Afriland Bank server installation

We supplied an HP ProLiant Server for one of our clients, Afriland First Bank Liberia. In a few days the, the client request that we (NATC) come over and do the installation of the software (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard). I arranged my software quickly and stop by at the bank. My arrival was announced to the IT department but unfortunately, the IT Manager had left the bank. He instructed that I deliver the software (OS) to any of his colleagues of his department. The next day on my way to work I got a call from my boss saying ‘’ Daniel, the bank have some issues with the installation of the server operating system (OS). You need to pass by and see what’s the problem is and have it resolved as soon as possible!’’ He also shared the error message with me on our WhatsApp channel, as it is one of the easier and smooth ways the team works and communicate with each other these days, very interesting!

Well, below was the error message of the server shown during shutdown. This error does not occur on a “warm” restart of the server. It only occurs during shutdown. I quickly continue my journey to my office, downloaded the needful, went back to client site, and updated the firmware in resolving the problem.

If you may have experience such problem after installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 Standard in your server environment, there’s no need changing your OS/ operating system  or server brand. A firmware upgrade is required. Download the firmware of the exact brand and OS to save yourself the stress by clicking the link below.

http://h20564.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=MTX_1786e42281714355bf56d35961#tab-history

Prepared by:

Daniel W. Collins

Senior IT Technician

New Africa Technology Company (NATC)

Configuring a Remote Access to a Server: Research, Resilience and Ingenuity

Servers are extremely valuable tools for companies: they improve teams’ productivity and efficiency by allowing workers to share files more easily. However, the added value of a server can be increased by setting up remote access connections. It means that users not connected to the server network can remotely access documents stored in the server through the Internet. As an example, someone in the US can access a server located in Liberia.

To enjoy this feature, not only you need to buy licenses for Microsoft (one license per user), but you also have to configure both your server and computers.

NATC recently configured and installed a Windows 2008 Standard R2 Server for a client. It was a particularly complex and arduous task, consuming a lot of time and energy as we went through the following steps:

1. Research on Microsoft support website
2. Call Microsoft tech support
3. Use an IT engineer based in Canada for support
4. Extensive online research

It is only at the fourth step that our technician Jonathan Barwon found new directions and got a sense of what had to be done. It took him hours to set it up, but we can sum up all the operations in three main phases:

1) Server management: Add new roles

On the server, you need to activate the remote desktop functionality through the start menu

2) Web access configuration

On the server, in the remote desktop services, you need to enable the web access configuration

3) Connect a Windows 7 work station

Through your web browser (preferably IE), connect to the server and allow connection from computer running any version of remote desktop.

After the installation, our technician also made sure to activate the back up features of the server (i.e. shadow copies of the server hard drives), so our client data will be protected from any potential loss.