Mike66350216's questions

I need to decommission a 2008 server that was one of 4 DC's in the domain within the same subnet/site location. I was able to decom 2 others without issue for the most part but the last one I did caused issues with a few static devices 'losing internet' when their static assigned DNS server went missing.

I'm looking for a tool or a method of determining if a Windows DNS server is responding to client DNS requests. I also want to see if there was a way to determine with originating IP/subnet if possible as well.

Scenario: I am a new admin for my company and have a single volume of 30TB (28 used) that currently has no backup configured (must be why I have this job). I am looking to at DR/offsite backup opportunities and the several backup companies I have contacted have asked me to first determine my change data rate.

Question: How do I determine my change data rate (files that have changed since last backup) easily?

Notes: I have been told that Beyond Compare and Tree Size Pro can do this but from my research, it appears as if this is not a correct statement. Tree Size Pro support also confirmed that they do not have the ability to track change data.

• Hardware: Dell PowerVault NX3200
• Software: Windows Server Storage 2012
• Storage: 30TB volume

Thank you!

System:

• PowerEdge R430
• Intel Xeon E5-2440 (dual)
• 32GB RAM
• Hyper-V 2012 R2

VMs:

• DC - 8GB RAM
• APP - 19GB RAM

The VM's are not configured for dynamic memory.

The client was complaining about poor APP server performance. In looking at system resources (Host)I noticed that the available RAM was only 71MB. The available RAM used on the APP server was only 4GB.

I attempted to look for documentation indicating how much RAM should be allocated (best practice) to the host OS but only found hits on configuring RAM for VMs.

Before making any changes, I am trying to see if I can find more concrete information on this.

Please let me know if I am missing any information and I will be happy to edit my post.

Thank you.

SBS 2008 running Exchange 2007 and IIS6.0

CompanyA has two other companies that operate under the same roof. To accommodate email, we have 3 Exchange accounts per user to manage this. All users use their CompanyA account to log into the domain.

• CORP\user [email protected]
• CORP\user-companyb [email protected] <-- only used for email
• CORP\user-companyc [email protected] <-- only used for email

Email works fine internally and via OWA. The problem exist when setting up Outlook for remote users who need access to companyB and companyC emails, Outlook pops up the certificate error.

The SSL cert SAN has the following DNS names:

• webmail.companyA.com
• www.webmail.companyA.com
• CORP-SBS
• CORP-SBS.local
• autdiscover.companyA.com

I was told by the users who access companyC email address remotely that this never used to happen before. This started with the CEO changed DNS providers on his own and in the process the original DNS settings were lost. He mentioned something about an SRV record being created which corrected this issue but that's about it.

Looking for guidance on how to properly address this.

I can't seem to find a clear answer on this.

Is it safe or not safe to snapshot (or in my case checkpoint under HV 2012) an SBS or single DC server environment? I took over an account and am behind on patches by about a year and would LOVE to be able to create a snapshot before doing this.

Thanks!

OLD SETUP SBS 2011 w/ Exchange and all clients running Office 2010 (using rpc/http as many were laptops)

NEW SETUP All mailboxes and accounts moved to hosted Exchange. Local Exchange services stopped. New profiles created with new hosted Exchange settings.

PROBLEM The local SSL cert expired last week and the clients for some reason are getting SSL cert expiration warnings when launching Outlook. I've checked the server settings and also Outlook connections (right click Outlook icon in system tray and choose Connections) and I see no references to the local Exchange server.

I've checked DNS - no zone for the domain. They used to use mail.company.com as the old reference (SSL cert for this DNS name) which was nat'd to the exchange server. They've since changed the A record for mail.company.com to a CNAME record which points to the hosted exchange service.

I can't figure out why Outlook is still looking at the internal server.

Thanks for any help in advance.

I have a client who needs 3 systems locked down to only allow a user to log in and have access to 3 shortcuts on their desktop. These shortcuts are to batch files that run in separate folders (DOS batch files). I know this can be accomplished via GPO but I having a hard time finding a comprehensive list of common settings.

For example - I already know I want to do things like:

• Disable Start Menu
• Disable CTRL+ALT+DEL
• Disable Run box
• Disable right click if possible
• Prevent logged in user from changing anything.
• etc etc...

Short of spending many hours researching and testing each requirment, I was hoping to save time by finding a site with a list much like this already compiled or perhaps a 3rd party app which will do this. I have to bill this time to the client and it just doesn't make sense to bill hours (client can buy a whole new PC at that rate) when perhaps an off the shelf app will suffice just fine.

I'd like to manage via GPO but would not mind using 3rd part app if it's priced right.

Any takers on this one?

Server 2008 used as terminal server with Office 2007 installed. I've been asked to deploy a GPO to make the default font used Veranda 11 for all Office Suite applications.

I've been doing some research and the success with this seems hit or miss. I need to know if there is a way for me to easily force this for all user accounts on the terminal server. if I have to update HKCU for each user I will but will be a major hassle for all new users added.

Is there a comprehensive collection or perhaps even a 'quick guide' to which GPO settings (or registry keys) are protected from GPO 'tattooing'? I have a few clients who have horrendous GPO policies (not well named, some are added to default domain, etc) and in trying to clean things up, I want to ensure I don't break anything inadvertently.

Thanks!

Allow me to explain in detail.

I have a client who runs 3 companies under the same roof. Each user has 3 exchange mailbox accounts (for each company domain) which they load under either Outlook 2007 or 2010.

The company has been using CompanyA.com as the main account with CompanyB.com and CompanyC.com as additional accounts. They now are now changing their main company to name from CompanyA to CompanyB.

I need help to see if it's possible for the following to be performed:

1. When a user sends an email from ANY of the mailbox accounts from Outlook, OWA, Activesync - the SMTP address is AUTOMATICALLY sent from CompanyB.com (right now it sends as whichever account they send from).
2. If so, can this be configured on a user by user basis and/or configured on a global scale?

Please note that simply forwarding all emails for CompanyA and CompanyC won't be sufficient as they'd like to keep their current inbox rules for the various folders in each mailbox account.

Thank you!