I recently came across this error within an Server 2008 Active Directory Environment where I attempted to add a domain user account to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 x64.

As you may see on the internet, the problem is in fact related to SID, but in my situation it was not the SSID of the user, but of the actual server.  The instance of Server 2008 x64 is running in VMWare Workstation 7 and was created by cloning another VM.  This, of course, makes them identical, such that changing the computer name only results in what ‘appears’ to be disparite systems.  In a workgroup this shouldn’t be an issue, but once Active Directory is introduced, it gets wacky.  AD relies on SID’s, and thus, acts unpredictably when 2 machines / users / groups have the same SID.  This is further exagerated when SQL Server is involved, since it creates and / or stores its own SID for the user.

Here are the steps I followed to solve this issue:

1. Remove the server running SQL Server from the domain.  Reboot.
2. Verify the AD Computer Account has been deleted for the system (on a domain controller).
3. Run newSID.exe (found here) and change the SID of the server running SQL Server to a new random SID.  Reboot.
4. Add server back to the domain and verify the account is created within AD.

Once I did all that, the user added with ease.

Good luck.

So I finally figured out what was causing my RAID 5 on my Windows Server 2008 box to always rebuild on reboot.  For a little background, since I am currently not offering any services to any clients that require the server to remain powered up 24 hours a day, I shut her down for about 6 to 8 hours in the evening (while I sleep, she sleeps).  Every morning I start her back up, and she would rebuild the Array.  BUT WHY!?  It was a graceful shutdown.  The logs showed nothing out of the ordinary.  So I started to poke around to see what was going on.

To my amazement, the Windows Search indexer was the problem.  This cranky service would not shutdown gracefully, and would actually be in the middle of a write to disk right before the system killed it.  So I tried to remove the RAID from indexing… but that didn’t help.  After looking I found that I had actually set the indexer to save the index on the array, which would have given the array an excuse to rebuild: indexer closed improperly and did not close the index files correctly.

My solution was to remove the array from the indexer’s allowed paths (do not index the array – I’ll wait the extra 10 seconds to find anything that I’m looking for) and I moved the index files to the system drive (yes it may cause minor performance degredation and maybe wear on the system drive, but not nearly as much as a 6 hour RAID rebuild EVERY DAY!).

I have been rebooting for the past 4 days with no issues.

I recently installed a new hard drive into my server running Server 2008.  Everything worked fine, until I rebooted.  I tried to copy a file to the disk and recieved an error that the drive, in my case E:, was write protected.  I don’t know how or why that happened, but the solution is fairly simple.  The steps are as follows:

1. Open a command prompt (ie. Start > Run > cmd) with administrative privledges
2. Type in the command: diskpart
3. Run the command: list disk
4. Look for the disk number that’s having the problem.  In my case I have a system drive, a RAID 5 configuration (1 logical drive) and then the new drive, so it was DISK 2.  I will continue to use it in the example but note that yours may differ.
5. Select the disk using the following command: sel disk 2
6. Enter the following command: ATTRIBUTES DISK CLEAR READONLY
7. Exit diskpart with the command: exit

Then test by copying a file or folder to the drive.  It should be fairly instantaneous, but worst case you may have to reboot (I did not, however).

That’s about it.  It would be interesting to know WHY this happened, but then again, does it really matter?

Good luck.

If the boot loader to your Windows Server 2008 machine gets corrupted or deleted for whatever reason, it really is a painstaking process to get it fixed.  The boot loader to my machine got deleted somehow while I was resizing partitions.  After scouring the web, I could not find anything on rebuilding the boot loader for Windows Server 2008.  All I could find were instructions to restore a Windows Vista boot loader, but luckily, the process for Server 2008 is similar.

If you are getting a “bootmgr is missing” error upon startup or something similar, repairing the boot loader will probably fix the problem.

Due to the lack of recovery tools on the Server 2008 installation CD, the boot loader must be rebuilt manually.

For this guide, I’m going to assume your installation has a drive letter of C:.

Insert the Server 2008 installation CD into your DVD-ROM.  Restart your computer and boot from the CD.

