.Net Scraps

Windows Phone - Play a music in the background across pages

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:42:23 +0500

Developing for Windows Phone can be fun and rewarding at the same time. While working on Kidculator, I thought it would be better to have an app with a modern UI and some music playing in the background. I found two minor roadblocks which I would like to share with you today [in case you get stuck too!].

1. How to ensure that your music plays seamlessly across different pages in a Windows Phone app?
2. How to ensure that when you suspend your application / tombstone / press your Windows Button on phone, your music resumes playing?

I didn't realize it was going to be as tough as it acted to be.

So, without further ado, the steps...

Inside App.xaml -> <Application.Resources> block, add the following... Notice that in this case my music file is called mymusic.wav and is stored inside sounds folder

<MediaElement x:Name="ME" MediaEnded="RepeatMedia" Volume="1" AutoPlay="False" Source="/Sounds/mymusic.wav" />

Paste the following method...

        public MediaElement player = null;

        private void InitializeMusic()
        {
            if (App.Current.Resources.Contains("ME"))
            {
                player = App.Current.Resources["ME"] as MediaElement;
            }
            player.MediaOpened += player_MediaOpened;
        }

        void player_MediaOpened(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            player.Play();
        }

        private void RepeatMedia(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            player.Play();
        }

Now, call InitializeMusic...

        // Code to execute when the application is launching (eg, from Start)
        // This code will not execute when the application is reactivated
        private void Application_Launching(object sender, LaunchingEventArgs e)
        {
            InitializeMusic();
        }

        // Code to execute when the application is activated (brought to foreground)
        // This code will not execute when the application is first launched
        private void Application_Activated(object sender, ActivatedEventArgs e)
        {
            InitializeMusic();
        }

    So, by now... you will have a sound playing in the background. You can check by navigating to multiple pages and the music should play seamlessly.
    At this point, although it may seem like your application is working well... try pressing the Windows Key on your phone, and the app will be tombstoned or suspended.
    When you long press the back key and restore this application back, you will not be able to hear the music yet!
    To fix this, modify your InitializeMusic()...

        private void InitializeMusic()
        {
            if (App.Current.Resources.Contains("ME"))
            {
                player = App.Current.Resources["ME"] as MediaElement;
                player.Source = new Uri("/Sounds/mymusic.wav", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute);
            }
            player.MediaOpened += player_MediaOpened;
        }

    Notice that the source needs to be added again. I don't know why though. Thanks to keyboardP for his help!
    All set. It should work well now!

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me." - Noel Coward

PowerShell Tip #12 - Create a file with time stamp

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:22:47 +0500

While working with PowerShell scripts, quite frequently you may find a need to create a file to store information. The following lines can help you in creating a file name with TimeStamp.

 "MyLogFile-$(get-date -uformat '%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S-%p').log"

The output is something like...

MyLogFile-2013-03-13-14-07-40-PM.log

To create a new file at a specific $Path, use the following...

 $LogFile = new-item -type file -name "MyLogFile-$(get-date -uformat '%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S-%p').log" -path "$Path"

$LogFile fill contain the handle and you can easily do an Add-Item $LogFile "Something"

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"Most advances in science come when a person for one reason or another is forced to change fields." - Peter Borden

PowerShell Tip #11 - Restart a service on a bunch of servers from a PowerShell script

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:56:03 +0500

Restarting a service is not fun. Especially if you have to do it every now and then for "that" service which is giving you a lot of headache. Since services do not have an automatic recycle option out of the box... you may like to use the following PowerShell script to make your life easier. Simply schedule this script and you should be good. And yes, it is better to fix the "real" problem than to restart your service . Without wasting here you go... Select Script -> CTRL + C.

 #Path where you log file will be kept
$log = "C:\Temp\TimerRestart.txt"  

#Name of servers separated by a comma
$servers = "server1","server2","server3"

#Service Name - Open Services.msc and double click on your Service -> General -> Service Name 
$ServiceName = "AnyService" 

#This is the timeout value for the service to stop / start. If your service takes longer to start/stop, 
you should increase this value
$sleep = 30 

#Remove the older log file or Append. If you comment the following line, log file will be in append mode.
if(Test-Path $log) { Remove-Item $log | out-null } 

#Stopping all services on all server
Add-Content $log "Stopping services on all server..."
foreach($server in $servers){
    $x = (get-wmiobject -computer $server win32_service -filter "Name='$ServiceName'")
    $Status = $x.Status 
    $State = $x.State
    $ID = $x.ProcessId

    Add-Content $log "$server => $Status $State $ID"
    $x.StopService() | out-null
}

start-sleep -s $sleep

#Simply print the current status of services to ensure they stopped correctly
Add-Content $log "Print current status and start the services..."
foreach($server in $Servers){
    $x = (get-wmiobject -computer $server win32_service -filter "Name='$ServiceName'")
    $Status = $x.Status 
    $State = $x.State
    $ID = $x.ProcessId

    Add-Content $log "$server => $Status $State $ID"
    $x.StartService() | out-null
}


#Give some time for the services to start. If your service takes longer, you should increase the 
value of $sleep above
start-sleep -s $sleep

#Print the current status of services again.
Add-Content $log "Current Services"
foreach($server in $Servers){
    $x = (get-wmiobject -computer $server win32_service -filter "Name='$ServiceName'")
    $Status = $x.Status 
    $State = $x.State
    $ID = $x.ProcessId

    Add-Content $log "$server => $Status $State $ID"
}

Run this script, and you will get an output as follows [with different IDs of course]... What you should always check is that the IDs before and after are different. If they are not, try increasing the timeout value in the script above.

Stopping services on all server...
server1 => OK Running 6645
server2 => OK Running 7787
server3 => OK Running 8910
Print current status and start the services...
server1 => OK Stopped 0
server2 => OK Stopped 0
server3 => OK Stopped 0
Current Services
server1 => OK Running 11060
server2 => OK Running 9444
server3 => OK Running 1097

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"It's never just a game when you're winning." - George Carlin

Smart Dialer for Windows Phone - Update

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 05:39:20 +0500

Smart Dialer is the best dialer you would find for Windows Phone. Ok... ok... ok... that was such a cheap and common pitch! May be it is not the best dialer! But for what it is worth, here are some of its features and what you can do with it. If you like these, give it a shot and download it on your Windows Phone. Even the trial version is fully functional, [it has a nag screen though]. Use it, and spread the word if you like it. Thanks in advance

Apart from the basic functionalities like call or SMS a contact, you can do the following...

