Creating a User Defined Service on Windows 2000/2003

1. Login to the target server

2. Install the appropriate resource kit (WIN2K, WIN2K3, etc.)

3. Navigate to the installation directory

a. Default is C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools

4. Run the following command

a. >instsrv.exe "C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\srvany.exe"

b. Where

i. Instsrv is the resource kit tool to setup the service

ii. is the name that will appear in Services

iii. "C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\srvany.exe" is the complete path to the SRVANY.EXE resource kit tool

5. Once the command has been issued, a successful installation will receive the following result:

a. The service was successfuly added!

6. Next, open REGEDIT and navigate to the following location:

a. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

7. From the Edit menu, click Add Key and name it Parameters

8. Next from the Edit menu, click Add Value and type this information.

a. Value Name: Application

b. Data Type : REG_SZ

c. String : \

9. Now, in the Services Applet

a. Optional - modify the login information for the service

b. Optional - change the startup type

c. Start the service

vmware-cmd fails

i moved a virtual machine from one host to another today and since it resided on local storage, i used our trusty vRanger to back it up to the new machine and then restore it. Once there, all i should have had to do was run the following command:

vmware-cmd -s register vmfs/volume///.vmx

however, when i did this, the command failed complaining about Perl

i then tried to run the configuration for perl using the following command

vmware-config.pl

but this errored out as well. found that there are issues with the vmware-config.pl command when the ESX server's time is considerably at odds with the actual time. This was the case for me as i had just installed this host.

1. i reset the time to the current value
2. re-ran vmware-config.pl (success this time)
3. re-ran vmware-cmd -s register vmfs/volume///.vmx (success)

Moral of the story - if you get strange errors with perl, make sure your host time is correct...

SQL Server 2005 Installation Issues

I've installed SQL Server 2000 at least 200 times in my career and its seldom ever given me any heartburn. Then along comes SQL Server 2005 and its installation is the biggest consistent pain in the neck i've ever worked with. Why exactly did they have to rework something that was already working?

Today I had to install 2005 for another component installation and after at least an hour it finally reached the point where it was installing the workstation components...and it sat there...and sat there...and sat there - for at least an hour. I didnt want to kill the installation, because i've done that before and that caused 2-3 days of hacking and cleanup.

So, i started searching and eventually ran across something i had forgotten - that if the 2005 installation hangs, try disconnecting the network cable - which, after another 20 minutes, caused the install to pick up and finally finish.

What kind of ridiculous solution is that for a something that's supposed to be enterprise-class software?

good grief

DotNet30 Install Hangs

If you try to install the DotNet30 framework (dotnetfx3setup.exe) and it hangs around 80% with a dialog similar to

"The setup program is loading the components of the setup program. This can take a few minutes"

then you're most likely trying to install from the bootstrap. The work around is to download the full installation file

then run it. the installation should proceed as expected...

Halloween

Halloween

In the golden red light of autumn afternoons

The wind rustles fallen leaves across lawn and street

In fields of cornstalks, dead leaves whisper in the wind

As the sun sinks beyond concrete canyons

Along hidden country fence rows,

Black cats gather in their covens

To dance and sing to their ancient goddess

Around a secret, guttering firelight

Along shaded, tree covered roads

Spirits float with aimless ease

As the barrier between our worlds

Thins to nothingness and disappears

Along darkened streets and alleyways

Under fire escape and air conditioner

Demons from the deep craw up

From sewer and sub basement

In the gathering gloom, fiend and friend

will walk our paths, our roads and our streets

Searching, searching, always searching

Driven, as are we all, by lusts of the flesh

In the darkness we will sit and wait

For them to find us in the rustling dark

Drawn to us like bats to blood

Like the undead to the living

Under porch light and street light

They will summon us from our musings

And await the satiation of their desires

Demanding the cornucopia that is their due

We must feed them or suffer they say

And feed them we must, I say

For on this night of all nights – Halloween

We must embrace the dark, and appease its servants

Mark F. Cook

Copyright 2008

All Rights Reserved

logged into one of our servers this morning and found svchost process eating 90+ % of CPU. dug a littel deeper with Process Explorer and found that it was the wuaueng.dll that was the culprit. after googling, found the following URL: http://ask-leo.com/c011472.html

Thanks to Leo for his posting. Here's the text of one possible resolution from the link above:

1. Click Start, click Run, and then type net stop wuauserv .
2. On the desktop, double-click My Computer, and then delete the drive :\WuTemp folder.
3. Delete the drive:\Windows \System32\Catroot2 folder.
4. Open the drive:\Windows folder, and then rename the SoftwareDistribution folder as SoftwareDistributionOLD.
5. Open the drive:\Windows \system32 folder, and then follow these steps:
a. Rename the Wuweb.dll file as Wuweb.dll.old.
b. Rename the Wuapi.dll file as Wuapi.dll.old.
c. Rename the Wuauclt.exe file as Wuauclt.exe.old.
d. Rename the Wuaucpl.cpl file as Wuaucpl.cpl.old.
e. Rename the Wuaueng1.dll file as Wuaueng1.dll.old.
f. Rename the Wuaueng.dll file as Wuaueng.dll.old.
g. Rename the Wuauserv.dll file as Wuauserv.dll.old.
h. Rename the Wucltui.dll file as Wucltui.dll.old.
i. Rename the Wups2.dll file as Wups2.dll.old.
j. Rename the Wups.dll file as Wups.dll.old.
6. Restart the computer.

Strangely though, just as i was getting ready to implement Leo's fix, svchost CPU utilization dropped back do to zero. not sure what's happening, but i will be monitoring as the day goes on....

Stock Market

things are looking a little better this morning. we'll see where the day goes...

Stock Market

Man - this morning i come into work and check my 401K, which by now should more truthfully be called a 200.5K. I know that all the pundits say to stay the course, if you sell now you'll loose real money - not just the paper money you've lost so far, etc. but boy is it painful.

I read a post that said that if you have more than 10 years until retirement - me - then you shouldn't be worried. the problem is that in 10 years, i wont be to find the author of the post to kick his ass...

Grace

Grace

We walk for a time, among those
who, of different gods, share this earth with us
in war and in peace, we are brothers after all
by grace have we walked among them

We walk for a time, among those
ghosts call to us from ten thousand patriot graves
beseeching us to stewardship worthy of their blood and devotion
by grace have we walked among them

We walk for a time, with those
who loved us first, who connect us to our ancestors,
back to the first man and first woman
by grace have we walked with them

We walk for a time, with those
whose small hands we held in our own
who leave our homes, but never our hearts
by grace have we walked with them

We walk for a time, with those
who are the better part of ourselves who bring us
the gifts of passion and forgiveness, tears and bliss
by grace have we walked with them

We walk for a time in grace
in sunlight, in moonlight and in shadow
let us remember the bounty of our lives
for it is by grace that we have walked this earth at all

Mark F. Cook
Copyright 2005
All rights reserved

WinLims

In our WinLims database, we will occaisionally have to make data changes to samples. There are 2 tables involved:

SAMPLE
- holds sample header data

SAMPLEPARAM
- holds details about each sample

SAMPLE_ID relates the two tables together

we sometimes get requests to change sample data that was incorrectly added.

Stardate 20081007

first entry, interested in seeing if this really helps me or is a major waste of time and effort. we'll see.