Tag Archives: Microsoft Windows Server

All computers do not show up under Network Neighborhood across subnets Windows 2008 Server and Windows 2012 Server

THE ISSUE – NETWORK DOES NOT SHOW ALL COMPUTERS FROM MULTIPLE SUBNETS

 

**NOTE:  10/11/16 Please see this new blog post which addresses a new issue that has happened since June 2016.  Both of these posts will help you resolve this cross-subnet browsing issue.

I recently ran into the situation where my PDC failed and after promoting a second DC to PDC all the computers in both my branches would not show up under the Windows 7 network.

What would happen is that the computers from branch 1 would all show up under branch 1 on that network, and the computers from branch 2 would only show up on branch 2’s network.

Both networks are in the same domain and are connected via a Point to Point firewall VPN tunnel, and both offices are on different local internal IP subnets, such as:

branch 1:  192.168.55.X

branch 2: 192.168.56.X

Logins and domain replication is working fine, and even the DNS servers I have set to properly replicate the data between them, but still the “network” list only shows the local subnet not both.

THE SOLUTION

Firstly, you need to determine which machine for sure is the PDC emulator on your network.  On our network we have two Windows 2008 R2 servers.

to do this, follow this procedure:

Using the Windows interface on your windows server

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.

2. Right-click the domain node, and then click Operations Masters.

3. On the PDC tab, under Operations masters, view the operations masters that will serve as the PDC emulator.

 

Secondly, to complete the solution (snipped from the website linked below…)

4. You can either set the Computer Browser service to Automatic on the DC holding the PDC role, or move the PDC role to another DC that has the Computer Browser service started.  So using the info gleaned from above, log in to the PDC computer, go to SERVICES and START the computer browser service, and set it to AUTOMATIC.

You will need File and Printer sharing On in the Network and Sharing Center, otherwise the Computer Browser service will fail to start since the required ports will not be open.  In a multiple subnet environment, make sure WINS is configured properly so that you have the proper NetBIOS name resolution.  After making the corrections, the computers holding the master browser roles will begin to populate the browse list for the entire network.

NOTE:  In my situation with two subnets it was NOT necessary to run WINS to have a proper solution.

Lastly, wait anywhere from 30-60 minutes and the computers from both subnets (or more) should all now show up under “NETWORK” on your Windows network.

 

(some information courtesy of this blog)

Problem with PHP mailer sending mail – Result: delayed, Status: 4.1.1 452 4.1.1 requested action aborted: try again later – GL/GL

If you see this type of message logged in your outbound mail logs, and your clients are unable to get email delivered to their domain, then I may have the s0lution for you.

In our particular scenario, we have a PHP site running WordPress and the email server is located with IPOWER.  So the website needs to be able to send email from our data center into the IPOWER data center, but in our case the emails were getting bounced due to this error below.  (VERY NON-DESCRIPT!).

Result: delayed, Status: 4.1.1 452 4.1.1 absc@asdasdasd.com requested action aborted: try again later – GL/GL

in your BOUNCE BACK emails, you may find something like this:

X-PHP-Originating-Script: 0:class-phpmailer.php

X-Mailer: PHPMailer 5.1 (phpmailer.sourceforge.net)

In our case, the recipient domain was hosted at IPOWER web.  To solve this issue, we logged into the IPOWER control panel, went to spam settings:

http://www.ipower.com/controlpanel/spamfilter.bml

and went to the WHITELIST and whitelisted our email server’s IP address.  Saved the changes and re-tried sending the email on the PHP (wordpress) site.

Worked immediately.

 

How to migrate MYSQL to a new Windows server

Here is the easiest process that I know of for migrating (and upgrading) from one version of MYSQL running on Windows server, to a new Windows server.

