Best posts made by frodooftheshire

@Tim_G That's a good idea. I'm pretty sure it was ignorance. I mean...they have a Windows server and installed the DHCP role, but did not configure it. DNS is somewhat configured correctly but all the endpoints are pointing to Comcast's DNS servers...soooo.

Hi guys,

I just finished doing a system migration of the weekend for my client. Migrated them from some very old physical 2003 servers to 2012r2 (2VMS) running on top of Xenserver 7.0 on a Dell R530. S.A.M said that this forum was a good resource for all things XenServer so I just joined today.

VM1 is AD DS/DNS/DHCP/File server and the second VM is just a secondary domain controller with AD DS/DNS roles. VM1 has all the FSMO roles including PDC emulator. From my understanding the ideal time configuration is for the DC running PDC emulator to get the time from an ntp server, and then the secondary DC & workstations should then sync to the primary DC.

From what I understand though, when you install the guest tools on the VM, it will always sync to the XenServer's hardware clock and this cannot be disabled like it can on ESXi.

I wanted to see what you guys would recommend as far as best practices goes in configuring how these VMs/XenServer syncs time. Thanks!

@frodooftheshire Just got off the phone - yep - they stopped doing advanced replacements a year ago. The guy was nice enough and gave me a direct e-mail ([email protected]) to the management team to see if they will make an exception.

@MrWright4hire Awesome! I've been following this for a long time and I've been waiting for them to start selling units again. Just put in my order! I think it's an awesome deal.

So I just finished setting up a XenServer7 with 2 2012r2 VMs over the weekend and in the last two hours I've become aware of some warnings from Xenserver in regards to low memory for Dom 0. The XenServer host is a Dell R530 with 16GB of RAM. VM1 has 12GB of RAM allocated because it's hosting QuickBooks Enterprise & Intuit recommends 8GB of ram, and I figured another 4GB because it's also the main file server, DC, DNS, DHCP, etc. The Second VM is secondary DC/DNS server and I initially configured it with 2 GB of RAM. I figured this would leave 2GB total for XenServer.

Eearlier when I become aware of the issue, XenServer was at 98% of it's allocated memory. I adjusted the secondary VM down to 1GB of RAM to see if this would help. It didn't, but I also didn't reboot the XenServer as everyone is working. Possibly rebooting would have resolved the issue.

Now currently it's at 100.8 percent of it's allocated memory. I'm thinking the plan is to now wait until the end of the day (5 or 6 PM) and adjust the primary VM's memory down to maybe 10GB, and the secondary VM back to 2GB. That should then leave 4GBs free. From XenCenter I can see it's telling me that XenServer is currently using 1.3GB.

With those adjustments do you think I'll be okay or does it sound like I've got a bigger issue?

Hi guys,

So one of my customers running Outlook 2016 connecting to Office 365 on a Windows 10 laptop has had reoccurring issues with profile corruption - apparently after doing some digging it's related to an autodiscover.xml file being modified with incorrect data from a some source which nobody has been able to identify (at least from what I've read). Ultimately this corrupt xml file leads to Outlook not opening.

Many seem to be having the issue:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_win10/outlook-2016-frequent-ost-corruption/591feedb-13c2-4389-826c-d7d28abbfd3a

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_winother/outlook-2016-corrupted-profiles-becoming-way-too/81fa4c8a-5957-4e68-bbcd-65663bb76907

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_winother/office-2016-major-issues-with-outlook-not-opening/31178871-75b9-416a-9cb9-e506bc9f8680

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrZrySKbUTY - lots of people in the comments

When I first saw the issue I just figured "no big deal, profile corruption occurs from time to time," but when it happened the second and third time I knew something weird was up. What was also weird - the first time I created a new profile it went without issue for a few months, but the second time just a day. Apparently the issue is only effecting laptops and has something to do with going from one network to another.

From what I've read it isn't effecting Outlook 2013, so I rolled the customer back today. I just wanted to see if anybody has come across the issue, and if you have, how did you fix it?

Ok guys...update from today:
After going through things more, apparently both adapters were "bridged" via a Microsoft virtual adapter in Windows giving the "switch"a 51.6 IP address. This makes zero sense to me. Considering both ports were connected to the same Cisco router - potentially there could have been some switch/loop issues.

Anyways, I ended up disabling the "virtual switch" & secondary NIC (for now). I also found out that there was another small switch that was connecting to another network (from another business) in the building that had a Comcast gateway with its DHCP server turned on - handing out addresses in 10.1.10.X range. Fun stuff.

Anyways things seem to be working well now.

