SG Windows IT Pro Group

SEA SharePoint Conference 2013 "16-17 Jan 2013"

Kwek — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:14:00 GMT

http://www.sharethepoint.com/engage/SEA2013/Pages/Home.aspx

You have seen the Southeast Asia SharePoint Conference for the past 2 years…..Now, we bring you MORE:

ENGAGE • Microsoft's latest products • SharePoint 2013 • The NEW Office • Lync 2013 • Office 365
LEARN • Hand-on labs for first hand experience • Explore integration, strategy, business solutions and technical best practices
CONNECT • Expert speakers • Microsoft Personnel • Colleagues
EXTEND • Southeast Asia's biggest solution exhibition of products and services • Get more ROI on your IT investments

FULL TWO-DAY EVENT

Half-Day ONLY Business Value Keynotes

Wednesday, 16-17 January 2013 09:00 - 17:00 (Malaysia, Singapore Time)

MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO
1 Expo Drive, #02-01
Singapore 486150

Encounter Error Code 0x80010643 when install a Role or Feature in Server Manager under Windows Server 2008 R2

zine — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:20:31 GMT

1 month plus ago, when I was trying to DCPromo a Server to be a Domain Controller in my environment and I encountered an error that really freak me out! Fatal Error Code 0x80010643.

Error Message is:

“Attempt to install "Role/Feature Name" failed with error code 0x80010643. Fatal error during installation.”

I was like wow… Something wrong with my DNS? or Some firewall rules that my network engineer has amended wrongly?

But after troubleshooting a while, I decided to perform the standard drill… removing of our friend antivirus software (FOR A WHILE)! And guess what? I can now DCPROMO! COOL~

Of course, after the DCPromo, I re-install the antivirus software and patch it up-to-date!

Then today.. my another team ask me if we have encounter issue when adding Windows Deployment Services (WDS).

I look at the error message and the error code is the same. This time, we search online and found that McAfee had acknowledge that it is a bug and published an article on their knowledge base website as follow:

https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=KB75075&cat=CORP_VIRUSSCAN_ENTERPRISE&actp=LIST

So, if your environment is having the following combination:

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.8 (unpatched)
McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7 (with Patch 5)
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2

Please following the instruction as stated in the McAfee Knowledgebase. Either you upgrade to VSE 8.8 Patch 2 or… perform workaround as follow:

-------------- Extracted from the Website ----------------------------

Use the following steps to temporarily disable the rule triggered during the Windows Role or Feature installation:

Disable Report and Block on Access Protection Rules that protect McAfee processes and directories:
1. Click Start, Programs, McAfee, VirusScan Console.
2. Right-click Access Protection, and select Properties.
3. Select Common Standard Protection.
4. Deselect Report and Block for Prevent modification of McAfee files and settings.
5. Deselect Report and Block for Prevent termination of McAfee processes.
6. Click OK.
7. Exit the VirusScan Console.
Install the Windows Role or Feature.
Revert back to the previous configuration.
Enable Report and Block on Access Protection Rules that protect McAfee processes and directories

-------------- Extracted from the Website ----------------------------

Have Fun folks!…. Now, we need to work on a plan to upgrade VSE~

@Home with Windows Azure Competition – Singapore

Kwek — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:39:00 GMT

We are proud to announce the @Home with Windows Azure competition here in Singapore! Join us in this effort to give back to a very deserving cause, and get a solid understanding of the Windows Azure platform in the process. You will deploy an application to Windows Azure that directly contributes to Stanford University’s Folding@home effort, a distributed computing project that carries out simulations of protein folding. By simply running a piece of software, you can help scientists learn more about diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s disease and many cancers through banding together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world.

This distributed computing project was created by Stanford University researchers to help scientists unravel the mysteries of protein folding in hopes of helping cure diseases. Started by the US East Region DPE team, The @Home with Windows Azure project allows you to contribute to it by using your MSDN subscription or by using a free 3-Month Trial subscription to harness the power of Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.

Prizes & Dates

Your first prize will be the good feeling for contributing to a good cause! Also, globally, for every deployment of the @home with Windows Azure application Microsoft will donate $10 to Stanford University’s effort (up to $5,000 maximum). You also have the chance to win one of the following great prizes that will be randomly drawn between Singapore participants that enter before 11:59pm on 15 June 2012 and leave their solution deployed until at least 11:59am on 25 June 2012.

Windows Server 2008 R2 ADDS - Remember to Open Firewall–TCP5722 and…

zine — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:00:05 GMT

Was troubleshooting recent issue on AD Replication. What we found out is that we actually need to open up the following port on our firewall appliance.

TCP-UDP 135 and TCP 5722

Note: TCP 5722 is needed for Windows Server 2008 domain controllers.

One may want to take note of TCP-UDP 135. As according to the TechNet website, it only indicate TCP 135. But based on our sniffing of network while troubleshooting, we need to turn on UDP 135 too. Weird. Maybe someone can confirm on this too?

Refer to the website:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017

Explore System Center 2012 and get rewarded!

Kwek — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Download your free evaluation of Microsoft System Center 2012, and get a chance to win an ASUS Zenbook UX31.
First 50 participants will receive a S$10 Starbucks card, and the next 50 participants will receive a 4GB USB thumbdrive.

This contest ends on 27 April 2012. (Only Singapore)

For more details:
http://tinyurl.com/759rek8

FaceBook SWUG Link

Kwek — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:54:00 GMT

FaceBook SWUG Link:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/sgwindowsgroup/

Or Search on facebook:

Singapore Windows Group

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012

DesmondTan — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:01:13 GMT

Here is a FREE ebook for IT Pro on MS SQL Server 2012. Enjoy~

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2012/03/15/free-ebook-introducing-microsoft-sql-server-2012.aspx

~Desmond~

March 2012 Newsletter

DesmondTan — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:54:19 GMT

Singapore Windows IT Pro Group – March 2012 Newsletter

March Meet Up Agenda

Date: 28 March 2012
Time: 7.00pm to 9.30pm
Venue: 1 Marina Boulevard #21-00,MS Singapore –Level 21Auditorium

6.30pm: Registration
7.00pm: Session 1 – What’s new with Hyper-V in
                                 Windows Server “8”
8.15pm: Toilet/Stretching Break
8.30pm: Session 2 – Overview of Hyper-V Networking in
                                  Windows Server "8"
9.30pm: Home Sweet Home

Session 1 – What’s new with Hyper-V in Windows Server “8”
(Daniel Mar)

Abstract:

Daniel will talk about the upcoming changes and feature updates with Hyper-V in Windows 8 Server compared to the current version of Hyper-v in Windows 2008 R2 SP1. We will cover some of the new features in Windows 8 Server Beta which will impact and benefit the deployment of a virtual infrastructure on Hyper-V such as the new Server Manager and NIC Teaming. In this session you will see why Hyper-V in the next release of Windows will be the platform of the future for deploying your server virtualization and private cloud infrastructure.

Session 2 – Overview of Hyper-V Networking in
                     Windows Server "8" (Richard Qi)

With Windows Server 8, Hyper-V networking is optimized for public and private clouds. New features in Windows Server 8 expand Hyper-V for performance, reliability, scale and security. In this session, server and solution developers will learn how to enhance their server and networking product offerings to take full advantage of these capabilities to provide performance and cost-effective customer solution.

Abstract:

Registration

For registration, please email to admin@sgwindowsgroup.org with the following:

- SWUG ID
- Name
- Email Address

Note: There won’t be an event confirmation. Just turn up, we don’t turn people away. However, please register if you’re coming.

Delegate control to non-admin account to add machine to domain

DesmondTan — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:09:25 GMT

Recently I working on a project to set up WDS working with WDT to deploy machine over network. Everything will be automated including adding machine to domain. This is provided that I provide an account with the password that will be stored in clear text. This is a great security problem. After some though I’ve decided to create an account with right to just add machine to the domain and nothing else. I’ve tried using GPO but it doesn’t work. After some searching then I understand that if the account does not have the right to reset password, it will not have access to join machine to domain. So below is the step to delegate access to account to add machine to domain. After these steps are taken, everything works fine again!

