Backup Exec and Amazon S3 error

 

I was trying to test Veritas Backup Exec 15 to connect to  Amazon S3 for Cloud backups.  I wanted to test this out before getting into the online backup world. One thing after calling Backup Exec support is that they fixed some connectivity problems in Feature Pack 4.  So download and install that first.

Now I followed the instructions in article

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000081253

1. First you create your free Amazon Account. Sorry I don’t have screenshots for this, but this should be pretty self-explanatory.

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/gsg/SigningUpforS3.html

2. Then you create a Bucket

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/gsg/CreatingABucket.html

3. Then you Create Your Access Key which in turn creates a secret access Key. Follow these instructions. Download these and keep them in a safe place.

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSGettingStartedGuide/AWSCredentials.html

If you follow the rest of the instructions in the Veritas support article you will not be able to connect. Here is the part missing from the instructions. If this your first time using Amazon S3 like myself, you may have missed.

You will get an error in backup exec when trying to connect if you didn’t set any permissions on the bucket.  The error that I received was in Backup exec.

Unable to configure Amazon S3 on BE 15, Error: BEMSDK Failure Code: A0009B23

You must now grant access to the bucket to the account

4. To Grant Permissions to the Bucket
   1. In the AWS Console Go to the IAM Management Console by clicking on Services and IAM.   Go to Policies Menu.
   2. I think at first it says “get started” click that, then click the “Create Policy” button, then click “Create Your Own Policy”
   3. Fill in your name for the policy and the description.
   4. Then modify the example from AWS and modify the permissions to your needs.

Here’s an example from AWS to allow access to a bucket

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_examples.html

Here is what mine looked like. I have named my bucket “backupexec” below. (Sorry I use the free version of WordPress so i don’t have the Code plugin – copy it from the link above)

"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:ListBucket",
"s3:GetBucketLocation"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3::: backupexec"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:PutObject",
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:DeleteObject"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:s3::: backupexec/*"
}
]
}

Now you would think that you could change the version number at the top to any date.  Well in my testing you are wrong.  Keep the date the same.  I don’t know why from my research I got mixed answers and since I am testing this I don’t have the time or energy to figure out why.

You would get this error when clicking the Validate the Policy button on the bottom.

This policy contains the following error: The policy must contain a valid version string For more information about the IAM policy grammar, see AWS IAM Policies.

 

5. Now go to “Users” select your user, Go to Permissions, and Attach the policy that you created and named above.

Thanks to the following article for this blog for help on this creating and understanding the permissions to the bucket:

http://mikeferrier.com/2011/10/27/granting-access-to-a-single-s3-bucket-using-amazon-iam/

 

Hope this saves someone time trying to go through Veritas support.  After I set the permissions it worked perfectly.  I was able to save and restore with no problems.

Here’s some information on Amazon S3 Storage Classes

https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/

Here’s a calculator on pricing for these storage classes

http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html

 

 

 

 

Windows 2008 Terminal Services Stops Accepting Connections

All of the sudden my Windows 2008 Enterprise Terminal server stopped accepting connections.  I had about 30 users who couldn’t connect including administrators. I was looking all over the place for a fix and thought it could even be that i was out of licenses as I had 25 installed but 35 in use.  It turned out not to be that.  One error that i was getting was

Event ID 56

The Terminal Server security layer detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client.

After trying several things, including reactivating the server  using the “corrupt certificate” reason, and installing a hotfix that resolves issues related to terminal server certificates here’s how i fixed it. On the Terminal server, i opened up MMC and added Certficates snap-in for the Computer Account.   I went to the “Remote Desktop” >> “Certificates” folder and backed up the certificates that were there, Then I deleted them. I rebooted the server, which recreated those certificates.  Then i could connect with both admin accounts and non admin accounts.  I hope this post saves someone some time.

Credit to these two posts for helping me figure this out

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2010/03/25/the-curious-case-of-event-id-56-with-source-termdd.aspx

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1131179

The exact event id.