    You already have predefined groups. You just need to add your frequent contacts to this group.

    Send an SMS to an Entire group... or a selected few of the same group.

    Share all the phone numbers and email addresses of a particular contact with anyone.

    If you are using Smart Dialer as you default dialer, you can search and call your contact in case you haven't added them earlier. Just tap Search + Call and you will be directed to the Windows Phone

    If you have a number in your clipboard, you can paste, edit and call directly as well.

    Your most frequently called contacts will automatically bubble up the list for easier dialing.

I hope you like this app, and it enables you to do a few things that you can't directly do with your Windows Phone "that easily". I would love to hear your feedback and any additional features you may like to have. Please send them to rahul@dotnetscraps.com and I would try my best to implement it!

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all." - William Goldman

Some wallpapers for you - Black is Black!

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:22:07 +0500

I like wallpapers that are black, so I made a few. Perhaps, black with a little text and graphics is less boring than total black . If you like it, feel free to share. Probably, I will add more to this post as it time goes by.

Cheers,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on." - Oscar Levant

PowerShell Tip #10 - Read ExitCode from C# for a PowerShell script

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 11:56:26 +0500

The requirement is that you need to set an ExitCode in your PowerShell script and act appropriately in C# code. Sounds quite simple initially, but it is a little bit tricky. Here is how to achieve this.

Part 1: Modify your PowerShell code

 try
{
    Your PowerShell Code here





    $host.SetShouldExit(100)  #Set the Exitcode here. I am setting it to 100
}
catch [System.Exception]
{
    AddToLog("$_")  #Add to log or whatever you feel like
}

Part 2: Read the exit code in C#

ProcessStartInfo psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
psi.FileName = "powershell";
psi.WorkingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\Scripts";
psi.Arguments = Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\Scripts\\ScriptFile.ps1";
psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Maximized;
Process p = Process.Start(psi);
p.WaitForExit();
if (p.ExitCode == 100)
{
     // Do something for Success
}
else
{
     // Do something for failure
}

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." - Benjamin Franklin

PowerShell Tip #9 - Pass parameters correctly to a function and create a file with usefull functions

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:04:22 +0500

You may want to keep your reusable functions organized. I keep a file called common.ps1 with my most used functions. This way, my new more focused scripts don't look cryptic while reading.

function DoSomething([int]$x, [int]$y, [string]$Operation)
{
    if($Operation -eq "+")
    {
        return $x + $y
    }

    if($Operation -eq "-")
    {
        return $x - $y
    }    
}

Take a look at the code above. It has a function called DoSomething with some parameters. To use it in any other script file do the following.

Reference the function file > Line 1 below shows this. Just a simple dot (.) followed with the file name and you are done! Then simply call the function.

. ".\common.ps1"
DoSomething -y 20 -x 30 -operation "-" #Result : 10
DoSomething -y 30 -x 20 -operation "-" #Result : -10
DoSomething -x 20 -y 30 -operation "+" #Result : 50
DoSomething -y 20 -x 30 -operation "+" #Result : 50

Yes, that simple!

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"Life's a tough proposition, and the first hundred years are the hardest." - Wilson Mizner

PowerShell Tip #8 - Create a function to log information

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:56:46 +0500

This one is a no-brainer. Yet, I am posting it for the newbies.

If you want to log some information throughout your PowerShell code, you can use this function. It should make your job a bit easier.

$Log="FULL_FILE_PATH"

function AddToLog($Message)
{
    $Now = (Get-Date).ToString()
    $Message = $Now + " " + $Message 
    Add-Content $Log $Message
}

Now, to call this simply write…

AddToLog "Inserting $FileName to the Scripts table"

The output as you would have guessed is…

12/13/2012 6:33:25 PM Information 1
12/13/2012 6:33:26 PM Information 2
12/13/2012 6:34:25 PM Information 3

Log today, so that you benefit tomorrow!

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
"A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything." - Samuel Johnson

Kidculator released to the Windows Phone Marketplace

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:35:00 +0500

If you own a Windows Phone and have a young kid, I have some good news. I have recently released an application called Kidculator that I made for my 6 year old daughter, Anika. Like many parents, I suffer from this typical my-kid-should-be-a-geniusitis syndrome! After I shared it with her, I have found her playing with this application quite often and can vouch for the speed gains she has had. Okay, enough of sales pitch.

Try it and let me know your feedback. I am planning to add a lot more question types to this application.

Some salient features…

    You can use the settings to set a specific question type you want to teach your kid.

    Click practice.

    You can set the maximum and minimum number based on your kids age and comfort level so that they don’t get intimidated by large numbers.
    Once the kid is comfortable in practice mode, let them play and watch them beat their own records!
    There are plenty of questions of choose from. And yes, a lot of them are coming sooner than you would imagine!

Have fun.
Rahul

Quote of the day:
It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. - William G. McAdoo

Step-by-Step: Converting Windows Server 2012 Core to Windows Server 2012 GUI with Desktop Experience to Windows Server 2012 with Management Shell and back

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

In this post we will work on a Windows Server 2012 Core machine and make it into a Windows Server 2012 GUI and back to Windows Server 2012 Core.

Here is what I am planning to do:

Convert Windows Server 2012 Core to a Windows Server 2012 GUI
Convert Windows Server 2012 GUI to Windows Server 2012 Core with Management component
Convert Windows Server 2012 Core with Management component to Windows Server 2012 Core

Lets get started.

Convert Windows Server 2012 Core to a Windows Server 2012 GUI

Login on to Server Core

You see a black screen with just a command window
To start PowerShell, type powershell in the command window
Let us check what roles are available on Server Core
type Get-WindowsFeature

If you scroll down, you will see User Interfaces and Infrastructure feature Installed but the Server Graphical Shell and Graphical Management Tools and Infrastructure is not available.
Type the command,
Install-WindowsFeature User-Interfaces-Infra -IncludeAllSubFeature

The installation will stay stuck on 68% for long time and then will return back with the error.

This is because of the Feature on Demand configuration in Windows Server 2012. Since the User Interfaces and Infrastructure sub features are in Removed state, Install-WindowsFeature requires those feature file. You can provide the same using the installation media or shared folder or even use Windows Update if configured in the Group Policy.

