My Notes to Myself and Others...

Windows Server/Exchange Server/Music/Games/Rants

January 2005 - Posts

Paul Thurott on his website has a page that is constantly updated on this subject:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/longhorn_preview_2005.asp

Posted by Erik Rozman | 5 comment(s)
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This is an oldie but a goodie- Process Explorer from Sysinternals.
This application displays the running processes and the files they are using.

Download it from:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

I do feel proud-I had my first article published on msexchange.org .
The article deals with the cosy situation in which a system's log disk runs out of space,
I called the article: “Exchange log disk is full, Prevention and Remedies” .

It can be found at:
http://www.msexchange.org/articles/Exchange-log-disk-full.html

Hope you enjoy it!

Posted by Erik Rozman | 4 comment(s)
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That was the day my life changed... :)
Ok, so that does sound a bit drastic but I finally took the step and
connected the systems around the house using wireless network-WOW!!!

The comfort is a bit hard to describe-I guess once you try it you can't give it up...

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From the article:

Microsoft has released the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool to help remove specific, prevalent malicious software from computers that are running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows XP, or Microsoft Windows 2000. The Malicious Software Removal Tool supersedes all virus-cleaner tools that were previously released by Microsoft. You can download the Malicious Software Removal Tool from the Microsoft Download Center. You can also run an online version of the tool from the Malicious Software Removal Tool Web site on Microsoft.com. To run the Malicious Software Removal Tool from either location, you must log on to your computer with an account that is a member of the Administrators group. If you are running Windows XP, you can also run the Malicious Software Removal Tool from the Windows Update Web site or by using Automatic Updates.”

Take a look at:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200501_windows.mspx

 

I always have an odd feeling when buying a technical book- should I buy it or not?
Will it help me better my technical skills or will it simply repeat information I already read?
I am happy to say that my search for the ultimate Active Directory book is finally over!!

The best AD book I found is called:
Inside Active Directory (Second Edition): System Admin Guide (Sakari Kouti,Mika Seitsonen)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321228480/qid=1105115274/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-5923926-5704448

This book is actually the second edition and it covers and compares AD2000 and AD2003, if you were ever interested
in in-depth information this is the book you are looking for.

Posted by Erik Rozman | 6 comment(s)
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While verifying AD replication it may be useful to compare the directory information
stored on different domain controllers. There is a toold that can compare the information
and it is called DSASTAT.EXE. The tool can be found among the Windows Support Tools.

For additional information take a look at:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/techref/en-us/Default.asp?url=/Resources/Documentation/windowsserv/2003/all/techref/en-us/dsastat.asp

Posted by Erik Rozman | 5 comment(s)
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A couple of days ago Microsoft started the public beta phase of their new AntiSpyware
software. The software can be downloaded at:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Seems like an interesting path to take.

When you receive an NDR(Non Delivery Report) from Exchange the original message will be attached to it. This may be annoying or problematic if the message was large.
It it possible to configure Exchange to strip the "attachment" from the NDR message by configuring the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SMTPSVC\Queuing
Value name: MaxDSNSize
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value data: (value in bytes)

There is some vague documentation of this feature in the following article:
Q323484
Posted by Erik Rozman | 5 comment(s)
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Exchange 2003 has a new switch that can be used during installation called "/ChooseDC". By using the switch the installer can specify the GC to be used for the installation.
The syntax is:
setup.exe /choosedc NameOfDomainControllerToUse

If multiple Exchange servers have to be installed in a short time frame at different sites problems may arise if AD replication does not occur.

To avoid such problems the aforementioned switch can be used to point all Exchange servers ,while being installed,to one GC.

Description of the /ChooseDC Switch in Exchange Server 2003
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How to change the Exchange 2003 SMTP Mailroot folder location
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How to turn off ESMTP verbs in Exchange 2000 Server and in Exchange Server 2003
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How to Modify the SMTP Banner
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Connecting to Exchange server via RPC over HTTP may seem to work on a corporate network yet fail when connecting from an external network.

When configuring the usage of RPC over HTTP system administrators may test the configuration on their corporate network. Outlook may succesffuly connect even if the Outlook is configured incorrectly since Outlook will fall back to connecting by using RPC over TCP.

To disable Outlook's ability to fallback to using RPC over HTTP create the following value:
Value Name: DisableRpcTcpFallback
Data: 1
Path: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook
Posted by Erik Rozman | 2 comment(s)
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Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool
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GPOs are great. They are the heart of Active Directory. One of the things I like about GPOs is their ability to expand and include new settings. For a GPO to expand an ADM file has to be built-this file will include the new settings.

Microsoft released the a document on the subject.
Posted by Erik Rozman | 1 comment(s)
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http://www.microsoft.com/security/guidance/topics/ServerSecurity.mspx
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OWA 2003 is great. It looks good, it feels good and it also has a very cool administration tool.

Take a look at the following article about it:
Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2003 Web-based Administration

Download the tool at the following link
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Yes it is cool to customize OWA but you shoul really read the fine print on the Exchange license before messing around.

OWA 2000
To replace the standard image found at the top left corner you should change the file named logo-ie5.gif found at %programfiles%\exchsrvr\exchweb\img . The files size shuld be 138x48 .


OWA 2003
Since it is more complicated and shiny there are more things to change.
The following article describes the different options:
Skinning Exchange 2003 OWA
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