Log Name:      System
Source:        TermDD
Date:          4/13/2015 2:59:59 PM
Event ID:      56
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      mytermserver.mydomain.com
Description:
The Terminal Server security layer detected an error in the protocol stream and has disconnected the client.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event”&gt;
<System>
<Provider Name=”TermDD” />
<EventID Qualifiers=”49162″>56</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime=”2015-04-13T18:59:59.865Z” />
<EventRecordID>643544</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>mytermserver.mydomain.com</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>\Device\Termdd</Data>
<Binary>00000400010000000000000038000AC00000000038000AC00000000000000000000000000000000030030980</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

Safari crashes on Google Docs

Hi, when using Safari 6.05 and opening up Google Docs word documents, it would force close.I was able to fix the solution by right clicking on the safari icon in Applications, then selecting Get Info, and then unchecking run in 32bit mode.

Just a note: It actually wasn’t doing this on spreadsheets. Hope this helps someone out.

Zune HD not recognized Windows 7 64bit

What happens here is that the Zune HD driver does not install in 64bit version of Windows for some machines no matter what you do. So if you install the software via WindowsUpdate, or manually install the software via download it says the drivers are not installed.  I’m going off the top of my head but I think you should be able to figure this out by using this as a guide.

I dont’ have screenshots for this because I fixed it on someone’s home computer, and I don’t own a zune,  but in order to get your Zune going on the 64bit version. I first had to download and install the full version of the Zune HD software which i downloaded from Microsoft Here http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/software/download/.

Install the software, and connect the Zune after, it doesn’t install the drivers correctly for whatever reason.  What I did to fix this was to go to Device Manager (right click on computer, and then choose manage, then device manager),  find your zune on the right hand side, and Double click on the Zune, go to the driver tab, click update driver, click browse my computer, then click browse. As for the location you want to choose, go to  the directory c:\program files\Zune\Drivers or something like that.  Then choose the folder with your languange (En for english) and choose the driver located in there. Then pretty much next your way through everything.  This enabled me to get the drivers to install properly for the zune.

If that doesn’t work, try to connect the zune, go to device manager, uninstall it (and delete software), reboot, and repeat the steps above.

acer aspire jerky/jumpy elan touchpad

To help anyone who runs into this problem. I just purchased an Acer Aspire 5552-7474.  I booted up the laptop and everything worked OK. Then after a little while the trackpad started to act screwy.  I tried reinstalling 5 versions of different drivers for the elantech touchpad. I then installed the PS/2 driver and that helped a little but it still didn’t work great (accuracy and responsiveness was off)

I tried a factory reset,  then tried different drivers again, nothing resolved the problem.   I then called up Acer to figure out what the problem was.  They had me reinstall the drivers and do a factory reset.   I called Acer back with the same problem and then figured it out. After  I typed the support ID number from the bottom of the laptop, I noticed that the mouse was working flawlessly.   The problem was that when I had the power plugged into the laptop the trackpad was jerky/jumpy. For instance, if I just held my finger on the trackpad without moving it, the cursor would bounce all around in a 1/2″ radius, and it would do so when trying to  click on a link, however when the power adapter was unplugged the touchpad worked find. Doing this several times reproduced/fixed the problem.  I called up Acer and they said that I need to do a repair on the laptop.  Luckily I purchased the laptop from Newegg.com and since I still had the original boxing, they were able to do a replacement for me. The problem is that newegg determined it to be functioning fine, so they send it to me with the same problem and again I return it for a replacement.

So Guess what happened? I order a similar Acer laptop, from buy.com, same Elan touchpad and the same thing happened.  So I returned it, no problem whatsover, I’ll never buy an Acer again.  Found a really good deal around christmas on a samsung and I haven’t had a problem yet.

I hope this saves someone the time of trying to figure out what is going on.

Introduction

I started this blog because I am a System/Network Administrator, and I’ve always pulled plenty of information on solving IT problems off of the web for the past 10 years from nice people who were generous enough to share their problems and solutions online, and also provided a forum for discussion. Aside from answering a usenet post here and there, commenting on someone else’s blog, or sharing information with IT consultants I work directly with, I felt like I haven’t shared enough of my experiences online where anyone could access them and ask questions.

Hopefully, I can give back by popping up in a fellow admin’s search when quickly trying to solve a problem with several impatient people breathing down their necks, or just to make someone’s life easier when trying to tackle an IT problem.

So, this is it, I hope I can help some “IT guys” out, and learn a few things myself.  I’ll try to post on a wide variety of topics that I encounter in my daily endeavors. Who knows, maybe I’ll throw a post about the Mets or Giants on here too when I’m frustrated by how bad they suck. We’ll see how much time I have.  Thanks for reading, hope I can provide some help. -Vincent.