At
work, we're running a mixed Exchange 2003/2010 email
environment.
We're still running the original 2003 server install as its
supporting a couple legacy mailboxes that can’t be moved
onto the new platform for a variety of reasons.
As part of the migration we had moved the Default Recipient
Address policy over onto 2010 and removed the X400 address
as it’s not required under 2010.
Everything was fine until I went and rebooted the Exchange
2003 server.
Upon starting up, the Information Store wouldn’t start and
Event ID: 1121 was logged in the Event Log:
Turns out that Exchange 2003 queries the default policy when
it starts up and if it can’t find an X400 address will fail.
It was about this time that I had that old familiar feeling
of wanting to be sick and wondering if I should update my
resume...
That's not good...
I did a bunch of Googling, but as usual no one had the exact same issue
which made coming up with the solution even more time
consuming. Eventually I was able to gather enough bits and pieces and piece them together. The
fix is
thankfully easy.
On the Domain Controller, run ADSIEDIT, go into
Configuration, Services, Microsoft Exchange, CN=<your
domain>, CN=Recipient Policies.
Right click on the Default Policy and select Properties.
Edit the gatewayProxy setting and add a generic X400 address
in the syntax of:
X400:C=US;A= ;P=<your domain>;O=<your AD site>
Click OK, restart the Exchange 2003 server, and Bob’s your
uncle!
In our case, once the server was restarted I went back and
removed the X400 entry so newly created accounts wouldn’t
get the additional address info. For any future reboots of
the 2003 server I just need to make sure I temporarily add
it back in again first.
Minty Fresh-
Oct 20, 2013
Back
when Microsoft was dominant and Apple floundering for
survival along came a third alternative in the form of
Linux. And it was set to take over the world. Fast forward
to today and that obviously hasn't happened. The reasons are
many, but for me, one of the biggest issues was the constant
stream of different companies making different distributions
(distros). And as quickly as some great version of Linux
would come along within a couple years it'd be relegated to
obscurity.
Back when Linux was in its infancy I remember trying out the
most mature version available at the time - Red Hat Linux.
After spending a few hours with it I really had to fight the
urge to smash my head repeatedly against a brick wall. I
hated it as it seemed that to do anything I had to resort to
reading man pages, and mucking around with terminal and
command lines etc.
Recently I kept hearing about a new distro that was getting
lots of good buzz - Linux Mint. And decided to install it on
an old server to play around with it. I have to say, things
have come a long way. For all practical purposes, you could
easily use this as your main OS - anyone familiar with
either Windows 7 or Mac OS X would feel right at home.
I had no issues during installation and even though the
hardware it was being installed on was several years old it
recognized everything automatically. And unlike offerings
from Apple or Microsoft - almost all distros are free to
download and install. In addition, most come with
LibreOffice, which is the open source rival to Microsoft
Office – and is free. The other benefit is generally
speaking, Linux is considered a more secure operating system
by default (just don't run logged on as root). Because it's
based on Unix, security has always been top priority.
Finally, unlike other OS's, you have the option to install
different graphic interfaces, or shells. Don't like KDE?
Then install Gnome. Don't like it either? Then install
Cinnamon etc.
The biggest downside historically to Linux was the lack of
driver support for games. However recently the gaming
service Steam began supporting Linux. In fact, during an
interview regarding Windows 8, one of the top guys at Steam
went on to say that it was the worst OS Microsoft had ever
released and that they'd be focusing on Linux going forward.
When I get my new PC built, Mint will definitely find a home
on a hard drive partition.
Control-gastic!-
Sep 7, 2013
Well
it's finally done!
As of yesterday
our
Control 4 based audio/visual setup is complete. It
allows us to control everything from a centralized rack in
the basement - whole home audio and video. No equipment
visible, no cables, no hassles (mostly).
The way it is
setup we can watch cable or movies on any TV in the house
from one source. A single Blu-Ray player or Shaw PVR
outputting to every TV in the house. In addition, we can
listen to our iTunes library, XM Radio, FM radio, Shaw music
channels and a number of other music services in rooms
throughout the house where we've installed in-ceiling
speakers. We can independently control the volume and which
rooms to play the songs in.
In addition
to music and video we can also watch live feeds from our
network cameras, see who's at the door when they ring the
doorbell and have a 2-way conversation with them, and we can
also use the touch screens as intercoms - so if I'm
downstairs and Chris is upstairs I can talk to her without
having to yell up the stairs.
In order to
control all this we're using a combination of Control 4
universal remotes and on-wall touch screen panels. The
remotes are quality built and very solid with a good weight
to them. We no longer need to use the Shaw or Pioneer
remotes when watching shows or movies. For listening to
music we use the Sonos app on our iPads, iPhones, and iMacs.
