Our New Egyptian IT Pros Community online, Join now #Egypt #IT #professionals #newegypt #mvpbuzz

Dears,
we have started a new group that will focus on the IT professionals technologies in general not only Microsoft, we will be posting new sessions online from www.enadwa.com, you can follow us our activities on linkedin also http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular&gid=3891911 and twitter http://twitter.com/#!/egyptitpros

we will be posting our sessions schedule within few days from now. stay tuned as we have amazing events coming.

Disabling Day/time Savings #Microsoft #Windows #Egypt #DST

The Egyptian government announced on Wednesday 20 April 2011 that summer daylight saving time (DST) will be canceled in Egypt. By default, all windows platforms configured with Egypt time zone (GMT+02:00) Cairo will start the DST by the last Thursday of April by adding one hour at 28 April 2011 @ 23:59:59.

Microsoft will be releasing a new hotfix to disable DST, however due to time limitation we might have a delay until we get that update, until further notice use the below steps to disable it.

As a workaround, to deactivate daylight saving settings and avoid adding an hour by the last Thursday of April, the “Automatically Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving” checkbox needs to be unchecked. Automated ways for Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows 2003 are listed below. Unfortunately, there is no automation in toggling this checkbox in Windows 2008 and Vista, it will need to be done manually.

Issue:

Windows Daylight Saving Time (DST) Will be canceled in Egypt 

Symptoms:

Your computer’s clock may start the daylight saving time (adding 1 hour) on the last Thursday of April at 23:59:59, and it may end the daylight saving time (deducting 1 hour) on the last Thursday of September at 11:59:59 PM.

However, in Egypt, daylight saving time has been canceled, and there is no need to add or deduct this 1 hour.  
The behavior will only occur if the Date/Time Properties settings are set to the following:

•	Time Zone is set to (GMT+02:00) Cairo. -and-
•	The Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes check box is selected.

Business Impact:

· Active Directory Replication fails.

· Users will be unable to join / logon to all Active Directory Domains.

· The Global Catalog server is unavailable, and the Exchange services cannot be started.

· Users are not able to access their e-mail as the Exchange Server services are down.

· The Free/busy calendar information will show the old time (One extra hour).

· Calendar appointments will be off by 1 hour.

Resolution:

          Any of following resolution can be used:

· Microsoft Windows7 and Microsoft Windows server 2008 R2

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” can be disabled by using a built-in command line utility called Tzutil.exe:

– Tzutil.exe /s “Egypt Standard Time”_dstoff

The above command will clear the DST checkbox. You can run this command in a script file to force the change on all Win7/2k8 R2 machines. It’s recommended that you re-type this command rather than copy/paste from email.

· Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” can be disabled by using the below commands with TZChange.exe:

– reg.exe add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation /f /v DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet /t REG_DWORD /d 1   – TZCHANGE.exe /C "Middle East Standard Time"   – TZCHANGE.exe /C "Egypt Standard Time"

The above command will clear the DST checkbox. You can run this command in a script file to force the change on all Win7/2k8 R2 machines. It’s recommended that you re-type this command rather than copy/paste from email.

· Microsoft Windows Server 2008 / Vista

“Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes” checkbox needs to be manually disabled.

Prerequisites

The following list contains prerequisites for this solution:

• Windows XP SP3

• Windows 2003 SP2

• Windows 7 RTM

• Windows 2008 R2

Applies to

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, when used with:

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, when used with:

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (32-bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition (32-Bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition

    Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, when used with:

    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, when used with:

    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

    Microsoft Windows XP Professional

• Windows 7 Ultimate

• Windows 7 Enterprise

• Windows 7 Home Premium

• Windows 7 Home Basic

• Windows 7 Starter

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Edition

• Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit Edition

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition

• Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

Windows Web Server R2 2008

#Lync Client #Virtualization the full story #ucoms #Citrix #xendesktop #xenapp

if you have been reading carefully, Citrix released a document the article published here http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128831 .

by that time, I knew internally that Microsoft didn’t support Client virtualization for OCS/Lync. although if you have been reading and even attended Citrix Xenapp 6 or Xendesktop training you will hear a lot about Lync/OCS client virtualization delivery with Xenapp or Xendesktop.

starting 14/4, Microsoft released a document that explains the supportability statement for Xenapp and Xendesktop and virtualization techniques that they support/no support.

the document is available here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f865e66d-1163-46ef-ba9c-d585376dfbae.

in summary Microsoft now supports client virtualization through full desktop or application delivery/streaming with some considerations “check the document for more details” it is so amazing to see that Microsoft finally released such a support statement and changed the fully rigid statement of the big NO before.