In our case, we did not specify the feature file location, it searches for the files and returns back with the error.
You will need to add –Source to the above command

Install-WindowsFeature User-Interfaces-Infra -IncludeAllSubFeature -Source D:\source\sxs

To auto restart, add –Restart to the above command.
The complete command to convert Server Core to Windows Server 2012 GUI is:

Install-WindowsFeature User-Interfaces-Infra -IncludeAllSubFeature -Source D:\source\sxs –Restart
The server is now GUI enabled with Desktop Experience

Convert Windows Server 2012 GUI to Windows Server 2012 Core with Management component

Login on to the server

You can do the same step using Server Manager, but I will be using PowerShell to accomplish the task.
You will have to start PowerShell using Administrator
Type Get-WindowsFeature and you will see all Features of User Interfaces and Infrastructure is Installed
In PowerShell, type

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Desktop-Experience, Server-Gui-Shell -WhatIf

The command shows that it will remove Desktop-Experience and Server-Gui-Shell and the server may need to be restarted
Let us now, remove the Desktop-Experience and Server-Gui-Shell and restart the server

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Desktop-Experience, Server-Gui-Shell –Restart

We now have Windows Server 2012 Core with Management Components enable.
You will see Server Manager is visible and also a Command Window is enabled.
You can type mmc to add and use other Snap-ins for administration.
Finally, the command to convert Windows Server 2012 GUI to Windows Server Core with Management Component is:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Desktop-Experience, Server-Gui-Shell –Restart

Convert Windows Server 2012 Core with Management component to Windows Server 2012 Core

This step is straight forward
Login on to the server
In the command window, type PowerShell
Type, Get-WindowsFeatures
You see, Desktop-Experience and Server-Gui-Shell is still Available, to change to Server Core we will have to remove the features footprint
Type

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra, Desktop-Experience, Server-Gui-Shell -Remove -Restart
The command to convert to Windows Server Core is:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra, Desktop-Experience, Server-Gui-Shell -Remove -Restart

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
Anything too stupid to be said is sung. - Voltaire

Step-by-Step: When creating a new Root Level Domain Controller you get the message “A delegation for this DNS server cannot be created because the authoritative parent zone cannot be found”

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

This is the 6th post in this series and today I am working on resolving a warning which appears when you are trying to create a new forest in a new network.

Let us walk through the above error first and then the steps to resolve it:

Step 1: Installing Active Directory Domain Services

I created a new VM and installed Windows Server 2012
In Server Manager –> click on Manage –> click Add Roles and Features Wizard –> click Next
Under Select installation type, select Role-based or feature-based installation –> click Next
Under Select destination server –> click Next
Under Select server roles –> click Active Directory Domain Services
Under Add features that are required for AD DS –> click Add Features –> click Next
Under Select features –> click Next –> click Next –> click Install
Finally the Installation progress window shows, installation completed successfully but Configuration required
Click Promote this server to a domain controller, this starts Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard
Under Deployment Configuration –> click Add a new forest, type Root domain name: dotnetscraps.com –> click Next
Under Domain Controller Options, enter Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) password –> click Next
Here you are prompted with the warning..
If you continue further on the wizard, you will get the prerequisites check failure messages

Step 2: Installing DNS Server

In Server Manager –> click on Manage –> click Add Roles and Features Wizard –> click Next
Under Select installation type, select Role-based or feature-based installation –> click Next
Under Select destination server –> click Next
Under Select server roles –> click DNS Server
Under Add features that are required for DNS Server –> click Add Features –> click Next
Click Next –> click Next –> Install
Once the install the completed, let us configure DNS Server

Step 3: Configuring DNS Server

In Server Manager –> DNS
Under Servers –> right click WIN-DC –> click DNS Manager
Under DNS Manager –> right click WIN-DC –> click Configure DNS Server…
Under Configure a DNS Server Wizard –> click Next
Under Select Configuration Action –> click Create a forward lookup zone (recommended for small networks) –> click Next
Under Primary Server Location –> click This server maintains the zone –> click Next

NOTE: Since this is my Private Network, I selected This server maintains the zone else you could have selected ISP maintains the zone and followed the steps further
Under Zone Name, type dotnetscraps.com –> click Next
Under Zone File –> click Next
Under Dynamic Update, I am going with the default Do not allow dynamic updates –> click Next
Under Forwarders, I have selected No, it should not forward queries but you can select the first option as well –> click Next
The wizard will search for Root Hints and return back –> click Finish
This will give you the below error “Configure a DNS Server Wizard could not configure root hints” –> click OK
In Server Manager –> DNS –> right click WIN-DC –> DNS Manager
Expand WIN-DC –> Forward Lookup Zones, we can see dotnetscraps.com is now added in the Forward Lookup Zones
Right click dotnetscraps.com –> click Properties
Under General –> Dynamic update: select Nonsecure and secure –> click Apply

Step 4: Configure DNSSEC (Optional, but you should configure DNSSEC in your domain)

In DNS Manager –> WIN-DC –> click Forward Lookup Zones –> right click dotnetscraps.com –> DNSSEC –> Sign the Zone
I am going to use the default settings –> click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Finish

Step 5: Promote the server to a domain controller

In Server Manager –> Notification –> click Promote this server to a domain controller
Under Deployment Configuration –> click Add a new forest –> type dotnetscraps.com –> click Next
Under Domain Controller Options, type Directory Services Restore Mode *DSRM) password
Under DNS Options –> click Change… –> click Next
Under Additional Options –> type NetBIOS domain name: <I am leaving the default> –> click Next
Under Paths –> change the Database, Log and SYSVOL folder paths –> click Next
Under Review Options –> click Next
Under Prerequisites Check –> click Install
The server is now configured as a domain controller

Success !!

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history. - Dan Quayle

Step-by-Step: Remotely creating a new AD DS Forest Root Domain using Server Manager

Vivek@dotnetscraps.com (Vivek) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

This is the 5th post in this series, today we will learn how to create a new AD DS Forest Root Domain using Server Manager.

Setup:

Machine Name	Role	IP Address
WIN-DC	Existing Root Domain	192.168.1.1
WIN-DC1	Member of existing dotnetscraps.com domain	192.168.1.12
WIN-DC2	Create a new root level Domain to dotnetscraps.com	192.168.1.13

Step 1: Add Server and Install Active Directory Domain Servers

You will need to follow Step 1 and Step 2 as mentioned in the Post 1 of this series

Step 2: Promote the server

Under Server Manager
Click on the Notification icon, click Promote this server to a domain controller
This brings Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard
Select Add a new forest, under Root domain name: type corp.dotnetscraps.com
Click Next
Under Domain Controller Options, enter password for Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) password
Click Next
Under DNS Options, click Change…
Enter the credentials of a Domain Admin account
Click Next
Under Additional Options, enter the NetBIOS domain name: type CORP
Click Next
Under Paths, I am keeping everything as default
Click Next

NOTE: Change the paths in the Production servers
Under Review Options, click Next
Under Prerequisites Check, click Install

NOTE: Please review all the Warnings results before continuing

Coming up next.. we will plan for Server Upgrade options for Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Step-by-Step: Centrally Demote Additional Domain Controller in Windows Server 2012 using PowerShell

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

This is the 4th post in this series, today we will learn how to demote one of the domain controller in our farm using PowerShell.

