Sometime while connecting MSSQL 2005 Remotely OR locally using MSSQL Management Studio (using user as SA) it throw following Error

Login failed for user 'sa'. The user is not associated with a trusted SQL Server connection. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18452)

For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&EvtID=18452&LinkId=20476

This Error occurs when SQL Server doesn’t support SQL Server Authentication Mode (Mixed Mode for MSSQL 2000). This issue can be fixed using following Steps:

1) Connect the MSSQL server using Windows Authentication of the server.

2) Right Click on the server name in the tree on the left and go to properties.

3) Click the Security Option. Now under Server authentication Select “SQL Server and Windows Authentication Mode” and press OK.

Now try to connect MSSQL using SA user. Please refer Microsoft KB Article 840219 for more information

I have found a very nice Tutorial for installation of phpBB3 for any domain.

phpBB is a free flat-forum bulletin board software solution that can be used to stay in touch with a group of people or can power your entire website.

phpBB3 installation include two parts
A) Database configuration.
B) phpBB3 installation.

A) Database configuration.
Login to control panel like Cpanel, Plesk etc. (or any other mysql client) and perform following actions:

1) Create Database
2) Create Database username
3) Database Password
4) Grant Proper Permissions to the users

Read more

After login into a VPS using RDP it stuck on Blue screen (Not BSOD) and doesn’t load next screen or Desktop of the VPS like below given image

OR if you get following Error after login to VE by RDP

“You are connected to the remote computer. However, an error occurred while an initial user program was starting, so you are being logged off. Contact the system administrator for assistance.“

Such problems occurs due to corrupted or missed C:/Windows/explorer.exe of the VPS or VE.

This problem can be fixed by copying C:/Windows/explorer.exe file of the host server to the VPS. Following are the steps to copy

1) Stop the VPS
#       vzctl stop VEID

2) Mount the VPS
#      vzctl mount VEID

Now we will able to access VPS files from host server in C:/vz/private/VEID/ Directory.

3) Copy “C:/Windows/explorer.exe” from Host server to “C:/vz/private/VEID/Windows/explorer.exe“

4) Unmount and start the VPS
#      vzctl umount VEID
#      vzctl start VEID

Please try to login to the VPS now.

Note: Here, VEID will be the VPS ID of the VE which is facing problem.

In Windows 2008 Components like IIS, DNS etc. are called as Roles and you can add these Roles from Server Manager >> Roles >> Add Roles and then you have to follow the steps to install the desire components. This process is a bit lengthly as you will have to go through the steps. You can automate and eliminate these steps by using Command Line utility called “ServerManagerCmd.exe”.

ServerManagerCmd.exe is a tool or command which Installs and removes roles, role services and features. Also displays the list of all roles, role services, and features available, and shows which are installed on this computer.

Query ROLES

“-query” parameter is used to see all the available and installed ROLES of components on the server. The installed modules are are shown in Green Color (which can bee seen in below image)

Install ROLES

To add additional roles to the server, “-install” or “-i” parameter is used. You can install a ROLE by using “-i” which will install all the components which are required by the component.

Also you can mentioned all the Components separating them with SPACE which will install all the modules you have listed (it will save time)

You can find more information about the ROLES and “Command value” (Component name) on Microsoft Technet Website

Remove ROLES

Roles which are already installed on the server can be removed with the help of “-remove” parameter. Using this, complete ROLE and it’s dependencies will be un-installed from the server.

Additional Options

-version
This parameter is used to check the ServerManager version

-help or -?
Display Help for ServerManagerCmd.exe in the command window.

NOTE: There are some roles which requires Reboot after installation or removal, in such cases you can add “-restart” at the end of install or remove option. This will reboot the server after completion of task if required.

Proxy server is a computer system or application which is installed on computer system that works as a  acts as an agent or channel for requests from clients looking for resources from other servers. You can check see this post for more information about installation and configuration of Squid Proxy.

Now after installation when you try to check your IP in any site like whatismyip.com it will show that you are using proxy along with the hostname and version of Squid proxy server which is a security concern.

1) Hide Proxy version & server hostname

a) Hide Squid Version

open “/etc/squid/squid.conf” in a editor like vim and search for “httpd_suppress_version_string” and enable it.

Change FROM:

TO:

b) Hide Hostname

Search for “visible_hostname” and change FROM:

TO:

<your desired hostname> will be the name you want to show to world

2) Configure Multiple IP for Squid

Sometime it happens that the Proxy server which you have setup have multiple IP address and you want to configure squid server to use multiple IP addresses (i.e. Systems will show the secondary IP of the server instead of primary). Open squid configuration file; search for “tcp_outgoing_address” and add following

Replace <IP Address> with the IP assigned to your Proxy Server.

