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 Configuration Manager 2012 (SCCM) server

The only thing related to WMI that was updated on December is the Windows Management Framework 3.0 (KB2506143)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2506143

When this update get installed the SCCM client health check Read/Write WMI actions fail resulting in these services stopped.

To fix this issue Uninstall this KB and reboot the server, If this didn't work, please try the following:

1. Uninstall the Windows Management Framework 3.0 (KB2506143)
2. Run ccmclean.exe /all to uninstall the ConfigMgr 2012 client.
3. Run ccmdelcert.exe
4. Once the above steps are done, rename the WMI repository and restart the WMI service
5. Reboot the Server
6. Install the ConfigMgr 2012 client and check the services.

Microsoft released a bulletin confirming this KB compatibility problems with SCCM 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796086

This issue will get fixed with SCCM2012 SP1 expected to be released Quarter 1 2013.

 

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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 in SCCM 2012 and you need to do the same, however due to the change in the OS/SCCM version, the key location is changed, to fix this issue you need to apply the following:

1. Open the Registry (using Regedit) on the SCCM server
2. Explore HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ConfigMgr10\AdminUI\QueryProcessors
3. Add a new DWORD value named "Valuelimit" with Hexadecimal value of 10000 (The maximum value is 20000, its recommended to start up with 10000 and check if the problem is fixed instead of just entering the maximum number which can eat your memory). Check this article for more details http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269201
4. Stop the SMS_EXECUTIVE & SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER services in this order
5. Start both services in the same order.

Note: If you managing the SCCM from a console on a terminal computer (most of the cases) and not directly from the SCCM server then you need to apply these settings on your console computer and reboot the computer after adding the registry key.

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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.........etc

The 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.aspx

Looking forward to getting the new Service pack and testing it with Windows 8.




Update: Microsoft UAG SP3 is released on Feb 2013 and can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/en-eg/download/details.aspx?id=36788

Also UAG SP3 Rollup 1 which is released to fix several issues with SP3 is released on April 2013 (Need SP3 to be already installed) and can be downloaded from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2827350

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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 3 for System Center 2012, please check the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2756127

For that we modified store procedure prc_PRM_SharePointRecoverableObject_Update. (You can find it under the SQL Management Studio - DPMDB - Programability - Stored Procedures), Just take a DPM backup before any change for your reference.

From:

USE[DPMDB]
GO
/****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[prc_PRM_SharePointRecoverableObject_Update] Script Date: 11/02/2012 17:42:07 ******/
SETANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SETQUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
ALTERPROCEDURE [dbo].[prc_PRM_SharePointRecoverableObject_Update]
(
@Captionnvarchar(40),
@ComponentTypenvarchar(16),
@RecoverableObjectIdBIGINT
)
AS
DECLARE@error INT,
@rowCountINT
SET@error = 0

SETNOCOUNT ON

UPDATEtbl_RM_SharePointRecoverableObject SET Caption =@Caption
UPDATEtbl_RM_SharePointRecoverableObject SET Caption =@Caption,
ComponentType= @ComponentType
WHERERecoverableObjectId =@RecoverableObjectId

SELECT@error = dbo.udf_DPS_CheckRowCount(1)

SETNOCOUNT OFF
RETURN@error

To:

USE[DPMDB]
GO
/****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[prc_PRM_SharePointRecoverableObject_Update] Script Date: 11/03/2012 01:36:08 ******/
SETANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SETQUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
ALTERPROCEDURE [dbo].[prc_PRM_SharePointRecoverableObject_Update]
(
@Captionnvarchar(40),
@ComponentTypenvarchar(16),
@RecoverableObjectIdBIGINT
)
AS
DECLARE@error INT,
@rowCountINT
SET@error = 0

SETNOCOUNT ON

-- UPDATE tbl_RM_SharePointRecoverableObject SET Caption = @Caption
UPDATEtbl_RM_SharePointRecoverableObject SET Caption =@Caption,
ComponentType= @ComponentType
WHERERecoverableObjectId =@RecoverableObjectId

SELECT@error = dbo.udf_DPS_CheckRowCount(1)

SETNOCOUNT OFF
RETURN@error


After that we had a successful SharePoint catalog task that didn’t cause TempDB or DPMDB transaction log to grow.

I also have this fix update on Microsoft DPM Technet Forum

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dataprotectionmanager/thread/e0e70be6-7249-438d-b43c-a0456f7c1338/#a93a3ed8-39bd-40bc-8224-ef7d6232299e

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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 fine. I would recommend everyone using the UAG portal to hold for this update till its fully compatible. I escalated this issue for further investigation.

 

For Corporates with WSUS implementation, they may decline/Disapprove this update till further update.

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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, I didn't encounter this warning again.

I would recommend anyone having this warning to open a case with Microsoft to get this fix, this case shouldn't be counted since its a known bug.

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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 service

One 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 this update and after that I was able to start the SRSS (Reporting services) without any problem.

This issue could occur by a missing registry key and a common solution to such problem is to add this key as follows:

1. Open Regedit on the Problematic Server
2. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
3. In the Right Pane create the following Key (If not already created)
1. Value: DWORD (32-bit)
2. Name: ServicesPipeTimeout
3. Value Data, Click Decimal and type 60000 (Not less than 60000)
4. Reboot the server

After reboot the SQL Server Reporting services was started normally without any problem.

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