Automating #Linux Machines #provisioning on #Microsoft Hyper-v #Cloud using #opalis #hyperv

I was assigned the task by one of my customers to automate their Linux machines provisioning on their Hyper-v cloud they are running, they still evaluating the Hyper-v Cloud capabilities, and they were wondering if they can automate the Linux machines provisioning into Hyper-v Servers.

They currently still evaluating it, so the process for the request and automation still not clear in their mind, but the question and request was simple, we want to automate the process of copying and configuring the machine, specially that they are running lots of Linux virtual machines.

the setup:

– 2 Hyper-v nodes running in cluster, each with 128 GB of memory, SCCM,SCOM, SCVMM 2008 R2 SP1, DPM 2010.

– request will come from a help desk or purchasing system, this is not clear yet.

before we start here is some notes for Microsoft guys working on that:

– I spent couple of days trying to figure out how sysprep can be done on the Linux machines and how to script it, the important note that Linux doesn’t has SID related information bounded to the machine, so copying the machine and renaming it will bring a totally new machine to the cloud. reference here.

– the machine name for Linux can be placed and configured in several places, keep in mind that if you used the command hostname to set the Linux machine host name it will be changed to the default name after the restart, to set it permanently, you will need to set the host name on /etc/sysconfig/network file.

– to execute commands remotely you will need to SSH on the machine.

now let us rock n roll:

I have no experience on Linux scripting so steps mentioned here are just guidelines and placeholders for others to use and kick off their implementations, however I don’t claim that those are the best way to do it.

the workflow you will configure will require the following:

– Create a template Linux virtual machine by creating a normal machine on any hyper-v Host.

– Install the Linux Integration components for Hyper-v, the main factor to note that you will need to install the development tools on the machine so it can successfully compile the source.

– after the integration tools installation you will need to assign a static IP to the machine (this will be used by Opalis later to SSH to the machine and run the configuration commands).

– Shut down the machine, from the SCVMM 2008 R2 admin console, copy the virtual machine to the library (if the hyper-v hosts located in different forest or DMZ this can be done by copying it).

now let us start:

– Install Opalis, best video can be found here.

– Import the SCVMM 2008 R2 Integration pack.

– Create the provisioning work flow as following:

the work flow will do the following:

– Create a random name that will be assigned to the machine, this is just a placeholder, the machine can be retrieved from text file, SQL DB..etc

– Create a VM from the VM template from the SCVMM 2008 R2 Server, and assign the name generated by the previous task to it, the name will be Linux-randomtextvalue

to assign the name linux-randometextname, in the vmname field you can pass the results of the previous task by typing, linux- then right click in the field and choose subscribe and choose published data and choose random text results from the previous step.

– the next step will get the vm, make the name as the name linux-randometextname same as previous step.

-the next step will start the vm, and pass the VM ID retrieved by the “Get VM” task, since this task requires VM ID, use the subscribe and published data to pass the VM ID from the “Get VM” Task.

– the link between the “start VM” and next SSH command will wait for 300 seconds or 5 minutes to allow the machine to fully start.

– the next ssh command will ssh to the static IP of the machine, and change the name by altering the file /etc/sysconfig/network and searching it for the default name “localhost.localdomain” and change it with the random text results:

the command will be : sed -i ‘s/localhost.localdomain/Linux-{Randome Text from “Generate VM name”}/g’ /etc/sysconfig/network

– the next step will configure the machine to use DHCP commands, same SSH step the command will be: sed -i ‘s/none/dhcp/g’ /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

– the next SSH command will restart the VM to apply the settings.

and you are done.

again you can play with the workflow and create you own flow, there is some guides on the internet to automate the request that came from SCSM into Opalis..etc but this article to give you an idea about how generally the Linux machine configuration will be done.

#Lync Web Scheduler is now RTM #Microsoft #UCOMS

Lync Web Scheduler is a resource kit tool for Microsoft® Lync Server 2010. It provides a Web-based alternative to the add-in for the Microsoft Office Outlook® messaging and collaboration client for the purpose of scheduling a meeting using Lync Server 2010. It also provides a browser-based conference management experience that includes operations such as the following:

· Scheduling a new online Lync meeting.

· Listing all existing Lync Server 2010 meetings that the user has organized.

· Viewing and modifying details of an existing meeting.

· Deleting an existing meeting.

· Sending an email invitation to meeting participants by using a configured SMTP mail server.