The rack is
located in what will eventually be my media room in the
basement. It's a full size (42U) rack with lots of expansion
available. Eventually I'll have a 2nd PVR (for my crap), 2nd
receiver, and a rackmount PC added in there. The one
downside of having it centralized is if I want to watch a
Blu-ray I have to run downstairs and put it in. For me
that's not a big deal though. I'd rather that than have to
use up closet space upstairs to put equipment in there and
have hassles with overheating, noise etc. I already have
friends that are running into that exact situation.
There's so
much more we could do with this system. Things like control
all the lights in the house, automatically lock all the
doors at night, control the temperature, lower the blinds in
the great room every day at 4pm, have it text me if I leave
the garage door open etc. etc. You're really only limited by
your imagination (and budget).
As part of this
process, the bonus room is now done - although we'll
eventually get a new couch and coffee table. But it's so
nice being able to finally enjoy that room. I was a bit
concerned with how my Definitive Technology on-wall speakers
would sound. Let's face it, no matter how advanced the
speaker design, ultimately they can only displace so much
air. But I was pleasantly surprised by how
good they sound. I fired up Sucker Punch at the Nazi/Zombie
fight scene as well as the prison breakout scene in Children
of Men and it sounded killer.
Ultimately,
simplicity requires a huge amount of complexity behind the
scenes. But for me, I couldn't be happier with the results.
Back To The
Future-
May 11, 2013
A
few weeks ago one of the hard drives in my PC started making
some funky noises. Paranoid that it was going to crash and
burn I attached an old external drive and backed up my
Website to it.
However I only use my PC for updating the website and for
gaming. My digital life really exists on my iMac. Which made
me realize how monstrously it would suck if it crashed and I
lost all my music, photos, documents etc.
Even though I work with computers for a living and know the
dangers of catastrophic loss of data all to well, I'm
somewhat lax when it comes to taking care of my stuff at
home. Sort of like a doctor being the worst patient I
suppose...sadly, I had never backed up my Mac.
So to avoid disaster I decided to get an external drive for
it and start protecting it.
While there are numerous models out there, I needed a
somewhat specific one. Everything these days is USB with 3.0
being the latest iteration. However years ago, Apple came
out with a competing technology called
FireWire. While it hasn't become as popular, it offers
much better bandwidth (speed). I needed one with that
interface.
But because my iMac is ancient, it only has a FireWire 400
port (newer Macs use FireWire 800). And while the various
iterations of USB all use the same physical connector,
FireWire 800 uses a different one. So I needed to also get
an adapter to hook it up to my iMac.
The model I got was a Western Digital 3TB myBook. As the
hard drive in my Mac is only 750GB it's plenty big enough.
I've always had a fondness for Western Digital as along with
Seagate it has led the industry from the beginning. The nice
thing about this model is that physically it matches well
with the 'metal' iMacs.
I believe I spend around $200 for it. For more money you can
get even larger capacities with Raid Mirroring.
Hardware is just one part of the equation, with software
being the other. Built into every Mac operating system since
OS 10.5 'Leopard' is an application called Time Machine. In
typical Apple fashion it's extremely simple to use. Outside
of an option to exclude certain directories from being
backed up you simply point it to the hard drive you want to
use - and that's it. It automatically backs up everything on
your Mac.
In the event you need to restore something, you open it
up and are presented with a infinite view of your
application going back in time. One the right hand side
is a scale which you pick the date and time you want to
restore from. The fact that it is application based and
not simply file based is pretty neat. While you can
argue that the lack of configuration options is a
negative, for the vast majority of users it's good
enough and its simplicity likely to appeal to the
non-computer literate crowd.
With people's lives increasingly being stored as a set
of bits on a spinning platter, it's more important than
ever to keep it safe from disaster. Time Machine makes
this an easy process.
Elliptical
Surgery-
Mar 13, 2013
Last week I
hopped up on my trusty elliptical ready to sweat up a storm.
About half way
through my set I noticed that several of the buttons on the
panel weren't working. I stopped, powered it off and on
again - and they still didn't work. Now I'm rather annoyed
as this thing is long past warranty and a new one runs
around $7000. So I decided to take it apart and see how
everything worked. Never having taken mucked with the
electronics of an elliptical machine before I was kinda
excited. this was a bit of a departure from the usual for
me.
Sadly, after
having removed everything I was dismayed to see the one
thing that really pisses me off about modern electronics -
the touch panel board was glued to the plastic enclosure.
There was no way to take it off without completely wrecking
it. Instead of being able to fix the fault you're instead
forced to buy a brand new part. So I called the
manufacturer's support line, explained what happened, and
for the low price of almost $500 they said they'd send me a
replacement board.
A week later it
showed up and I installed the logic board in the new
enclosure. I go to attach the ribbon cable which connects
the logic board to the touch panel board and noticed a small
problem. The replacement board was a newer revision and they
had changed not only the location of the connector (it was a
few inches to the left of the original one) but the pin
count as well. Instead of only having 9-pins, it now had
12-pins.
