Field Notes: Azure Active Directory Connect – Domain, OU and Group Filtering
This is a continuation of a series on Azure AD Connect. The recently published blog post covers a quick introduction to the troubleshooting task available in Azure AD Connect. This post goes through...
View ArticleDowngrading Active Directory Domain and Forest Functional Levels (Part 1)
Background With Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 approaching end of support, more organisations are upgrading their Operating Systems to the latest supported versions. Upgrading of Active Directory Domain...
View ArticleDowngrading Active Directory Domain and Forest Functional Levels (Part 2)
Introduction In part 1 of this series, we established in theory that we can lower the Active Directory functional levels from the latest functional level to Windows Server 2008 R2, or even Windows...
View ArticleInfrastructure – System Center Configuration Manager –“Deploying applications...
The Issue Recently I was posed a question where a customer wanted their users to experience a more advanced or informative when software gets installed. They also required that data be saved so that...
View ArticleConvert all targeted devices to Autopilot
In this blog I will look at how to convert an existing corporate device to Autopilot. Configuration Ensure you have an AD/AAD group that contains the existing corporate devices that you would like to...
View ArticleField Notes: The case of the disappearing Name Server (NS) records
Introduction I recently assisted a customer with Name Server (NS) records in DNS, disappearing from their DNS zones. All of the Domain Controllers are configured as DNS servers, yet when viewing the...
View ArticleDowngrading Active Directory Domain and Forest Functional Levels (Part 3)
Introduction In part 2 of the series we’ve successfully lowered the Forest Functional Level (FFL) and Domain Functional Level (DFL) to Windows Server 2008. The demonstration was completed in a forest...
View ArticleField Notes: Azure Active Directory – Group Filtering Gotchas
This is a continuation of a series on Azure AD Connect. In the previous blog post, we looked at filtering options that can be used to control which objects are synchronized from on-premises...
View ArticleTest Azure resource name availability
Background Most of the services in Azure such as Storage Accounts, Key Vaults or AppService Websites must have globally unique names, where the fully qualified domain name (aka FQDN) for the service...
View ArticleCommunicate with Confidence – Taking the fear out of public speaking
Your technical skills are honed to a fine-tooth edge. You’re a ninja when it comes to Active Directory, SQL, or Exchange. Server crash? You got this! PowerShell scripting? It’s your superpower!...
View ArticleAzure – Changing Directories in other Portals like the Device Management Portal
The Issue If you have guest access to multiple directories then switching is fairly easy. You simply click on your username, click switch directory and then choose your directory. Below is a simple...
View ArticleOffline installation of OpenSSH Server on Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2019 has a lot of additional capabilities that can be added. Those features are easily added with the Add-WindowsCapability PowerShell cmdlet. When adding a capability it pulls from...
View ArticleField Notes: Azure Active Directory – Attribute-based Filtering
This is a continuation of a series on Azure AD Connect. I recently covered using domain/OU and group filtering options that are available in Azure AD Connect to help control which objects are...
View ArticleHyper-V On-The-Go or “To Boldly Lab Where No-One Has Lab’d Before!”
This is an into to a multi-part series on building portable labs. Boldly Going One thing I have found invaluable throughout my career has been the ability to maintain a decent lab environment,...
View ArticleAzure Files – What is it? Why Would I want it?
This is the first part of a multipart post about Azure Files. In this first post, we will cover the high level of what Azure Files are before we dive into further information about configuration or...
View ArticleSSRS – There are misconfigured data sources
Background Occasionally we may receive the following alert: SSRS 2012: There are misconfigured data sources Gentleman, Start your hacking So let’s rip open the MP and see what’s going on. After going...
View ArticleField Notes: The case of the stopped Azure AD Connect synchronization – stale...
This is a continuation of a series on Azure AD Connect. In this blog post, I cover a specific case where an export to Azure AD fails due to stale Internet proxy settings configured on the server...
View ArticleConfiguration Manager: Software Updates install before deadline???
Recently I was helping a customer who was having a challenge with software updates in that some of their endpoints were installing software updates the day that updates were made available and not...
View ArticleInfrastructure – System Center Operations Manager – SQL Query for SCOM...
SCOM maintenance schedules list views only display names and comments. In order to view affected objects you are required to open the schedules to see the server list. This SQL query will display...
View ArticleAppLocker – Part 1
Introduction:AppLocker has been around for a few years and whilst the concept is very simple, the implementation can get very complex. In this series of blogs, I will look at AppLocker rules and the...
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