A quick way to export a list of Active Directory group members to a text file:

From a command prompt, run the following:

Net group “Domain Admins” /domain >listofusers.txt

We had an issue recently backing up DPM when a Log File got deleted form the log files directory and we were then unable to backup the mailbox databases in the storage group with the following error “DPM has detected a discontinuity in the log chain for Storage group StorageGroup on ServerName since the last synchronization. (ID 30216 Details: Unspecified error (0×80004005))”

The way we fixed this was by doing the following.

• Dismount Mailbox Databases in the Storage Group
• Make a copy of all .log files from the storage group log files directory and then delete them.
• Mount the databases again and you should now be able to perform a backup

While reading about the latest patch release from Microsoft,  I came across the following article Microsoft Security Update Guide, Second Edition. It covers in high detail, the significance of security updates and provides IT pros with a high level of understanding around the updates process. The article also covers the Risk Management process and highlights useful tools.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=67c53d51-b3d4-4538-af56-057406a270db&displaylang=en

Just to let you know the update KB2230887 that is required to allow dynamic memory to work on Virtual machines on the below operating system has been removed from the MS download site.

• Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Server Core SP2
• Windows Web Server 2008 SP2
• Windows Web Server 2008 Server Core SP2

If you attempt to download the Hotfix on the MS website you will get the below error “The KB article has no public hotfixes. Please contact support if you need immediate assistance.
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support”

Microsoft will re-releasing the update however they have gave no indication on when this will be.

Sometimes after delegating permissions to a user or group it may be required to revoke them (maybe the user has left or group belongs to a temporary team of contractors). To do this you cant go through the delegate control wizard and take back the permissions as you would expect so just thought i would put a quick post up showing how to

First of all open ADUC and select view and make sure Advanced Features is checked

Next right click the OU that you need to remove the delegated permissions from and select properties and then the security tab

Here you should be able to see the user/group that you originally delegated permission to. In order to revoke these delegated permissions simply remove them from the ACL

HTH

Ash

Had a problem with a site in which I wanted to see if the event viewer had logged any instances of the Exchange System Attendant service stopping. Unfortunately these were buried in a long list of other services that were constantly starting and stopping under event id 7036.

What I had to was to edit the XLM query manually in “Filter Current Log…”. I then put in this query to show me every time the service had entered the running state:

<QueryList>
  <Query Id="0" Path="System">
    <Select Path="System">*[System[(Level=4 or Level=0) and (EventID=7036)]] and *[EventData[Data[1]=‘Microsoft Exchange System Attendant’ and Data[2]=‘running’]]</Select>
  </Query>
</QueryList>

This game me the filtered list of service events that only applied to when the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service had entered the running state:

You can just copy and paste the XLM above to give you this output or simply change some of the options to custom it to look for any events for a particular service that you want to see.

If you want to get some more parameters to search then simply double click on the event ID that you want to filter, click on the details tab and select XLM view. This will give you a list of all of the details that you can search for:

Paul

Just a quick post for anyone who wants to know how to do send a Ctrl + Alt + Delete  while using remote desktop session:

Ctrl + Alt + End

This will give you the same output as a Ctrl + Alt + Delete as if you were connected to the console session.

Paul

• Package_for_KB2454826_RTM~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.2.0.cat
• Package_for_KB2454826_RTM~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.2.0.mum

After i did the above step re-run the Service Pack and all should work

Recently we came an issue where we couldn’t back up Exchange via DPM and the following error was given “DPM has detected a discontinuity in the log chain for Storage group First Storage Group on servername since the last synchronization. (ID 30216 Details: Unspecified error (0×80004005))”

After researching the event id most articles pointed to circular logging be enabled as the culprit but this was not the case as it was turned off.

Resolution

1. Take a backup of the Exchange databases, the Storage Groups logs and chk file,  by first dismounting the stores and taking a copy to a different location.
2. Delete the Storage Groups logs and chk file
3. Mount the Exchange Databases
4. Run DPM Backup and this should complete

I have managed to get hold of a public beta account for the new cloud offering from Microsoft Office 365. I just wanted to know how big the content databases could get.

I came across this Microsoft Download in my RSS feeds:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c6ecc6c-64f5-490a-bca3-8835c9a4a2ea

This gives you all the info on Office 365 beta that you need if you want more detail, but for quick reference, here is the breakdown for SharePoint databases:

Initial Storage = 10GB + 500MB per user

Site Collection Storage = Min is 24MB – Max is up to 100GB

Total for any company = 5TB

In answer to one of the questions that I had, yes additional storage, incremented in GB, can be bought for around £2.50 which is charged at a month by month basis.

Hope this helps.

Paul