Setup:

Machine Name	Role	IP Address
WIN-DC	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.1
WIN-DC2	Remove this Domain Controller using PowerShell	192.168.1.13

Step 1: Demote the domain controller

Login in the server WIN-DC using the Domain Admin account
Open Server Manager
Click All Servers and click on the server to be demoted i.e. WIN-DC2
Right click on WIN-DC2
Click Windows PowerShell
This is a PowerShell instance which has execute the PowerShell commands directly on the Remote Server
We will use the DemoteDC.txt file which has the required script

Uninstall-ADDSDomainController -Credential (Get-Credential) -DemoteOperationMasterRole:$true -Force:$true
The below screenshot shows that the script first validate the environment
The script will ask for Enter Credentials
Enter the Administrator Password and Confirm Administrator Password
Here the command is actually uninstalling domain controller components
The server reboots

Step 2: Remove Active Directory Domain Services, DNS Roles and its features

Open Server Manager
Click All Servers and click on the server to be demoted i.e. WIN-DC2
Right click on WIN-DC2
Click Windows PowerShell
Run the below given command

[WIN-DC2.dotnetscraps.com]: PS C:\Users\Administrator.DOTNETSCRAPS\Documents> Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services, DNS -IncludeManagementTools
Right click on the Server Manager
All the components are now removed
Reboot the server WIN-DC2
Once the Server is rebooted, refresh the Server Manager
Right click on WIN-DC2
All the domain controller roles and features are now removed

Done!

Coming up next.. we will create a new AD DS Forest Root Domain using Server Manager.

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. - George Bernard Shaw

Step-by-Step: Centrally Demote Additional Domain Controller in Windows Server 2012 using Server Manager

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

This is the 3rd post in this series, today we will learn how to demote one of the domain controller in our farm using Server Manager.

Setup:

Machine Name	Role	IP Address
WIN-DC	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.1
WIN-DC1	Remove this Domain Controller using Server Manager	192.168.1.12
WIN-DC2	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.13

Step 1: Demote the domain controller

Login in the server WIN-DC using Domain Admin account
Open Server Manager
Click All Servers and click on the server to be demoted i.e. WIN-DC1
Click Manage –> click Remove Roles and Features
This will bring Remove Roles and Features Wizard –> click Next
In Select destination server, ensure Select a server from the server pool is selected and select WIN-DC1
Click Next
Under Remove server roles, uncheck Active Directory Domain Services
This will bring Remove features that require Active Directory Domain Servers, click Remove Features
This returns a Validation Results error message
Click Demote this domain controller
Click Change… and provide the credentials
Click Next
Click Proceed with removal
Click Next

NOTE: Read the warning message carefully
Enter the New Administrator password
Click Next
Click View script and save the Notepad text as DemoteDC.txt. You will use this script when demoting a domain controller using PowerShell
Click Demote
The Results page confirms that the server is now demoted successfully
Click Close
The server reboots

Step 2: Remove Active Directory Domain Services and DNS Roles with its required Features

Return back to Server Manager
Click Manage –> Remove Roles and Features
Click Next
Under Select destination server, ensure Select a server from the server pool
Select WIN-DC1
Click Next
Under Remove server roles, uncheck Active Directory Domain Services
This will bring Remove features that require Active Directory Domain Servers, click Remove Features

NOTE: You can uncheck the Remove management tools if you will be administer another domain controller from this server
Uncheck DNS Server check box
This will bring Remove features that require DNS Servers, click Remove Features
Click Next
Under Remove features
Scroll down to Remote Server Administration Tools –> Role Administration Tools –> AD DS and AD LDS Tools
Uncheck Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell
Click Next
Review the Confirm removal selections page
Check Restart the destination server automatically if required
Click Remove
The server reboots

Well done.

Coming up Next.. we will remotely demote a server using PowerShell

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person. - Joseph Addison

Step-by-Step: Centrally Deploy Additional Domain Controller in Windows Server 2012 using PowerShell

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

This is the 2nd post in this series, today we will learn how to add a new domain controller in the existing Domain Farm using PowerShell.

Setup:

Machine Name	Role	IP Address
WIN-DC	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.1
WIN-DC1	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.12
WIN-DC2	A new Domain Controller that will be added using PowerShell	192.168.1.13

Step 1: Install Active Directory Domain Services

Login in the existing domain controller (WIN-DC) using Administrator (account that is Domain Admin) account
Open Server Manager
Click All Servers
Click Manage –> click Add Servers
Under Location: make sure your existing domain is listed
Under Name (CN): type WIN-DC2 (to be domain controller)
Click Find Now, the server will be listed in the list as shown below
Select the server WIN-DC2 and click on the small arrow button and the server will be listed in the Selected list
Click OK
The server is now listed in the SERVERS list
Right click on Windows PowerShell in the Taskbar, make sure you select Run as Administrator
Type the command,

Install-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services -ComputerName WIN-DC2
Once the script completes, it will return back with the status as shown below
Type the following commnad:

NOTE: You can actually use the commands from InstallDC.txt that we saved earlier

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Invoke-Command -ComputerName WIN-DC2 -ScriptBlock {Import-Module ADDSDeployment; Insta
ll-ADDSDomainController -NoGlobalCatalog:$false -CreateDnsDelegation:$false -Credential (Get-Credential) -Critica
lReplicationOnly:$false -DatabasePath "C:\Windows\NTDS" -DomainName "dotnetscraps.com" -InstallDns:$true -LogPath
"C:\Windows\NTDS" -NoRebootOnCompletion:$false -SiteName "Default-First-Site-Name" -SysvolPath "C:\Windows\SYSVO
L" -Force:$true}
Enter the credentials when prompted
Enter the Safe Mode password when asked
The installation will continue
Once the installation is complete, it will return back with the status

Step 2: Verify the new domain controller is added

Open Server Manager
Click Tools
Click Active Directory Sites and Services
Expand Active Directory Sites and Services
Expand Sites –> Default-First-Site-Name –> Servers
The new server WIN-DC2 is listed

Well done.

