Posted by jayb | Posted on 26-05-2010
Category : microsoft
Tags: activedirectory, servers
We are preparing to add our first windows 2008 R2 domain controller. So I started collection blogs and tips on the process and what to look out for.
First is a thread from the technet forums – Moving from 2003 Active Directory to 2008 R2 Active Directory (Mixed Mode for now.)
The big thing here is to remember windows 2008 R2 is x64 only. But the Adprep EXE for x32 is included on the DVD, you’ll need to use that to run ADPREP.
Speaking of ADPREP, next up is a great post detailing what,why and how you should go about running ADPREP -
If your also running DFS (like we are) there are some additional things you need to keep in mind. Again a post from technet forums gives some detail on this -
DFS on windows 2008 and Domain Windows 2003 R2 AD servers
If your running an older version of Exchange make sure Exchange supports the scheme version you plan on moving to – Exchange Server Support Matrix
Finally, its the dirteam they have a bunch of post about this:
Upgrading your Active Directory to Windows Server 2008
Transitioning your Active Directory to Windows Server 2008 R2
Considerations when upgrading your Active Directory to Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2
Hope these links help you and I’ll update the post once we start the process. First thing we have to do is get SP2 on an Exhange 2003 server in China.
later,jb
UPDATE: Found another great post about adding the first 2008 R2 DC – http://sharepointgeorge.com/2009/introducing-windows-2008-r2-domain-controller/
Posted by jayb | Posted on 30-11-2009
Category : microsoft
Tags: activedirectory, servers
We still have win 2000 DCs and some 2003. One of my projects for 2010 will be to remove all 2000 DCs and get ready for 2008 DC deployment late 2010 or early 2011. This guide will be a great read for that project.
Upgrading your network operating system requires minimal network configuration and typically has a low impact on user operations. The upgrade process is straightforward, efficient, and allows your organization to take advantage of the improved security that is offered by the Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems.
This guide is intended for use by system administrators and system engineers. It provides detailed guidance for upgrading Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domains to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domains that have domain controllers running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. For a seamless deployment experience, use the checklists that are provided in this guide and complete the tasks in the order in which they are presented.
Go get the guide @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fa629de2-f4dd-47ac-8d80-3db46b2877a2.
Continued at source…
Upgrading AD Domains to Windows Server 2008 R2 AD DS Domains
Here’s a nice simple post about how to recover from a failed windows cluster I’ve been running windows clusters at work on windows 2000/3 for both Exchange and SQL. They are nice, but a lot of the time they seem to add un-needed complexity.
It is possible to experience complete cluster failure, meaning both cluster nodes as well as the cluster disk fail. This article describes the steps to perform when repairing a failed cluster.
Repairing a failed cluster is a four-step process:
- Restore the first node.
- Restore the cluster disk.
- Restore the second node.
- Test the repaired cluster.
The first step in repairing a failed cluster is to perform a restore of the first node. This can be done by following the process described below:
- Install a new copy of Windows 2000 Advanced Server (or whatever version of Windows was previously installed).
- Restore the system and boot partition, the system state data, and any other information.
- Restart the cluster node.
Once the first node has been restored, you can proceed to restore the cluster disk. Restoring the cluster disk entails restoring the disk signature file. This file contains information necessary to identify and mount volumes. Obviously, if a disk is replaced, the disk with the original signature file will have to be restored. Here are the steps to restore the cluster disks.
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Posted by jayb | Posted on 08-08-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, microsoft, technology
Tags: active directory, activedirectory, help, love, mac, search, servers, vista, windows, work, XP
Wow, check out these great ADUC saved queries from Ron Crumbaker at myITforum.com
Does anyone use the Saved Queries with in the ADUC?
I do, and I love them.
Here are some that might help you out.
Just Right Click on Saved Queries and Choose New and then Query.
Name the Query accordingly and then click on Define Query…
Then Find the Custom Search and click on the Advanced tab.
Paste each of these in the <add criteria from above to this list> area and then click OK.
