As an Exchange Admin, you might be looking after 1 server or several hundred.
Sometime after a reboot you might notice that some of the services don’t start. It is a daunting task to go manually start them all 1 at a time.
A simple way is to run the following command from an elevated PowerShell Window:
Some services like the Transport and Unified Messaging Services take a bit longer to start but the window will echo the starting of all services.
Select Start > Run, type ntdsutil in the Open box, and then select OK.
C:\Users\administrator>ntdsutil
ntdsutil: roles
fsmo maintenance: connections
server connections: connect to server adserver2
Binding to adserver2 …
Connected to adserver2 using credentials of locally logged on user.
server connections: quit
fsmo maintenance: Transfer schema master
Server “adserver2” knows about 5 roles
Schema – CN=NTDS Settings,CN=ADSERVER2,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=temp,DC=local
Naming Master – CN=NTDS Settings,CN=SERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=temp,DC=local
PDC – CN=NTDS Settings,CN=BDSERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=temp,DC=local
RID – CN=NTDS Settings,CN=BDSERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=temp,DC=local
Infrastructure – CN=NTDS Settings,CN=BDSERVER,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=temp,DC=local
fsmo maintenance: quit
ntdsutil: quit
| Shortcut key | Description |
| CTRL+ALT+HOME | Activates the connection bar. |
CTRL+ALT+BREAK or one of these shortcuts:
|
Switches the client between full-screen mode and window mode. If these shortcuts don’t work, or the keys aren’t available, you can try the following alternative:
|
| CTRL+ALT+END | Brings up the Windows Security dialog box for the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) (provides the same functionality as pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL on the local computer). |
The following table describes the standard Windows shortcut keys and their equivalent Remote Desktop shortcuts that are different. (For example, Ctrl+Z is generally the ‘Undo’ shortcut on both standard Windows and Remote Desktop.)
| Table 2 | ||
| Windows shortcut | Remote Desktop shortcut | Description |
| ALT+TAB | ALT+PAGE UP | Switches between programs from left to right. |
| ALT+SHIFT+TAB | ALT+PAGE DOWN | Switches between programs from right to left. |
| ALT+INSERT | Cycles through the programs in the order they were started. | |
| Windows key or CTRL+ESC |
ALT+HOME | Displays the Start menu. |
| ALT+SPACE BAR | ALT+DELETE | Displays the system menu. |
| ALT+PRINT SCREEN | CTRL+ALT+MINUS SIGN (-) | Places a snapshot of the active window, within the client, on the clipboard. |
| PRINT SCREEN | CTRL+ALT+PLUS SIGN (+) | Places a snapshot of the entire client windows area on the clipboard . |
Open a command prompt and execute: query user /server:server-a
Configure the NTP Server on Windows Server 2008, 2012, 2016 or 2019
On your Windows Server hit the Windows Button and type:
PowerShell and right-click it and select Run as Administrator
Type the following commands
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:pool.ntp.org /syncfromflags:MANUAL
Stop-Service w32time
Start-Service w32time
Of course, you can take any NTP Server that you want. Now verify if the time-server was set correctly on your Server by typing: w32tm /query /status
Windows does not manage backup space well. To manage the retained backups and not fill up the disk, run the following command from an elevated command prompt:
WBADMIN DELETE BACKUP -backuptarget:F: -keepVersions:30
**************************************
To get the versions:
WBADMIN get versions
**************************************
To delete the oldest backup version:
WBADMIN DELETE BACKUP -deleteoldest
Robocopy may set the new directory to hidden, as that it copies the system attribute of the root folder of the drive over to the new folder. You can prevent the new directory from becoming hidden by adding the /A-:SH option/flag/switch to your robocopy command.
ROBOCOPY “E:\data” “\\testserver\data” /MOVE /E /MINLAD:20170101 /CREATE /R:1 /W:1 /TEE /V /LOG+:data.log
/MINLAD:20170101 – will move files accessed before 01/01/2017.
Create your DisabledComputers OU.
