Google Time NTP Public Server
You may or may not be aware that Google provides a public NTP server. They provide a free, global time service that you can use to synchronize to Google’s atomic clocks.
Servers
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Tips for Buying an Old Server: What You Need to Know Before Purchasing
Buying an old server is indeed a wise decision. A new server comes at double the cost compared to a refurbished one. This is why most small-scale businesses prefer opting for a used, refurbished server. It offers them the same amount of productivity if maintained properly. You can buy a used server either online or…
SCCM Query for Microsoft Server 2019
I’ve not done a post about SCCM queries for a while now so in addition to a load I did some time ago, I thought I’d bring things up to date with a few new queries starting with Microsoft Server 2019. I’ve been using this one for creating a Windows Server 2019 collection in SCCM…
Unable to remove a SCOM Active Alert
We recently ran into a problem with our System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) console where some old alerts would not allow us to remove or clear them. We checked that there was not a problem that the alerts were stating so we knew that that could genuinely be removed. Every time we tried to clear…
Remove Windows Server Disabled Roles and Features Payload Files
If you are running a Windows Server environment and you are becoming increasing low on system drive space, then you may want to consider removing the built in payload files for Windows Features. Windows Server comes with the payload files readily available if you want to add any additional Features or Roles to your server….
Windows Server 2019 Evaluation Product Keys
Following on from our popular posts for evaluation product keys for Server 2008 R2, Server 2012 R2 and Server 2016, this post brings us fully up to date with the evaluation keys for Server 2019. This forms part of our evaluation and KMS product key series where we have shared with you all the product…
Get OU Distinguished Name
There are many reasons as to why you would need to identify an Active Directory Organisational Unit’s Distinguished Name. Most techies out there will use an AD distinguished name when writing or using PowerShell scripts. However, quickly finding what the Distinguished name of a particular OU is not immediately clear. You can click on the…
Check for Thick Provisioned Disk Space in VMWare
If you want to run a check against your VMWare infrastructure for virtual machines that have thick provisioned disks, you can use VMWare PowerCLI to do this quickly and easily. Our step by step guide below will show you what you need to do to bring back the results that you need. Check for Thick…
System Center Operations Manager Invalid Management Group Removal
We recently carried out some work for a client who had a completely ruined installation of System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). Who had done what to it, we may never know, but it was clear that the only fix was to start again. This was not such a bad thing as they did want to…
Windows Service Stuck in Stopping Mode
A simple step by step guide on how to fix a Windows service stuck in stopping mode.
Broken Microsoft Update – KB4338818
You may have installed Microsoft Update KB4338818 during Patch Tuesday and now your Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 is broken right? Maybe even some Windows 7 machines? Well guess what? You are not the only one! Yes, Microsoft have done it yet again, released a dirty update that this time hits your Microsoft Windows Server…
Windows Server – Internet Security Blocking Downloads
If you are an IT administrator then the chances are that you have come across issues with trying to download files directly from a website to your server. You would have received this security alert when trying to download: Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded. Although this is a…
Windows Server 2016 – Disable Server Manager on Startup
I don’t know about you, but Server Manager loading up every time I login to a Windows Server 2016 machine drives me nuts! This is especially annoying when using my lab as most of the hardware is just old bits of kit that is not being used in production any longer. In older versions of…
Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10
Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10 includes Server Manager, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins, consoles, Windows PowerShell cmdlets and providers, and command-line tools for managing roles and features that run on Windows Server Technical Preview.
Group Policy Administrative Templates for Windows 10
Microsoft have released the Group Policy Admin Templates for the new release of Windows 10.
Transfer FSMO roles to a new Server
Continuing our series of YouTube video guides, we came across this one and thought it was very well made and details exactly how to transfer FSMO roles to a new server. Hopefully, you will find this helpful if this is something that you need to carry out in your own environment. COMMENTS If you have…
Remove a Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller from an Existing Domain
We have been viewing some video guides on YouTube over the last few days so we thought that we would share some good ones that we have found that we feel you may find useful. We have scheduled a number of these videos to be posted to our site over the next few days so…
Replication Summary on Domain Controllers
If you have a number of domain controllers within your organisation, you should ensure that they are all replicating correctly without any errors at all. This check should be carried out regularly to be proactive in finding any potential Active Directory issues that you may face. To do this, simply run the following command on…
Powershell – Install Server Core GUI Features
If you have Windows Server 2012 R2 Core installed but you want to be able to use a Graphical User Interface (GUI) then you can use the following Powershell command to enable it: Install-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Shell –Source d:sourcessxs NOTE: you should ensure that your source location is correct and up to date with your Windows Updates….
Join Server 2012 R2 Core to your Domain
If you are using Server 2012 R2 Core and you wish to join it to the domain, then you can use this simple Powershell command to do it. Add-Computer -DomainName YOURDOMAIN.COM -Credentials DOMAINUSERNAME -Restart Note that the -Restart command at the end will automatically restart your server once it has completed the joining process. Also…
