Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003

Microsoft announced the availablity of a new NAS offering in the Windows Server 2003 catalogue called WUDSS 2003.  It includes "new features such as the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target technology, a new and revised storage server setup experience, new integrated share and storage management snap-ins".  It is available now with the Dell PowerVault NX1950 and other OEM’s are expected to follow soon.
 
There is some further documentation from Microsoft here:

WDS, BOOT.WIM and Additional Drivers

I got a chance to test out the solution in the aforementioned MS KB article.  I was testing with VMware workstation 5.5.3 and Windows Vista x86 RTM.  The article in question has a few typos.  Here’s the steps that I followed to add the NIC drivers.

First, we need to get things ready.

  • I copied my boot.wim to a working folder called D:boot.
  • I created a folder called D:Mounted.
  • I copied the vmware drivers from the vmware tools ISO (E:program filesVMwareVMware ToolsDriversvmxnetwin2k). For other drivers I’d presume you take everything in the folder where the inf is. More than likely all you need is the inf and sys.

We’re now ready to update the boot image.  Note that we know the boot index for the default boot.wim is 2.  You may need to run "Imagex /info d:bootboot.wim" to identify the boot index for your WIM file.

  • imagex /mountrw d:bootboot.wim 2 D:mounted
  • peimg /inf=D:Driversvmxnet.inf D:mountedwindows
  • peimg /inf=D:Driversvmware-nic.inf D:mountedwindows
  • imagex /unmount /commit d:mounted

Now we are redy to get things going.

  • Copy the boot.wim back into RemoteInstall folder where you took it from originally (Make sure you left a copy of the original).
  • Make sure the VM has 512MB RAM and boot it up with the <F12> option to boot from the network.
  • If everything works, your driver should run and launch the WDS client.

Adobe Reader 8.0

Adobe has released version 8.0 of their reader product.  Following the trend set by the likes of Sin-mantec, they’ve added extra functionality.  One feature is the ability to kick off online meetings.  My feeling on this sort of thing is that these companies should stick to what they are good at and stop producing over-featured software that becomes bug-ware.

WDS Boot Image Fails: No NIC Driver Support

I’ve been messing around with WDS and WAIK on my VMware lab at home.  The BOOT.WIM that MS provides does not have native support for the NIC driver required by the standard VMware VM NIC.  When you boot up your boot image you see the following error which prevents you from doing anything:
WdsClient: An error occurred while starting networking: a matching network card driver was not found in this image. Please have your Administrator add the network driver for this machine to the Windows PE image on the Windows Deployment Services server.
I was doing a lot of mucking around last night with WAIK to find a solution.  I was close (IMAGEX and PEIMG) but it looks like I missed out the piece about identifying and targetting the correct boot index.  I think I found a solution today on the Microsoft website.  I haven’t tested it yet.
 
This solution consists of two steps:
  1. Load a driver into your "failed" booted up boot image and test it.
  2. Import a driver into your existing boot image once you have verified that it works in step #1.

Ireland Launch: Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007

Today marks the business launch of Microsoft’s new range of products in the Irish market.  The logo’s say Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007.  Don’t be mistaken in thinking that it’s just three products.  Office is now a brand that encompasses a range of products in the Office System.  The core of this is the famous Office suite and add-ons such as Project, Visio and InfoPath.  But Office System includes server prodcuts too.  Using these server products you can enable geographically or logically dispersed users to work with each other.
 
If you listened to Newstalk this morning you may have heard a poorly chosen quote of a MS rep in the news.  MS launched a report that delves into how business are losing money because users cannot use, find or access information in a timely or efficient manner.  By using an integrated solution, e.g. Exchaange 2007, Sharepoint Portal Server 2007 and Live Communication Server, you can enable employees who work in logical teams to work together, no matter where they are located. 
 
The reality in modern business is that you can have a person in Dublin working with people in Los Angeles and Shanghai on one project.  They might work together for a short time but need rapid, secure and reliable services to collaborate.  Once the project is over they might work with different people on another project.  Having Sharepoint Services enable users to quickly provision and customise a secure collaboration web site where they can work together, share information and share files.  Using Sharepoint Portal can tie these websites together, enabling corporate branding and search mechanisms.  Live Communications Server enable voice and video so that people can talk face to face using an internal communications system without needless waste on travel time and expenses.  Exchange 2007 provides an integrated messaging solution that ties into these products.  The major step forward with Exchange 2007 for the business is that it features Unified Messaging.  UM enables Voice Mail and Fax services to be integrated into Exchange so that incoming messages can be delivered right into a users mailbox.  The mobility functions of Exchange 2007 enable a business user to access their data no matter where they are: on the WAN via Outlook, over the web via SSL secured Outlook Web Access and over the air via secure push mail to the PDA (without the need for Blackberry subscriptions).
 
Server solutions don’t stop there.  Microsoft Dynamics, Business Scorecard Manager and Project Server are just some more of the integrated business solutions that are availabel for business use.
 
The key is integration.  Many organisations choose solutions from many vendors.  But these solutions just don’t integrate.  The business gets basic functionality but cannot easilly integrate the solutions.  Business users then find doing what should be a simple taks to be quite difficult, often leading to wasted or redundant effort.  MS solves this by not only integrating the server solutions with each other by leveraging Active Directory but also by tightly integrating Office 2007, the cornerstone of the Office System brand.
 
I highly recommend that you look into these solutions if this is something you are interested in.

