NSLookup still showing IP of demoted Domain Controller

So had an interesting issue today where a Domain Controller (DC) was demoted yet the IP of the demoted DC was still showing up when running nslookup internaldomain.local Demoted DC: MWDC04 / IP: 10.14.111.111 I had done the metadata cleanup and tried many suggestions when googling the subject. To my surprise none of the solutions I … Read moreNSLookup still showing IP of demoted Domain Controller

ConfigMgr 2012 R2 – WSUS sync fails with HTTP 503 errors

Ran into this issue with ConfigMgr 2012 R2 where it was unable to synchronize Software Update Point with the WSUS server. A review of the component status messages for the SMS_WSUS_SYNC_MANAGER component on the primary site server reveals errors related to WSUS synchronization which are similar to the following: Got the following error when trying … Read moreConfigMgr 2012 R2 – WSUS sync fails with HTTP 503 errors

Active Directory Ports required between client and domain controllers

Active Directory uses several ports for communication between domain controllers and clients. These ports are required both by client computers and Domain Controllers. As an example, when a client computer tries to find a domain controller it always sends a DNS Query over Port 53 to find the name of the domain controller in the … Read moreActive Directory Ports required between client and domain controllers

Going back to the basics….moving out of Amazon Drive!

As of June 8, 2017, it was announced that when when users try to sign up for Amazon Drive they will not be able to select an unlimited cloud storage option. Instead they can choose either 100 GB for $11.99 per year, or 1 TB for $59.99, with up to 30 TB available for an … Read moreGoing back to the basics….moving out of Amazon Drive!

Get .Net Framework Version for the .DLL & .EXE files

Working with many app/dev teams it is hard to find which version of Dot Net  an application was designed or made in. Now if your application server has multiple drives and depending on which drive the application resides it may be hard to find this information. Let’s assume there are two drives C: and D:. … Read moreGet .Net Framework Version for the .DLL & .EXE files

Map a network drive using PowerShell

Make sure you are using the latest version of PowerShell. On Windows 8/10 run it as administrator and type the following:

Where: Z – is the Drive Letter Within ” ” is the path of the network share that will be presented as the root of the drive letter Z The -Persist parameter so … Read moreMap a network drive using PowerShell

Speed up Active Directory & DNS replication between Sites

Using the standard GUI Microsoft Management Consoles to make the change to speed up Active Directory replication is not possible. The best result of using administrator consoles will be to increase domain replication between domain controllers to 15 minutes. These large time values were instituted into Active Directory at version 1 because inter-site connections during that era of computing and networking were much lower in bandwidth with the most common being frame-relay or … Read moreSpeed up Active Directory & DNS replication between Sites

Guide to migrate FRS to DFSR

For most users this article only applies if you have Window 2003/ 2003 R2 Domain Controller in your enviornment that you are planning to get rid off. Pretty soon I hope! 😉 SYSVOL is a folder shared by domain controller to hold its logon scripts, group policies and other items related to AD. All the … Read moreGuide to migrate FRS to DFSR

The Lazy Way To Do Active Directory Inventory

From time to time admins have to run an inventory of what is running in the AD environment. This is a good practice for audits, inventory, removing decommissioned servers, or any other good reason. The details that are required are like when was computer/ server created, when was it last logged into, what is the … Read moreThe Lazy Way To Do Active Directory Inventory