You’d think after over 3.5 years of development/testing someone would have noticed this…

Bacula currently doesn’t support VSS backups of a 64-Bit version of Windows Server 2008, so there’s a number of hoops you have to jump through to get even a semi-reliable System State & Exchange backup.  For an Exchange backup we use the NTBACKUP binaries from Windows Server 2003 64-bit and for the System State we use the Windows Server 2008 wbadmin tools.

For both jobs we’ll use a couple of “Client Run Before Job” commands to trigger client-side scripts to run the client-side backup jobs…

WARNING: This method works for me, but please test and then test some more before relying on any backups made like this!

Exchange Backups

First of all, grab the ntbackup.exe, ntmsapi.dll and vssapi.dll binaries from a Windows 2003 64-bit server – They should be located in C:\Windows\System32 by default.  Place the binaries in their own directory.  eg: C:\Program Files\NTBackup

Next, create a folder to store the scripts & Exchange database backup files.  eg: C:\Backup

Run NTBackup, cancel the wizard, click the “Backup” tab, browse the tree and tick “Microsoft Information Store” under your Exchange Server:

Click “Job” then “Save Selections”, save the file as “C:\Backup\Exchange Backup.bks” then exit NTBackup.

Create a text file in C:\Backup named “BackupExchange.cmd” with the following contents (watch for line-wrapping, the following should be all on one line):

start /W "" "c:\Program Files\ntbackup\ntbackup.exe" backup "@c:\backup\Exchange Backup.bks" /N "Exchange Backup" /F "c:\backup\Exchange Backup.bkf" /FU /L:f /M normal

This script will run a full Exchange Information Store backup on-demand and store it in C:\Backup\Exchange Backup.bkf, overwriting this files previous contents.

Next, we’ll edit our existing Bacula client config to skip the C:\Backup folder for standard backups and create a a new job to trigger the above script and backup the C:\Backup folder:

Client {
  Name = exchange-fd
  Address = exchange.server.address.here
  FDPort = 9102
  Catalog = MyCatalog
  Password = "my_bacula_fd_password"
  File Retention = 30 days
  Job Retention = 6 months
  AutoPrune = yes
  Maximum Concurrent Jobs = 1
}

Job {
  Name = "Exchange"
  JobDefs = "DefaultJob"
  Schedule = "MondayFull"
  Client = exchange-fd
  FileSet = "Exchange FileSet"
  Write Bootstrap = "/var/lib/bacula/exchange.bsr"
}

Job {
  Name = "Exchange DB"
  JobDefs = "DefaultJob"
  Schedule = "MondayFull"
  Client = exchange-fd
  FileSet = "Exchange DB"
  Write Bootstrap = "/var/lib/bacula/exchangedb.bsr"
  Level = Full
  Client Run Before Job = "C:/Backup/BackupExchange.cmd"
}

FileSet {
  Name = "Exchange FileSet"

  Include {
    Options {
      signature = MD5
      compression = GZIP
    }
    File = "C:/"
  }

  Exclude {
    File = "C:/pagefile.sys"
    File = "C:/Backup"
  }
}

FileSet {
  Name = "Exchange DB"

  Include {
    Options {
      signature = MD5
      compression = GZIP
    }
    File = C:/Backup
  }
}

Once we’ve done this, we can reload the bacula config and we’ll be good to go!

System State Backups

System state backups are a bit trickier – Because we’re running the 32-bit Bacula-fd binary, we’re inside the 32-bit WOW compatibility environment.  Inside this environment, C:\Windows\System32 is remapped to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 which contains 32-bit binaries.  However, the backup tool we require (wbadmin) is 64-bit only and is not available to us due to this re-mapping. Attempts to copy the wbadmin.exe binary to another location proved unsuccessful with other strange error messages.

However, the following method/kludge does work:

Copy the 64-bit C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe to C:\Backup

Create a text file in C:\Backup named “BackupSystemState.cmd” with the following contents (watch for line-wrapping, the following should be on 2 lines, each starting with “start /W”):

start /W "" c:\backup\cmd.exe /C start /W "" c:\windows\system32\wbadmin delete systemstatebackup -backupTarget:d: -keepVersions:0 -quiet
start /W "" c:\backup\cmd.exe /C start /W "" c:\windows\system32\wbadmin start systemstatebackup -backupTarget:d: –quiet

This script works by first of all launching the 64-bit command-prompt, then in turn launching the wbadmin backup process.  The 2 commands being run here first of all delete any existing System State backups from D:, then starts a new System State backup with D: as the target volume.

Next, we’ll edit our Bacula client config again, adding the following new FileSet and Job:

Job {
  Name = "Exchange SS"
  JobDefs = "DefaultJob"
  Schedule = "MondayFull"
  Client = exchange-fd
  FileSet = "Exchange SS"
  Write Bootstrap = "/var/lib/bacula/exchangess.bsr"
  Level = Full
  Client Run Before Job = "C:/Backup/BackupSystemState.cmd"
}

FileSet {
  Name = "Exchange SS"

  Include {
    Options {
      signature = MD5
      compression = GZIP
    }
    File = D:/
    File = C:/Windows/Logs/WindowsServerBackup/
  }
}

After reloading the Bacula config, you should be all set!

