How to remove a link from Google

If you ever have to remove a link from Google's search results, there is a very good blog to help you: http://www.canig.com/

The main trick after removing the offending page/document from your website is returning the correct error code. Google wants to see a 404 error returned when you browse to the url. http://www.canig.com/ has a tool where you can paste your link to verify you are getting the correct responce.

To use Google's Webmaster Tools, you have to verfy you have access to your website. This is very simple if you have access to your DNS record. Google will provide you with a snippet you can paste into a txt record. It usually only takes a couple hours to take effect. Once you verify your site, you can select your site and go to Optimization>Remove URL in the left pane.

Again, make sure you are returning a 404 error when you make the request.

http://www.seattleymca.org  Link

Exchange: Installed new SSL certificate and http redirect to https stopped working

After installing the new wildcard certificate on our Exchange 2010 servers, the top level the default website changed to "require SSL". 

 

"Require SSL" has to be unchecked for http to redirect to https.

DPM - System state/system protection "Replica is inconsistent"

If you are trying to backup the system state on 2008 or 2008 R2 and keep getting "Replica is inconsistent" make sure you have added "Windows Server Backup" in Features on the target server.

Adding a new web front end (WFE) to Sharepoint 2007

This might not be much use since it's Sharepoint but there's not a lot of info on setting up a new WFE on Server 2008 R2. 

We currently only have a 2 server Sharepoint 2007 farm (WFE and SQL). The WFE server has gone down twice in the last 6 months, both times it was the voltage regulator. When it happened the 2nd time I decided I was going to add a 2nd WFE just to have in case I need to retire that server. We are planning on upgrading soon but I don't feel comfortable doing it without another WFE. 

It was pretty simple since my environment is already 64-bit. I used a Hyper-V VM with 2008 R2 and added the Application Server and IIS roles, then installed MOSS 2007 with SP2. 

Sharepoint installed without a hitch, but it failed to connect to the config database during the configuration (step 2). "Failed to connect to the configuration database" "Access Denied". I figured it was because I needed to bring the server to the same update level. 

• I opened Central Administration on the original WFE, Operations>Servers in Farm and found the version (12.0.0.6504). 
• All you have to do it paste the number into search and you'll find a site that tells you the update level. Mine was the "April 2009 Cumulative update".
• I downloaded the corresponding updates and upgraded the new WFE.
• It still failed to connect after I reran the Configuration Wizard, so I restarted even though it didn't prompt me after installing the updates. After the restart it connected just fine.

Now what?  

Exchange 2010 CAS array using Windows NLB in a Hyper-V Cluster

This was tricky since it is very dependent on your environment. We have 3Com switches for our Hyper-v cluster (for now... budget constraints) and Cisco switches for the rest of the network. We also have a Cisco router for our gateway and an ASA for our mail firewall.

First I tried Multicast for the NLB, but our ASA did not like the NLB. We couldn't access the NLB vIP address from outside, VPN clients, or at our offices connected via site-to-site VPN. First we tried adding ARP entries to the router and main switch(s). Then we tried Unicast, giving both CAS servers the same MAC as the NLB. It worked and we could access the NLB from outside, but it wouldn't failover. If one server was down it was all down. So instead of being redundant I was doubling my chance of failure.

Finally I used IGMP Multicast. I used this webpage as a guide. The key I think was getting the MAC address for the "Virtual Machine Bus" Adapter ("Virtual Network Switch" Adapter in 2008 R2) Hyper-V hosts. Since I use 2008 R2 for the Hyper-V hosts, I enabled MAC spoofing in the VM Settings for both CAS servers. I also entered ARP entries on the switch and routers, using the IGMP multicast MAC address.

ECP error when using certain options

Exchange 2010 and 2007

A lot of people get this error when they click on Options in Outlook Web Access (OWA): if you click on "Groups" or "Rules" you get "Sorry! We're having trouble processing your request right now. Please try again in a few minutes."

In my setup, the authentication settings for OWA are "forms based"/"username only". ECP should match OWA, except, anonymous authentication should also be enabled. Go into IIS and enable anonymous authentication for the ECP directory.

If you are getting an error right when you click on "Options", or it's bringing you back to the login screen, ECP probably doesn't match your OWA authentication.