SMS_SITE_BACKUP failed. Please see previous errors.

I ran into this issue, where after sometime the SMS Build-in backup function would fail.
When running the SMS_SITE_BACKUP from Window Services (services.msc) it would fail with some of the following errors:

SMS_SITE_BACKUP failed. Please see previous errors.

Error: SMS Writer service either does not exist or is not running .

Error: GatherWriterMetadata failed.

SMS_SITE_BACKUP failed. Please see previous errors.

STATMSG: ID=5060 SEV=E LEV=M SOURCE=”SMS Server” COMP=”SMS_SITE_BACKUP” SYS=Server001.domain.com SITE=PS1 PID=67372 TID=61212 GMTDATE=Thu Dec 10 01:20:41.530 2020 ISTR0=”Error: GatherWriterMetadata failed.” ISTR1=”” ISTR2=”” ISTR3=”” ISTR4=”” ISTR5=”” ISTR6=”” ISTR7=”” ISTR8=”” ISTR9=”” NUMATTRS

Resolution:
List the VSS writers available with the following command: VSSADMIN list writers
If you find the SMS Writer to be missing run the following commands:

Net stop SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER
Net start SMS_SITE_VSS_WRITER

This should add it back to the list as shown below. Now restart you SMS_SITE_BACKUP (can be done form services.msc) and review the logfile: smsbkup.log. it should now be running.

The issue here was caused by another backup solution using the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). So fixing also required the other solution to be removed/reconfigured.

Setting up the lab environment – DNS resolution puzzle

I would prefer to have access from my local vlan and wireless vlan to the servers.
But didn’t want to all dns traffic into the VM’s (and depend on a testing environment)

Basically I want host resolution, and being able to utilizing the domain services in the testing environment, without interruption of my other services.

This is the solution in went for was using Conditional Forwarders

First the Hyper-V host:

I Installed the DNS Server role within Windows Server 2016.
Setup forwarders to google dns:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that i will add the Conditional Forwards for my testing domain
I  in my previous post I created 2 Domain controllers, both hosting DNS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will then add my Hyper-V hosts IP to the DNS server of my router/dhcp on the needed vlans.
When clients send requests for the testing domain, they will get forwarded to the Hyper-V guests (DCs) and all other requests will go to the Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) – more info: Getting started with Google Public DNS

I did want a backup as well, so I installed Synology DNS on my Synology DS1511+
Synology DNS supports forwarding zones, with up to 2 forwarders per zone.
That’s perfect for my setup, added the 2 Hyper-V guest DC’s.
The Synology DNS would of course also need Resolution services enabled, so we can forward requests to the Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4)

 

 

 

 

Then I will go ahead an update the DNS servers handed out by my DHCP on my normal client network and wireless clients.
This configuration offers failover/backup, because both the Hyper-V hosts and the Synology will be able to handle DNS requests and forwarding.

Setting up the lab environment – Hyper-V: Virtual Machines

Now to the good stuff

Usually when working with Hyper-V I use reference disks, mainly to save space on rather expensive disks. But is there much to gain when using deduplication? I was on sure, so asked in Tech Konnect

The response from Tech Konnect confirmed, when using deduplication, it out wages the other issues with reference disks, rather than saving disk space.

Since it’s not possible to create folders or groups within the Hyper-V Management Console, I will be using a naming standard: <Group> – <Generation> – <OS> – <hostname>

The first Virtual Machine will be a Domain Controller, what better way to start?

Virtual Machine Configuration:
Generation: 2
Startup memory: 4096
Dynamic Memory: Enabled
Network Connection: External
Disk size: 60 GB
Boot from the ISO File – Windows Server 2016 Standard (Desktop Experience)

The quick wins for a Generation 2 Virtual Machine

  • PXE Boot by using a standard network adapter
  • Boot from a SCSI virtual hard disk
  • Boot from SCSI virtual DVD
  • Secure Boot (enabled by default
  • UEFI firmware support
  • Shielded Virtual Machines
  • Storage spaces direct
  • Hot add/removal of virtual network adapters

Note: IDE drives and legacy network adapter support has been removed.
For more info: Generation 2 Virtual Machine Overview and Hyper-V feature compatibility by Generation and Guest

The memory assigned might be a bit overkill, but for now it will be OK.
When configuring the second DC i will only assign: 2048.
The complete installation time to logon was 3 minutes and 9 seconds

Both DCs can actually live with 2048 mb ram, so it can always be cut down, but keep in mind we are using Dynamic Memory allocation.

I will of course be setting up MDT and ConfigMgr at a later point, to streamline and gain a bit of speed.

