/// This opens a credentials prompt, Enter in domain2\domain2fbacct
Add-AvailabilityAddressSpace -ForestName domain2.com -AccessMethod OrgWideFB -Credential $a

On Exchange 2007 server in Domain 2
$a = get-credential
/// This opens a credentials prompt, Enter in domain1\domain1fbacct
Add-AvailabilityAddressSpace -ForestName domain1.com -AccessMethod OrgWideFB -Credential $a

Overview:

Basically, what we have done is given a local account on each domain privileges to access local free/busy information. Then on the remote domain configured an availability address space for the remote domain using the account that we have given free/busy privileges too.

How to use:

This works in both Outlook 2007 and Outlook Web Access.

• Create a new meeting request/appointment.
• Click on Scheduling Assistant
• Add the remote attendees from your GAL
• Wait for the free/busy information to be populated.

More resources:

Microsoft guide on how to configure the Cross domain availability service for Cross-Forest topologies
Client Access Server Role: Overview
How to Diagnose Availability Service Issues

Recover Deleted Items from a Shift Delete in Outlook

By default exchange will delete deleted items after 7 days. Before this time they are only flagged for deletion and can be recovered.

In Outlook when in the Deleted Items folder if you go to Tools > Recover Deleted Items , you will then see a list of all mails deleted from deleted items over the last 7 days.

This option is only enabled on the deleted items folder by default, but can be easily enabled on all folders. That way if you have done a shift-delete (which bypasses the deleted items folder) you should still be able to recover it.

To enable this feature, you can either run the file from the following Microsoft Fix it link http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9643538

or make the following registry change:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options
New DWORD: DumpsterAlwaysOnData with a value of 1.

Please see the following Microsoft article for more information.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/246153

Adding the Additional Information Tab in AD

The Additional Information Tab in Active Directory 2003 shows additional useful account information, such as; the date when the user's password was last set, the user's password expiry date, the date and time when a user last logged on and off, the user's SID and GUID and more.

Please see site below for details on adding the tab.

www.petri.co.il/view_additional_user_information_in_aduc.htm

How to do the things you could easily do in Symantec AV 10 in Symantec Endpoint 11

Symantec Endpoint 11 is very similar to all the latest Microsoft releases, in that all the functionality you had before is still there, just hidden away so you have to find it.

The Endpoint Manager Console seems intuitive at first, until you want to do something that you can no longer find, the definitions date of all the clients for example (why this isn't on the main client list I don't know).

Anyway, here is a link to a handy set of video style tutorials, which walk you through how to do the things you used to do in the system center console and how you now do them in sepm (why you'd want to know how you used to it is a mystery).

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/endpointsecurity/ssc_sep/

Microsoft Outlook 2007 slow on a SSD drive

We had a user experiencing frequent pauses in Outlook 2007, he was running a Dell D630 with a 36GB SSD, one of the first ones offered by Dell.

This seems to be a known problem to both Dell and Microsoft. I have found a couple of interesting articles relating to this (it probably applies to Outlook 2003 as well).

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=55FD454EEE3ECF4BE040AE0AB7E14D54&doclang=en&cs

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940226

The new Dell E4200's seem to be less affected, however this could be down to the users having smaller .ost files.

Conficker Eye Chart

Got this through from Mark Minasi's news letter.

I've not seen a whole lot on the Conficker virus, almost seems like an April fools to me. Anyway, you can go to this site to make sure your machine is ok. If you don't see all six logo's you could be infected!

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

Edit in datasheet error in Sharepoint

If you get the below error message, when trying to edit a list in Datasheet view in Sharepoint:

The list cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons:

It could be because you aren't running a Pro version of office (i.e. Office 2003 Small Business Edition or Standard). I believe this is because the Edit in Datasheet feature is based on Microsoft Access, which is only included in the Professional version of office. However the feature can be made available to the other versions of office, by adding the following registry entry:

Be careful when editing the registry.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\ProductVersion]

New dword

"ProInfo"=dword:00000001

Office 2007 Help

Office 2007 has been out for a while now, but many corporations are only just making the move. The main reason for delaying has been the massive change in interface from all previous versions of Office.

