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Archive for Servers – Page 8

Extend Keyboard and Mouse with Synergy

by KW · Comments (0)
May 10 2013

Last August I wrote about a utility called Mouse Without Borders, developed in Microsoft’s “The Garage”, that allows you to use one keyboard and mouse to control multiple computers. And the utility works very great.

That is, unless you also have Linux or Mac OS X computers which you also want to control with a single keyboard and mouse.

So, here comes Synergy which offers to extend your mouse and keyboard to all three environments. And did I say that it is FREE??

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I decided to take it for a spin today, and I was quite surprised at how easy it was to install and run it. For this first effort, I only installed it on two Windows computers. At a later date I will post my efforts to include a Linux or Mac workstation.

My scenario: I have a Windows 7 x86 workstation with three monitors, and a Windows 2008R2 x64 server, running Hyper-V.

INSTALL/SETUP FIRST WORKSTATION

My mouse and keyboard that I wish to use is on my Win7 workstation. So I first downloaded the Windows 32-bit version of Synergy and installed it. I designate this as my Synergy “server”.

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It then asks what type on encryption I wish to use. That’s a really nice feature as it does provide some protection from anyone trying to intercept your keystrokes. You have a choice of four (4) different encryption modes, or you can disable encryption. For purposes of testing, I chose to not enable encryption.

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The only other step to do is to click on the Configure Server… button. You will have a screen where you can describe your setup, indicating in which direction the monitor for each of the other workstation(s) is located.

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INSTALL/SETUP ON NEXT WORKSTATION

In this case, my second workstation (which Synergy refers to as a client) is running Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. I am also running Hyper-V manager on this server, so I decided to install the Synergy client to the Hyper-V parent, so I can control all of my Hyper-V guests.

So I download and install the 64 bit version of Synergy, and install it. This time, when it asks Server or Client, I’ll select “Client”. Then you need to tell the Synergy client the name of the computer that is the “Synergy “server”.

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I thought I was all done, but my mouse would not move over to the monitor attached to my server. At first I thought it was a firewall issue, but turning off the firewall on the W2K8R2 server did not fix it. In fact, if you check the firewall settings, you will find that Synergy had automatically added the proper Inbound TCP and UDP rules.

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I then checked Services, and discovered that the Synergy service had not yet been started.

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After doing so, I immediately saw that Synergy was communicating between the two computers, and my single mouse and keyboard was now controlling both computers!

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Categories : News, Servers, Tools, Windows
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View Hidden Devices in Device Manager

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 20 2013

By default, Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) does not provide the option to “Show Hidden Devices”. You’ve probably know the steps to enable this option:

  1. Open a command prompt in (Run as) administrator mode
  2. Type the following two commands:
    set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
    start devmgmt.msc
  3. Once Device Manager starts up, you can click View –> Show Hidden Devices
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But if your working on a server and need to review the full list of devices, doing the above steps is not very productive. THere’s a way to set this option permanently, entering it as a system variable. Here are the steps for Windows 2008 R2, but the same variable can be created in other versions of Windows.

  1. Click Start
  2. Right click on Computer, then click Properties
  3. Click on the Advanced System Settings in the left frame
  4. Under the Advanced tab, click on Environment Variables…
  5. Click New
    For the Variable name, type:  devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
    For the Variable value, type: 1
  6. Click OK

That’s it! Here’s a screen shot of the above process:

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Now, any time you access Device Manager on this server, the Show Hidden Options will be available from the View options

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Categories : Servers, Tools, Windows
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Ongoing WordPress Security Attacks

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 16 2013

This is for anyone who creates or maintain WordPress sites. It comes from one of the WordPress 3rd party theme developers (iThemes) that I regularly use, and I thought I would share it. Original post dated April 15, 2013:

“Ongoing WordPress Security Attacks, The Details and Solutions:
There is a very real, very large ongoing attack against WordPress sites. It has been going on for a while now, but it severely escalated last week…”

http://ithemes.com/2013/04/15/ongoing-wordpress-attacks-details-and-solutions/

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Categories : Security, Servers, WordPress
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DISM for Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 Bit)

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 15 2013

DISM is a command-line Microsoft tool for Windows 7/8/2008/2012. DISM stands for ‘Deployment Image Servicing and Management’. If you do a search for dism.exe you will find many posts of people using it to reduce the size of their WinSxS folder, especially after installing SP1. There is a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of this tool.

