Current Shutdown and Startup Times of SBS 2003

Posted in SBS2003 at 2:14 pm by webmaster

Time is money and if you are like most IT consultants if you were paid a dollar for every minute you spent waiting for computers to start or stop you would be be well lets just say you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now.

Shutdown on a current install of SBS 2k3 SP1 on a system that well lets just say it is not modern hardware takes 7.5 minutes.  Shutdown can be a lot lower than that if you have just recently started your system (2.5 minutes for me on the same system right after a start.)

Starttup on a current install of SBS 2k3 SP1 on a system that well lets just say it is not modern hardware takes 5 minutes 45 seconds minutes.

11:15:30  Power
11:16:00  Windows Server 2003 Splash screen
11:16:45  Windows is starting up
11:17:15  Preparing network connections
11:18:15  Applying computer settings
11:21:15  Press Control Alt Delete to login

Together that is 13 minutes 15 seconds.

There are several factors determining shutdown speed:

1. Exchange/AD dependancy
2. WaitToKill Registry Setting (My registry setting was to 10 minutes)

 

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05.09.07

Action Pack - April 2007

Posted in OS at 9:11 am by webmaster

Here is the contents of the May 2007 Action Pack:

 

In CD envelopes:

1. Microsoft Exchange Server Standard 2007
2. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition Disk 1
3. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition Disk 2

And in the Marketing documentation binder:

1. Templates for sharepoint

That’s about it.

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05.03.07

Installing SP2 on Windows Server 2003 SP1

Posted in OS at 11:44 pm by webmaster

There has been a lot of talk about installing SP2 on Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP1 and the problems it causes.  In some cases there are reports of similar problems installing SP2 on Windows Server 2003 SP1.  This post will attempt to document the process and the mechanics of the SP2 upgrade.

Condtions that contribute to problems

• NIC with advanced features  If you do not have a NIC card that has advanced features (CPU offloading) you probably are not going to have any issues when upgrading to SP2. 
• Networking features running on the server  The features that run on the server appear to have an affect on the problems observed.  For more details on the types of functionality that appear to cause problems see this official SBS blog post.
• Networking equipment  Are you running a 100 Mbit network or a 1 Gbit network?  That may make a difference keep that in mind when communicating problems observed in upgrades.

Example SP2 Upgrade

Intel S5000PSL - Jan 2007

This is a fairly recent server that has an Intel NIC which has quite a few advanced features.

• Here is an Intel NIC driver readme (11.2) that pledges support for SP2. 
• I will want to install the latest Intel NIC driver (12.0)
• A link to  Intel S5000PSL downloads including NIC drivers

3COM 3C16471

Although this 3Com switch has 2 Gbit network ports the server is currenlty connected to 100 Mbit ports.  Is this important I don’t know.

Software

This is a Windows Server 2003 SP1 R2 member server running MOSS 2007 with SQL 2005 Standard.  There are really no “special features” that appear to contribute to having an issue with SP2.

SP2 Installation Plan

1. Fullback of server - important for rollback
2. Install version 12.0 NIC driver - important for correct SP2 support
3. Install SP2
4. Monitor system for networking errors and if networking errors are present perform the following (one by one testing each step because it’s a single NIC server)
1. Disable advanced features of NIC card
1. Disable RSS
2. Disable offloading (6 in version 9.3.39.0 of the driver)
3. There are other features are they important - not sure
2. Disable RSS
3. Disable Task Offload
5. If Problems still persist unistall the service pack
6. Problems uninstalling SP2 restore from backups

Outcome

Installation of NIC and service pack came off without a hitch.  Note large size of NIC download.  There is quite a bit of documentation worth reading in there about these “Advanced features” of the NIC card.

Installation of SP2 progressed without error.  Note that I used Microsoft Update to move to SP2 as that is what the SP2 Release Notes recomend if using .net framework 2.0. 