  1. Setup the new Windows server, give it a fixed IP address (we’ll change that later to be at the same IP as the old server).
  2. Run all Windows updates
  3. Install IIS 7.5 (in our example, we were on W2K8 R2 Standard) and take all defaults.
  4. Go to Google and search for MICROSOFT PLATFORM INSTALLER, go to that Microsoft site, and run the installer.  The current version as of this post was 4.0RC
  5. in the MPI, search for PHP and install PHP.  Allow it to take any extras it chooses, hit next and install those items.
  6. Now that PHP is installed, launch the IIS 7.5 manager, stop the default site and setup a new website that we’ll use to park PHPMYADMIN on.
  7. Go download the latest version of PHPMYADMIN.
  8. extract it to your website directory into the /phpmyadmin/ directory.
  9. you should now be able to access the PHPMYADMIN site via http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
  10. Download and install the latest MSI installer download (of the x64 version if you have an x64 server)
  11. Install MYSQL
  12. Run the configuration wizard and complete the standard setup.  In our case we used a dedicated MYSQL server, set a new password for the admin account and pretty much took all defaults.
  13. At this pount we just need to migrate the data over from the old server to the new server.
  14. Make sure you have MYSQL Workbench installed to do this (under windows).  Current version is 5.2.30 CE.
  15. Under “Server Administration” you need to setup one connection for the old (current server) and one for the new one.
  16. Connect to the old server.
  17. Click Data Export.
  18. Export out ALL databases to one SQL file.  This may take some time depending on the speed of your internet connection.
  19. when this is complete, go check the file to make sure it is (relatively) large depending on the number of databases that you exported out.  MAKE SURE you export out the MYSQL database as well as all databases.
  20. Connect to the new server.
  21. Do a DATA IMPORT/RESTORE and load the SQL file you just exported
  22. Start the import.  Again, this may take some time to complete.
  23. When complete, the new machine is now a clone of the old machine.
  24. Shut down the old server.
  25. Change the IP on the new server to the IP of the old server.  Reboot (just to be sure).
  26. Once the new server is rebooted and it is at the “old IP” any of your sites that connect to MYSQL should now be working once again just as if they were connecting to the old server.

I hope this helps anyone who is in need of migrating/upgrading their Windows-based MYSQL install.

 

iPhone iPad “cannot verify server identity” SSL issue and resolution

We recently came across an issue with one of our client sites that runs under ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT where the site would appear function properly on normal desktop browsers (IE 9, FF, Safari, Chrome), but when the mobile site would run on an iPhone or iPad, and the mobile site would go into SSL mode, it would result in the following error message pop-up:

“Cannot verify server identity” – Safari cannot verify the identity of (your domain goes here).

The issue is that the supplementary Intermediate SSL certificates, in our case, from GoDaddy, are/were not installed correctly on the server.

To resolve this issue, re-download (if needed) the SSL file which includes your SSL cert and the intermediate SSL certs.

To Install an SSL in Microsoft IIS 5 & 6

  1. To install the Intermediate certificate, click Start , and then click Run….
  2. Type mmc, and then click OK. The Microsoft Management Console (Console 1) opens.
  3. From the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in… .
  4. In the Add/Remove Snap-in window, click Add.
  5. In the Add Standalone Snap-in window, select Certificates, and then click Add.
  6. In the Certificates snap-in window, select Computer Account, and then click Next.
  7. In the Select Computer window, select Local Computer, then click Finish.
  8. In the Add Standalone Snap-in window, click Close.
  9. In the Add/Remove Snap-ins window, click OK.
  10. In the Console 1 window, click + to expand the Certificates folder.
  11. Right-click Intermediate Certification Authorities, mouse-over All Tasks, and then click Import.
  12. In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next.
  13. Click Browse to find the certificate file.
  14. In the Open window, select *.p7b for the Files of type.
  15. Select the appropriate intermediate certificate file, and then click Open.
  16. In the Certificate Import Wizard window, click Next.
  17. Select Place all certificates in the following store, and then click Browse.
  18. In the Select Certificate Store window, select Intermediate Certification Authorities, and then click OK.
  19. In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next.
  20. Click Finish.
  21. Click OK.

At this point you need to RESTART IIS.

After you restart IIS, then your mobile browser should function properly.

 

IIS WordPress images 500 error

If you are here you probably are having the dreaded “broken images” problem while running WordPress under IIS.

