Using PowerShell for Active Directory on Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA)

A new Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) will talk about using PowerShell for Active Directory. Let's learn PowerShell technique to manage your Active Directory environment by PowerShell. This course is hosted by Jason Helmick, PowerShell MVP, and Ashley McGlone, Microsoft Senior Premier Filed Engineer.

 

If you are interested in PowerShell or managing Active Directory. Don't miss it and register to join this live event at the following web site. The event will be started on 29-Oct-2014 8:00 am - 12:00pm PDT.

 

Using PowerShell for Active Directory

 

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

BlueScreenView

BlueScreenView is a mini tool, created by Nir Sofer, to read minidump files created during blue screen of death. This tool is included a feature to let users to view the blue screen and the error information. Plus, BlueScreenView try to analyze which drivers may affect the system. It saves the time for administrators to troubleshoot the blue screen.
 



If you are interested in BlueScreenView, go to the following web site to study and download it.

 

BlueScreenView v1.52

 

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

Migrating File Servers in the same domain

How to migrate a non-DFS file servers? We will talk about the high level migration steps to migrate Windows File Server Role to a new Windows Server in the same domain.

 

First of all, make sure both file servers were joined to a same domain. Then, administrators can check which folders are sharing by using "Computer Management" or performing "net share" on "Command Prompt".

 

 

Remark: ADMIN$, IPC$, C$ are default share of file servers.

 

After that, administrators can perform "Robocopy" to copy the folder with NTFS permissions from old server to new server or use backup software to back up and restore the folder and file with the same NTFS permissions to a new server.

 

VMware to Hyper-V Migration Microsoft Virtual Academy course

A new Microsoft Virtual Academy course, VMware to Hyper-V Migration, is available on Microsoft Virtual Academy website. This course is hosted by Matt McSpirit, Microsoft Senior Technical Product Marketing Manager. Matt talked about solutions which are provided by Microsoft to migrate virtual machines from VMware to Hyper-V platform and then he gave demonstrations of these tools. After that, he invited other partners to talk and give demonstrations of their tools to migrate virtual machines from VMware to Hyper-V platform.

If you are looking for solutions to migrate virtual machines from VMware to Hyper-V platform, don't miss this course.

VMware to Hyper-V Migration
 

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

Failed to install Windows Server 2012 R2 a virutal machine on Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows 8.1 Hyper-V

The minimum RAM requirement of Windows Server 2012 R2 is 512 MB. However, when we install Windows Server 2012 R2 on a virtual machine, you get the following error message.

Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation.

According to System Requirements and Installation Information for Windows Server 2012 R2, we can do one of the the following to avoid this.

• Allocate more than 800 MB RAM to the virtual machine you intend to install this release on. Once Setup has completed, you can change the allocation to as little as 512 MB RAM, depending on the actual server configuration.

• Interrupt the boot process of this release on the virtual machine with SHIFT + F10. In the command prompt that opens, use Diskpart.exe to create and format an installation partition. Run Wpeutil createpagefile /path=C:\pf.sys (assuming the installation partition you created was C:). Close the command prompt and proceed with Setup.

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

Installing Active Directory Management Gateway Service for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008

Active Directory Management Gateway Server is Active Directory Web Service for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. In Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft added Active Directory Web Service. One of features in Active Directory Web Service allows administrators to use PowerShell cmdlets and Active Directory Administrative Center to manage Active Directory. To use Active Directory cmdlets to manage Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008, administrators have to install Active Directory Management Gateway Server on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. Active Directory Management Gateway Server is a hotfix file. Administrators can download from here.

It's quite straightforward to install Active Directory Management Gateway Server. I will install it on a Windows Server 2008 domain controller.

Prerequisites

• Download and install Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 SP1 on C drive of a Windows Server 2008 domain controller
• Download and install KB969166 on C drive of a domain controller which will be installed Active Directory Management Gateway Server
• Download KB967574 for Windows Server 2008 domain controller (without SP2 only)
• Download KB969429 for Windows Server 2003 domain controller only
• Download KB968934 on C drive of domain controller

Lab environment

• 1 domain controller is installed Windows Server 2008 with service pack 2
• 1 workstation is installed Windows 7 with Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)

Lab

1. On a domain controller, log in as Domain Administrator.

2. Launch "Windows Explorer" and then navigate to C drive.

3. Double-click "Windows6.0-KB968934-x64" to install the hotfix.

If Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 SP1 and KB969166 isn't installed, "Windows6.0-KB968934-x64" cannot be installed on a domain controller.

