I’ve written a few other blogs about iSCSI and Multipath I/O on Windows Servers, but this one focuses on installing the EqualLogic Host Integration Tool (HIT) Kit on Windows Server 2008 R2 Core (no GUI). If you are using an EqualLogic SAN, I recommend installing the HIT kit before doing any of the iSCSI or Multipath I/O configuration. It will make your life a lot easier. It’s also not a problem to install the HIT kit after you’ve done some or all of the configuration, just keep in mind there Read more [...]
While building a Hyper-V server this week, I decided to rename the network interfaces to something that would make identifying the iSCSI connections a little easier. Since the server was installed with only the core (no GUI) installation of Windows Server 2008 R2, the process had to be performed from the command line. The network interface is also commonly referred to by other names such as network adapter or network connection.
To show a list of the network interfaces, run the following command:
To Read more [...]
1 | netsh interface ipv4 show interface |
Piping the output of a command line utility to the find command is a way to easily narrow down the results that are returned.
Here's an example of piping the output of the netstat command to find only the ports that your server is listening on:
You can pipe the output multiple times to narrow down your search results:
The find command can also be used to search text files:
Here's the syntax of the find command:
µ Read more [...]
1 | netstat -an -p TCP | find /I "listening" |
This blog article will guide you through the steps of setting up Remote Desktop Licensing or Terminal Services Licensing as it's known in previous versions of Windows Server.
You've decided to move from Windows 2003 R2 to 2008 R2 domain controllers and you want to run your terminal services licensing on the new domain controllers. You can run the licensing for all your terminal servers operating with Windows 2000 Server and newer Windows Server versions on Windows Server 2008 R2.
On the domain Read more [...]
This blog will walk you through the steps of a typical Exchange Server 2010 Installation. Be sure to follow the instructions in my “Installation of Exchange Server 2010 Prerequisites” blog.
By having completed the steps in that previous blog article, you can jump right into Step 3:
Select the appropriate option. In the example below, I chose “Install only languages from the DVD”:
Click on the link for Step 4:
Click “Next”:
Accept the license and select “Next”:
Select the Read more [...]
In an Active Directory environment the default time source is the domain controller in your forest root domain that is running the PDC emulator FSMO role. Keep in mind that the PDC emulator FSMO role is a domain level FSMO role so each domain will have one, but each domain’s PDC emulator will receive its time from the forest root’s PDC emulator. The following procedure will walk you through the steps of configuring the forest root’s PDC emulator to receive its time updates from an Internet Read more [...]
ORF Enterprise Edition is my spam filter of choice and has been through several generations of Exchange Server versions. The product is licensed per server so regardless of mailboxes or users you only need one license per Exchange Server. The initial year is $239 and each year after that is $99 per year. I haven't seen any other spam filtering product for an Exchange Server that offers a better price to performance ratio. A fully functional 30 day evaluation version is available for download with Read more [...]
It has been about six months since I transitioned one of my customers from Exchange Server 2007 to 2010 and I've found myself saying “How did I do that?” so I decided to write a blog about the process this time since I'm transitioning another customer.
In the following example, a server named email which is running the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system has been added to the mikefrobbins.com Active Directory domain and all of the available windows updates have already been installed. Read more [...]
Managed Service Accounts seem to be the end all and fix all for those services such as Exchange or SQL that we have all at some point either set to run as local system, an administrator account, or at best a domain user account that has been setup with the principal of least privilege. Using an account such as local system grants more rights than necessary and the service ends up running as a local administrator equivalent. Using a normal domain user account, even if it has been setup with the principle Read more [...]
We've probably all heard to check with your computer system or motherboard manufacturer to find out what the maximum installable amount of memory is for your computer. I'm guessing that's what most of the third party memory companies do also since who in their right mind would go against the manufacturer's recommendations? I suggest also checking with the motherboard chipset manufacturer.
I own a Dell XPS 410 that's used as a test machine. The operating system is Windows Server 2008 R2 with Read more [...]
You have a Windows 2008 R2 server that is nearly out of disk space on its ‘D’ drive. The ‘D’ drive is a volume on an EqualLogic PS4000XV Storage Area Network. This is a production server and the change needs to be done immediately in the middle of the day without service interruption. Whenever possible, I prefer to make changes like this outside of production hours or as scheduled downtime if you operate in a 24/7 environment since there is a chance that something could go wrong. When you Read more [...]
This blog will walk you through the steps of updating the firmware on an EqualLogic PS4000XV SAN (Storage Area Network) from version 4.3.0 to version 5.0.2.
Plan the Update
This process requires that the SAN be restarted so I recommend scheduling it outside of production hours or as scheduled downtime if you work in a 24/7 environment. I also recommend gracefully shutting down any servers that have data on the SAN since you would otherwise be ripping the drives out from underneath those servers.
Login Read more [...]
Over the past year or so, I’ve attended several SharePoint Saturday technology events to include Birmingham in 2009, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Huntsville in 2010. These technology events are a great way to expand your knowledge on a particular aspect of SharePoint, network with other technology professionals who work with SharePoint on a daily basis, and as a nerd, a way to have a good time in general. Registration opened up this week for the 2011 SharePoint Saturday in New Orleans which will be Read more [...]
This week I needed to figure out when a group was created in one of the Active Directory environments that I provide support for. I looked at the group using “Active Directory Users and Computers” and didn’t see anything that would tell me when it was created. I did a quick Google search and found a way to accomplish this for a similar item (a user object) using VBScript. The example for a user object that I found was on a “Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog”.
Here’s an example of how to find Read more [...]
While RAM (Random Access Memory) seems to be a simple subject, I can tell you from experience, if you want problems that are difficult to troubleshoot, buy cheap RAM or a cheap power supply and you will more than likely regret it.
There are several reasons to upgrade the RAM in your computer such as to boost performance, increased requirements of a new software application, planning to run virtual machines, etc. Whatever the reason, you’ll need to check to make sure you have an empty memory slot Read more [...]
Several end user personal computers that I've looked at recently have had some strange file names showing up in their startup routine. Here’s a look at what Msconfig showed:
Attempting to disable these two entries via MSConfig generates an access denied error. The normal spyware programs that I run haven’t been able to detect these items either. The only way I’ve found to disable them is via the registry:
µ Read more [...]