Server 2008 R2

Syncback on Server 2012 as scheduled task doesn’t run

User Rights

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:

Act as part of the operating system
Log on as a batch job
Log on as a service

Make sure the user account is not listed in the following user rights:

Deny logon as a batch job
Deny logon as a service

By ncol on November 16, 2017 · Comments Off

Setup network on Hyper-V virtual CentOS 6

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.

By ncol on November 15, 2017 · Comments Off

How to check Hyper-V replication status automatically

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.

By ncol on May 19, 2017 · Comments Off

How to configure an internal relay connector for Exchange 2013

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”

By ncol on April 27, 2017 · Comments Off

Exchange 2013 mailbox move stuck at StatusDetail FailedOther

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”

By ncol on April 6, 2017 · Comments Off

Perform a full backup on Exchange to purge logs

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

By ncol on September 28, 2015 · Comments Off

Backup all SQL Databases at once

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.

By ncol on September 15, 2015 · Comments Off

Use Robocopy to move shares with permissions.

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).

By ncol on July 7, 2015 · Comments Off

How to configure Exchange to redirect OWA HTTP requests to HTTPS requests in IIS 7

To enable SSL redirection to the OWA virtual directory, follow these steps:

Start IIS 7 Manager.
Expand the server, expand Sites and select the Default Web Site.
Double-click HTTP Redirect.
Select the Redirect requests to this destinationcheck box, and then enter /owa.
Select the Only redirect requests to content in this directory (not subdirectories)check box.
Select Found (302) from the Statuscode drop-down list.
Click Apply to save the settings.
Note The changes that you made to the Default Web Site will propagate down to the virtual directories for that site.
Expand the Default Web Site.
Select the aspnet_client virtual directory.
Double-click HTTPRedirect.
Clear the check box for Redirect requests to this destination.
Click Apply to save the settings.
Repeat steps 9-12 for the following virtual directories:
- Autodiscover
- Ecp
- EWS
- Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync
- OAB
- Owa
- PowerShell
- PowerShell-Proxy
- Rpc

By ncol on February 24, 2015 · Comments Off

To deploy printers to users or computers by using Group Policy

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.

To deploy printers to users or computers by using Group Policy

Open Print Management.
In the left pane, click Print Servers, click the applicable print server, and click Printers.
In the center pane, right-click the applicable printer, and then click Deploy with Group Policy.
In the Deploy with Group Policy dialog box, click Browse, and then choose or create a new GPO for storing the printer connections.
Click OK.
Specify whether to deploy the printer connections to users, or to computers:
- To deploy to groups of computers so that all users of the computers can access the printers, select the The computers that this GPO applies to (per machine) check box.
- To deploy to groups of users so that the users can access the printers from any computer they log onto, select the The users that this GPO applies to (per user) check box.
Click Add.
Repeat steps 3 through 6 to add the printer connection setting to another GPO, if necessary.
Click OK.

By ncol on August 15, 2014 · Comments Off

Permissions that need to be set to allow automate users home directory creations

share1 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.

By ncol on March 25, 2014 · Comments Off

How to set Internet time on Windows Server 2008 R2

To configure an internal time server to synchronize with an external time source, follow these steps:

Change the server type to NTP. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type
3. In the pane on the right, right-click Type, and then click Modify.
4. In Edit Value, type NTP in the Value data box, and then click OK.
Set
AnnounceFlags

to 5. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
2. In the pane on the right, right-click AnnounceFlags, and then click Modify.
3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 5 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  
  Notes
  - If an authoritative time server that is configured to use an AnnounceFlag value of 0x5 does not synchronize with an upstream time server, a client server may not correctly synchronize with the authoritative time server when the time synchronization between the authoritative time server and the upstream time server resumes. Therefore, if you have a poor network connection or other concerns that may cause time synchronization failure of the authoritative server to an upstream server, set the AnnounceFlag value to 0xA instead of to 0x5.
  - If an authoritative time server that is configured to use an AnnounceFlag value of 0x5 and to synchronize with an upstream time server at a fixed interval that is specified in SpecialPollInterval, a client server may not correctly synchronize with the authoritative time server after the authoritative time server restarts. Therefore, if you configure your authoritative time server to synchronize with an upstream NTP server at a fixed interval that is specified in SpecialPollInterval, set the AnnounceFlag value to 0xA instead of 0x5.
Enable NTPServer. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer
2. In the pane on the right, right-click Enabled, and then click Modify.
3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
Specify the time sources. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\Parameters
2. In the pane on the right, right-click NtpServer, and then click Modify.
3. In Edit Value, type Peers in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  
  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.
Select the poll interval. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\SpecialPollInterval
2. In the pane on the right, right-click SpecialPollInterval, and then click Modify.
3. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  
  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.
Configure the time correction settings. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\Config\MaxPosPhaseCorrection
2. In the pane on the right, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
3. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
4. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  
  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.
5. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
  \Services\W32Time\Config\MaxNegPhaseCorrection
6. In the pane on the right, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
7. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
8. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
  
  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.
Close Registry Editor.
At the command prompt, type the following command to restart the Windows Time service, and then press Enter:
net stop w32time && net start w32time

By ncol on October 9, 2013 · Comments Off

How do I tell who’s access my Windows Server 2008 server?

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.

By ncol on May 28, 2013 · Comments Off

Setup NTP server in Windows Server 2008 R2

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

By ncol on May 22, 2013 · Comments Off

Server 2008 R2

User Rights

To create a new Mapped Drive preference item

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