To resolve the issue in which users cannot join a computer to a domain, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type dsa.msc, and then click OK.
In the task pane, expand the domain node.
Locate and right-click the OU that you want to modify, and then click Delegate Control.
In the Delegation of Control Wizard, click Next.
Click Add to add a specific user or a specific group to the Selected users and groups list, and then click Next.
In the Tasks to Delegate page, click Create a custom task to delegate, and then click Next.
Click Only the following objects in the folder, and then from the list, click to select the Computer objects check box. Then, select the check boxes below the list, Create selected objects in this folder and Delete selected objects in this folder.
Click Next.
In the Permissions list, click to select the following check boxes:
- Reset Password
- Read and write Account Restrictions
- Validated write to DNS host name
- Validated write to service principal name
Click Next, and then click Finish.
Close the "Active Directory Users and Computers" MMC snap-in.

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932455

~Desmond~

Community {Technology} Update 2012 “One Days Event”

Kwek — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:23:00 GMT

Technical Updates for the community,

Hi SWUGsters,
Community Technology Update is back!!! The 9th iteration of CTU is happening on the 7 Jan 2012. This time round we are trying something different. Thanks to our venue sponsor, we will be holding upcoming "CTU at Plug-In@Blk71". Other than the change in venue, everything else remains the same. We will carry on our community spirit and bring you the latest technology in the market.
As a tradition, SWUG owns the IT Pro track and Tan Chee, the track owner, has great topic planned out for you. We have Richard to speak about private cloud. What’s special this time round is this session will touch not just Microsoft product but also other product. So do join Richard as he brings you through the building blocks of Private cloud. Andrew will be taking a session to touch on Windows Servers 8 AD. Sound interesting to you? How about another session on Windows 8 client? If you want to hear more about the “8” generation of product, this is one event where you can get all that you want in a single day.
So wait no more! Start registering today.
As an exclusive member of Singapore Windows IT Pro User Group, you get invited to this event!

Date 07th January 2012 (Saturday)
Time 0900 – 1730 HRS
Venue Plug-In@Blk71
"Blk71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #02-18 (S) 139951"

Registration Fees
$12 (Early-birds)
$20 (Walk-ins)

Why you should attend this event:
• To learn about the new generation “8” product. Windows 8 Developer Preview and Windows Server 8 will be covered
• To learn about Windows 8 and Dev12 devolvement
• A great chance to network around with IT Pros and Dev in Singapore

Who should attend this event:
• IT Professionals
• Developers
• Database Administrators
• Essentially you, as you’re one of our user group members!

For instruction to register to this event, go to http://www.sgdotnet.org/events/CTU2012/Pages/Registration.aspx
To find out more about the event, go to

Http://www.sgdotnet.org/events/CTU2012/Pages/default.aspx

Information on the site will be updated progressively nearer to event. We are still at work locking down and filling up the information.

To find out how to get to the venue, go to

http://www.sgdotnet.org/events/CTU2012/Pages/Venue.aspx

Information on the site will be updated soon
To find out why we’re charging for the event and other questions, go to http://www.sgdotnet.org/events/CTU2012/Pages/FAQ.aspx

If you have any questions, please feel free to email to Desmond(SWUG Lead) at desmond@sgwindowsgroup.org

* Please enable pop-up window on this page

Speed up your PC

Kwek — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:40:00 GMT

Note: Some of the tools mentioned in this article require you to be logged on as an administrator. If you aren't logged on as an administrator, you can only change settings that apply to your user account.

1. Remove spyware, and help protect your computer from viruses

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

Remove infections by specific, prevalent malicious software, including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom, and helps remove any infection found.

2. Free up disk space

Use Disk Cleanup to:

• Remove temporary Internet files.

• Delete downloaded program files, such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets.

• Empty the Recycle Bin.

• Remove Windows temporary files, such as error reports.

• Delete optional Windows components that you don't use.

• Delete installed programs that you no longer use.

• Remove unused restores points and shadow copies from System Restore.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

3. Speed up access to data

Run Disk Defragmenter

In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals (weekly is optimal), there are other times you should run it, too, such as when:

• You add a large number of files.

• Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

• You install new programs or a new version of the Windows operating system.

4. Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

Tip: Need to restart the system, to unmounts disk.

5. ReadyBoost

If you're using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

Promote AD in Windows Server 8

AndrewCheng — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:36:00 GMT

Hi All,
Finally the screenshot of Promote AD in Windows Server 8 is ready.

Here is the article I wrote: http://cid-7a652addf155994c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Share/Promote%20AD%20in%20Windows%20Server%208.pdf

Install Windows Server 8 in Virtual Box

AndrewCheng — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:19:00 GMT

Hi All,
Install Windows Server 8 serveral times. Only now got the time to create the screenshot.

Here is the article I wrote: http://cid-7a652addf155994c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Share/Install%20Windows%20Server%208%20in%20Virtual%20Box.pdf

Sysinternals Suite 2011.12.05

Kwek — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:15:00 GMT

The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. It does not contain non-troubleshooting tools like the BSOD Screen Saver or NotMyFault. The Sysinternals Suite is a bundle of several Sysinternals Utilies like AccessChk, Autologon, Ctrl2Cap, DiskView, Disk Usage (DU), LogonSessions, PageDefrag, ProcessExplorer, PsLogList, PsPasswd, RegMon, RootkitRevealer, TCPView, VMMap, ZoomIt.

What's new in Sysinternals Suite 2011.12.05

Autoruns v11.2: This update fixes a bug in the jump-to-folder function when executed on disabled items and correctly locates print monitor DLLs when they are stored in print monitor-specific system director.
Disk Usage (DU) v1.4: This update to Du, a command line utility for analyzing the disk space consumed by directories, adds a CSV output option, accounts for the file system cluster size in its on-disk size calculations, and includes alternate data streams.
Process Explorer v15.1: This update of Process Explorer, a Task Manager replacement, adds support for new Windows 8 features by giving the processes hosting immersive applications a distinct highlight color, shows immersive application package names in process tooltips and as a new process view column, lists AppContainer and capability SIDs in the process security properties, and updates the GPU support to be compatible with Windows 8. Other enhancements include GPU memory counters with more descriptive labels, display of the logon session ID on the security properties, and reporting of suspended processes as suspended in the CPU usage column.
Strings v2.42: This Strings release fixes a bug that would result in a crash when the –n or -b options are specified without a file name.

Windows Deployment Toolkit Error

DesmondTan — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:22:56 GMT

I’m working on WDS working with WDT to deploy Win 7. I get the following error when I want to deploy the second time.

Error msg: “The Task Sequence has been suspended. LiteTouch has encountered an Environment Error (Boot into WinPE!).”

What you could do is to format the disk and launch WDT again and it will work. But I find it troublesome and I came across the following solution. It works for me but I would advise not to try this in a production environment unless you have tested it before.

Open up LiteTouch.wsf in the Scripts directory. Search for :

ElseIf oEnvironment.Item("LTISuspend") <> "" Then

Add the following code (please use ONLY for testing as it is completely untested):

Dim resp

resp = oShell.Popup("Task suspended." & VbNewLine & oEnvironment.Item("LTISuspend") & VbNewLine & VbNewLine & "MM: This problem occurs if LiteTouch detects an incomplete or corrupt state within MININT/_SMSTaskSequence folders. Click YES to delete any MININT/_SMSTaskSequence folders to resolve this on next reboot.", 0, "Suspended", 4)

If resp = 6 Then

'a to i

For count = 97 to 105

RunAndLog "rd " & Chr(count) & ":\_SMSTaskSequence /s /q", false

RunAndLog "rd " & Chr(count) & ":\MININT /s /q", false

Next

End If

Recompile the boot CDs and try it out the next time you have a regular CD encountering this error.

Source taken from:http://www.migee.com/2010/09/03/windows-7-deployment-toolkit-deployment-error-solution/

~Desmond~

Only secure content is displayed” notification in Internet Explorer 9

Kwek — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:40:41 GMT

Important: Internet Explorer 9 blocks non-secure content by default and is set to prompt you when this is happening. Changing this setting may make your computer vulnerable to viral, fraudulent or malicious attacks. Microsoft does not recommend that you attempt to change this setting. Modify this setting at your own risk.
To Disable/Enable/Prompt the “Only secure content is displayed” message:

Start Internet Explorer.
On the Tool menu, click Internet Options.
Click the Security tab, and then click Custom level.
In the Settings box, scroll down to the Miscellaneous section, and under Display mixed content choose from the following options:
Disable, will not display non-secure items.
Enable, will always display non-secure items without asking
Prompt, will prompt you when a webpage is using non-secure content

Note: Internet Explorer 9 blocks non-secure content to keep your information safe and is set to Prompt by default. When this setting is set to Enable, Internet Explorer does not prompt you with the "Only secure content is displayed" message even if the webpage is using non-secure elements.

The 25 worst passwords of 2011

Kwek — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:51:47 GMT

Here is this year’s list:

1. 111111

2. 123123

3. 123456

4. 1234567

5. 12345678

6. 654321

7. abc1 23

8. ashley

9. baseball

10. bailey

11. dragon

12. football

13. iloveyou

14. letmein

15. michael

16. master

17. Monkey

18. passw0rd

19. password

20. qazwsx

21. qwerty

22. sunshine

23. superman

24. shadow

25. trustno1

Microsoft Excel Formulae to Convert Date from DD/MM/YYYY to YYYYMMM

zine — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:27:01 GMT

Challenge

Just want to record this down on my Blog so that I can use this as again.

I encounter a scenario where I need to group item in such a way for my recent report that is using Microsoft Excel.

1. Group by Item Type

2. Group by Year and Month

3. Sum up the Qty of the Item

The Item type is nothing. The challenge is in the raw data excel sheet, the date is in format of DD/MM/YYYY but I need it to be YYYYMMM.

I tried to play with formulae such as =Year()&Month() and tried with date format… It did not turn out what I want.

With changing date format, I almost got it but when I use the raw data for pivot table, the original date format appears with the “days” and I did not managed to group the item by YYYYMMM format.

Screen shot below shows what I mean:

Using Custom Format to “YYYYMMM”

Yup.. It works. But….

Under Pivot table, It shows the actual date again. NOT what I want!

I know I can always copy and paste the value back but I want something that fast. So, I explore on formulae further.

Solution

So.. what Formulae I used in the end in Microsoft Excel?

=TEXT ( CELL, “yyyymmm”)

It WORKS!!

Below screen shot shows the formulae I used to convert my cell containing the date.

With that, even under my pivot table, data is able to be grouped accordingly!

YES! With that, I can do my data analysis faster!

Remote Desktop Connection Manager

DesmondTan — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:22:12 GMT

My day to day job require me to use RDP very often reason being the server that I manage are mostly oversea. I believe there are many of you out there that is in the same situation as me. It is kind of troublesome having to keep opening RDP session, key in the server name, key in the password and worst still trying to remember so many server name. If you feel the same as me, Remote Desktop Connection Manager is the tool you need.

I came across this tool and decided to try it our. To my surprise, it is sooooo useful! I can create group to group the RDC I use, I can add server connection, and best of all, I can connect with just a click. For example, I’m managing exchange server and I have a group that group all exchange connection. I can even choose to connect all server in the group at one go. All this happening in one windows.

So no more multiple windows, no more remembering of server names, no more having to go through multiple clicks and keyboard input before you get to your RDP session. Some screenshot shown below for your viewing pleasure. Try it, I believe you will love it.

OS Supported: Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Download tools from here: http://bit.ly/u8NxhF

~Desmond~

Deployment of TCPIP Printer via GPO & GPP

zine — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 01:53:00 GMT

Finally, the approach is matured thanks to my team-mate – Lee Chung Ming and Lim Choon Seng. They found the way to inject the printer driver to the Windows 7 Client machine, overcome the UAC.

Here, under my blog, I will share what my team is doing to deploy printers via GPO and GPP to more than 1000 Windows 7 machine under the same Domain.

Understand the Fundamental - Revisit the Manual Way to Setup TCPIP Printer

First, lets visit the fundamental, what we have been doing when we tried to install TCPIP printer on a Windows 7 machine.

As refer to the picture below, we need to have the network configuration of the TCPIP Printer; Drivers of the Printer (32bit or 64bit) and of course an administrative accounts to install the printer via UAC.

Translate Manual Setup to Settings in GPO and GPP and Necessary Setup in the backend Infrastructure

Part 1 - Injection of Drivers to Client Machine – How?

You will need a Print Server for to share out the TCPIP Printers for Client to obtain 32bit or 64 bit Drivers via GPP and GPO (64 Bit drives depends on availability of Printer Manufacture); and of course for later GPP to inject the TCPIP Printer.

Step 1 – Add Role – Print Management

Step 2 –Add Driver – both 32bit and 64bit – Via the Add Driver Wizard

Step 3 – Share out the driver

Step 4 – Add Printer (TCPIP) via the Wizard

Note – Add only when printer is able to be communicate by the print server to increase success rate on ability to print after the printer is installed on the client machine. Why? It is best for the print server to determine the printer processor.

Part 2 - Installation of Printer and Network Settings to Client Machine – How?

Create a GPO that will have GPP setting to inject the TCPIP Printer with network settings.

*For Print Server – FQDN

Part 3 - GPO Settings to overcome UAC in Windows 7

In the same GPO that contains the Part 1’s GPP setting, configure the following GPO setting. This GPO setting is to direct the client machine to the print server to download the printer driver and to overcome UAC during installation of printer driver.

Computer Configuration > Administrative Template … > Printers > Point and Print Restrictions

Deploy TCPIP Printer to Client!

After complete Part 1- Part 3. You are ready to deploy the TCPIP printer by linking the GPO to the OU that contains the computer objects that you wish to target the installation!

After you link the GPO, on the client machine that is connected to the correct network, you can run the command “GPUPDATE /FORCE” and see the printer appearing under “Device and Printers” Windows.

Simple Troubleshooting Tips

If the printer does not appear, check on the FQDN that you have entered under the GPO and GPP. And remember to share out the driver under your Print Server!

If you do not want the printer to keep appearing or you are deploying many printers, please explore the setting under the GPP – “Apply Once Only”!

New System Center 2012 Pre-release

DesmondTan — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:37:00 GMT

I’m excited to try out new System Center product. This is where I get to download them. If you are interested, feel free to download them from Microsoft and try out today.

p/s: I’m want to try out SCOM 2012 and SCCM 2012. Hopefully I can get my hand on a system to try this out and I will share my view on this product real soon ;D

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-sg/evalcenter/hh505660.aspx

Some of the Basic on GPO - GPO Processing and Precedence

zine — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:50:25 GMT

Recently got many questions about how GPO works.. Why does it not work that way.. Why Computer Configuration setting is not working and more.

I start to think and realised the the root cause is those people are not familiar with the basic~ You will be shock that IT Pro here may have been managing their IT environment for years but knows nothing about Group Policy Objects.

Guess once I am done with this major project I am handling now, I will start to push more sharing session on how to use GPO to manage the environment.

Well, after much thought, before we talk about the individual settings within the GPO which is thousands of lines. I feel that one should know what comes first which is the GPO processing and precedence.

Many many years ago when I started to explore the power of GPO, no one really knows how it works in my team and I really hit a lot of “walls”.

So for those who is new in GPO and always have question on why this setting is overwritten by another GPO. You all may want to read and understand this following articles from TechNet:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785665(WS.10).aspx

My suggestion to you is to draw out the diagram when you are reading it to have a better understanding the flow.

Start simple and you start to do some paper play by adding more GPOs with different setting.