Vista UAC Breaks Logon Scripts

One of the guys on MR&D, Michael Pietrzak, reported a problem with previously existing logon scripts in his domain that were not running correctly on Windows Vista domain members.  It appeared that running "Net Use" commands to map a drive failed to work.  After some experimentation, Mike found that UAC (the new infamous security feature in Vista) was the cause of the problem.  Disabling UAC resolved the issue.  UAC is a nice idea because it is intended to prevent malicious software from installing on or configuring your machine without your consent.

I had been reading the thread on the forum with interest.  I upgraded my PC at home last week and I soon realised I was encountering the exact same issue.

WOrld renowned GPO whiz, Darren Mar-Elia, joined Mike in looking into this issue.  Darren’s contacts in Microsoft were able to give him a link to a "solution".  If you browse to near the bottom of that page you’ll find a section called "Group Policy Scripts can fail due to User Account Control".  What happens is that UAC prevents a logon script from mapping a network drive.  The solution?  You have to run a provided script (on the MS website in Appendix A) to delay the execution of the logon script:

  • You place this WSF script in your NETLOGON folder.
  • You alter your logon script configuration to run the WSF file with the actual logon script as a paramter.

There’s a few bugs in MS’s documentation and script:

  • Syntax Error In Script: Line 114 (open Notepad, press <CTRL> + <G>, enter 114 and press <RETURN>) is broken up into multiple lines using "_".  This appears to break the script.  I modified line 114 to read as:

call rootFolder.RegisterTaskDefinition(strTaskName, taskDefinition, FlagTaskCreate,,, LogonTypeInteractive)

I also commented out two lines using a " ‘ " (below).  I don’t want users (or me) to have to click boxes every time I log in.

  • WScript.Echo "Task definition created. About to submit the task…"
  • WScript.Echo "Task submitted."

So what is the fix doing?  It delays the execution of the actual logon script until after your logon is considered as "complete".  In reality, I’ve found that I’ve been logged in for 10 or more seconds before the real logon script runs.  This means there is a window where network drives are not mapped and users can attempt to launch programs or open files that they have no access to yet.  I cannot imagine how many helpdesk calls will be opened because of this.

This, in my opinion, if a cludge fix, i.e. duct tape and bailing twine, a McGuyver-ism if you will.  The fact that this functionality, which you will find in probably 75% of corporate networks if not more, does not work out of the box is shocking.  I’ve liked Vista so far but this is disappointing.  It’s certainly giving ammo to the ney-sayers and Linux nuts.

This problem also going to lead to more people disabling UAC… heck, helpdesk managers will demand it.  There was already a growing feeling if contempt for this security feature that MS has invested a lot of time and effort in.  It’s had lots of negative commentary.  The fact that is breaks something as important is crazy.  MS should really get a real fix for this out the door ASAP so that an important security feature such as UAC will not be dumped by the general public.

So I’ve Upgraded To Vista And Office 2007

I’ve just made the big leap to Windows Vista (x64) and Office 2007.  I’ve been using Office 2007 right through the public beta process.  I hadn’t done much with Vista since it’s fir public beta release up until I did my WDS document. 

It’s not possible to upgrade from Window XP x64 to Vista x64.  The installer tells you that you need XP with SP2.  XP x64 is at SP1 but it is actually SP2 under a different name.  I did install SP2 RC for XP x64 and tried to do an upgrade but that wasn’t allowed either.

I backed up my data, documented my drivers and did a fresh install.  It’s not a labour intensive process at all.  I entered some information at the start and left the machine to it’s own devices while I watched some NFL action from last night.  I came back up and found the machine was waiting for me.  But hold on … it didn’t ask me what domain I wanted to join.  I had a sinking feeling.

My XP x64 installation used an Atheros Wireless Network Adapter driver for my Netgear WiFi NIC.  That driver was not auto detected.  I supplied the XP driver which was installed but would not start.  Vista x64 requires drivers to be signed and the driver wasn’t signed.  The RC1 release of Vista allows you to disable signing but that no longer works.  An alternative is to boot up using <F8> and to disable the forcing of driver signing.  I’m not into that.  I ended up configuring RRAS on my server and setting up a hub between my PC and Wi-Fi router with server as an intermediate router.  I’d been thinking of "wiring" my office anyway.  I wanted better speeds for copying batches of large CR2 Canon DSLR RAW files between my PC and server.  I also want to get ISA 2006 up an runnng on the server.

I added the machine to the domain.  It’s fast.  IE in Vista is faster than IE7 on XP x64.  I like it.  Things have moved around a lot.  It took me ages to set a static IP on my LAN NIC.  This could take some getting used to.  UAC can be a little annoying. 

I’ve read some threads about a problem that some have had with logon scripts and Vista.  Well … my logon script did not run.  People are saying it will run if you disable UAC.  That’s not good.  My first suspicion lies with Defender because I’ve seen it block run-time scripts before.

I then installed Office 2007.  Like I said, I’ve been using it for some time now.  It took a while to get used to Word but I like it now.  It is much faster than the beta or RC releases.  Outlook 2007 is a dream.  It picked up my logon credentials and automatically searched AD to find out how to configure my profile.  Outlook opened up and immediately started to configure my local cache.  I like it!  I downloaded the add-in for Office 2007 that allows you to save files as a PDF.  That works nicely and will come in handy for my website documentation.

Now I’ve gotta get VMware, Photoshop, printer drivers, and all the other good stuff installed.