Microsoft Hyper-V VMMS & System services stop after December 2012 Updates (KB2506143)

I had an issue recently with some Hyper-V servers where it was noticed that the Hyper-V system services (VMMS, VHDSVC & NVSPWMI) gets stopped all in a sudden and no one can access or manage the Hyper-V Virtual machines from the console as per attached image.I noticed that these services stop on specific time on daily basis, after several investigations it was related to a specific rule/job based on WMI (CCMEVAL) that runs from the System Center...

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Increasing SCCM 2012 Add/Remove Programs Simple Query Value

We passed by this issue with one of our new System Center configuration Manager SCCM 2012 installations when trying to create a new device collection with the Add/Remove Programs used in the Query. The List of programs was limited till applications starting with the "M" Letter and other applications weren't displayed as shown below.I recall we passed by this issue in SCCM 2007 and we had to add the Valuelimit registry key and looks like its not fixed...

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Microsoft UAG 2010 SP3 Under Work to Support Windows 8 & IE 10

Microsoft officially announced couple of days ago that UAG 2010 SP3 will be released the first quarter of 2013. This new Service pack will provide support for Windows 8 and IE 10 as well as other applications as Exchange 2013, Sharepoint 2013.........etcThe support of DirectAccess clients running Windows 8 as well as the normal Service pack fixes and improvements are expected.http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/archive/2012/11/26/uag-2010-service-pack-3-is-in-the-works.aspxLooking forward to getting the new Service pack and testing it...

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System Center DPM 2012 DPMDB Transaction Logs increases dramatically filling Server Disk Space

I noticed that my DPM 2012 server disk space gets filled on daily basis, the DPMDB transaction log (LDF file) under \Microsoft System Center 2012\DPM\DPM\DPMDB grows till it fill the disk space and all jobs fail accordingly. This issue occurs when the Sharepoint Catalog Task starts, If you are not protecting any Sharepoint Workload you won't notice this issue.After working several hours with Microsoft DPM Escalation Team, it turned to be a bug in one of the procedures after System center 2012 Rollup 3 implementation.For more information about Rollup...

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UAG 2010 RDP Application Failure after applying November 2012 KB2592687 Update

I had a problem accessing any RDP application on my UAG portal (whether its Remote App application , RDP User defined, RDP Gateway or VDI Pool– Predefined Remote Desktop Host), after several hours and investigation with Microsoft team, it turned to be an update released more than 2 weeks ago KB2592687 regarding RDP 8.0 update. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2592687 Looks like UAG Portal is not yet compatible with the new RDP 8.0 update. After uninstalling/Removing this update from my client machine (Windows 7), everything worked...

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Microsoft UAG 2010 Web Monitor All Events displays Message ID 108 Every Minute

After applying Microsoft UAG 2010 SP2 released couple of month ago I noticed that the UAG Web Monitor All Events Message ID 108 is repeated all the way and almost every minute as shown below.After discussing this issue with Microsoft Escalation Team, it turned that its a known issue after UAG SP2 related to group memberships. Microsoft is aware of this issue and they have a private fix for this specific problem. After applying this fix,...

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SQL Server 2008R2 Reporting Services Failed to start after GDR security patch KB 2716440

After Applying the last Tuesday Microsoft (October 2012) patches/Updates, SQL reporting services wasn't able to start on several servers and the below error is displayed when you try to start the serviceOne of the Updates released on that date is the KB 2716440 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716440  which resolves a vulnerability in the SQL server. To make sure that this update specifically caused this behavior. I uninstalled...

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Manual add of Shares to Microsoft UAG File Access

Microsoft UAG 2010 File Access is a nice feature to securely publish your internal shares on your UAG Portal for Internet users. To successfully publish your shares on UAG portal and for the File access to work, it requires the following:NETBIOS should be enabled, Ports 137-139 should be open and not blocked by any internal FirewallPort 445 for SMB should be open so UAG server can access/Locate the shares.On the UAG NIC facing the internal Network...

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DHCP Superscope Keeps reverting back after Deletion

I passed by this experience after the deletion of a DHCP superscope where the Superscope reverts back after the DHCP server is rebooted or after the restart of the DHCP service. To properly remove a DHCP Superscope, you can perform any of the following methods:1.      Right click on the Superscope and click delete. It’s safe and won't have any impact on the Sub-scopes under this DHCP superscope. In fact you will receive...

