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  Chewy Chong 12:15 am on November 23, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Microsoft Tool to Troubleshoot IIS Authentication / Authorization Failures 

  Just noticed this in my inbox.  Rather interesting tool that I wish I had last week.  For those of you who do app deployments to IIS, you know how much of a pain it is to secure the setup.  Inevitably, something isn’t configured correct and nothing works.  Ugh.

   

  Well, this seems like an interesting tool.  I haven’t had the chance to use it.  If you do use it, please let me know what you think.

   

  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E90FE777-4A21-4066-BD22-B931F7572E9A&displaylang=en

   

  Authentication and Access Control Diagnostics 1.0 (more commonly known as AuthDiag) is a tool released by Microsoft aimed at aiding IT professionals and developers at more effectively finding the source of authentication and authorization failures.

  These users have often seen behavior from Internet Information Services (IIS) that doesn’t seem appropriate or random when users authenticate to the IIS server. The complex world of authentication types and the various levels of security permissions necessary to allow a user to access the server causes many hours of labor for those tasked with troubleshooting these problems.

  AuthDiag 1.0 offers a robust tool that offers a efficient method for troubleshooting authentication on IIS 5.x and 6.0. It will analyze metabase configuration and system-wide policies and warn users of possible points of failure and guide them to resolving the problem. AuthDiag 1.0 also includes a robust monitoring tool called AuthMon designed at capturing a snapshot of the problem while it occurs in real-time. AuthMon is robust and specially designed for IIS servers removing any information not pertinent to the authentication or authorization process.

   

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  Chewy Chong 1:59 am on November 18, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  SQL Reporting Services Install Just ‘Quits’ Before Actually Starting Install Process 

  Something I noticed a while ago and again today (after much fiddling).  If you’re doing an install of SQL Reporting Services (pre-SP1) and the install just quits immediately after the initial ’setup tools’ install… reboot the box and try again.

  The installation process should be:

  1.      Install initial ’setup tools’

  2.      Perform prerequisite checks (ASP.NET, VS 2003, etc)

  3.      Actually perform setup

  Seems like the prerequisite tools installed by step 1 to do step 2 is crapping out the install without an error.  Simple reboot usually fixes the problem.  This also seems to occur if you perform the installation once before during the same ‘power-on’ session.

   
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  Chewy Chong 1:50 am on November 17, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Microsoft Australia’s Recruitment Folks Have a Blog 

  Interesting idea from Microsoft… have your recruiters use blogs.

  http://weblogs.asp.net/ausjobblog/

  You’ve got to watch out for Julie Brown (she’s one of the recruiters).  While I was talking to her out in the bright Australian sun… I was almost blinded by the glare from the huge rock on her finger.  Make sure you wear sunnies if she’s wearing that ring.  I’ve been meaning to file a OH&S complaint

   

   
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  Chewy Chong 4:47 am on November 16, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Jittery Recording and Playback of Show on Tivo 

  After my first install and adaptation of Tivo for Australia, I noticed some jitter / skipping of the show.  Did a lot of research on this but there’s really nothing definitive you can do to test what’s the cause.

   

  Let’s first look at the problem:

  1. Is the program being recorded jittery.  In other words, the recording is jumpy.
  2. Is the playback jittery.  Nothing’s wrong with the recording… the playback is bad.

   

  How to find out?  The instance you see jitter or skipping, replay that segment a few times.  Recorded jitter will always do the same thing (the jitter was recorded).  Playback jitter will sometimes happen and sometimes not happen (the jitter is caused by the playback).

   

  Now you know… it will help you troubleshoot the Tivo. 

   

  Here’s a few things that you can check / troubleshoot:

  1. Make sure you’ve done the initial indexing (first 8-24 hours after setting up your Tivo).  Anything you do during this time may cause the problem.  If you recorded something during this time, it will be recorded jittery. 
  2. After indexing, make sure you leave the Tivo’s Maintaince Mode (known by some as Jitter Mode).  You need to reboot your Tivo after indexing (you may have to do this a few times).  You’ll know you’re in regular mode when the ‘Maintaince Mode’ splash screen no longer shows up at boot time.
  3. Make sure your Tivo’s disk is up to snuff.  Run the manufacture’s surface scan just to be sure.
  4. If all else fails, rebuild another Tivo image onto another HD. 

   

  Turns out… there was something with my drive causing the skipping. 

   

  I’ve read something about thermal recalibrations potentially causing the skipping.  As the drive runs hot, the plates expand causing the heads to have to recalibrate where on the disk they read. 

   

  Typically, the quieter the drive, the less likely it’ll overheat.  My old drive was very loud and did run very hot.  The new one is very quiet.  Coincidence?  Maybe… but heck, it worked.

   
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  Chewy Chong 12:53 pm on November 11, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Getting a Tivo to Work in Australia 

  Did you know you can get Tivo to work in Australia?  Yup… I’m living proof.  There are a bunch of hard working people who loves TV here in Oz who’ve figured it out.  I ordered mine last Friday, got the PVR on Monday and was recording ‘Buffy’ on Tuesday. 

   

  It is that easy!  Here’s some helpful links I used for my research.  More info to come soon!

   

  Good source of information for setting up a Tivo in Australia:

  http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view

   

  Where I ordered my Tivo:

  http://www.eksys.com

   

  What I ordered (total with 3 day shipping = $310):

  • The diskless TiVo with remote, IR Blaster, power cord, A/V cable, S-video cable, and 1 hard drive bracket w/screws is $US90

   

  • The CacheCard with installation kit (2 ft patch cord & RJ45-RJ45 connector) is ($US100)

   

  • An optional null modem serial cable to connect to a PC is $US10.