Choose to repair your computer, then open the command prompt.

At the command prompt, use the following commands:

c:
cd boot
bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr
bootrec /rebuildbcd

After using the “bootrec /rebuldbcd” command, you will be prompted to accept a Windows installation.  Accept the installation, then wait for the process to finish.  Once it’s done, reboot your comptuer and you should have a boot loader ready to go.

I recently came across an application provided by Intel for the purpose of benchmarking NAS devices (Define: Network Attached Storage).  I’ve been looking for a solution to benchmark the new RAID-5 array I created on my Windows Server 2008 server (I love the RAID’s redundancy, but the write speeds are quite low).  I wanted to get a better idea of its performance, as Windows will report 250 – 150 MB READS and 20 – 50 MB WRITES, which is considerably poor considering the 4 drives are individually benchmarked at ~100 MB READS and 60 MB WRITES (They are Western Digital Caviar Blues / RE3 / RE16).

The software can be found here or from Intel here.

System Specifications:

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2008 Enterprise Edition, SP1
CPU Type: Pentium 4 630, 3000 MHz w/ Hyperthreading
Motherboard Name: Dell Dimension 8400
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Alderwood i925XE
Motherboard Frontside Bus Speed: 800 MHz
System Memory (RAM): 4 GB, Dual Channel
System Memory Speed / Timings: DDR2-533 (266 MHz) / 4-4-4-12
Hard Drive Controller Interface: SATA I (1.5 Gbits / s) = 150 MB/s (maximum)
Hard Drives: Western Digital

• Drive #1 – WDC WD5002ABYS-01B1B (465 GB)
• Drive #2 – WDC WD5002ABYS-01B1B (465 GB)
• Drive #3 – WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B (465 GB)
• Drive #4 – WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B (465 GB)
• Drive #5 – WDC WD800BB-00JHC0 (74 GB) – SYSTEM

Raid Configuration: Software 4 disk RAID-5 (4 x 500GB, 1.36 TB Effective Storage Space)

System Memory Benchmark: Copy – 4790 MB/s, Read – 6266 MB/s, Write – 3341 MB/s, Latency – 92.7 ns
System Processor Benchmark: CPU ZLib – 10592 KB/s, CPU AES  – 3055

Benchmarks completed using Everest Ultimate Edition v4.20.1257

All drives are SATA II (3.0 GB/s) but are running in backwards-capability mode.

The primary roles of the server is to serve files and store backups (File Server) and web and application development and website hosting (Web Server).  I do not stream media, play music from the server or write extremely large amounts of data that are time sensitive.  Therefore, my decision for RAID-5 was based on the space savings (n – 1) storage availability and the redundancy by means of the parity.  I am willing to give up performance (write and read) for storage space and redundancy, but I want to know how much I’m actually giving up.

Tests

• HD Video Playback, 2x HD Video Playback, 3x HD Video Playback, 4x HD Video Playback

These benchmarks examine the behavior of the NAS unit while (simultaneously) playing one or more HD video files at 720p using Windows Media Player. Intel gives a percentage rate for the sequential reading of data in these tests, which lies at 99.5% for the HD Video Playback Test. With 2x HD Video Playback, it lies at 18.1%. The result is 6.6% with 3x HD Video Playback and 9.6 % with 4x HD Video Playback.

• HD Video Record

This test writes an HD Video file in 720p format to the NAS unit. This test is made of up of mostly sequentially transferred data.

• HD Video Playback & Recording

HD Video Play & Record examines the behavior of the NAS unit when simultaneously reading and writing an HD Video file in the 720p format. The sequentially-transferred data in this test is approximately 18% of the test.

• HD 2x Playback 2x Record

This benchmark is similar to the one above, but the proportion of sequential file operations is 3%.

• HD Playback With Office

This metric measures the data transfer rates when an HD Video file is read from the NAS unit while working with the Office applications. This test is made up of 608 files. The proportion of sequential file operations is 53.2%.

• HD Playback With Backup

Like the previous test, but this time an HD Video file is played while simultaneously carrying out a backup on the NAS unit.

