More Pieces

The minimum level you can set through the ESM GUI is 15 minutes. This value can be further tweaked by changing the ScheduleAccelerator registry value.

NB. The connector is only available on Windows Small Business Server 2003.

Follow the below steps to decrease the value:

1. Locate and select the following registry subkey:

“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/SmallBusinessServer/Network/POP3 Connector”

2. On the “Edit” menu, point to “New”, and then click “DWORD Value”.

3. Type: ScheduleAccelerator as the entry name.

5. On the “Edit” menu, click “Modify”.

6. In the “Value data” box, type the value that you want, then click “OK”.

To determine the polling interval, the value that is configured on the “Scheduling” tab in the ESM GUI is divided by the value that you type into the ScheduleAccelerator entry.

EG. if a 15 minute interval is specified in the ESM GUI and you set the value of the ScheduleAccelerator entry to 3, the connector will poll every five minutes.

7. Quit Registry Editor

I was playing around with Ubuntu on ESXi 3.5 (free edition) when I ran into some trouble installing the VM Tools package on my guest VM. After successfully installing it on Ubuntu server 9.04 - with GUI, I decided to create a new VM and install Ubuntu Server 9.10 - without the desktop GUI (X11).

After researching many forums and help files, I was able to install the package. Many thanks to all who helped me out a long the way! Now back to it.

The package to install is called open-vm-tools. It’s been released by VMware as an open source project. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include an installer so several steps have to be followed to compile and install it.

NB. All commands must be run with root level access or via sudo commands. Before attempting the below steps, make sure you have console access to the server. During the install network connectivity is lost. If a SSH session is used you won’t be able to finish the install.

After installing the server, log in and gain the necessary access, type:

sudo bash

then enter the account password.

Then type:

apt-get update

Then type:

apt-get dist-upgrade

Now that the linux kernel has been updated, the system should be rebooted. Type:

reboot

When the system comes back up, log in and gain root access as above. Then type:

apt-get install open-vm-tools

This is the point where network connectivity fails; it has to be restarted. Type:

modprobe pcnet32
/etc/init.d/networking restart

Now the installer needs to be built and installed. Type:

module-assistant prepare open-vm
module-assistant auto-install open-vm

** If the above command fails, refer to the troubleshooting section below.

Now that the package is installed, the “initramfs” file needs to be modified so the VMware accelerated NIC will be loaded at boot time. To modify the file, type:

echo vmxnet >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
update-initramfs -u

Now another reboot is required, type:

reboot

VM Tools is installed…
Troubleshooting:

If installing on Ubuntu 9.04, the command: module-assistant auto-install open-vm will fail. There is a patch available though. It get it type:

cd /usr/src

Then type :

wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/25819719/vmhgfs-2008-11-18-jaunty-lenny.diff

To install the patch, type:

patch -p0 < vmhgfs-2008-11-18-jaunty-lenny.diff

Now the auto-install command can be re-run. Type:

module-assistant –not-unpack auto-install open-vm

NB. There are 2 dashes before the word not-unpack. EG. - -not-unpack (no space between dashes)

Continue on and modify the initramfs file. Reboot to complete the install.

To disconnect all mapped drives in windows, open a command prompt or from Start button -> Run type:

net use * /d

Press Y then Enter to confirm.

Been using this script to check my servers after maintenance. Just lazy I guess. Remember you must have relevant permissions for the script to execute.

‘—- Start of Script —

strComputer = “PutServer/PCnameHere”

Set ServiceSet = GetObject(”winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\” & _
strComputer).ExecQuery _
(”select * from Win32_Service where State=’Stopped’ and StartMode=’Auto’”)

for each Service in ServiceSet
MsgBox Service.Name, 64, “Auto Started Service has Stopped :”
next

If ServiceSet.Count = 0 Then
WScript.echo “No services found meeting query criteria.”
End If

msgbox “Done”

I had to come up with a way to vaildate some domain user credentials for a support package. Here’s the code in it’s simplest vbs form :

‘“““““““““““““““““““““““““““““

Dim objDSO, objDomain, objSysInfo, strDomain

Set objSysInfo = CreateObject(”ADSystemInfo”)
strDomain = objSysInfo.DomainShortName

Set objDSO = GetObject(”WinNT:”)
On Error Resume Next
Set objDomain = objDSO.OpenDSObject(”WinNT://” & strDomain, “username”, “password”, ADS_SECURE_AUTHENTICATION)