Copy and save the following script as DisabledAged.ps1
*******
#Import AD module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
$ErrorActionPreference = “SilentlyContinue”
$searchbase = “DC=domain,DC=local”
$EntGroups = “OU=Computers,DC=domain,DC=local”
$groups = Get-ADGroup -Properties Name -Filter * -searchbase $EntGroups
$inactiveOU = “OU=DisabledComputers,DC=domain,DC=local”
$Days = (Get-Date).AddDays(-180)
$computers = Get-ADComputer -Properties * -Filter {LastLogonDate -lt $Days} -SearchBase $searchbase
$DisabledComps = Get-ADComputer -Properties Name,Enabled,LastLogonDate -Filter {(Enabled -eq “False” -and LastLogonDate -lt $Days)} -SearchBase $inactiveOU
#Move inactive computer accounts to your inactive OU
foreach ($computer in $computers) {
echo $computer
Set-ADComputer $computer -Location $computer.LastLogonDate | Set-ADComputer $computer -Enabled $false
Move-ADObject -Identity $computer.ObjectGUID -TargetPath $inactiveOU
#Remove group memberships
foreach ($group in $groups) {
Remove-ADGroupMember -Identity $group -Members $computer.ObjectGUID -Confirm:$false
}
}
#Optionally remove stale computer objects from AD
#Remove stale computer accounts older than 365 days
#$RemoveStale = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase $DisabledComps | Where-Object {$_.Location -gt (Get-Date).AddDays(-365) -and $_.Location -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-180)}
#$RemoveStale | Remove-ADObject
*****
Run change DC=domain,DC=local to your domain and run the script.
Copy the text below:
*****
$DaysInactive = 90
$time = (Get-Date).Adddays(-($DaysInactive))
Get-ADComputer -Filter {LastLogonTimeStamp -lt $time} -ResultPageSize 2000 -resultSetSize $null -Properties Name,
OperatingSystem, SamAccountName, DistinguishedName | Export-CSV “C:\StaleComps.CSV” –NoTypeInformation
*****
Save as stale.ps1 then run from Powershell
If you receive the following error:
The term ‘Get-ADComputer’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
Check
the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Users\super\desktop\Aged.ps1:5 char:15
+ Get-ADComputer <<<< -Filter {LastLogonTimeStamp -lt $time} -ResultPageSize 2000 -resultSetSize $null -Properties
Nam
e, OperatingSystem, SamAccountName, DistinguishedName | Export-CSV “C:\StaleComps.CSV” -NoTypeInformation
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (Get-ADComputer:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
Run this command:
PS C:\Users\super\desktop> import-module activedirectory
If you receive a message concerning unsigned code, Set Execution Policy:
PS C:\> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
To find out your user and group base DN, you can run a query from any member server on your Windows domain.
To find the User Base DN:
– Open a Windows command prompt.
– Type the command: dsquery user -name <known username>
(Example: If I were searching for all users named John, I could enter the username as John* to get a list of all users who’s name is John)
– The result will look like: “CN=John.Smith,CN=Users,DC=MyDomain,DC=com”
– In Blue Coat Reporter’s LDAP/Directory settings, when asked for a User Base DN, you would enter: CN=Users,DC=MyDomain,DC=com
To find the Group Base DN:
– Open a Windows command prompt
– Type the command: dsquery group -name <known group name>.
(Example: If I were searching for a group called Users, I could enter the group name as Users* to get a list of all groups who’s name contains “Users”)
– The result will look like: “CN=Users,CN=Builtin,DC=MyDomain,DC=com”
– In Blue Coat Reporter’s LDAP/Directory settings, when asked for a User Base DN, you would enter: CN=Users,CN=Builtin,DC=MyDomain,DC=com.
You should also make sure the user account has the necessary Windows user rights. To do this, run the Local Security Policy control panel applet (in the Administrative Tools section of the control panel). If you are using the home version of Windows then you may not have access to the Local Security Policy control panel applet (Microsoft have removed the feature from home versions of Windows).
Make sure that the user account has the following user rights:
Make sure the user account is not listed in the following user rights:
Use system-config-network-tui and set up the card. If you perform a failover, you must connect the card in Hyper-V and then configure the card again.
If it does not come up, look in /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistant-net.rules and see which “ethX” interface has the correct mac address. Either rename your ifcfg-ethx file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts or use system-config-network-tui to setup the correct “ethX” interface and restart the network.
Copy and paste the following into a text file and save as c:\checkrep.ps1.
