The DFS monitoring tool in SCOM 2007 has some great features, which will replace many a custom VB script running in enterprises. As with a lot of Management Packs, to get the most out of it you need to have a dedicated RunAs account with local admin permissions on the servers you are monitoring (e.g. for the Backlogged Files reporting). The easy (and wrong) option here is to go with the less secure option and distribute a RunAs account to ALL servers.

It seems that despite my previous experiences with TMG 2010, I still stumble when creating a TMG array. Here are some “notes to self”, which will hopefully stop me making the same mistakes next time Get the NICs right first In this case I came to a project after the initial installation of the array and there was no dedicated intra-array network installed. I added a new NIC to each VM and configured the IP addressing, VLANs and routing, but could not get the intra-array network to ping, let alone talk to each other.

OTRS is an exceptionally flexible ITIL compliant ticketing/helpdesk solution, which runs beautifully on almost any LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl (yes, I know it’s PHP really;-)) server, but what happens when you work in a Windows-only environment? OTRS does have a Windows installer, but it is somewhat clunky and requires almost as much work to configure as manually installing. Installing as components allows you to upgrade portions of the system and have more granular control over the setup.

It’s a fairly common requirement – setting up a guest WiFi network that is secure from the rest of your LAN. You need a secure WLAN access for the domain laptops which has full access to the Server and Client VLANs, but you also need a guest WLAN for visitors to the office which only allows internet access. Since the budget is limited, this must all be accomplished via a single Access Point – for this article, the access point is a Cisco WAP4410N.

As with all things IT the pace of technology change is relentless and we are constantly and rightly told that change is good and that being able to evolve and move with the times is an important skill and ability. However I am often left wondering how we can maintain a balance. I have all to often seen IT professionals falling into the trap chasing the latest and greatest and rushing to try to implement or learn new emerging technologies without much thought to what they already have.

Configuring WSS or SharePoint Services for a small client is a pretty effective way of getting a document management solution for a reasonable cost point. One of the limitations that caused headaches was that it used to have a maximum storage of 4GB, which was the database limit. If you wanted to go larger, you would need either a) multiple SPS installations, b) a full version of SQL server, or c) the full version of MOSS.

SSTP or SSL VPN connections are great for people working on client sites or behind very restrictive firewalls – they only require HTTPS (port 443) to be open to be able to connect. Unfortunately, you need to be running Windows 7 or Server 2008 (or newer) in order to make use of them. Threat Management Gateway 2010 is one option for an SSL VPN endpoint. SSTP VPN Requirements Clients must be Windows 7/Server 2008 or newer Certificate – either commercial or an internal Certificate Authority Published CRL – SSTP clients check for the Certificate Revocation List of the CA If you already have an SSL listener (e.

I am a firm believer in trying to keep things simpler where ever possible (but not for the sake of it) In years gone by I have heard many admins lament about the complexities of deploying IIS to work alongside third party plugins such as PHP. I can remember numerous occasions where I have wrestled with the config and “best practice”. I am however glad to say finally Microsoft have taken notice of this and produced a very simple and effective deployment toolkit.

Having recently managed several Exchange 2010 migration projects, one of the best new features which really sells it to systems administrators is the Online Archive. “No more managing PST files? When can we have it installed by?” The problem is, once they’ve purchased licensing for Exchange 2010 and installed and configured the server, migrated the users’ mailboxes and decommissioned the old Exchange 2003 server, the Online Archive feature is not available.

While using the New-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1 script to create a test user for Exchange 2010’s connectivity testing, I ran into an issue: CreateTestUser : Mailbox could not be created. Verify that OU ( Users ) exists and that password meets complexity requirements. At C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V14\Scripts\new-TestCasConnectivityUser.ps1:255 char:27 + $result = CreateTestUser <<<< $exchangeServer $mailboxServer $securePassword $OrganizationalUnit $UMDialPlan $UMExtension $Prompt + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,CreateTestUser Oddly enough, that OU does exist (as it will by default on any Windows Domain!