• Content Creation

This benchmark is made up of 95% write operations to the NAS unit. This simulates the creation of files on the NAS unit such as is the case when, for example, using video editing programs.

• File Copy To NAS / File Copy From NAS

These tests determine the data transfer rate when copying files to or from the NAS unit. In both of these test processes, a 4 GB file is copied. Unlike with Backup / Restore, 64 KB is read and written.

• Directory Copy From NAS / Directory Copy To NAS

Similar to the previous test, files are copied to and from the NAS unit. A total of 126 files with a total size of approximately 188 MB are written and read across the network.

• Photo Album

This test determines how the NAS unit handles the supply of a multitude of small files—for example, viewing digital photographs stored on the NAS unit. It simulates the viewing of a total of 169 photographs with an overall size of approximately 1.2 GB.

Considerations and Assumptions

These tests were conducted on the Server, not over the network, which will probably result in very high throughput.  I did this to get a feel for the actual performance, not that felt over the wire, and because I’m currently running 100 Mbps (Cat 5e) on my LAN, not gigabit.  Thus, I did not want the network to be the bottleneck in these tests, as it would be saturated and skew the results.

I ran the tests 6 times, in each, manipulating the environment to establish a real world benchmark.  Since this benchmark is done via an application, it will compete with other processes for resources.  Additionally, it will compete with the actual Operating System who is responsible for transfering the data to the disk and calculating the parity for the raid (which is quite memory and CPU intensive).  For test 6 I ran the system in Safe Mode, utilizing only necessary processes and services to run the operating system (Safe Mode without Networking).  Thus, the numbers are quite high.  In the others, I ran Outlook, SQL, browsed the internet and downloading files via torrents (to the actual RAID, so this will mess with the numbers as well) – not all at the same time, of course, except for test 4.

Results

Discussion

I attribute the absurd file copy speeds to caching and buffering at both the OS, RAID and the Drive level, as well as the writes for the video recording.  All in all, I’m pleased with the benchmarks and am satisfied with the set up.  One thing to note is that the tests were done from the SYSTEM drive to the RAID, and thus, the SYSTEM drive introduced an additional bottleneck as the transfers from it to the RAID were going to be quite slow (the drive is benchmarked at ~56MB READ and ~30 WRITE).

Microsoft recently released a cool new ASP.NET server control – <asp:chart /> – that can be used for free with ASP.NET 3.5 to enable rich browser-based charting scenarios.

LINK

Iraq boots out the Americans

Nov 20th 2008 | BAGHDAD
From The Economist print edition

WHEN General David Petraeus, now America’s most celebrated military commander, arrived in Iraq in 2003 at the head of an airborne division, he asked a journalist: “Tell me how this ends?” For years nobody had a good answer. But now, thanks to a military pact between America and Iraq, a conclusion is in sight: America’s war in Iraq will end in three years’ time, with American troops being shown the door and Iraqi politicians competing to claim credit for getting rid of the foreigners.

A “withdrawal agreement” approved by the Iraqi cabinet on November 16th requires American troops to pull out of Iraqi towns and cities by the end of June next year, and to leave Iraq altogether by December 31st 2011. Those deadlines, said Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, in a televised address, would not be extended. The deal was not perfect, but marked “a solid start for Iraq to regain its full sovereignty in three years.”

There were no secret articles, he said, and there would be no permanent American bases. Iraq could not be used to attack others (ie, Syria or Iran). There would be, he promised, “no detainees any more, no detention centres any more, no searches or raids of buildings or houses, until there is an Iraqi judicial warrant and it is fully co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.”

This is a big moment for America and Iraq, yet the Iraqi government was more regretful than jubilant, calling the deal the best it could achieve after more than a year of negotiations. The Bush administration, now in its last weeks in power, made several concessions. It had long opposed any notion of a fixed timetable for withdrawal, saying any troop pull-out had to be based on security conditions on the ground. The White House said the new deadlines were “aspirational”, but the text leaves less wiggle-room; clauses allowing for a review of the deadline, and the possibility that some American troops would stay on to train and support Iraqi forces, have been deleted. Security has improved markedly. But the political context has also shifted against the Bush administration—and the Iraqis have got their timetable.

