Microsoft Exchange 2007 Setup Error
// February 12th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Microsoft
I don’t plan on putting many posts about Microsoft products up here (who am I kidding, I have enough trouble posting anything), but I ran across this problem at work the other day and since it was a silly problem that wasted a few hours of my time, I thought I’d share it with you.
Basically, I am installing Exchange 2007 from scratch in a test environment on a Windows Server 2008 virtual machine. Our domain controllers are all running Windows Server 2003, so we are running at a Window Server 2003 domain functional level. After having used the 32-bit evaluation version of Exchange 2007 to prep the schema, prep Active Directory, and prep the domains (the 64-bit version is required in production environments, and for domains with Server 2003 DC’s, you have to use the 32-bit evaluation version for all the prep steps), I ran the Install Exchange step of the Exchanger installer application. Here’s the resulting error I received from the installer:
For the sake of Googlability (yes, that is a word), I will type out the error in plain text here.
Error:
Setup needs to contact the Active Directory schema master but this computer is not in the same Active Directory domain as the schema master (DC=abc,DC=org).
Error:
Setup encountered a problem while validating the state of Active Directory: Exchange organization-level objects have not been created, and setup cannot create them because the local computer is not in the same domain and site as the schema master. Run setup with the /prepareAD parameter on a computer in the domain gtri and site Default-First-Site-Name, and wait for replication to complete.
Well, this error didn’t help solve the problem at all, because the local computer was definitely in the same domain and site as the schema master. We eventually traced the problem back to the fact that I had used the 32-bit RTM version of Exchange to prep the schema, AD, and domains, instead of the 32-bit SP1 version of Exchange. I went back and reran the prep steps and the Exchange installation step went off without a hitch.
So, lesson learned: When installing Exchange 2007 SP1 on a Windows Server 2008 machine (or any machine) and you have to prep the schema, Active Directory, and domains with the 32-bit version of Exchange 2007 because your DC’s are 32-bit, make sure you are using the SP1 version of Exchange 2007 32-bit and not your old non-SP1 version you have sitting around.
Lights in the Sky
// November 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Music
If you know me at all, you would probably assume I am not a Nine Inch Nails fan. If you had asked me a year ago if I liked NIN, I would’ve told you I was not a fan. A few things happened in recent months that have drawn me toward the creative genius that is Trent Reznor. Throughout the existence of NIN, Reznor has always been openly against the recording industry, doing things such as holding studio time under pseudonyms as to not draw attention from the recording industry. In early 2008, NIN released their latest album, The Slip, for free on the internet.
The Slip album cover
This is where I come into the story. The Slip’s free distribution caught the attention of the tech industry, with several of my favorite podcasts, including c|net’s Buzz Out Loud and Leo Laporte’s This Week In Tech. After hearing about it from these shows, I decided to download the album and see what it was like, knowing I wasn’t particularly interested in Nine Inch Nails’ music. As it turns out, this album sounded very different from the typical NIN songs you typical hear on the radio. Many songs do not have any lyrics and have an ambient feel to them, which I enjoy as background music.
In addition to downloading this album and becoming slightly interested, I also saw that Ken Wilson, over atwww.avclub.us was making his way down to the Atlanta showing of the Lights in the Sky tour, and he posted some videos of the show on his vimeo page. This is where I discovered that when Trent Reznor puts on a concert, he really provides a full immersive multimedia experience, not just a band playing loud rock music.
I decided I wanted to see this show, but since I missed the Atlanta date, I checked out the tour dates and found that one of the shows was going to be in my hometown, Greenville, SC, at the BI-LO Center. My friend Simon and I headed up to the show, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what Trent Reznor looked like, and I had only heard a small portion of NIN’s music.
I won’t go on with all the mundane details, but it was a mind-blowing experience. There were three LED walls on stage (the front two being the kind that you can see through when no video is being transmitted), each could be lifted into the air, and there were several walls of movable lights as well. The video walls were interactive to both the music and to Trent’s movement on stage. For instance, in one song, the band was enclosed in the front two video walls, both showing a rainstorm, and when Trent stepped close to the front wall, it would reveal him as he moved around. At other times in the concert, there would be a bump map moving to the beat of the synthesizers, all the while blended in with a live video feed of Trent’s face with a microphone as he sang.
I’ve posted some videos that I shot below, but check out the other links as well.
The making of Nine Inch Nails’ Lights in the Sky set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53S5wTWBz_c
NIN’s website to let you remix multi-track NIN songs and listen to other folks’ remixes:http://www.remix.nin.com
NIN’s YouTube video page: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ninofficial
My videos and pictures:
Atlanta Gas Shortage of 2008
// September 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // Car
Well, folks, I’ve been wanting to start blogging for a while now. The main reason I chose to hold off is because I didn’t think I had much to write about, but lately I have more frequently had experiences that I thought would be blog-worthy. And if I start posting, maybe this thing will take a certain direction. In the meantime, consider this blog a stream of consciousness from my brain.
Today I had my first true experience with gas shortages. I understand there was a gas shortage back in 1973 (see this page), but I have never experienced one of these in my lifetime.
I haven’t filled up my gas tank in 12 days (yes, I walk to work), but it was getting low, so I set out this morning to investigate the situation. I found about 15 gas stations without gas and 1 with gas. The one with gas was a Marathon station, and I didn’t feel like waiting in line for gas.
Later that day I decided I should suck it up and just go wait in line, so I drove back to Marathon and waited in this line that was wrapping around Northside Drive into 10th St. Here’s a news guy filming the occasion:
The wait was only about 10 minutes, but when I finally got to the pump, I saw this:
Since I drive a BMW, I was a little concerned about putting this Octane Booster junk in my gas tank, but after calling a car-savvy friend, I went ahead and got the booster, which was in a scary hot orange bottle:
This ended up adding about 30 cents per gallon of gas, so it wasn’t quite the price gouge I thought it was going to be. My car seems to have been driving okay since I put this jet fuel in my gas tank.
