Constantine's thoughts

Intro : I bought some old PowerEdge 2850s in order to setup a test/learning environment. My frustration of installing server 2008 R2 on these machines led me down different paths such as Dell SUU (which was another set of frustration with the 2850). Here is the most efficient way to install Server 2008R2. Please ask any questions in the comments below.

1. Ensure that the latest BIOS is installed. (Bios A07).
   http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/555/DriverDetails/DriverFileFormats?DriverId=1XYHY&FileId=2731104477
2. Setup Server 2008R2 on a Flash Drive. The following link is a great, concise, how to.
   http://www.jaxidian.org/update/2009/08/28/98/
3. Copy the RAID controller drivers to any folder on the USB flash drive. I put mine in a newly created folder called “DellDriver”. The installation will scan all folders on the USB in order to perform a driver installation for the HDD; and will prevent the blue screen of death. Drivers for the 2850 in the link below.
   http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/2684
4. Setup RAID configuration. The following was a great tutorial on this :
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKiOECFu1HE
5. Ensure the BIOS is setup correctly to boot to USB.
   http://www.planetmy.com/blog/how-to-configure-dell-server-bios-boot-from-usb/
6. Ensure the USB is in the rear ports. I have tried both in the front and back of the server I had…. and only the rear worked for boot.

Feel free to email me or ask questions in the comments.

The Set-ADUser is a very powerful cmdlet that allows for changing a users attributes in Active Directory. In this article, the Set-ADUser will be used to demonstrate how to change the logon script portion of a Users account in Active Directory.

First, lets look at our User Account in question.

The logon script is blank. There are 3 user accounts for this demo that we are going to change: ProfileDemo001, ProfileDemo002, ProfileDemo003.

In order to run the Set-ADUser command, we need to prepare some prep work. First, a CSV file needs to be created with the usernames that are going to be changed.  Below is a screenshot showing the CSV file inside Excel.

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Preface : During the transition between a File Server running Windows Server 2003 to Server 2008 R2, we experienced problems with the Folder Redirection GPO not configuring correctly. The department remapped the SAN to the new Server 2008 environment and updated the GPO’s; but to our surprise, the GPO was still looking for the old data on the Server 2003 environment to transfer to the 2008 Server. Since the data could not be transferred, the user’s systems went into “working offline” file mode. The workstations ran Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3, and resetting the File Redirection GPO to its original state did not resolve the problem either. In the event log, users were getting the following error.

Folder Redirection Event ID 107 : Note: edited for privacy concerns.

The Fix : The problem is due to fdeploy.dll on Windows XP Service Pack 3 machines. The easiest fix is to replace the fdeploy.dll on the user’s machine with a copy from a Windows XP Service Pack 2 cd. Follow these steps to obtain a copy of fdeploy.dll as well as where to place it on an each machine. If this needs to be done on a system wide level, a startup script will accomplish the same results.

Step 1: Open up a command prompt.

Step 2: Insert your Windows XP SP2 cd.

Step 3: Type “expand D:\i386\Fdeploy.dl_ C:\temp“  where D: is your cd rom drive.

Step 4: Replace Fdeploy.dll which is found in C:\windows\system32

Step 5: Run “gpupdate.exe /force” inside a command prompt.

Step 6: The computer may need to restart multiple time for the GPO to be fully applied.

Step 7: Ensure everything is working correctly by checking the event viewer.

The VISE installer has the ability to perform silent installs. This demo will be using ”Imagine It“; educational software for elementary students made by McGraw Hill. This demonstration is a walk-through of the information found in the VISE manual. The documentation does have a switch for a silent install (“-s”); however, it failed with the Imagine It Software. In order to install the software, the ” -r: recsettings.ini ” switch must be used. This will record all the input given to the setup program, and will save it in the same location as the installer file. Once it has been recorded, the data is loaded back into the setup by using ” -p: recsettings.ini “. Using the “-p: recsettings.ini ” will initiate a silent install. The following pictorial steps shows how this is done step by step.

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During the install for SCCM, the situation may exist where the AD Schema will not extend. The log file found at “C:\extadsch.log” may have the following.

 Modifying Active Directory Schema - with SMS extensions.
 DS Root:CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=DOMAIN,DC=dom
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Code.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Assignment-Site-Code.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Site-Boundaries.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundaries.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Default-MP.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Device-Management-Point.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Name.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-MP-Address.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Health-State.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Source-Forest.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-Low.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=MS-SMS-Ranged-IP-High.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Version.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create attribute cn=mS-SMS-Capabilities.  Error code = 5.
 Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point.  Error code = 8202.
 Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Server-Locator-Point.  Error code = 8202.
 Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Site.  Error code = 8202.
 Failed to create class cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range.  Error code = 8202.
 Failed to extend the Active Directory schema. Your Windows NT logon ID does not have the necessary privileges to extend the Active Directory schema, please find details in "C:\ExtADSch.log".

Make sure the following is true :

• The user running the install is a Domain Admin
• The user is a member of the Schema Admins group.

If this still does not work, create a new user in Active Directory, and have that user only be  a Domain Admin and in the Schema Admins group. Run the install again as this new user, and it should resolve the issue. Otherwise, other sources of error will be related to Active Directory not replicating correctly.

During this video tutorial, I will demonstrate how to run ping commands inside Excel. This can be used for many dos commands. This worksheet was originally written to do a nslookup on values; however, for this video it was quickly changed to run the ping command. The excel macro enabled workbook uses VBA, and is a very straight forward example of using Excel in non-traditional ways.

The workbook from the video (with the code) can be downloaded here.