Welcome to Field of Dreams

We are here to share all new networking and other tricks (facebook.com/shinesgeorge)

Welcome to Field of Dreams

Page under maintanice (facebook.com/shinesgeorge)

Welcome to Field of Dreams

We are here to share all new networking and other tricks (facebook.com/shinesgeorge)

Welcome to Field of Dreams

We are here to share all new networking and other tricks (facebook.com/shinesgeorge)

Welcome to Field of Dreams

We are here to share all new networking and other tricks (facebook.com/shinesgeorge)

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page is under construction...

WAN Protocols

1. SLIP
2. PPP(Point to Point Protocol)

SLIP: SERIAL LINE INTERNET PROTOCOL
It is used on UNIX networks
Outdated protocol (not available now)
Doesn’t support
Data compression
Data encryption
Error checking
Doesn’t support
NETBEUI
IPX/SPX

PPP: POINT TO POINT PROTOCOL
Most popularly used in WAN protocol replaced by SLIP
Supports various protocols
Supports data compression
Data encryption Error checking

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

It is a service of I.I.S. used for uploading or downloading large amount of files over internet or intranet. runs on a port no.21
 Creating an FTP site:
On DC
Open E drive
Create a folder FTP root
Create few files in that folder
Open I.I.S.
Right click on FTP - new – FTP site
Next – FTP name – ex EDPFTP – Select IP
Next - do not isolate users – browse the FTP folder we have created in E drive
Next – select read &write - next – finish

Connecting to FTP server

On member server
Start – run – cmd – create a folder local in E drive - ex: md local
Cd local
Ftp (server’s ip address)
Type administrator
Type password
You will be at FTP>.
Downloading a file from command line:
Get
Type the filename to be downloaded
Type the filename to be saved as (same file name)



Uploading a file from command line

Put
Type the filename to be uploaded
Type the filename to be saved as (same file name)

Downloading multiple files: mget *

Turning off interactive mode: prompt (system does not prompt for conformation while downloading multiple files.)

Uploading multiple files: mput *

Practice: on DC
Create an FTP folder
Host some files in that FTP folder
On member server
Connect to ftp site
Download the files
Upload the files
Create a folder in ftp site
Upload the files to this remote folder
FTP commands:Dir - for listing FTP contents
Get - for downloading
Put - uploading
Prompt - disable interactive mode
Mget - downloading multiple files
Mput - uploading multiple files
Bye - ending session
Close - close the session
Mkdir - to create a folder in ftp site
Rmdir - to delete a folder
Del - to delete a file
Pwd - to list present working dir
Lcd - locally change directory
Cd - change directory in ftp site
Bell - gives beep sound after the action

Anonymous account: It is a default a/c available with ftp any user can login to ftp server despite no a/c in FTP server.




Connecting to FTP server as anonymous user

Go to command prompt
Ftp server’s I.P. or
Open I.P. address
Type anonymous
Provide password if it has

Disabling anonymous connections:

Open I.I.S.
FTP site properties
Security accounts
Uncheck the box allow anonymous connections - yes
Verification
Go to FTP prompt & try to login as anonymous user.
Isolation of Users:
When we want to secure the ftp contents or when we want ftp users to have their own folders with ftp site we use isolating users.
Creation of isolating ftp users
Create 2 users in AD
Open E drive
Create a root folder
In the folder create a subfolder named as our domain name without extension ex. Zoom, India. - - u1, u2, u3

Creating a FTP site for isolating users open I.I.S.

Right click on new FTP site
FTP site name – select the IP
Select isolate users – next
Browse the root folder we’ve created
Ok – next – check the box write – next - finish.
Verification:On Member server
Open I.E.
Type ftp:\\I.P. add of ftp server
We should notice logon window
Provide user name & pwd
Then we notice the file we’ve created.

Internet Information Service (I.I.S)

It is a web server from Microsoft used for administering, managing, controlling websites.

I.I.S. is the server component which provides services like www, http, ftp, nntp, SMTP, FrontPage, .net frame works

WWW(World Wide Web): enables use of internet.
HTTP(Hiper text transfer Protocol): Supports file types like text, audio &video
Gopher: used prior to http supported only text.
FTP: (File Transfer Protocol): used for uploading or downloading, huge size files.
NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol): Used for publishing the same message for a group of people.

