Paul Shadwell RTFM

Solving Incoming Email Problems after Migrating to Sharepoint 2010

It's been a week of frustration and revelation this week after spending last weekend migrating our Sharepoint 2007 server to Sharepoint 2010.

I opted for the database attach method of upgrading as I had already setup 2 new virtual machines with Sharepoint 2010 and SQL Server 2008 respectively. So I simply did a backup of the Sharepoint content databases on the old SQL Server 2005 server using the built in tools, copied the backup files to the new server and then ran a restore.

Now in our environment we have several email enabled Document Libraries, a couple of which are mission critical. Hence the main reason for performing the upgrade over the weekend. 

The migration went well and all the content databases restored and upgraded using the instructions from Microsoft. I went to the main Document Library to check on the email enabled setting but the link was missing in the Document Library settings. So a quick check in the Sharepoint Administration site quickly showed me I had to enable the Incoming Email Service. So following the instruction (it's pretty much the same as on Sharepoint 2007) I installed the SMTP service on the Sharepoint 2010 server and user the IIS 6 Management tool to setup the domain aliases and trusted mail servers the same way as I had it setup in the old environment.

I then went into the Document Library settings and sure enough the link for the Email Enabling the Document Library was there and going in I saw all the settings were as they were on the old server, so I thought, job done.

I sent a test message to the document Library's email address and waited for it to appear in the list, and waited, and waited. Nothing appeared, uh! oh!. So I went through all the settings just to make sure. I then opened up the SMTP Drop Folder and watched while I sent another email. The email appeared in the Drop Folder and disapeared. This means that the SMTP service was working and that Sharepoint was picking up the email but nothing was appearing in the Document Library.

I tried several ways to try and track what was happening but nothing was appearing in any logs which seemed odd. Entries were in the SMTP log but nothing in the Sharepoint Timer service log which is the service that picks up the emails and transfers them to the appropriate Document Library.

After a few days of failed solutions and scouring the internet for hours I took one last ditch attempt to figure out what was going on.

In a separate Site Collection, I created a new Document Library and setup the incoming email address. I then sent it an email. The email appeared!!

I then had a thought, what if there was a missing attribute that was causing the problem and because the migrated Document Libraries were already enabled what if I disabled the function and then re-enabled it.

So that's what I tried. I went into the Document Library settings and clicked Incoming E-mail Settings. I set "Allow this document library to receive e-mail" to No and clicked Save.

I then clicked Incoming E-mail Settings again and set "Allow this document library to receive e-mail" to Yes and clicked Save again.

I then sent the Document Library an email and held my breath, a few moments later the email appeared!!! I then immediately went through all my document libraries and did the same thing.

So for those of you suffering the same problem of incoming emails not appearing in migrated Sharepoint Document Libraries, the answer appears to be to turn it off and turn on again :-)

Some useful links:

An SMTP Testing Service

Setting up Incoming E-mail Service on Sharepoint 2010

Unlocking the Huawei E5830 aka 3 Mifi (Part Two) Updating the firmware

Following on from my previous post, there is one more step that will make the 3 Mifi easier to manage and that is to update the firmware. Updating the firmware reveals the web interface that will allow you to change settings on the unit without needing to physically connect it to a PC or a Mac running Windows.

However, to perform the firmware update you do need to have it plugged into a Windows PC or a Mac running VMware Fusion. If you followed my last post to unlock the Mifi then you can use the same environment to update the firmware.

I found 3 different locations and 3 different versions of the firmware update for the Huawei E5830 and each one had it's own set of useful additions however, out of the 3 only one allowed for the update of the APN settings via the web interface and this is important, especially for Mac/iPhone/iPod/iPad users.

I found this website to have the most up to date and useful information regarding the E5830 http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/.

Here are the steps to updating the firmware:

On your PC or Mac running Windows in VMware Fusion go to the following web page:

http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/huawei-e5-e5830-e5832-imo-firmware-update-available

Click on the FTP link and download the firmware file. It is a .exe file.

Make sure your E5830 is connect via USB and is turned on. Also make sure that neither the 3 Wifi Manger nor the DC-Unlocker programs are running as they will grab the connection and will prevent the firmware updating program from seeing the Mifi unit.

Now run the .exe file you downloaded. Don't worry, the firmware will not be updated yet, the program can also tell you the current firmware version and the status.

Accept the agreement and click Next:

Now you should see the following.

Click Cancel as you have one step you must perform before going any further and that is to put the E5830 into firmware update mode.