This handy guide, as well as the built in help, should get you on your way to being productive again with the new suite.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/training/HA102295841033.aspx

However, this may become redundant fairly shortly, due to the imminent release of Office 2010.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008

Microsoft has released Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. This is a separate standalone product and not to be confused with the Hyper-V role for Server 2008.

You can download it for free here!

This is very similar to Server 2008 Core with the Hyper-V role. Licensing is straight forward, you simply license any machines that you have running on the virtual server as you would a physical machine.

The main reason for choosing this over 2008 with Hyper-V, is that you don't need to purchase Server 2008, so you can get started straight away and virtualise your existing 2003 servers (or other OS's).

Click here to see a full comparison of the different versions of Hyper-V.

You will need an external machine running either Vista or 2008 to manage this machine. The hyper-v manager 32bit and 64bit only lets you create new machines from media and you will need a separate program such as VMM to convert existing machines.

We currently have 1 Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 in production, running 2 exchange 2003 servers and a number of test servers. The reliability so far has been excellent.

How to disable/turn off Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC)

Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC) is a security feature of Vista.

Windows (2000/XP/Vista) has different permission levels that a user can run under. By default the first user created has been an administrator account, giving full control over all systems and letting you install/modify anything. In Windows Vista, the first user created runs as a standard user, but prompts when higher permissions are required. The basic thought is that many viruses, spyware etc are able to more easily infect a machine where the user is running as an administrator.

If you understand the risks but still want to turn your standard user account into an administrator account, the easiest way is to go to Start and type in "User Account" (not "User Accounts") and then click on User Accounts (if you type in User Accounts and click User Accounts, it seems to be different and doesn't work...).

Clicking on the correct User Accounts opens up the User Accounts window (can also be found in Control Panel).


Next click on "Turn User Account Control on or off.

Unchecking the box on the following window will disable UAC for that account.

Google search tips

I have recently been asked about providing IT tips when I visit a client. I tend to visit clients weekly, so providing a weekly tip seemed like a good thing to put on my blog.

The first thing that came to mind was using Google more effectively. Google has pretty much become the search engine of choice, but many of its users are unfamiliar with all of it's features.

Google Basics
The basics cover how Google searches for the terms you want and how to exclude terms you don't.

e.g.
Using a - directly before a term makes Google exclude results containing that term.
Using quotes around a phrase will make Google search for the exact phrase.

Advanced searching
This covers, using the advanced search, searching particular sites, using synonyms and a few more options.

e.g.
Using a + directly before a term makes Google include results containing that term.
Using a ~ directly before a term to search for similar words to the one your searching for.
Using site:www.somewebsite.com in the search field to search a particular website.

Google Suggest
Not sure how to phrase what you're searching for? Then try Google Suggest, it suggests popular words as you type.

Ultimate free software list for Windows XP/Vista

This is my list of essential or at least useful, free (for personal use) programs for Windows.

AntiVirus
AntiVir This is the one that I've been using. It seems fairly light and quick (now thinking about switching to AVG as AntiVir throws up a huge advert whenever it updates).

AVG Free has been around for a long time. It's regularly updated and is generally unobtrusive.

avast! 4 Home Edition has also been around a while but I haven't used it in a long time.

Kaspersky is reputed to be one of the best Antivirus programs/suites out there. They have a free online scanner and a free 30 day trial

These are mostly down to personal preference.

Anti Spam

SpamBayes Excellent Outlook addin, which when fully trained can be 99.9% efficient.

Anti Spyware

Spybot Search and Destroy Very good anti spyware program, can be a little over protective if you install all components.

Hijackthis Seems that HijackThis has been taken over by TrendMicro, which can be no bad thing. This is a fairly complex program and it's recommended that you post your HijackThis log in the forums for an expert to check. This is the best piece of software for removing those annoying pieces of spyware which repeatedly reset your browsers home page and spam you with pop ups.

Windows Defender Antispyware from Microsoft. Comes bundled with Windows Vista, but can be downloaded for free for Windows XP.

