Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup (Jun 17 2008)

Finally updated for OL2K7 !!!

 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8b081f3a-b7d0-4b16-b8af-5a6322f4fd01&DisplayLang=en

Overview

Backing up your Microsoft Outlook information is quicker and easier with the Personal Folders Backup feature. Personal Folders Backup creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals, in Outlook 2002 and later versions, making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.

With Personal Folders Backup, you can choose which of your .PST files you wish to back up, and how often you wish to back them up.

Each .PST file contains all of your Outlook folders, including the Inbox, Calendar, and Contacts. You can have a single .PST file (usually called "Internet Folders" or "Personal Folders" in your Folder List), but you might also have an additional .PST file that you use for archiving ("Archiving Folders"). Personal Folders Backup lets you back up any or all of these .PST files.

Note: Personal Folders Backup only backs up .PST files. If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox, your server mailbox folders are likely backed up regularly by your server administrator.

Note: If you are using an East Asian operating system (such as Korean language WinMe) with an English version of Microsoft Office, you will be unable to use this download.

Note: This version was updated October 31, 2003, and it fixes an issue with the browsing functionality on Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows ME.


For additional details and assistance refer to Using the Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool.

DC: Virtualized and External NTP servers (June 16, 2008)

The following two discussion points arose today again for what feels the 100 time:

Why Don't you recommend Virtualized DCs?

Why Can't we point our domain DC to our network NTP servers – why should we set it to an external time server?

Virtualization first.

1.      Performance.

2.      Support (3rd party)

3.      The possibility of a USN Rollback due to the guest machine being set to the time (date) of the host and the host undergoing a in accurate time change (BIOS update/reset or accidental change).

4.      There is also the possibility of a the loss of backups of AD by those thinking that snapshots of DC in a virtualized environment is an appropriate method for doing so.  Again making a snapshot will capture the USN of the DC that is previous to the USN of DC as now know to other DCs in the Domain.  This is why a supported backup method (NTBackup is the easiest) is required.

NTP next.

Again USN is the reason – what happens if the NTP server gets reset due to a firmware update or accidental change?  You’ll be in the same boat.  It’s not to say that external time server’s can have this happened – but most well know internet time servers have very tight controls and fail safes placed on them.

Again you can do both – just be conscience of the fact that you may need to know how to do an Authoritative Restore of your Domain

Links:

How to detect and recover from a USN rollback in Windows 2000 Server http://support.microsoft.com/?id=885875

How to detect and recover from a USN rollback in Windows Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=875495

Performing an Authoritative Restore of Active Directory Objects http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/690730c7-83ce-4475-b9b4-46f76c9c7c901033.mspx?mfr=true

How to restore deleted user accounts and their group memberships in Active Directory http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840001

The effects on trusts and computer accounts when you authoritatively restore Active Directory http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216243

After you restore deleted objects by performing an authoritative restoration on a Windows Server 2003-based domain controller, the linked attributes of some objects are not replicated to the other domain controllers http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937855

How to configure an authoritative time server in Windows Server 2003 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816042

Microsoft Virtual Server support policy http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897613

Windows Server System software not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897614

Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615/

Running Domain Controllers within Virtual Server 2005

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=64DB845D-F7A3-4209-8ED2-E261A117FC6B&displaylang=en

Considerations when hosting Active Directory domain controller in virtual hosting environments

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888794/en-us

Server 2008 Core Commands (Jun 09 2008)

Server 2008 Core Commands:

• ·         Set IP Address: <Nic> <Dynamic or Static> <IP> <mask> <gateway>

o    Netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.10.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.1

• ·         Set DNS <dns server ip>

o    Netsh interface ip set dnsserver “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.10.10

• ·         Rename Computer:

o    Netdom renamecomputer <computername> /newname:<newcomputername>

• ·         Join domain: please note paswordD should have two “D’s” because you are specifying a Domain password

o    Netdom join <computername> /domain:<FQDN> /userD:<domain admin> /passwordD:<domain password> <or “*”>

