Restoring hypervisor-level snapshots of multi-master database technologies is a bad idea - just like time travel. Keep a lid on the situation by using VSS-aware backup technologies on your DFSR and ADDS machines.
One of my favourite TechNet blogs is by the storage team at Microsoft. A post that’s gone up recently by Ned Pyle grabbed my attention today – Safely Virtualising DFSR. I have a bunch of virtual DFSR hosts in my environment, virtualised across both VMware and Hyper-V. As Ned points out, you can virtualise pretty much everything these days, but multi-master replication technologies require a bit of special attention.
I won’t go into it too much here, as the blog post explains it much better than I could, but the big takeaway is that hypervisor snapshotting your DFSR machines is a big no-no.
If you don’t follow this guidance and attempt to use saved states/snapshots or attempt to restore a virtual machine using a custom host side restore solution, that VM will stop replicating forever. The server logs DFSR events 2212, 2104, 2004, and 2106. DFSR overwrites locally originating changes on a restored server as conflicts from other servers. The restored server and its p ...
Is this your first TechEd? You're probably wondering what you need to bring, who you should talk to and all that sort of stuff. TechEd is a big conference. It's a lot of fun, but it can also be quite daunting for the newcomer (I'd know - this is only my second). After a chat with a couple of TechEd veterans, I've collated the list below of tips and tricks for attending TechEd.
Is this your first TechEd? You’re probably wondering what you need to bring, who you should talk to and all that sort of stuff. TechEd is a big conference. It’s a lot of fun, but it can also be quite daunting for the newcomer (I’d know – this is only my second). After a chat with a couple of TechEd veterans, I’ve collated the list below of tips and tricks for attending TechEd.
Bring a laptop that will give you enough battery to get most of the way through the day
TechEd is riddled with power outlets and places to charge your devices. That said, TechEd’s also riddled with geeks who have devices that need charging, so it’s sometimes hard to find a free space. Bring a device that you can rely on for most of the day. I will be bringing my EeePC and iPad for this – between the two of them I can (well and truly) get a day out of them. Also be sure to throw a power board/strip in for use in the hotel – where w ...
It's July again! Which, amongst other things, means it's getting cold. In unrelated news, TechEd Australia is just two very short months away.As usual, we at AuTechHeads are super excited about this conference and the opportunities it provides for geeks such as us.We are pleased to once again be able to offer a substantially discounted ticket to our members on behalf of Microsoft Australia.
Update: Unfortunately due to unprecedented demand, Microsoft have reached the capacity for User Group discounts and we are unable to accept any new requests. Early-bird registration is open until July 26 (5PM AEST), and regular registration is open until September 7th. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
It's July again! Which, amongst other things, means it's getting cold. In unrelated news, TechEd Australia is just two very short months away.
As usual, we at AuTechHeads are super excited about this conference and the opportunities it provides for geeks such as us.
We are pleased to be able to offer a substantially discounted ticket to our members on behalf of Microsoft Australia. If you're a member of AuTechHeads, simply register your details in the form (closes August 2) and we will pass your details on to the generous folk at Microsoft.
Once Microsoft receive the minimum number of user group registrations (just thirty - so we're quietly confident) the offe ...
Microsoft Exchange Server. Do you know it (No) ? Do you want to (by golly, yes!)? Do you enjoy videos (I know I do)? Read on then ...
This is a crosspost from my blog at flamingkeys.com.
One of the people I was lucky enough to meet at Tech·Ed Australia 2011 was Mr Paul Cunningham, who runs the popular website Exchange Server Pro. Paul is one of the most respected names going around when it comes to Exchange, and he has the real world experience to back it up. As a favour to the community (and our profession) Paul has decided to produce a free (as in free beer) boot camp for those wanting to learn Exchange 2010. The boot camp consists of four modules containing physical challenges, early morning runs, rope climbs*, text, screen shots and videos to help you learn the basics of Exchange Server 2010. Having worked through this boot camp myself, I can say that this is an invaluable resource for those getting started with Exchange Server, and also those who may have managed an Exchange environment but not installed one before.