In America, Ike Skelton, chairman of the House armed services committee, a Democrat, said he was worried by provisions that could result in American troops facing prosecution in Iraqi courts. But the text suggests that this is a remote possibility. Iraq has legal jurisdiction over American troops only in cases of “major and intentional crimes”, and even then only when they are outside their bases and off-duty.

The agreement should make life easier for Barack Obama, although there is some dispute as to whether it will have to be ratified by the American Congress. The deal supports the president-elect’s principle of a firm timetable for leaving Iraq, but allows him to draw out the process beyond the 16-month withdrawal he promised in his campaign. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said America had so much equipment that it would take two or three years to withdraw completely—security conditions permitting.

The agreement was strongly endorsed by the Iraqi cabinet but its passage through the Iraqi parliament, which could vote on it as early as November 24th, is less assured. There were brawls among the lawmakers when it was discussed on November 19th.

In a country with a history of intense opposition to military pacts with an invading power, the deal could polarise opinion. Followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric who heads a powerful (though now dormant) private army, oppose the treaty and demand an immediate withdrawal of foreign troops. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric, says any agreement had to restore Iraqi sovereignty and win “national consensus”. But he did not oppose it, which supporters take as tacit assent.

Some Sunnis want the agreement to be put to a referendum. Another contentious issue is the status of some 17,000 (mostly Sunni) prisoners in American hands. The Iraqi government is due to take responsibility for them, but some Sunni leaders want them all released.

Iran is equivocal. The speaker of its parliament, Ali Larijani, said America was seeking to turn Iraq into a vassal. But the leader of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, said the Iraqi government “has done very well”. Some interpret this as Iranian endorsement. But like so much else in Iran, it is hard to pick out a genuine signal from the political noise.

Investor Daily: Yes, it sounds like pie-in-the-sky thinking right now. But there’s reason to think good things are in store for investors.

By Andy Serwer, managing editor

Last Updated: November 20, 2008: 8:08 AM ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) — I was thinking about the financial mess the other day and I came up with this theory. I’m wary of it because it’s comforting, even uplifting, and by definition any economic supposition that has a happy ending is suspect. So with that caveat here goes:

I remember talking to a wise man at the end of the last decade who was pointing out to me how much the market had gone up during the 1990s and how stocks couldn’t possibly continue to go up at that rate. The market’s historical annual mean gain is about 8%, and yet between 1990 and 2000 the market had climbed some 15% per annum.

There is only one way to revert to the mean, the wise man pointed out, and that is for the market to go up less than that for quite some time. So we were looking at low single digit gains – or worse – for years.

But how could that be, I asked? Remember, the world looked pretty damn good back then. Sure tech stock prices were ridiculous, but other than that, what could possibly make the market tank? I have no idea, the wise man said, it’s just very likely to happen.

And of course it did happen. First tech stocks crashed – and for sure, a few people saw that coming. But who envisioned the horror of 9/11 and its fallout? Who saw Enron, Worldcom and the wave of corporate scandals? Who saw Hurricane Katrina? And who saw this current financial meltdown. No one did. Back then our big concern was Y2K.

At the end of 1999 the Dow was around 11,400. Today the Dow is at 8,400, which means the index has fallen some 26%, a decline of almost 3% per year. With just one year left in this decade – even if 2009 is a humdinger – it is increasingly likely that first 10 years of this century will be one big washout for investors. A lost decade. (Just fyi, if the Dow had climbed up 8% a year from 11,400, the index would be over 22,000 now.) As for the Dow since 1990 – the entire 19-year period – the market has climbed on average some 6% per year.

The next big thing: Green tech?

So what does this mean for us going forward? Well, we don’t really know, but we can make assumptions. First, at some point the carnage will end. The government and the markets will somehow figure a way out of this mess. Stabilization and confidence will return, and the economy will recover.

Second, at some point stock price returns will revert back up to the mean. In fact, to revert to the mean, stocks will at some point have to exceed the mean, in other words go up more than 8%. I know it could be years off, but you see my logic. It’s just math.