4. Restart the domain controller.

5. If installation is successful, "Active Directory Web Services" is added and started on the domain controller.

As a result, a Windows 7 workstation can perform Active Directory cmdlets to manage the Active Directory.

Reference:

Step-by-Step: How to use Active Directory PowerShell cmdlets against 2003 domain controllers

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

Cloning Citrix presentation servers 4.0 to other Active Directory forest

Citrix presentation 4.0 isn't a new product in the market. Recently, I needed to perform a proof of concept for cloning Citrix presentation servers 4.0 from a production Active Directory forest to a testing Active Directory forest. 

Why do I need to clone Citrix presentation server?

Many applications were installed on Citrix presentation servers. However, I don't want to re-install all applications on new presentation servers. Finally, I tried to clone the servers.

In this post, I will talk about high level migration steps. Terminal Service licensing servers and Citrix licensing servers have been set up in both environment. 

I'm going to talk about what I did and which tools I used for cloning Citrix presentation server 4.

First of all, all Citrix presentation servers are virtual machines. It's easy for me to clone it. Before cloning Citrix presentation server, I checked "Add local administrators" and assigned "Full Administration" on "Privileges" window.

Then, I cloned the virtual machines which are installed Citrix presentation servers from VM level but I didn't perform sysprep for Citrix cloning.

After that, power-on the cloned virtual machines and logged in as local administrator.

Then, I preformed "chfarm" to create a new farm and change it to local store.

I launched Citrix presentation console to check "Add local administrators" and assign "Full Administration" on "Privileges" window again.

I used "Clone XenApp VM v1.0" to help me to do some tasks related to Citrix presentation servers. This tool can work with Sysprep or NewSID tools for generating new SIDs for Windows. For cloning Citrix presentation servers, I checked all options from "Clone Virtual Machine Tasks" and then click "Clone".

When cloning finished, I updated the IP address and join to new domain.

After joining domain, I used "Clone XenApp VM v1.0" to perform "Post-Clone Virtual Machine Tasks" for all Citrix presentation servers.

Then, I performed "chfarm" again to join the new Citrix farm on another Active Directory domain.

After that, I updated the local administrator option of Citrix presentation console again.

Finally, I could publish the applications on my cloned Citrix presentation servers on the new Citrix farm.

This post is based on my lab environment for proof of concept. I don't guarantee it works on your environment. All above steps are for your information.

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!

Microsoft Azure RemoteApp preview

Nowadays, administrators can use Remote Desktop from many devices like Windows, iOS, Android, Mac OS and so on to access the Remote Desktop. RemoteApp is a feature of Remote Desktop Services to install and publish applications on Remote Desktop.

In this year, Microsoft announced Azure RemoteApp Preview to allow administrators to publish applications through Microsoft Azure platform. Azure RemoteApp Preview supports 2 scenarios, cloud deployment and hybrid deployment. For cloud deployment, administrators can use Office 2013 pro plus to experience Azure Remote App from their devices. The template with Office 2013 pro plus is based on Windows Server 2012 R2 which is provided by Microsoft Azure platform.

Remark: For hybrid or cloud deployment, the operating system of templates must be installed Windows Server 2012 R2.

For hybrid deployment, administrators can upload their templates with their bueiness applications to Azure platform and then publish it for users to use it. To configure hybrid deployment, administrators need to set up VPN connection between Microsoft Azure. At this moment, RemoteApp doesn't support ExpressRoute. Then, administrators need to set up Active Directory synchronization between Azure Active Directory and on-premise Active Directory to allow users to use the same credentials when they use applications.

Remark: Azure RemoteApp doesn't support offline mode. Users need to have Internet connection to use applications which are published on Azure.

Azure RemoteApp is free during the preview period.

If you are interested in Azure RemoteApp, please sign up and try it.

Microsoft Azure RemoteApp

More information

Corporate Apps Anywhere, Anytime with Microsoft Azure RemoteApp

Azure RemoteApp Deep Dive

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights!