SMS, SCCM, MECM, MEM, MCM & other fun acronyms

If the install is almost complete and then rolls back, try this fix and give the SCSM services a bit longer to start http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922918

 

now it’s cmtrace – still in the tools folder in the cm2012 install media

You are using trace32 to view CM2012 log files but the date/time field is blank.  Why?  Well, you are more than likely using the “old” version of trace (the CM2007 version).  Close the version you are using and go to the Tools folder in the CM2012 source media and copy the new trace32.exe.  For CM2012 beta 2 the timestamp for the updated trace32.exe file is 3/15/2011.

ConfigMgr 2007 primary site server backups were failing at a customer site.  “SQL Writer not found” error in smsbkup.log.  CM2007 SP2 on one server, SQL 2005 on a shared SQL server.  

SQL server hosted lots of databases, including ConfigMgr.  That is almost always a bad idea and continued to be so in this case. 

After lots of troubleshooting, including looking at output from ‘vssadmin list writers’ and getting ‘sms writer’ with state of [7] Failed, changing the account that vsswriter was using, restarting the services, etc etc. began looking at the other databases on the SQL box and noticed one had a trailing space at the end of the database name.  Very hard to discern this from the management studio, easier to detect it by looking at the SQL logs.  Initial thought was it was causing SQL maintenance tasks, including the backend processing for CM backup, to fail.  Initial thought was correct.  Admin removed the trailing space from the offending database, retried the ConfigMgr backup and voila, backup worked.  So, trailing spaces in database names are a bad thing. Avoid them. 

ok, that is done, now we continue on with the show that is already in progress

Our session “BB25 Service Manager Troubleshooting and Notes from the Field” was a huge success.  Great scores, great feedback.  I’ll be posting some of the content I created for the session in this blog. 

Mandalay Bay was ok, but I’m really glad we are moving back to the Venetian next year. 

If you are attending MMS 2011 next week (which is SOLD OUT!) look for me.  I’ll be at PFE booth in the MS area of the expo area a few times during the week and will be presenting the topic “Service Manager 2010 Troubleshooting and Notes from the Field” on Thursday morning at 10:15.  See you next week!

  If you are using FEP 2010 you might see these messages in your ConfigMgr environment: 

FEP 2010 has a monitoring service that checks for new events every 2 minutes.  That process generates the 30102 and 30103 status messages but it doesn’t record what component is generating the event (as shown above).  So, you’ll see lots of ‘Unknown Machine’, ‘Unknown SMS Application’, ‘User “UNKNOWN”‘ type of activity in the status messages.  This scenario doesn’t cause any issues, it just makes understanding these messages difficult if you don’t know what application is generating these messages.  

The details around this are still moving but SCCM V.Next will provide “light” management of WP7 devices thru the Exchange connector.  Can’t provide all the details here yet and I’ll add more info as it becomes available for the public.  WM 6.1 and 6.5 will have alot more functionality than WP7 in this area.

i keep this blog fairly technical but wanted to post a quick pic of my new road bike.  it’s a 2011 trek madone 4.5 with the new shimano 105 group, ultegra pedals, node 2 computer, carbon fiber frame, etc etc.  it’s am amazing bike.