You may have read my blogpost on the actions admins need to take to continue working with Windows XP in their networking environments. It’s a long list. While many blogs and websites have shared similar information, one action is on everybody’s list: Update Windows XP with the latest updates. So, how easy is it to … Continue reading "Updating Windows XP with all its updates"
Category: Best practices
Best practices
Transitioning your Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012
Your organization might still be running their Active Directory Domain Services on top of Windows Server 2003-based Domain Controllers. You might be looking to replace these servers with Windows Server 2012-based Domain Controllers, either to utilize the new features, make the most out of your virtualization project or to simply do away with the aging … Continue reading "Transitioning your Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2012"
Why I don’t like the Quest Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets
Many Active Directory admins use and like the Quest Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets, that are part of the free ActiveRoles Management Shell for Active Directory. They have been freely available since 2007 and have been the long trusted scripting companion for many. I am not one of them. It’s nothing personal. Let me explain. … Continue reading "Why I don’t like the Quest Active Directory PowerShell Cmdlets"
Whitepaper on Host-Based Backups and Restores of Domain Controllers
This page contains the following whitepaper: Host-Based Backups and Restores of Domain Controllers How to be effective in backing up and restoring virtual Domain Controller with host-based backup solutions Title : Host-Based Backups and Restores of domain Controllers How to be effective in backing up and restoring virtual Domain Controllers with host-based backup solutions Authors … Continue reading "Whitepaper on Host-Based Backups and Restores of Domain Controllers"
Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 3 (Security Best Practices)
Solid State Disks (SSDs) offer great performance enhancements, especially when you follow the guidelines in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. From an information security point of view, however, these devices are nightmare in terms of data confidentiality. Recent studies from the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) show securely wiping SSDs … Continue reading "Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 3 (Security Best Practices)"
Getting Your Active Directory ready for Windows 7, Part 3
Deploying Windows XP is as easy as sysprep’ing a sample installation, throw in an answer file in the mix with a Volume License Key (VLK) and rolling out the newly created image with your preferred distribution method. A volume Windows XP product key is easily attained by buying a 5 PC equivalent Volume License and … Continue reading "Getting Your Active Directory ready for Windows 7, Part 3"
Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 2 (Tweaking the box)
As described in Part 1 of this series, Windows 7 has built-in optimizations for Solid State Disks (SSDs). To this purpose, Windows 7 will check random reads speeds of your disks, to determine whether the system is equipped with such a disk. These optimizations include disabling defragmentation on the SSD, and, when the disk is … Continue reading "Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 2 (Tweaking the box)"
Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 1 (To clone Windows or reinstall?)
I’ve seen a couple of people stuffing their Windows 7 laptops with Solid State Disks (SSDs). I upgraded my Windows 7 demo laptop with an Intel X25-M G2 SSD (80GB) and this much improved performance, especially for virtualization purposes. A traditional Hard Disk Drive’s internals are platters. A read/write head on a boom looms over … Continue reading "Windows 7 and SSDs, Part 1 (To clone Windows or reinstall?)"
Active Directory Time Sync (broken by default)
Active Directory relies on accurate time for a number of reasons. One of this reasons is Kerberos authentication, which by nature can only cope with a difference in time (time skew) of five minutes between the Kerberos server and client. Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the time skew limitation and the overall Kerberos … Continue reading "Active Directory Time Sync (broken by default)"
Domain Controllers: Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter?
When making choices for a new Active Directory environment, choices eventually need to be made for the Operating System for the Active Directory Domain Controllers. The key question here is whether the Enterprise and Datacenter Editions add any substantial functionality to the Standard Edition.