Travis Davies

I have been doing some Citrix work with the new 4.0 product. I have run into a issue that you cannot create sites, the option is not there at all. It is caused by the .NET version 2 installed on the 2003 server. You can either remove the .NET version 2 or the below fix worked for me.

Create a file call “mmc.exe.config” in \Windows\system32 directory and add the following lines to the file. You should be able to create sites after this is completed.

<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<configuration>
       <startup>
            <requiredRuntime version="v1.1.4322"/>
            <supportedRuntime version="v1.1.4322"/>
       </startup>
</configuration>

CTX108104

I have started using Sharepoint as the main project managment tool with great sucsess! Not only is it easy to create an envoirment to track tasks, issues, and documents. It also gives you a great way to “share” the info with your clients/peers. I have finally thrown the heavy burden of MS Project to the wayside! It has been awhile since I have found a really usefull tool that got me excited again about doing projects! Of course the tried and true method is using a basic numbered outline works just fine too, just not as cool!

I have run into a isssue with “somtimes“ when you create a MS Ofice transform file for custom Office intallations, they dont work. I have many times setup Citrix and Terminal servers to have the Outlook profile be created automatically when the user logs in. It works great. No extra helpdesk requests. And if you are using published applications and no desktop via Citrix it is priceless. The issue I have is when it is just won't work or stops working. This has happened on upgrades, new servers, old servers, etc. This is how FINALLY can get it to work 99.9% of the time. The key was a tool in the office rescource kit that I never would have thought to use. The Custom Maitenance Wizard. Here are the steps I have been using with great sucsess. I use this after I install Office with the custom transforms file and the Outlook profile is not beng automatically created.

===========

I) Uninstalled Office 2003

1) Used the Control Panel Add\Remove Programs applet to uninstall Office 2003.

2) Deleted the Program Files\Microsoft Office folder

4) Deleted the following registry keys:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OfficeCustomizeWizard (if present)

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software\Microsoft\Office

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install\Software\Microsoft\OfficeCustomizeWizard

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\OfficeCustomizeWizard

II) Rebooted the server

III) Reinstalled Office 2003 using your custom MST file

IV)Created new CMW file using the Custom Maintenance Wizard Tool

In the CMW Wizard, Modified the Outlook settings (Step 12/18)

Selected Modify Profile option, configured the exchange server name and %username%

Executed the CMW file,

MAINTWIZ.EXE /c C:\OFFICE.CMW /l*V C:\CMW.Log

Maintwiz.exe can be found in C:\Program Files\ORKTOOLS\ORK11\TOOLS\Custom Maintenance Wizard

Maintenance wizard create the following registry key

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\OfficeCustomMaintenanceWizard

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\OfficeCustomMaintenanceWizard

Related articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308263&sd=tech (How to create a custom maintenance wizard file)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q242216&sd=tech (How to use the CMW)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828955 (How to install Office 2003 on Windows Terminal Server)

I have been doing network consulting for over 10 years now and I keep hearing from clients and network admins of the “Perfect” network. Where all the servers are name brand, fault tolerant, and run smoothly. I hear that the purse strings of the CFO are wide open. Training is provided and bonuses for everyone. The users are also trained and a maintenance schedule is enforced. I have yet to find it yet, but I keep hearing about it. It is mostly at someone’s ex-employer that was getting close. I have yet to find two networks that are even the same, much less ones that need no tweaking or re-configuration in some way. I hear allot of “We need real servers for this, can you believe that it is running on a whitebox?” but when I say I see allot of this, it is not a problem we can get it to work, I get the glassed over eyes and the story of the perfect network. The magical place where everything is done with the recommended requirements doubled instead of the minimum. I spend allot of time trying to fit the customers needs to what they have in hardware and software. And most times it works quite well even with the ever changing requirements of most companies and the ever changing purse strings of the CFO. If anyone sees this perfect network or wants to quest for it let me know!!