Malware Bytes this program has been useful in removing some of the fake Antivirus viruses/spyware that's been going around lately.

Archiving
Windows has had a built in archiving program for .zip files since Windows XP (making winzip pretty much redundant). Simply double click a .zip file to open it and to create one right click a file/folder and choose Send to > Compressed (zip) folder. However there are a few more archiving formats out there, which whilst not as popular as .zip are often far superior in their compressing ability.

7zip is the best totally free archiving program I've found (even for business use).

Supported formats:
Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS

I used to use programs like WinAce and WinRar but these were only trials and had a more bulky interface and seemed to lack the speed of 7zip. The only downside of 7zip is not being able to create .rar files.

Browsers

Opera The fastest browser out there. Also available for mobile devices.

Firefox Probably the second most popular browser after Internet Explorer, due to it's many community made addins.

Internet Explorer 7 Microsoft has now made it's latest version of Internet Explorer available for everyone. If you're running on Windows XP, you can now upgrade to IE7.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta The next version of Microsoft's browser shows a few neat additions, be careful if you choose to install this though, as it will replace your current version of Internet Explorer and it's still only in Beta stage.

Google Chrome Beta The latest offering from Google, this has a lot of good ideas and is well worth a try, it's not quite ready to be your only browser yet though as it's also still in Beta stage. Looking forward to see what's next from Google, perhaps an OS?

CD/DVD Burning

ImgBurn ISO creation and burning. A simple little program, which has some very advanced features should you need them.

Daemon Tools Handy program that allows you to mount images and present them as if they were a real disc in a drive.

Communication

Windows Live Messenger Windows Live messenger, the latest incarnation of MSN messenger. Practically everyone uses this.

Skype Very similar to MSN in that you can do instant messaging and voice chat. Skype is promoted more as a VOIP solution and allows you to make calls to real world numbers. You can also have a Skype number so that people can call you from real world phones (at a cost of course). It's also possible to get Skype phones, which can connect to a wireless internet connection and then log you into your Skype account.

Disk Management

Diskeeper Lite Every PC (apart from Vista apparently) could do with a good defrag to keep file access as quick as possible. Hard drives are typically the slowest part of any system so keeping them as quick as possible really does make a difference.

This is the built in windows defragger just with the full user interface. As such if you install this program it will replace certain key files to do with the built in defragger, if you then decide to uninstall this, it will take the key files with it and you will need to fix the built in defragger to get it to work again.

Media Players

vlc This is a great player, which can play virtually any file, including quick time (so you don't need to install quick time). This is an essential program, you really don't need anything else for playing files.

According to the features list the only files it can't play are real player files. I'd recommend avoiding these files if possible as real player is awful.

Picture Management/Editing

Google Picasa Great for picture management and can do basic enhancement.

paint.net A powerful but simple to use editor.

The Gimp More powerful than paint.net but more complicated.

Windows Tweaking

TweakUI - XP Part of the Microsoft powertoys. TweakUI allows you to alter many hidden parameters of Windows XP.
TweakVI - Vista This is the Vista equivalent of TweakUI, but isn't from Microsoft.It is very good however.

More

Get Acrobat Reader
Get Flash
Get Java
Google Sketch Up
OpenOffice
Dev C++
Python

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

The following Microsoft KB article 307545 describes how to recover from a serious system failure, in which a file becomes corrupted and you can no longer boot the system.

KB307545

It's a fairly complicated procedure and you have to be careful if you have an OEM system as you may get stuck at the recovery console password prompt after restoring the files.

"Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives."

This is a where a program like ERD Commander (now called Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset)comes in very handy. Download a trial version here

Windows 2003 AD additional user info tab

This is a really useful additional tab for Active Directory. You can now see when a users password will expire!

Click here

Incidently Petri has a lot of useful info.

Cisco Wireless Antenna Guide

I came across this whilst researching yet more wireless stuff. It has a lot of detail on wireless protocol, but also has stats and a wireless profile diagram for all Cisco wireless antennas.

Cisco Wireless Antenna Guide