Rather than go through all of the steps here, here is a link to a PDF document that gives you a step by step guide to updating the firmware. Just ignore Step 5, is is a mistranslation, do not remove the battery.

After a few minutes your 3 Mifi will have it's new firmware. I did notice that the firmware version number reported by the tool does not change, this is misleading, it is updated and you can see evidence of this by going the the web interface as follows.

Disconnect the Midi from the USB and if it isn't already, power it on.
Press the Wifi button for 2 seconds and wait for the blue W to light up.
You should now be able to connect to it via Wifi.
On the Mac open System Preferences.
Under Internet and Wireless click Network.
Select AirPort and click Network Name to see a list of available wireless networks. Unless you have changed the SSID, you should see the Mifi listed as 3Wireless-Modem-xxxx where xxx is a unique number assigned to your Mifi.
Select it and fill in the password which, unless you changed it, will be written on a label found under the battery inside the Mifi.
Now that you are connected, open a web browser and go to http://192.168.1.1

You will see a login screen, the default password is "admin".
You are now in and looking at the web interface of you 3 Mifi!!! Woohoo!

I will just go over a few of the settings that you may find useful:

Advanced Settings -> System -> Modify Password

Go here to change the admin password.

Advanced Settings -> Dial-up Settings -> Profile Settings

This is where you will enter the APN information that is required by most carriers (see theAPN List).

To create a new APN enter an Profile Name, Dial Number, Username, Password and APN. (Note: not all of the fields need to have data, check the APN list for details)
This is what I entered for Swisscom:

Profile Name: Swisscom
Dial-up Number: *99#
Username: swisscom
Password: leave empty
APN: gprs.swisscom.ch

Once you have entered the details click the Save button.

Now go to Advanced Settings -> Dial-up Settings -> Connection Settings

You need to select the profile to make it active.

Other settings of interest:

Advanced Settings -> WLAN Settings -> WLAN Basic Settings

Here you can change the SSID if you wish. I also set the Wifi Auto Off to Disabled.

Advanced Settings -> WLAN Settings -> WLAN Advanced Settings

Here you can change the password (WPA Pre-Shared Key) you enter when connecting via Wifi.

Hopefully you have found both of these posts useful. Let me know how you get on. If you have any questions I will do my best to field them for you.

Unlocking the Huawei E5830 aka 3 Mifi (Part One)

Whilst in the UK recently I bought a 3 Mifi with a Pay As You Go SIM for £69. They also had the Novatel Mifi but it was only available with Vodaphone on a contract. So I decided to go for the offering from 3. I had read that it was unlock-able and had many more features than 3 were allowing it's customers.

As soon as I got home after my trip to the UK, I started researching what I needed to do to unlock the unit. Pretty much everyone was pointing to http://dc-unlocker.com for the relevant software. You have to purchase credits for the unlock code and 15 are required for the E5830 at a total cost of 15 Euros. The only issue is that it can only be done on a PC running Windows. After some testing I found that it was perfectly possible to run the unlock software and the firmware upgrades, using VMWare Fusion running Windows 7 as the guest OS. Once unlocked, you can do everything else from the Mac, using the web interface that is revealed after applying a firmware update.

Each carrier in each country has a different APN (Access Point Name), you need this information when using another carrier's SIM in the Mifi. Here is a useful site with all the most common carriers by country and the relevant APN info: APN List

I did find a lot of information but it does seem to be all over the place, so in an attempt to consolidate the information here are the steps I took to unlock the Hauwei E5830 and update the firmware, so that it is possible to change the APN via the web interface.

On a Windows PC or using VMWare Fusion running Windows go to the following URL:

http://www.dc-unlocker.com/

Click the "Free Download" link

Click the download link

Now run dc-unlocker_client-x.xx.xxxx.exe (the Xs are the version number which was 1.00.0486 when I wrote this) and install it.
At this point, plug in the Mifi using the USB cable it came with into a USB port. Then power on the Mifi and wait a few moments for it to be recognised in Windows and for the drivers to install. If you are using VMware Fusion, make sure you are in Windows when you plug in the Mifi, otherwise it will try and come up on the Mac side. If this happens, go into Fusion and select Virtual Machine from the menu, then USB, then click "Connect HUAWEI Mobile Connect" if it already says "Disconnect HUAWEI Mobile Connect" then the Mifi is connected and working.