SMTP (Simple mail transfer protocol): Used by exchange server for sending mails.
Front page: It is a designing tool for WebPages
Win – NT 4.0 had I.I.S. version 2, 3 and 4.
Win 2000 I.I.S. version is 5.0
Win 2003 - 6.0

Port number details are available at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\services

Port: port is a communication channel through which services of one system communicate with the services of other system each service has one port number allotted

Features of I.I.S. (6.0)

22 Fully secured
23 Reliability
24 Salability
25 Manageability
26 Isolation of users.
27 Backup of websites

Requirements:

DC or member server
Static IP
NTFS partition
Web pages
DNS and Zones with concerned records.

Installing I.I.S.:

On DC or member server
From Control Panel
Add/rem programs
Add/rem windows components
Select application server
Click on details
Select I.I.S.
Details
Select F.T.P. & www. Services
Ok – next




Requirements of a website

Web content or web pages
Zones with host records
Public IP

Creation of a Website:

(Create the zones in DNS with a host records)
Start - p – admin tools – I.I.S. right click on websites – new - website – description ( site name, ex: yahoo)
Select the I.P> (system’s IP)
Specify the host header as www. Sitename.com ex: www.yahoo.com
Browse the WebPages folder
Next
Check the box ‘browse’
Next – finish

Adding the web content:

Right click on the .htm file name concerned
Rename – select copy – right click on the website we’ve created >properties – documents – add - paste – ok – move up the htm we’ve copied. – Apply – ok.

Verification:
Open internet explorer
Type the website you’ve created

Virtual Directory: These are useful for creating child websites or links
Ex: mail servers, chat servers, advertisement servers etc…

Creation of Child websites:

Right click on the parent website we’ve created
New – virtual directory – next – child name - ex: mail- chat etc..
Browse WebPages folder
Check the box browse - next – finish.

Adding Web Contents

Select .htm file
Right click – rename
Copy – select child website – properties – documents – add – paste – ok
Move up – apply – ok

Verification: open Internet Explorer and type website name.”www.yahoo.com\chat

Redirecting a website:

Redirection is useful in various cases.
Case1: renaming of the website where users are unaware of the change.
Case2: when the website is under construction
Case3: when the website hosting server is unavailable, we go for redirection

Implementing redirection or configuring redirection:

Create 2 websites
Select web content create 2 websites
Select web content
Create 2 zones with host records corresponding
Open I.I.S.
Right click on the website we want to redirect
Properties - home directory – select a redirection to url
Ex: http://www.Sitename.com apply – ok

Verification:
Open I.E. type the 1st website name
It should open second website

Document footer:

Useful for publishing advertisements in a particular websites and seen as a footer for the website
Open I.I.S.
Right click on the website
Properties
Documents
Check the box enable documents footer
Browse webpages folder
Select any .htm file
Apply – ok

Backup of website:

It is a new feature in 2003. We can backup and restore websites.
Open I.I.S.
Right click on the website we want to back up
All tasks-Save configuration to a file
Give filename & select the browse
File where we want to save – ok
Verification:
Delete the website you’ve backed up

Restoring a website:

Open I.I.S.
Right click on the websites
Select website from file
Browse the backup file we have saved
Click on read file
Select the site name – ok

Terminal Services

Terminal Server is a server used for centralizing the management of applications

It provides remote administration for administrators.
T.S. provides sharing of application and resources.
It is used when a company cannot upgrade their client machines, hardware infrastructure.

Benefits of terminal services:

1)Centralized management applications
2)Centralized security using NTFS permissions
3)Easy to administer
4)Easy management of TS clients
5)Remote administration
6)Terminal server provides only the subset portion of the desktop to the client machines. i.e. when a client establishes a terminal session only the desktop portion is downloaded to the client machine to interact with.
7)During the session the terminal server uses the protocol called RDP. (Remote Desktop Protocol)
8)With the help of this protocol client obtains the server’s desktop on to the client it is nothing but thin client. Only the mouse clicks and key stokes are sent to the TS

Requirements of Terminal server:
DC
Member server
Applications (MS office, oracle, java, PageMaker etc)

Installing terminal server

On DC
Open control panel add/remove programs
Add/rem windows components
Check the box terminal server - next – yes – next –
Select relaxed security - insert CD (win2003)

T.S. operates in two modes

1) Remote desktop mode
2) Application mode

If we want to configure T.S. only for remote administration we should select remote administration mode.
If we want to configure T.S. for centralizing management application server we should go with application mode.
Application mode offers remote administration as well as applications.