*****************************************************************
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.Powershell.Admin -erroraction silentlyContinue
##### Configuration Section Starts #####
$SMTPName = “mail.ncol.net”
$EmailMessage = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage
$SMTPServer = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($SMTPName)
$EmailMessage.From = “admin@domain.com”
$EmailMessage.To.Add(“techsupp@ncol.net”)
#$EmailMessage.To.Add(“9197021111@vtext.com”)
##### Configuration Section Ends#####
#Build a nice file name
$date = get-date -Format M_d_yyyy_hh_mm_ss
$csvfile = “.\AllAttentionRequiringVMs_”+$date+”.csv”
#Build the header row for the CSV file
$csv = “VM Name, Date, Server, Message `r`n”
#Find all VMs that require your attention
$VMList = get-vm | where {$_.ReplicationHealth -eq “Critical” -or $_.ReplicationHealth -eq “Warning”}
#Loop through each VM to get the corresponding events
ForEach ($VM in $VMList)
{
$VMReplStats = $VM | Measure-VMReplication
#We should start getting events after last successful replication. Till then replication was happening.
$FromDate = $VMReplStats.LastReplicationTime
#This string will filter for events for the current VM only
$FilterString = “<QueryList><Query Id=’0′ Path=’Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin’><Select Path=’Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin’>*[UserData[VmlEventLog[(VmId='” + $VM.ID + “‘)]]]</Select></Query></QueryList>”
$EventList = Get-WinEvent -FilterXML $FilterString | Where {$_.TimeCreated -ge $FromDate -and $_.LevelDisplayName -eq “Error”} | Select -Last 3
#Dump relevant information to the CSV file
foreach ($Event in $EventList)
{
If ($VM.ReplicationMode -eq “Primary”)
{
$Server = $VMReplStats.PrimaryServerName
}
Else
{
$Server = $VMReplStats.ReplicaServerName
}
$csv +=$VM.Name + “,” + $Event.TimeCreated + “,” + $Server + “,” + $Event.Message +”`r`n”
}
}
#Create a file and dump all information in CSV format
$fso = new-object -comobject scripting.filesystemobject
$file = $fso.CreateTextFile($csvfile,$true)
$file.write($csv)
$file.close()
#If there are VMs in critical health state, send an email to me and my colleague
If ($VMList -and $csv.Length -gt 33)
{
$Attachment = new-object Net.Mail.Attachment($csvfile)
$EmailMessage.Subject = “[ATTENTION] Replication requires your attention!”
$EmailMessage.Body = “The report is attached.”
$EmailMessage.Attachments.Add($Attachment)
$SMTPServer.Send($EmailMessage)
$Attachment.Dispose()
}
Else
{
$EmailMessage.Subject = “[NORMAL] All VMs replicating Normally!”
$EmailMessage.Body = “All VMs are replicating normally. No further action is required at this point.”
$SMTPServer.Send($EmailMessage)
}
*****************************************************************
Change the relevant email information at the beginning of the document.
Now open Task Scheduler.
Create a Basic Task. Name it Check Replication. Next.
Set the Trigger to the frequency you want the script to run. Next.
Set the Action to Start A Program. Next.
Enter powershell.exe in the Program box.
Enter c:\checkrep.ps1 in the Add Arguments box.
Enter c:\ in the Start In box. Next.
Open the properties of the Task and on the General tab select “Run whether user is logged in or not” and “Run with the highest privileges”.
******************************************************************
If you receive an error:
“Your script is blocked from executing due to the execution policy.”
You need to set it on the client PC to Unrestricted. You can do that by calling Invoke with
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
within Windows Powershell (x86) app.
Go to the webpage of the exchange management page (https://exchangeserver/ecp)
Go to the Mail flow > Receive Connectors > + for add a new connector.
Enter a name for the connector. If you want to relay outside your organization than you need to select Frontend Transport role instead of the Hub Transport role.
Leave the setting below unchanged.
Remove the IP address which are shown in the picture below.
You get an error that the field is required. (click on the + to add a new range)
Enter a single IP address or a local LAN address which is allowed to email via the exchange server.
The remote network settings will show the list like below.
When clicked on finished. You have to edit the relay connector and go to security tab.
Select the option “Anonymous users”.
Click on Save..
Now you have to open a powershell CLI of exchange on the exchange server ( with administrative rights ).
