Sunday, March 23, 2014

LYNC REPLICATION NOT WORKING

In a Lync Deployment, where we have installed Lync Edge Server, we see the Replication is not healthy. You will notice a red cross or in the Management Shell the Replication is not UpToDate: False.

If actually have telnet to the Edge Servers Port 4443, you realize that the port is open and working.
As well you can test access the service itself:
https://<edgeserver.fqdn>/replicationwebservice

Via this access, you also be able to validate the assigned internal Certificate and the Certificate Chain. If you encounter an error with trusted root certificate, you will end up adding it other Trusted Root Authorities.

Afterwards, you will still encounter the red cross, or false up-to-date status.

This is normal!
The Replication itself is working fine, but your Connectivity to the Edge is limited.
This mean we cannot query the service due to the SECURE CHANNEL limitation.

Solution:
Open REGEDIT
navigate to:

HKey_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL

add the new DWORD:
ClientAuthTrustMode Value=2

Now reboot the edge server. After it has restarted, you might need forcing the CMS to replicate:
Invoke-CsManagementStoreReplication

Problem is now solved...!

-----------------------

Documentation:

Validation:





Set new Registry Key on Edge Server:

Do not forget the reboot.

Verification:




Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Lync 2013 Client not updating Out of Office Flag


Reolution:
 
This was a known issue and it should be solved after the following Lync client update 15.0.4551.1005 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2825630/en-us,
Make sure that you have installed latest Lync client updates and check if the issue still exist.


Also you can solve the problem by the following:

Ø  Rename the Cache in C:\Users\<Name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Communicator. Then log in to the Lync Client, add a custom “What Happening” message and then delete it. It will be reset the field back the original “Whats happening today” message
Ø I you are uding Lync wendows app store macksure you installed the latest updated Lync client from windows app store
 
 

 

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Start SQL 2008 R2 Mirroring Error

Problem:
Cannot start SQL mirroring between the Principle and Mirror Servers
Cause:
The server network address "TCP://ServerName.domainname.com:5022" can not be reached or does not exist. Check the network address name and that the ports for the local and remote endpoints are operational. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 1418)

Resolution:
1. Make sure you restored new full backup on Mirror server (with norecovery mode)

 2. Try to connect mirror instance from principal server and vice versa ( to make sure mirror is contacting principal and principal is contacting mirror)

Verify the listener port using the below command
telnet sqlservername portnumber

 3. Issue the below command from both principal and mirror instances

Grant connect on endpoint::mirroring to domain\account (If this does not works, use the below command)
Grant connect on endpoint::mirroring to public

Friday, March 14, 2014

SQL Replication techniques



There are 2 types of SQL databases replication techniques available. SQL mirroring and log shipping, the following is the benefits and limitations between mirroring and log shipping:

Database Mirroring benefits:
·         - Instantaneous synchronization of changes
·         - Easy setup and maintenance
·         - Automated failover (in High Availability Mode)
·         - Easy to perform failover
·         - Fast failover. (if no transactions are queued)
·         - Applications can be mirroring aware using failover partner parameter in connection string
·         - Database mirroring can operate Synchronous or Asynchronous

Database Mirroring limitations:
·         - Limited number of databases can be mirrored per SQL instance. (however, this number is higher   than the 10 you see plastered everywhere, but really depends on your hardware)
·         - Mirrored database cannot be queried, backed up, or basically touched in any way (snapshot can be taken however)
·         - Only supports one to one server pairings
·         - Cannot mirror a database more than once
·         - Synchronous mirroring is intolerant to latency and bandwidth constraints (Asynchronous mirroring has no problems with latency or bandwidth)

Log Shipping benefits:
·         - Very flexible - Independent jobs govern backup/copy/restore behavior
·         - Delay of restore job can protect from database corruption
·         - Log shipped database can be queried. (in standby mode)
·         - Log shipping allows multiple standby databases
·         - Perhaps more tolerant to latency than sychronous mirroring.
·         - Doesn't affect performance of primary server
·         - Easy setup

Log Shipping limitations:
·         - Log shipping is always Synchronous
·         - No automated failover
·         - Cannot synchronize faster than once a minute
·         - Failover is more complicated than mirroring
·         - Harder to view status of log shipping


Database mirroring can operate synchronously or asynchronously. Synchronous replication provides zero data loss, but there is some negative impact on application performance due to synchronous replication. On the other hand Asynchronous replication has no performance impact on application but there will be a data loss during disaster recovery. Also the cost of replication is more in case of synchronous replication as this requires higher network bandwidth.

Synchronous Replication


The synchronous mode, also known as the hard synchronous mode of replication ensures that an update has been acknowledged by the Secondary host, before completing the update at the Primary. In case of a problem such as a network failure it ensures that the update fails at the Primary itself. The synchronous mode of replication is most effective in these application environments:
·         Which has lower update rates but require all the hosts to always reflect the same data.
·         Where delay in updates between the Primary and Secondary host is not acceptable.
Pros:
·         - Secure as there is no data loss.
·         - Manual reconciliation of data is less; hence less operational activities post DR
Cons:
·         - Response time degradation happens because of the network round-trip
·         - Distance between data centers shouldn’t exceed 200 kms
Asynchronous Replication 


 
In the asynchronous mode of replication, the application updates are immediately reflected at the Primary, but are sent to the Secondary with some delay. The updates are stored in the Replicator Log until they are sent to the Secondary. If the writing application experiences temporary increase in update rate, this delay may increase. If a disaster strikes during a period of peak update activity, it is possible that the most recent updates at the Primary host are not reflected in the data at the Secondary host. This is because of the lag between the Primary and Secondary data states, also called latency. To prevent this, we can configure the latency such that the data inconsistency will be acceptable in the event of a disaster. Asynchronous replication ensures that the lag never exceeds this configured maximum.