Coming up Next.. we will remotely demote a server using Server Manager

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. - Peter Drucker

Step-by-Step: Centrally Deploy Additional Domain Controller in Windows Server 2012 using Server Manager

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 23:30:00 +0500

I am preparing for Exam 70-410, Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 certification and I am learning through the “Early Experts” Peer Study Group. This series of blogs will be my quest to learn and share my knowledge with everybody.

I would be making mistakes when writing this series and I would appreciate your help in correcting me by your comments and emails.

Lets get started, we will start with configuring Active Directory Domain Controller from an existing Domain Controller. We will explore both the methods using Server Manager and using PowerShell.

Setup:

Machine Name	Role	IP Address
WIN-DC	Existing Domain Controller	192.168.1.1
WIN-DC1	A new Domain Controller that will be added using Server Manager	192.168.1.12

Step 1: Add the servers in Server Manager

Open Server Manager
Click All Servers
Click Manage –> Add Servers
In Add Servers –> select Active Directory
Make sure domain is selected under Location:
Under Name (CN): type WIN-DC1, and click the right arrow in the center
Click OK
The server is now listed in the SERVERS list

Step 2: Install Active Directory Domain Services using Server Manager

In Server Manager –> All Servers
Right click on WIN-DC1, click Add Roles and Features
In the Add Roles and Features Wizard –> click Next
Select installation type, Role-based or feature-based installation
Click Next
Under Select destination server, click Select a server from the server pool
Click on WIN-DC1
Click Next
Under Select server roles, click Active Directory Domain Services
This will bring the Add features that are required for AD DS appears, click Add Features
Click Next
Under Select features, click Next twice
Under Confirm installation selections, click Install
Under the Results page, check that this step has just installed Active Directory Domain Services components. The server has to be promoted separately.

Step 3: Promote the server to domain controller

Click on the Promote this server to a domain controller as per the screenshot above
This launches the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard
Select the Add a domain controller to an existing domain
Click Change…
Enter the credentials of a Domain Admin account and click Next

NOTE: You need to enter the credentials because we are doing a remote installation. During local installation on a server that is domain joined the credentials appear automatically.
Under Domain Controller Options, enter the Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) password

NOTE: We are selecting all default options right now as we will explore the other options in the later part.
Under DNS Options, since I haven’t configured DNS delegation we see the warning message
Click Next
Under Additional Options, since I have only one Domain Controller I will select Any domain controller else you could have selected any other domain controller
Click Next
Under Paths, I am selecting the default options
Click Next

NOTE: I would suggest you specify a different partition in Production as the log files can grow large.
Under Review Options, click View Scripts

Save the Notepad content as InstallDC.txt as we will use the same to install a domain controller using PowerShell
Click Next
The Prerequisites Check is successful. Click Install

The installation is now complete

Step 4: Verify that the server is now domain controller

In the Server Manager –> All Servers
Right click on WIN-DC1
You see all Active Directory Domain Services components installed
Open Active Directory Sites and Services from the Start screen
Expand Active Directory Sites and Services –> Sites –> Default-First-Site-Name –> Servers. You see WIN-DC1 as GC in the dotnetscraps.com domain

Done

Coming up.. we will remotely configure Active Directory Domain Controller using PowerShell

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money. - Jules Renard

Powershell Tip #7 - How to find which sites use a specific webpart in SharePoint

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:14:29 +0500

Problem Scenario

You are experiencing a bunch of performance issues in SharePoint. After some analysis, you figure out that it is happening due to a specific web part – call it The_Big_BAD_Webpart. How would you find out which sites use this web part?

Solution

Try the following, during non-peak times, especially if your farm is huge and has thousands of sites.

stsadm -o enumallwebs -includewebparts > C:\Temp\EnumeratedOutput.xml

This command might take a while, and can put a lot of load on your database server. That’s why I would strongly recommend running it on non-peak times for your farm.

This EnumeratedOutput.txt will contain a lot of information. You can use the following powershell script to nail down exactly what you need to find out.

For ex. Find out all URLs that contain this text…

$SourceFile="C:\Temp\EnumAllWebsOutput.xml"
$OutputFile="C:\Temp\OnlySiteURL.txt"
$StringToFind="The_Big_BAD_Webpart"
[xml]$SourceFileInMemory = Get-Content $SourceFile

Add-Content $OutputFile "$StringToFind is used in the following sites..."
foreach($AllWebParts in $SourceFileInMemory.databases.database.site.webs.web.WebParts)
{
    foreach($WebPart in $AllWebParts.ChildNodes)
    {
        if($WebPart.Type -eq "$StringToFind")
        {
            $out = $AllWebParts.ParentNode.Url
            Add-Content $OutputFile $out
        }
    }
}

Or, something like following to get more details…

$SourceFile="C:\Temp\EnumAllWebsOutput.xml"
$OutputFile="C:\Temp\Information.txt"
$StringToFind="The_Big_BAD_Webpart"
[xml]$SourceFileInMemory = Get-Content $SourceFile

Add-Content $OutputFile "$StringToFind is used in the following sites..."
foreach($AllWebParts in $SourceFileInMemory.databases.database.site.webs.web.WebParts)
{
    foreach($WebPart in $AllWebParts.ChildNodes)
    {
        if($WebPart.Type -eq "$StringToFind")
        {
            $out = "Web id = " + $AllWebParts.ParentNode.id + " " + `
                   "Site id = " + $AllWebParts.ParentNode.ParentNode.ParentNode.id + " " + ` 
                   "Owner = " + $AllWebParts.ParentNode.ParentNode.ParentNode.OwnerLogin + " " + `
                   $AllWebParts.ParentNode.Url
            Add-Content $OutputFile $out
        }
    }
}

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I didn't really say everything I said. - Yogi Berra

Powershell Tip #6 – Send an email

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:14:14 +0500

Sending an email using PowerShell is very easy. You just need to know about your SMTP Server. Here is how the script looks like…

        $message = "This is your message!"
        $severety = "[WARNING] "
        $EmailTo = "send_to@somewhere.com"
        $EmailCC = “cc_someone_as_well@somewhere.com”
        Send-mailmessage -to $EmailTo -Cc $EmailCC -from "any_address@anywhere.com” -subject "$severety $message" `
        -body "$message`n`nSome more details if you like here…. `n`n -SmtpServer "valid-smtp-servername-here"

Well, that’s how easy it is!

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer. - Farmers' Almanac

Missing SQL Server Profiler from SSMS [SQL Server 2008 R2]

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:11:03 +0500

This one was tricky [at least from my perspective, since I am not a SQL expert ]. I wasted a lot of my time today, and hence documenting this effort so that it might help a poor soul some day. Your mileage may vary. Please take all cautions that you normally would while dealing with SQL.

