Category: 1458

I’ve been associated with the Dutch Networking User Group (NGN) for almost five years now. I’ve been speaking at their events and have helped others achieve the same goal. NGN has recently joined forces with the Dutch Platform for IT Professionals (Ngi), and an old tradition has been dusted off: We’re organizing a Windows Server-themed … Continue reading "I’ll be speaking at Ngi-NGNs ‘Systems Management: Beyond Control’ event"

I have written a lot about Active Directory Domain Controllers and Hyper-V in this series. So far you’ve seen recommendations on host configuration, guest configuration, security and converting physical Active Directory Domain Controllers to virtual ones. Today, I’m covering anti-affinity.

In version 1.0.6385.12 of the Windows Azure Directory Synchronization tool (or DirSync for short) Microsoft introduced the ability for administrators to synchronize password(hashe)s to Azure Active Directory. I’ve blogged about the DirSync tool in the past, when the 32bit tool was deprecated, and today, with the Password Sync functionality, I feel I have good reason … Continue reading "Five Things you should know about using DirSync with Password Sync"

As you might be aware, every Microsoft server product has the requirement to be manageable through PowerShell and System Center. The PowerShell requirement is formulated as part of the Common Engineering Criteria (CEC). With PowerShell available as a version 3 product (and part of Windows Server 2012) it’s time to see how the teams, responsible … Continue reading "Active Directory Services and PowerShell manageability"

When you build test environments regularly, at some point you’ll want to fill your Active Directory quickly. If, for instance, you have a data set with Organizational Units (OUs), user accounts and groups, you’ll want to quickly import this data. If, on the other hand, in your business you’re allowed to use the user information … Continue reading "PowerShell, LDIFDE, CSVDE and Protection from Accidental Deletion"

Microsoft released a KnowledgeBase article titled “ADDSDeployment module with the -Whatif argument shows incorrect DNS results” This KnowledgeBase article describes unexpected behavior in the PowerShell Cmdlets within the ADDSDeployment PowerShell module when you use the -WhatIf argument without specifying the -installdns argument.

Microsoft has issued a new KnowledgeBase article that addresses an issue when you use the Install-ADDSDomain PowerShell Cmdlet from the ADDSDeployment PowerShell module remotely to create a child domain. This issue is related to PowerShell remoting and the fact that the Install-ADDSDomain PowerShell Cmdlet doesn’t perform a pre-check on the password to create the DNS … Continue reading "KnowledgeBase: "Access is denied" error message when you create a child domain remotely by using Install-ADDSDomain"

As we’ve seen in part 4 of this series, Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012 now sports a grand total of 145 PowerShell Cmdlets. Learning these commands and putting them to good use, might seem like a week’s worth, but actually, the PowerShell History Viewer in the Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Administrative … Continue reading "New features in Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012, Part 5: PowerShell History Viewer"

Windows Server 2012 can be seen as a major release for Windows Server. Not just in terms of virtualization (Hyper-V 3.0), storage (SMB 3.0 and Storage Spaces) or manageability, but also in terms of Active Directory. There’s a load of new features, improving the lives of many Active Directory admins!