Hi guys,

I'm trying to get Shadowcontrol CMD deployed to manage my clients Storagecraft software/backups. I initially setup things on vultr, but it appears that kvm is not a supported platform.

Had the same issues as this guy here:
https://www.storagecraft.com/support/forum/unable-install-vps-instance

So now I either need Hyper-V or ESXI. It's annoying because I have azure credits, but azure doesn't provide console access which I need.

Anybody know of any inexpensive cloud hypervisors, either ESXI or Hyper-V? Thanks.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/hybrid-use-benefit/?v=17.23h

@dbeato I know. That's why I said it wasn't "entirely true." If he's looking at a new deployment he would have the option to purchase support. I should have clarified though.

We found a solution - setting the Epson printer as the default resolved the issue. Makes no sense. We discovered this because we moved the printer to a different computer and immediately had no issues. Then we realized Windows had set the Epson as the default because in settings this computer was set to "let windows manage my printer." When we went back to the other computer and switched it to the Epson receipt printer as default - voila - no weird issues on the first print.

Hi guys,

I'm sure lots of you are pretty aware of the issue where you reboot a 2012/2016/2019 DC and the network profile gets set to private instead of domain. I've read lots of ways to combat this - delayed start of NLA service and scripts that restart the service but I wanted to see how you guys resolved this. I've tried delayed start on some DCs with mixed results. At this point I'm leaning towards a script that executes after a certain amount of time, but I wanted to see how you're solving the issue.

@CCWTech Exactly - it's mainly about firewall rules. Like you said I guess I could go into all the firewall rules and make sure its ticked for private as well as domain. It's just annoying because this shouldn't be an issue.

Hi guys,

Currently I have an old Lenovo laptop bag that's stuffed to the brim with screw drivers, portable HDs, flash drives, tone generator, patch cables, etc. and I have to spend considerable time digging through my bag to find what I'm looking for. Each day I look at my schedule and try to bring all the tools nessecary for the day.

I want to come up with a solution that will allow me to keep my patch cable inventory, tools (screw drivers, drill , drill bits, zip ties, network toner, etc) , equipment in my car at all times. I would still have a laptop bag, but it wouldn't be storing anything more than a laptop, charger, & maybe a 20' ft patch cable.

I was thinking of something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EGDWFQ8/ref=psdc_3345931_t3_B017VCBHZG

The problem is, I probably couldn't store everything in one...might need a second one, and they are somewhat pricey, and I'm not sure two would fit in the back of my car (2016 Mazda 3 wagon).

I also thought of these:

https://www.uline.com/BL_8821/Divider-Boxes

Would be great for network cables, but it doesn't have wheels, making it harder to transport around a job site.

What do you guys use for storing your equipment/tools in your cars/vans?

@coliver I configurd XEN to pull time from us.pool.ntp.org, and I guess I'll just go into the primary DC and tell W32time to sync with the same server

Thank's Tim. Definitely interested in what your friend uses. The Samsonite looks pretty good, but I'm not sure it would be big enough to hold what I need. I do like the fact that it retains a professional look which is nice. It's a fine line between rugged toolboxes that are used by construction workers, and a more high end professional/leather looking bag.

Again, I might have to end up with two different storage solutions. One bag for laptop, and the Pelican box I mentioned above. The main reason I like the pelican is because the modular compartment design, but it's also somewhat overkill because it's usually used to protect expensive equipment (cameras/lenses/etc) and I would be using it for my drill/patch cables.

@scottalanmiller Cool. Just to play it safe maybe I'll take the primary VM down to 8 then. So far it's not even using 2GB of ram yet, but it's also only been up for today.

This is really just to bitch at Microsoft - I had a customer yesterday who complained she frequently received e-mails from different people with the classic winmail.dat issue. She also stated she wanted excel/word/etc. So my solution was to install Office Home & Business for Mac because it would solve all those issues.

Turns out Outlook for Mac can't read TNEF/RTF regardless of what this support article says:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb310786(v=exchg.150).aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396#Outlook

"...All versions of Microsoft Outlook fully understand TNEF..."

Argh. What a way to waste a few hours in a day.

@scottalanmiller I thought it was against best practices to use outside DNS as a secondary? From what I've read, even though it's the secondary, you can have instances where DNS requests will try to go there first?

So my 850 Pro in my main workhouse (X230) is failing and I reached out to Samsung and they wont provide me an advanced replacement. For a pro drive - I would expect better service than that. So I either have to just buy a new SSD (the same model is up about $50 than when I bought it) or be without my laptop for a few days....which won't work because then I can't work.