   

  • A second hard drive bracket with screws is $US12.

   

  • An extra remote is $US12

   

  Backing up your Tivo:

  http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

   

  The people who makes the ‘CacheCard’ NIC and RAM board plus other Tivo NICs:

  http://www.silicondust.com/

   

  I’ve gone through the installation process once already.  Doing it a second time to fix a few issues.  I’ll post the high level instructions plus link to the details soon. 

   

   
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  Chewy Chong 6:56 am on November 10, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  hemi-, semi-, demi- … Does it all mean the same thing? 

  Technically, yes.  The dictionary all define of them as a prefix meaning ‘half’ or ‘partial’.  Doing some researched:

   

  The prefix semi- means “half” or “partially.” In general it combines with adjectives: semiattached, semidry, semisweet. Semi- also combines, less commonly, with nouns: semidarkness, semidesert, semidome. Semi- can be compared with the prefixes hemi- and demi-. All three have basically the same meaning, but semi- comes from Latin semi-, meaning “half,” and hemi- comes from Greek hemi-, meaning “half.” Demi- comes from Latin dimidius, meaning “divided in half,” from dis, “apart, asunder” plus medius, “half.”

   

  From the American Heritage Book of English Usage, 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

   

   
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  Chewy Chong 4:30 am on November 9, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Free SQL 2000 Troubleshooting Training from Microsoft 

  SQL Server 2000 labs as developed by PSS and recently featured at the SQL PASS  2004 conference are now available on ms.com.  These self-paced training labs offer free, lightweight troubleshooting  for anyone interested in reviewing training in a self-study environment.  They cover popular topics such as blocking, performance, memory, and debugging, and data recovery. They include hands-on usage of the PSS tools: READ80TRACE, OSTRESS, and PSSDiag.  Make sure your DBAs and SQL administrators know about this training!

   

  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AEC18337-887F-4EC6-A858-81F84DE8082F&displaylang=en

   

   

   
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  Chewy Chong 3:21 am on November 9, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Caesar Salad Not Related to Julius Caesar 

  During lunch a few months ago, we were wondering how a salad recipe last so long?  Anyhow, did the Romans actually eat salad?  Well… turns out Julius had nothing to do with the salad.  Here’s a tid-bit I found on the internet.

   

  Caesar salads have no connection whatsoever to Julius Caesar, or indeed to any of the Caesars who ruled Rome and her far-flung empire. It instead honors Caesar Cardini, a famed restaurateur who invented the dish in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1924. His original recipe called for romaine, garlic, croutons, Parmesan cheese, boiled eggs, olive oil, and Worcestershire sauce. He was said to be staunchly against the inclusion of anchovies in the mixture, contending that Worchestershire sauce is adequate to provide the faint fishy flavor.

   

   
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  Chewy Chong 3:13 am on November 9, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Identity Management: What is it and Why is it important? 

  I’ve been pushing really hard internally within my company to start selling this to our customers.  This is a really hot field especially with ever increasing number of systems which all maintain their own identity information for users.  One of my cohorts sent me a link to this good article explaining what IdMgmt is, what is the problem customers are facing and who the key players are.  Very good read.

  http://msdn.microsoft.com/architecture/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnmaj/html/aj3identity.asp

   
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  Chewy Chong 12:46 pm on November 8, 2004 Permalink | Reply  

  Research – The Mysterious NETLOGON Service 

  I’m helping a client out with some possible NETLOGON problems.  While rolling out a new piece of infrastructure software, they lose the ability to change passwords or logon.  This new piece of infrastructure software taps into the password complexity check component used during password changes.  We do not know if this change directly caused this problem (since you would think this would only impact password changes… but logins fail also).

  Anyhow… there seems to be very little detailed information about what happens during the logon / password change process.  Detailed?  I mean… I want to know who and what gets called plus how it gets called.

  As I dig through this, I’m going to use this entry as my notepad. 

  Overview of NETLOGON
  http://www.snakegully.nu/tech/netlogon.html

  NLTest – Tool used to test secure channels between NT computers
  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;158148

  All changes to the domain directory database are first made on the PDC, after which they are distributed to the BDCs in a process called synchronization. Changes made to the PDC database—consisting of password changes, new and modified user and group accounts, and changes in rights assignments—are recorded in a change log on the PDC. When a BDC requests a database update, the changes that took place since the last update are copied to the BDC’s database. An update that consists only of recent changes is a partial synchronization.

  The PDC change database has a limited capacity. It operates as a circular buffer, meaning that older changes will be purged to make room for new changes. Consequently, a BDC that is off-line for a lengthy period of time may have missed changes that have been purged from the change database. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to perform a full synchronization in which the BDC receives a complete copy of the domain directory database from the PDC.

  The NetLogon service is tasked with synchronizing the domain database. By default, the NetLogon service synchronizes BDCs at five minute intervals, which is usually adequate given the default capacity of the change database to store approximately 2,000 changes. If changes are being lost, it becomes necessary to increase the frequency of synchronization events or the size of the change log, both of which are determined by settings in the Registry.

  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/maintain/acctgrps.mspx

  Windows 2000 Startup and Logon Traffic Analysis:  Details what occurs during the startup and logon process
  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/deploy/confeat/w2kstart.mspx