Welcome to Brendon Davis

My certificate is missing it’s public key….

Autor brendon | 03.11.2011 | Category Server, TechStuff

Ever had a problem where you KNOW the certificate private key is on the server but the certmgr says otherwise??

I Found a really usefull post which shows how to fix Just this issue!

Option #1:Repair Damaged Certificate (Windows Server 2003/2008)

1. Open MMC and add the Certificate Snap-In for the Local Computer account.
2. Double-Click on the recently imported certificate
3. Select the Details tab.
4. Click on the Serial Number field and copy that string
5. Open up a command prompt session. (cmd.exe aka DOS Prompt)
6. Type: certutil -repairstore my “SerialNumber” (SerialNumber is that which was copied down in step 4.)
7. After running the above command, go back to the MMC and Right-Click Certificates and select Refresh (or hit F5 in the MMC)
8. Double-Click on the problem certificate. At the bottom of this window (General tab) it should state: “You have a private key that corresponds to this certificate.“

30 seconds later – Legend!

Just keep in mind, SBS likes to have any certificates with a subordinate authority also have their certificates listed in the MMC -> Certificates -> Server -> Trusted Subordinate Authorities.

Group Policy Center

Autor brendon | 21.01.2010 | Category 7, Server, TechStuff, VISTA

Alan Burchill, one of the organisers for the Brisbane Infrastructure Group and a speaker at last year’s auTechEd has started up a web site for the thing he loves most. The Group Policy Center is now online and answering all those questions you didn’t know you asked.

On a serious note though, Alan and Lilia did an awesome presentation at TechEd and I’m sure this site will show the same level of awesome-ness. Rock on Al.

New version of ISA – FFTMG

Autor brendon | 14.12.2009 | Category Comms, Server, TechStuff

Well it has been a long time coming but Microsoft have finally released a new version of their awesome Internet Acceleration and Security (ISA) server. The last major upgrade was 2004 and since then the product has become a little long in the tooth. There are several new ways the internet is being used and ISA 2004/2006 in my opinion just couldn’t keep up.

Jump over to http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/threat-management-gateway/en/us/default.aspx and check out the details on Forfront Threat Management Gateway (FFTMG). Building on the new Windows Server 2008 network stack there are several new features that administrators (myself included) have been crying for:

• Support for dual/ failover internet links. (using a separate fibre service for remote access and publishing plus a DSL2 service for web access.)
• Publishing (Static NAT) rules apply to both inbound and outbound traffic. (ISA would always NAT outbound connections on default IP address.)
• Category based Access lists (requires additional licenses) to filter traffic for “Social Networking” or “Known Virus URL’s”.
• Support in a Hyper-V or ESXi or XenServer virtualised environments.
• ONLY RUNS on Windows Server 2008 x64 eddition!!!

The old ISA server team blog has been updated to reference TMG now also; there are half a dozen articles available here that may help with deployment considerations.

Domain Controller out of Sync

Autor brendon | 13.10.2009 | Category Server, TechStuff

“Oh no! My Domain Controller has been turned off for too long and lost kerbose synchronization with the domain! What can I do?”

Have you ever been in a situation where a domain controller has lost synchronisation with the domain? I know I have….

Well worry no more. Thanks to the good folks at Microsoft we can now easily reset the computer account and get your DC up and working in no time.

Don’t believe me? Well follow these 5 easy steps to get your DC’s back on track.

Now how much do we want for this wonderful tool? Nothing!

This service is completely free AND if you are not 100% satisfied, we will give you no money back.

That’s right, don’t call us and you too can have your DC’s operational.