In win2003 we can install T.S. in 2 ways:
1) Fully secured mode
2)) Fully relaxed mode

Fully secured mode: if we select this option users will not have access to registry files & system files and it doesn’t provide backward compatibility for existing OS or applications.

Fully Relaxed mode: Provides access to registry and other system resources useful when the security is not criteria or for performing remote administration.

Terminal Server Licensing:
By default when we install T.S. the clients can access T.S. only for 120 days.
It is a free license provided by T.S. license manager.

T.S. License manager: responsible for maintaining the T.S. license information and contacting Microsoft clearing house for obtaining the license activation.
When a T.S. client establishes a session with T.S. the client has to obtain a license key in order to access the applications.

Licensing mode:

There are 2 modes
1. Domain Licensing mode
2. Enterprise licensing mode.

1. Domain Licensing mode:

suitable when we want to maintain a separate licensing manager for each & every domain.
NOTE: T.S & licensing manager cannot be configured in same server.

Enterprise license mode:

Suitable when we’ve multi domain model and centralizing the licensing manager or issuing of the license keys to the terminal clients.
Only one T.S. licensing manager is maintained in the enterprise domain and is connected to Microsoft clearing house from where it gets authenticated.

Installing T.S. client or Remote Desktop:

On client machine
C:\windows\system32\clients\tsclient\win32&setup
Before establishing the T.Session on both T.S. & client machines
Step1: my computer - properties – remote – check the box remote desktop (allow users)
On DC
Create a user in ADUC
On member server

Establishing a session

Start – p – accessories – communication – remote desktop connections
Supply the IP of TS - connect
Provide the username &pwd we’ve created – ok

Error1: the local policy of system

Solution: move on to DC
Start – p – admin tools – DCSP – expand local policies &user rights – select the option ‘allow log on through terminal services’
Add the user whom we want to allow
Apply - ok - start – run – gpupdate
Move on to member server
Try to login with the same user name

Error2: We don’t have access to logon to terminal session

Solution: move on to DC
Start – p – admin tools
Open T.C. configuration
Double click RDP- TCP - permissions
Add the user – full control - apply - ok
Move on to member server
Again try to login – we should login.

Remote control:

R.C. is used for viewing the session or interacting with the session.

1 View Session:

If the administrator selects this option, the remote control session will be give only used for monitoring users.

2 Interacting session:

useful when an administrator wants with user to provide remote assistance or troubleshooting.

Remote Control:

To have remote control of the user, an administrator has to login to the TS and only through the TS he can take the remote control of the user.

Implementing remote control:

On member server
Login as a user
Establish a terminal session as a user

On DC
Login as administrator
Start - P – admin tools – Terminal Services configuration
Double click RDP - remote control
Select the type of control we want to view/interact
Apply – ok

Establish a session on to the same machine by typing server’s IP

Login as administrator
In terminal session
Start – p – admin tools
Open terminal services manager
Right click on user – remote control
Select the release keys (ex.Ctrl+ Z)(used for giving up remote control ) – ok

Allowing Local resources to be available on TS session.

Before login
On the member server - options
Open remote desktop connections
Options - local resources
Check the box disk drives
Connect & ok

* When we open my computer of T.S. we should notice the local drives.

Allowing user to access only a particular application through TS.

(Run only allowed applications for a user)
On DC
Open ADUCGo to the user properties
Following program
Specify the program (ex. Notepad, cmd, etc.)– File name – ok

Allowing a common application for all the users from TS

On DC
Start – p admin tools – open TS configuration – double click RDP
Environment – check the box override setting – specify the application name
Ok suitable when we want to maintain a separate licensing manager for each & every domain.