Drop me a line if you have any comments/suggestions.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvuTtrkVtns

At last! iD is producing a game engine than can handle outdoor areas and is actually LIT for a change!

As I'm writing this, I'm looking at a WYSIWYG view of pretty much what my post will look like on the site - Complete with CSS styles etc applied.

Seems pretty funky and so far is much nicer to use than the WordPress built-in editor.

A quick Google search led me to this information:

Here's how to get the free Personal Folders Backup tool from Microsoft installed and working in Outlook 2007:

1. Download the pfbackup.exe file.
2. Use WinZip or a similar file extraction tool to extract the files in pfbackup.exe, launcher.exe and pfbackup.msi.
3. Double-click pfbackup.msi and follow the prompts to install it.
4. In Outlook 2007, choose Tools | Trust Center and choose Add-ins from the navigation list on the left. At the bottom of the Add-ins screen, under Manage, select COM Add-ins and click Go.
5. On the COM Add-ins dialog, click Add and navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE12\ADDINS folder. Select outbak.dll and click OK. When you return to the COM Add-ins dialog, you should see a new entry, Outlook Backup Addin, with its check box checked.
6. Click OK to close the COM Add-ins dialog.

Once you have the add-in installed, you should be able to choose File | Backup on Outlook 2007’s main menu and set your backup options.

It's worth adding that if you've already got the addin installed, at step 3 you should run pfbackup.msi to uninstall the addin first and then re-run the installer to install it again.

yum install bridge-utils SDL

rpm -ivh xen-3.0.4.1-1.i386.rpm kernel-xen-2.6.16.33-3.0.4.1.i386.rpm

vi /etc/yum.conf
Add:
exclude=xen xen-kernel xen-devel kernel

mv /lib/tls /lib/tls.disabled

mkinitrd -f -v --preload=scsi_mod --preload=sd_mod --preload=mptbase --preload=mptscsih --preload=mptfc --preload=mptspi /boot/initrd-2.6.16.33-xen_3.0.4.1.img 2.6.16.33-xen_3.0.4.1

vi /boot/grub/grub.conf
Add:
  title Xen v3.0
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /xen-3.0.gz noreboot dom0_mem=128000
  module /vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=/dev/VolGroup00/root
  module /initrd-2.6-xen.img

Reboot!

In previous Outlook versions, I've always modified the toolbar to add a button for "Next Item in Conversation Topic". This option allows you to easily follow threads on mailing lists or private email conversations.

This option still exists in Outlook 2007, but you can no longer customise the new "Ribbon" interface - You can only modify the "Quick Access Toolbar".

On to my annoyance... If you add a command to the QAT that doesnt have a default icon associated with it you get a green disc icon instead - An icon that as far as I can see, you cant change! (If someone knows different - Let me know!)

If you happen to want to add more buttons to the toolbar, you'd better hope they've all got icons associated or you'll just have a toolbar full of green blobs!

I'll probably give this a go at some point, but I doubt its going to replace Xbox Media Centre sat on my old Xbox...

Earlier this week Microsoft rolled out their highly-anticipated Xbox 360 update. The update was chock full of bug fixes and new features. However, to me, one of the most exciting new features was their long-overdue update to the 360's UPnP client. That's right; they finally added the ability to stream video from your computer to the 360. While it's technically always been possible to stream (using the 360's Media Center Extender technology), the new update gives the masses who aren't yet using a Media Center box a quick and easy way to stream video to the television. Or does it?

On the surface it's quite an exciting turn of events. However, as many now know all too well, there's just one problem: it only supports WMV. There's no DivX support. There's no H.264 support. There's just WMV. Now, I'm sure that there are many purists out there reading this right now who are flat-out appalled by this decision. The anti-Microsoft crowd (you know the type -- they're the ones who think it's still clever to say Micro$oft) are quick to malign anything not open source and/or anything Microsoft. Frankly, I'm not one of those people. I respect Microsoft's decision to not pay licensing fees to each of the different codec companies. In the end, the decision keeps the price of the unit down. However, there is one HUGE caveat:

Microsoft, you have got to make it easier to transcode into WMV.

Click here...

I subscribed to Ed Botts blog in Bloglines this morning and came across a post he made where he was having a similar problem.

Yesterday, I sent a note to support and got the suggested fix within a few hours. Open Regedit and delete the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger\Policies

After doing that, I was able to sign in again. If you’re having this problem, maybe the same fix will work for you.

The fix worked for me!

I dont update this page very often, but whenever I've felt like adding something blogger.com has been really sluggish. So, this evening I've decided to give WordPress a shot.  Being able to manage posts directly on my own server is so much nicer and quicker than using a really slow 3rd party server which then uploads the changes via a really slow FTP connection...

I've been a Fotopic member since April 2003 and they've been great the whole time I've used them. However, I've now got oodles of spare disk space in my server so it makes sense to use some of it I'm now using Gallery2 to host my photos and so far I'm very pleased with the results.

I suppose the default templates for WordPress & Gallery look ok, but at some point I'm going to have to break play around with them...