RPC over HTTP provides a connection to exchange servers, from outside the organization, without the need of a VPN connection. This is great thing if it works, but very hard to troubleshoot when it goes wrong and even harder troubleshooting somebody else’s server when you have no idea what  it is that has changed to break it. I’ll mention a great tool to point you in the right direction of troubleshooting as there is so much which could go wrong and blindly trying it all might even damage your server more. This tool was created by Microsoft and is found at https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com This is one of the best things from Microsoft. It helps to narrow down the issue to the exact part which is not working correctly. I was getting this message: The connection to the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action. I have had this problem before, but it’s not quite the same problem, so before you spend hours searching or guessing what the problem is, consider running the connectivity test and then pick the solution. My problem of course was not only one, but multiple issues. Easy solutions to this problem:

• Check all required exchange services are started (system attendant etc.)
• Check event log for any errors related to this problem.
• Re-install RPC over HTTP (add/remove windows components)

If any of these worked, then great, if not here is the harder part: Run the RPC over HTTP exchange analyzer, what the results showed for me was issue with the RPC ports. This is very useful tool to set your registry to the correct values http://www.petri.co.il/software/rpcnofrontend.zip remember to restart the server after making the change and backup your registry before, just in case. To check the port settings see following registry keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Rpc\Rpcproxy – required ports are 6001,6002 and 6004, strange range of ports up to 5000 was set in my case. Re-running the connectivity analyzer then showed an error with the GAL, which I suspected earlier, but being part of multiple issues this wasn’t resolved as I have reverted my changes back to original. I then remade the change to the GAL permissions, which should be list, read and open address list and the issue was solved!!! The easiest way of all to fix this problem is to migrate the customers email to our new Cloud Email offering and put the SBS 2003 server to rest and no longer have to worry about supporting Exchange.

I have decided to write this article after spending weeks troubleshooting Exchange 2003 on Small Business Servers with various active sync issues.There are many issues and many solutions, I will try to describe the majority of problems which I have come across and troubleshooting steps. 1: Check your Exchange services are started ( default services settings)

2: Service pack 2 for Exchange 2003 Not a part of standard update to download follow this link: http://goo.gl/of9DE. To check if you have service pack installed, go to Exchange System Manager, right-click your server and go to properties. This is required by iOS 3: Check that your firewall allows traffic on port 443 4: Check the Exchange network connection is at the top of the list in advance network settings 5: Check directory security in IIS Exchange Virtual Directory

• Authentication = Integrated & Basic
• Default Domain = NetBIOS domain name – e.g., yourcompany*
• Realm = yourcompany.com
• IP Address Restrictions = Granted Access
• Secure Communications = Require SSL IS ticked (very important)

Microsoft-Server-Activesync Virtual Directory

• Authentication = Basic
• Default Domain = NETBIOS domain name – e.g., yourcompany*
• Realm = NETBIOS name
• IP Address Restrictions = Granted Access
• Secure Communications = Require SSL and Require 128-Bit Encryption NOT ticked

Exchange-oma Virtual Directory

• Authentication = Integrated & Basic
• Default Domain = NETBIOS domain name – e.g., yourcompany*
• Realm = NETBIOS name
• IP Address Restrictions = Restricted to IP Address of Server
• Secure Communications = Require SSL and Require 128-Bit Encryption NOT ticked OMA Virtual Directory
• Authentication = Basic
• Default Domain = NETBIOS domain name – e.g., yourcompany*
• Realm = NETBIOS name
• IP Address Restrictions = Granted Access
• Secure Communications = Require SSL and Require 128-Bit Encryption NOT ticked

Public Virtual Directory

• Authentication = Integrated & Basic
• Default Domain = NetBIOS domain name – e.g., yourcompany* (no more than 15 characters)
• Realm = yourcompany.com
• IP Address Restrictions = Granted Access
• Secure Communications = Require SSL IS ticked (very important)