Pros:
·         - Performance impact on the host is minimal.
·         - Can span virtually any distance
Cons:
·          - May lose some data
·     - Some manual reconciliation is required by reapplying the most recent transactional logs to the point of failure.
 
Synchronous versus Asynchronous
In asynchronous mode, an application performing writes does not experience the response time degradation caused by each write incurring the cost of a network round-trip. Better response time comes at the cost of the secondary being potentially out of date. In synchronous mode, the response time is greater, but the secondary is always up-to-date.
The decision to use synchronous or asynchronous mode depends on business requirements, such as whether or not it is acceptable to potentially lose committed transactions, and if so, how many. It is also strongly determined by the available network bandwidth, network latency, the number of participating servers, and the amount of data to be replicated.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Sharepoint 2010 + Office Web Apps - Viewing Word File in Browser Get error but i can Editcan viewing by editing it

The error messages might include, but are not limited to, the following:
·         Unable to process the request.
·         An unexpected error has occurred.
·         PowerPoint Web App encountered an error. Please try again.
·         Word Web App cannot open this document due to an unknown error. If the problem persists, try opening the file in Microsoft Word.
·         OneNote Web App cannot open this notebook because the Office Web Apps Feature isn't activated on this site collection. Try opening the file in Microsoft OneNote.
·         The file that you selected could not be found. Check the spelling of file name and verify that the location is correct. Make sure that the file has not been renamed, moved, or deleted.
These errors might occur for one or more of the following reasons:
·         The SharePoint administrator has run Office Web Apps Setup, which configures the default open behavior for SharePoint to open Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents in the browser by using their associated Web application. However, the SharePoint administrator has not yet started the services, created the service applications, and activated the Office Web Apps feature.
·         The Office Web Apps services are not started on the Web front-end server.
·         The Office Web Apps service applications and proxies have not been created.
·         The Office Web Apps service applications proxies are not associated with the proxy group of the Web application that the site collection belongs to.
·         There might be a problem with the permissions for the service account that is used to run the Web application or one of the Office Web Apps services: Excel Calculation Services, PowerPoint Service, or Word Viewing Service. The Web application and service applications must have the appropriate permissions to access the content databases and the configuration database.
To resolve these errors, apply the following solutions:
·         The SharePoint administrator can avoid end users' seeing error messages while he or she finishes additional deployment tasks to deploy Office Web Apps on a live production server. We recommended that you enable the OpenInClient feature on existing site collections before you run Setup. For more information, see Configure the default open behavior for browser-enabled documents (Office Web Apps).
·         Activate the Office Web Apps feature for the site collection. For information about how to activate the Office Web Apps feature for a site collection, see Activate the Office Web Apps feature in Deploy Office Web Apps (Installed on SharePoint 2010 Products).
·         Verify that the services have been created and check the status of the services on the servers in the farm by doing the following:
1.       On the Central Administration Web site, in Application Management, click Manage services on server.
2.       On the Services on Server page, do the following:
1.       In the list of services on the selected server, verify that Excel Calculation Services, PowerPoint Service, and Word Viewing Service exist and are started. If a service is not started, click Start.
2.       Click the Server button at the top, click Change Server, and then in the Select Server dialog box, click a different server name.
3.       Repeat these steps until you have verified that the services exist and are started on all servers in the farm.
·         Verify that the Office Web Apps service applications and proxies have been created by doing the following:
1.       On the Central Administration Web site, in Application Management, click Manage service applications.
2.       On the Manage Service Applications page, verify that there the following kinds of service applications exist:
§  Excel Services Application Web service application
§  PowerPoint service application
§  Word Viewing service application
Verify that the service applications have been created. For information about how to create service applications, see Create the service applications and the service application proxies in Deploy Office Web Apps (Installed on SharePoint 2010 Products).
·         Verify that the Office Web Apps service applications and proxies are associated with the proxy group of the Web application that the site collection belongs to by doing the following:
1.       On the Central Administration Web site, in Application Management, click Manage web applications.
2.       On the Web Applications Management page, select the Web applications that the site collection belongs to, and then click Service Connections.
3.       On the Configure Service Application Associations page, verify that the following kinds of service application proxies are associated with the Web application:
§  Excel Services Application Web service application proxy
§  PowerPoint service application proxy
§  Word Viewing service application proxy
·         Verify that the service account permissions for the Web application and the Office Web Apps services are appropriate. The Web application and service applications must have the appropriate permissions to access the content databases and the configuration database. For information about the appropriate service account permissions for the Web application and the Office Web Apps services, see Account permissions and security settings (SharePoint Server 2010).