NOTE: T.S & licensing manager cannot be configured in same server.

Enterprise license mode:

Suitable when we’ve multi domain model and centralizing the licensing manager or issuing of the license keys to the terminal clients.
Only one T.S. licensing manager is maintained in the enterprise domain and is connected to Microsoft clearing house from where it gets authenticated.

Installing T.S. client or Remote Desktop:

On client machine
C:\windows\system32\clients\tsclient\win32&setup
Before establishing the T.Session on both T.S. & client machines
Step1: my computer - properties – remote – check the box remote desktop (allow users)
On DC
Create a user in ADUC
On member server

Establishing a session:

Start – p – accessories – communication – remote desktop connections
Supply the IP of TS - connect
Provide the username &pwd we’ve created – ok

Error1: the local policy of system

Solution: move on to DC
Start – p – admin tools – DCSP – expand local policies &user rights – select the option ‘allow log on through terminal services’
Add the user whom we want to allow
Apply - ok - start – run – gpupdate
Move on to member server
Try to login with the same user name

Error2: We don’t have access to logon to terminal session

Solution: move on to DC
Start – p – admin tools
Open T.C. configuration
Double click RDP- TCP - permissions
Add the user – full control - apply - ok
Move on to member server
Again try to login – we should login.

Remote control:

R.C. is used for viewing the session or interacting with the session.

1 View Session:

If the administrator selects this option, the remote control session will be give only used for monitoring users.

2 Interacting session:

Useful when an administrator wants with user to provide remote assistance or troubleshooting.

Domain Name Service (DNS)

Name Resolvers:

There are 2 types of name resolvers:
22 WINS
23 DNS

Resolver: It is a file which will contain the mapping information of the clients. Ex. System name and its IP address

WINS: (Windows Internet Naming Service) It is a service of Microsoft used basically on windows network to resolve NetBIOS names to IP address and IPs to NetBIOS names.

LMhosts: It is a static text file which contains NetBIOS to IP mapping information it was used instead of WINS.

WINS follow NetBIOS names: operating systems like NT, 95, workstation, 98 rely on WINS. Because these OS follow NetBIOS names

NetBIOS Names: Net bios names are the names assigned to network nodes. NetBIOS names are the names without extensions. They are called ‘flat names’.
2000 & 2003 also support WINS.

DNS (Domain Naming Service):

DNS resolves host names to IP addresses IP addresses to host names. Supports all type of OS. Ex. Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac.., etc...

DNS: defines a hierarchical namespace where each level of the namespace is separated by a “.”

Resolver:
Resolving: It is a process of converting IPs to host names & host names to IPs.

Computer that requests DNS resolution.

Issues queries that ask for specific types of mapping of computers and IP addresses (records)
Query types determine behavior of DNS server receiving query.
Lookup types determine whether a name to IP mapping or an IP to name mapping is sought.



Query:

Query is a request to find an address of the DNS there are 2 types of queries.

24 Recursive queries
25 Iterative queries

Recursive Queries: When a client start a query, query is passed onto local DNS for resolution if a query cannot find the solution then the DNS on behalf of client forwards the query to another DNS, And to another DNS and so on until it finds the mapping information or an answer.

Iterative Query: Query raised by the client to the DNS. If the DNS cannot resolve it sends a negative response to the client, then the client has to contact another DNS and so on.
In this case the DNS is not forwarding the query but the client itself is contacting other DNS.

Zone: Zone is a subtree of DNS database. Zone contains the mapping information with the help of forward lookup zone & reverse look up zone.

Forward Look up zone: Contains host record, which contain host names to IP, address mapping information

Reverse Lookup zone: it contains mapping information about IPs to host.

