Results tagged “Server”

Easily one of the best features of HP servers is their Integrated Lights Out (ILO) remote management interface. Having the ability to remotely access HP servers from POST to OS is an invaluable tool. Standard ILO features include remote shutdown and startup, virtual media, text mode console redirect and access to hardware logs, status and diagnostic tools. Full graphical remote console redirection is available with the advanced license. This article will outline step by step how to configure and access ILO on a fresh out the box Proliant ML350 G5 server.

First, connect the ILO designated network port to your switch or management network.
Most brand new HP servers come with an information tag attached. Printed on the tag is the server serial number and Integrated Lights Out access information including factory set username and password.

The easiest way to access the ILO configuration utility is during the POST by pressing F8 when prompted.
The menu is straightforward and self explanatory. Use the arrow keys to navigate. Select Enter while the Set Defaults option is highlighted to revert back to factory settings.

First, access the Network menu, disable DHCP and change the DNS name

Then configure your static ip settings

Next, set the Administrator password or create new user.

Note that the username and password are both case sensitive. Select Exit to save and reset ILO with the new settings. Test access to the ILO web interface.

Checking DHCP leases and configuration from the server OS are some alternate setup options if your server is already in production and the ILO settings were not configured beforehand. If DHCP is accessible from the ILO interface connected network then check the leases for the DNS name printed on the tag. Use the leased ip to access the web interface and login with the factory username and password. All the same settings from the POST utility can be configured through the ILO web interface. HP also provides a utility called HPONCFG which allows for command line interaction with ILO and scripting functionality. Read more about it here . Comments or questions welcomed.

One of the convenient features of the HP LaserJet Multifunction Printer (MFP) series is the ability to populate the Control Panel with network user email addresses by utilizing ldap. This function is especially useful in Windows Active Directory environments. Once ldap connectivity is established with a domain controller, network user changes are immediately displayed and accessible at the printer. This article will review the minimal steps needed to configure ldap connectivty between an HP MFP and Windows Active Directory.

The following screen shots are from a M3035 MFP. The network environment consists of a Windows Server 2003 based domain and Exchange 2003.

First access the MFP web interface and select the "Digital Sending" tab

Then select "LDAP Settings"

Configure "Addressing Settings"  (click image for full size)  

Check off "Allow Device to directly access an LDAP Address Book" then fill in the login credentials. Note the "Username" is in UPN format. Included with the Windows 2003 Support tools is an ldap browser (ldp.exe) that can be used to find the proper UPN path for your environment. The "Find Server" function is optional and can be used to scan the network for ldap servers. You'll need to apply the credentials settings first before using "Find Server." Enter the LDAP Server ip address (your domain controller) manually if you already know it.

Fill out Searching the Database fields (click image for full size)

Enter the UPN path to the Active Directory container where all your users reside in the "Search Root" field. Select "Active Directory Defaults" from the drop down menu then apply your settings and select "Test."

Active Directory user name and email addresses should now be accessible under the Scan to Email function at the printers Control Panel. These settings were successfully configured and tested more recently on a newer HP M4345 MFP printer and should apply to most if not all of the MFP series machines. If you recieve a fail status, re-check your credentials configuration and ldap server address settings. Comments or questions welcomed.

For most of the SQL installs that I maintain, nightly SQL dumps to disk and then copy to tape is my preferred backup method. I use a simple maintenance plan that dumps all user databases to the local disk and then a cleanup task that purges backup files older than a set number of days. An email alert with either success or fail in the subject line is sent out after each maintenance plan task is completed. This article will review step by step how to add email notifications to your existing SQL 2008 maintenance plan.

First step is to configure Database Mail. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio then right-click on Database Mail > select Configure Database Mail

Skip the welcome screen and select Next on the Select Configuration Task window.

Create new profile > fill out Profile name > Select Add under SMTP accounts:

Fill out New Database Mail Account info:

Configure Profile Security > check Public > set as Default > Next > Finish > close

Send test email. Right-click on Database Mail

Fill out test info, select Send Test Email. 

Check inbox, select OK on the confirmation screen. If you dont recieve test email then double check and verify smtp settings.

Next step is to configure Operators. Under Object Explorer right-click on Operators > New Operator

Fill out New Operator info (minimum name and email address)

Select OK.

Next, right click on designated maintenance plan (assuming one is already configured) and select Modify

This should bring up the design window with the current tasks

From the Toolbox window Drag and drop Notify Operator Task to Design window twice. One for success and the other for fail.

Connect the backup database task to each Notify Operator Task and make sure the arrows are pointing down.

Designate one of the Notify Operator Task objects connection arrows as Failure. Right click on connection and select Failure. This will turn the connection arrow red.

Double click each Notify Operator Task > check which operators to notify if there are more than one > fill out Subject and Body fields > select OK

Save Maintenance Plan and test.

One of the nice features of the Notify Operator Task in SQL 2008 that wasn't an option in SQL 2005 is the ability to add a unique subject line to the message. Its helpful to be able to see the success or fail status at a glance from just the subject line especially with the morning barrage of emails. Comments or questions welcomed. 

