I’ve talked about upgrades before and the fact that they are part of a Technical Support Professionals job. The other day I was asked to upgrade a web application on a production file server. Ok no problem, the developers documented the process, I can fully backup the web application and its backend database, however the latest version is built using Microsoft .Net v4. So, how to upgrade the version of Dot Net Framework required? Follow the instructions below and you should be ok.
Certs: Passing 70-412
Exam: 70-412 Configuring Advances Windows Server 2012 R2 Services
At the start of May this year I sat the 70-412 Microsoft exam. The score required to pass is 700 and I scored 781. The charts are shown below organised by objective domain.
Blog: Tech On Holiday – South Devon – Part 2
This is the second part of the Tech On Holiday: South Devon series.
One of the things I wanted to do was to see if a smart phone could replace my digital camera. I have used a Panasonic Lumix FZ45 for the past few years, it’s a great device if a little bulky, so if my Lumix 930 is good enough to replace it full time when on the road then I may consider it. This test will be ongoing over a number of months, but here is the first comparison.
Blog: Tech On Holiday – South Devon – Part 1
So, I’m on holiday this week (11th – 18th July 2015) and I thought it would be a good opportunity to detail what tech I’ve brought along for the ride and what online services I can use based on the availability and quality of internet access.
Let’s start by going through the devices I have with me.
Tech Note: DFS Replication Failing after an Unexpected Shutdown
Problem: If a member server of a DFS share experiences a dirty or otherwise unexpected shutdown, DFS won’t necessarily continue to replicate.
Fix: Microsoft have disabled DFS auto-recovery following unexpected shutdowns by default.
To resolve replication issues following an unexpected shutdown, open the registry editor on the system which experienced the improper shutdown, and in the navigate to the key below, and change:
Tech Note: Windows 2003 Server logs off Immediately
Problem:
When attempting to login to a Windows 2003 server via RDP or from in front of the machine, after entering the username and password the system logs on then immediately logs off. This was a problem on a production server in a remote location. It prevented us from performing any remote maintenance of the server.
Certs: 1.2 Configure Failover Clustering (70-412)
Continuing the 70-412 exam path, the next topic is Failover Clustering, a very complex subject. Below are my study notes which helped me prepare for the exam.
Failover Clustering is used to provide high availability for data frequently updated by clients, database servers, mail servers, print servers. Its also used to support highly available virtual machines hosted in hyper-v clusters.
Certs: 1.1 Installing and Configuring a NLB Cluster (70-412)
As part of my preparation for the 70-412 Microsoft Exam, I needed to learn about Network Load Balancing Clusters. To do this I built one in my test lab and documented the process. The details below should be a useful reference for production environments, and for exam revision. Enjoy….
Network Load Balancing improves the availability of services by absorbing individual server failures and hiding these from the clients.
Blog: Upgrades
Upgrades – Backup, Perform, Test!
As a Technical Support Professional upgrades are part of the job, there is no getting out of them. Some are simple, others require a huge amount of planning, preparation and out of hours work. However it can be one of the most rewarding parts of the job. Continue reading
Blog: TechSupportPro Diaries-Damaged 2850
In this series of posts I detail my day to day work as a Technical Support Professional.
Damaged 2850
Back before the Christmas holidays I was asked by a customer if it would be possible to replace their ageing and increasingly unreliable Dell 2850 server with a newer more reliable one, still a 2850 but one which has a know history, and fully tested. Continue reading