Locked Out Users
(&(&(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(lockoutTime:1.2.840.113556.1.4.804:=4294967295)))))
Dial In Access
(&(&(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(msNPAllowDialin=TRUE)))))
Disabled User Accounts
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))
No Expiring Accounts
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=65536))
Active Accounts
(&(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))
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I just got all six of my ESX servers up to 3.5 and VCenter updated to 2.5. Now I’m looking for good plugin’s and this one seems to fit the bill.
SVMotion is a VI 2.5 client plugin (the FIRST released, third-party plugin in fact) that extends the client’s functionality by providing an integrated, graphical tool that can be used to invoke storage VMotion (SVMotion) operations. This plugin is not supported by VMware. In fact, the plugin is not anywhere close to supported by VMware because it is the result of a two-week dive into the inner-workings of the VI client libraries with popular reflection tools (reverse-engineering). l o s t c r e a t i o n s is working on a white paper that describes how to build VI plugins.
Introducing the VI 2.5 Client Plugin – SVMotion
esloof@ntpro.nl (Eric Sloof)
Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:06:56 GMT
Here’s links for more information and the download site.
Posted by jayb | Posted on 13-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology
Tags: altiris, fat, free, freeware, ghost, imaging, linux, search, servers, usb, windows, work
Wow, I just took a quick look at the list of features and I’m stunned. depending on how difficult it is to set this up. I maybe getting this going at work this week. We use altiris for desktop management. But we don’t use it for the servers, this could be a great way to image our servers.
I was just searching for a way to clone my laptop just in case disaster strikes. I found a cool tool called Clonezilla. It’s free, open source and very easy to use. You can burn a “live cd” or even copy the tool to a USB memory stick and just boot from it.
It supports a whole bunch of file systems: ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, and FAT, NTFS of MS Windows! Check it out.
Cool tool
Duncan Epping
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:53:11 GMT
Posted by jayb | Posted on 09-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, microsoft, technology
Tags: activedirectory, admin, GPO, microsoft, nac, scripts, security, servers, windows, WP, XP
Thank you so much Jorge and the activedir.org mailing list. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a junior admin access to restart the print spooler on a windows 2003 SP1 box for over a month.
Delegating permissions to manage services on servers is not the easiest thing to do. You can do it from the command line or through a GPO in the “System Services” node. Either way you MUST take the current configured permissions into account, otherwise you might/will experience issues!
I do not like to use a GPO to do this and prefer to use command line tools in scripts. I’m not going to post a script, but I’m going to provide the information for the delegation of the permissions required and how to achieve that. For the scripting part, what you need to do is retrieve the current SDDL, add what you want to add and write the complete new SDDL back.
Jorge ‘s Quest For Knowledge! : Delegating Monitoring/Stopping/Starting services on Servers
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Posted by jayb | Posted on 05-07-2008
Category : Post from around the Net, technology, vmware
Tags: admin, esx, free, help, msi, scripts, servers, software, vmware
I’ve only used items 1 and 2, looks like I have some tools to download. First I have to finish upgrading the other 3 esx servers to 3.5
3rd party tools are a great way to make up for missing functionality in the vendor supplied management software. Administrators, developers and vendors are usually quick to write their own scripts, add-on’s and applications to help automate tedious or difficult administration tasks that often exist. This list covers 10 of the many free tools that are available that every VI3 administrator should have to help make their job easier. Many of these tools are provided by independent users who freely contribute their own time and skills to benefit the whole VMware community. This is by no means a complete list of the great tools and scripts that are available for use, there are many others and it was difficult to only choose 10. So if you have not used some of the ones on this list I encourage you to download them and check them out.
1. Putty and SSH Plug In
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ / http://akutz.googlecode.com/files/ConsoleClientSetup-0.1.5.msi
SSH clients for remotely connecting to the ESX service console. Putty runs as a standalone application and the SSH Plug-in is a VI client plug-in that integrates an SSH console directly into the client.
Virtual Strategy Magazine – Top 10 Free Tools That Should Be In Every VMware Administrator’s Toolkit