• ·         Enable Remote Administration

o    netsh firewall set service RemoteAdmin ENABLE

• ·         Set Firewall

o    Netsh firewall set icmpsetting 8 ENABLE

o    Netsh firewall set opmode ENABLE

• ·         Map Network Drive:

o    net use [DriveLetter] \\Computername\ShareName
DriveLetter = D: E: F: Whatever you have available. Please omit the brackets when defining the driveletter

Configuration and installation

Task	Steps
Set the local administrative password	At a command prompt, type: Net user administrator *
Join a computer to a domain	1.   At a command prompt, type on one line: Netdom join %computername% /domain:<domain> /userd:<domain>\username> /password:* 2.   Restart the computer.
Confirm that the domain has changed	At a command prompt, type: Set
Remove a computer from a domain	At a command prompt, type: Netdom remove
Add a user to the local Administrators group.	At a command prompt, type: Net localgroup Administrators /add <domain>\<username>
Remove a user from the local Administrators group	At a command prompt, type: Net localgroup Administrators /delete <domain\username>
Add a user to the local computer	At a command prompt, type: Net user <domain\user name> /add *
Add a group to the local computer	At a command prompt, type: Net localgroup <group name> /add
Change the name of a domain-joined computer	At a command prompt, type: Netdom renamecomputer %computername% /NewName:<new computer name> /userd:<domain\username> /password:*
Confirm the new computer name	At a command prompt, type: Set
Change the name of a computer in a work group	1.   At a command prompt, type: Netdom renamecomputer <currentcomputername> /NewName:<newcomputername> 2.   Restart the computer.
Disable paging file management	At a command prompt, type: Wmic computersystem where set AutomaticManagedPagefile=False
Configure the paging file	At a command prompt, type: Wmic pagefileset where name=”<path/filename>” set InitialSize=<initialsize>,MaximumSize=<maxsize> Where: path/filename is the path to and name of the paging file initialsize is the starting size of the paging file in bytes. maxsize is the maximum size of the page file in bytes.
Change to a static IP address.	1.   At a command prompt, type: Ipconfig /all 2.   Record the relevant information or redirect it to a text file (ipconfig /all >ipconfig.txt). 3.   At a command prompt, type: Netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces 4.   Verify that there is an interface list. 5.   At a command prompt, type: Netsh interface ipv4 set address name <ID from interface list> source=static address=<preferred IP address> gateway=<gateway address> 6.   Verify by typing Ipconfig /all at a command prompt and checking that DHCP enabled is set to No.
Set a static DNS address.	1.   At a command prompt, type: Netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=<name of primary DNS server> address=<IP address of the primary DNS server> index=1 2.   At a command prompt, type: Netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=<name of secondary DNS server> address=<IP address of the secondary DNS server> index=2 3.   Repeat as appropriate to add additional servers. 4.   Verify by typing Ipconfig /all and checking that all the addresses are correct.
Change to a DHCP-provided IP address from a static IP address.	1.   At a command prompt, type: Netsh interface ipv4 set address name=<IP address of local system> source=DHCP 2.   Verify by typing Ipconfig /all and checking that DCHP enabled is set to Yes.
Activate the server locally.	At a command prompt, type: Slmgr.vbs -ato
Activate the server remotely.	1.   At a command prompt, type: Cscript slmgr.vbs -ato <servername> <username> <password> 2.   Retrieve the GUID of the computer by typing Cscript slmgr.vbs -did 3.   Type Cscript slmgr.vbs -dli <GUID> 4.   Verify that License status is set to Licensed (activated).

