Update 6/22/09: KB972041 is out with a hotfix that resolves this issue. I guess you install it before, or in lieu of KB967831.
OK so this blog post explains it well but it has gotten worse since that post a month ago. Here’s an update and shorter version of what’s going on:
There’s a optional monitoring feature of OCS that many small shops likely won’t install. That’s fine, cus it’s optional right? Well turns out it’s now required (actually just part of it, the MSMQ service) for a hotfix to successfully install. That hotfix is now on Microsoft Update and is likely already on your box, WSUS, SCCM, SMS, etc: (KB967831). The patch is not smart enough to either:
- Do pre-check’s and prevent install unless you have MSMQ
- Roll back it’s changes to leave you in a running state
- Or ignore the fact that you don’t have something optional installed in the first place and just keep patching
So it leaves you a nice broke server to repair in the morning. Front-End and Edge Services service stopped, with cryptic misleading Event Log messages. So multiple boxes are down. Crazy thing is this happens in a “default install” scenario as if no one full tested the patch or something. I would give a pass for a hotfix, but a MU patch… fail!
Quick fix: install MSMQ (even though you don’t need it unless you setup RtcQmaAgent for OCS Monitoring) via this script (win2003 servers), then re-run the update either via MU or downloading and running it manually.
What a awesome show! To see your brother on stage rockin’ to hundreds of people is a rare thing. Watched my brothers band Shaman’s Harvest release their 4th CD Shine at the Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri. Listen to a few tracks, see my photos of the event, and support indie bands by buying the album (once it comes out online).
Only a handful of software that isn’t a game could end up on the “fun to use” list. I think Windows 7 is on it. I’ve been using it as the main OS on an increasing amount of computers since the pre-release of the public beta (build 7000) since December 08. I’ve now got 5 out of 7 work/home machines using it, most on build 7077 (which isn’t perfect). Waiting on RC build this month. It’s so enjoyable to use (compared to XP and Vista) that I have that “can’t wait” feeling for RTM.
From the responsiveness of the interface, awesome boot and return-from-sleep times, to the overall look, the new “best taskbar eva”, to little things like knowing the difference between a “default audio device” (speakers) and your “default communications device” (headset or webcam/mic)…. it’s got a lot going for it. I’m starting to get more comfortable with the “library” concepts (old 
habits of caring exactly where your file is located on disk die hard). Though, I’m still not a huge IE8 fan compared to Firefox (and now my new fav: Chrome… yes I said it. Just give it’s minimalism a week and you won’t miss the bloat of Firefox’s add-ins).
Just tried the “play to” option in Media Player to push music from my office to the living room PC, which is plugged into the house audio receiver. Couldn’t be easier. Love the simple and effective management window.
Next is to decide how I will implement a HomeGroup, which removes the need for me to manage share permissions, user passwords, etc. on the various home computers.
Best video I’ve seen to date on the harry details on how the backups work throughout the day and week. Cleared up tons of questions I had around the difference in workloads like SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, Hyper-V, and File Servers.
Watch the 23min High Quality WMV, or the TechNet Edge page with other viewing options.
So far DPM 2007 with SP1 works well with Firestreamer Media Changer 3.95.8. It acts like a fake/virtual tape library with 5 drives and 200 tape slots. Those “tapes” can be anything that accepts native windows storage… USB, local drives, CIFS network locations, etc. We’re using a small NAS as the endpoint, and the Filestreamer interface lets you create tape files of any size, which will look/act like tapes in one of the 200 tape slots inside the DPM interface. This allows you “operational” backups on DPM disk and long term “Disaster Recovery” backups that are pushed over the LAN to somewhere else. Perfect.
So far I’ve had one error.
The number of free tapes in the Tape Library Firestreamer Media Changer is less than or equals the threshold value of 40. You must add tape to the library and mark it as free in order to prevent future backups from failing. (ID 3305)
If you get an error about free tape threshold, be aware that DPM seems to have a fixed “free tape” threshold of 20%. On the Firestreamer Media Changer, since it has 200 tape slots, that number is 40. The error in DPM itself isn’t an issue assuming you have planned out how many tape file you need (and what size to make them), but if you want to keep your alerts screen clean, be sure to add enough virtual tapes to Firestreamer so that it never dips below 40 free.
