26/10: Openvpn on Vista
I'd forgotten about the pain i'd gone through to get my Vista laptop to connect to our IPCOP box until one of my clients purchased a Vista laptop and had the same problem. So, to avoid this happening again I thought I'd add this to my blog. You never know, it may come in handy for someone out there.
If you think your openvpn gui is connecting (the two little screens are green) but you cannot reach anything on the network at the host end then it is quite likely that you have a routing problem. Double click on the openvpn gui icon in your system tray (bottom right had side of your screen). Look for an error message like this:
ROUTE: route addition failed using CreateIpForwardEntry: One or more arguments are not correct.
Route addition via IPAPI failed
If you get the error above follow these steps:
1) Always run openvpn as Administrator (unless you have the UAC turned off for some reason)
2) Install the latest build of open vpn. This can be found here.
3) Install the latest development build on top. This can be found here
This should install a new version of the TAP driver (you will need to give Windows permission to install this).
This should sort your problem out.
If you think your openvpn gui is connecting (the two little screens are green) but you cannot reach anything on the network at the host end then it is quite likely that you have a routing problem. Double click on the openvpn gui icon in your system tray (bottom right had side of your screen). Look for an error message like this:
ROUTE: route addition failed using CreateIpForwardEntry: One or more arguments are not correct.
Route addition via IPAPI failed
If you get the error above follow these steps:
1) Always run openvpn as Administrator (unless you have the UAC turned off for some reason)
2) Install the latest build of open vpn. This can be found here.
3) Install the latest development build on top. This can be found here
This should install a new version of the TAP driver (you will need to give Windows permission to install this).
This should sort your problem out.
24/10: Exchange 2007 Annoyances
Well, Microsoft seem to have lost the plot at this time. What do I mean? Well, how about releasing Exchange 2007 without all the necessary tools to migrate away from Exchange 2000 or 2003.
If, like me, you are migrating to a new Exchange 2007 server without performing a move mailbox (I'm migrating from SBS 2000 - trust me, you can't and there may be another post about that) - you'll want to export the mail from your Exchange 2000/2003 server, probably using Exmerge. No problem, I hear you cry! Well, the fun part starts when you want to import the mail into the Exchange 2007 server.
Microsoft have ditched exmerge in Exchange 2007 in favour of an in-built command in the Exchange console. This command is called Import-Mailbox. Sounds great doesn't it? I though so. Anyway, to cut a long and painful story short, after reading several knowledgebase articles about the command only being available in the 32 bit version of the management tools (Exchange 2007 is 64 bit and must run on Windows 2003 64 bit edition) I've found out that the command is not available until service pack 1. And as of today, service pack 1 is in beta. Come on Microsoft, after a really painful migration I actually kind of like 2007 - it makes more sense when you get the hang of the management tools. But please, please, please, make sure all the tools are available BEFORE you release the software!
If, like me, you are migrating to a new Exchange 2007 server without performing a move mailbox (I'm migrating from SBS 2000 - trust me, you can't and there may be another post about that) - you'll want to export the mail from your Exchange 2000/2003 server, probably using Exmerge. No problem, I hear you cry! Well, the fun part starts when you want to import the mail into the Exchange 2007 server.
Microsoft have ditched exmerge in Exchange 2007 in favour of an in-built command in the Exchange console. This command is called Import-Mailbox. Sounds great doesn't it? I though so. Anyway, to cut a long and painful story short, after reading several knowledgebase articles about the command only being available in the 32 bit version of the management tools (Exchange 2007 is 64 bit and must run on Windows 2003 64 bit edition) I've found out that the command is not available until service pack 1. And as of today, service pack 1 is in beta. Come on Microsoft, after a really painful migration I actually kind of like 2007 - it makes more sense when you get the hang of the management tools. But please, please, please, make sure all the tools are available BEFORE you release the software!
OK, it didn't take long to register an annoyance did it!
We have a testbed 2003 R2 64 bit edition. All working fine.... until I applied service pack 1. Then it all went to hell in a handcart. Now this could be seen as good news or bad news depending on your point of view. Well, at least it was a testbed and not a live customer system! All of the networking components completely failed. The networking components in control panel were completely empty and unsurprisingly there were a lot of errors in the system log as a server kinda needs a network to work!
After 3 days of playing around with it I found the problem! Basically the service pack changed the login for the RPC service from localsystem to networkservice. That's it! Aparently this was to plug a security hole in the RPC server. Well, change it back and it all starts working again. Oh, and believe me, there is no way of finding this to be the cause of the problem by looking in the error logs!
Thought I should share this with you as you may well be into the second day of hitting your head against the brick wall by now!
We have a testbed 2003 R2 64 bit edition. All working fine.... until I applied service pack 1. Then it all went to hell in a handcart. Now this could be seen as good news or bad news depending on your point of view. Well, at least it was a testbed and not a live customer system! All of the networking components completely failed. The networking components in control panel were completely empty and unsurprisingly there were a lot of errors in the system log as a server kinda needs a network to work!
After 3 days of playing around with it I found the problem! Basically the service pack changed the login for the RPC service from localsystem to networkservice. That's it! Aparently this was to plug a security hole in the RPC server. Well, change it back and it all starts working again. Oh, and believe me, there is no way of finding this to be the cause of the problem by looking in the error logs!
Thought I should share this with you as you may well be into the second day of hitting your head against the brick wall by now!
24/09: Welcome to Tim's blog
OK,
Just about everyone I have come into contact recently has said that I should share some of my knowledge about IT with a wider community. Well, being a techie, what better way than to create a blog!
Over the coming weeks and months I'll be posting various bits of information, hints etc. on this blog. Hey, even a little social commentary may creep in there!
I hope you find it useful. If you do then leave a comment for me!
Cheers
Tim
Just about everyone I have come into contact recently has said that I should share some of my knowledge about IT with a wider community. Well, being a techie, what better way than to create a blog!
Over the coming weeks and months I'll be posting various bits of information, hints etc. on this blog. Hey, even a little social commentary may creep in there!
I hope you find it useful. If you do then leave a comment for me!
Cheers
Tim