Get-ReceiveConnector “Receive Connector Name” | Add-ADPermission -User “NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON” -ExtendedRights “Ms-Exch-SMTP-Accept-Any-Recipient”
You have to remove the current move request and resubmit:
Remove-MoveRequest -Identity userID
New-MoveRequest -Identity “userID” -TargetDatabase “Mailbox Database 0422167200” -BatchName “userID” -BadItemLimit “200”
Run command prompt as Administrator
Find the keyname with “sc getkeyname”:
C:\Users\administrator.LOCAL>sc getkeyname “Atlassian JIRA”
[SC] GetServiceKeyName SUCCESS
Name = JIRASoftware151216105308
Now delete the key using:
C:\Users\administrator.LOCAL>sc delete “JIRASoftware151216105308”
1. Open Command prompt as Administrator
2. Launch Diskshadow
A.Add volume d:
B.(optional, add one line for each additional drive to include) Add volume X:
C.Begin Backup
D.Create
E.End Backup
3. At this step you should notice the following events in the application log indicating that the backup was indeed successful and logs will now be deleted.
Here’s some screenshots from the process:
Command prompt
Event Log
Problem
Sometimes things that seem complicated are much easier then you think and this is the power of using T-SQL to take care of repetitive tasks. One of these tasks may be the need to backup all databases on your server. This is not a big deal if you have a handful of databases, but I have seen several servers where there are 100+ databases on the same instance of SQL Server. You could use SQL Server Management Studio to backup the databases or even use Maintenance Plans, but using T-SQL is a much simpler and faster approach.
Solution
With the use of T-SQL you can generate your backup commands and with the use of cursors you can cursor through all of your databases to back them up one by one. This is a very straight forward process and you only need a handful of commands to do this.
Here is the script that will allow you to backup each database within your instance of SQL Server. You will need to change the @path to the appropriate backup directory.
File Naming Format DBname_YYYYDDMM.BAK
DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50) — database name
DECLARE @path VARCHAR(256) — path for backup files
DECLARE @fileName VARCHAR(256) — filename for backup
DECLARE @fileDate VARCHAR(20) — used for file name
— specify database backup directory
SET @path = ‘C:\Backup\’
— specify filename format
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112)
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT name
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases
WHERE name NOT IN (‘master’,’model’,’msdb’,’tempdb’) — exclude these databases
OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SET @fileName = @path + @name + ‘_’ + @fileDate + ‘.BAK’
BACKUP DATABASE @name TO DISK = @fileName
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
END
CLOSE db_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_cursor
File Naming Format DBname_YYYYDDMM_HHMMSS.BAK
If you want to also include the time in the filename you can replace this line in the above script:
— specify filename format
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112)
with this line:
— specify filename format
SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112) + REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),108),’:’,”)
Notes
In this script we are bypassing the system databases, but these could easily be included as well. You could also change this into a stored procedure and pass in a database name or if left NULL it backups all databases. Any way you choose to use it, this script gives you the starting point to simply backup all of your databases.
This is a very easy setting that may also substitute for signing the computer usage agreements every year.
legal-notice-group-policy-settings
1.Open up your Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc)
2.Go to the Group Policy Object in your domain, right click on Default Domain Policy and select Edit…
3.Once the Group Policy Editor is up, using the treeview on on the left go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options
4.To edit the title of the windows change: Interactive logon:Message title for users attempting to log on
5.To edit the message text change: Interactive Logon:Message text for users attempting to log on
robocopy source destination /E /ZB /DCOPY:T /COPYALL /R:1 /W:1 /V /TEE /LOG:Robocopy.log
Here’s what the switches mean:
source :: Source Directory (drive:\path or \\server\share\path).
destination :: Destination Dir (drive:\path or \\server\share\path).
/E :: copy subdirectories, including Empty ones.
/ZB :: use restartable mode; if access denied use Backup mode.
/DCOPY:T :: COPY Directory Timestamps.
/COPYALL :: COPY ALL file info (equivalent to /COPY:DATSOU). Copies the Data, Attributes, Timestamps, Ownser, Permissions and Auditing info
/R:n :: number of Retries on failed copies: default is 1 million but I set this to only retry once.
/W:n :: Wait time between retries: default is 30 seconds but I set this to 1 second.
/V :: produce Verbose output, showing skipped files.
/TEE :: output to console window, as well as the log file.
/LOG:file :: output status to LOG file (overwrite existing log).
