GPO - How do I disable balloon tips in the notification area with Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP

If you want to disable balloon tips in the notification area you car reuse this old Microsoft article.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/307729

With Windows 10 there are some differences but idea is the same.

You can use these settings to create a suitable GPO:

To disable balloon tips in the notification area, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate the following subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
3. Right-click the right side pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips.
4. Double-click EnableBalloonTips, and then give it a value of 0.
5. Close Registry Editor.
6. Log off Windows, and then log back on.

Firewall - Fortinet how to enable Email alerting on Fortigate FW

If you need to enable email alerting in your fortigate firewall you simple need to review this youtube video that clearly explain configuration.

Here is fortigate 5.4 manual:

http://docs.fortinet.com/uploaded/files/2915/fortigate-cookbook-54.pdf

WSUS - Reinstall WSUS with clean Settings

You can go here:

cd %drive%\Program Files\Update Services\Tools

wsusutil reset

To re-install WSUS with a clean database ie no previous configuration;

Run Windows Powershell as Administrator and use the following commands:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name UpdateServices,Windows-Internal-Database -Restart

Post restart, delete EVERYTHING in the "C:\Windows\WID" (for Win 2012 r2) folder, then run the following command to re-install WSUS:

Install-WindowsFeature UpdateServices -Restart

This only works on Powershell 3 or higher. More info here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732257.aspx

==============================================================

Related articles:

Server - WSUS 3.0 SP2 and Windows 8/2012 Server issue

WSUS - errors 800B0001 on clients from 2008/2012 server with Wsus role

Wsus - Update to enable WSUS support for Windows 10 feature upgrades KB3095113

Wsus - Windows 10 problem and Update enables ESD decryption provision in WSUS in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2

Wsus - Choose your best WSUS architecture

2012 R2 - WSUS and reporting Viewer 2008 SP1 that require .NET Framework

WSUS - Install Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) - Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

WSUS - 3.0 SP2 and Windows 8/2012 Server issue KB2734608

Server - How to set up WSUS on Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows 10/2012/2016 - Some focused articles on Storage Replica, Nano server, One Drive

Today I would like to mention these interesting topics that, unfortunately they are in italian language but very interesting in any case:

Nano Server in Windows Server 2016 Gestire un sistema operativo light da Powershell.

Come mappare in un disco una cartella OneDrive Pochi passi per visualizzare i tuoi contenuti nel Cloud direttamente dal file system.

Windows Server 2016 Storage Replica Come replicare contenuti in Microsoft Azure tramite SMB3.

Windows Server 2012 R2  Come compattare dischi VHD in pochi passi..

Windows 10 Pratici consigli per il sysprep.

Errori nell’eliminare una directory  Come risolvere nomi troppo lunghi o ottenere i permessi corretti per eliminare cartelle.

Backup - Veeam endpoint Backup unattended upgrade installation procedure

As discussed in precedent post veeam endpoint backup is a free tool to backup pc and, in case, is able to backup on Veeam B&R repository to have double backup location and backup policies.

Veeam - Veeam Endpoint free and centralized console Veeam Endpoint Backup for LabTech

Veeam - Veeam Endpoint Backup Free - Free version released

At the same time, if you uncheck veeam backup autoupdate, there is an interesting aspect about silent installation mode parameters.

you can later push that centrally with other tools like:

- PSEXEC
- SCCM
- PDQ

a.) Installation Syntax

To install Veeam Endpoint Backup in the unattended mode, use a command with the following syntax:

/silent

where is a path to the Veeam Endpoint Backup installation file.

b.) Unattended Upgrade

You can upgrade Veeam Endpoint Backup to a newer version in the unattended mode using the same command that is used for unattended installation. To learn more, see Installing Veeam Endpoint Backup in Unattended Mode.

c.) Using Sysprep and Veeam Endpoint Backup

You can pre-install Veeam Endpoint Backup in a custom Microsoft Windows system image that will be used for deployment on different computers. To do this, you should perform a set of configuration steps in the reference Microsoft Windows system installation that will be included in a deployment image.
To configure a custom Microsoft Windows system image with Veeam Endpoint Backup:

1. Install Veeam Endpoint Backup in a Microsoft Windows system image. To learn more, see Installing Veeam Endpoint Backup.
2. Configure the backup job in the way you want it to work on computers with pre-installed Veeam Endpoint Backup. To learn more, see Configuring Scheduled Backup Job.

Note:

It is advised to configure the backup job for the entire computer backup. In case of volume-level backup, it may be necessary to reconfigure the backup job after Microsoft Windows is deployed to the target computer and include the necessary volumes in the backup once again. This may happen if volumes' GUIDs were changed at the stage of Microsoft Windows generalization with Sysprep.

3. Create a registry key value: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Endpoint Backup\SysprepMode (DWORD)=1.

This registry key value is used to regenerate the job ID when Veeam Endpoint Backup starts for the first time on the new computer. If you do not create the registry key value, the backup job may fail as soon as it is started on the new computer.

4. Run the Sysprep tool in the Generalize mode to remove any system-specific data. If you need to run the Sysprep tool in the Audit mode, do not forget to re-create the registry key afterwards.
5. Deploy the image on the necessary computers in any convenient way. To learn more about deployment of Microsoft Windows system to new computers, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349343.aspx.

Network - FortiMail Antispam and ingoing and outgoing message size modify

If you are using Fortimail VM as antispam system you could have necessity to change SMTP ingoing and outgoing email.

You need to go to profile --> Session --> for each profile --> SMTP Limits --> Cap message Size (KB) at.

Take in consideration this fortinet manual advice.