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SQL 2012 Protection with DPM 2012 RTM fails immediately after the job starts

I passed by this experience when i was setting a new protection group using DPM 2012 for the latest SQL database server 2012. As per Microsoft System Center 2012 - Data Protection Manager Release Notes http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh848297.aspx DPM 2012 should backup and recover SQL 2012 Databases except if the AlwaysOn feature is enabled. The AlwaysOn feature is not supported under the current DPM 2012 RTM but expected to be fully...

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DNS64 Not Healthy after Applying UAG SP2

For those who missed the latest news on UAG, Microsoft released UAG SP2 early this month. For what is new in Microsoft UAG SP2 please check the following link:http://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj590875http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2710791To Download Microsoft UAG SP2, please follow this link:http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30459Everything went fine while downloading and updating UAG server with the latest SP2, After reboot i noticed that the DNS64 shows Not healthy under the DirectAccess Monitor/Current Status....

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Windows 8 and Server 2012 RTM available for Software Assurance Customers

Yesterday August 16, 2012 Windows 8 and Server 2012 RTM versions became available for all Software Assurance CustomersEveryone is talking about Windows 8 and how it will change the world again with the new Microsoft Ecosystem and Cloud support. I would encourage everyone to get their hands on the new Windows 8 and start testing the new features and enhancements promised by Microsoft.Windows 8 New Features:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/explore-windows-8.aspxWindows...

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Microsoft UAG DirectAccess Clients Cannot Reach and Ping your Partner/Newly Acquired Company Network

Its quite often that many corporations acquire a new company or merge with another company with different domain name, subnets................etc. DirectAccess clients in one company cannot reach or ping the different resources, servers, routers..........etc in the other side (acquired/partner company). This can be solved by modifying your DNS infrastructure and UAG DirectAccess Settings as per the following steps:Configure the...

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RemoteApp and Web Application ICON Customization in UAG 2010 Portal

UAG 2010 Portal customization is one of the key strengths in the UAG system. The Customization of UAG is based on the Custom Update concept, for more details and real life example, please check the following articles:http://itcalls.blogspot.com/2012/03/uag-portal-home-page-customization-left.htmlhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee861168.aspxOne of the main customization issues that i faced during the last few weeks is changing the Default...

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Publishing Microsoft Pool VDI on UAG 2010 Portal

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is becoming a hot issue nowadays with many companies adopting this technology due to its flexibility, machines density, mobility, security, manageability and overall total cost of ownership. VDI can be either dedicated/Personal desktop assigned for specific user or pool of desktops available for all users (First come is first served); both flavors have their own benefits/drawbacks depending on your exact need and infrastructure....

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Microsoft MBAM Client Implementation Best Practices

Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) is part of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack suite (MDOP) which contain other important and business enabling tools available for Software Assurance Customers. MBAM is used to simplify and control the Bitlocker implementation (Windows 7 Machine encryption), deployment, help desk support as well as providing rich compliance reports. In this article I would like to share some of the...

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DirectAccess IPHTTPS interface qualify over Teredo

Its been noticed on several Direct access deployments that the Client IPHTTPS interface gets connected first over the Teredo interface although nothing is preventing the Teredo interface to get activated. Most of the clients won't prefer the IPHTTPS because of its high overhead and low performance compared to Teredo or 6to4. After some investigation and consulting Microsoft esclation engineers it turned out that its a well known issue on...

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UAG Portal Home Page Customization – Left Side Menu/Scroll Bar Example

Microsoft UAG 2010 offers a very flexible way for customizing different pages and settings. The UAG Customization mechanism is deployed using a “CustomUpdate” Folder structure. Under the “Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway” folder tree you will notice that several folders contain this “CustomUpdate” folder, in this folder the UAG admins can create their own Files and place them in the CustomUpdate folder. When the UAG is activated it...

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Publishing IMAP/IMAPS on Microsoft UAG 2010 – UAG Support Boundary

Recently several users with BlackBerry phones approached me seeking to access their corporate email on their phones. Microsoft UAG doesn’t support Blackberry service however a workaround to this is using the IMAP to access and download their emails on their Blackberry phones.Microsoft Highly recommend and Advice all UAG administrators to leave the TMG configuration (Installed by default on the UAG box) untouched. The TMG rules and configuration is...

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Windows 7 Direct Access Client Troubleshooting – Part 1 – Client Transition Technologies

During the past few months I was heavily engaged with different DirectAccess implementations and passed by several interesting issues/problems. The Direct Access Wizard is so simple and normally things get working from the first time however sometimes things can go wrong.In this article series I will try to go through several troubleshooting items moving from the basic commands to more advanced issues.First of all we need to ensure that the Direct...

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