 

Setting up the lab environment – Deduplication

The next step for the lab or so-called home data center: Installing and Configuring Deduplication

I was going to use a USB stick for the Windows Server 2016 OS.
The main reason for this: DEDUPLICATION.

I did start out with a USB stick, but due to performance issues this was changed – read the follow-up post (https://blog.thomasmarcussen.com/follow-up-on-the-home-datacenter-hardware/)

The reason for having the OS on a separate volume: Deduplication is not supported on system or boot volumes. Read more about Deduplication here: About Data Deduplication

Let’s get started

Installing and Configuring Deduplication

  1. Open an elevated PowerShell prompt
  2. Execute: Import-Module ServerManager
  3. Execute: Add-WindowsFeature -Name FS-Data-Deduplication
  4. Execute: Import-Module Deduplication

Installing Deduplication

Now we installed data Deduplication and it’s ready for configuration.

My Raid 0 volume is D:
The volume will primarily hold Virtual Machines (Hyper-V)
I’m going to execute the following command: Enable-DedupVolume D: -UsageType HyperV

Enable Deduplication for volume

You can read more about the different usage types here: Understanding Data Deduplication

Some quick info for the usage type Hyper-V:

  • Background optimization
  • Default optimization policy:
    • Minimum file age = 3 days
    • Optimize in-use files = Yes
    • Optimize partial files = Yes
  • “Under-the-hood” tweaks for Hyper-V interop

You can start the optimization job and limited (if needed) the amount of consumed memory for the process: Start-DedupJob -Volume “D:” -Type Optimization -Memory 50

 

 

 

You can get the deduplication status with the command: Get-DedupStatus

 

 

 

 

The currently saved space on my volume is 46.17 GB
That is for a 2 ISO files and a reference machine for Windows Server 2016 and the reference disks copied to separate folder.

More usefull powershell cmdlets here: Deduplication Cmdlets in Windows PowerShell

I do love deduplication especially for virtual machines, hence most of the basic data is the same.
The disks are also rather expensive so getting the most out of them is preferred.

 

Follow up on the home datacenter hardware

It’s time for a small update – the previous post is available here: https://blog.thomasmarcussen.com/new-lab-home-datacenter/

The datacenter has been running for about a week now – quite good…. but…..

I’ve been using the Samsung USB as OS drive – Samsung USB 3.0 Flash Drive FIT 32GB
It does have fast read, and a not that slow write, according to Samsung: Up to 130 MB/s

The week passed with setting up and installing VMs – using the actual VMs etc.
But when installing Windows Updates on the Hyper-V host, installing Features/Roles or anykind of configuration, it seems to slow down to useless/freeze.

Running a full Windows Update took about 2 days to reach fully patched level.
During that time it was useless as in no respondig.

I ran a WinSat drive test on the Samsung USB Flash Drive:

Random 16.0 Read: 8.87 MB/s
Random 16.0 Write: 5.45 MB/S

Random reads and writes seems pretty low.

The sequential seems a bit better:

Sequential 64.0 Read: 76.89 MB/s
Sequential 64.0 Write: 86.95 MB/s

The Commands used with winsat:
Winsat disk -drive C: -ran -write (Random 16.0 Write)
Winsat disk -drive C: -ran -read (Random 16.0 Read)
Winsat disk -drive C: -seq -write (Sequential 64.0 Read)
Winsat disk -drive C: -seq -read (Sequential 64.0 Write)

So I decided to replace to Samsung USB 3.0 Flash Drive FIT as a OS Drive.

The new hardware choosen ended up being:

1 x StarTech.com USB 3.0 to M.2 SATA External SSD Enclosure with UASP
1 x Samsung 850 EVO M.2 2280 SSD – 250GB

SM2NGFFMBU33 - StarTech.com USB 3.0 to M.2 SATA External SSD Enclosure with UASPMZ-N5E250BW - Samsung 850 EVO M.2 2280 SSD - 250GB
NOTE: the StarTech.com enclosure does not support NVMe, so did choose a m.2 SSD.

I know that StarTech also have USB 3.1, but i really do want to keep the USB 3.1 port free for an additional RAID enclosure when/if needed. Properly a StarTech enscloure but not sure yet.. (USB 3.1 (10Gbps) External Enclosure for Dual 2.5″ SATA Drives) still looking for a nice USB 3.1 enclosure that supports m.2 NVMe…

Samsung states the specs for the new disk as:

  • Up to 500MB/s Sequential Write
  • Up to 540/s Sequential Read

The actual performance test on the Samsung 850 EVO M.2 2280 SSD:

Random 16.0 Read: 276.51 MB/s
Random 16.0 Write: 271.37 MB/S

Sequential 64.0 Read: 388.85 MB/s
Sequential 64.0 Write: 383.71 MB/s

So in any case it’s quite a performance boost for the OS disk.