DNS requirements:
DC or member serverStatic IP address

Installing DNS
Either on member server or on DC
Start - settings – control panel – add/remove programs – add/remove windows components – select networking services – details – check the box DNS – ok – next
Insert the CD - next

Creating a forward lookup zones:

Start – p – admin tools – DNS
Right click on forward lookup zone
New zone – next – select primary – next – specify the zone name – zone file – next –select allow both non secure & secure – next – finish



Records:
It is a database which contains information about the zone
There are a few types of records

26 Host record (A record) used in FLZ
27 PTR record (pointer) used in RLZ
28 Alias record (nick name of a host record)
29 MX record (used for mail server)

1. Creating a host record:
Right click on the zone you have created - new host – specify the servers address –and IP
Add host - ok - done

2. Creating an alias record:
Right click on zone – new alias
Specify www. – Click on browse the host records – ok

Verification:Start - run – cmd – ping www.Yahoo.com
Or ping sys1.yahoo.com

Creating a Reverse Lookup zone:
Right click on the R-L zone
New zone – next - zone type - next – specify the IP address – zone file – next – allow both – next – finish

Creating a PTR record
Right click on reverse lookup zone.
New- pointer – specify IP
Browse host record – ok

Verification:Start – run – cmd
Nslookup 192.168.1.17 - Reverse lookup zone
Nslookup www.yahoo.com Forward lookup zone.

DNS: DNS server can be configured as follows>
30 Secondary
31 Stub (feature of 2003)
32 AD integrated
33 Forwarders
34 Root servers
35 Caching only server
36 Primary

Configuring a primary zone:
On DC
Start - p – admin tools – DNS - create a zone & host record

Creating a secondary zone:
On Member serverIf DNS is not available install DNS first
Open DNS - right click on FLZ
New zone – next – specify the primary – DNS servers IP address –add – next – finish

Zone Transfer

On DC
On Primary DNS
Open DNS – right click on zone
Properties
Zone transfer – check box allow zone
Select only to the following servers
Specify the secondary DNS servers IP address
Apply – ok

Primary Zone: Primary zones are created on the primary DNS servers. It is a read /write copy.

Secondary Zone: There are created on the second DNS server where it holds a read only copy of the zone.
Secondary zones provide fall tolerance and load balancing to the primary zone.
Secondary zone is a back up for primary zone

Zone transfer:Zone transfer is a process of transferring the zone from primary to secondary or secondary to primary. Zone transfers occur when there is a change or modification taken place on either of the zones.

AD integrated zones:
These are useful when we want to maintain zone information in the AD . zone is saved in the AD as a result when we back up AD we are also backing up zone information.
If it is a primary zone, zone is saved as a normal text file as a result we have to back up the zone separately, AD integrated zone is created when we install AD with a domain name.

Creating in AD integrated zone:
On DC
Open DNS
Right click on FLZ
New zone
Next - check the box store the zone
Next - specify zone name
Next – allow both – next – finish

Stub zone:
Stub zone is a newly added feature in WIN 2003 stub zone contains name server information or name server records and SOA records (Start of Authority)
Stub zones provide fault tolerance & load balancing besides providing the name server & SOA record information.
Stub zones are useful for resolving the query faster.

Creating stub zones:

On DC
Create a primary zone with a host record ex: hp.com
On member server
Open DNS
Right click on FLZ
New zone - next
Select stub zone
Next – zone name ex.hp.com
Zone file – specify the primary DNS server’s address - next – finish

Resource Records (RR):
RRS are useful to provide the information about the zone. There are a few types of resource records.
Host a record
Pointer record
Alias record
MX record
AAAA record
ATMAHINFO etc…

Service Records: There are also called as SRV records. These are useful for locating the services. There are totally 6 service records created when we install AD. They are located in DNS under domain subtree.

When we install AD, system automatically creates an AD integrated zone with the corresponding domain name.

Record types:

37 Msdcs: Contains the Dc’s information
38 Default site: Contains site name
39 Tcp: (server side) provides global catalog, Kerberos and LDAP information
40 Udp: (client side) provides Kerberos information
41 Domain DNS zone
42 Forest DNS zones both are the part of application partition. Provides DNS information in entire forest.

Creating a secondary zone for (DC) domain name zone:
On member server
Open DNSright click on F L Znext – secondary – specify the DC’s
Domain name (ex: zoom.com)
Specify the DC’s IP address
Next – finish

Move on to DC
Open DNS
DC’s zone properties
Zone transfers
Only on the following
Specify the IP address (secondary)

Move onto member server refresh the zone
This process is we call as safe zone transfer.

