If you find yourself in an unfamiliar network and want to understand how the networks are connected, it would certainly be nice to be able to tell what is connected to each other. Luckily there are a couple of protocols that are responsible for just that. Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) As you can probably guess from the name, the Cisco Discovery Protocol is a proprietary protocol from Cisco Systems. ...
One of the new features in the latest version of Windows Server is the ability to create server groups. When you open the server manager you’ll see some server group options on the dashboard. You can add other servers to manage, or create a new group. Also, pay attention to the “Roles and Server Groups” section at the bottom of the screen which shows some of the server groups that were already set up. ...
I’ve almost always preferred HP laptops for work purposes based on how stable they’ve been for me. But while shopping for my last laptop, I decided to try out the Samsung Series 9. To be honest, the biggest reason I decided to look at this laptop was the sleek design. I knew that I would be traveling a lot with my new position and having a light weight laptop was certainly preferable. In addition an SSD drive made me feel better about jostling the laptop around without damaging it. ...
Until recently, I never paid too much attention to flow control. I knew that it was used in networking, and that it was a setting that sometimes needed modified when I would puttyhyperterminal into a device, but that pretty much ended my knowledge of the matter. As the name suggests, “Flow Control” will limit the amount of data across a network interface. It’s a pretty simple concept but typically we’re not trying to slow down our network, but rather speed it up. Flow control can be used to slow traffic down rather than dropping frames. ...
Microsoft has made the Exchange 2013 transition from Exchange 2010 a bit easier than it was in the past. This article should help to explain the process. Prerequisites Before you begin with this endeavor: Make sure that your Exchange 2010 infrastructure has been patched to Exchange Service Pack 3, this includes Edge transport servers, Client Access Servers, Hub Transport Servers and Mailbox Servers. This service pack is required for the coexistence period with Exchange 2013 as noted in the Exchange Team’s Blog. Say goodbye to Exchange 2003. You can not have Exchange 2003 in your organization any longer. Check your DNS Server and Event logs for errors. It’s unlikely that you had DNS errors before an upgrade that you didn’t already know about but it’s certainly worth taking a look just to check. A few minutes of discovery is well worth not having hours of troubleshooting afterwards. Plan your Exchange 2013 infrastructure. This article only explains the transition steps, but you should research and understand what your infrastructure should look like before you start a migration. Do you have multiple sites that need High Availability? Do you need multiple Exchange servers in a Database Availability Group? Do you need to separate your Client Access Server from your Mailbox Server for performance or management reasons, or can you put them on the same box? How many different Mailbox databases should you have? These are important design considerations. Licensing There are two flavors of Exchange 2013. Standard allows for up to five mailbox databases, and Enterprise allows for up to 50. ...
Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 1 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 3 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 4 I assume you’ve reached this page because you finished ready part 1 and are now ready to dive into your newly installed Exchange 2013 server. ...
Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 1 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 2 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition part 4 Migrate Mailboxes You’re ready to migrate your mailboxes! Go to the Recipient link, mailbox category and choose the mailbox(es) you want to migrate. I’ll be migrating [email protected] to the new servers. Click “To another database” action on the lower right hand side of the menu. ...
Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition Part 1 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition Part 2 Microsoft Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 Transition Part 3 I want to take a second to explain that this series of posts on how to migrate to Exchange 2013 didn’t come without it’s share of difficulties. ...
VMware Resource Pools are not something that should be thrown into every vSphere implementation! I considered not writing this post, because of all of the blogs I’ve seen that have written about this already. If you don’t believe me, check out a few of these: http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/1512-dont-add-resource-pools-for-fun,-theyre-dangerous.html http://wahlnetwork.com/2012/02/01/understanding-resource-pools-in-vmware-vsphere/ http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/11/13/resource-pools-and-shares/ http://frankdenneman.nl/2010/05/18/resource-pools-memory-reservations/ Unfortunately, I continue to hear resource pools being misunderstood. Don’t get me wrong, these are great tools and have a place in your arsenal, but they are used for a very specific reason. ...
When I was a Systems Administrator, one of the things we wanted to know was if there were issues with our Active Directory environment. Things like directory health, stale computers, and if someone had modified the domain admins group were at the top of that list. The scripts below were built in an attempt to give a quick overview of the Active Directory. These plugins were built on top of Alan Renouf’s vCheck ( @alanrenouf) which provides a great framework for the building of your own scripts. Check out his site if you haven’t already! ...