Networking and firewall

Task	Steps
Configure your server to use a proxy server.	At a command prompt, type: Netsh Winhttp set proxy <servername>:<port number>
Configure your server to bypass the proxy for internet addresses.	At a command prompt, type: Netsh winttp set proxy <servername>:<port number>bypass-list="<local>"
Display or modify IPSEC configuration.	At a command prompt, type: Netsh ipsec
Display or modify NAP configuration.	At a command prompt, type: Netsh nap
Display or modify IP to physical address translation.	At a command prompt, type: Arp
Display or configure the local routing table.	At a command prompt, type: Route
View or configure DNS server settings.	At a command prompt, type: Nslookup
Display protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.	At a command prompt, type: Netstat
Display protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT).	At a command prompt, type: Nbtstat
Display hops for network connections.	At a command prompt, type: Pathping
Trace hops for network connections.	At a command prompt, type: Tracert
Display the configuration of the multicast router.	At a command prompt, type: Mrinfo
Enable remote administration of the firewall.	At a command prompt, type: Netsh firewall set service remoteadmin enable

Updates, error reporting, and feedback

Task	Steps
Install an update.	At a command prompt, type: Wusa <update>.msu /quiet
Remove an update.	1.   Type at a command prompt: Expand /f:* <update>.msu c:\test 2.   Navigate to c:\test\ and open <update>.xml in a text editor. 3.   In <update>.xml, replace Install with Remove and save the file. 4.   At a command prompt, type: Pkgmgr /n:<update>.xml
Configure automatic updates.	At a command prompt: ·         ·      To verify the current setting, type: Cscript scregedit.wsf /AU /v ·         ·      To enable automatic updates, type: Cscript scregedit.wsf /AU /4 ·         ·      To disable automatic updates, type: Cscript scregedit.wsf /AU /1
Enable error reporting.	At a command prompt: ·         ·      To verify the current setting, type: ServerWerOptin /query ·         ·      To automatically send detailed reports, type: ServerWerOptin /detailed ·         ·      To automatically send summary reports, type: ServerWerOptin /summary ·         ·      To disable error reporting, type: ServerWerOptin /disable
Participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).	At a command prompt: ·         ·      To verify the current setting, type: ServerCEIPOptin /query ·         ·      To enable CEIP, type: ServerCEIPOptin /enable ·         ·      To disable CEIP, type: ServerCEIPOptin /disable

Services, processes, and performance

Task	Steps
List the running services.	At a command prompt, type either of the following: ·         ·      Sc query ·         ·      Net start
Start a service.	At a command prompt, type either of the following: ·         ·      SC start <service name> ·         ·      Net start <service name>
Stop a service.	At a command prompt, type either of the following: ·         ·      SC stop <service name> ·         ·      Net stop <service name>
Retrieve a list of running applications and associated processes.	At a command prompt, type: Tasklist
Stop a process forcibly.	1.   Use the Tasklist command to retrieve the process ID (PID). 2.   At a command prompt, type: Taskkill /PID <process ID>
Start Task Manager.	At a command prompt, type: Taskmgr
Manage the performance counters and logging with commands such as typeperf, logman, relog, tracerprt.	See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=84872

Event logs

Task	Steps
List event logs.	At a command prompt, type: Wevtutil el
Query events in a specified log.	At a command prompt, type: Wevtutil qe /f:text <log name>
Export an event log.	At a command prompt, type: Wevtutil epl <log name>
Clear an event log.	At a command prompt, type: Wevtutil cl <log name>

Disk and file system

Task	Steps
Manage disk partitions.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Diskpart /?
Manage software RAID.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Diskraid /?
Manage volume mount points.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: mountvol /?
Defragment a volume.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Defrag /?
Convert a volume to the NTFS file system.	At a command prompt, type: Convert <volume letter> /FS:NTFS
Compact a file.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Compact /?
Administer open files.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Openfiles /?
Administer VSS folders.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Vssadmin /?
Administer the file system.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Fsutil /?
Verify a file signature.	At a command prompt, type: Sigverif /?
Take ownership of a file or folder.	For a complete list of commands, at a command prompt, type: Icacls /?

Hardware

Task	Steps
Add a driver for a new hardware device.	1.   Copy the driver to a folder at %homedrive%\<driver folder>. 2.   At a command prompt, type: pnputil -i -a %homedrive%\<driver folder>\<driver>.inf
Remove a driver for a hardware device.	1.   For a list of loaded drivers, at a command prompt, type: Sc query type= driver 2.   At the command prompt, type: Sc delete <service_name>