Note:
1) If the 6 service records are not found in secondary server we need to restart net logon & DNS services on DC & Member server.

2) Still if we can’t find the 6 service records we need to perform a forceful transfer

For accessing C drive through command prompt.
Ex. \\sys1\c$



Implementing forceful transfer:
Create secondary zone for dc zone.
On member server
Start – run - \\server name \c$
Open windows\System32\ config\netlogon.dns – open – select all – copy the contents – open my computer of local machine – windows – system32 – DNS open domain name.dns ex. Zoom.com
Come down of the page - paste - save - close –
Open DNS
Should be noticed 6 service files without refreshing

Verifying the type of zone:

Open DNSright click on the zone properties
Type of zone secondary
If we want to change click on change

Dynamic Updates:
It is a feature of 2000 & 03 when a client machine or a network node comes on line; automatically get their names registered in DNS database.
Dynamic updates take place when there is a modification or change done at the client or when we have DHCP server.

There are 2 types of Dynamic updates
Secure & Non-secure

Secure Updates:
Useful when we do not want our DNS maintain outside our network host information.

Non-secure updates:

DNS gets updated as and when what all the hosts come online get their names registered with DNS server.

Note: secure updates can occur only when the client machines have their a/cs in DC

Configuring secure &non secure updates:
Zone – properties
Dynamic updates
Select either secure or non-secure
Apply - ok

Zone properties:
1 Name Server - Existing DNS server’s address
2 Zone transfer
3 General (status, type, aging, Dynamic Update)
4 SOA (Serial no., Responsible person, refresh interval)
5 WINS (existing WINS address, used for NetBIOS resolution)

DNS Server Properties:
5 forwarders
6 event logging
7 interfaces ( used when we have multiple NICs)
8 Monitoring
9 Security
10 Root hints
11 Debug logging
12 Advanced

Interfaces:
Useful when our system has multiple NICs and the DNS can listen the queries from all available NICs
Offers load balancing

Forwarders: If the query is not resolvable by the local DNS it is being forwarded to another DNS server for name resolution

Configuring Forwarding:

On DC
Create a primary zone with a host
On Member server
Open DNS – properties
Forwarders
Add the DC’s IP (DNS1’s IP)

Verification:
On Member server
Start - run cmd – ping www.Zonename.com

Advanced:

13 Disable recursion
14 BIND secondary (Berkeley internet naming domain)
15 Fail on load if bad zone data
16 Enable round robin
17 Enable net mask ordering
18 Secure cache against pollution

Disable recursion: By default this is disabled i.e., recursion is enabled

BIND secondaries: useful when we have older BIND servers (ex. UNIX) as secondaries BIND is a standard followed by DNS.
All UNIX based machines older version used BIND servers as DNS. Ex. BIND version 4.0 series.
Useful when our network has old BIND version based DNS servers with new BIND versions like 9.1.2, to provide zone transfer at faster rate to BIND secondaries.
Faster zone transfer is possible by transferring multiple zones at a time besides compression.

Fail on Load if bad zone data:
If the secondary zone comes across stale records or unwanted records the zone will not be loaded if we check this box.

Enable Round Robin (RR):

Useful when the DNS has multiple NICs to listen the queries all NICs. If the query is not resolvable by one NIC it can be listened by another NIC

Enable net mask ordering:
Secure cache against pollution: By default the cache DNS information is secured against pollution.
In windos\system32\DNS\cache.dns

Root Hints: Root hints provide the root server’s information
There are totally 13 root servers throughout the world.

2003 server can be configured as root server. Once configured as root sever disable forwarders and root hints.
Root servers zone name is always represented by a dot. (.)

Configuring a root server:
On DC
Open DNS
Right click on FLZ - new zone –
Primary – next – specify the root name as dot (.)
Next - zone file – allow both-Next – finish

* We should notice that forwarders &root servers are disabled.

Security: We can add sub administrator for administrator and set permission on these administrators.

Monitoring: used for troubleshooting DNS.

Event logging: Used for maintaining events occurred pertaining to DNS can be
19 Errors only
20 Errors & warnings
21 All events (by default)

Debug Logging: to assist with debugging we can record the packets sent and received by the DNS server to a log file. Debug logging is disabled by default.