To add on, Please read this following settings to let you know about more rules when configuring GPOs – “Loopback processing with merge or replace”

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc782810(WS.10).aspx

By understand the logic on when to use “Loopback with Replace” and “Lookback with Merge”, you can understand how you should arrange your OU and link your GPOs.

O… almost forgot – Please read on GPP too! – Download the document on GPP, understand the difference – the document is Great~ Just that you have to spend some time to read. But please understand the above fundamental first!

Link to download GPP Documentation from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=24449

Ok! Time to get back to my Work now.. I will start to prepare my sharing session on how to use GPO and GPP to deploy TCPIP Printer over this weekend~ FUN!

Capturing Ping respond

DesmondTan — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:37:13 GMT

When is the time you need to ping –t a server? Usually to check the link uptime, especially so when you do not have any tool to monitor connection status for you. But you wouldn’t want to keep on staring on your monitor, do you? Here is a simple command that you can output the ping respond into a text file.

ping –t servername > filename.txt

p.s: This is just a simple post to most, although simple but I still to blog it down. The reason is simple. I believe there are some who are not aware of this command so I hope to share through this blog. At the same time I use this blog as my diary. I will blog down what I have learn to keep as a record so that I can refer to it if I happened to forget about it in future.

~Desmond~

November 2011 Newsletter

DesmondTan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:28:58 GMT

Singapore Windows IT Pro Group – November 2011 Newsletter

Nov Meet Up Agenda

Date: 09 November2011
Time: 7.00pm to 9.30pm
Venue: 1 Marina Boulevard #22-00,MS Singapore – 22CF12

6.30pm: Registration
7.00pm: Session 1 – SCOM2012 New Application Monitoring Capabilities
8.15pm: Toilet/Stretching Break
8.30pm: Session 2 – TCPIP Printer Deployment via GPP & GPO
9.30pm: Home Sweet Home

Session 1 – SCOM2012 New Application Monitoring Capabilities(Richard)

Abstract:

In a world where systems are constantly made into web applications for easy access, the need to monitor and fault find is ever more difficult to detect. SCOM 2012 Application monitoring allows us the visibility to detect these errors and performance points into a structured way. We will discover how we can move from the unknown to a quick and easy way to bypass the unknown to the problem then onto the solution in easy steps. This helps to stop finger pointing and allow Dev and Infra team to work together more constructively. Come and see for yourself how it works.

Session 2 – TCPIP Printer Deployment via GPP & GPO
(Tan Chee)

Abstract:

Ever wonder how to deploy TCPIP printer to client machine without manually installing them one by one? Most will say script do wonders. But what if you are not familiar with scripts? Can this be done without the help of script? Tan Chee will share on his experience on using GPP and GPO to deploy TCPIP Printer on Windows 7 Client Machine.

Registration

For registration, please email to admin@sgwindowsgroup.org with the following:

- SWUG ID
- Name
- Email Address

Note: There won’t be an event confirmation. Just turn up, we don’t turn people away. However, please register if you’re coming.

Getting an Online IT Degree in Singapore

orangedeuce — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:18:21 GMT

My close friends and colleagues will know that I always look for courses to upgrade myself. Now that my CISCO and Project Management certifications have expired, I am looking for courses to attend. After a round of searching, I decided to go for CISSP certification and an additional degree course to add to my collection.
It occurred to me during my search that the Universities and Education Centers in Singapore do not provide online degree programmes such as http://www.onlineitdegree.net .This is disappointing because Singapore has such good IT infrastructure and is also Asia's education hub, we have four universities and students from all over Asia, yet none offers online degree programmes.
Online degree programmes will allow the 150,000 IT Professionals in Singapore to further their education, for continue training and self improvement. Being online will mean we can do it at our own schedule and at our home comfort. My fellow IT Professionals will understand that our work hours are never fixed, that we are always on call or chasing project schedules. There is a need for online IT degree programmes in Little Red Dot Singapore. That being said, online IT degree programmes are still within our reach from the Universities in United States.