Change IP Address of EBS Conflict with router

So I am one of the handfull of people that purchased EBS, no laughing. Normally it has been a good product. Recently though I had the need to move our management server to another location which involved another subnet.

One of the things you really want to remember is that you must change it's ip address first and then move it. The reason is because you are strongly recommended by microsoft to use their "Change IP Address Settings" wizard. This wizard checks connectivity with the other two servers and makes changes to them.This is fine but I ran into a little problem. Something I am not new. to

Sadly the setup of EBS was a royal pain. after it was setup it was fine but I have not been in any way impressed with their wizards, setup or other. Maybe for some they worked but I think it's just that updates broke them and the EBS team had given up the ghost, even before the announcement was made.

Anyways Back to the story. After firing up the wizard and having it do it's check it provides you a box to change the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and the Gateway. After changing the Gateway and IP address. It came up with the error you see in the picture above.The selected IP address is already in use by another system with physical address XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX. (In the picture above I changed the Hardware address.)

So I double checked to ensure the address I gave it wasn't already used. I then moved to an IP above. Got the same message with the same physical address. Tried 4 other IPs all same physical address. So I checked the arp table. That physical address was tied to my router. A tad odd. Any address from the other subnet I put in their gave me that error. I have never had any other product point to my router like this. So after doing no searching I tried my own solution that worked.

Right after you enter the IP address but right before you click on the "change" button it is going to do a check to see if that IP address is in use, which in my case was broken and stopped me from working. So right before clicking "Change" then unplug the server from the network and as soon as the "Progress of IP address change"(Next screen) screen comes up then quickly plug it back in. If you don't then you will get errors on this screen, and will have to close the wizard and try again.

After using the unplug method to skip the error check I was able to move the server. Problem was I had to change some of the security server firewall settings. For Example I had to change the IP address of my Mangement computer under these two computer sets:

• Remote Management Computer
• DNS Servers

Also had to update a few other custom policies, after that though it straightened all of that out. You will also need to upgrade some group policies. Follow the instructions at this technet link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd996618(WS.10).aspx

You can also check all that it does or should change by going to this link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc540075(WS.10).aspx . Hope this helps anybody else out that may run across this.

Symantec = Fail or windows cannot load the user's profile

So I recently started fixing personal computers again recently and remembered why I hate doing it. Anyways I was asked to look at a slow laptop. After taking it home I connected to the internet after noticing it appeared to be virus free. I ran a defrag and it ran some updates.

After doing this and rebooting I saw a screen I didn't like.I was getting aa 16bit 640x480 welcome screen. It gave me the error: windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the default profile system. Detail - Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service.Ugh and it was giving me an error about bcmwltry.exe. So I rebooted into safe and tried to do a restore. To earlier that day it succeeded but I was getting the same problem. So I tried to before I had touched it and it wouldn't restore. :( I then removed the Dell Wireless utility to at least get rid of the bcmwltry.exe error to see if I would get anymore.

I also created a new user just to check. After rebooting I then selected the new user and get the following error: userinit.exe the application failed to initialize properly 0xc000012d. After looking around I found two forums mentioning Symantec Antivirus as a possible culprit after it had gotten a update of some kind. I am sure while I had it connected to the internet it had done this.

So let me state first off. I have already had numerous problems with various versions of Symantec in the past, don't like it and if I have the choice I uninstall  it. I hadn't done this yet because the user had a up-to-date subscription and I hate to remove a product that someone has paid a subscription for.

Continuing on with the story, I went ahead and in safe mode ran msconfig killed all symantec related startup items. Also disabled all the Services. A reboot later and still no go. I took it a step further in Safe mode. I renamed  the following three folders:

• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared 
• C:\Program Files\Symantec
• C:\Program Files\Symantec Antivirus

I just added .old to the end of the folders. After a reboot I had the beautiful welcome screen I loved. And guess what, the system was speedy as all get up. That was a good enough excuse for me to remove Symantec. I renamed all three folders back to what they were and did an install of anything Symantec. 

After this I went about my normal computer cleanup steps and installed a free antivirus solution. I predict a very happy client.

MORAL OF THE STORY - Beware of Symantec - (aka If you start having problems with your computer check your Symantec Antivirus Software)

The Cheap Panic Button for the Avaya IP office System

To create a Panic button in Avaya IP Office


In moving to a new phone system and a new building I was tasked with finding a solution to the panic button that may be cheaper. Well previous it required us having to setup buttons in all locations as well as having to pay a alarm company to monitor the system. It involved another phone line.

So we ended up choosing the IP Office solution. After chatting with my Avaya partner he said it could be done, but the phone would be on the hook the whole time. Not very discreet for a panic button so I worked at it.

What you need to do is open up your Voicemail Pro Manager. Create a new module, I called it Panic, but that is up to you. It will start you with a “Start Point.” You will be adding a Post Dial action so under Misc. you need to select “Post Dial” and click somewhere on the white space below.

Now double-click on the box to open it up. Change the” Token Name” to something you would remember. Now you are going to need to record a message for the system to use. So go to “Entry Prompts” amd click the + button. Set it to use your “Telephony Handset” extension. Put a name for the file, I called mine Panic. Hit the record button. Go through the process of recording the file until you like it. After you are done make sure you record the full path and file name for that recording. Press the “Close” button and click the “X” button to delete that prompt.

