Microsoft released a hotfix (KB 2781272) earlier this year to add backup support for UEFI-based client computers that contain a GUID partition table (GPT) formatted disk. The hotfix addresses four issues that are defined in the KB post.
Please note that prior to installing this hot fix, it is necessary to remove those client computers that contain GPT-formatted disk from the WHS 2011 dashboard, and select ‘Do not archive backup’.
Hurrah! HP has released their next generation of the HP Microserver, properly labeled as: HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8.
First, a quick look back …
Nearly five years ago, HP released their HP MediaSmart Server for running Microsoft’s Windows Home Server solution. Although it was designed as a “home” solution, many of us immediately saw this as a great backup solution for small businesses.
Sure enough, a year later, HP repackaged the MediaSmart Server, and sold it as the HP StorageWorks Data Vault Server. Nearly everyone of my customers has a MediaSmart/Data Vault server strictly for doing workstation backups.
All at a cost of less than $500!
Two and a half years ago, I purchased my first HP ProLiant MicroServer. I have one in my lab that I use for demos. It is currently running Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, 2012 Essentials and Windows 8. At every I.T. seminar or conference I have spoken at in the past two years, you get everyone’s attention when showing off the HP MicroServer.
I have the HP MicroServer installed at customer sites being used as a backup server (WHS 2011), as a member server running Windows Foundation/SharePoint, and as a development system for LOB web applications.
And now, presenting …
Last month HP released the next generation of the MicroServer – HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen 8. And it’s a beauty!
The improvements over the prior MicroServer includes: supports up to 16GB memory, up to 12TB (terabytes) of non-hot plug STA drives, HP iLO4 integrated with the gigabit NIC switch, add-on Raid 5, and easier internal access when adding memory.
It comes in two models: Intel Celeron G1610T (2 core, 2.3GHz, $449) or Intel Pentium G2020T (2 core, 2.5 Ghz, $529). Both models come standard with 2GB memory.
But don’t take my word for it. Read what my good friend and MVP partner, Robert Pearman has to say about the new Gen8 MicroServer!
Let me know what you think of it!
My wife and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a cruise (Jul 28-Aug 4) to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Martin/Sint Maarten. Here’s a short 11 minute video slideshow of photos we took. Enjoy!
From the FWIW dept: I recently installed WHS 2011 on HP MicroServer N36L hardware at a site. Customer wants to use it to display rotating family photos on an attached monitor. Two things were required:
SCREEN SAVER
The screen saver software was easy to resolve. I downloaded and installed the free version of gPhotoShow. It runs on WHSv1 (Windows server 2003), and WHS2011 (Windows Server 2008R2). I like it because you can have it randomize the photos to be displayed, and other tweaks.
GRAPHICS DRIVER
The graphics driver was a bit more work. By default, installing WHS 2011 uses the standard VGA graphics driver.
If you go to HP’s support site, they direct you to ASPEED’s web site for downloading the graphics driver.
There’s no install file, just the driver (inf) files for each operating system. However, as I could not determine which specific model to install (AST1100, AST1160, etc.), I decided to try a different approach..
I then installed and ran the free HWiNFO64 utility (there is also a HWiNFO32 version as well).
It told me that I had an ATI/AMD Mobility Radeon HD 2400 graphics. How interesting! What’s nice about the HWiNFO64 utility is that by simply clicking on the graphic card link, it took me right to the AMD site to download the appropriate driver.
Back in Nov 2006 I wrote a blog post on creating a batch command file that could be used to cleanup old IIS log files. Then, in Dec 2007, I wrote an updated blog post with another solution. I thought I would update those posts for 2013 using PowerShell.
Both of the above solutions were written in the SBS 2003 era, but will work with SBS 2008/2011. Both versions will let you identify the number of days to keep (I suggest 30 days), and will scan sub-folders under the specified folder.