And there’s the rub. I believe that in order for the market to achieve a sustainable advance that is above the mean, we are due for some unforeseen positive event or events. Think about it. In the 1990s stocks went way up because of an unanticipated revolution in technology, i.e., networking and the Internet. In this decade we had a slew of unexpected negative events – bookended by 9/11 and this current meltdown. At some point, and it may be a few years from now, we will likely be subjected to an unforeseen positive.

What will it be? Of course no one knows. If we did, it would be priced in. But you could see how something like this might work. Take, for example, the discovery of a sustainable energy source or sources. You can see the incredible boost this would be to our economy and our markets. Imagine the geopolitical benefits. (And how it might defang our enemies.) Imagine the boost to our national psyche. And on and on.

I know you might think this is wishful thinking. And, of course, it is. Right now we are in for the toughest slog we’ve had in decades. We are going to have sacrifice in unimaginable ways. It’s probably even true that George Soros is right and that we are at the end of the era of American dominance. (That’s okay. Who wants to dominate anyway?)

The bigger point is this: Somewhere over the horizon is an unrealized economic benefit that will lift us up in a way that right now, in the gloom, we can’t even imagine. We have much work to do in the meantime, but some day it will come.

5:23p ET November 18, 2008 (MarketWatch)

This is an update to correct the number of mortgages the FDIC plan aims to modify.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Democratic lawmakers told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday that he must reverse course and spend some of the $700 billion in bailout funds to keep individual homeowners from losing their homes.

“Some of this TARP money has to be used for mortgage foreclosure prevention,” House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank told Paulson at an oversight hearing on the Troubled Asset Relief Program on Tuesday.

“When the program was passed, very explicit language was included to provide for … mortgage foreclosure diminution as one of the purposes. There’s very specific language in there,” Frank said.

Paulson reiterated his opposition to using any of the money to buy mortgage-backed securities or individual mortgages, although that was his original plan in September when he asked Congress for an unprecedented amount of money to keep global credit markets going.

Paulson also opposed a proposal introduced Friday by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair, who is seeking to use $24.4 billion of the $700 billion authorized by Congress to modify loans and avert 1.5 million foreclosures.

Other Democratic lawmakers also expressed opposition to Paulson’s approach of investing money in banks and other financial institutions to bolster their capital and allow more lending.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., expressed support for Bair’s mortgage foreclosure prevention approach. “The purchase of toxic assets was at the centerpiece of this program, because everybody agreed at that time that the sub-prime meltdown was at the epicenter of the dislocation that we were experiencing in our economy,” Waters said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said she was concerned that the TARP money was being used to fund bank transactions rather than getting credit into communities. “We’re basically funding mergers and acquisitions, not lending,” Maloney said.

Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., said she was concerned that Paulson’s capital injection approach wasn’t doing much for Main Street America. “They’re still waiting to hear an answer as to how this is benefiting them,” Velazquez said.

Paulson said he is sticking with his plan to use the first half of the allocated government capital, $350 billion, to buy significant minority stakes in large, mid-sized and small financial institutions. Paulson said he changed the approach as market realities changed with it.

“Although we are not planning to initiate another capital program beyond those already announced, an emphasis on capital seems to us to be the better strategy going forward,” Paulson told lawmakers. “Congress passed legislation to deal with financial instability, and that is what we are doing.”

He said the best way to turn around the weak housing market was to “increase access to lower cost mortgage lending.”

He argued that the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was an important step in that direction.

Overall, Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended on Tuesday their stewardship of the $700 billion financial market rescue plan. “A lot of it still hasn’t gone out to the banks. I think we’ve turned the corner in terms of stabilizing the markets and banks, but we will see restoration to lending” Paulson said.

Paulson said that there was “no playbook” for the Bush administration to follow and so strategy had to be adjusted. He said the financial markets would be worse off if Congress had not approved the package.

Bernanke said he saw some improvements in credit markets, but said overall conditions remain “far from normal.”

Bair said the FDIC would adopt a Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program rule on Friday that would seek to unlock inter-bank credit markets and “restore rationality to the credit markets.”