6: ASP.Net version should be set to 1.1 for all the above directories 7: HTTP keep-alives needs to be enabled Under Default Website Properties on the Web Site tab check if the http keep-alives is enabled 8: Advanced Website Identification Make sure this is set to All Unassigned with port 80 on the Web Site tab 9: Uninstall IPV6 Make sure IPV6 is not installed, if installed uninstall 10: SSL certificate Make sure the name on the certificate matches fully qaulified domain name for the ActiveSync, check on the Directory Security tab, View Certificate 11: import ssl certificate For the iPhone and windows mobile you will have to import the certificate to the phone, easiest option is to publish the cert on the web, then navigate to it with your mobile browser and install the certificate Godaddy Certificate Instructions To Install Your SSL in Microsoft IIS 6

1. From the Start menu, click Run….
2. Type mmc and click OK. The Microsoft Management Console (Console) opens.
3. From the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap In.
4. Select Certificates, and then click Add.
5. Select Computer Account, and then click Next.
6. Select Local Computer, then click Finish.
7. Click OK to close Add or Remove Snap-ins.
8. In the Console window, expand the Certificates folder.
9. Right-click Intermediate Certification Authorities, mouse-over All Tasks, then click Import.
10. In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next.
11. Click Browse to find the certificate file.
12. In the bottom right corner, change the file extension filter to *.p7b.
13. Select the appropriate certificate file and click Open.
14. Click Next.
15. Select Place all certificates in the following store.
16. Click Browse, select Intermediate Certification Authorities, and then click Next.
17. Click Finish.
18. Close the Console window.
19. From the Start menu, go to Administrative Tools and click Internet Information Service console.
20. Right-click the website or host name for your certificate.
21. Click Properties.
22. Click the Directory Security tab.
23. Click Server Certificate..
24. The Welcome to the Web Server Certificate Wizard window opens. Click Next.
25. Select Process the pending request and install the certificate, and then clickNext.
26. Click Browse. Select all files, and select your certificate file.
27. Click Next.
28. Verify the Certificate Summary, and then click Next.
29. Click Finish.

This is another situation where a migration to our Cloud Email service would remove the pain of managing an aging SBS 2003 or 2008 system. Have a look around our website to see how our services can make your life easier. Usefull tools http://goo.gl/BA7ZJ http://goo.gl/Xsx3t Resources used http://goo.gl/rpqBh http://goo.gl/p2uwN http://goo.gl/Hm81o

We have just booked a stand at the Richmond Business Expo on the 19th of April from 1pm to 8pm. Come and visit us there! We will be providing free advice to businesses on how the latest advances in IT can help their business.

With Microsoft’s new Operating System, Windows 8, preview out I decided to have a go at creating an app for it. The app I made was a simple “Hello World” app in which you type your name into an input box and when you press enter the app says hello to you. To do this you need to have Windows 8 preview and Microsoft Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8. I shall talk you through the steps to make this app in this blog. 1) Creating the App The first thing you need to do (after installing Windows 8 and Microsoft Studio express 2012 RC) is to create a blank app. To do this open up Studio Express, click “File” and then click “New Project”. A menu will pop up with options for different apps. Select “Blank App” and name it “HelloWorld”. When you are done click “OK” and you will have created a blank app for you to play with! 2) Creating Your Start Page Now that you have a blank app we now need to set up your start page. The start page is what will appear when you start up your app. At the moment, if you have left the default code, when you click the start button your start page will be a black screen with “Content goes here” displayed. To change this you need to go to the default.html file and replace the code for “Content goes here” with the following code (*NOTE: leave the CSS code alone. Can use it later to set the background):

<body>
    <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
    <p>What's your name?</p>
    <input id="nameInput" type="text" />
    <button id="helloButton">Say "Hello"</button>
    <div id="greetingOutput"></div>
</body>

This should create a start page with the Heading “Hello, world!” with a sentence under saying “what is your name?” along with an input box and a button. 3) Creating and Registering Event Handler for the App To get your Hello World to work you now need to go to the default.js file and create an event handler for your app. This is where you write the code to provide interactivity for your HTML code. Leave any default code in there and in the boundaries of the function type in the following: function buttonClickHandler(eventInfo) { var userName = document.getElementById("nameInput").value; var greetingString = "Hello, " + userName + "!"; document.getElementById("greetingOutput").innerText = greetingString; } Now that the event handler has been created you need to register it. To do this you need to add the following code app.onactivated section of the default.js file: var helloButton = document.getElementById("helloButton"); helloButton.addEventListener("click", buttonClickHandler, false); Now if you’ve done it right then when you start up and type in your name and click then button then it should display “Hello, *yourname*!” If this works for you then congratulations! You can now expand on what you have done here like changing the background using CSS or add different functions so that you get different messages appear with different names. I hope you found this blog useful.