Now run the DC-Unlocker client from the icon now on your desktop. (Make sure that the 3 Wifi Manager software that you may have installed, is not running before starting DC-Unlocker)
You can now click the search button:

After a few seconds you should see something similar to this:

The difference being that yours will say Locked where the arrow is pointing.

When you are ready, click the Buy-Credits button, this will take you to the DC-Unlocker website. You will need to purchase 15 credits to unlock the HUAWEI E5830 you can see the list and credits required here: Unlock Huawei E5830,E5832,E583x,E5836, E5837

Select PayPal and fill in you details:
Credits for: New User
User name: Create a username that does not already exist.
E-mail: Enter a valid email address as you will be sent a password.
Credits: Enter 15 as this is the number required to unlock the Huawei Mifi.

Click confirm
You will be taken to PayPal where you pay 15 Euros for the credits. When complete you will get an email with your username and a password.

Go back to the DC-Unlocker client which should still be running:
Click the Server button shown and fill in the username and password you were sent in the email.
Click the "Check Login" button to make sure everything is working.

Now click the Unlocking button and click Unlock

Within a few seconds the window will refresh and the SIM Lock Status will be unlocked

That's it, you can now use your unlocked 3 Mifi with other carriers and in other countries using locally obtained SIMs. There is a further step to make it fully usable and that will be in a follow up post that I am working on now.

OS X 10.5 Running in VMware Fusion

Now it's easy to install Mac OS X Server 10.5 on a virtual machine using VMware Fusion, but it's not quite so easy to do the same with the normal "Desktop" version. This is because of the licensing imposed by Apple. At least they are now open to allowing OS X Server to be virtualised and this is great news for those of us who want to test those environments. However, testing generally also requires the Desktop to be virtualised also, it just makes life so much easier (and cheaper of course) to setup, install, test and break down a virtual environment than it is to do the same in hardware.

So I've been hunting around for a while for the solution. Today I found the solution on another blog.
The blog illustrates how to install OS X 10.4 (Tiger) as a virtual machine. There was a mention in the comments that this would work for Leopard so I thought I'd give it a try. I was successful! There were a couple of modifications I had to make but other than that the instructions can be followed to the letter on 10.5 as well.

Rather than plagiarise my fellow bloggers hard work I'll just give you the link. Sven G's Post

Below are my updates to Sven G's post:

2. The mounted VM HD shows up on the Desktop as Macintosh HD which is of course the same name as the normal Macintosh HD (unless you renamed it of course). If this is the case then the OS will see the mounted drive as Macintosh HD 1.
3. You will need to show hidden files and folders to navigate to the OSInstall.mpkg. I used Path Finder to do this.
6. Remember to change the Macintosh HD to the drive name that shows up in the OS. You can find this by going to terminal and typing the following:

cd /Volumes
ls -al

You will then see a list of the mounted drives.

7. Same as step 6.

You can now install the VMware Tools as normal.
I am now testing the updates to 10.5.6.

The Challenge: Blog Every Day for a Month

The great Don McAllister of ScreenCastsOnline set himself a goal last week of blogging every day for 30 days. I was thinking of doing something similar and as today (now yesterday) is (or was) the 1st of March, I would blog every day for the month of March.

My plan is to write something useful and/or thought provoking for each day. So my Sunday was mostly spent fighting with a Windows Vista guest virtual machine on my Mac Pro. I hadn't run it for a while and needed to do some testing for my main client. I couldn't login, it looked like although I had not set a password for the user account I was using, the account had expired and I could no longer use the VM.

I contemplated building a new VM but thought that if this has happened to me it has bound to have happened to others too. So I started to investigate how to solve the problem. I solved it and then proceeded to take snapshots of every step I took to fix it. As usual I used the internet to find the answers and as usual the information was hard to find and burried in forums. In this case the Fusion forums on VMware's website. So, to cut a long story short, it's 2:40am and I have all the screen-shots ready but now I have to go and sleep.

In my younger days I used to love writing, in my school days I did reasonably well in English but over the years it's become more and more of a chore especially when you have to do it, I'm an IT guy and writing documentation is a pet hate of mine (I know, it's common problem).

Still, hopefully, forcing myself to do this everyday will be, not just of benefit to myself, but to others too. I already have a backlog of blog entries, I'm sure a few of you are still waiting for my online accounting apps tests. I'm not great at GTD but I have to force myself and lets see if I can achieve it. It's a huge challenge and I want to succeed. OK so the first day was a "FAIL" but I hope to do better from now on. So watch this space and if you can offer any encouragement or ideas to help me overcome my laziness and manyana attitude, I would love to hear from you.

