Post SBS 2008 migration and now need data from SBS 2003 NTBackup media – what to do now?

(picture is linked to download)

If you find that there is missing information after the migration has completed (or someone in organization suspects this) then you need to access your NTBackup created media and potentially recover data.  But Windows Server 2008 no longer has NTbackup; Vista did the same thing.

What to do?  Download the above nifty utility or go to a Windows 2003 Server you still have access to.  With the utility you can keep it all in house at the business network which keeps thing simple.

KISS is a DU-IT best practice.

Microsoft Modern Certifications for the SBS Market

From this afternoon’s Microsoft Partner 5W/50 webcast …

New Generation Certifications: Program Overview & Certification Resources Available for the SBSC Community

**if you are already MCP certified, a program is coming (very soon) that will offer you significantly reduced priced tests**

www.microsoft.com/learning

Current offer on the table – 40% off exam at Pearson Vue with the code “nam04up”

• I’d wait for the reduced prices though which are even more significant and likely to be announced within this week or next

 

FYI presenter contact information:

Todd Stallard
tstall@microsoft.com

Todd offered his above email address to address questions, concerns, or discussions around certifications  …or if you need a connection to the Partner Learning channel. Feel free to use it and reach out to him as his door is open to Partners.

In the Q&A I quizzed them (see below snip) about the issue of the value of the SBSC credential being grouped with non-SBS content exams.   They didn’t answer it publicly but queued it for a later emailed response (in addition to an earlier one as well).  I’ll likely blog what response I receive back depending on the type and content of response.

Dale Unroe – MCP, MCTS
SBS 2008 certified (just recently passed the  070-653 Configuring SBS 2008 exam)

How to change/reset the status of Migration Tasks while migrating SBS 2003 to SBS 2008.

Crisis control – disaster averted – you can reset an accidental mouse slip/click in the SBS 2008 “Migrate to Windows Small Business Server 2008” wizard!  whew

Kudos to EMEA SBS TEam whom I’ve seen other good SBS 2008 content on this same blog.

**note**  Open Windows Explorer ‘as Administrator’ to save the changes to the .xml

How to change/reset the status of Migration Tasks while migrating SBS 2003 to SBS 2008.

[Today's post comes to us courtesy Anshul Srivastava]

You are migrating to SBS 2008 from SBS 2003 by running SBS 2008 install in migration mode, following the steps described in the following Help file:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=95E4863E-BB59-4A66-9FEE-9874E8903888&displaylang=en

After you have installed Small Business Server 2008 in migration mode, you must run the Migration Wizard to migrate settings and data from the Source Server(SBS 2003) to the Destination Server(SBS 2008). This is done by clicking on ‘Migrate to SBS 2008′ link in the Windows SBS Console(shown below).

The Migration Wizard Home Window is shown below:

If you accidentally select ‘Task Completed’ for any of the tasks, this is how you can reset the status so that you may run it again:

The Migration Wizard uses the following file to determine the status of tasks:

C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Data\MigrationTasks.xml

If you want to re-run all the tasks, rename this file. Migration Wizard should not be running, otherwise you cannot rename the file.  After renaming it, run the Migration Wizard, it should show ‘Not started’ for all the tasks.

If you want to reset the status of a specific task, for which you accidentally selected ‘Task completed’, open the MigrationTasks.xml file in notepad. Make sure Migration Wizard is not running. This is how the file looks like: …more <follow link below>

Blog of the EMEA SBS Team : How to change/reset the status of Migration Tasks while migrating SBS 2003 to SBS 2008.

Prepping for SBS 2008 – connecting FAX Modem – Serial (DB9) to USB

Just got off the phone with Multi-Tech Systems technical support regarding their fax modems with serial interfaces. I use several MT5634ZBA class modems with various clients.

You can use a Serial (DB9 M) to USB adapter with their Fax Modems should you wish to do that either to your new hardware SBS Server 2008 (or any other hardware – of course).  They did not have any specific recommendation as to any particular brand/model and they don’t sell them. After asking if they had any specialized pin out, they do not; it is straight through.

To get the serial adapter cable to work requires the proper driver.  Until just recently there wasn’t a suitable x64 bit driver.  But I have found one, downloaded and installed it, and have my Multi-Tech modem now functioning with the SBS 2008 x64 Premium Server.  There is a ‘chip’ in the adapter and that manufacturer is Prolific.  http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31

Also, you can now buy fax modems with USB interfaces.

FYI – They were very nice to speak to and fast in getting to the point of answering my question – no phone system labyrinth, no challenging dialect, professional, competent. It was refreshing.

Also, there isn’t any value in worrying about V.92 speeds with data faxes as the receiving fax devices are likely no faster than 33.6K and so this slow speed is normal just be aware of any long distance charges and perhaps set up a 1-800 # if volume warrants this.

ShadowProtect Success – Vista and Server 2008 Restores – Phillip is THE Man

Tomorrow morning some of the good folks from ShadowProtect are in town buying me and many colleagues breakfast and Molly Malone’s Irish Pub and having a nice presentation.  So I thought I’d publish this topical reference I found this past week.

Found this great article by accident and wanted to say thanks to Phillip Elder for figuring this out and sharing this information.  I know a few colleagues that will appreciate learning this ShadowProtect trick.

**below from the linked post***

First Successful Windows Vista ShadowProtect Restore! No Winload.exe Error!

We have had a very disappointing series of problems with restoring any Windows Vista images made by ShadowProtect.

Many black screens later, there is finally information out there on the “why” the problem happens. The main reason has to do with the way Vista keeps track of the system’s partitioning and OS location.

Apparently the newer versions of Acronis’ imaging product compensates for this new partition management structure in Windows Vista. Unfortunately, the folks at StorageCraft are a little behind the game on this topic.

The last restore attempt we made with a client’s system failed with a WinLoad.exe error.

So, it turns out, after a lot of searching, that one needs to perform a preparatory step on the Windows Vista box before creating the ShadowProtect image:

bcdedit /set {default} device boot
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot

Place the above series of commands into a batch file and run the batch file As Administrator on the soon to be imaged Windows Vista box.