SBS2003 no network access & IPSEC stopped

I remember reading about problems with servers dropping of the network a few months back but assumed that MS would have addressed it by now, ho hum.

We had client server reboot overnight and it didn't come back onto the network, no DRAC in this one, luckily it's only 10 minutes down the road so an onsite visit was scheduled for this morning.

If the IPSEC service fails to start, the server will be running in Block mode and it will block all network connectivity to the server - well that sums it up nicely.

In the case of the IPSEC Service failing you start, you will see the following events logged in the system event log:

Event Type: Error 
Event Source: Service Control Manager 
Event Category: None 
Event ID: 7023 
Date: 7/12/2008 
Time: 6:38:37 PM 
User: N/A 
Computer: SERVER 
Description:  The IPSEC Services Service terminated with the following error:  Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted.

Event Type: Error 
Event Source: IPSec 
Event Category: None 
Event ID: 4292 
Date: 7/15/2008 
Time: 2:53:14 PM 
User: N/A 
Computer:    SERVER 
Description:  The IPSec driver has entered Block mode. IPSec will discard all inbound and outbound TCP/IP network traffic that is not permitted by boot-time IPSec Policy exemptions. User Action: To restore full unsecured TCP/IP connectivity, disable the IPSec services, and then restart the computer.  For detailed troubleshooting information, review the events in the Security event log.

The solution is not to remove any patches but to include additional reserved ports and is fully documented in Susan's post below, thank you Susan.

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/07/17/some-services-may-fail-to-start-or-may-not-work-properly-after-installing-ms08-037-951746-and-951748.aspx

Slow login to Dell (or other OEM) server by RDP

Do you have a Dell (or OEM) server that has loaded thier own custom bitmap wallpaper for the login screen?  RDP sessions painfully slow?

A simple key change is required to remove the Dell/OEM wallpaper to a blank value and the next session will be much faster

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop\Wallpaper