Hello everyone, over the past week I have been migrating alfresco from my server to a virtual server on the cloud. I shall run you through the steps I took to successfully set it up. 1) Preparing the new server for Alfresco The first thing I did before touching my old server was to set up my VServer and make it ready for alfresco. This involved downloading alfresco community 4.0d and postgreSQL Admin 3. For Alfresco, once it has been installed on the server, turn off tomcat and don’t go into the setup process. All the config files will be migrated over so you shouldn’t have to config alfresco at all on your new server. Leave Postgres running though. This will be needed for restoring the alfresco database through pg_admin. You will also not be able to set up pg_admin if the postgres port is closed so leave it on and open. 2) Backing up the Alfresco Database Once the new server was all prepared for alfresco I went back to my old alfresco server and went about backing up my database. This contains all the files, users, settings e.t.c. for alfresco. Before you do this make sure you have turned off tomcat, using the alfresco manager tool, otherwise people we still be able to upload files to alfresco and we don’t want that. To back up my alfresco database I used the pg_admin tool on the server, right clicked on the alfresco database and clicked backup. What options you choose are up to you but make sure you back it up into alfresco\alf_data\backups folder as the the alf_data folder is what you’ll be migrating over. 3) Backing up the TomCat extension’s folder Once your database is backed up move on to backing up the tomcat extenions folder. This is located at alfresco\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco. This folder contains all the scripts and config files for tomcat. Back up the extension fodler to alfresco\alf_data\backups folder for migration. 4) Compress the alf-data folder and migrate Once everything has been backed up to the alf_data folder you are ready for migration. Before I migrated the folder I compressed it. This makes it a smaller size and makes it easier to transfer to the new server. To compress the folder just right click alf_data, go to send to and click compress. This makes the folder ready for transferring. Whatever method you choose to transfer the data is up to you. Just transfer it to your Alfresco folder. 5) Setting up Alf_data Having transferred your compressed alf_data folder to the the alfresco folder in your new server, unzip the folder and move the alf_data folder into the alfresco folder. Make sure you rename the alf_data folder to something else otherwise they will conflict and alfresco won’t work. Also it gives a restore point should everything go wrong but it is up to you whether or not you delete them or just rename them. 6) Moving the backed up TomCat extensions folder This step is pretty similar to the last. Just move the the extensions folder to Alfresco\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco and rename or delete the extentions folder already there. Make sure the extensions folder is actually called extension otherwise alfresco won’t work. Also, do a quick check search to make sure there isn’t any reference to the old server in the files as alfresco won’t work on the new one. If there is just change it to the new server. 7) Resorting Alfresco database This step can be rather tricky and complicated. Theoretically you should be able to restore the database using pg_admin. Just right click on the alfresco databse already in pg_admin, choose the backup from the alf_data backups folder and click restore. When I did this it didn’t work so I reverted to using command line. To do this open up command prompt and follow these steps: 1) Using the CD command to make the backup folder you current directory. cd c:\alfresco\alf_data\backup 2) Run the psql program to establish a connection with the database (-d), the super user (-U) and the directory path to the file to be restored (-f). psql -d postgres -U postgres -f c:\alfresco\alf_data\backup\(name of backed up database) You’ll then be asked for the password for the database. Once entered the database will be restored. After this is completed then you alfresco should be fully migrated with all the files and settings from the old server. 8) Check Alfresco is working Once the database has been restored then alfresco should be fully migrated. Start up tomcat in the alfresco manager tool and try and login into alfresco over your internet browser. If you manage to login then check your files are there and that you are able to access them. If you can then congratulations! you have migrated alfresco successfully. If you can’t login or your files aren’t there check the alfresco log or your postgreSQL database to see any errors or missing data.

