SCCM 2007 SP2 on Windows Server 2008 x64 - Reporting Point Graphs and Charts

After installing System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2 (SCCM) on a Windows Server 2008 SP x64 system, I decided to install also the Reporting Point on this Site Server.

SQL Reporting Services and ConfigMgr Report Services Point configured properly and I didn't had any issues copying and running reports on IIS 7.0. But when I came to a report that had a graph I got the following message:

"This report has a chart, but the Microsoft Office Web Components required to view charts are not installed on the Reporting Point. Please contact your administrator."

I downloaded and installed in the Office 2003 Add-in: Office Web Components from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7287252c-402e-4f72-97a5-e0fd290d4b76&DisplayLang=en

After that, I tried to run again the report and still I was getting the same informational message.

After doing some research on the issue I found that I need to create a custom Application Pool with enable32BitAppOnWin64 set to True. This because the worker responsible to execute the graphs needs to operate in 32bit mode. Then I've assigned the reporting point web site to the custom 32bit application pool and when I tried to open the reporting point web site on a browser I got a new error message.

HTTP Error 500.19 – Internal Server Error


So I started wondering what causes the problem. After some research again I identified that it was WSUS 3.0 SP2 x64 and more specifically the 64bit version compression module (suscomp.dll).

Therefore the solutions on this were the following. Either disable totally the compression scheme on the web site, but this will cause wsus responses to be uncompressed and this will cause some performance degradation. Or to replace the 64bit version of suscomp.dll with the 32bit version.

To view the compression scheme, run the following command

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe list config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression

the command will display the compression scheme for the webserver. Schemes are registered globally therefore by removing them, the compression is disabled on the webserver.

To remove the compression scheme type:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression /-[name='xpress']

To add the compression scheme type:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config -section:system.webServer/httpCompression /+[name='xpress',doStaticCompression='false',dll='%windir%\system32\inetsrv\suscomp.dll']

References

Run Charts in ConfigMgr Reports when the Reporting Point is located on a Windows Server 2008 x64 server
http://uje.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DAE27042D25E8A2A!310.entry

500.19 Error When Enabling 32-bit Application Pool
http://forums.iis.net/t/1149768.aspx

Error message when you visit a Web site that is hosted on IIS 7.0: "HTTP Error 500.19 – Internal Server Error"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942055

Measure the bandwidth between to points

Here is a very useful tool to measure the bandwidth between to points.

http://www.noc.ucf.edu/Tools/Iperf/


Usage Example

On Campus Command Line: iperf -c 10.0.13.68 -w 2m

Off Campus Command Line: iperf -c 132.170.3.31

results should look like this:

------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 10.0.13.68, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 8.00 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[1924] local (your IP) port 1500 connected with 10.0.13.68 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[1924] 0.0-10.0 sec 111 MBytes 92.9 Mbits/sec

You're interested in the red numbers

Text taken from original web site.

Make firefox faster

Type in firefox address bar

about:config

Then set the following preferences to the specifed values

network.http.pipelining = true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests = 30
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server = 50

Explanation of Preferences

network.http.pipelining
This preference has an effect only if you are not using a proxy. Pipelining reduces network load and can reduce page loading times over high-latency connections (not supported in all servers).

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
This preference specifies the maximum number of requests to pipeline at once when pipelining is enabled.

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server
Corresponding to the maximum number of HTTP keep-alive connections the application can have open at once to a single server.

My favorite script editor

I would like to share my favorite text editor.

PSPad, helped me many times with different encodings

http://www.pspad.com/en/download.php

Installation of a HP Fiber Optic SAN solution

Installation of MSA 1000 & MSA 1500cs.

Steps

1. Prepare servers
Install the Operating System and configure all devices.

2. Install HBAs in the Server
Physically install the HBA in the system. OS must find the device and prompt for driver installation. We must cancel out that window and install the appropriate driver from MSA drivers CD. Otherwise an unsupported driver will be installed by OS.

3. Prepare any Hubs or SAN Switches
Configure any devices that will provide access and connectivity to MSA array.

4. Install MSA on Rack (if not already installed)
Physically install the MSA device on rack and connect any cables and install hard disk drives in enclosures.

5. Power up the MSA
Power up the device and wait until to get the “MSA Startup Complete” message. Check for any error messages by pressing the cross on panel.

6. Determine if any firmware update is required
Download and update MSA controller firmware if necessary from HP MSA support web site.

7. Configure MSA Array
Configure MSA Array either by using command line interface (CLI) or Array Configuration Utility (ACU).

8. Initialize created LUNs and define partitions
By using system disk management initialize and define partitions for the file system. In case we have two servers that require accessing a shared file system, those servers must form a cluster. After that the new disk will be visible to the operating system.

Outlook 2003 mailbox size

Our users are configured to connect to the exchange server (Exchange 2003 Enterprise) using cached mode. Therefore all the mailbox data (messages) stay on the server.

Problem Description

A user's mailbox size on server (Exchange Ent) is close to 24GB, therefore the local outlook .ost file (in user's computer) reached the maximum large file size that by default outlook supports and the user was getting the Mailbox Cleanup window each time he was trying to use Outlook 2003.

"You have exceeded the size limit on your mailbox"



No operations send/receive were available.

The Options were

• To empty deleted messages.
• Delete conflicts size.
• Enable auto archive.

All the above done. But still the problem was not resolved fully, I had somehow to increase the file size for the .ost file.

Resolution
The solution came by following the article from Microsoft Support bellow. I increased the Maximum Large File Size for Outlook by defining a new Policy as described in the bellow.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832925/en-us?spid=2520&sid=1379

Note:
The path HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ was there but nothing else related with Office so I had to create the following registry keys

• Office
  
• 11.0
• Outlook
• PST

So at end I had

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\PST

After that I followed the provided instructions, specified the following values

• MaxLargeFileSize: 30720 (Decimal)
• WarnLargeFileSize: 29696 (Decimal)

and everything worked fine.

Dimitris

MOSS 2007 & SSP login denied Error 401.1

The following weird situation created in our SharePoint Server.

With no specific reason I wasn't able to access the Shared Services Provider (SSP) Administration website from Sharepoint Central Administration.

I was able to login to the Central Administration Panel normally using my service account (domain admin account). But when I was trying to access the SSP after 3 attempts I was getting

You are not authorized to view this page

HTTP Error 401.1 - Unauthorized: Access is denied due to invalid credentials. Internet Information Services (IIS)

Initially I was investigating the case that maybe I have the the same name for the IIS Application Pool assigned to the SSP Admin application and the Shared Services Provider. But it was clear that I have different IIS Application pool for Shared Services Provider and another for SSP Admin application.

So I had:

SharedShervices1 / ISS App Pool: SharedShervices1
SSP Admin - 80 / SSPAdminAppPool


The above case is discused in the link below:
http://faraz-khan.blogspot.com/search/label/MOSS%202007%20SSP%20access%20denied

Finnaly I found the cause of my problem. It was loopback check security feature of windows 2003 Server.

"Loopback check security feature is designed to help prevent reflection attacks on your computer. Therefore, authentication fails if the FQDN or the custom host header that you use does not match the local computer name. "

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896861

I disabled through registry the loopback check

Disable the loopback check

Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

Now I am able to login normally to SSP Admin application.