Active Directory

Windows Server 2003: Restore and Reanimation of Tombstoned Group Membership Links

by Liju Varghese

The Issue Performing an authoritative restore on a Windows Server 2003 domain controller of a group results in the reanimation of tombstoned group membership links. The Impact If an Organizational Unit containing Users and Groups was deleted, the authoritative restore of the OU will result in users being re-added to groups they were removed from. [...]

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Windows System State Recovery: What’s up with that Authoritative Restore checkbox?

by Liju Varghese

On a domain controller running Windows Server 2008 R2, when performing a system state restore in Directory Services Restore Mode using Windows Server Backup, at the Select Location for System State Recovery step you have to decide whether or not to select the following option: Perform an authoritative restore of Active Directory files. This recovery [...]

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Dedicated Support Engineers: What They Are and How They Can Help You

by Ben Pearce

This post is an introduction to Microsoft Dedicated Support Engineers (DSEs).  In a series of 4 articles we go through the following: What is a DSE? What does a DSE deliver? How does a DSE engage with you? How does a DSE bring value? Three example DSE scenarios: New Technology Deployment – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure [...]

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Automation: Why Laziness is a Good Trait in IT System Administrators

by Mark Farrugia

I was once told that the best system administrators are usually the laziest people. I didn’t take that statement seriously until I gave it some thought and started taking into consideration that it does in fact hold some truth. Provided you care for your job, but you are lazy, you will want to look for [...]

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How To Control Applications In Windows 7 With AppLocker

by Mark Farrugia

For my follow up article to How to use Windows 7 to lock down removable media and keep your computer safe, I would like to discuss another feature within Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions that both individuals and enterprises can take advantage of – AppLocker. AppLocker is a new feature built within Windows 7 [...]

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How to use Windows 7 to lock down removable media and keep your computer safe

by Mark Farrugia

You stop in at your local coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi access. Sure enough you have someone hanging around with their laptop. They step away and leave their machine unattended; they may have locked the screen, but they left the laptop powered up and unattended while they grab another beverage. Have you seen this [...]

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3 Steps for MS Exchange root cause analysis

by Ehsan Youssef

So many times as a field engineer I’ve been engaged to help resolve issues that were ongoing for an extended period of time and the root cause was elusive. Mostly, the issues were performance-related but service outages also came up. On the Microsoft Exchange platform, these issues were incredibly visible and political charged. Quick resolution [...]

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