Jason Yoder, MCT

MCTExpert has now added MOC 6430: Planning and Administering Windows Server 2008 Servers to our course offerings. 6430 is different from most Microsoft Official Curriculum classes in that in is more planning and less with the hands on technologies. None the less, through our use of Hyper-V, we will show you how to continue to utilize your hardware investment while moving to Windows Server 2008. For a complete list of all classes offered form MCTExpert, brown to our Classes section on our website.

As long as the script is being run a computer that has PowerShell installed, it can execute on a remote machine. The thing to remember is that any data that is being processed, will be processed by your local machine, not remotely. The more data involved, the longer it will take. If using a script from the Microsoft Script Repository, Replace this line: $StrComputer = “.” With $StrComputer = “ Remote_Client_Name ” This will redirect your script to execute on a remote client rather than the local client. Microsoft Scripting Center http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx

In the DFS Manager, when you attempt to change the topology to facilitate more than 2 servers, you are required to delete the current topology and recreate it. From our in class testing, the data located on the Primary server (before first replication) over wrote the data on the destination server. At this point, expect to have a full replication done from your hub site for this migration. If anyone else has had a different experiance, please share it with us.

One of the frustrations that all of us share when scripting is how do we find out what the different objects do? What methods and properties are available to use? Thanks to Ryan Wall from Huntington City/County IS Department for introducing us to Active Directory Explorer. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963907.aspx Here is an ADSI Scriptomatic from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/admatic.mspx For WMI scripting, try using the Scriptomatic from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/scripto2.mspx You can also se the ADSI Editor Snap-in for your MMC console.

Hello my fellow Road Warriors: Here are some more tips on how to keep your costs down. Stay in a suite. I've found out that Extended Stay America will accept a Price Line bid of $26-$28 a night. Talk about savings. I also recommend going to the grocery store. Staying in to eat will lower your expenses and that adds up to more money in your pocket. Lodging and meal expenses for a week is around $215. Lodging and meals staying at other hotels and eating out is approximatley $440 a week. That is a savings of about $225 dollars. Streach that out to twice a month for a year and it comes to $5400. Now do I have your attention? Here is another one. Go for a run (or a walk). Instead of looking for evening entertainment that pulls dollars from your wallet, go hiking. For a State Park, it is usually a few bucks to get in. You will not dish out a movie ticket, and an $8.00 soda. You will also get that thing that we don't always get because we hover over a computer all day and night. You k...

There are two approaches to implementing 802.1X NAP in your organization. You can utilize VLANs or Port ACLs. So the answer is maybe. If you go with the VLAN, you will have to bring in whom ever programs your switches to create you Unrestricted, Restricted, and guest VLANS. At that point, you can configure NPS to redirect client to where they need to go. You can also program Port ACLs on the switch. Have on policy tell the port that it is compliant, and another one for non-compliant. Your policies will tell the switch with ACL to use. Below is a blog from technet that describes this in more detail. http://blogs.technet.com/wincat/archive/2008/08/19/network-access-protection-using-802-1x-vlan-s-or-port-acls-which-is-right-fir-you.aspx

MCTExpert, Inc. announces the available of instruction for Microsoft Course 6428: Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services. My experience with Windows Terminal Server goes all the way back to Windows 2000 Server. In this class I will go through how we were able to utilize a terminal server solution to deliver a critical business application around the world. We will also discover the early difficulties with terminal server and how Windows Server 2008 has resolved these issues and improved upon what was already there. We will also discover how to offer a wider range of services to make your people more productive from any location. Feel free to contact me for location of my next class.

In Windows Server 2003, on the Dial-in tab of a users properties, the default setting is Control access through Remote Access Policy. In 2008, it is Control access through Network Policy Server. Since NPS actually allows for the configuration of multiple RRAS servers and their policies, this setting on a 2003 domain controller should still allows a users dial-in properties to be set according to NPS if a Widows Server 2008 is on the domain and NPS is configured. NPS is compatible with RRAS in Server 2000, 2003, and 2008 Reference: http://tehnet.micorosoft.com/en-us/library/cc771347.aspx

This was a hard one to do research on. We all know about the great capabilities of Active Directory and its ability to be expanded. The problem in researching this one is that Microsoft has many documents advertising what you can do with EAP authentication and active directory, but I had a difficult time finding a definitive yes or no as to where that data is store. Is it in Active Directory or a third party program that integrates with Active Directory? I did find one article that says Active Directory can store Biometric data alongside your other user profile information. Reference: http://searchfinancialsecurity.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid185_gci1322177,00.html For authentication purposes, a certificate is use when you are using an EAP method, such as smart cards. Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732849.aspx Windows 7 has biometric management built in. Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd367857.aspx

Two new classes have been added to the MCTExpert lineup. 2433: Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition and Microsoft Windows Script Host Essentials 2439: Scripting Using Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation. I will be instructing both courses next week In Ft. Wayne, IN. My scripting experience actually goes back many years. I remember reading a magazine article that said the difference between Network Administrators that go home at 5 (in their convertible) and those who stay to 10 would be scripting. I jumped on it and was amazed at what I could do. Programing has never been an issue for me. I taught myself in the 5th grade how to do so. A Bachelor Degree in Computer Science also helps a bit. I was able to take weeks worth of redundant, boring tasks and automate them. I was able to take intermittent problems and set them up to resolve themselves. In this class, I will show my students the benefits of scripting and also how to accomplish some of the administrative tasks ...

You can configure your local routers to forward your DHCP packets to the correct subnet. I do recommend having a DHCP server available on the local subnet. This is a good way to repurpose an older server or workstation with Windows 2008 Server Core.