Bill's Bit Bucket

We recently replaced our existing Windows Home Server with the newer model from HP.  I thought I’d post the steps here that I took migrating from our old unit to the new one.

• Picked one of my home computers as the system to "move" to the new server
• Shutdown all of the other computers on our network to avoid any updates or conflicts
• Ran the EX485 setup process on that system naming the new server NEWSERVER
• Setup the same set of users and passwords on the EX485 that were on the EX470
• Ran the "Remove Disk" process on the EX470 removing one of our 500GB drives
• Moved the 500GB drive over to the EX485
• Created the additional shares on the EX485 to match those I created on the EX470
• Opened a window to the "Shared Folders on Server" on NEWSERVER
• On the same computer opened a second window to the EX470, named ECLIPSE, using the standard network convention \\ECLIPSE
• I then proceeded to copy the contents of each share from the EX470 to the EX485
• Once the copy was completed I then went through the process of removing our remaining 500GB hard drive from the EX470 and moving it to the EX485
• I then logged into the EX470 directly using "Remote Desktop Connection"
• I then right-mouse-clicked on "My Computer" and selected Properties from the pop-up menu
• I then clicked on the Computer Name tab and then the Change button on that page
• I renamed our EX470 OLDSERVER and followed the prompts to reboot the system
• Once I confirmed the EX470 rebooted under the new name and there were no issues I shut it down and removed it from the network
• With the migration from the EX470 complete I then logged into the EX485 directly using "Remote Desktop Connection"
• I proceeded with the same steps I used on the EX470 and renamed the EX485 from NEWSERVER to ECLIPSE and followed the prompts to reboot
• Once the EX485 rebooted, I then went to "\\ECLIPSE\Software\Home Server Connector Software" and reran the connector setup on the system I had been using
• I then opened the WHS console and turned on folder duplication so that my data would start replicating across all of my drives again
• Now that the migration was complete, folder duplication was on, and my main desktop was "talking" with the EX485 I proceeded to go to each of our remaining systems and rerun the Home Server Connector setup.  Each system successfully reestablished a connection with the "new" ECLIPSE and were added to the backup process

In the end, everything worked out like a champ.  Even my Zune was happy as it found all of it's music without issue since it was configured to look for \\ECLIPSE\MUSIC for its information.  The best part is, the EX470 was sitting on the shelf completely intact, so I could go back to it if I had to.

Overall, the process was more tedious than painful.  Granted, I had the luxury of not being at a point where my drives were so full that I was able to migrate them.  If they had been, then I would have been looking at additional expense purchasing more drives for the EX485.  I'm glad I made the upgrade as I can definitely tell the difference when accessing the server remotely and in day-to-day use.  I also signed up for Amazon's S3 service through the new interface on the WHS console and our photo's are now being backed up to it.  If you haven't checked the service out yet, but were thinking of doing so, they are having an anniversary sale through July, where initial data uploads are only .03/GB versus the normal .10/GB so it's a great time to do your initial backups where you generally have the largest amount of data to move.

I hope this write-up will help someone else out in their migration.

During an SBS Server migration we encountered a strange issue while setting up one of the client laptops.  We were importing their PST files from their POP3 accounts into their new Exchange accounts.  Up until this one system things had been going pretty smoothly.  I then opened Outlook 2007 on this Dell laptop just like I had on the previous 10 systems.

I clicked on the File-->Import and Export link and proceeded to run the wizard to point it at the PST file and kick off the import.  This is where the fun began.  When I got to the Import Personal Folders screen and clicked on the Browse button nothing displayed in the window.  At first I thought I had landed on a folder with no *.PST files in it since the default is to show only PST files.  So I proceeded to try and navigate to the folder I needed and still nothing was being displayed in the file window.  I could see the locations change in the Look In section but nothing was being displayed below.  Stumped I tried numerous variations of search terms in Live Search and Google with no success.  I tried creating a new Outlook profile with no change either.  Finally, I decided to move on (we still had more systems to convert) and opened the users account on another machine and imported it that way so they could function and I could address the issue later after completing the other migrations.

When I returned to the machine later I found that even though I had exited Outlook it was still showing as a running process in Task Manager.  At this point I suspected there might be an add-in issue so I started looking through the various add-ins as well as Add/Remove programs.  In doing so I discovered an add-in called "Outlook Setup Add-In".  Searching on it I found this article at Slipstick (a great resource when it comes to Outlook and Exchange) run by Diane Poremsky, an Outlook MVP.  After reading about this add-in's issues regarding slowness and CPU spiking with Outlook 2007 I decided to disable it.  Once I did, I know longer had any issues with Outlook "hanging" on exit.  It responded a lot quicker as well.  On a whim, I tried the Import/Export wizard one more time and Lo and Behold now all the files were listed as they should have been in the first place.

I was setting up a Palm Treo 650 to make use of Exchange Active Sync (EAS) for one of my clients.  I'm not that familiar with the Palm O/S as my first exposure to PDA's was an iPAQ 3630. And all of my phones have been Windows Mobile based.  So needless to say there were a few "bumps" along the way getting the 650 setup.  Therefore, I wanted to post a few comments that may help you out if you are in the same situation.

First, the client's phone provider is AT&T (Formerly Cingular) and the phone ships with VersaMail 3.1.  As a result you won't find support for EAS out of the box as that was first introduced in VersaMail 3.5.  So the first thing to do is confirm the version of VersaMail on your Treo.  If you need to upgrade to VersaMail 3.5 you can find an article here, http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9311/palm-offers-exchange-update-for-the-treo-650/, discussing how to acquire the appropriate software.  It's not that expensive ($12USD in our case) and can be downloaded from the net so you don't have to wait for software to be shipped or travel to a retail store to pick it up.

Once you've purchased the upgrades, download them to the desktop you'll normally sync your Treo with via HotSync.  The default HotSync setup will automatically transfer the upgrade to your Treo and install it.  Once you're running VersaMail 3.5 you will be able to walk through the wizard to configure the phone to access EAS.

The final "bump" I encountered is an embarrassing one.  No doubt somewhere in your career you've encountered the "Is it plugged in?" question during a support session.  Well, this falls along those lines.  The phone was configured as expected, everything looked good and should have been working.  I spent about 30 minutes troubleshooting the issue to no avail.  I was just about to give up when something struck me.  I asked the client if the phone had been setup on AT&T's data plan.  Their response, "What's that?".  So they contacted their rep and added the data plan to the phone.  Once we confirmed the plan was activated we synced again and everything worked like a charm.

When I'm troubleshooting issues I find in Event Logs, one of the first places I head to is, http://www.eventid.net.  When you go to the site you can enter an EventID and you'll get back a list of EventID's that match along with the various "Source" entries they apply to.  Once you find the issue that matches your event there's a link to click on where you will find a comments and links from others who have encountered the same issue.  This in itself is a great resource, but for a very reasonable fee you can sign up for an account that will allow you to have one-click access to any links referenced in the comments, the ability to set notifications when/if there are updates, no ad banners and more.

The next time you get stuck check them out and if you find value in the site, signup and help them keep it going.

If you are in a situation where you have a CD or DVD stuck in the drive and unable to eject it, here's a quick tip.  Look at the front of your drive and you should see a small pinhole near the center of it.  Grab a paperclip and straighten it out.  Take the end of the paperclip and gently push it into the hole.  Apply pressure until you see the drive door start to open.  Once you can grasp the end of the drawer slowly pull it out until you can remove the disc.

One word of caution, don't try and force the paperclip as you could damage the drive or disc if it slips, so always gently apply pressure.