You may have found this issue by looking at the IIS logfiles for your site and seeing 500 errors logged when it’s supposed to be pushing out images.

I will save you a lot of time.

This is all about fixing permissions so that images/media/files uploaded via WordPress will properly render.

This is the fix for the infamous “500” error that is thrown when your server has wrong file permissions and the visual result is all the images you uploaded are “broken images” and won’t display. Also called HTTP Error 500.50 – URL Rewrite Module Error when you have Detailed errors on.

  1. Don’t sweat it, I will save you HOURS of time on this one.   Thanks to the article I found here after HOURS of tracking this issue down, this problem is caused because PHP first uploads the document to a temporary directory (by default C:\Windows\Temp), and then moves it from that directory to the actual /blog/wp-content/uploads/ subdirectory.  What happens is that because IIS does not have any permissions to your “C:\Windows\Temp” directory, when the file is uploaded there, then moved by PHP, the file inherits NO permissions.  So when IIS trys to serve out that file from your /blog/wp-content/uploads/subdirectory it throws a 500 error and that is actually a permissions error.
  2. The solution:  on the Windows\Temp folder, grant “modify” permissions to both IUSR and {servername}\IIS_IUSRS user accounts.
  3. Now when you upload files via PHP and PHP moves them to the correct directory, the files will have the correct permissions and can be accessed.
  4. Important note #1:  If you already have uploaded files and are getting the dreaded broken images issue, go to the /blog/wp-content/uploads/directory and replace/update the permissions to add access for both user accounts noted above.  That will solve that issue.
  5. Important note #2: as with any change off the defaults for Windows, you do this AT YOUR OWN RISK.  It’s up to you if you want to grant the Windows\Temp directory permissions for those two accounts.  If you don’t PHP won’t be able to upload without the 500 issue (unless you move the PHP temp folder elsewhere and grant those accounts access to the other folder).  Do these changes at your own risk… I cannot and won’t take any responsiblity for your systems.  Please know what you are doing.

UPDATE: 04/29/2011:  One reader commented to me that he is concerned about changing security permissions on the Windows TEMP directory, and he noted that you can also edit the php.ini file and change the location of the “upload_tmp_dir” variable and point it to another location.  It’s up to you how you want to do this, as long as you have the right permissions mentioned above, your WP images and future uploads will work fine.

 

WordPress Windows 2008 Web Server R2 IIS 7.5 setup

I thought I would share a few important tips on getting WordPress 3.x to work properly – with PERMALINKS / SEO friendly URL’s.  It’s taken me a lot of trial and error to figure out the finer points, but assuming you can get it installed, these tips should help you get it 100% functional.