Restart Squid Server with command “service squid restart“

Scenario

Your Company/Organization/Institute maintains certain data in MSSQL 2000 but now on suggestion of System Analyst or database administrator you want to move the data to MySQL 5.x.

Questions?
1) How to migrate the data?
2) Do we need to recreate the complete database schema?
3) Can we use any third Party Application to convert it and how feasible it will be?
etc.

Solution

Using following steps you can easily move/convert the data from MSSQL to MySql (Only data will be moved).

Downloads Required Tools

1) MySql ODBC connector: MySQL ODBC Connector will help Windows OS to configure MySQL as Database Source Name (DSN). It can be downloaded from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/5.1.htm

Install MySql ODBC connector on the Server.

Installation of MySql ODBC connector is pretty easy. You will just have to run setup file and follow the instructions.

Configure MySQL Database Source Name (DSN)

Database Source Name or DSN specifies a data structure that contains the information about a specific data source or database that an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver needs in order to connect to that data source or database. To add new DSN follow the instructions given below

1) Go to “Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Data Source” which will open following windows.

Click on “Add…” to add new DSN

2) Select “MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver” from the list and press “Finish”

3) Once you press Finish “MySQL Connector/ODBC Data Source Configuration” window will open.

Here, provide the information about DSN, database, password etc. I have used Localhost as TCP/IP Server as I have the MySQL server installed locally and migrating it locally. Once the data is filled you can test the DSN connectivity with database. Then Press Ok to configure the DSN.

4) Now ODBC Data Source Administrator will show the Datasource which you have created.

Export/Migrate Data from MSSQL to MySQL using DSN

1) Go to “MSSQL Enterprise Manager >> Databases >> Right Click the database you want to migrate or export >> All Tasks >> Export Data …“

2) You will get “Data Transformation Services Import/Export Wizard” Window. Press next.

3) Choose Source: You have to select the Data Source from where the data will be migrated. As we are going to migrated data from MSSQL to MySQL select “Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server” and the name of database which you want to migrate.

4) Select Destination: Select “MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver” from dropdown list which will show the list of DSN in drop-down under “User/System DSN“. Select the DSN you have created and enter the login details.

Press Next to Continue.

5) On “Specify Table Copy or Query” select “Copy table(s) and view(s) from the source database” and press next.

6) Select Source tables(s) and view(s): Select the tables which you want to migrate. I have pressed “Select All” for complete database migration.

Press “Next“

7) Select “Run immediately“; press Next and on next screen press Finish to start Migration.

Now its time to have a cup of coffee and depending upon size of database it will take 20-30 minutes to complete.

Few days ago while working on MS SQL 2008 Transactional Replication I have faced following two issue
1) To find out the total number of tables to verify that Primary Server and Secondary server have same table count.
2) Tables without Primary key: After replication setup I have found that some tables were not replication. When I checked the logs it showed following error

“This table cannot be published because it does not have a primary key column. Primary key columns are required for all tables in transactional publications.”

1) Find Number of Tables:

a) Open MSSQL management studio and login using SA password or Administrator access.
b) Click on “New Query” and select the database using following command

c) now execute following Query to count the total number of tables in the database.

You will get result like:

2) Tables without primary key:

a) Open MSSQL management studio and login using SA password or Administrator access.
b) Click on “New Query” and select the database using following command

c) now execute following Query to find the Tables without Primary Key.

Output tab will show result like:

Recently I have worked on a project where I have to stream a video on Internet which will be then accessed by the Servers on different locations and those servers will then stream the same video to the sub-ordinate systems simultaneously. Using this we can reduce the Load on Main Streaming Server as well as we can save lot of bandwidth as if all the server/systems connect to the Main server directly bandwidth usage of both the server and the client will be very high.

Scenario:
1) Video will be streamed from a Server on Internet.
2) Many other Servers will connect to the Server.
3) These servers will then stream the same video on their network (e.g. on LAN).
4) Users of local system will access the video from secondary servers.

Following image can explain the Scenario in a better way

Step to Stream Video on Primary Server

Following are the steps to stream a video on Primary Server which can be located on remoter location.

1) Login to the Server and install VLC on it.
2) Open VLC Media Player

3) Go to Media >> Streaming

4) Now add the file which you want to stream and Press Stream

5) Source: On Stream Output screen it will show the Source file; press Next to continue

6) Destination: Add HTTP as new destination which will automatically run on port 8080 and you can activate trans-coding as well. Press Next to continue.