Just finished a test deployment of Citrix Access Essentials 3.0 running on Windows Server 2008 and although branded as the "lite" version of XenApp (new name for Presentation Server) I think it's a good alternative for cost conscious small businesses who can't really justify the cost and complexity of implementing XenApp but would like to utilize features beyond what Microsoft's Terminal Services offers. If you're not familiar with Citrix Access Essentials check out the overview here:

http://www.citrix.com

My Deployment Details

• The test server was a 2.8 ghz dual processor configured 2gb of ram with 25gb of drive space VMWare virtual machine
• Windows 2008 Server Standard Edition was installed with no roles configured and joined to the domain
• Downloaded Citrix Access Essentials 1.3gb iso
• Extracted CAE 3.0 iso to a staging server for install over the network
• Started the CAE 3.0 install

One of the convenient features of CAE 3.0 setup is that it installs and configures all the required Windows 2008 Server roles as part of the installation process. The install process was running smoothly and then this error popped up on the Citrix Access Essentials Quick Start component: 

A review of the Windows Installer log revealed the following:

=== Verbose logging started: 12/12/2008  12:01:50  Build type: SHIP UNICODE 4.00.6001.00  Calling process: MSI (c) (8C:08) [12:01:50:996]: Note: 1: 2203 2: C:\Program Files\Citrix\Web Interface\5.0.1\Clients\WIONLY\ica32web.msi 3: -2147287037

This installation package could not be opened. Verify that the package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer package.

MSI (c) (8C:08) [12:01:50:996]: Note: 1: 1708
MSI (c) (8C:08) [12:01:51:012]: Product:  -- Installation failed.

=== Verbose logging stopped: 12/12/2008  12:01:51 ===

When I checked the "C:\Program Files\Citrix\Web Interface\5.0.1\Clients\" path, no WIONLY directory had been created. I'm not sure if this was a bug in the install itself or an issue related to the install environment. There were a few similar references to this error on the web and the Citrix knowledebase but nothing specific to CAE 3.0. As a workaround I manually created the WIONLY directory, dropped in the ica32web.msi file and restarted the install. It completed successfully after that. The install process does require a few reboots.

Next was the Quick Start tool Setup checklist:

Note the Advanced Mode option in the Quick Start screenshot (  view full-size  ). The current mode of this install is Basic or single server mode. CAE 3.0 now supports multiple servers and server groups if you select to run in Advanced Mode. In regards to licensing and Microsoft TSCALS, I believe you can purchase CAE 3.0 bundled with or without Microsoft TSCALS depending on your existing environment.

Majority of the Setup items are wizard based and easily walk you through the licensing, security, web access, apps publishing, etc. I did run into another issue when trying to configure Administrators. I kept getting this error:

I checked the services and they were all running. All other functions from the Quick Start tool worked fine. I ignored the error and was able to manage Administators from the Access Management Console.

The web interface setup wizard requires an SSL certificate for external website access which I installed from an in house Certificate Authority. Published apps are then accessed over port 443. The web interface was ready to serve up apps internally and externally after just a few clicks through the wizard and after opening up ports 80 and 443 on the firewall.  Here are some screenshots from the web interface:

Published apps page:

If you plan to  redirect to https, be sure to install the HTTP Redirect service in IIS. I had to install it afterwards since it wasn't  installed during the CAE 3.0 Server 2008 roles configuration (  view full-image )

The published desktop and standalone apps through the web interface and the Program Neighborhood worked as expected along with audio, printer and local drive mapping  features.

All the typical management functions, user management, apps security, session info and shadowing are available within Quick Start > Management (  view full- image )

Conclusion

Although I hit a few bumps during the install this was a positive first experience with Citrix Access Essentials 3.0. I think its a really good offering for the SMB market with it's installation and deployment ease and uncomplicated configuration and straightforward management functionality. Comments or questions welcomed.

Last month I installed and configured a Windows Server 2008 domain controller in an existing Windows 2003 domain. The majority of the servers on this network run in a vmware virtual environment. The virtual environment contains 3 host servers running ESX 3.5 and local storage.  Windows Server 2008 was installed fresh on a dual processor 2gb ram configured virtual machine and joined to the domain. Only 20gb of disk space was allocated since Active Directory and DNS would be, for the time being, the only planned functions for this server. Windows Server 2008 and VMware tools installed without any issues. After testing the backup and antivirus solution with the new server the following was performed:

1. Ran adprep /forestprep and adrep /domainprep /gpprep from the Windows Server 2008 CD (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733027.aspx)

2. Ran dcpromo, rebooted, logged back in

3. The global catalog function was enabled and all the fsmo roles were then transfered to the new server. Initially, I couldnt figure out how to access the active directory schema snap-in on Server 2008 so I transfered it using the schema admin snap-in on one of the existing 2003 domain controllers. Afterwards I found that the following dll needed to be registered:

regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

This enabled the schema admin snap-in option in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on Server 2008. More info here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732110.aspx

4. One of the two existing Windows Server 2003 domain controllers was then reconfigured as a member server

After a month in service, Windows Server 2008 in a vmware virtual environment seems to run just fine.

Over the weekend, I had a successful first attempt at installing Windows 2003 remotely using HP's Integrated Lights-Out (ILO) advanced features functionality. The target server was an ML370 G4. Nlite ( View image ) was used to create a Windows Server 2003 ISO image integrated with the appropriate ML370 G4 raid (SA 6400) and NIC (NC7781) drivers. The ISO was then uploaded to a staging server on the same network as the target server. The target server ILO interface was accessed from the staging server where the uploaded Server 2003 ISO image was then connected as virtual media ( View image ). I was then able to boot the target server from the virtual CD image and begin the install. Although the initial file copy and overall setup took longer than normal, the install completed without any issues.