Problem Scenario

1. Installed SQL Express
2. Installed SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express
3. Installed SQL Server 2008 R2

ONLY to find that Management Tools – Complete was missing from my setup. Even worse, it was greyed out. So, running setup again and simply checking this Check box was not an option.

Resolution

    I tried to uninstall SQL Express, but couldn’t find it my Add/Remove programs.
    Couldn’t remove it from the SQL Server installation Center either.
    Hence, decided to upgrade using Maintenance option – Edition Upgrade, and upgraded my SQL Express.

    Once the upgrade happened successfully, started the SQL Server setup again.
    Tried setup again, and this time selected… Installation –> New Installation. In the Installation Type, select Add Features… select the instance, and click Next.

    In the feature selection, you should ideally get Management Tools – Complete option which wouldn’t be greyed out now. Complete the setup and you’re done.
    You can also Uninstall SQL Express by starting Add/Remove programs –> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) and uninstall. You’ll be prompted with a screen, where you should select Remove. Follow the wizard, till you get option to remove your SQL Express.

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. - Oscar Wilde

Powershell Tip #5 - Migrate users from one domain to another

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:21:30 +0500

In your SharePoint environment, have you found users migrating from one domain to another? Or the domain structure changing due to any reason? What if there are bulk migrations of users? Here is the PowerShell script to help you out in doing just that.

This script is to automate the following command…

stsadm -o migrateuser –oldlogin <domain\name> –newlogin <domain\name> [-ignoresidhistory]

The script is well documented so you shouldn’t have any issues in understanding what it does. However, here is what I am doing in English.

- Ensure that there are two folders present called In and Out
- In folder would contain input.txt file
- The format of this file is very simple…

User1Alias:From_Domain:To_Domain
User2Alias:From_Domain:To_Domain
User3Alias:From_Domain:To_Domain

- That’s about it. Once your Input.txt file is complete, run this script
- Once the Script is over, it will create files in Out folder

Confirm the following…

- Ensure that Pending.txt file in the Out folder has nothing inside it. If there is anything, it means the User Migration has failed for that user. If there is no text in the Pending.txt file, it would signify successful migration of all users in the input.txt file.

- Ensure that all the lines that you added in the Input.txt file, NOW appears in Done.txt

FYI - You can verify this by looking in the InputBackup.txt file that gets created automatically in the In folder

#Region Load Assemblies 
# Load Sharepoint DLL's
[System.Reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint") 
$spFarm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::Local
$Date = Get-Date

#All the folders that contain Migration Information. 
#Log.xml would contain all the information that is generated by this Script


$root = "C:\Scripts\MigrateUsers"

$Input = "$root\In\Input.txt"
$InputBackup = "$root\In\InputBackup.txt"
$Done = "$root\Out\Done.txt"
$Pending = "$root\Out\Pending.txt"
$Log = "$root\Out\Log.txt"

#Ensure that the Out folder exists. It it doesn't, create it.
if(Test-Path $Pending){} else{New-Item -Path "$root\Out" -type directory -force > $null}

#Start logging
Add-Content $Log "Migration Activity on $Date" 
Add-Content $Log "-----------------------------------------" 

#Ensure that the In folder exists. It it doesn't, create it.
if(Test-Path $Input)
{
    #Removing older backup copies of Input-Backup file if present
    if(Test-Path "$InputBackup") { Remove-Item "$InputBackup" }
    #Create a back up copy of the input
    Add-Content $Log "Creating a backup copy of Input.txt"
    Copy-Item $Input "$InputBackup"
    Add-Content $Log "Backup of the Input file successfully created"
} 
else
{
    #Create a folder called In if it doesn't exist
    New-Item -Path "$root\In" -type directory -force > $null
    Add-Content $Log "Input.txt file doesn't exist in the In Folder. Please add this file and try again!"
    break
}
    
#Start reading from the Input.txt file
Add-Content $Log "About to process Input.txt file" 
Add-Content $Log "---------------------------------" 
$InputFile = Get-Content $Input

foreach($line in $InputFile)
{
    #If successfull write a entry to $SuccessLog
    try 
    {
        Add-Content $Log "Reading Line = $line"
        $name = $line.Split(':')[0]
        $from = $line.Split(':')[1]
        $to = $line.Split(':')[2]
        if((!$name) -or (!$from) -or (!$to))
        {
            Add-Content $Log "[FAIL] Could not migrate $line"
            Add-Content $Pending $line
        }
        else
        {
            $Date = Get-Date
            Add-Content $Log "$Date - Migrating the user Name = $name, From = $from, To = $to with `$false, so that history is not ignored"
            $spFarm.MigrateUserAccount("$from\$name", "$to\$name", $false)
            Add-Content $Log "[SUCCESS]Migrated the user Name = $name, From = $from, To = $to"
            Add-Content $Done $line
        }
    }
    catch [System.Exception]
    {
        Add-Content $Log "Error returned was : $_"
        Add-Content $Log "[FAIL]Could not migrate $line"
        Add-Content $Pending $line
    }    
}
Add-Content $Log "File Processed. Check the $Log file for logs, $Done for successful and $Pending for unsuccessful migrations" 
Add-Content $Log "Removing Input file. You can find a backup at $InputBackup" 
Remove-Item $Input
Add-Content $Log "Input file Removed." 
Add-Content $Log "Complete!!!" 
Add-Content $Log "===========" 
Add-Content $Log "==========="

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true. - Dorothy Parke

Powershell Tip #4 - Enumerate all the Farm Administrators of SharePoint

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 13:59:42 +0500

In SharePoint, if you want to enumerate all the users in the Farm Administrators group, you can use the following script.

 [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint") 
#Provide the URL of SharePoint Central Administration 
$caURL = "http://sp2010:1000"
$CentralAdmin = new-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite($caURL) 
$RootWeb = $centralAdmin.RootWeb

#Get all the Group Users... in our case it is "Farm Administrators"
$GroupUsers = $RootWeb.SiteGroups["Farm Administrators"] 

clear
 
foreach ($User in $GroupUsers.Users)
{
    $User.LoginName
}
 
$RootWeb.Dispose()
$CentralAdmin.Dispose()

As a matter of fact, you can change the URL to any Web Application and get any Group information using the code above.