Hello, today I will be talking to you about Intel’s Thunderbolt technology. Thunderbolt technology is a dual protocol I/O that utilizes PCI Express and DisplayPort over a cable that can transmit data and video bi-directionally. The cable has a bandwidth on 10Gbps and is used with the thunderbolt controller. The controller controls the processing, sending and receiving of data. In a device that is daisy chained to other devices the controller passes data packets up and down stream. The cable itself is made from copper, although it was originally supposed to be fiber optic, due to cheaper cost. In the future it is planned to release a fiber optic cable Your device can be daisy chained, using the thunderbolt cable, between 7 devices (6 thunderbolt devices and 1 DisplayPort Monitor) and can utilize each devices hardware (as long as they have a thunderbolt controller). This means that if you have a cheap, not very powerful laptop, with a thunderbolt controller built inside, then you can link it up to a monitor and 6 other devices and, theoretically speaking, use their memory, graphics card etc. and turn your cheap laptop into a relatively powerful computer. Considering that apple are the main users of thunderbolt, with it being used in their MacBook Pro, and with technology shifting away from PC’s and more towards tablets (this is shown with Microsoft’s Windows 8 and the unveiling of the surface tablet) I can imagine this technology being used to complement the technology inside a tablet. When unplugged, your tablet can be a portable device that you can use for basic tasks (like browsing the web, reading emails, listening to music etc.). But when you get it all plugged in then you can use your tablet to run the latest games or run applications that are too demanding for the technology your tablet fields. ASUS have recently released a new motherboard, the P8Z77-V Premium, which has thunderbolt integrated into it. This is an option to take, if you want to use thunderbolt, without having to buy a Mac. However, I would recommend waiting a bit until you decide to invest in Thunderbolt. Current purchase of a thunderbolt cable is priced around £40 and the technology itself is rather buggy so some time should be allowed for the bugs to be ironed out and the prices to drop.

Hello, today i will be showing you how to recover a deleted office 365 mailbox using powershell. From time to time mistakes happen and, at least with Microsoft technology, there are ways of recovering data that has been deleted. Now, usually with Office 365 it’s a simple case of going to the Exchange server, viewing the deleted mailbox’s and clicking the recover button. However, if you are unlucky this method won’t work and you’ll have to fall back on to using powershell. If you have used Powershell before then you can skip to step 4, if not then start from the top: 1) Check the Execution policy The first thing you need to do is to check what execution policy you are using. The execution policy you use determines what scripts you can use. to do this you need to use the get command, like so: Get-ExecutionPolicy This will then display the your current execution policy. If it is set to strict then you’ll need to change the policy to remotesigned as you won’t be able to run any scripts. by setting it to remotesigned you can run any downloaded script that has been signed by a trusted publisher. To change the execution policy to need to type in the following: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned You will be asked to confirm that you want to change the execution policy, just press “Y” and it should be changed. Once you’ve done that then you can move on to the next step. 2) Get Credentials This step is so that you can access your office 365 account that you are the administrator of. To do this you need to type in the following code: = Get-Credential A pop up box will appear asking for your email address and password. Type in the the email address that you use to access the office 365 of which you are an administrator. Note: it is important that you make sure you type in the correct information. If you don’t type it in correctly then when you do the next step you will get back an error and will have do do it all over again 3) Set up your session and importing it the next thing you need to do is configure your session. Essentially what this step is doing is connecting to the exchange server. to do this you need to type in the following code: = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection Once you’ve entered that powershell will attempt to go and check the connection to your exchange server. Once that is done you can move on to importing the session. To import your session you need to type in the following: Import-PSSession Once that is done powershell will go about importing your session so that you are fully connected up to the exchange server. Once it has finished importing you can move on to the next step. 4) Recovering the mailbox This is the script that you’ve probably been waiting for. This script will create a new account, find the deleted account and then recover all the data to the new account. To do this you need to type in the following code: New-Mailbox -Name “John Contoso” -RemovedMailbox “John Contoso” -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID [email protected] -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString -String ‘Pa$’ -AsPlainText -Force) Just replace the “John Contoso” with the details of the user mailbox that you are trying to recover. Once all the correct details are filled in press enter and get a message saying that it is trying to recover the mailbox. Note: it can take up to 8 hours for the mailbox to be recovered so it’s best to just leave it recovering for the day. In this time you won’t be able to access Outlook with the email address but you will be able to see it in the users section of Office 365. Just log in as the users every so often and check that you can get access to Outlook.

