The Life of Brian

Unable to Change Share Permissions on a File Share Cluster Resource

BrianM — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:50:00 GMT

I ran into a weird issue the other day when configuring permissions on a Share that was clustered. I couldn’t find much online about this, and the one similar issue from Russ was not the issue here. Here is a little background info to help set the...(read more)

New Server Core Guide

BrianM — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Just saw over on the Server Core blog that Andrew posted some links to a couple excellent resources. The first one is what I consider to be the Server Core Bible . It has just about everything you can think of when it comes to configuring...(read more)

OCD with Email

BrianM — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:15:00 GMT

I admit it…I have issues with email. So much so that I think I may have OCD. I’m not trying to make fun of anyone that really has that disorder but I sure feel like I’m obsessed with unread email. I can’t stand it in fact. When...(read more)

Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Webcast

BrianM — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:05:00 GMT

If you’ve got time on such short notice try to check out the webcast O’Reilly is hosting on What’s New in Active Directory for Server 2008 R2. It is going to be hosted by two other Directory Services MVPs Brian Desmond and Laura Hunter . This is...(read more)

I Love April Fools Day

BrianM — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:41:00 GMT

Everyone has there own reason for loving or hating April Fools Day . For the last 4 years it has been a day of great joy for me. I got the email shortly from Microsoft that I was re-awarded my MVP for Directory Services! I really think...(read more)

Recycling Active Directory Trash with the AD Recycle Bin

BrianM — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:20:00 GMT

Hopefully some of you have been playing with Server 2008 R2 while it has been in Beta . One of the features I’m looking forward to most is the AD Recycle Bin. Yes you heard me correct. We now have an easy method for restoring accidently deleted...(read more)

Active Directory Recycle Bin PowerShell Scripts

BrianM — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:47:00 GMT

I just found out that there is an Active Directory PowerShell Blog run by Microsoft’s AD PowerShell team. I gathered that info from reading up on Jason’s post . Its amazing how much info you can get from reading other people’s blogs…now on...(read more)

Removing a Domain From Active Directory Gotcha

BrianM — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:31:00 GMT

I’ve removed plenty of DCs and Domains in my years. In fact I recently blogged about how remove a failed DC here . It seems sometimes after removing a domain from your environment doesn’t remove it entirely. You may see a message that...(read more)

New PowerShell Blog

BrianM — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:08:00 GMT

Just saw that a good friend and former co-worker FINALLY has a blog up. Jason’s blog is geared toward PowerShell and it already has some nice posts as well as some videos on PowerShell. I’m so far behind on the PowerShell curve but i’m sure...(read more)

Group Policy Fails on Import in GPMC

BrianM — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:02:00 GMT

I was working an issue where I couldn’t import Group Policy’s settings to a new policy from one environment to another using GPMC. The error message I got was the following: GPO: Test GPO V1.0...Failed The overall error was: The system cannot find...(read more)

Windows 7 Editions

BrianM — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:40:00 GMT

Just heard word from Microsoft that they have released the official SKUs for Windows 7. Nothing mind blowing here and it looks an awful lot like Windows Vista SKUs. The first two 7 Starter and 7 Home Basic will not be offered in the US. I've also...(read more)

Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server Resources

BrianM — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:40:00 GMT

As I’ve done with Active Directory and Failover Clustering I'm going to share with you some links and resources for Server 2008’s Terminal Services. I for one really like some of the new features of Terminal Services. I also seen some...(read more)

Active Directory Domain Services Resources

BrianM — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:36:00 GMT

I pulled together a few links to help point people in the right direction on resources for AD in Windows Server 2008. You’ll find all kinds of goodies, from virtual labs to videos by some of your favorite public speakers and of course what I think...(read more)

How to Remove a Failed or Offline DC

BrianM — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:13:00 GMT

I’ve seen this issue come up time and time again. Some administrator decided to remove an old DC from the network but forgot to remove it from Active Directory or the DC has entered a failed state and cannot be recovered from. In a perfect...(read more)

Microsoft Clustering Resources

BrianM — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:45:00 GMT

This has to be the mother of all resource collections on Microsoft clustering and high availability. I’ve copied over the links directly from the MS Cluster blog so that I have quick access to them in the future. General Resources Cluster Team Site...(read more)

Script That Displays Group Membership and Active Directory Location

BrianM — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:53:00 GMT

The following code can be run to display the group membership of an Active Directory group and also let you know each member’s LDAP Distinguished Name. The output will name the text file the group name and will include all the members and their...(read more)

How to Search for an Email Address in Active Directory

BrianM — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:44:00 GMT

From time to time I’ve had to figure out which user account has a specific email address. Actually its more like finding who has the “reallycoolemailaccount@company.com ” so another “more senior” person can get it. Well if you work in a smaller...(read more)

Must Have Group Policy Setting!

BrianM — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:22:00 GMT

I recently blogged about time and how critical it is in a domain environment. Just this morning I read a post from the Directory Services Team that shows how to configure WMI Filtering through Group Policy to ensure that the PDC Emulator always has the...(read more)

KDC 11 Error in the System Event Log

BrianM — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:12:00 GMT

I ran into this error awhile back after building a new root level Domain Controller (DC). My initial health checks panned out ok but after about an hour the following should up in my System Event log: Event Type: Error Event Source: ...(read more)

Windows Server 2008 Server Core Default Services

BrianM — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:08:00 GMT

Quite a few people have asked recently about services in Server Core. They want to know what’s running and what’s not running. Below you will find a listing that intended to help those out that need to know the status of Services on Server...(read more)