So after
much swearing and cursing the thought of just saying
screw it and soldering the connectors together popped
into my head. But instead I called the support line
back. They said they screwed up and would send me the
proper cable and pay for the shipping. Today it showed
up and instead of a ribbon cable it was a typical wire
connector. This time it was a 12-pin to 12-pin and it
connected properly.
I slapped
everything back together, installed it on the
elliptical, powered it up - and success! All the buttons
were working again. Now I'm off to get all healthy and
shit.
Power IIci -
Jan 27, 2013
A couple years ago
I had managed to acquire an PowerPC accelerator card that
you could install in a Mac IIci. This card in addition to
the obvious speed boost, would also enable you to run OS
8.1. The version I had was the relatively rare one which ran
at 100Mhz instead of the more common 66Mhz.
Through some
special software from the vendor you were able to upgrade it
to run OS 8.5 and then finally OS 8.5.1. I had managed to get
it upgraded to this point....and then the hard drive
crashed. So I had to start all over. But instead of just
putting in another hard drive, like I've been doing with my
other systems I wanted to put a flash card drive in instead.
And before I went through all the work of upgrading it again
I decided to send it off to get it's capacitors replaced.
After a few
months I got it back, powered it up and all was good. I then
started the process of the upgrade. Having been so long
since I last did it, I had forgotten some of the gotchas
that this process entailed. My first obstacle was I could
never get through an entire OS install without it hanging
and random points. Eventually I figured out I needed to turn
off 'Blind Writes' as an option when formatting the disk.
This option offers better performance but at the expense of
stability. Once I turned it off installation was a breeze.
Unlike the hoops
I had to jump through to get my IIsi upgraded, OS 8.1
recognizes the PPC accelerator card so I could simply boot
off the CD and run the install. The second obstacle was
getting OS 8.5 installed as whenever you ran the installer
it would say it wasn't a compatible system. To get around
that I had to track down the 8.5 Enabler Disc from Sonnet
which took over the manufacture of the PPC accelerator card
from Daystar. Once the enabler was installed I was able to
install OS 8.5 and then run the upgrade to 8.5.1.
I was now at the
point where I was previously before the crash.
I could have
called it a day, but instead I found out there was some
resedit trickery you could do to allow you to install OS
8.6. It should be noted that OS 8.1 is probably the ideal
level for this hardware config, but because it was
technically possible to install 8.6 I just had to try and do
it. Unfortunately after performing the tweaks the installer
would hang just before it was finished. I talked to various
people on the Classic Mac forums and found out others had
experienced the same problem.
The workaround
was to take a system that supported 8.6 (say a PowerMac
6100), make the tweaks, burn the System Folder to disc, and
then copy that folder to the IIci and 'bless' it to make it
bootable. So I got someone from the forums to do just that
and send me a CD. I copied it, blessed it, restarted....and
it booted! I was able to run OS 8.6 on a system which was
only ever designed to run up to OS 7.6.1.
I've dubbed this system
my 'Power IIci'. It is the maximum this system can be
upgraded, it's been recapped, and next to my SE/30's it
is the pride and joy of my vintage computer
collection...
Macintosh IIci
Specs:
OS 8.6
Daystar Turbo 601 Accelerator
128MB Memory
2GB CF Hard Drive
Radius Thunder IV Video card
Asante 100Mbps Network card
I Need More
Power! -
Jan 5, 2013
I'm back!
Where did I go
you ask? Well about a week ago I went to turn on my computer
to update the website and....nothing. I checked the switch
was on, re-plugged the power cable and....nothing. This
actually wasn't much of a surprise as I did have a heads up
that it was dying a slow death.
For the previous few weeks I'd turn it on and it would take
a couple minutes before it'd power up. I should have ordered a
replacement back then, but didn't. Although it wasn't
completely obvious as I could see the motherboard LED light
up when I flicked the power switch.
I toyed with the
idea of opening up the supply and trying to fix it, but
unlike old school power supplies these things are designed
not to be opened. It's no longer a simple matter of undoing
a few screws. So what to order? Well the custom system I
had previously built used a Silverstone small form factor
(SFF) case with a Silverstone SFF power supply which used
short cables. But, they no longer made
it. So I looked at their new line up and came
across the modern
equivalent.
Things have
progressed quite a way since I last looked at them. Instead
of offering a special model for SFF cases, they now just
offer one for all cases - but they sell a SFF cable set separately. Why
would I want smaller cables? Well with the tiny, cramped
case they're easier to install, look cleaner, and most
importantly allow for better airflow which in turn means
better cooling. You can't really tell from the picture as
the cables aren't straight, but they are about half the
length of the normal cables.
And the reason
they can sell a separate cable set is that it's now standard
to make these things modular. Meaning you simply plug in the
cables you need. The great thing about this is that it also
allows for better airflow. For my setup, I was able to
reduce the amount of cables from nine down to five. As an
added bonus, the model I got was 550V versus the 500V I had
previously. Not that I really need the extra power, but it's always good to have.