Implementing Round Robin:
Assigning multiple IPs to the NIC. By going to TCP/IP properties – advanced – add – multiple ips – ok (ex. 192.168.1.17, 192.168.1.18, 192.168.1.19)
Open DNScreate a primary zone – create a host record - create 3 more host records with the IPs created above

Verification:Go to command prompt.
For clearing DNS cache
C:\> ipconfig /flushdns

421 and 451 Exchange 2007 Errors

Our company was having issues sending emails to certain domains. Everything was fine except for a few of these problematic domains. These emails were just sitting in my Exchange edge server's outbound queue...

The error message I was getting in the Exchange 2007 queue was this:

"451 4.4.0 Primary target IP address responded with: "421 4.4.2 Connection dropped." Attempted failover to alternate host, but that did not succeed. Either there are no alternate hosts, or delivery failed to all alternates."

After troubleshooting the issue for a while, I determined that my email server and the problematic domains were not talking nicely with EHELO. The resolution was to created a send connector that forced HELO for the problematic domains. From the exchange management shell, run the following to create the special send connector:

New-SendConnector -Name ForceHelo -AddressSpaces problemdomain.com -ForceHELO $true


After you create this connector, you can always add other problematic domains to the connector which will force HELO.

Server 2008 VMware and ESET Freezing Problem

***UPDATE***
Literally the day after I posted this, my server locked up again... I will post another update if I get it fixed!
**************
I have been plagued with a very strange issue that I finally found a solution for. I had a Server 2008 R2 VM running Exchange 2007 that would just totally lock up randomly. The only way to get the box back was to do a reset from within the VM client. My client was running ESET Mail Security as the anti virus on the box. When I removed the anti virus the problem went away. This however, is not the final solution :)

It was extremely difficult to troubleshoot this issue since there were no crash logs at all to debug. I was desperately looking for some kind of a pattern to the crashes but I couldn't find anything consistent. There were no indications in the event log of any problems prior to the crash. I began disabling other agents running on the machine, updating VMware tools, installing the latest service packs etc. but nothing fixed it unless I removed ESET.

I found a post talking about a similar issue (with NO mention of ESET) that recommended increasing the Video Ram on the virtual machine. On this particular box, it was set to 8MB, I increased it to 64MB from the VM client. Since doing this, I have not had this box lock up in the last month. I also reinstalled ESET and everything is working perfectly.

What makes this issue even more bizarre is that I ran this particular server with ESET on it for 4 months prior to deployment and even had a few mailboxes running off of it and NEVER experienced the problem. I was fighting this isue on another Exchange box running Server 2008, not R2. I figured I would try a 2008 R2 box since I was literally out of other options. The problem came back after I got all these users over to the new Exchange server. It appears the issue only occurred for me when the Exchange server actually was servicing a number of mailboxes.

Hopefully this post helps someone else having the same problem.

If you're not sure where to do this, just edit the properties of your VM from within the client and modify the Video Card settings you see here. The VM has to be turned off before you can change this value.
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FreeFloat FTP Buffer Overflow

The other day on exploit-db.com there was a new exploit for FreeFloat FTP 1.0. I took a quick look and decided to see if there were other commands that were vulnerable. I started fuzzing and I noticed quite a few commands were overflowing EIP with 41414141. ABOR, ACCT, ALLO etc etc.... I basically stopped looking because every single command I tried would crash the application.

It seems any unimplemented command caused the same buffer overflow. I posted my exploit on PacketStorm. I also noticed that basically any 4 letters you pretend to be a command....will overflow the buffer. PWND even worked!

If you're interested in buffer overflows or fuzzing, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this POS software. Who ever coded this did absolutely no checking for user input at all. It really should be used as a learning tool. Everything I found was straight forward overflows. Good fun!

SQL Server Maintenance Plan Execution Failed

Problem:
No matter what type of SQL Server Maintenance Plan you create and no matter what credentials you use, the plan always fails with "Execution Failed." There is almost no information to go on either. Event logs, SQL Agent logs....nothing is reporting a problem.

Are you using SQL aliases?

