High CPU usage with Lync and Outlook 2011

We have received numerous reports that having Lync and Outlook 2011 open at the same time is causing one, or both, of the processes to use 100% of the CPU.  This in turn causes Outlook to become unresponsive until you force quit either Outlook or Lync.  Having the applications open separately does not cause a problem- only when they are both open at the same time.

To troubleshoot the problem, open Lync, go to Preferences/General and put a tick in "Turn on logging for troubleshooting".  Restart Lync and then Open Outlook and Process Viewer.  Work normally until Outlook freezes and you see in Process Viewer that the CPU use for Lync and/or Outlook has spiked.

Close (or force quit) Outlook and Lync and open Console Viewer.

In Console Viewer, under Files/~/Library/Logs open the Microsfot-Lync-0.log.  Search the log for multiple (hundreds) of entries referencing the same e-mail address and having an "INFO" line of "FindOrCreateFakeContactModelForQuery"

Open Outlook and remove all references to the offending e-mail account.  This includes contacts and any auto-complete entries.

To clear the auto-complete entries, open a new mail and start typing the user's name; a box should open that displays the e-mail address; to the right will be an "X".  Click on the "X" to remove the entry.

Relaunch Outlook, open Lync and check that you no longer experience the high CPU problem.

When you are sure the problem has been resolved, make sure you turn off logging in Lync.

Search function on this blog is broken

I'm sorry to report that for the past several weeks the search function on this blog has been broken.  It returns "no results" to every enquiry. 

It seems to be a very common problem and there are lots of posts on Google's help site about it- unfortunately there is no fix as of yet. 

Since this blog is used as a knowledge base the search function is vital.  If Google can't resolve the problem soon I am going to switch to a hosting provider.

Very sorry for the problem!

Casper package installs fail: Cannont mount distribtuion point

There is an issue deploying packages via Self Service and policies to bound Mac clients (with the user logged in) when the distribution point is on a Windows server and the deployment method is set to "force distribution point to use AFP/SMB".  Under these conditions, package installs can fail with an error of "Cannot mount distribution point."

The root cause of the problem is down to the fact that the bound Mac is attempting to mount the distribution point with the user's AD credentials and not the "casperinstall" account that has permission to the share.

The easiest work-around is to first enable IIS on the Windows server then on the JSS go to /Settings/Servers/Distribution Point/HTTP and put a tick in "HTTP Downloads are enabled for this Distribution Point".

In your policies make sure to remove the tick from "Force Distribution Points to use AFP/SMB instead of HTTP".

The advantage of HTTP package distribution is that it allows interrupted downloads to restart.  The disadvantage is that it is slower than AFP/SMB.

Anyone using a bound Apple server as a Distribution Point should also make sure that web services are turned on before attempting to use HTTP package installs.

Mountain Lion Server: An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made

After a recent Server.app update I was unable to log into a Mountain Lion server. 

I deleted Server.app from the Applications folder and downloaded it again from the App Store.  When I launched Server.app after the download it asked for the administrator credentials and then displayed the error "An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made."

My solution was to open Keychain Access, click on "System" (under Keychains) and then "Keys" (under Categories) and delete all the keys referencing my server name.  This includes both public and private keys so OS X will prompt if you really, really, want to do it.

I also removed the certificates for the server under System/My Certificates as well as "com.apple.servermgrd".

I crossed my fingers and restarted the server.  I logged in as local admin, launched Server.app and was able to configure it normally.  After the server was up and running I looked in Keychain Access and all the certificates had been re-populated.

Apple's KB on the problem wins the prize for the least helpful tech note ever.  You can see for yourself here:  http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4493.  All they suggest is upgrading to Server 2.2.1.  Guess what I was running when I encountered the error?  2.2.1.  What upgrade locked me out of my server?  2.2.1.  Thanks guys!