  1. to install, use the Microsoft Platform Installer 2.0, and let it do the work of installing PHP, WordPress etc.  IT IS FANTASIC!!! It will automatically setup PHP/FASTCGI for you and it is slick!  You can access the direct link to install WordPress on IIS here http://www.microsoft.com/web/wordpress/
  2. Secondly, I am going to make an assumption you are installing this as a subdirectory on your root site, such as www.mysite.com/blog.  If you are installing this to the root the same directions will basically apply but you’ll need to figure out which setting will need to be adjusted to put WP on the root.
  3. Third, we use a dedicated MySQL 5.x box, so we don’t install MySQL as part of the MPI 2.0 install (from step 1).  If you don’t already have a MySQL server you’ll need to let it install that as well, or make a new empty database on your MySQL box and use that info as part of the install process.  For security and speed reasons, a dedicated server for MySQL is the best choice, but not everyone has the resouces to permit a dedicated server.
  4. Under IIS 7.0 or 7.5, make sure you have downloaded and installed the free URL REWRITE 2.0 add-in for IIS.  This is a free download here: http://www.iis.net/download/urlrewrite
  5. PERMALINKS.  Once you get WP installed and are able to login to the admin interface, it’s pretty simple to get permalinks running.
    1. in the WP admin, go to SETTINGS->Permalinks.  We chose to use the “DAY AND NAME” setting.  Any other setting is your choice.  Pick a setting and click save changes.
    2. make sure you have a web.config file in your /blog/ subdirectory. 
    3. here is what your web.config file should look like – customized just for WP 3.0 in the /blog/ subdirectory (below).  (Download a ZIPPED copy of my file here)
    4. <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
      <configuration>
        <system.webServer>
          <httpErrors errorMode=”Custom” />
          <rewrite>
            <rules>
             <rule name=”Main Rule” stopProcessing=”true”>
              <match url=”.*” />
              <conditions logicalGrouping=”MatchAll”>
               <add input=”{REQUEST_FILENAME}” matchType=”IsFile” negate=”true” />
               <add input=”{REQUEST_FILENAME}” matchType=”IsDirectory” negate=”true” />
              </conditions>
             <action type=”Rewrite” url=”index.php” />
            </rule>
         </rules>
          </rewrite>
          <defaultDocument>
            <files>
              <clear />
              <add value=”index.php” />
            </files>
          </defaultDocument>
        </system.webServer>
      </configuration>
    5. Save this into your web.config file – this is all you need for WP running in the /blog/ directory.  Once you replace your file with this one your permalinks should work flawlessly.
  6. Troubleshooting.  One easy way to troubleshoot things with your WP install, is to enable DETAILED errormode.  To do this, edit your web.config file within the /blog/ folder and change just the one line above to this <httpErrors errorMode=”Detailed”/>  Of course when you are all done and going live with WP, change that line back to “Custom”
  7. Fixing permissions so that images/media/files uploaded via WordPress will properly render.  This is the fix for the infamous “500” error that is thrown when your server has wrong file permissions and the visual result is all the images you uploaded are “broken images” and won’t display. Also called HTTP Error 500.50 – URL Rewrite Module Error when you have Detailed errors on.
    1. Don’t sweat it, I will save you HOURS of time on this one.   Thanks to the article I found here after HOURS of tracking this issue down, this problem is caused because PHP first uploads the document to a temporary directory (by default C:\Windows\Temp), and then moves it from that directory to the actual /blog/wp-content/uploads/ subdirectory.  What happens is that because IIS does not have any permissions to your “C:\Windows\Temp” directory, when the file is uploaded there, then moved by PHP, the file inherits NO permissions.  So when IIS trys to serve out that file from your /blog/wp-content/uploads/subdirectory it throws a 500 error and that is actually a permissions error.
    2. The solution:  on the Windows\Temp folder, grant “modify” permissions to both IUSR and {servername}\IIS_IUSRS user accounts. 
    3. Now when you upload files via PHP and PHP moves them to the correct directory, the files will have the correct permissions and can be accessed.
    4. Important note #1:  If you already have uploaded files and are getting the dreaded broken images issue, go to the /blog/wp-content/uploads/directory and replace/update the permissions to add access for both user accounts noted above.  That will solve that issue.
    5. Important note #2: as with any change off the defaults for Windows, you do this AT YOUR OWN RISK.  It’s up to you if you want to grant the Windows\Temp directory permissions for those two accounts.  If you don’t PHP won’t be able to upload without the 500 issue (unless you move the PHP temp folder elsewhere and grant those accounts access to the other folder).  Do these changes at your own risk… I cannot and won’t take any responsiblity for your systems.  Please know what you are doing.
  8. Another site with good info on WordPress/IIS installs is here

Best of luck on your Windows 2008 R2 IIS 7.5 WordPress install. We use it here and it is fantastic!

Server name does not show up under Network

I recently came across this problem where one of our servers would not show up in the “browse list” under the “Network” icon in Windows 7.  I also checked this same issue from other computers Network Neighborhoods and verified it was just this one server “webserver6” which was not showing up.  We are in a standard Windows AD (Active Directory) network here with a DHCP and DNS servers and two domain controllers.  I checked all the settings on those boxes and they all looked fine, so I suspected the issue was solely with that one particular server.