Cloud Security can be complex to understand. The best way to think about it is as you would about a safe. There are varying different products which range from something that will open if you drop it, up to a bank vault. There are many different types of cloud services. For example these range from consumer services such as Google Drive/Apps and Dropbox, to business solutions such as hosted desktops and infrastructure as a service. A large risk companies have at the moment is if staff starts to use the consumer services for businesses purposes as the company will then lose all control over the data held in these services and it will become a huge security risk. This is normally caused by companies failing to keep up with the new technologies available which allow members of staff to work in the most efficient way. In order to discuss Cloud security I will talk about the general areas which affect cloud services and some ways to mitigate the risk. The Wikipedia article on Cloud security (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing_security) breaks down the risks of Cloud Security into the following sections which I will discuss. Identity management: The first issue that arises from cloud services is Identity management. This will normally entail how usernames and passwords are controlled. There are many options on how to implement this between your organization and a cloud service. A good cloud provider should work with you on implementing how this will work. However they should only ever implement something as secure, if not more secure than what is currently being used. A simple thing to look out for will be what their password requirements are. If they allow you to have password of password1 it is unlikely the rest of their system will be very secure. Physical and personnel security: The next issue of security is how secure their hardware is where your data will be stored. The best way to find this out is to ask for a visit to see the provider’s system where your data will be held. You should look for things like a secure fence around the building. Expect to have to go through security checkpoints provide ID and be escorted around the building at all times. Ask yourself the question how easy would it be for someone to break in and access the systems if they had malicious intent. On top of this the people who have access to the systems should be limited and documented so it is known who has access and when they have. It is also important to know where your data is being held to be compliant with things such as the data protection act. There are many companies which will store your data all over the world in order to reduce costs. Availability: Any cloud provider should be able to guarantee a certain level of availability to your systems in a secure way. The best way to ensure this is to make sure you have an approved SLA (Service Level Agreement) in your contract with the provider and ensure that if it is not met there are penalties for the provider. A service level agreement is a document used to define the level of uptime, how long support requests should take to be answered/completed and various other things which define the quality of service expected. Application security: Application security is very important in a cloud environment. A cloud provider should work with you on rolling out any software that is required to your environment. This should go through testing and be approved by the provider before being rolled out. A cloud provider should work with you on application deployment and should in some situations tell you no this application cannot be deployed. Of course they should then work with you on finding an alternative piece of software which is secure. Privacy: This involves how access to your private data is controlled. This can be credit card details or passwords. The best way I have found to test this is to say you have forgotten your password. If they are able to tell you what your password is then their system is not secure. A forgotten password should always be reset to a new one. This is because there should never be a way to find out what someone’s password is. Passwords should always be stored with one way encryption so should not be able to be found out. Another warning sign is if they ask you for your password when providing support. A good provider will never ask for your password, but reset it to something while they need access and get you to change it as soon as they are finished. Business continuity and data recovery: This is the process which a cloud provider should have in place in the event that a disaster happens. The process should be documented with times until the system is back up and running documented. It should be tested regularly, a minimum of once every 6 months or after any change to the infrastructure. Ask to see a provider’s disaster recovery plan and when it was last tested. Logs and audit trails: The final thing to check is to ensure there is adequate logging and audit trails of access are kept for as long as needed and secured properly. A cloud provider should work with you to define these. There are many different aspects of cloud security but hopefully this has given you some tips of what to look out for.