As a quick review, here’s how to implement my Dec 2007 solution:
While batch files are still supported in the Windows 2008 R2/Windows 2012 era, we need to start getting comfortable with using PowerShell scripts. I found a handy PowerShell script that does this from the Microsoft forum.
This script used the “start-transcript / stop-transcript” command to create a history log of files deleted.
Finally, from the FWIW department: you should know that from a security point of view,
deleting IIS log files or other similar system log files, is not generally recommended.
My normal experience is that the built in backup for SBS 2008 generally just works … that is, until now. I returned from vacation to find backup errors on an SBS 2008 customer’s server. The error message was: “Failed – There is not enough space on the disk”
So, I hunted around for a solution to get things running, and here’s what I found that worked for me. What we will be doing is to manually delete the oldest shadow partition(s) from the USB drive, thus making room for newer backups. Here’s the process we will follow:
So, let’s get started:
Keep the disk Management window open, as you will be needing it.
Finally, you will find some helpful information in this blog post from the Microsoft Storage Team on backups and space management for Windows Server 2008/2008R2.
The folks at ThirdTier have a great article on the how’s and why’s of adjusting Exchange 2010’s memory usage. I suggest you read their blog post first. My intent here is to highlight and clarify the process, as there are some steps that were not clearly obvious to me.
As always, before starting – make sure you have a recent backup of your server. And be aware that you will need to restart Exchange at the end of this process!
Please note: the ThirdTier article incorrectly states a value of 326780 for 10GB. The correct value is 327680.
I have worked with the Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) product line since 2001. The product itself goes back to the Windows NT era when it was called Microsoft BackOffice Server.
In 2004 I was honored to be designated as a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for the SBS product. This past January, my MVP status was renewed for a 10th straight year. It’s amazing, given the fact that I am one of
But recently Microsoft decided to shake things up a bit, and we were informed that there would be a “technical expertise name change” to our SBS MVP group.
Effective July 17th, 2013, the technical expertise Small Business Server will be renamed to Windows Server for Small and Medium Business. Please note this is a MVP Program expertise change only and has no impact within the product team structure.
And you know what? That’s fine with me.
Many people have been very disappointed over the fact that the SBS product, as we have known it, will not be continued. I’m not one of those people. I see this as an indication that things never remain the same. New things to learn; new skills to develop; new opportunities to do what I like to do – help businesses be more productive.
So, I am officially a WSSMB MVP (at least until my next review period at the end of the year).
After installing or migrating to Exchange 2010, one of the first things I check out is Outlook Web Access (OWA). But more often than not, I’m unable to login to OWA.
If you have been working with Exchange 2010 this may be nothing new. But, I am seeing a last minute flurry of activity with installing or migrating to SBS 2011, and thought that a quick post might be beneficial.
The key is to check that all Exchange services that are set to Automatic have in fact started. Quite often you will find that on a reboot of the server that Microsoft Exchange Forms-Based Authentication Service is not running.
Having to remember to start it manually each time you reboot the server is not acceptable!
The solution to this issue is very simple:
Change the startup type for this service from Automatic to Automatic (Delayed Start).
Next time you reboot your server, you will find that this service is running.
I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being tricked into installing additional third party software that I did not want.
Oracle’s Java is a prime example. It tries to get you to install their sponsors’ applications (Ask Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, McAfee, Chrome, etc.) whenever you click to install the newest Java update. Yes, there’s a window that pops up allowing you to UNcheck those boxes, but come on … leave them unchecked by default, ad then let us decide if we want to install them.
I finally discovered a solution – there are registry settings that will block ANY of these sponsored applications from installing! I will give Oracle kudos for at least providing these registry settings, but it certainly is a hidden secret!
To make things easy, I put the two registry settings into a text file that you can download and install.
Please note that the download file has a .txt suffix, which will need to be changed to .reg before installing.
If you want to test that it really works:
For those with a Windows server, you can use group policy to implement this for all workstations!
