2008
02.26

Installing Active Directory Domain Services for Windows Server 2008

Category: Windows Server 2008 / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

Hello, for this post we are going to go install Active Directory Domain Services on Windows Server 2008.

First step is to run DCPROMO from the command line which will launch the Active Directory Domain Services installation screen.

Next you are prompted by a screen which warns you that Windows NT4 clients may not be able to authenticate against a Windows Server 2008 domain controller. This is because Windows Server 2008 policy called “Allow cryptography algorithms compatible with Windows NT 4.0″. By default out of the box this policy is set to not configured. If you really need to connect NT4 clients on the network then you can enable the policy setting. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942564 explains how to do this.

Next screen is to select whether we want to add an additional Active Directory server into an existing domain i.e. test.local, create a new domain in an existing forest i.e. create domain1.test.local (that is creating domain1 in the test.local forest) and the option to create a totally brand new forest. For this exercise I have elected to create a new forest since I don’t have one.

After you have selected your FQDN you can click on this. Be very careful about selecting your domain name, once you’ve got a couple of hundred workstations and servers in it renaming it because you made a mistake is not an easy task!!!! Anyway, click on next which then goes away and see if the domain name is in use. In this case it isn’t since its a brand new forest.

Next step is to select your Forest Functional level. This will be specific to your individual specific needs and is dependant on what existing domain controllers you have running. There are 3 Forest functional levels available:

Windows 2000 native
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008

You can view the full functionality here: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/34678199-98f1-465f-9156-c600f723b31f1033.mspx?mfr=true

Next screen asks you if you want any additional options. In this case I have selected to install a DNS server as I don’t have DNS installed and the Global Catalog is selected by default as its the first domain controller in the forest. The read only domain controller isn’t also configurable at this time as a writeable domain controller does not yet exist

Next screen is to select the location of the Database Folder, Log Files folder and the SYSVOL folder. Generally you should put the database folder and log files folder onto separate hard discs. This primarily is for performance reasons.

Next is to enter the Directory Services Restore Mode password. This the password that will be used if you need to enter Directory Services Restore Mode. You would need this if you’re Active Directory database became corrupt and you had to perform a restore of repair of the database

The next screen is a summary of all the options that have been selected.

And finally the installation can begin!!

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2008
02.20

Visio stencils for Exchange 2007

Category: Exchange Server 2007 / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

If you are creating documentation for Exchange 2007 then you may find the following link useful. Its the Exchange 2007 stencil pack for Visio 2003 upwards.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=45F7EA49-CEB2-4B04-8D46-2B0AE5E10694&displaylang=en

It contains icons for Exchange 2007 server roles, networking, telephony and Unified Messaging objects, Active Directory and directory service objects, client computers and devices, and other Exchange organization elements.

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2008
02.20

Windows XP SP3 RC2 released

Category: Windows XP / Tags: no tag / Add Comment

You can download Windows XP SP3 RC2 from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=114f3599-12af-42b2-aab1-b969a62c68a7&displaylang=en

Below is the changes in XP SP3 from the Microsoft Website: http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/d/8/cd8cc719-7d5a-40d3-a802-e4057aa8c631/relnotes.htm

You can also view the XP SP3 tech center at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsxp/0a5b9b10-17e3-40d9-8d3c-0077c953a761.aspx

New functionality included in this service pack

Technical Area	Functionality or Feature	Details
Networking	Black hole router detection	Improves black hole router detection (detecting routers that are silently discarding packets). This detection is turned on by default.
Networking	Network Access Protection	Allows you to better protect network assets by enforcing compliance with system health requirements. For more information about Network Access Protection, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110597.
Security	Credentials security service provider	Allows forward compatibility with Windows Vista® and Windows Server® 2008, And enables applications to delegate user credentials from the client to the target server. This security service provider is available through the security service provider interface, and it is used by Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0.
Security	Descriptive security options control panel	Offers more descriptive text to explain the settings and prevent incorrect configuration of settings.
Security	Enhanced security for Administrator and Service policy entries	Presents Administrators and Service entries (in System Center Essentials) by default on new policy instances. Additionally, a user will not be able to remove the setting in the UI for the “Impersonate Client After Authentication” user right.
Security	Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module	Implements and supports the SHA2 hashing algorithms (SHA256, SHA384, and SHA512) in X.509 certificate validation. The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-1 standard has been replaced by FIPS 140-2, and these modules have been validated and certified according to this standard.
Setup	Windows Product Activation	Allows users to complete their software setup without having to provide a product key.

Previously available functionality

The following items included in this release candidate were previously available as separate downloads.

Technical Area	Functionality or Feature	Details
Imaging	Microsoft® Windows Imaging Component (WIC)	Provides an extensible framework for working with images and image metadata. For more information about the WIC, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110598.
Management	Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0	Provides a framework that unifies and simplifies day-to-day system management tasks in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. For more information about the MMC 3.0 update, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110599.
MDAC	Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0	Provides improved reliability and security, conforms with the XML 1.0 and XML Schema 1.0 W3C recommendations, and is compatible with System.Xml 2.0.
Windows Installer	Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2 (3.1.4000.2435)	Provides a minor update to Windows Installer 3.0 (which was released in September 2004). For more information about Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110600.
Networking	Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5	Helps improve security. This is a required component for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and for Windows Live OneCare. For more information about the BITS update package, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110601.
Networking	Digital Identity Management Service	Makes it possible for users who log on to any computer running Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or higher and that is a domain member to silently have all of their certificates and private keys available for applications and services.
Networking	IPsec Simple Policy Update for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP	Helps simplify the creation and maintenance of IPsec filters, reducing the number of filters that are required for a server and domain isolation deployment. For more information about IPsec security filters, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=69286.
Networking	Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1	Enables Windows XP Service Pack 3-based applications that use PNRP to communicate with Windows Vista programs that use PNRP. For more information about upgrading PNRP, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110602.
Networking	Wi-Fi Protected Access 2	Provides the same support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) as is provided in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 with SP2. For more information about the WPA2 update, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=110604.