7) Others: You will see miscellaneous options which you can select as per your requirement. Press Stream to start Streaming.

8) VLC will start streaming the Video which you have mentioned.

In Next Article I will explain How to setup Secondary Server and clients to watch live streaming

In my previous article I have explained Step-by-Step Guide to Install Microsoft Windows Server 8 Beta and today through this article I will tell what I have liked and what didn’t in Windows Server 8.
(Note: This post contain my personal view towards Windows Server 8 and on the basis of what I have checked so far).

Things I liked:

1) Interface: Windows Server 8 got a new interface and they have dropped the traditional interface for messages. The New interface looks more ajax or web based application or windows and also from traditional Grey color theme Windows Server 8 comes with bluish skin which gives a fresh look to the Interface.

2) Server Manager: In Windows Server 2008 Microsoft has introduced a Server Management Interface. Server Manager is a central place to manage server roles and features and many other tools to manage the server.

Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 8 got complete new Look and feel. Tree-like structure of Windows 2008 is replaced by simple selection option where users can configure multiple server and manage them.

3) Task Manager: We haven’t seen many changes in the Task Manager from Windows NT to Windows 2008 but Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 8 got a complete new look along with many functions. Windows Server 2012 is shipped with more Advanced Task Manager which provides more better view of resource consumption by the server. It comes with Color highlight i.e. if any process is using High CPU or RAM the process will be highlighted.

You can Read more about Task Manager at : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-windows-8-task-manager.aspx

4) Apps: Windows Server 2012 comes with Apps window which is combination of Start Menu and control panel where administrative tools, Windows System tools and Accessories are available on single click.

Things I didn’t liked:

1) Start Menu: Like earlier version of Windows, Windows Server 2012 doesn’t have a start button which made me a bit uncomfortable. Start button is hidden in right hand side panel and to access it you have to hit “Windows key” or mouse over to right bottom corner and when you click on windows logo you will see following screen as start menu which is a bit confusing.

2) Search: Search in Windows Server 2012 is a bit confusion as I tried to search some files but it didn’t worked, might be I am doing something wrong but search is not what you have seen in earlier version where you have flexibility of searching things or setting filters.

At the end I would say that just like a coin have two faces, Windows Server 8 or Windows Server 2012 have some positive and negative features. While using it (whatever I have used till now) I think Microsoft has attempted to make a new generation operating system and they succeeded till some extend also but they have changed many things completely which is going to confuse most of the Microsoft Users.

Sometime while setting up MSSQL Replication you will receive following error at the time of connecting Slave or Secondary Database Server.

Detailed Error:
TITLE: Connect to Server
——————————

Cannot connect to failover-db.

——————————
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Connections through a server alias, IP address, or any other alternate name are not supported. Specify the actual server name, ‘WIN-PNHS6NVSKPI’. (Replication.Utilities)

——————————
BUTTONS:

OK

Cause:

The problem mainly occurs when you change the computer name of the server after installation of MSSQL Server but even after reboot MSSQL uses the OLD Computer name as network name and the SQL Server instance name

Here,
OLD NAME of the Server was: WIN-PNHS6NVSKPI
Changed or New Name of the Server is: FAILOVER-DB

Solution.

1) Find Current Network Name and SQL Server Instance Name
First we need to check the Network name and the SQL Server instance name stored in the database. We can find it execute following commands in MSSQL Management Studio.

sp_helpserver
select @@servername

sp_helpserver: This Query or command shows the information of a particular or a replication server. This shows the server name, network name, identication number and collation name of the server.
select @@servername: This Query will return the server name on which the query is executed.

Following were the results which I recived clearly shows that the MSSQL didn’t accepted the new computer name which I have set i.e. FAILOVER-DB.

Output of sp_helpserver

Output of select @@servername

2) Change Server Instance Name and Network Name

Now to fix this issue we need change the Server Instance Name and Network Name. This can be done using Following Query

sp_dropserver ‘old_name’
go
sp_addserver ‘new_name’,'local’
go

In my case I have executed following query

sp_dropserver ‘WIN-PNHS6NVSKPI’
go
sp_addserver ‘FAILOVER-DB’,local
go

3) Restart MSSQL Server

Once the above commands get executed successfully; close the MSSQL Management Studio and restart MSSQL server using following commands in command prompt.

net stop mssqlserver
net start mssqlserver

4) Verify the Changes

To verify if the name has been changed or not execute the queries mentioned in Step 1. I have recived following outputs

Output of sp_helpserver

Output of select @@servername

Thats it; now try to setup Replication of MSSQL and it won’t give that error again.