The actual command to do this cleanup is: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

So, you are sitting at the console of a Windows 2008 R2 x64 server, and you want to run this utility. Chances are, you will try to use the dism.exe that is listed inside the c:\Windows\SysWow64 folder.

However, if you do so, you may encounter the following error message: Error: 11 You cannot service a running 64-bit operating system with a 32-bit version of DISM. Please use the version of DISM that corresponds to your computer’s architecture.

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In order to run this properly, you need to go directly to the native system folder to run this tool on a 64 bit system. Here are the steps:

  • Open command prompt window as administrator (‘Run as’).
  • Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32
  • Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

This will take about ten minutes to run. Please note that even after the progress bar reaches 100.0%, the tool has not finished running. Do NOT close the command prompt window until you get the message “The operation completed successfully”.

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What is the result of running this tool? I ran this on a Windows 2008 R2/SBS 2011 server, and it reduced the size of the WinSxS folder from 10.8GB to 7.37GB.

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Not very drastic if you ask me. Not with today’s disk sizes. However, if you are running out of disk space on your server system drive, this might buy you some needed room!

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Categories : SBS, Servers, Tools, Windows
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WSUS now available for Windows Server 2012 Essentials!

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 06 2013

Finally! One of the major features, in the eyes of many I.T. professionals and consultants, missing from the Windows Server 2012 Essentials product was the ability to fully manage, approve/reject, and deploy Microsoft updates to the attached workstations in the network.

This feature, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), was a built-in server role in all of the Small Business Server (SBS) product line, as well as Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter, with enhanced features.

Microsoft has now released the enhanced version of WSUS for Windows Server 2012 Essentials! It is packaged as a Microsoft hotfix.

Here are the links you need:

  1. Coffee Coaching – HP & Microsoft blog announcement
  2. WSUS features and requirements (KB 2762663)
  3. WSUS 2012 Evaluation Guide
  4. Download the Microsoft WSUS hotfix here
    Instructions:

      • Accept terms and conditions
      • Click to select the desired hotfix
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      • Enter your email address and security code
      • A link to the hotfix will be mailed to you
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      • Click on the provided link in the email, and you will be asked to run or save the download.
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Categories : Essentials, News, Servers, WSUS
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Case Study–Windows Server 2012 Essentials

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 05 2013

My good friend and MVP buddy, Wayne Small of Australia, was the focus of a recent Microsoft case study on the features and benefits of implementing a mixed cloud/on-premise solution to customers.

The article details Wayne’s approach, using Windows Server 2012 Essentials (the follow-on product to the highly successful Small Business Server) and Office 365.

He explains how this winning combination helps to address the needs of many of his customers, and discusses the benefits of deploying Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

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Congratulations, Wayne!

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Categories : Essentials, News, SBS, Servers, Windows
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Add KB 2775511 to WSUS

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 14 2013

In a previous blog, I described how to locate, download and install the hotfix rollup (KB 2775511) – a rollup of 90 hotfixes that will improve performance and stability to Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1 systems.

As noted in the previous blog, this hotfix rollup is NOT automatically available via WSUS. However, it is very easy to add this rollup to WSUS for distribution to your workstations and servers.

  1. From your server hosting WSUS, open up the WSUS Console (Start –> Administrative Tools –> Windows Server Update Services
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  2. Click to select your server from the left hand frame, and then click Import Updates… from the right hand frame
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  3. This will open up the Microsoft Update Catalog site in a new browser window. In the Search box, enter 2775511 and click the Search button
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  4. Click the Add All button, and then click View Basket
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  5. The screen refreshes, and the option “Import directly into Windows Server Update Services” is displayed and checked. Go ahead and click on the Import button. Wait until the download completes and then click Close.
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  6. The KB will appear in WSUS list of updates after the update check has run on each workstation/server, and you can approve/schedule it accordingly.
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  7. And for SBS servers, the KB update can be found in the SBS Console (Security –> Updates) for scheduling.
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Categories : News, Servers, Windows
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Hotfix Rollup for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 13 2013

On March 13, 2013 Microsoft released KB 2775511. They refer to this as “an enterprise hotfix rollup” for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1. This rollup contains 90 hotfixes that have been issues since the release of SP1 for Windows 7/Windows 2008 R2.

