Jase's Place

Have you ever wanted to put the "truth" in a Shutdown Event Tracker comment box?


I've had to deal with my fair share of terrible applications/services, that the "Business Unit" has decided to use, but were less than, shall I say "Stellar".

I figured I'd post this, as I thought it was funny to see what it looked like when I followed the spirit of George Washington, in the fact that "I cannot tell a lie."

Thanks,
Jase

Labels: Windows

In an environment that needs to come up quickly, I found a little trick that can be helpful.

NTDSUTIL.exe lets you manage which domain controllers handle which roles in your domain.

According to kb article 243267, you can script this. So in a DR situation, if you have a virtual DC (in a VM) and you want to have it seize all roles, it can be simple with the following script.

The following script will allow you to seize all roles from a batch file (seizeroles1.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize domain naming master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize infrastructure master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize PDC" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize RID master" quit quit
ntdsutil roles connections "connect to server %1" quit "seize schema master" quit quit
***********END HERE***********
Save the batch file as seizeroles.bat and call it from a cmd prompt with "seizeroles.bat servername.domain"

Additionally, some of this can be abbreviated (seizeroles2.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize domain naming master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize infrastructure master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize PDC" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize RID master" q q
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize schema master" q q
***********END HERE***********

And if you really want it to shorten up, you can enter a single line to do what you want (seizeroles3.bat):
**********BEGIN HERE**********
ntdsutil r c "co t s %1" q "seize domain naming master" "seize infrastructure master" "seize PDC" "seize RID master" "seize schema master" q q
***********END HERE***********

Also I like to add a "popups off" or "p off" before the r c to keep it from prompting me as to whether I wish to perform this action or not.

Enjoy.

Labels: Windows

I knew that this existed, but didn't need it until this past weekend.

One of my work environments has a need for remote connections for troubleshooting purposes, with the requirement of getting the approval of the remote user. They were given SMS 2003's remote control capability, and then it was taken away.

So I did a Google search on 'Scripted "Remote Assistance"' and found many results. I was thinking I could pass a computername or IP to a script, and then have it initiate Windows XP's Remote Assistance.

Then I learned of "Unsolicited" Remote Assistance. Nice little thing that Microsoft added there.

If you Run (or use Internet Explorer) the following link, you will see the interface:
hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,
C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/unsolicited/unsolicitedrcui.htm














Your mileage may vary as to the exact look, depending on your Windows installation. Different vendors customize the Microsoft Help and Support Center, so your window may look a little different.

Simply enter a computer's Name, FQDN, or IP, and Connect. Then pick the user you wish to help, and click Start Remote Assistance.

There are some GPO settings that I'll add if you need to enable Remote Assistance on your desktops. Here's a link to a little more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/
technologies/security/ws03mngd/20_s3rem.mspx

Enjoy.

Labels: Windows