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Easy, free VBScript debugging
As sys-admins we have to write scripts. Although the new thing is PowerShell, we still have a lot of old legacy scripts in VBScript. I was searching for an easy way to debug a VBScript, the way software developers do it using an IDE… but I do not want to install the whole Visual Studio package. Sure there are non Microsoft tools to do it, but I could not find a good, free one. After a lot of trials and tribulations, I found the easy way to debug a VBScript: Install MS debugger. (download it from here). Yes it is super old, but still works, I tested it on Windows…
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Changing your own password on a RDP session on Windows Server 2012 R2
Some people recommend using ….control + alt + end on a RDP session to bring up that Windows Security screen, but it does NOT work on nested RDP sessions. This procedure is the only one which worked for me on a Windows 2012 R2 RDP session: Click Start Type osk (to bring up the on screen keyboard) Hit enter Once the on screen keyboard is open, hold ctrl+Alt on your physical keyboard, then click on the del key in the on screen keyboard. Minimize the on screen Keyboard Click Change a password. PS: Thanks a ton for the tip, Bill!
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DPM Protection Groups, how many?
OK so I am trying to figure out what is the best way to create PGs in DPM 2012. From what the research I have done so far, one should create PGs depending upon the protection level and time. So, for example of you have a 5 file servers whose data should be retained for 3 months and 10 database servers whose data should be also be retained for 3 months, you should create just one single PG. Sure, you can also create two PGs, call one “file server PG” and the other “Databases PG” but I do not see any technical advantage of doing so. So going forward, for…
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DPM Protection Groups, how many?
OK so I am trying to figure out what is the best way to create PGs in DPM 2012. From what the research I have done so far, one should create PGs depending upon the protection level and time. So, for example of you have a 5 file servers whose data should be retained for 3 months and 10 database servers whose data should be also be retained for 3 months, you should create just one single PG. Sure, you can also create two PGs, call one “file server PG” and the other “Databases PG” but I do not see any technical advantage of doing so. So going forward, for…
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Use hardware VSS writers in DPM 2012 R2:
I was trying to leverage our SAN hardware’s snapshot capabilities for backup and restore purposes. I noticed that DPM is able to use hardware VSS writers instead of using the regular VSS software provider. The advantage is that snapping is done by the hardware….meaning it is much faster! Here is how I did it for our 3PAR 7400 SAN and our LeftHand P4000 SAN. The backup software I am using is SC DPM 2012 R2 Steps to be taken on all backup servers, all Hyper-V nodes in the HV cluster and all Hyper- Standalone nodes: 1. Install DOT NET 3 from “Add Roles and features” in Server Manager 2.…