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. - Mickey Mantle

Tata Photon automatic redirection to Tataindicom.com and yahoo

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:50:45 +0500

Pardon my colorful language in this post. But I have a reason! I am pissed off

Just plugged in my Tata Photon USB dongle and got totally frustrated by this image. I mean, why the fu** is Yahoo and Tata Photon having this as home page in the middle of my presentation. I decided to fix this fu**ing automatic redirection for good. If you are equally frustrated by the automatic redirection crap by Tata Photon and cheap publicity, the following steps should help you out.

First up, I fired up my Process Monitor [you don’t need to do this] to find the following.

As you can easily notice, the following program is responsible for this. Good lord, they have hardcoded this stuff in the Dialer itself.

    Rename this file. [I decided to delete it!!!]
    Time to create your own dialer.
     On your desktop [or any location of your choice] create a file called Dialer.bat and paste the following line in the batch file. Tata Photon+ is the name of the connection in Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections. Username and password is internet

rasdial "TATA PHOTON+" internet internet

    You’re done. Instead of that wicked dialer, double click on this Dialer.bat and enjoy the Internet connectivity.

No more pesky startup pages!!!

Hope this helps!
Rahul

Quote of the day:
If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee. - Abraham Lincoln

Powershell Tip #3 - Enumerate all Content Databases in a MOSS 2007 farm

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:21:47 +0500

Want to enumerate all the Content databases of a MOSS 2007 Farm using Powershell? Use the following script. It would return all the Content Databases along with Web Application name in an XML file.

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")
$WebService = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService
$FileName = "C:\ContentDatabases.xml"  # Change the location of the log file
[xml]$xml = "<ContentDatabases></ContentDatabases>"

$properties = @"
<WebApplicationName>{0}</WebApplicationName>
<DatabaseName>{1}</DatabaseName>
"@

$DBName = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPContentDatabase].GetProperty("Name")
$DBServer= [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPContentDatabase].GetProperty("ServiceInstance")

# Enumerate through all Web applications in the farm
foreach($WebApplication in $WebService.WebApplications)
{
    $ContentDBCollection = $WebApplication.ContentDatabases
    $WebAppName = $WebApplication.name            
    
    foreach($ContentDB in $ContentDBCollection)
    {
        $CurrentDBName = $DBName.GetValue($ContentDB, $null)
        $element = $xml.CreateElement("ContentDatabase")
        $element.InnerXml = $properties -f $WebAppName, $CurrentDBName
        [void]$xml["ContentDatabases"].AppendChild($element)
    }
    $xml.Save($FileName)
}

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Indecision may or may not be my problem. - Jimmy Buffett

Powershell Tip #2 - How to delete older IIS log files from all servers

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:59:14 +0500

So you have a lot of IIS Servers to manage and the logs are taking up space? No worries, use/modify the following script and schedule a daily job to delete the older log files automatically every day. This script assumes that you have all the log files in the same location.

#Write down all the server names here. I had only two servers WFE1wSQL and AS1
$Servers = "WFE1wSQL", "AS1"                
#This script assumes that you have the log files in the same folder on all servers.
$source = "C:\WINDOWS\system32\LogFiles"    
$date = Get-Date
#Number of days = 30 would imply deleting all the files older than 30 days.
$retention = $date.AddDays(-30)

foreach ($server in $servers)
{
    try
    {
        Write-host "Deleting the old IIS log files from" $server
        #Make a path like \\ServerName\C$\Windows\System32\Logfiles
        $remotefolder = "\\" + $server + "\" + $source.Replace(":", "$")
        #Use a filter to filter all log files which are older than Retention period
        $folder = Get-Childitem -Path $remotefolder -recurse -filter "ex*.log" | where {$_.CreationTime -le $retention}
        if($folder.Count -gt 0){ $folder | remove-item }
        else {Write-host -ForegroundColor Red "No files found"}
    }
    catch
    {
        $err= $_.Exception;
        Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $err.Message
    }
}

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye. - Miss Piggy

How to delete a Site Collection that acts tough in SharePoint? [0x80070003]

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:58:39 +0500

Well, you won’t get this issue often… but if you are reading this, the chances are high that you are working with SharePoint and a Site Collection that you want to delete is not getting deleted.

Symptoms

1. When you try to delete the site collection using Central Admin, you will not be able to select it using the site collection drop down.

2. When you try listing the Site Collection, a good site collection looks somewhat like this [notice the right part]

A bad site collection [also referred to as orphan site] looks somewhat like the following… [notice that the right part is now blank]

3. When you try deleting the site using the following command, stsadm -o deletesite -url http://server_name/sites/site_name you will get an error message.

The system cannot find the path specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070003)

Here is what I usually do to take care of this scenario [YMMV].

1. Run the following command, if you have the information available already.

stsadm -o deletesite -force -siteid 3331B673-727F-4AC3-BA2C-5BA44494E5B1 -databaseserver WFE1wSQL –databasename dotnetscraps_content_2

2. If you don’t have the highlighted information handy, here is how to get it.

    Open SQL Server Management Studio and select [USE] your SharePoint Config database.
    Execute a query…

Select id as SiteID, DatabaseID from SiteMap where Path like ‘%sites/testing’ [replace the like string appropriately]

    You should get only 1 row… [I got the following]

SiteID                                                                      DatabaseID
------------------------------------                   ------------------------------------
3331B673-727F-4AC3-BA2C-5BA44494E5B1    A5DAD965-C4CA-48B3-BE75-90FBB208AF21

    Execute another query…

Select name from Objects where id=’3331B673-727F-4AC3-BA2C-5BA44494E5B1’

    For me it gave me the database name… dotnetscraps_content_2
    Now, I am ready to go with the command.

stsadm -o deletesite -force -siteid 3331B673-727F-4AC3-BA2C-5BA44494E5B1-databaseserver WFE1wSQL -databasename dotnetscraps_content_2

So far in my experience, I usually get “Operation completed successfully” and I am ready to move ahead.

Hope this helps,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. - Leo J. Burke

Troubleshoot Error 6482 on Office SharePoint Server

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:01:49 +0500

On my virtual farm, I noticed the following error popping up every minute in my Event Viewer. Mine is not a production setup, but it was filling up my Event logs, and it doesn’t feel good, you know

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    Office SharePoint Server
Event Category:    Office Server Shared Services
Event ID:    6482
Date:        5/23/2012
Time:        5:25:47 AM
User:        N/A
Computer:    WFE1WSQL
Description:
Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (e4c37a18-af5d-4d06-980c-82154f1ee0f4).

Reason: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.