Note also this was on a 100 Mbit network (moving soon to Gbit.

No NIC advanced settings had to be disabled.  No registry hacks had to be implemented.

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Transitioning from Windows XP & Office 2003 to Vista & Office 2007

Posted in Vista at 2:39 pm by webmaster

I was hoping to have a technical only blog but that is becoming impossible.  Working as an IT consultant it is important to understand the various licensing programs so you can ultimately deliver the best “product” for your customer.

Introduction

There are three major ways to obtain and install Microsoft products.  They are OEM , Retail and Volume.  With the release of Windows Vista, the subsequent lack of availability of Windows XP from OEM’s and the retail channel and the lack of compatibility of various Line of Business (LOB) applications, a burden is placed on the IT consultant.  That burden is how can the IT consultant deliver end user workstations to their customers given the restrictions listed above?  For me this problem is currently how do I continue to deploy Windows XP Professional in the Small Business space.   I realize this will change soon (Probably Summer Fall 2007 probably different for you.)

Retail

For most people the retail product is cost prohibitive but it does provide some flexibility that the other products don’t offer.  This media is increasingly getting more difficult to find.

Volume License

For most people moving to a volume licensing model is cost prohibitive as well but it does offer some advantages such as imaging etc.  I have come across an interesting volume licensing article that may help “recent workstation purchases” with Vista Business and Office 2007.  That is take advantage of taking the SA upgrade SKU.  My interpretation is that this document provides us IT people a lot of options for volume license options within a company.

Couple this with the following sku’s for new computers and you have a somewhat good plan for upgrading new clients to Vista when the time comes especially if your clients took advantage of the Technology Upgrade Program in late 2006 early 2007 (Windows XP purchased Mail in to obtain Vista Business)

Full Version Product

W87-01806 Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2007

- $410 Reseller Suggested Price

- eligible for Office 2003 product key & Office 2007 product key

588-02701 Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2007

- Purchased Oem 2003 90 days $238

Upgrade Product

• 66j-01128 vista business volume license sa ~$109 US within 90 days
• 66j-00724 vista business volume $187 needs upgrade os)
• Xp media/vista media

Windows Vista Business OEM - Windows XP Professional Downgrade Rights

See my previous post on what Windows Vista downgrade rights is and what it offers but in a nutshell for specific versions of Vista OEM (Business and Ultimate) you *may* downgrade to Windows XP Professional.  This may sound good but adds a minimum of 6 minutes and in three cases that I have tried this over 30 minutes of extra installation time per workstation. 

This isn’t too bad in itself, however I am finding that my favorite white box supplier is finding it difficult to obtain Windows XP Pro media to ship with the whiteboxes I purchase from him to deploy at client sites.  This adds in some cases several days to the delivery of a workstation because he has to source Windows XP Pro OEM media.  And it is getting harder and harder to source.

This says nothing at all of attempting to obtain a laptop with Windows XP Pro preloaded.  I will typically provide the same manufacturers hardware to any given customer and and one recent visit to my favorite  supplier website I had only 3 units in stock to choose from and those were the higher end (read very expensive) models.

What all this means in laymen’s terms is that this can add one to two hours of labor to the cost of deploying a client workstation or laptop.  (Assumption is your white box vendor preinstalls XP and Office for you.)  

Update:  I wrote this article several weeks ago and did not publish it.  I have been going through the “OEM downgrade rights” option for several clients and have determined that Microsoft has improved this process significantly.  The last 5 activations I have performed have added no more than 6 minutes each per workstation.

What options are there for continuing to Deploy Windows XP Professional?

1. Work with LOB vendors to get their application “supported” on Vista
1. This is something that is beyond our control
2. Obtain new hardware with OEM, flatten the box/laptop, use Vista Downgrade rights to install Windows XP Pro
1. This can be very time consuming, potentially reducing or eliminating your profit margin
3. Explore other licensing options
1. Will volume licensing benefit your customers? 

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