My IT Blog

As you already know by now, in Windows Server 2008, Server Core installation does not include the traditional full graphical user interface (GUI). Without going to much into detail, because of the lack of GUI, installing applications on server core might be more complex than installing them on a regular server installation, not to mention the fact that they might not function at all. One of these applications is the VMware Tools that comes with VMware's virtualization products such as VMware Server and VMware Workstation. VMware Tools greatly improve the guest's performance. In addition, VMware tools provide the following: Improved video performance Mouse synchronization with the host operating system so that you don't have to keep releasing your mouse from the guest to go back to the host Improved mouse performance Copy and paste between the host and guest Installing VMware Tools on a server core is exactly the same as installing them on any regular operating sys

One of the challenges of using Server Core is the management aspect. Luckily for us, most of the management pain has been solved by usage of the either manually created scripts, 3rd-party graphical user interface tools, and lately in R2 - the SCONFIG tool. So after properly configuring Server Core and getting ready to deploy it on your server farm, you now want to download and install the latest Windows Server 2008 R2 updates from the Windows Update site. How do you do that? Well, there are several methods which you can use to download and install the latest Windows Server 2008 R2 updates from the Windows Update site. Read on. Method #1 - Manually Install Updates In order to install updates you need to configure the Server Core machine to automatically download and install updates: At a command prompt: To verify the current setting, type: cscript scregedit.wsf /AU /v To enable automatic updates, type: cscript scregedit.wsf /AU 4 To disable automatic updates, typ

A cluster is defined as "a group of tightly coupled computers that work together closely so that in many respects they can be viewed as though they are a single computer" (per Wikipedia). A VMware ESX Cluster is no difference. Clusters are used for 3 things- 1) high availability, 2) load balancing, and 3) high performance computing. VMware ESX clusters are used for #1 and #2. With a VMware ESX Cluster, you define 2 or more physical machines that will provide resources for the hosts (or resource pools) that are assigned to that cluster. By using ESX clusters, you can achieve high availability (VM HA) and load balancing of virtual machines (called VMware DRS, discussed below) Just to reiterate, here is why you use VMware ESX Clusters: if one of the physical hosts goes down, the other physical host starts up the virtual guests machines that the original virtual host was running (VM HA). if one physical host is over utilized by a virtual guest, that virtual guest is moved to th

Console ports are not Ethernet ports All too often, new Cisco admins confuse Cisco's console port to be an Ethernet port. However, the console port on Cisco routers and switches is a SERIAL port (not Ethernet). That means that it is designed to connect to the COM port (serial port) on your PC. Although the cable that connects to it has an RJ45 on the end, just like an Ethernet cable, an Ethernet cable will not work to connect these two together. What you need is a serial "rolled cable" if you are going to directly connect the router to the PC. What's a Terminal Server? A "terminal server" is also called an access server. This is a device that commonly provides access FROM dumb terminals TO the network. However, you can turn this around and also use it to allow a single device to allow access TO the device, FROM the network. The most well known Cisco access servers are the 2509 and 2511. While these are discontinued models, they are still used today at many

Traffic Policing and Shaping Configuration Both the Traffic policing and Class-based traffic shaping features are implemented using the MQC. The MQC is used to classify traffic by defining a traffic class, set traffic policy by defining a traffic policy (where policing and shaping is implemented) and is assigned to a specific interface. Setting Up Traffic Classification The first step involves traffic classification setup; traffic that is matched to a specific class can have a number of different actions taken against it. For the purposes of this article, the action to be taken will be to police or shape the matched traffic.  Setting Up a Traffic Policy The second step involves traffic policy setup; the traffic policy is where specific actions can be configured. As stated before, in the context of this article, this is where the traffic policing and shaping are configured. Setting Up Assignment of the Configured Traffic Policy onto a Specific Interface The third step involv

Why do I need VMware Server Automatic Power up Options? Most commonly on a production server, you will want to power up VMware Server virtual machines when the server boots up. You don't want to have to remember to login to the server, start the VMware Server Console, then turn on the guest operating systems one by one. Plus, what if the server reboots in the middle of the night for some reason or another? All of those production virtual machines would be unavailable available until someone was alerted to power them on. Configure VMware Server Automatic Power up Options To configure VMware Server automatic power up motions for Virtual Guest OS systems, go to your VMware Server Console. Select the tab of the virtual machine that you want to configure the automatic power up options for. Click on  Edit Virtual Machine Settings , either on the Summary View for that Virtual Machine (VM) or by going to the VM Menu, then Settings. Once inside the VM Settings, click on the  Options  tab,

Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domains utilize a Single Operation Master method called FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operation), as described in Understanding FSMO Roles in Active Directory. The five FSMO roles are: Schema master - Forest-wide and one per forest. Domain naming master - Forest-wide and one per forest. RID master - Domain-specific and one for each domain. PDC - PDC Emulator is domain-specific and one for each domain. Infrastructure master - Domain-specific and one for each domain. In most cases an administrator can keep the FSMO role holders (all 5 of them) in the same spot (or actually, on the same DC) as has been configured by the Active Directory installation process. However, there are scenarios where an administrator would want to move one or more of the FSMO roles from the default holder DC to a different DC. The transferring method is described in the Transferring FSMO Roles article, while seizing the roles from a non-operational DC to a different DC

It's true that by using a proper backup procedure it is possible to restore these objects. It's also true that you can use manual restore procedures such as the one in my Recovering Deleted Items in Active Directory article. However, I'm sure you'll gladly agree that it's best not to put yourself in that position in the first place. Luckily for us, in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has introduced a new option designed to protect Active Directory objects from being accidentally deleted. The option to protect objects from accidental deletion is available for all objects that are manageable through Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC), and is enabled by default when you create a new OU. Let's see an example. I will create an OU and select the  "Protect container from accidental deletion" : Next, I will attempt to delete the object: As you can see, I failed to delete the object and received the following error message: So