Broken Windows Server 2012 Cluster

Had fun today with a Server 2012 Cluster.

The Cluster had lost all of its storage. There were errors starting the storage using PowerShell, such "Remote Server has been paused or is in the process of being started."

start-clusternode  -fixquorum is described as a last ditch attempt at getting the Cluster on-line, but it worked.

Now I have the fun task of fixing the storage :)

Adding a new Tree Domain to Your AD Stalls on Preparing AD Schema

Had a fun one today.
Wanted to add a tree domain to an existing AD Forest.
Installed 2012 R2, AD DS, put in all the details...
and the install stalled for hours...nothing happened, just

error 1908 Could not find domain controller for this domain

 

 

Made sure we followed this KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2737935/en-gb

 

 

- but it turns out we did all of this in the first place. Some sites even mentioned putting stuff in the hosts file which was worth a shot, but did not help. Still could not find the domain controller.

 

To fix the problem, reboot.

Log on. Remove the machine from the tree domain you just tried to create and add to a workgroup.

Remove AD DS. Reboot. Remove the computer from AD Sites and Services on your Forest.

 

Now when the machine is back up, add the server to your existing forest. Install AD DS. Run through the set up again. It works. You now have a Tree in a Forest!!!

 

FYI - Part of the setup removes the server from the forest domain (!!!!!!!!!)

.Net 3.5 Installation on Server 2012 (Prerequisite for SharePoint 2013)

I've worked with computers for a long time.
I cut my teeth on NT4. Windows 95.
Then Windows 2000.
Windows 2003 was a game changer, a polished OS that we installed here there and everywhere. After each installation I would copy the CD (I386 files) to the C drive. There would always be one server you were working on that didn't have it (and I would protest that I did not install that one!)
I remember hearing that in Server 2008 those days were gone. Setup would copy the DVD to the C drive for you. Brilliant....

Today I was installing SharePoint 2013 on a Windows Server 2012 box. All RTM versions.

The prerequisite check kept failing for installing the IIS Role. No problem. I can do it myself. It worked. However the prerequisite check STILL failed on IIS.

I then thought, I bet it needs .Net 3.5. Add it in as a Feature. It failed. Turns out, you need to "Specify (an) Alternative Source Path"

 

 

Which actually means you have to type in %dvddrive%\sources\SxS - not even inserting the ISO would sort this one out.

 

Innovation. One step forward. Two back.

 

(oh and don't forget the reboot) :)



Find out Office 2013 Help About Version Number

It's a simple one.

Click File
then
Office Account
then
About

Done.

CRM 2011 / ADFS Renewed Certificates

CRM 2011 is a very particular beast.


I had an issue where the ADFS server was passing the credentials to the CRM box but CRM was not accepting them. A Windows Authentication Box kept popping up then eventually a 401 not authorised error would appear.

The event viewer moaned about a few things, but what's new with CRM?

It turned out that the ADFS Certificates for Token-decrypting and Token Signing, adfs.*.local had expired and my trusty ADFS farm had renewed them for me, because when they were installed we used the switch /autocertrolloverenabled.

However, CRM dislikes not being told about the new cert and requires you to set up Claims and IFD again!
To fix it, I had to follow this process: Obviously do your snap shots first, backup etc

• Open CRM Deployment Manager, Right Click "Microsoft Dynamics CRM" and then click Disable Claims Based Authentication.
• IISReset both front end servers (web farm.)
• Open CRM Deployment Manager, Right Click "Microsoft Dynamics CRM"  and click Configure Claims Based Authentication and follow the wizard (with the defaults as they come from the Database.)
• Then Right Click "Microsoft Dynamics CRM" and click Configure Internet Facing Deployment and follow the wizard .
• IISreset both web servers.
• Cross fingers.
• Cross toes.
• On the ADFS Server, Open ADFS 2.0 Management, Under Trust Relationships click Relying Party Trusts and then right click the URL's and chose Update From Federation Meta Data for all URL's here (relating to CRM.)

CRM 2011 ADFS Time Out

I needed to change the time out for the IFD / ADFS to 10 hours (not as secure as I'd like it!) in CRM 2011.

On the ADFS farm in PowerShell....

Get-ADFSRelyingPartyTrust -Name "externalname.com"

which listed TokenLifeTime: 480....so I changed it to....

Set-ADFSRelyingPartyTrust -targetname"externalname.com" -TokenLifetime 600

CRM 2011 TMG 2010 Error 500 12217

Just installed CRM 2011 published via a TMG box.

Some pages had the 500 Error "the request was rejected by the http filter. (12217)"

Turns out we needed to change the TMG Rule - Under Traffic, then Filtering, Configure HTTP, un-tick the "Verify normalization"

all sorted. good job.