Oh! and I will blog the password reset solution, promise.

Clients for Virtual Desktops the good news and the bad news...

So the good news is that VMware View runs on a Mac via Safari. The bad news is that there will be no native client for the foreseeable future. Right now VMware are focusing on PCs and Linux. Linux? I hear you cry? I thought the same thing, surely Mac OS X is the up and coming OS that needs to be supported but it's probably a political issue since VMware and Novell are working closely together and I can well imagine Apple not wanting to talk to anyone if approached.
So it still looks like Citrix are the only player when it comes to OS X support. 

If I find out otherwise, I'll let you know.

Clients for Virtual Desktops update

So after the keynote I am happy to report that VMware will be supporting other client platforms although no specifics were mention, the name of Apple was mentioned once. So there is hope and now I will go and ask when this will be available.

What should I do now?

Do you sometimes think about where you are and what you're doing? I'm there right now. For the past few weeks I've been busy working on various projects but all for other people and not making any progress on my own projects one of which is branding myself.
I have a lot of experience in a number of different and wide ranging fields, from building virtual infrastructure environments to customising real Harley Davidsons, all of which I find a lot of fun to work on. So I'm thinking, should I focus on one or maybe two of these area or all of them together, should I have one blog that focuses on one or several blogs, one for each?
I also have some possible business opportunities and I am getting my own company off the ground, these include offering my services as a Virtual Environment Engineer and as a web designer/developer.
My daughter has just graduated as a graphic designer so I can see an opportunity also for her, she has already done some design work for me which will result in new websites soon.
So as you can see, I'm having trouble knowing where to start.
I often think about blogging my thoughts but generally that's as far as it gets and I know that's not good.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings :-)
There are a couple of things I need to complete, not least of which is the review of online accounting software. I intend to do this soon, especially as there have been significant changes to some of the software I intend to look at, plus, my tax year is coming up at the end of March, so would be handy to have something for myself by then.
If you have any input, suggestions etc, I would love to hear them.

Fusion 2.0 Released

Today saw the release of VMware's Fusion 2.0.
I have been using the beta release of 2.0 for some months now and have been enjoying a lot of the new features as mentioned in previous posts.
Now that the full release is out I can highly recommend upgrading to this new version. It's performance has been significantly improved and some of the nice usability features include recognising the operating system CD or image that you wish to install and pre-setting all the features you'll need before you start. Installing Windows, XP, Vista and Ubuntu are a breeze.
Other new features include snapshots. Snapshots are a common feature for those of us used to working with the Virtual Server technologies that VMware provides to businesses and it is now available to Fusion users.
A snapshot, as it's name suggests, takes a snapshot in time of your virtual machine. This snapshot is then available for you to revert to if you wish.
For example, say you want to test an application on a Vista VM, before installing the application, you take a snapshot of the VM, you then install the application. You can the test the application. Should you then decide to remove the app, rather than uninstalling and running the risk of residue settings being left behind you can just say, revert to snapshot and your virtual machine is exactly as it was before you started the installation.
Vmware Fusion 2.0 also allows you to create scheduled snapshots, effectively backing up the configuration at each point.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as 2.0 features are concerned, so go ahead and download the upgrade or, if you don't already have Fusion you can download the 30 day trial.

Let me know what you think about the new version and share your favorite features.

Hidden Pleasures of Fusion 2.0

So today I was having an issue with getting an external hard drive to be recognised on my Mac Pro.
The reason as it turns out was that the drive was not initialised and formatted and then it struck me, if I have a drive formatted on the PC as NTFS and want to read it while in OS X what do I need?

Well I hunted around and I found 2 options open to me, the first option I found was a commercail application called NTFS for Mac OS X from Paragon.
The other is an open source project now run by Google called MacFUSE.
NTFS for Mac OS X is $39.95 but you can trail it for 10 days. On the other hand MacFUSE is completely free.

This is the first time I came across MacFUSE but today I was pleasenty surprised to find that MacFUSE is actually included as part of VMware Fusion 2.0. Admittedly I am using RC1 so this may change but I hope not because this is really useful.

During the installation of VMware Fusion 2.0 RC1 you are prompted to install MacFUSE 1.5, installing MacFUSE enables you to open and read and write to VMware Fusion virtual machine disks with even needing to power up the Virtual Machne. This is of course dependnat on the fact that you either have Windows XP or Vista installed in a virtual macine.

There are lots of other cool features in Fusion 2.0 but I'l leave that for another posting.