 

Multiple subdomains with LetsEncrypt? YES!

Need to add multiple subdomains with LetsEncrypt?
maybe Certificate for WWW and non-WWW?

do a dry run, to test it

./certbot-auto certonly -d originaldomain.com -d www.originaldomain.com -d new.originaldomain.com -d new2.originaldomain.com -d new3.originaldomain.com –dry-run

I tested it with apache2 works great!

ConfigMgr 2012 Application Catalog Web Service Point broken after OS upgrade

Upgrading your ConfigMgr from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2 ?
I have had a couple of cases, within the past moth.

.NET seems to break after the OS upgrade.
During some troubleshooting on a not working Application Catalog Web Service Point

  • Clients with new software center, did show some applications (but only a few/old from a synchronisation before the upgrade)
  • Trying to access Application Catalog Web Site gave an error:
  • Cannot Connect to the application server
  • No errors in the Application catalog website or service point installation files

So if we dig in to <CMInstallDrive>:\Program FIles\SMS_CCM\CMapplicationCatalogSVC\Logs\ServicePortalWebService.log did show some error:

[11, PID:7048][05/04/2017 12:12:23] :System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type ‘System.Runtime.Diagnostics.ITraceSourceStringProvider’ from assembly ‘System.ServiceModel.Internals, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35’.

The error is related to broken/corrupt .NET

The solution:
Download and install: Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 (Offline Installer)

 

HTTP Error 500.0 – The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly

Link

Came across this error today:

HTTP Error 500.0 – Internal Server Error C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe – The FastCGI process exited unexpectedly

I was working on a Windows Server 2012 R2 with IIS installed.

After installing PHP 5.6 the error occured when trying to access any php files.
So apparently you need VC++ 11 runtime for PHP 5.5 or newer.
the solution was quick, download, install and iisreset (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30679)

Make sure you download and install the x86 version (vcredist_x86.exe), PHP on Windows isn’t 64 bit yet.

If you’re running PHP 5.4.x then you need to install the VC++9 runtime (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5582)

 

 

 

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

For many years BIOS has been the industry standard for booting a PC. BIOS has served us well, but it is time to replace it with something better. UEFI is the replacement for BIOS, so it is important to understand the differences between BIOS and UEFI. In this section, you learn the major differences between the two and how they affect operating system deployment.

Introduction to UEFI

BIOS has been in use for approximately 30 years. Even though it clearly has proven to work, it has some limitations, including:

  • 16-bit code
  • 1 MB address space
  • Poor performance on ROM initialization
  • MBR maximum bootable disk size of 2.2 TB

As the replacement to BIOS, UEFI has many features that Windows can and will use.

With UEFI, you can benefit from:

  • Support for large disks. UEFI requires a GUID Partition Table (GPT) based disk, which means a limitation of roughly 16.8 million TB in disk size and more than 100 primary disks.
  • Faster boot time. UEFI does not use INT 13, and that improves boot time, especially when it comes to resuming from hibernate.
  • Multicast deployment. UEFI firmware can use multicast directly when it boots up. In WDS, MDT, and Configuration Manager scenarios, you need to first boot up a normal Windows PE in unicast and then switch into multicast. With UEFI, you can run multicast from the start.
  • Compatibility with earlier BIOS. Most of the UEFI implementations include a compatibility support module (CSM) that emulates BIOS.
  • CPU-independent architecture. Even if BIOS can run both 32- and 64-bit versions of firmware, all firmware device drivers on BIOS systems must also be 16-bit, and this affects performance. One of the reasons is the limitation in addressable memory, which is only 64 KB with BIOS.
  • CPU-independent drivers. On BIOS systems, PCI add-on cards must include a ROM that contains a separate driver for all supported CPU architectures. That is not needed for UEFI because UEFI has the ability to use EFI Byte Code (EBC) images, which allow for a processor-independent device driver environment.
  • Flexible pre-operating system environment. UEFI can perform many functions for you. You just need an UEFI application, and you can perform diagnostics and automatic repairs, and call home to report errors.
  • Secure boot. Windows 8 and later can use the UEFI firmware validation process, called secure boot, which is defined in UEFI 2.3.1. Using this process, you can ensure that UEFI launches only a verified operating system loader and that malware cannot switch the boot loader.

