Category Archives: Network Administration
Q&A Monday: Check MAC AD Authentication
Question: I work for a School District with a very small tech department. As we are in an educational environment, we are running a mixed environment with Mac’s and PC’s authenticating to a Windows 2003 AD servers, 9 total servers total spread out throughout 8 sites. I have been running into problems with a few Mac’s in…
Q&A Monday: Dell PowerEdge 2970 Install Problems
Question: I have a Dell PowerEdge 2970 server, and I’m trying to install Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Dell CD that came in the package. It boots off the CD and loads the install GUI, and then stops before installing everything asking for drivers. I tried putting the RAID array drivers on a USB…
5 Cool registry changes only in the registry
With almost any discussion we have about the registry, I always want to stress the same message. Messing with the registry can cause you system to become unstable or not work. Please make sure you backup the registry prior to making changes. Now with that out of the way, I wanted to show you some…
Q&A Monday: How often should I update my Linux Servers?
Question: I have recently become responsible for more servers at my current job, some of these servers are of the RedHat and Debian flavor of linux, and I was wondering what is the recommended period of time between checking for updates on these servers? Catina P. Martin Mira Loma, CA Answer: To be honest, it all depends on how…
5 ways to limit your DNS Issues
One of the things most overlook on a network when things are going well, but when they aren’t, are one of the most pain in the butt things imaginable is DNS for a network. When you start messing with DNS, you’ll find there are many ways things can go wrong or become endlessly complicated….
Please don’t daisy chain switches
There are many times that I would walk into a business to help troubleshoot a problem, to find that someone didn’t take the proper time to do something right, and instead took the easy way. Usually this come in the form of switches (or even worse hubs) that are daisy chained together one after another…and…
Q&A Monday: IIS 7.5 Error 401.3
Question: I’m trying to test my ASP.Net website and I keep getting this error: HTTP Error 401.3 – Unauthorized You do not have permission to view this directory or page because of the access control list (ACL) configuration or encryption settings for this resource on the Web server. I tested the site both from the…
SysPrep a Windows 7 Upgraded Machine
When working in any kind of company, I love imaging computers. When there is a problem with a machine you can quickly blow down the company image and get the computer or laptop back to the user as quickly as possible. Recently when working on a Windows 7 image that I had inherited from a…
Q&A Monday: Enable and Disable Proxy via Scripts
Question: I use my laptop both inside and outside of my company’s network. It is a company issued laptop and when I am in the office, I am suppose to use their proxy server, when I am out on the road, I’m suppose to use the local connection, which does not have a proxy. Currently…
Average Mailbox Size Using Exchange PowerShell
PowerShell is now becoming more and more prevalent in Microsoft’s Exchange and Server software. This scripting language is becoming a must know for Administrators and knowing this scripting can help get all kinds of useful information. When I was an administrator for an Exchange system, it helped me to monitor the mailbox(s) and databases for their…