Archive for the ‘Deployment’ Category

Windows Time Service and Internet Communication (Windows Server 2003)

Windows Time Service Tools and Settings

Did You know that the time services can break your Active Directory.

Well with the default time settings  you have a +&-  time setting in

MaxPosPhaseCorrection & MaxnegPhaseCorrection normal you should set this to 48 hours 0×2A300 or 172,800 seconds.

But what is the default ? 4,294,967,295 = about 136 years so this means your time between DC can be 136 years different, without killing your AD.  This is fixed in Windows 2008 R2 but I know there are a lot of sites the did not configure this value.

  • The value of the MaxNegPhaseCorrection entry on the domain controller should be equal to 48 hours.

    Note This is not a new rule but an update to an existing rule.
    Before you apply this update, a registry path is incorrectly set to the following location:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeConfigMaxPosPhaseCorrection

    After you apply this update, the registry path is corrected to the following location:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeConfigMaxNegPhaseCorrection

  • Change this !!

    So Set one DC to the NTP server and all others should use NT5DS

    Get more info here :

    Update for the AD DS Best Practices Analyzer rules in Windows Server 2008 R2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980360

    How to configure the Windows Time service against a large time offset http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884776

    Benefits and Purposes of Windows Time Service http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc775797(WS.10).aspx

    Windows Time Service http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490845.aspx

    Configure the Windows Time service on the PDC emulator (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=91969)

    Configure a client computer for automatic domain time synchronization (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=91376)

    Configure a manual time source for a selected client computer (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=91377)

    Posted June 7, 2010 by Robert Smit in Deployment

    the end of the floppy disk

    Floppy disc, PC World announces the end of the floppy disk

    finally the end of the floppy disk is here, who needs it any more. So I copied my last million 3,5 disk to my hard disk now I have a million floppy’s on one 1,5 TB disk. Imagen the time that you need to find a file on a million floppy’s 😉

    Below are some items about the floppy disk.

    The 3.5in floppy disk, once an icon of the computer age, is to be cleared from the shelves of PC World as demand for disks plummets.

    In 1998 we were using more than 2bn floppy disks a year – but new technology and the rise of digital photography and music has left the floppy disk almost obsolete.

    Apple was the first mass-market computer manufacturer to drop the floppy drive with the release of the iMac in 1998. Five years later Dell removed floppy drives from its best-selling Dell Dimension range.

    The first floppy disk – which was 8in – was developed by IBM in the late 1960s to replace tape drives. The disk was invented by David Noble, an engineer for IBM.

    The first 3.5in disk – which was developed by Sony – was sold in 1981.

    Today consumers have a wide choice of storage devices and can also use recordable or rewritable CDs. A USB memory stick can store 1,000 times as much as a floppy disk.

    The increasing availability of broadband and wireless internet connections has rendered small-scale removable storage devices largely obsolete.

    Source :http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2803487/PC-World-announces-the-end-of-the-floppy-disk.html

     

    Sony to stop selling floppy disks from 2011

    Floppy disk

    The first floppy disk was introduced in 1971 by IBM

    Sony has signalled what could be the final end of the venerable floppy disk.

    The electronics giant has said it will stop selling the 30-year-old storage media in Japan from March 2011.

    Earlier this year Sony stopped selling the disks in most international markets due to dwindling demand and competition from other storage formats.

    The slow death of the "floppy" or "diskette" began in 1998 when Apple decided not to include a floppy drive in its G3 iMac computer.

    Since then various other firms have stopped support for floppy disks, including computer giant Dell in 2003.

    Computing store PC World stopped selling them in 2007.

    However, Sony has continued to sell the disks, and continues to ship them in the millions.

    Now, the firm – which claims to have produced the first 3.5in (9cm) disks in 1981 – has decided to halt sales completely faced with competition from online storage and portable USB drives.

    Source :http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8643844.stm

    Posted April 27, 2010 by Robert Smit in Deployment

    Microsoft Fix it Center application Online

     

    Install Microsoft Fix it Center?

    To make the most of your Microsoft Fix it Center Online account, please take a few minutes to install the Microsoft Fix it Center application.

    • Diagnostics check your computer for specific problems and automaticallly fix them
    • Fix and prevent common problems with one click
    • Find solutions targeted for your hardware and software problems

    Install Now

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    After You Downloaded the FIX IT Center. Run the Setup

    image image image

    The Setup is easy just press next

    image image image

    See the components that are available

    image image image

    Use your passport to connect

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    Ready for the first run

    image image image image

    Check my system for errors.

    image image image  image image image image image image image image

    My first opinion this can be handy and fix things, but it would be nice if it checks on updates , or hotfixes and fix my vista black screen problem.

    And If Microsoft build a corporate tool for this that you can run on your lan that would be nice, a bit like CER 2.0.

    Nice tool Fix IT

    Posted April 16, 2010 by Robert Smit in Deployment

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