The chatter on this release is that a lot of work went into this rollup, and that you definitely want to be looking at this for your customers and your own systems. Microsoft says that this hotfix rollup improves the overall performance and system reliability of Windows 7/Windows 2008 R2 SP1 systems.

One small example: I installed it on my own Windows 7 workstation and saw a dramatic improvement in boot time.

Now, for whatever reason, you will NOT find this hotfix rollup on Microsoft Update (MU) or Windows Update (WU) or on WSUS. That’s correct – you will NOT find it there. Instead, you will find it on the Microsoft Update Catalog download site. I know … I’m with you on this one as I didn’t know about this site myself.

But lets stop gabbing and get to downloading and installing the rollup!

  1. You can read the details about this rollup here: KB 2775511 
  2. Or go straight to the Microsoft Update Catalog site
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  3. In the Search box, enter 2775511 and click Search
  4. The list of available files are displayed. There are separate versions of this hotfix rollup for Windows 7/x86, Windows 7/x64, Windows 2008 R2 x64, and Windows 2008 R2 Itanium.
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  5. Click on the Add button for those versions you want.
  6. After that, click on the Download button and choose your desired drive/folder location to store the downloads.
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  7. For each version, a folder is created with two files in it — a .exe file and a .msu file.
    Double click on the appropriate .msu file to install the hotfix.
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  8. Install and reboot your system. That’s it!

Now, for those who like to do performance measurement, there’s a tool called XPerf you may want to take a look at. There’s a nice blog post on using XPerf to measure Slow Boot Slow Logon (SBSL) scenarios

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Categories : News, SBS, Servers, Windows
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Installing Exchange 2007 Rollups for SBS 2008

by KW · Comments (0)
Feb 28 2013

There are things that I do in managing my computer systems that I would classify under the category of “trusted habits”. For example, whenever I am updating a server, I always reboot it before installing updates. Or, I generally install any .Net updates separate from other Windows security patches.

Another trusted habit of mine is to install Exchange related rollups or service packs on their own, manually. That is, I don’t use WSUS or WU/MU to automatically install Exchange updates.

As an example, let’s take a quick look at applying Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 SP3, which  was released in February 2013 (see KB2788321).

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Before proceeding, make sure you do my three essential pre-requisites:

  1. Backup your server
  2. Reboot Your Server
  3. Disable any anti-virus software running on your server

Even though WSUS/MU properly informs me that Update Rollup 10 is available, I won’t use WSUS/MU to install it.

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Instead, go to KB2788321 this link, and download and save the 64 bit version of RU10 to your desktop or Download folder.

Right click on the downloaded file, click Apply, then click Open, and wait a few minutes while it computes space requirements.

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Please note: If you get an error message about insufficient permissions or privileges, DON’T PANIC.
Just open up an elevated command prompt, and locate/run the download file from there.

Click Next, when prompted, to begin the installation, and accept the License Terms. Wait while it generates the required .Net files, then click Next. The installation will proceed, and may take 30-40 minutes to complete.

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Once the rollup has been installed, go ahead and reboot your server, and then check and verify that all of the appropriate Exchange services have started, and delete the rollup file you downloaded.

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Categories : Exchange, SBS, Servers
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First book on Windows Server 2012 Essentials released

by KW · Comments (0)
Jan 17 2013

My good friend and fellow SBS MVP’er, Boon Tee, has released the first book published on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Essentials. This Administrator’s Guide is available as an e-book only.

You can read more about the book and order it online here: http://adminguide.ws2012e.us

You can also download a sample of his book here: http://www.powerbiz.net.au/files/BookSample.pdf

Cover

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Categories : Essentials, News, SBS, Servers
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