Versions

UEFI Version 2.3.1B is the version required for Windows 8 and later logo compliance. Later versions have been released to address issues; a small number of machines may need to upgrade their firmware to fully support the UEFI implementation in Windows 8 and later.

Hardware support for UEFI

In regard to UEFI, hardware is divided into four device classes:

  • Class 0 devices. This is the UEFI definition for a BIOS, or non-UEFI, device.
  • Class 1 devices. These devices behave like a standard BIOS machine, but they run EFI internally. They should be treated as normal BIOS-based machines. Class 1 devices use a CSM to emulate BIOS. These older devices are no longer manufactured.
  • Class 2 devices. These devices have the capability to behave as a BIOS- or a UEFI-based machine, and the boot process or the configuration in the firmware/BIOS determines the mode. Class 2 devices use a CSM to emulate BIOS. These are the most common type of devices currently available.
  • Class 3 devices. These are UEFI-only devices, which means you must run an operating system that supports only UEFI. Those operating systems include Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Windows 7 is not supported on these class 3 devices. Class 3 devices do not have a CSM to emulate BIOS.

Windows support for UEFI

Microsoft started with support for EFI 1.10 on servers and then added support for UEFI on both clients and servers.

With UEFI 2.3.1, there are both x86 and x64 versions of UEFI. Windows 10 supports both. However, UEFI does not support cross-platform boot. This means that a computer that has UEFI x64 can run only a 64-bit operating system, and a computer that has UEFI x86 can run only a 32-bit operating system.

How UEFI is changing operating system deployment

There are many things that affect operating system deployment as soon as you run on UEFI/EFI-based hardware. Here are considerations to keep in mind when working with UEFI devices:

  • Switching from BIOS to UEFI in the hardware is easy, but you also need to reinstall the operating system because you need to switch from MBR/NTFS to GPT/FAT32 and NTFS.
  • When you deploy to a Class 2 device, make sure the boot option you select matches the setting you want to have. It is common for old machines to have several boot options for BIOS but only a few for UEFI, or vice versa.
  • When deploying from media, remember the media has to be FAT32 for UEFI, and FAT32 has a file-size limitation of 4GB.
  • UEFI does not support cross-platform booting; therefore, you need to have the correct boot media (32- or 64-bit).

WSUS clients may fail during synchronization and log the following errors: 0x8024400D

Issue: WSUS clients may fail during synchronization and log the following errors: 0x8024400D

Cause: Too much rubbish in WSUS database eg. Lots and lots of expired and superseeded updates. No cleanup or maintenance has been done for a loong time.

Resolution:

Execute a maintenance CleanUp on the WSUS Server. Most of the 0x8024400D are due to a high quantity of updates on the server, even declined, expired, or superseded. This causes that the client WU Engine cannot finish processing all the information, and cannot pass to the Evalutation phase of the update process.

 

-Run Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 (Can also be found at www.thomasmarcussen.com – in the Archive folder). If the base Operating System is Windows 2008 R2 of further there should not be any problem to run it on Powershell 2.0

Instructions:

Open a Powershell windows as Administrator

Execute the next cmdlet in order to be able to execute non-signed scripts: Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Execute the script using the next syntax: .\Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 -UpdateServer FQDNoftheWSUSserver -Port xx -SkipDecline

Example: .\Decline-SupersededUpdates.ps1 -UpdateServer wsus.domain.local -Port 8530 -SkipDecline

 

After the process finishes we need to run the WSUS Cleanup:

From WSUS Console, go to Options, and open WSUS Cleanup Wizard

– Select only the 4th and 5th option: Expired Updates and Superseded Updates

– After the process finishes, run the Wizard again, just selecting the 1st Option: Unused updates and update revisions.

You might have to run this multiple times, untill it stops giving timeout errors – in case you got A LOT of expired and superseded updates – I’ve put up a script to perform this task instead. – see this post: https://blog.thomasmarcussen.com/susdb-maintenance/

  • Check if the affected clients are running Windows 7 – 32 bit version.

In this case, we will need to ensure that they have at least the WU Agent revision from June 2015:                               (You can download it from Here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265 )

  • – Clean the bloated update cache on the affected clients:

From a CMD as Administrator execute:

Net stop AppIDSvc

net stop wuauserv

net stop cryptsvc

ren %windir%\SoftwareDistribution %windir%\SoftwareDistribution.old

ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 oldcatroot2

Delete, in the registry: the PingID, SUSClientID and the AccountDomainSID values from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate

Then execute:

net start AppIDSvc

net start wuauserv

net start cryptsvc

wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow