Managing DFS namespaces from the command line

Posted on February 10th, 2010 in Server 2003, Server 2008, Storage by alt-92

Last year, I posted about the  DFS Modlink utility which you need if you want to manipulate DFS link states against DFS-N  – Windows 2003 didn’t have any non-GUI tooling to do that, except for the Win32_DFSnode WMI properties.
Windows XP however does not support that particular interface, which leaves only modlink as a way to disable or enable a DFS link.

From Windows 2008 onward, that sorely missing functionality is available in the revamped dfsutil commandline tool. And as an added bonus, changing the TTL for a link is also possible.
Even more, dfsutil in 2008R2 (and therefore Windows 7 clients with RSAT installed) lets you set the Access Based Enumeration property.

Below are the property commands:

   1: E:\>dfsutil property

   2:  

   3: DESCRIPTION:

   4: Displays or modifies the properties of a folder target (link target) or

   5: namespace server (root target).

   6:  

   7: ------ PROPERTY Commands Supported ------

   8:  

   9: Sitecosting           Displays or modifies site costing for a namespace.

  10: RootScalability       Displays or modifies the namsespace polling mode.

  11: ABE                   Enable/Disable/View ABE property of a namespace.

  12: Insite                Displays or modifies the in-site property.

  13: TargetfailBack        Displays or modifies client fail back.

  14: SD                    Set/Get Security Information on the folder.

  15: State                 Displays or modifies a folder target or namespace server.

  16: TTL                   Displays or changes client referral caching.

  17: PriorityRank          Displays or changes the ordering method (priority rank).

  18: PriorityClass         Displays or changes the target priority.

  19: Comment               Sets or displays the comment for a namespace or link.

 

So, what do we do with this? Let’s say you’re migrating your DFS-Namespace enabled* Datashares to a newer fileserver with more storage capacity.

*no DFS-R , in case you’re wondering, because the original server might be a Windows 2003 non-R2 install.

A default link timeout is 7200 seconds or 2×60x 60 seconds = 2 hours, meaning your DFS client will check for changes in state after that time. During your migration window, you’ll want to ensure that any changes are picked up within a shorter time.

   1: E:\>dfsutil property ttl \\alt-92.net\data\share1

   2: The timeout for \\alt-92.net\data\share1 is 7200

First, we’ll change the timeout setting to a 5 minute setting:

   1: E:\>dfsutil property ttl set \\alt-92.net\data\share1 300

   2:  

   3: Done processing this command.

   4:  

   5: E:\>dfsutil property ttl \\alt-92.net\data\share1

   6: The timeout for \\alt-92.net\data\share1 is 300

Then, using both dfscmd and dfsutil, we’ll add our new fileshare to the link AND set it offline:

 

   1: dfscmd /add \\alt-92.net\data\share1 \\newserver\data\share1

   2: dfsutil property state offline \\alt-92.net\data\share1 \\newserver\data\share1

After syncing the content with robocopy (be sure to check the /MT switch for multithreading on Windows 2008R2 or Windows 7) we now flip the link state on both shares and restore the timeout value to its former setting:

   1: dfsutil property state offline \\alt-92.net\data\share1 \\oldserver\data\share1

   2: dfsutil property state online \\alt-92.net\data\share1 \\newserver\data\share1

   3: dfsutil property ttl set \\alt-92.net\data\share1 7200

After that, we’ll decommission the old fileserver, by taking the shares offline and removing the old links from the DFS Namespace with dfscmd:

   1: dfscmd /remove \\alt-92.net\data\share1 \\oldserver\data\share1

Et voila: we’ve migrated our DFS enabled fileshares to a new server with minimal downtime.

Fully scripted, its now feasible to migrate a DFS Namespace root with hundreds of links in just a few hours (including the final replication with robocopy – the bulk copy we’ve started a couple of days in advance) .

Inventive selling techniques for the housing slump.

Posted on December 20th, 2009 in Crazy stuff by alt-92

 

…get a saint to help you out. 

DSC00219

right…

VMware adapters & unidentified networks in Vista & 7

Posted on November 19th, 2009 in Server 2008, Virtualisation, Vista, Windows 7 by alt-92

Most VMware Workstation users prefer not to enable the Host Only and NAT adapters, but for some scenarios you want to be able to do so.
Unfortunately, as soon as you enable  those adapters, they’re detected as unidentified networks (worst-case) or as a separate public/private network connection in the Network and Sharing Center.

index

And as soon as that happens, Windows (Advanced) Firewall kicks into Public mode effectively locking your box down. Which is A Good Thing  – mostly, just not always what you want.

VMware KB article 1004813  also describes possible solutions to fix this. Aside from disabling the NICs (hey, we wanted to use those, remember?)  or changing the NICs over to Private Network (which you would have to do every reboot), you can configure the VMware adapters as so called Endpoint Devices per the procedure listed.
More information on the Endpoint device configuration is available on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201634.aspx
Reverting to the normal behaviour is as easy as flipping the DWORD to 0 or deleting the entry.

vmnix2

 

There is also a useful side effect to the *NdisDeviceType  setting:
Remote Desktop connections will keep working even with enabled virtual NICs, whereas by default Remote Desktop (TS) binds itself to all available network connections.