Go Under “Specific” and click “Post wave file” and check “Play out a looped wave file.” In the first box type or paste the full path to the wav file you recorded earlier. In the next box put in the number you want it to call remember to add a 9. (I recommend testing this on a number other than 991 or emergency dispatch first, since while testing you don’t want to bug them to death and send out the cops.) If you want it to page a page group than type “PAGE:” and then the number of the page group.

Press “OK” and then draw a “connector” line between “Start Point” and the Post Dial action you just created. Now at this point you could also add other number for it to dial. You would just create another post dial action and follow the steps above and add a connector line to it from the previous post dial action. When done press the “Save & Make Live” button. Close out “Voicemail Pro Client.”

Open “IP Office Manager” and go to Short Code. And a New Short Code and put in whatever code you want, I used *85. Change the feature to “Voicemail Collect”. Under telephone type in the name of the module that you created in “Voice Pro Client”, in my case it was “Panic” and this time put quotes around the name. (The quotes may not be necessary.) Leave the Line Group Id as 0. Merge the changes

Now you could dial the short code on your phone to test. It would work great. Problem is when in panic. You don’t want to be pressing a combination of 3-5 buttons. Also you will notice it will say on the phone you dialed it “Forwarded”

So to eliminate the first problem. Open “IP Office Manager” and go to the User or User Rights depending on who you want it applied to. Go under “Button Programming” and create a button that will be on the first page of the phones. I changed my Label to “PANIC” and leave the action as “Dial.” Under Action Data put in the short code you programmed earlier, ie #85. Press OK and Merge the settings into the Phone Switch.

Now you have a button to press. Problem is still it says “Forwarded” which you don’t a phone saying if the reason you are pressing the button is nearby. On the VoicePro Server browse to: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Avaya\IP Office\Voicemail Pro\VM\WAVS\enu\”. The last Folder may be different depending on the language of the system. Go down till you find the file called “ssb_10.wav” and rename it to “ssb_10-disabled”. Now you are good to go the phone doesn’t say anything either now.

So after all those steps you are able to drop those panic buttons. Now this may not work if you phone is out in the open easy to see by everyone. But most likely you will be able to press 1 button on your phone very inconspicuously if you need to.

DISCLAIMER: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, if you use my directions I am not held accountable for any problems that may arise.

IP Office with 9600 phones Waiting for LLDP

At work we had setup the Avaya IP Office R6.0. When we purchased it we also purchased 5621 phones. I was asked to purchase some addition phones for one or two departments, but the 5600s are EOL(End of Life.) I don't dig buying EOL products so dug around and found the 9650 to be a worth equivilent. Instead of putting one phone out that is different in a department I thought I would suck in the new phone and figure it out.

First problem would be that it would boot up and just sit saying "Waiting for LLDP." After some hunting around I realized that the 5600s and 1600s use option 242. So I jumped into my DHCP server and added a scope option for 242. Put in the following info that was already in my 176 scope option. "MCIPADD=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX,MCPORT=1719,TFTPSRVR=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX" (You will need to add something else to this so jump below to grab the full portion)

It boot up and I was able to login. The phone was still acting a little funny. IE lots of the buttons were acting wierd. No Visual voice as well as a couple of other things. After running around long enough I found out that the phone needs to grab IP Office specific firmware. If your IP Office was purchased with the 6.0 release then you can skip the next step. If you upgraded it to 6.0(9600 are only supported starting at release 6.0) then do the following.

• In the Avaya IP Office R6 Manager click on "File>Advanced>Embedded File Management..."
• Login and then click on "File>Upload System Files" (May be File>Upload Phone Files if you are running an earlier version of the manager)

It will have then uploaded the necessary files for the phones to the SD card. No still no luck for me. Well after more digging around I saw that the phone was saying "Bad FileSV address" right before it would finish loading up. I than searched around some more I realized I needed to add the one more option to option 242. You need to add ",HTTPSRVR=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX" to the end of the above so that it appears as :
MCIPADD=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX,MCPORT=1719,TFTPSRVR=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX,HTTPSRVR=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

The addresses should be your IPO Unit, although depending on your setup it may be a little different. After adding the option and rebooting I was good to go. Hope this saves someone time they shouldn't have to waste.

Legally Re-Imaging/Cloning computers with Windows

So I was at a Technet UserGroup meeting and heard something that was important for people. After chatting with a Microsoft License Specialist it became clearer.

So legally you cannot re-image computers with an OEM license. To do this the lowest requirement you must meet is this:

• One Volume License for the Desktop Windows Product that matches what you have. So if you purchased computers with Windows 7 Professional, than you will need a Volume License for Windows 7 Professional.
• Volume License Media for that product

You will then base your image off of this software and after imaging using the OEM key that is on the computer. The cool part is you may have 4000 computers with OEM licenses of Windows 7 pro, but you only need to add the 1 VL and the VL Media and your legal. Why Microsoft does this I am not going to go into but you have the basic info and below a little more nifty VL information

When you purchase a Volume license of a Windows Desktop Os you are actually purchasing a upgrade license. This is different than all of their other products, where usually you are buying a full license. So since they are an upgrade licenses you must have an existing Windows OS on the computer or for the computer (Full Retail Product) to apply this VL to. So you can't buy a computer without an OS and think you can buy a Volume License.

I mention this blog posting because this was news to me. Apparently in the EUA it states you can't re-image using just the OEM Media and I know we all read the EUA :) and know this, errr not. Anyways I hope this helps you feel legal.

You can grab the file Microsoft refers to re-imaging here: Microsoft Reimaging download . As you look at this I recommend giving their license people a call.