Techinal Support Details:
System.Net.WebException: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send. ---> System.IO.IOException: Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream.
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.StartReadFrame(Byte[] buffer, Int32 readBytes, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.StartReceiveBlob(Byte[] buffer, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.CheckCompletionBeforeNextReceive(ProtocolToken message, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.StartSendBlob(Byte[] incoming, Int32 count, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.ForceAuthentication(Boolean receiveFirst, Byte[] buffer, AsyncProtocolRequest asyncRequest)
   at System.Net.Security.SslState.ProcessAuthentication(LazyAsyncResult lazyResult)
   at System.Net.TlsStream.CallProcessAuthentication(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Net.TlsStream.ProcessAuthentication(LazyAsyncResult result)
   at System.Net.TlsStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
   at System.Net.PooledStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
   at System.Net.ConnectStream.WriteHeaders(Boolean async)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.RunOnServer[T](CodeToRun`1 remoteCode, CodeToRun`1 localCode, Boolean useCurrentSecurityContext, Int32 versionIn)
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.GetVersion()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi..ctor(WellKnownSearchCatalogs catalog, SearchSharedApplication application)
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi..ctor(SearchSharedApplication application)
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)

Here is what I did. Followed KB962928. Once I installed and ran the command mentioned, the error above went away, and instead the following error started coming up.

Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (e4c37a18-af5d-4d06-980c-82154f1ee0f4). Reason: Object 1030dd2b-5308-4832-ac1d-3019685d27da not found. Techinal Support Details: System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: Object 1030dd2b-5308-4832-ac1d-3019685d27da not found.
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.get_App()
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.SetUsersPermittedToQuery(String[] userNames, Boolean force)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize()
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)

Stopped and Started my Windows SharePoint Services Administration service and thankfully, the issue went away.

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
Money doesn't always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million dollars. - Hobart Brown

Powershell Tip #1 - How to find if a particular Windows Security patch is installed?

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:58:16 +0500

You can use the following one liner to find out if a Windows Patch is installed on any machine using PowerShell.

Get-WmiObject Win32_QuickFixEngineering -Computer COMPUTER_NAME| where {$_.HotfixID -LIKE "*2683*"}

The output is…

Until next time,
Rahul

Quote of the day:
People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. - Leo J. Burke

PowerShell Single Line commands on Windows Server 8 and Windows 8

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:30:00 +0500

Here are some really good and helpful PowerShell single line commands I have been using on my Windows Server 8 and Windows 8 machines.

Remove GUI from Windows Server 8

Remove-WindowsFeature -Name Server-Gui-Shell
Remove-WindowsFeature -Name Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra

Add GUI to Windows Server 8

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Server-Gui-Shell

Get Volume details for a particular drive

Get-Volume -DriveLetter 'C'

Get all Volume details (including Free space)

Get-Volume

Optimize drive

Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter 'C'

Rename a Network Adapter

Rename-NetAdapter -Name 'External Interface' -NewName 'Internet Facing'

Disable IPv6

Set-NetAdapterBinding -Name "Internet Facing" -ComponentID ms_tcpip6 -Enabled $False

IPConfig equivalent

Get-NetIPConfiguration

IPConfig /all equivalent

Get-NetIPConfiguration -All

IPConfig /all equivalent and more..

Get-NetIPConfiguration -All -Detailed

Disable a Network Adapter

Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Internet Facing"

Configure a IPv4 IP Address

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex 21 -AddressFamily IPv4 -IPAddress 192.168.78.12

Add a computer to the domain (from client machine)

Add-Computer -Credential scrap\administrator -DomainName scrapping.local -ComputerName VIVEK-W8

Install Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Administrative Center

Install-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services
Install-WindowsFeature -Name RSAT-AD-AdminCenter

I will keep updating the list as I come across the new ones..

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
There are people who think that everything one does with a serious face is sensible. - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

System.InvalidOperationException: A failure occurred SPDistributedCacheServiceInstance::Provision()

vivek@dotnetscraps.com (vivek) — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:22:00 +0500

This just gave me an opportunity to write after a long time and I did not think twice. It’s a bit of patching but it worked for me.

I was installing SharePoint on one of my VM machine when I came across the below mentioned error. I tried bing / google, for the error but found nothing.

Task configdb has failed with an unknown exception
Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: A failure occurred SPDistributedCacheServiceInstance::Provision() Available memory is '151' MB, needed memory'165' MB
at Microsoft.SharePoint.DistributedCaching.Utilities.SPDistributedCacheServiceInstance.Provision()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Join()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

This is a new VM and I am configuring it on Windows Server 8 Hyper-V. Don’t get me wrong this has nothing to do with Windows Server 8. The VM had 1024 MB as initial memory and configured to increase up to 2048 MB (dynamic memory).

Now, let’s quickly have a flash back on the TechNet article, which talks about the H/W requirement for SharePoint installation.

Putting the troubleshooting hat now, I ran the Configuration Wizard again and since the error clearly mentions that the setup was short of memory, I used Task Manager and was keeping an eye on memory consumption. Wow, even though I had 2048 MB (dynamic memory) configured, the VM never asked for more than 1024 MB and failed when 151 MB was left.

Resolution: Configured VM with 2048 MB (could have been lesser) of initial memory and limit up to 3072 MB.

The setup went smooth without any errors.

Hope this helps,
Vivek Kumbhar

Quote of the day:
The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them. - Will Rogers

Failed to restore virtual machine state on Windows 8 Hyper-V

rahul@dotnetscraps.com (rahul) — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:29:49 +0500

I don’t know what changed on my laptop, but I started getting this error on my Win 8 consumer preview machine and my Virtual Machines couldn’t be restored.

[Window Title]
Virtual Machine Connection

[Main Instruction]
The application encountered an error while attempting to change the state of 'MachineName'.

[Content]
’MachineName’ failed to restore virtual machine state.

Failed to lock virtual machine's configuration.

[Expanded Information]
’MachineName’ failed to restore virtual machine state. (Virtual machine ID B6357FDE-EC5D-4C9E-9D2D-C1214278A1BD)

Failed to lock virtual machine's configuration 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines\B6357FDE-EC5D-4C9E-9D2D-C1214278A1BD.xml': 'Unspecified error'('0x80004005').

[^] Hide details [Close]

Thankfully, the fix was simple [I am not sure if that is the actual fix though.] I went to the Folder and changed the property of the shortcut to ensure it is not ReadOnly. Tried starting the VM again and it worked. I will update this section if I am able to find the root cause.

Hope this helps!
Rahul

Quote of the day:
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. - Vince Lombardi