Printing is an age old technology that has revolutionized industry over the ages. From the old press printers that were used a couple of centurys ago, to the modern day laser printer: using such technology has allowed us to create and distribute books, newspapers, posters and photographs to the masses. However, the main limitation of printing is that it can only be done in 2D, which limits it to only printing images and text onto thin materials i.e. paper, card etc. This is where 3D printers come in. 3D printing is a relatively new technology that allows you to create 3D objects from the comfort of your desk chair. How It Works There are different techniques of creating an item using a 3D printer, but they all follow the same basic principle: using a liquid material, you build up layers into the created model. So what will happen is the 3D model that has been created on your computer will be broken down into different thickness layers. The printer, using the chosen material, will start from the bottom and will gradually build upon layer after layer until you get your model. This mean’s you can create a model, albeit a small one, of anything. Uses In Industry This technology is currently in use in the industry and is used in many areas. Architects, designers and engineers can use it to create scale models of products, from homes to toys, in very quick time. However the hope is to use 3D printers for mass production. The 3D printer could, theoretically, create components for products in quick time to be taken away for assembly. All you would need to do is create the schematics for the product on a computer, choose what material you wish to create it with and then click print. This can revolutionize any manufacturing, or even repairing, industry out there. For example, a customers car is broken due to a faulty part that needs replacing. Conventionally, you will have to either stock or order in the part that needs replacing. However, with a 3D printer you can easily create the part and have the car fixed in less time. Uses In The Home Even with its advances in technology, 3D printers are still rather expensive pieces of kit. However they are still available for people to buy and use at home. Currently they are used by hobbyists to create whatever they can think of but scientists are thinking of ways they can intergrate 3D printers in the home. Scientists are currently working on a 3D printer that can create food. What you do is put in the canisters of the ingredients to wish to use, like ink catridges in a printer, and then tell the printer what you want it to make. You can decide how hot the food is, how crispy it is and even the texture of the food. This could potentially change our health habits with what we eat. For example, today you buy a ready meal, put it in either the microwave or the oven and then eat it once its cooked, which involves minimal input to what the food contains nutrionally. However, with a 3D printer you can, potentially, decide on the the nutrient, salt and fat content the food has which could essentially affect our health for the better. What is so interesting about a 3D printer is the possibilities for creation. From a scientific point of view, everything is made of layers of particles. So in that sense, with the correct building materials in the printer you can create anything that can come to mind in less time than it would to create with your hands.

Sometimes with PC’s you will get a problem that only wiping the computer clean will fix. Traditionally you’d need your Windows (or whatever operating system you’re using) CD and do a CD boot along with a clean install. However, what if you don’t have the disk? Well with laptops they have the ability to reset to factory settings. So basically, what will happen is the laptop will wipe everything off of the hard drive that you are using and then will reinstall the operating system and applications it came with out of the box. To do a factory reset of your laptop, follow these steps: 1) Do a back up Before you do a factory reset remember to do a backup of all the document’s that you want to keep. Nothing will be spared from your clean wipe of the hard drive so back it up to and external hard drive. If you are doing a factory reset of your laptop due to a virus then be careful of the fact that the virus may be attached to your backed up documents and settings so make sure that you scan and destroy the virus before you restore your settings. 2) Find out which F key it is that you press during the computer boot to start the factory reset To do your factory reset you have to press a certain F key, when the laptop boot’s up, to start the factory reset. This varies from the different brand and model of laptop, an example being that for the Sony VAIO line of laptops you have to hold down alt+F10 during boot to start up the factory reset process. So before you start your factory reset, do some research on the make and model of the laptop to find out what you need to press. 3) Obtain the key for the Operating system that originally came with the Laptop All paid for operating systems require an activation code to activate your operating system. A number of times the operating system action code is on the laptop itself. This can be found off the bottom of the laptop. If it isn’t there then check the box or manual that came with it to see if it is there. 4) Start the Factory Reset Now that you know your activation code and the F key combination to start up the factory reset and that you’ve done a back up of your documents and setting then you are ready to do a factory reset. First things first, restart your laptop. When its booting up press the F key combination. This should bring up the system recovery console. Choose to do a full system wipe: this will wipe all the data from the hard drive you are using. Click next and it will start the process. Once it’s finished wiping the hard drive the laptop will then start to reinstall the operating system. Install the operating system and once you are finished with that then it will restart and ask to install the applications. Reinstall those as well. Once the OS and the applications are installed then you have successfully done a factory reset on your laptop! Now all that is left to do is update the operating system, install anti-virus software and then restore your backup. I hope this has helped you.