Should all my DCs run on Server Core?

  Last week I initiated a discussion on the ActiveDir.org mailing list about running Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers on Server Core.  I was curious to see whether there were any good reasons why all DCs (RODCs and RWDCs) should not be run on Server Core as a best practice.   The conclusion reached was that,… Read More »

Where to find Scanpst on Vista

  Yes, I know PST files are BAD, but due to circumstances that would take too long to explain, I still use SMTP and POP3 with Outlook 2007 for my home email.  The other day I had a power outage that caused a corruption to one of my PST files.  I know that you can… Read More »

Exchange Server 2007 32-bit Licensing Foolishness

  Yesterday I fired up an old Exchange Server 2007 VM lab environment.  The first thing I saw when I started the Exchange Management Console (EMC) was a pop-up message saying, “The following servers in your organization are currently unlicensed”, as shown below. After clicking OK, I got the another pop-up message saying, “The server… Read More »

10 Active Directory Bad Habits

  I encounter a fair number of AD implementations as part of my work.  Some are good, some bad and some just plain ugly.  Here’s a more or less random collection of bad habits that I see quite regularly and some tips on how to avoid and/or kick them. 1.  Poor or missing Active Directory… Read More »

Mixed bag ‘o Nuts

  It’s been a little while since I’ve blogged, so here’s a more or less random collection of snippets for you to enjoy/delete at leisure. Quest acquires Netpro Wow, this one took me by surprise, especially as I have been contracting to Quest on and off for the past 10 months.  Two of the biggest… Read More »

Hyper-v logoff / logon issue

When running through final preparations for a presentation to a few hundred people (well, tens of people…ok, at least 5 people…proabably) the last thing you need is for your Hyper-v environment to start misbehaving.   This is exactly what happened to me and I’ve just found the cause, so am feeling a lot more relaxed about things.  I… Read More »

Acctinfo2.dll on Vista x64

A number of companies that I work with use the Acctinfo.dll to provide  additional user information when working with Active Directory Users and Computers (DSA.MSC).  You can download Acctinfo.dll from the Microsoft web site as part of the Account Lockout and Management Tools package. What isn’t quite so well known is that an updated version… Read More »