Monday, June 27, 2011

MessageQueryPrep status in NearPoint 3.1.x and higher builds

Run the following query to check the status of the messages waiting to be indexed:

select status, count(*) from MimosaExchangeItem_1..MessageQueryPrep (NOLOCK)
group by status

The status column values and their meaning are listed below:

-- 0 Message item not processed
    > DL expansion will work on these items and update STATUS = 11

-- 11 DL expansion completed, waiting to be indexed
    > Indexer will process and update STATUS = 1

-- 1 Message item already indexed
    > Query Prep task will insert record into MessageQuery / MessageQueryDetails tables

-- 2 Message item delete
    > Record deleted from MessageQuery / MessageQueryDetails tables

-- 3 Message item reset for reindexing
    > Indexer will process and update STATUS = 1

-- 4 Message item updated/read/modified
    > MessageQuery / MessageQueryDetails tables directly updated with new value.

-- 5 Message item error while indexed
    > Message item will be re-indexed


See the following Mimosa knowledgebase articles for more details.  (Requires access to Mimosa Systems customer support portal.)

MessageQueryPrep status in NearPoint 3.1.x and higher builds
http://mimosasystems.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/364/kw/index%20queue/related/1

NearPoint Archive is out of date (Browse -- Current as of:)
http://mimosasystems.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/615

Friday, June 24, 2011

Duplicate Folders in Mimosa Archive

I recently ran across an unusual problem in which duplicate folders were appearing in a given user's Mimosa Archive as shown below.  






Note that the "Inbox" folder appears multiple times but the message "No records found" appears when attempting to view the contents of the duplicates.


This issue was most likely due to archiving a mailbox which has some degree of corruption. In this case, the folders were archived multiple times but the contents were not.  Fortunately, Mimosa Systems has provided the msisp_DeleteEmptyFolders stored procedure to remove the duplicate folders.  Here's how to use it:

  1. Run the following SQL query to determine the MailboxID of the affected user:

Select * from MimosaContext..Mailbox (nolock) Where MailboxName like '%LastName%'
  1. Change to the MimosaExchangeItem_1 database then run the following stored procedure, replacing MailboxID with the mailbox ID number determined by the previous query:
exec MimosaExchangeItem_1.dbo.msisp_DeleteEmptyFolders MailboxID, 1

e.g.,

exec MimosaExchangeItem_1.dbo.msisp_DeleteEmptyFolders 802, 1



The duplicate folders should be immediately removed.

Monday, June 20, 2011

W32Time Synchronization Issue on a Domain Controller

If after moving the PDC Emulator role to another domain controller, other domain controllers continue to synchronize their time to the original role holder (and W32time authoritative time source), try using the following command to force the domain controller to rediscover the correct time source:

w32tm /resync /rediscover


After issuing the above command, check the server's System log to verify that the time service is now synchronizing with the correct time source.

Running CHKDSK on a Junction

Here's a simple trick for running CHKDSK on a junction. Let's say that you have a junction called "JUNCTION" which is mounted under the I: drive in the "JUNCTION" sub-folder.  The easiest way to run CHKDSK on this volume is to change to that drive and sub-folder, then run "CHKDSK ."  Note that the period (".") is the reference to the current working directory.  Windows will interpret this as referring to the current volume, i.e., the junction.  Running CHKDSK without this reference will result in CHKDSK running against the parent volume, in this case I:.


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.


C:\Users\john>i:


I:\>dir
 Volume in drive I is MOUNT
 Volume Serial Number is 54B6-259A


 Directory of I:\


01/28/2011  03:00 PM         JUNCTION [\??\Volume{f8dd7e69-206a-11e0
-8a1e-f4ce46b4d754}\]
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
              14 Dir(s)   1,019,138,048 bytes free


I:\>cd JUNCTION


I:\IORDATA-14>chkdsk .
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is JUNCTION.


WARNING!  F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.


CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
  17013760 file records processed.
File verification completed.
  13850 large file records processed.
  0 bad file records processed.
  0 EA records processed.
  0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
  17047814 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
  0 unindexed files scanned.
  0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
  17013760 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
  17027 data files processed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.


 524286911 KB total disk space.
 426813404 KB in 16982659 files.
   5354736 KB in 17029 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
  17097803 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  75020968 KB available on disk.


      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
 131071727 total allocation units on disk.
  18755242 allocation units available on disk.


I:\JUNCTION>

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Netsh DHCP Commands

Here are some useful netsh dhcp commands:

To export DHCP database on the current server to a text file.

C:\>netsh dhcp server dump > DHCPdump.txt

Note that the entire list of commands must be entered at the command line.  You won't be able to redirect the output of the netsh dhcp server dump command from within the netsh shell.

See the following links for more details:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Windows Server 2003 MS DTC DC Promotion/Demotion Warnings

After promoting a Windows 2003 member server to a domain controller, you may notice MSDTC 53528 warnings such as the following in the server's Application log:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MSDTC
Event Category: MSDTC Proxy
Event ID: 53258
Date: 6/14/2011
Time: 7:14:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DCNVT02
Description:
MS DTC could not correctly process a DC Promotion/Demotion event. MS DTC will continue to function and will use the existing security settings. Error Specifics: d:\nt\com\complus\dtc\dtc\adme\uiname.cpp:9351, Pid: 1724
No Callstack,
 CmdLine: C:\WINDOWS\system32\msdtc.exe


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 05 00 07 80               ...€    

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MSDTC
Event Category: SVC
Event ID: 53258
Date: 6/14/2011
Time: 7:14:14 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DCNVT02
Description:
MS DTC could not correctly process a DC Promotion/Demotion event. MS DTC will continue to function and will use the existing security settings. Error Specifics: %1

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

These warnings can be resolved by refreshing the MSDTC security configuration as follows:
  1. Start --> Administrative Tools --> Component Services.
  2. Expand Component Services --> Computers.
  3. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
  4. Click on the MSDTC tab then click on the Security Configuration button in the Transaction Configuration section.
  5. Don't make any changes to the security configuration settings, just click OK to return to the MSDTC tab.
  6. Click OK again to close the My Computer Properties.
  7. Right-click on My Computer and select Stop MS DTC.
  8. Right-click on My Computer again and select Start MS DTC.
The following series of information messages should appear in the Application log indicating that the issue is now resolved:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSDTC Client
Event Category: MSDTC Proxy
Event ID: 4143
Date: 6/15/2011
Time: 5:05:41 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DCNVT02
Description:
MS DTC has detected that a DC Promotion has happened since the last time the MS DTC service was started.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSDTC
Event Category: SVC
Event ID: 4111
Date: 6/15/2011
Time: 5:05:47 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DCNVT02
Description:
The MS DTC service is stopping.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: MSDTC
Event Category: TM
Event ID: 4193
Date: 6/15/2011
Time: 5:05:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer: DCNVT02
Description:
MS DTC started with the following settings (OFF = 0 and ON = 1):

  Security Configuration:
      Network Administration of Transactions = 0,
      Network Clients = 0,
      Inbound Distributed Transactions using Native MSDTC Protocol = 0,
      Outbound Distributed Transactions using Native MSDTC Protocol = 0,
      Transaction Internet Protocol (TIP) = 0,
      XA Transactions = 0
  Filtering Duplicate events = 1

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

NearPoint Email Restores Failing

If users report that they are unable to restore messages from the NearPoint (Mimosa) archive, try restarting the following two services:
  • Mimosa Restore Service
  • Mimosa Email Restore Service

If that doesn't resolve the issue, review the EMailRestoreHandler logs in the NearPoint log directory for the current day, usually under "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mimosa\Common\Log" folder.

In the particular scenario leading up to this issue, users were able to select and submit items to be restored but no corresponding jobs were appearing under Options --> View Task History.