Please make sure you check the boot camp out, and also be sure to stick Paul’s blog ...
AuTechHeads Melbourne MeatUp WrapLast night was the first AuTechHeads Melbourne MeatUp! At 7.30 a bunch of geeks rocked up to Squires Loft Steakhouse for a night of steak, wine, beer and chat.
Last night was (at long last) the first AuTechHeads Melbourne MeatUp! At 7.30 a bunch of geeks rocked up to Squires Loft Steakhouse for a night of steak, wine, beer and chat. We were fortunate enough to be joined by Microsoft staff Jeff Alexander, Catherine Eibner and Rocky Heckman, in addition to AuTechHeads James Bannan, Chris Brown, Jodie Miners, Ben Ball and Jerome Brown.
Much discussion was had about all things ranging from Xbox to System Center to Golf. Zune Music Pass was the subject of much attention, in the wake of its Australian release last week.
Hopefully last night is a sign of good things to come within the Melbourne end of the AuTechHeads community. If you're in the area, please sing out, we'd love to hear from you. Please don't forget to join the Melbourne Members group.
Thanks again to everyone who came along, we appreciate your support
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Telstra steps up the game in the Australian wireless data market with its new 4G offering
4G. It's like 3G..but plus one, right? Well actually, closer to "times ten" but we'll get to that. Telstra have, to somewhat less fanfare than I'd expected, released their new 4G (Long Term Evolution, or LTE) network to anyone lucky enough to live in or around a capital CBD, capital airport or "selected regional" arsea.
What's it do? Telstra introduced their 3G network under the name of "NextG" in October 2006 to replace the aging CDMA network. It uses HSPA+ to provide a (theoretical) downstream speed of a respectable 21Mbps. The network was received to mixed attitudes by users Australia-wide, but has seen significant improvements since its inception. The new 4G network is being implemented alongside the 3G network to expand the speed and connectivity capabilities of Telstra's NextG networks.
What's in the box? The Sierra AirCard 320U (sold as the "Telstra USB 4G") arrives wrapped in fancy Telstra livery with the new branding and colour scheme. Inside the box, the first thing you'll ...
In the month of November, join Shane Hoey (PowerShell MVP) and Chris Brown as they run some free (as in free beer) PowerShell virtual workshops. If you're interested in learning or refining your PowerShell skills, or you know of any system administrators who may be, this could be well worthwhile.
In the month of November, join Shane Hoey (PowerShell MVP) and Chris Brown as they run some free (as in free beer) PowerShell virtual workshops. If you're interested in learning or refining your PowerShell skills, or you know of any system administrators who may be, this could be well worthwhile.
PowerShell is undeniably revolutionising the way we administer systems, and will, in no time at all, be a mandatory skill for sysadmins everywhere. If you’ve not learned it yet, have a passing interest, or would like to brush up on your skills, please sign up below (did I mention, it’s free?).
Please click here and check out our website, PowerShell Down Under for more info!
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Exchange admins will often need to export lists of all email addresses in the organisation. Some spam appliances can't do an AD lookup, and some cloud-hosted services will require a full list. Perhaps your HR department are just a little grouchy. For whatever reason you may need a list of all email addresses, this is your solution! Read on ...
Shameless cross-post from my blog here. This one comes up quite often, so I figured I’d make a quick and easy script for it. The first step is to make sure you’re on a machine with the Exchange Management Tools installed, and logged on as a user with privileges to read mailbox properties. If you don’t want to read the explanation, skip ahead to The Script.
First, let’s create an empty array to store the results in:
$addresses = @()
Next, we’ll grab all the mailboxes from the organisation. By default Exchange will only return the first 1000 results, so we need to specify the ResultSize parameter to ensure all mailboxes are counted.
$Mailboxes = Get-Mailbox -ResultSize Unlimited
Now loop through each mailbox using a ForEach statement:
ForEach ($mbx in $Mailboxes) {}
Per each mailbox, let’s loop through the email a ...