Archive for the ‘Server 2003’ Category

Resizing a Dynamic System Partition on Windows 2003 – for Free.

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Ok. I have a server running Windows Small Business Server 2003. Back in the day when it was set up I naively had only a 20gb System volume, on a dynamic disk, mirrored. Unfortunately that ran out of space, so I set about extending the partition.

Windows Disk Management and Diskpart in Windows 2003 don’t allow you to extend the volume with the O/S on it. This limitation meant that I went to a tried, tested and trusted friend in GParted. Unfortunately, GParted also cannot extend volumes on dynamic disks created with the Windows LVM.

After an hour of trying to find a way to do it, I nearly ended up paying for professional tools (which do exist if you want the support and backup). I then remembered that Windows 2008 does allow you to resize the system partition.

This means that the Windows 2008 version of DiskPart can perform this function, and is included in Windows PE 3.

So, grab a copy of the Windows Automated Installation Kit from here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5753 create your Windows PE 3.0 CD and boot. Instructions for creating the CD or UFD are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749311(WS.10).aspx

Full instructions for the Windows 2008 version of DiskPart can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770877(WS.10).aspx

Remember to always create a backup though.

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Page File Location when System drive is Mirrored

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

I have been working on a server today which has 2 HDD, mirrored for redundancy. It is a software based mirror provided by Windows Server 2003. The server had been having a couple of performance issues, and whenlooking at the performance monitor, they tended to be caused by long write times to the Page File.

The page file was still in it’s default location on the C: drive – as this is SBS 2003 it had never been looked at. This meant that all page file write operations were being written to two HDD every time.

This is not neccessary. The solution that we have come up with to ealleviate this ‘dual-writing’ is to shrink the data partition (also mirrored) on the disk to give us back some unallocated space. I then created a simple volume on the first disk which could be used to host the page file. Assigned the next available drive letter and changed the page file drive assignments in the System Properties.

After a reboot and a couple of hours with loggin turned on I went back and found that the page file write time is significantly decreased.

This just goes to show how important it is to look where data is actually being stored on a system to make sure that you are getting the most from the hardware that you have.

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70-294 – Passed!

Friday, January 15th, 2010

1 more exam under my belt. Only 1 more to go to complete my MCSE. Got a score of 930/1000 – which I am very pleased with.

70-297 booked for week after next. Failed this once before (for a number of reasons – forgetting the date of the exam until the actual day being the main one). Going to have a bit of a cram session over the next two weekends. Don’t think there is much in the course that I don’t know, just need to try and get my head around how they mark the exam, and make sure that I complete all of the questions in the allocated time.

Already been having a look at what I need to do to then make my MCSE (as will be) up to Windows Server 2008 standard. Looks like I have to upgrade the course to become a Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist. Think I will have to do exam 70-649 Upgrading you MCSE on Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 Technology Specialist. From what I can see this gives me most of what I need to become a MCITP: Server Administrator. Link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-649&Locale=en-us

Going off now. I am now confused with the Microsoft upgrade paths and what is best. Might need to find someone to talk to.

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Editing the Active Directory Schema

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

I am currently studying for Microsoft exam 70-294 (hence a bit quite on the posts) and can across the very short section about how to access the schema.

This got me round to thinking, ‘How do you edit the schema, and how difficult can it be really?’. It turns out that it is not that difficult at all.

It is something that I had thought about at work, to be able to store information from SIMS about our students in the directory, like their admission number to give them a unique reference when creating and deleting accounts automatically.

I found the following two articles to be very useful. The MS article gave a good background, but the Depicus article filled in the gaps and provided you with sample scripts to get you going. These are easy to edit and I was quickly able to add in another field which stored the SIMS Admission Number in the directory.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727064.aspx#EBAA

http://www.depicus.com/articles/extending-the-active-directory-schema-for-enterprise-printer-support.aspx

Just to re-iterate before anyone does anything accidental – changes to the schema cannot be reversed. Make sure you thoroughly test anything that you want to change on a lab forest first, as changes to the schema cannot be deleted, only marked as inactive. You have been warned!

Back to messing around with Windows Server 2003 in preparation for the exam tomorrow.

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