· Joining an existing conference.

you can download it from here

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b7d8f948-fa64-4c51-8b54-2223954d1fa4

New #Exchange 2010 Custom KBS #Exchange2010 #KBs

Issue:

A user who is trying to access his archived mailbox in OWA might receive:

The item you tried to access no longer exists.
The item wasn’t found.  You or a delegate might have moved or deleted it using another computer or a mobile phone

Solutions:

here is a known issue:

Error occurs when trying to open a message attached .ics file in Archive mailbox.
The entire error message is as following.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The item you tried to access no longer exists.
The item wasn’t found. You or a delegate might have moved or deleted it using another computer or a mobile phone.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
This issue occurs when the view is change to the Conversation view.
This issue occurs when a message attached .ics file is in a folder under Archive mailbox.

This will be Fixed in later Updates

Issue:

you might Receive errors when configuring IRM service point and test-irmconfiguration cmdlet:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>Set-IRMConfiguration -InternalLicensingEnabled $true
No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 192.168.1.46:443 —> Unable to connect to t
he remote server —> Failed to get Server Info from https://rms.baupost.com/_wmcs/certification/server.asmx.
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Set-IRMConfiguration], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : 8E3210B2,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RightsManagement.SetIRMConfiguration

[PS] C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts>Test-IRMConfiguration

cmdlet Test-IRMConfiguration at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
Sender: ************

Results : Checking Exchange Server …
              – Exchange Server is running in Enterprise.
          Loading IRM configuration …
              – IRM configuration loaded successfully.
          Retrieving RMS Certification Uri …
              – RMS Certification Uri: https://rms.baupost.com/_wmcs/certification.
          Verifying RMS version for https://rms.baupost.com/_wmcs/certification …
              – Warning! Failed to verify RMS Version. IRM features require AD RMS on Windows Server 2008 SP2 with the
          Hotfixes specified in Knowledge Base article 973247 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973247) or RMS on Window
          s Server 2008 R2.
          —————————————-
          Microsoft.Exchange.Security.RightsManagement.RightsManagementException: Failed to get Server Info from https:
          //rms.baupost.com/_wmcs/certification/server.asmx. —> System.Net.WebException: Unable to connect to the rem
          ote server —> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine ac
          tively refused it 192.168.1.46:443
             at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress)
             at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& soc
          ket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Int32 timeout, Exception& except
          ion)
             — End of inner exception stack trace —
             at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream(TransportContext& context)
             at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream()
             at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
             at Microsoft.Exchange.Security.RightsManagement.SOAP.Server.ServerWS.GetServerInfo(ServerInfoRequest[] req
          uests)
             at Microsoft.Exchange.Security.RightsManagement.ServerWSManager.ValidateServiceVersion(String featureXPath
          )
             — End of inner exception stack trace —
             at Microsoft.Exchange.Security.RightsManagement.ServerWSManager.ValidateServiceVersion(String featureXPath
          )
             at Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RightsManagement.IRMConfigurationValidator.ValidateRmsVersion(Uri uri, Se
          rviceType serviceType)
             at Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RightsManagement.IRMConfigurationValidator.TryGetRacAndClc()

Solutions1:

Make sure that the following hotfix is installed: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973247

Solutions2:

Disable Anonymous access on servicelocator.asmx page

Issue:

Users running Outlook 2003 might not be able to see full Free/Busy Information:

Solution:

This is because in SP1 outlook 2003 publishes free/busy information but only can view 60 days of information (1 month after and 1 month before), there is no workarounds per my knowledge.

Issue:

when you move a user from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 you might get the following error:

[PS] C:\>New-MoveRequest –Identity ‘user@domain.com’ -TargetDatabase ‘Mailbox Database 0036434759’
Mailbox database ‘ad2f88b9-670e-4cfb-a91c-5f9f10f3da04’ is offline.
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (0:Int32) [New-MoveRequest], RemoteTransientException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : E9F32A3C,Microsoft.Exchange.Management.RecipientTasks.NewMoveRequest

Solution:

Make sure that inheritable permissions are propagating on the user’s mailbox.

Cumulative Update 2 for the following #Lync Products have been released.

Product	External	External
Lync 2010 (64bit)	2496325	MS download
Lync 2010 (32bit)	2496325	MS download
Lync 2010 Phone Edition (Tanjay)	2529974	MS download
Lync 2010 Phone Edition (Aries-Aastra)	2529978	MS download
Lync 2010 Phone Edition (Aries-Polycom)	2529977	MS download
Lync 2010 Attendee (Admin Install)	2500438	MS download
Lync 2010 Attendee (User mode install)	2500440	MS download
Lync 2010 Attendant (32 & 64 bit are a combined patch)	2496326	MS download
Lync 2010 Group Chat Client	2500446	MS download
Lync 2010 Group Chat Server	2500447	MS download
Lync 2010 Group Chat Admin	2500445	MS download