Sysadmin Task: Migrate DNS

I’ve migrated DNS servers more than a few times and find that I’m doing the same tasks or using the same custom scripts over and over again. Here is my quick and dirty task list with some powershell scripts you too might find of use. As there are a hundred ways to skin this cat I don’t claim my methods to be the best but they sure are fast and far easier than manually changing a dns address on hundreds of servers, workstations, and network devices.

Virtualization: vCPU Provisioning Best Practices

2012-03-23 9 min read Microsoft Networking Virtualization VMware Zachary Loeber

I had always been of the mindset that when provisioning new VMs it is best to start out with less vCPUs and add more as they are required (unless you specifically know that you will be using and needing more for such things as sql server or exchange). I had even recently felt some vindication of this provisioning best practice in reading a book recently (Critical VMware Mistakes You Should Avoid)

Assessing Like A Microsoft Technician

2012-03-10 5 min read Active Directory Active Directory Exchange Exchange 2010 Microsoft Powershell System Administration Zachary Loeber

Troubleshooting Like A Microsoft Technician

I have been doing more and more site assessments for Active Directory, Exchange, Lync, and VMware. As such, I’ve been slowly refining the toolset that I use to gather data and troubleshoot existing environment issues. Here is a list of site assessment tools I’m finding that I regularly return to for rapid analysis or information gathering at a site. All of these tools are free.

Exchange 2010: Changing an invalid DNS suffixed server

2012-03-01 6 min read Active Directory Active Directory Exchange Exchange 2010 IIS Microsoft Networking Powershell System Administration Zachary Loeber

I ran into an interesting Exchange 2010/2007 co-existence issue today. After a new Exchange 2010 (all-in-one) server was introduced into the environment traffic would only flow from the 2010 server to the 2007 hub/cas server and not the other way around. The mail queues stated the last error to be

“Initial error: 451 4.4.0 dns query failed. The error was: SMTPsend.dns.nonexistentdomain; nonexistent”

Exchange 2010: Client Access Role Configuration Report

2012-02-04 1 min read Exchange Exchange 2010 IIS Microsoft Powershell System Administration Zachary Loeber

Ok, so I woke up and was wide awake at 4am this morning. I took it as a sign to lose my mind for a while and get to hacking another script. The result is a client access setting report script which includes all internal and external paths along with their authentication settings. It needs some prettying up and a bit of love but it does exactly what I’ve wanted in Exchange 2010, gives me an overall view of all client access settings (specifically related to IIS). Enjoy.

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