Bair’s proposal would guarantee new, unsecured debt issued by banks, thrifts and bank holding companies issued between Oct. 14 and June 30. According to her proposal, debt issued cannot exceed 125% of senior unsecured debt that was outstanding as of Sept. 30 and scheduled to mature before June 30. The program provides insurance coverage for deposits typically used by corporations for payroll expenses.

Monday! Monday! Monday!

So full of newness and excitement.
Don’t feel the same way? You’re doing it wrong!
Here are 20 ways to help you beat the Monday Blues:

1. Procrastinate feeling blue. Is a gloomy cloud forming above your head? Ignore it – you’ll give your attention to it later, not now.
2. Wear your best clothes or the cheeriest colour from your wardrobe. You’d be surprise how much your clothes could affect the way you feel about yourself.
3. Early start - bad things happen when you are late, the tension level is high, you are in a rush, you don’t have time for breakfast, when you arrive at your office, people are shoving work into your face. It may seem like a punishment to wake up earlier on Monday but trust me, when you have enough time to organize yourself, you’ll feel like you can conquer the day easier.
4. Treat yourself in the morning – Sit down and eat. Enjoy your food. Monday is Pancake Breakfast day for me, so I actually look forward to Monday mornings. But eat well - although it’s ok to treat yourself, make sure you eat well. I have a good serving of fruits along with my pancakes. Have enough to drink too - your malaise could be a sign of dehydration.
5. Have a list of why you’re having the blues – you might be surprised that there will be things on the list that you can easily work on to make your Mondays better. My problem used to be a completing work from last week (very difficult to gain momentum after a weekend break) which brings us to the next point:
6. Complete as much work possible on Friday – you’ll have less work to worry about on Monday, which lead to the next point:
7. Have everything laid out the day before – your clothes, files, etc. Saves you a couple of minutes in the morning so that you can concentrate on other, more important things.
8. Plan your day in small gentle steps. Apply micromovements throughout the day. You can use a GTD system or simply divide your day into of 1/2 – 1 hour chunks with a goal for each time unit.
9. Talk to a friend – it’s most likely he/she is having the blues too. Keep your conversation short. Remember this is about taking comfort in the fact that you aren’t alone in this, not an hour-long bitchfest about XXX from marketing.
10. Listen to happy songs – a tune can affect your mood. Let cheery, happy songs be the soundtrack to your Monday.
11. Dance - just move that body! Jog in place, stretch, do yoga. You’ll feel less lethargic.
12. Laugh and smile. Recall happy memories or a good joke. If you can’t think of any, do it anyway (fake it till you make it) Some research is saying that even the thought of laughing raises your endorphin (feel-good hormones) levels and a fake laughter provides similar benefits to a real one.
13. Affirmative statements – Today is a great day. I will complete my report today. Stick positive messages around your monitor and take them seriously.
14. Choose to feel happy. If you don’t already know, being happy is a choice, so choose happiness!
15. Buy something new for Monday – it doesn’t have to be big or expensive – a pen, a sketchbook, fancy post-it stickers. Monday is like a birthday for me- I get a present for myself nearly every week. I got myself a sticker for $1 today.
16. Try something new - you’d be surprise how easy it is to feel energized by doing something you’ve never done before. A new dish, a new song, a new route to work.
17. Start working. The thing about work is, it’s usually not the work that makes us tired, it’s the thought of starting work that makes us procrastinate and go into a cycle of unproductivity. Quit thinking about starting work and just work instead!
18. Take short breaks – too much work can be overwhelming and when this happens, it is easy for you to give up. Remember to take short breaks to recharge. If your schedule allows it, you can also take a 10 minute nap after lunch.
19. Plan something special for Monday night – meet a friend for dinner, rent a DVD. The day will be easier when you have something to look forward to.
20. Do not get distracted. Youtube, Facebook, personal emails. Once you allow yourself to get distracted you will be sucked into hours of time-wasting activities. If you don’t have the discipline to limit your distraction to 10 minutes, don’t attempt to do it at all. Reading blogs like this is another time-sucker so now that you’ve reach the bottom of the list, why don’t you get working!