I recently played golf with a VP of a large company in town. He was lamenting that he knows his IT staff is technically proficient and does there job very well, but, the other executives in the company have a poor view of IT. They think they are a dime a dozen. That the pay is too high. (The top developer is at 60k and the top Net Admin is at 50k, not that high in my book) As you can imagine his turnover is high and his productivity is down.  Once they get a really good Net Admin he goes somewhere else for more money and they loose valuable time and money getting someone else. He was wanting to find a way to show the other execs that the IT staff is special and should have more consideration than the “normal” employee. The IT staff has the “keys to the kingdom” as we have all heard. They usually have access to anything they want on the network. You trust them so why do you treat them like a check out counter person? It is not that they think that they cannot do there job, they dont know what there job is really. It is just the perception they have of them when they see them. Being the top notch consultant I am I switched from tech mode to therapist. (a cool trick you need to learn, helps with the wife too!)  I asked him, If your IT guys wore white shirts and ties for a month would the perception of them change. If the Net Admin looked  better than the HR director in dress and personal hygiene would that make a difference. He thought for a moment and said “I think that would be worth 30 grand a year, wouldn’t it”…… “yes it would” I said knowingly

The time of the old sweat wearing, sandals with no socks IT guy is about over. I am sure it is live and well in some environments but I talk to enough people who spend the money and they associate that with.. they are a dime a dozen mentality. IT guy, Fast Food guy, they dress the same.. let’s pay them the same.

Here are my thoughts on that. Dress one better than the client/dress code. If they are wearing casual, you were the Dockers and Polo. If they are wearing shirts and ties, then you get the French cut shirts and use cuff links with a tie pin. Always look professional and clean. It helps out so much you could not imagine.  It will get you the edge every time. I am not saying to go spend all your money on a new ward robe. Just learn to use an Iron, it is not that hard, really. You would look better in pressed sweats than wrinkly ones. And you will feel better to.

Personally I perfer a hardware device for spam blocking , but as a consultant you have to move and shake with what the customer has or is willing to purchase. The issue was when we had to re-install IHateSpam and it gave an error that we needed version 5.5 or higher for Internet Explorer to install and it would not. The server was on version 6.1 of IE. After trying all the basic's, updates, etc.  We found a key in the registry that was causing the problem.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole]
"DefaultLaunchPermission"

Problem description: You received Windows Installer Error 2731 or an Error 1720. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package.

RESOLUTION: We removed the "DefaultAccessPermission" registry value (which does not exist by default) from the HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Ole Registry branch.Removing this entry also resolved the RSOP.MSC and Drag&Drop issue

The tech at Sunbelt said that BackupExec is known to register that key.  Since BackupExec is not installed on this server, it must be something else.  The only thing other than Exchange is McAffeeGroupShield for Exchange and an HP array diag utility.  I checked some other servers and the key was there and it is also on my XP workstation. After deleting the key IHateSpam installed with no errors.

I am by no means a SQL expert but due to the life of a network engineer I get to see a little of everything. If anyone has any suggestions or comments on the steps I used feel free to make them. Recently we had an issue with a client that there master database was corrupt and MSSQL would not start. We had an old backup of the master database and the .mdf and .ldf of the client databases only. Below I have listed out the steps we took to recover the master database and the client databases.


- We started sqlservr.exe as an application using the trace flag -T3608 and it gave the error:

Error: 9003, Severity: 20, State: 1.

Cannot recover the master database. Exiting.

- We then proceeded with reinstallation of sql server for a named intance:NEW. and also applied sp3.

- Started sqlservr.exe -c -m -snew

- Restore database master from disk = 'D:\SQLDATAold\mssql\BACKUP\master_db_200503130200.BAK' with replace

- Started sqlservr.exe -T3608

- Checked the consistency of the Master database using: dbcc checkdb ('MASTER') - zero consistencies

- Next detached the Model database :sp_detach_db 'model'

- Renamed the new instance model db files

- Attached the Model database using: sp_attach_db 'model','D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\model.mdf','D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\modellog.ldf'

- Then took care of the Temp db by : Alter database tempdb modify file (name= 'tempdev', filename = 'D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\tempdb.mdf')

Alter database tempdb modify file (name= 'templog', filename = 'D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\templog.ldf')

- Detached the MSDB database: sp_detach_db 'msdb' and attached it back pointing to the right location:

sp_attach_db 'msdb','D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\msdbdata.mdf', 'D:\sqldata\MSSQL$NEW\Data\msdblog.ldf'

- Then changed the server name by executing the following commands

- select @@servername

- sp_dropserver 'BTLAPP'

- sp_addserver 'BTLAPP\NEW', 'LOCAL'

- Attached the DOCUWARE database and checked its consistencies: dbcc checkdb ('DOCUWARE') - zero consistencies


This worked really well the only drawback is the new instance name of MSSQL. We had to change the ODBC on every client workstation to point to the new name.