If Err.Number <> 0 Then
   
    Select Case Err.Number
      Case -2147023570
        MsgBox “Unknown user name or password.”, 64, “Windows Authentication”
      Case -2147022987
        MsgBox “User account is locked.”, 64, “Windows Authentication”
      Case -2147023565
        MsgBox “User account is disabled.”, 64, “Windows Authentication”
      Case Else
         MsgBox “Unknown error, unable to verify credentials.” & vbCRLF & _
         “Error Code: ” & Err.Number, 64, “Windows Authentication”
    End Select
   
    Set objDSO = Nothing
    Set objDomain = Nothing
    Set objSysInfo = Nothing
   
    Wscript.Quit
   
End If

Set objDSO = Nothing
Set objDomain = Nothing
Set objSysInfo = Nothing

MsgBox “Credentials verified.”, 64, “Windows Authentication”

Use the FormBorderStyle Property to prevent form resizing - VB Express 2008.

FormBorderStyle.FixedSingle will prevent users from manually resizing the form. To prevent the form from being resized through code, handle the SizeChanged event and set the size back to the fixed size you want it to be.

Had to play around with this the other day on a new install, so here’s how :

Fom the Tools Menu, select Options -> Text Editor -> Basic -> General.
Click the “Line Numbers” checkbox.

I ran into a problem this morning where I couldn’t turn off an Out of office notification for one of my users. Here’s the error message received when trying to access OOO from the Tools Menu in Outlook :

The command is not available. See the program documentation about how to use this extension. 

MS KB823472 solved the problem for me. Here is the cause and resolution from this article :

Cause

This behaviour may occur if the following key is present in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Resiliency

Resolution

Quit Outlook, rename the Resiliency registry key, and then restart Outlook. To do this, follow these steps.

1.   Quit Outlook if it is running.

2.   Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager.

3.   On the Processes tab, verify that Outlook.exe does not appear in the list of processes. If it does, click Outlook.exe and then click End Process.

4.   On the File menu, click Exit Task Manager.

5.   Click Start, and then click Run.

6.   In the Open box, type regedit and then click OK.

7.   Locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook

8.   Right-click the Resiliency subkey (if it exists), and then click Rename.

9.   Type Resiliency.old, and then press ENTER.

10.   Quit Registry Editor.

11.   Start Outlook, and then click Out of Office Assistant on the Tools menu.

View the full MS KB for further information and ensure you backup the registry before attempting any modifications.

Const ForAppending = 8

Set objFSO = CreateObject(”Scripting.FileSystemObject”)

resLog = “r35uLt.log”

objStartFolder = InputBox (”Enter Folder Path :” & vbCRLF & _
vbCRLF & “\\servername\path to folder”, “Create File List”)

If Len(objStartFolder) = 0 Then
MsgBox “A valid path must be entered.”, _
64, “Create File List”
WScript.Quit(0)
End If

If objFSO.FileExists(objStartFolder & “\” & resLog) = False Then
objFSO.CreateTextFile objStartFolder & “\” & resLog
End if

Set oFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(objStartFolder & “\” & resLog, ForAppending)

Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(objStartFolder)
oFile.WriteLine objFolder.Path & Chr(59)
Set colFiles = objFolder.Files

For Each objFile in colFiles
oFile.WriteLine objFile.Name & Chr(59)
Next

ShowSubfolders objFSO.GetFolder(objStartFolder)
oFile.Close

MsgBox “File List created :” & vbCRLF & vbCRLF & _
objStartFolder & “\” & resLog, 64, “Create File List”

Sub ShowSubFolders(Folder)
For Each Subfolder in Folder.SubFolders
oFile.WriteLine Subfolder.Path & Chr(59)
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(Subfolder.Path)
Set colFiles = objFolder.Files
For Each objFile in colFiles
oFile.WriteLine objFile.Name & Chr(59)
Next

ShowSubFolders Subfolder
Next
End Sub

Use the below script to disable the windows firewall on XP. To enable the firewall, change the second last line from false to true. Tested on XP SP1-3.

‘Start of script :

Set objFirewall = CreateObject(”HNetCfg.FwMgr”)
Set objPolicy = objFirewall.LocalPolicy.CurrentProfile

objPolicy.FirewallEnabled = FALSE

Msgbox “Done”