LettersReaders Speak Out

VMRCplus Problems

I downloaded VMRCplus, as described in Utility Spotlight, October 2007 (technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/10/UtilitySpotlight). But if I try to connect to a remote machine, I get RPC errors. Since the Virtual Server admin interface is Web-based, I assumed that this app would also use the Web interface, simply adding a richer client experience on existing Web technology. Alas, it uses the COM API.

—Via blogs.technet.com/tnmag.

VMRCPlus actually uses the same network path as the VMRC remote-control client that ships with Virtual Server (which is an actual client application, not a Web interface). That means you must have access to the following ports:

  • Port 5900, which is the default port for the VMRC server
  • Port 1024, which is the default port for the Administration Web site
  • Ports 137 and 138, the TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports, for the Kerberos V5 ticket-granting authority
  • Port 135, which is used for the RPC endpoint mapper

You can read more about this at microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserver/2005/proddocs/vs_operate_using_VMRC_manageVMs.mspx.

Using Windows PE

I read your article "Getting Started with Windows PE" (September 2006, technetmagazine.com/issues/2006/09/WindowsPE). I am trying to get Windows® PE up and running in a VMWare workstation environment with network support, but I can't get Windows PE to access the network using the NIC driver. I boot from VMWare with the Windows PE image ISO file. It starts and a command console appears, but when I type ipconfig, it doesn't display an IP address. It can't resolve an address from my DHCP server, either.

—John C.

The problem is that the NIC that VMware installs by default is not supported by Windows Vista® (which is the basis for Windows PE 2.0). What you need to do is specify another NIC type in the Virtual Machine Configuration file (VMX file), as follows:

ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

This has to be done manually by editing the VMX file in a text editor such as Notepad, for instance—you can't edit it via any GUI. This change will replace the existing built-in virtualized NIC with the Intel 1GB NIC that Windows Vista does support. Most importantly, replacing it with this value means you don't have to add any network drivers.

Optimizing Query Performance in SQL Server

In the article "Optimizing SQL Server Query Performance" (November 2007, technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/11/SQLQuery), the author has given a SQL Server™ 2005 example for finding the top 20 most expensive queries running. However, it does not run in SQL Server 2000. Can you give me an example that works with this older version?

—Arun N.

Unfortunately, there is no way to obtain this information on SQL Server 2000—SQL Server 2000 does not collect and expose such information for queries in its procedure cache. This information only became available with the new set of Dynamic Management Views introduced in SQL Server 2005.

The MIISWorkflow Application Won't Work

After reading "Build a Single-Step Provisioning Workflow" (May 2007, technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/05/Workflow), I have a few questions. Is the MIISWorkflow application supported? Is it compatible with the .NET Framework 2.0? I get a "Service Unavailable" error when I try to open the application outside of Visual Studio®. I have been running it successfully in debug mode, but if I close Visual Studio and try to open the app directly, the error appears. What would cause the application to stop the application pool and/or produce the Service Unavailable error?

—Cliff C.

The MIISWorkflow application is not an officially supported Microsoft product. It is provided as sample code for educational purposes only.

The best place you can go for discussion of problems related to identity management is on the TechNet Forums Identity Management site, at forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=540&SiteID=17. These forums are monitored by members of the Microsoft product groups, as well as community experts, and are among the best sources for direct support for issues such as this one.

© 2008 Microsoft Corporation and CMP Media, LLC. All rights reserved; reproduction in part or in whole without permission is prohibited.