Solution:
Make sure you've set the alias for both the 32bit and 64bit drivers. We ran into this exact problem and as soon as we added the alias to the second section, all the maintenance plans ran fine.
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How to negate a Track in Cisco router

As you may know, you can have a Tracked list in Cisco routers combined with Boolean expressions. In order to negate a track, you need to add the keyword "not" after your object in the list. Example:

Router(config)#track track-number list boolean {and|or} (depending on if you need a logical AND or a logical OR)
Router(config-track)#object Tracked-object-number [not]

Rapport de conformité de la configuration / Compliancy Report


The English version will follow…

Saviez-vous que vous pouvez vérifier automatiquement la conformité de la configuration de vos équipements réseaux et recevoir un rapport de conformité journalier?
Vous trouverez sous le menu Configuration => Compliance => Compliance Template, les outils nécessaires à la mise de place de cette fonction.
Au cours des dernières années, nous avons développé une multitude de rapports pour simplifier la mise en place de cette fonctionnalité. Contactez-nous pour obtenir de plus amples informations.
  
** Pour d'autres Trucs & Astuces comme celui-ci, visitez notre site web au www.mdj-networks.com.
MDJ Inter Réseautage est le spécialiste des intégrations CiscoWorks et Cisco Prime au Québec. Découvrez comment MDJ peut vous aider à obtenir le maximum de valeur de vos ressources réseaux. 

Suivez-nous sur LinkedIn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Did you know that by using Cisco Prime you can automatically verify the compliancy of your network device configuration and receive a daily report?
You will find the necessary tools of this function under the menu Configuration => Compliance => Compliance Template.
During last few years, we have developed a lot of reports in order to simplify the usage of this functionality. Contact us to obtain more information on this subject.
MDJ Networks is the specialist in CiscoWorks and Cisco Prime integration in Quebec. Discover how MDJ staff is able to help you to obtain the maximum value of your network resources.

Follow us on LinkedIn
 
 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRY4oxJr2CJ3l5slIqMq1upuGVoSUT1ackYneDq88eEUJG2whuvBBOnJdTAjkkaGL72LlSHjVrEESvf1LYQqOo-ytoie7WCnd-HRiwb4p-6nf4U8KQaLJ_5KEfNfnDaGUf7LXrFPd8mwB/s1600/Compliance+Template.jpg

Deploiement de configuration / Configuration Deployment

The English version will follow…



Saviez-vous que Cisco Prime LMS vous fournit la possibilité de déployer une configuration en utilisant un seul gabarit qui s'adapte automatiquement aux différentes plateformes d'équipements?

Vous trouverez sous le menu Configuration => NetConfig => User Defined Task, les outils nécessaires à la mise en place de cette fonctionnalité.

Nous avons développé plusieurs gabarits de configuration utilisant les différents outils IOS, afin de simplifier les déploiements de configurations réseaux.  Demandez à nos experts comment simplifier vos déploiements.

** Pour d'autres Trucs & Astuces comme celui-ci, visitez notre site web au www.mdj-networks.com.
MDJ Inter Réseautage est le spécialiste des intégrations CiscoWorks et Cisco Prime au Québec.
Découvrez comment MDJ peut vous aider à obtenir le maximum de valeur de vos ressources réseaux. 
  
Suivez-nous sur LinkedIn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Did you know that Cisco Prime LMS provides the possibility to deploy the configuration by using only one template, automatically adapting different device platforms?

You will find the necessary tools of this function under the menu Configuration => NetConfig => User Defined Task.

During the last few years we have developed a lot of configuration templates by using different IOS tools in order to simplify the deployment of network configurations. Ask our experts how to simplify your deployments.

MDJ Networks is the specialist in CiscoWorks and Cisco Prime integration in Quebec. Discover how MDJ staff is able to help you to obtain the maximum value of your network resources.

Follow us on LinkedIn
  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoLVawDpsj_XIASuKe705A4nuOUwITks6DoJcLIaqXd3xL-vwF1MdlBY30-uv41oam30ruJZFVTszQfKMgM2aRjfPCxULm0P038bd6BuS0EsHyYa0ot5nnew0mljHe-EwWP6Uoe_fpeqMY/s1600/NetConfig.png