Backup - ShadowCopyView tool that lists snapshots

ShadowCopyView is new tool for Windows 10/8/7/Vista that lists the snapshots of your hard drive created by the 'Volume Shadow Copy' service of Windows. Every snapshot contains an older versions of your files and folders from the date that the snapshot was created, you can browse the older version of your files and folders, and optionally copy them into a folder on your disk.

You can download it from here:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shadow_copy_view.html

Exchange 20xx - Windows backup usage to backup store

You can use Windows Server Backup to backup Exchange store.

Is not excellent but it can be useful as first backup step.

1. Go to powershell:

PS C:\> Import-Module servermanager
PS C:\> Add-WindowsFeature backup

2. Select Exchange store and partition log

2. Select the VSS Settings tab and make sure that VSS full backup is chosen.  Click OK

Here they are more precise articles to go deeper on this argument:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/the-enterprise-cloud/back-up-exchange-2010-with-this-windows-server-2008-r2-feature/

http://exchangeserverpro.com/exchange-2010-mailbox-database-backup-restore-windows-server-backup/

Backup - Robocopy and real time monitoring of any file changes

During these years we found possibility to launch robocopy that, in real time, monitor folder files and copy immediately to destination if any changes occurs.

Here you can reviews various blog's articles related to robocopy command.

Scritping - Using robocopy to replicate files to remote location on scheduled tasks and sending final log and status email

http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2014/01/scritping-use-robocopy-to-replicate.html

Backup – Lista dei comandi di Robocopy

http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2013/02/backup-lista-dei-comandi-di-robocopy.html

Tips - How to migrate file server share and permissions

http://www.alessandromazzanti.com/2015/11/tips-how-to-migrate-file-server-share.html

Here is parameter syntax about real time backup.

/MON:n :: MONitor source; run again when more than n changes seen.
/MOT:m :: MOnitor source; run again in m minutes Time, if changed.

Here is a sample .cmd string line:

start /b robocopy %USERPROFILE%\Desktop \\SERVERNAME\BackupUsers$\%computername%\%username%\Desktop /mon:1 /E /ipg:25 /w:10 /r:1 /XF "*.pst" /log:\\ SERVERNAME \BackupUsers$\%computername%\%username%\Logs\%mydate%_Incremental_Robocopy_Desktop.log /NP

Veeam One - Several alerts Host disk SCSI aborts

If you get several alerts about ISCSI aborts, here is a sample message:

Alarm: Host disk SCSI aborts
Time: xx/xx/201x xx:xx:xx
Details: "Disk/ESXi: Datastore Command Aborts" (5.0 Number) is above a defined threshold (2.0 Number) for 'DatastoreXXXXXXX';

KB article

Summary: This host disk (vmhba) has logged one or more SCSI aborts

Cause: This monitor is configured to alert on any SCSI Aborts. The host systems use the SCSI protocol to communicate to disks, even over Fiber Channel to SAN LUNs. SCSI Bus Aborts are in effect the SCSI subsystem timing out and commands being canceled. This happens when the HBA device is overloaded, or its q-depth is exhausted. The first thing to know is which vmhba controller (C), target/path (T), and LUN (L) experienced these problems. The more VMs sharing a single LUN the more likely that resets will occur. Rule of thumb is no more than 10 VMs sharing a LUN, although performance of storage subsystems and VM workload demands mean this number may vary

Resolution: Check the status of the disk subsystem and connectivity. Check for possible disk hardware, firmware or driver issues. See historical graph of SCSI aborts

External: Refer to VMware's online documentation for more information

In that case, there are two things you can do. Edit the alarm so that it only fires up when you need it should, as default values are very strict, and second, refer to VMware online documentation for additional information on the SCSI aborts themself - this is not the Veeam ONE part).

The link is found in the Knowledge Base in the alarm itself.

Editing alarms is done from Veeam - Alarm Management - find the alarm - "edit" and there you can change the Rules so that the alarm appears less often, or even suppress it for certain time periods (other options, like suppress during backup, are currently experimental and work only on backup itself) and there is also the KB with links as said before.

Then I went deep on this kind of alarm and so I logged on vSphere client following this interesting article:

https://lazyadminblog.com/2015/05/09/how-to-monitor-the-disk-command-aborts-on-an-esxi-host/.

On vSphere client -->Performance-> Advanced -> Switch to disk -> chart options...-> commands aborted-> ok.

In precedent article is verbosely explained how to monitor that value through putty too/command line.

Exchange 2010 - Enabling Autodiscovery on cross domain

If you have a domain A with relative Exchange server and you have another B that is in bidirectional trust here they are steps that you need to follow to enable autodiscovery on users that are in B domain:

a.) On domain B you need to create DNS Pin point zones (please see this article)

autodiscover.EmailfordomainB.XXX

webmail.OWANAMEfromdomainA.xxx 

http://www.msexchange.org/articles-tutorials/exchange-server-2010/mobility-client-access/using-pinpoint-dns-zones-exchange-2010.html 

1. Primary and store in AD
2. AD Zone replication scope:; To all DNS servers running on domain controllers in this domain (option 2)
3. autodiscover.EmailfordomainB.XXX
4. Do not allow dynamic updates
5. New host A that point DAG ip/Exchange server Domain A.

b.) On Domain B you need to change "servicebindinginformation" utilizing ADSI edit (https://theucguy.net/service-connection-point-scp-in/)

c.) on users on domain B in AD you need to manually add email address.

d.) on workstation in domain B you need to add both domain suffixes and DNS pointing to domain B.

e.) on Domain B and DNS zones New host A named autodiscover that point DAG ip/Exchange server Domain A.


About troubleshooting you can review this interesting article:

http://www.msexchange.org/articles-tutorials/exchange-server-2010/management-administration/exchange-autodiscover.html