To enable SSL redirection to the OWA virtual directory, follow these steps:
We need to go to the Computer Configuration ““> Administrative Tools ““> Windows Components ““> Internet Explorer ““> Internet Control Panel ““> Security Page and then double click to the zone assignment list in the right pane as you can see below.
After you double click on site to the zone assignment list you will see a window to enable the settings and configure it. Click enabled. Then click show. On the show contents screen click add.
By clicking add we can add URLs and specify what zone we want them to be placed in like so:
The number 2 denotes the number of the zone. In this case it is the trusted zone. Microsoft breaks down the settings as follows:
After clicking OK you can wait for your default refresh of Group Policy which is 15 minutes by default or you can run gpupdate.exe from any workstation to see if it worked. You can also restart the workstations to force the update.
Computer Config > Administrative Templates > Network > Network connections > Windows Firewall > Domain Profile > Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections = Disabled
After that go to client machine;
Start > Run > CMD > Gpupdate /force
Reboot.
Open the Group Policy Management and create a new GPO, and edit.
1 – Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Network > Network Connections > Windows Firewall > Domain Profile > “Windows Firewall: Allow Inbound Remote Desktop Exception”
2 – Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Connections > enable the policy “Allow Users to connect remotely using Remote Desktop Services” Note: this used to be > Windows Components > Terminal Services > “Allow users to connect remotely using Terminal Services”
To deploy printer connections to users or computers by using Group Policy, you must add the printer connections to a Group Policy object (GPO) as described in the procedure.
CTRL-ALT-END is the key combo to send a CTRL-ALT-DEL to the remote RDP desktop. Useful for changing passwords on workstations and servers remotely.
When you configure home directory for user (from “Active directory users and computers” – in Windows 2000/2003/2008/2012 domain or “User manager for domains” – in NT4 domain), you should add root share that will contain the user home directory – \\servername\users$\%username%. To allow automatic creation of this home folder, there need to configure correct NTFS and Share permissions on home folder root share.
Right click the folder > Properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing. Name the share and add a “$” to the end to make it a hidden share.
Click Permissions on the share.
To allow automate home directory creations, please make sure to apply this security settings on the root folder that should contain the user home directory.
Administrators: Full Control
System: Full Control
Authenticated Users: Full Control
Now click OK > OK to get back to the Folder Properties.
Now we need to configure the NTFS permissions, so we need to be on the “Security” tab of the folder we created earlier.
1. Turn off inheritance on the folder and copy the permissions. You do this by:
a. Click the Advanced button found on the Security tab.
b. Clear Allow inheritable permissions to propagate to this object check box in the Advanced Security Settings dialog box.
c. Click Copy when prompted by the Security dialog box.
2. Click OK to return to the Security tab. Ensure we have the following permissions set:
Administrators: Full Control
System: Full Control
Creator Owner: Full Control
Authenticated Users: Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read
3. Change permissions for Authenticated Users so they cannot access other users’ folders. You do this by:
a. Click Advanced on the Security tab.
b. Click Authenticated Users, and then click Edit.
c. On the Permissions Entry for HOME dialog box, drop down the Apply onto and select This folder only.
d. Click OK twice.
To configure an internal time server to synchronize with an external time source, follow these steps:
to 5. To do this, follow these steps:
Notes
Note Peers is a placeholder for a space-delimited list of peers from which your computer obtains time stamps. Each DNS name that is listed must be unique. You must append ,0x1 to the end of each DNS name. If you do not append ,0x1 to the end of each DNS name, the changes that you make in step 5 will not take effect.
Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for the number of seconds that you want between each poll. A recommended value is 900 Decimal. This value configures the Time Server to poll every 15 minutes.
Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend on the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.
Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend on the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.
If you have a server hosting user profiles or home directories, you can check the output of NET SESSION from its console – this will give you the list of all computers and users connected to it.
Or NET SESSION > c:\sessions.txt to save this info to a text file.
Run these commands from a command prompt:
Stop the time service
net stop w32time
Set the manual peer list external servers
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:”0.us.pool.ntp.org,1.us.pool.ntp.org,2.us.pool.ntp.org,3.us.pool.ntp.org”
Set the connection as reliable
w32tm /config /reliable:yes
Start the time service back up
net start w32time
Test the configururation
w32tm /query /configuration