Which means I can finally RD into my desktop machine from my laptop with Host-Only and NAT adapters enabled to run a proper multi-machine, multi-network test.
Yay :)

[edit]

Link to KB article fixed 

Detecting and installing WSUS updates in Server 2008 Core

Posted on November 14th, 2009 in Deployment, Security, Server 2008 by alt-92

On a normal GUI-box, detecting or installing new updates after a fresh install is reasonably easy.
You just click the Updates Control panel item, or, for the more commandline orientated folks, run a wuauclt /detectnow and wait for the “There are new updates available” Systray icon to appear.

The problem with Server Core … there’s no way for you to see the “updates to install” notice in the system tray when you log on to the computer because, well, there’s no systray!

In comes a handy piece of VBscript that allows you to do a manual quick check and start off the installation process, using the in-box Windows Update Agent API.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa387102(VS.85).aspx

Although the MSDN article states it does not run against SUS 1.0 servers, you don’t have to worry because both Windows Update (site) and WSUS 3.x employ the WUA API.

Save and run the script in the command prompt as “cscript ” since the default script host is graphical (wscript) on a Core box.

01
02
Set updateSession = CreateObject("Microsoft.Update.Session")
03
Set updateSearcher = updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher()
04
 
05
WScript.Echo "Searching for updates..." & vbCRLF
06
 
07
Set searchResult = _
08
updateSearcher.Search("IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software'")
09
 
10
WScript.Echo "List of applicable items on the machine:"
11
 
12
For I = 0 To searchResult.Updates.Count-1
13
    Set update = searchResult.Updates.Item(I)
14
    WScript.Echo I + 1 & "> " & update.Title
15
Next
16
 
17
If searchResult.Updates.Count = 0 Then
18
WScript.Echo "There are no applicable updates."
19
WScript.Quit
20
End If
21
 
22
WScript.Echo vbCRLF & "Creating collection of updates to download:"
23
 
24
Set updatesToDownload = CreateObject("Microsoft.Update.UpdateColl")
25
 
26
For I = 0 to searchResult.Updates.Count-1
27
    Set update = searchResult.Updates.Item(I)
28
    WScript.Echo I + 1 & "> adding: " & update.Title 
29
    updatesToDownload.Add(update)
30
Next
31
 
32
WScript.Echo vbCRLF & "Downloading updates..."
33
 
34
Set downloader = updateSession.CreateUpdateDownloader() 
35
downloader.Updates = updatesToDownload
36
downloader.Download()
37
 
38
WScript.Echo  vbCRLF & "List of downloaded updates:"
39
 
40
For I = 0 To searchResult.Updates.Count-1
41
    Set update = searchResult.Updates.Item(I)
42
    If update.IsDownloaded Then
43
       WScript.Echo I + 1 & "> " & update.Title 
44
    End If
45
Next
46
 
47
Set updatesToInstall = CreateObject("Microsoft.Update.UpdateColl")
48
 
49
WScript.Echo  vbCRLF & _
50
"Creating collection of downloaded updates to install:" 
51
 
52
For I = 0 To searchResult.Updates.Count-1
53
    set update = searchResult.Updates.Item(I)
54
    If update.IsDownloaded = true Then
55
       WScript.Echo I + 1 & "> adding:  " & update.Title 
56
       updatesToInstall.Add(update) 
57
    End If
58
Next
59
 
60
WScript.Echo  vbCRLF & "Would you like to install updates now? (Y/N)"
61
strInput = WScript.StdIn.Readline
62
WScript.Echo 
63
 
64
If (strInput = "N" or strInput = "n") Then 
65
WScript.Quit
66
ElseIf (strInput = "Y" or strInput = "y") Then
67
WScript.Echo "Installing updates..."
68
Set installer = updateSession.CreateUpdateInstaller()
69
installer.Updates = updatesToInstall
70
Set installationResult = installer.Install()
71
 
72
'Output results of install
73
WScript.Echo "Installation Result: " & _
74
installationResult.ResultCode 
75
WScript.Echo "Reboot Required: " & _ 
76
installationResult.RebootRequired & vbCRLF 
77
WScript.Echo "Listing of updates installed " & _
78
"and individual installation results:" 
79
 
80
For I = 0 to updatesToInstall.Count - 1
81
WScript.Echo I + 1 & "> " & _
82
updatesToInstall.Item(i).Title & _
83
": " & installationResult.GetUpdateResult(i).ResultCode 
84
Next
85
End If


					




				



				

		

	




	



	
		

					


				
My Workplace – Room with a view



				

					Posted on  August 4th, 2009 in Crazy stuff by alt-92 				



				

					
Highest building in NL 


Angles 


 


 


 


Outside view


					




				



				

		

	




	



	

	

		« Previous Page — Next Page »