Error when starting Data Collector Sets

So if you're like me and went overzealous in locking down your 2008 servers, you may run into a nice error message when trying to start your Data Collector Sets in the Reliability and Performance Monitor:

When attempting to start the Data Collector Set the following system error occured:

The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or
because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

I finally figured out which service it was complaining about - "Performance Logs & Alerts". It was set to disabled which I believe occurred after I had locked it down with the Security and Configuration Wizard. Set this service to Manual and then your data collector sets will be able to run.



You'll also want to set Task Manager to Automatic if you want to be able to schedule your Data Collector sets to run on a schedule.

Microsoft Press Practice Test - Errors on Vista - application.WriteTestRecord

So I had just finished crawling through ye olde MCTS exam prep book and decided to install the Practice Tests. The installation went fine but when I tried to launch a Lesson Test, I kept getting errors.

An unacticipated error has occured in the application.WriteTestRecord

An unanticipated error has occured in the application.UpdateTimer

The latter was so much fun, I had to go and End Process Tree for MSLocalWare.exe to get rid of the endless error messages.

Since the practice tests were installed from a CD, I went to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Press Training Kit Exam Prep folder and unchecked the Read Only checkbox. (The same thing happened on my 32 bit vista install as well). Sometimes you find that apps that have been copied from CDs love to retain their read-only flags on files. Just for overkill, I also added the Everyone Group as full control on the folder.

And voila, the practice tests have worked fine since.

Migrating from SYSVOL to DFS-R in 2008

FRS will soon be obsolete. Microsoft has replaced it with DFS-R in 2k8 which offers better capacity, better performance, and is easier to troubleshoot.

First upgrade all domain controller to 2k8, then raise domain functional level to 2008.

Migration is done with DFSRMIG.EXE and consists of 4 states
0 - start
1 - copy SYSVOL to SYSVOL_DFSR. FRS still active
2 - SYSVOL redirected to SYSVOL_DFSR. all clients now use the new one
3 - SYSVOL replication stopped. original must be removed manually

To start, run dfsrmig /setglobalstate 1
then dfsrmig /getmigrationstate until it says that all domain controllers have been synched. It took 6 minutes on my single domain (3 DCs) but microsoft says allow up to an hour on larger setups. It's like watching grass grow so go get some coffee or something for a few minutes.
Then dfsrmig /setglobalstate 2
repeat the same /getmigrationstate

*Now you can rollback and go back to the way things were by running /setglobalstate 0 or 1. Once you change to state 3, you can't go back. You don't have to do step 3 yet in case you want to run it for a few days but keep in mind that you shouldn't do any changes to policies, etc until you complete this as replication to the old SYSVOL share isn't working anymore. I personally am only on step 2 and am going to give it a try for a few days this week. (checking event logs, listening for complaints, the usual). I'll update this post if anything goes wrong. :)

When you're ready to finish this, run dfsrmig /setglobalstate 3
Do the /getmigrationstate until it says you're done.

References (with much more detail):
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2008/02/14/sysvol-migration-series-part-2-dfsrmig-exe-the-sysvol-migration-tool.aspx

http://redmondmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=2516