Saturday, March 24, 2007

Backing up Netware with BackupExec 11d

This is something one of my work colleagues put together when having trouble with the above.

 

Please beware of a technical fault when attempting to back up Netware servers using BackupExec 11d for Windows.

Prior to this work, you will find that when you select a Netware server in the backup selections list, BackupExec will not allow the user credentials to the server and thus not allow a backup of a Netware server to be completed.

After deploying the BackupExec agent to the Netware servers, you need to do the following on the Netware server:

At the console:

Bestop

Smsstop

Sms new

            Within smsnew:

                        Select YES to use SLP

                        Select NO to DNS

            Enter to exit smsnew

Smsstart

Bestart

In sys:bkupexec, edit the advrtms.dat file and remove an ascii rectangle from the start of the backup servers ipaddress

You should now be able to open the Netware server with a single set of credentials. You can now make selections to be backed up from the Netware server.

When you save your selections, all will look fine.  When you go back in to the selection list however, it will look as though the selections did not save.  The tick boxes become populated when you explore down through the selections on the Netware server, proving the selections have been saved.  This is a cosmetic error.

This will mean that everything is ready to be backed up.

Next problem -  whilst testing the credentials of the backup job, you will notice that the Netware servers always fails and the test will not be successful.  This is also a cosmetic error.  If you have managed to get the server selection to be identified whilst setting the backup job, then the credentials are fine and thus you can ignore the error. 

All of these problems are due to be resolved with service pack 1 for BackupExec 11d.

 

Hope it helps someone out there!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

More Microsoft OCS info

Hi,

I posted a little while ago some info from a colleague Arthur Pounder.

Well here is some more info about MS OCS.

Cheers

Nathan

 

Microsoft to announce Public Beta of OCS & OC 2007 & Jeff Raikes Keynote speach

UPDATE - Wednesday 7th March ...

Get notified when the beta software is ready to download!

This afternoon Microsoft have provided the ability for users to sign-up and receive notifications when OCS & OC 2007 become available for download.

Further information is available by following the link below

 

ORIGINAL POSTING ... 

In a brief video message recorded prior to Jeff Raikes Keynote speech at VoiceCon, which is being held in Orlando Florida this week; Jeff Raikes has stated that "We're (Microsoft), announcing the public beta of Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Office Communicator 2007"; but within a communication released upon the Microsoft PressPass it is stated that "Microsoft plans to begin public beta-testing later this month of the company's first two products that include enhanced VoIP capabilities"

You can view the PressPass article via and also view the 4 minute video via   

If you watch the short video, Jeff Raikes is also stating that "within three years, more than 100 million people will be able to make phone calls from Microsoft Outlook, SharePoint, and other Microsoft Office System applications".

What I can say, because the information is already in the public domain

back on the 11th December Microsoft announced that OCS & OC 2007 had entered Private Beta which had been provided to 2,500 IT professionals. Then I presented a demonstration of OCS & OC 2007 on the 12th December at the New Day EVO Launch,

Those Microsoft employees who signed-up for the beta had their PBX deskphones removed, so that they would use the VoIP, and IP-Telephony elements of OCS and OC.

The ability to make full audio visual calls via the “click to call function” and conduct application sharing from your laptop wherever you are via a public internet connection, without the need to launch your VPN certainly sounds promising.

It would appear that Microsoft's early adoption of Interactive Connectivity Establishment, (ICE - http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mmusic-ice-12.txt), is beneficial in the provision of a contextual user experience.

Whilst the Redmond candles often burned late into the night during the early phases of development, to ensure the quality of communications under the jitter and signal degradation of the internet have paid off. In fact Microsoft are using the same acoustic echo cancellation process as that which is used in Windows Live Messenger, (alias MSN8).

So after all this what are the benefits of OCS & OC 2007

Well much of the information is still guarded; but what we do know is that OCS & OC 2007 should be available in March as a public beta; and I can only guesstimate that it should be released by early-to-mid June 2007 along with Server 2007 (Longhorn); pretty much following the Vista release cycle.

Some Of The Capabilities Available In Office Communications Server 2007 Are

  • Advanced Call Routing;
  • Deploy VoIP Capabilities. 
  • Deployment Of Enterprise-Wide Presence 
  • Enable Security-Enhanced Enterprise Instant Messaging 
  • Enhanced Presence
  • Enterprise Telephony Integration
  • Group IM
  • Host On-Premise Audio, Video And Web Conferences 
  • Livemeeting Integration
  • Multinodal Conferencing
  • On Premise Web-Conferencing
  • Placing And Receiving Voice Calls
  • Streamlined Integration With The New Unified Messaging Capabilities In Exchange Server 2007
  • Support For Universal Global Groups

Reading through the information provided by Microsoft concerning MSOffice 2007, Office Communicator 2007 will be included within both Office Professional Plus  2007 and Office Enterprise 2007, (2007 Microsoft Office system suites). The information contained within footnote 3 of the 2007 Microsoft Office system suites openly states that MOC 2007 is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2007, (I estimate June), with international versions of MOC 2007 scheduled for release in the second half of 2007.

Though having said that I expect that Mr Raikes will confirm the release date during this afternoons Keynote speech.

For information Jeff Raikes is scheduled to present between 10.30am & 11.30am (3.30pm – 4.30pm UK time).

Once I’ve seen the posting and more information becomes available I'll post it up for you

Arthur

Links quoted within the post

PressPass

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/mar07/03-07OfficeCommunications.mspx,

Jeff Raikes Video Message

http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0703/29543/JRaikes_MBR.asx

James O’Neill’s Blog

http://blogs.technet.com/jamesone/archive/2006/12/14/phew-evo-launch.aspx

Microsoft Office 2007 Suites

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101635841033.aspx

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Licensing FAQ for MSDN

Maybe this will be useful for those with MSDN subscriptions.

It give a useful overview of how and where you are allowed to use you MSDN software.

 

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948864.aspx

 

Cheers

 

Nathan

Monday, March 05, 2007

Office 2007 feature comparison

Hi,

Not sure whether I have blogged this before (don't think so!)

 

Anyway, here is a link to a feature comparison table for all the different version of Office 2007.

 

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101635841033.aspx

 

Cheers

 

Nathan

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Novell iFolder and Windows Vista

Hi,

One of the things about working for both a MS Gold partner and a Novell Platinum partner is getting the two companies technology to work together!

So recently I went searching for a way to make Novell iFolder 2.1.x work with Windows Vista. The normal installation method simply doesn't work. However, I have found a work around, which is to use the Program Compatibility features of Vista.

For more info and screenshots check out the TID here:

Cheers

Nathan