I examined the server (a standard Windows 2008 server box), and all the settings looked fine.  Static IP (yes), correct DNS servers (yes), enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (yes), so the problem must be somewhere else.

I then checked the services and found that the COMPUTER BROWSER service was disabled.  I set it to automatic and started the service.

Since this particular server is a virutal server under the latest version of Hyper-V.  I shut down the server and checked the settings in the Hyper-V manager.  I noticed that this particular server was set to a “DYNAMIC MAC” address.   I switched that to STATIC.

Rebooted my workstation and “webserver6”.  Wow!  The server now shows up under the Network list.

Here are the steps again in a more formal list:

  1. Check to make sure the server has a static IP
  2. Check to make sure the server is using the correct DNS server (probably your AD domain server)
  3. Make sure NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled
  4. Make sure the Computer Browser service is started and set to Automatic
  5. HYPER-V machines:  Check to make sure the network adapter that the server is using is set to a STATIC MAC address.  (Not sure if this one makes any difference, but that type of a server shouldn’t be using a dynamic MAC address anyways).
  6. Reboot the server in question and your local workstation
  7. Server should show up if all the above is OK.

ADDENDUM 12/6/2010:

Another thing to check is your Windows Firewall settings. I had another server that would not show up on the Network list until I turned off the Windows Firewall.  That wasn’t a problem for us because we have a separate firewall that protects our systems.  But you need to use your own judgement and take that action on your own choice.  We aren’t responsible for your systems so I would presume that you know what you are doing and the risks of disabling Windows Firewall.

Classic ASP file upload limit of 200kb in IIS 7

During the process of migrating a site to IIS 7 we came across an issue with Classic ASP file uploads throwing 500 errors when larger than 200kb. There is an EASY fix for this.

In IIS 7, click your site and expand it then click the ASP icon.

Expand the Limits Properties icon, and change the value in the “Maximum Requesting Entity Body Limit” to a value larger than 200000 (which is about 200kb). 2000000 would be roughly 2mb, 20000000 would be 20mb.

Click the APPLY button. That’s it!

First access on ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT on a W2K8 R2 server…

Ok, so you’ve completed your install of ASPDNSF 9.x onto a Windows 2008 R2 server, and when you first try to access the domain, you get this error:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application.


Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Source Error:

 Line 244:        <add assembly=”System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A” />Line 245:        <add assembly=”System.Configuration.Install, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B03F5F7F11D50A3A” />

Line 246:        <add assembly=”System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089″ />

Line 247:        <add assembly=”System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089″ />

Line 248:        <add assembly=”System.Data.DataSetExtensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089″ />

Source File: C:\Websites\www.whatevermysiteisnamed.com\www\web.config    Line: 246

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly ‘System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089’ could not be loaded.

 WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.

Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.

To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].

 


Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.4927; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.4927

What to do???

This is an easy fix. 

Go to Start-> Administrative Tools -> Server Manager – > Features ->Add Feature and ADD .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features

ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT Proper Permissions under Windows 2008 server

I hope this is of help to anyone trying to get a current version (meaning 8.x or 9.x) of ASPDOTNETSTOREFRONT running on a Microsoft Windows 2008 server, or Windows 2008 R2 Server. One issue that we have experienced that is not documented or explained well are the permissions for certain directories you need to configure for the app to properly run. The official documentation from ASPDNSF is here, but I have not had any success in my setups getting the application to function properly. When I use the settings below the app works properly and can accept image uploads from the admin interface, etc.

You need to grant the following permissions to the directories below:

AddIns
Images
web.config (file in root directory)

{servername}\IIS_IUSRS (Read, Write, and Modify access)

so if your server box name is webserver1, you would grant webserver1\IIS_IUSRS the Read, Write, and Modify access permissions.

The official documentation from ASPDNSF specifies “Network Service” instead of IIS_IUSRS, but I have never been able to get the app to work properly using that permission.  It does seem to work properly with the permission above.

DISCLAIMER: Please do these AT YOUR OWN RISK. We accept NO responsiblity for the integrity of your server. I am just relaying my experiences with the installation and use process of this ASPDNSF application.

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