FG

IIS admin console empty

Your IIS Admin console looks empty with "the path specified cannot be used at this time" error ?

Got Sharepoint on the same server?

Sharepoint can't create new web applications?

Check the following Hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946517

 Cheers, Frank

Windows 2003 R2 DFS Replication - Health Reports / double entries or detailed listing not working

If you experience strange behaviour in DFSR Health Reports - like detailed replicated folder listing not showing or folder show twice - this one might be for you.

Check [DriveLetter]\System Volume Information\DFSR\Config for XML files. Do you see more than one?

Stop the DFSR service.

Copy the XML file that is  NOT shown in the WMIC output to a safe location. Delete the original file.

Run regedit, make an export of HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dfsr\Parameters\Volumes.

Delete the key that corresponds to the XML file.

Restart the DFSR service.

Use at your own risk!

disable DNS query for ISA if used with an upstream Proxy server

Here is a script I've found a few months ago that will disable ISA server DNS queries - e.g. if used with an upstream proxy server.

Dim root ' The FPCLib.FPC root object
Set root = CreateObject("FPC.Root")

' Declare the other objects needed.

Dim isaArray    ' An FPCArray object
Dim webProxy    ' An FPCWebProxy object
Dim restartMask ' A 32-bit bitmask of type FpcServices

' Get references to the array object
' and the Web proxy object.

Set isaArray = root.GetContainingArray()
Set webProxy = isaArray.ArrayPolicy.WebProxy

' Configure the Web proxy to skip name resolution
' while checking access and routing rules and save
' the new configuration.

msgbox "old value: " & webProxy.SkipNameResolutionForAccessAndRoutingRules

webProxy.SkipNameResolutionForAccessAndRoutingRules = True
restartMask = webProxy.GetServiceRestartMask
webProxy.Save

' Restart the Firewall service so that
' the change will take effect.

isaArray.RestartServices restartMask
WScript.Echo "Done!"

Writing proxy.pac files for Internet Explorer

After putting in a few tries with writing a proxy.pac file for Internet Explorer, here are some random comments:

• to access a pac file on a server, use the format: file:// - and use / instead of \ for directory separation
• this means, to access a share on a file server (I've used the group policy directory itself to publish the pac file), use file://// (4 slashes) + the file server.
• To have a failover configuration with a second proxy server, use the word "PROXY" in front of the proxy server name every time. Most samples on the internet were actually stating this differently.
   return "PROXY proxyserver1.domain.com:8080; PROXY proxyserver2.domain.com:8080";
  instead of
   return "PROXY proxyserver1.domain.com:8080; proxyserver2.domain.com:8080";
• it is possible to have more than two PROXY values, I've tried to enter 8 different hostnames with all of them existing, only the last one working - this worked. IE7 tried for about 1 second to get an answer from each proxy if the host is alive and about 30 for a host that is down and then successfully uses the 8th proxy entry.
• use "shExpMatch()" instead of the other functions to detect host names, I've found the other functions to be flaky, maybe because they do DNS lookups. I've only used isPlainHostName() and shExpMatch() - so far without issues.