To start configuring Active Directory from a Windows machine, you’ll need RSAT tools, which include Server Manager and other vital consoles like PowerShell. From the “Server Manager,” you’ll be able to monitor your server and add new key roles and features like AD DS and DNS— tools necessary to start with Active Directory. In this […]
Active Directory Setup Guide
ELB Health Check Guide
The last few years have seen increased pressure on the existing network infrastructure and this has exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of people work and study from home. This brings up the need for networks to use robust strategies such as load balancing, the ability to scale resources dynamically and implement superior routing […]
Find Password Expiration for Active Directory User
Finding the Password Expiration for Active Directory Users is a Crucial step in understanding security Measures in your networks! We found an Easy Way todo this Task!
Best Remote Desktop Connection Manager for Multiple RDP Sessions
Here’s our Picks for the Best Remote Desktop Connection Manager to Ensure you dont lose any Remote Desktops Connections, Passwords and More!
WSUS Client Diagnostic Tools & Software to Troubleshooting Windows Server Update Services
Windows Patch management is an important and yet monotonous task for system admins as they have to constantly stay on top of updates and patches, download, and install them. Microsoft eases this process to some extent with its Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Earlier known as Software Update Services, this is a network service that […]
Varonis Alternatives & Competitors for File & Permissions Analysis
Varonis is a Great Tool Overall – But If your Looking for a Replacement or Alternative to Varonis, we’ve Got the Top 5 Best Alternatives for You HERE !!!
NT Administration from the Command Line
In addition to using the GUI to create accounts and groups, the command line can be used. This is often useful when automating server setup or recovery. net user jsmith tempword /ADD /FULLNAME:”John Smith” /COMMENT:”Accounting Manager” net localgroup “Accounting Local Resource Group” /add /COMMENT:”Payroll and A/R Files” net group “Accounting Members” /ADD /COMMENT:”Members have access […]
Word Abbreviation With Vi
You can use word abbreviation with vi to insert common chunks of code, commands, or text into your documents. Simply type esc: (to go into command mode) and enter ab abbr phrase. For instance, say you were editing html, and you wanted sztt to enter standard table tags of BORDER=”0″ BGCOLOR=”#E0E0E0″ WIDTH=”99%”, you could enter: […]
LiveJournal Systems Documentation Example
There is a glorious example of systems documentation of the LiveJournal system here. It includes how to install, administer, and program the system. Further, the documentation was generated with DocBook and XSL stylesheets, which means that it is relatively easy to produce documentation that looks exactly like this. Another benefit of using something like DocBook […]
Disabling Shutdown Reasoning on Windows Server 2003
When you shut down or restart Windows Server 2003, you are required to explain yourself: The only way to shut down is to enter something in the lower box: Whatever. Makes us want to punch the screen in defiance, like when XP gently asks if you have forgotten your password. Now, you might think this […]
Testing Daylight Savings Time on Microsoft Windows
There is a curious and strangely insidious problem associated with the change of the start of Daylight Savings Time. One thing that is counter intuitive for some is that just because information is stored in GMT for stuff like future appointments, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be problems when the time changes. The exact […]
Creating a One Way External Trust Between Windows 2003 and NT (MMC)
To allow users in an NT domain to use resources on a Windows 2003 domain, you need to set up a one way external trust. In NT-style language, this means that the Windows 2003 domain (trusting) trusts the NT domain (trusted). In User Manager for the NT domain, select policies->trust relationships, and add a trusting […]
Using sar – Part 1
Getting Started sar (System Activity Reporter) is an oldy but a goody that should be in your bag of tricks and installed on every *nix system you administer. It collects and logs system data at regular intervals, allowing analysis of system actity historically, trending, baselining and much much more. It comes as part of the […]
Pstree
Use the pstree command to list processes in a tree format. It will show the process owners. Default is to start the root of the tree at init: u-1@srv-1 u-1 $ pstree init-+-3*[agetty] |-ahc_dv_0 |-bdflush |-crond—2*[sh—perl—sh-+-grep] | `-iget-quote] |-cupsd |-devfsd |-keventd |-khubd |-kjournald |-kscand |-ksoftirqd_CPU0 |-kswapd |-kupdated |-lockd |-login—bash—startx—xinit-+-X | `-sh-+-icewm-+-Eterm—bash—ssh | | |-Eterm—bash—pstree | […]
Using sar – Part 2
Using sar Part 2 – Making it Play In Part 1 of this article, we looked at basic invocation of sar and how it works. In Part 2 of this article, we’ll use sar to look at disk, network, and CPU activity. In Part 3, we’ll look at the options available to report on the […]
Setting Time Synchronization With Windows 2000
We have some Windows 2000 servers we administer that are authenticating against some NT domain controllers. You can set up your Windows 2000 servers to synchronize time with an outside source: C:\>net time /querysntp This computer is not currently configured to use a specific SNTP server. The command completed successfully. For a list of NTP […]
Hail Support
Have you ever had a user call you, and the thought of guiding them through running ipconfig or winver is daunting? Hail Support is a program that users can run to submit a support request. The program runs identically on MacOS X (Intel and PowerPC), Windows (NT and 2000+), and GNU/Linux (GTK 2) systems, and […]
Don’t Wrap in the Middle of a Word, and Display Partial Paragraphs in Vim
A couple things that really annoy me are the default vim settings where words get chopped in the middle and paragraphs don’t display correctly. I’m sure there is a reason for the defaults, but here is how you change this while in vim: :set linebreak :set display+=lastline If you put this in .vimrc in your […]
Slipstreaming SP2 into Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Install Files
Slipstreaming is the application of service pack files into the original install files from the distribution media so that you can point to one location when adding components to Windows Server 2003. The command with Service Pack 2, and probably others is: sp2 /integrate:c:\win2003std\ sp2 is the name of the service pack .exe, and win2003std […]
Services Subkey Entries
Beware! Make sure you have a backup of the registry and are 100% confident of the syntax of the entries before you change anything. If you mess up, your NT system may never boot again, and you will have to reinstall NT. Try to tweak the registry indirectly whenever you can through control panel/services, system […]
