VMFS 5.0 VS NFS

VMFS-5 supports:

 A maximum volume size of 64 TB
 A uniform block size of 1 MB
 Smaller sub-blocks of size 8 KB


A NFS volume, unlike a VMFS volume, is not formed by formatting a RAW LUN with the VMFS
filesystems. NFS volumes are just mounts created to access the shared folders on an NFS
server. The filesystems on these volumes are dependent on the type of NFS server.

FAT ,FAT32,exFAT Supports Windows server 2012 or Not

FAT, FAT32, and exFAT do not support the enhanced features. When you use Check Disk with FAT, FAT32, or exFAT, Windows Server 2012 R2 uses the legacy scan and repair process. This means the scan and repair process typically requires taking the volume offline and preventing it from being used. You can’t use Check Disk with ReFS.

commands to Check HDD Errors on Server 2012

chkdsk /scan C:
chkdsk /spotfix E:

What is Difference between VMware ESX and ESXi

VMware ESX or ESXi Differences: 

The platform upon which VMs run. The main difference between ESX and ESXi is that ESX uses a Service Console (SC) as its management arm, whereas ESXi has no Service Console and has a smaller footprint of just 32MB. 

What is the Difference Between .vmx and .vmdk files

Virtual machines using VMware technology have two main file extensions:

1.  .vmx: This file contains all the configurations that make up a particular VM, such as how many virtual processors are allocated, how much memory is reserved, the path to the hard drive, and any additional components that are configured for this VM.
   
   
2. .vmdk: This file is the physical hard drive equivalent. It holds the file system, the operating system, and any applications or software loaded on this VM.

VMware’s file extension for VMs is known as VMDK, whereas Microsoft and Citrix for instance have the file extension as VHD. Hopefully one day, an industry standard will emerge, which would then allow for VMs to be run on any hypervisor.

Types of Virtualizations

The different forms of virtualization can be categorized as follows:

•  Hypervisor type-1 virtualization is what ESX and ESXi are. This type of operating system virtualization installs a thin layer of software known as the hypervisor, or the virtualization layer, on bare metal.

•  Hypervisor type-2 virtualization, you have an underlying operating system loaded on the physical machine and then you install software that allows virtual machines to be created and run. Examples include VMware Workstation, VMware Server, Microsoft Virtual PC, and Microsoft Virtual Servers

Creating a storage pool

Creating a storage pool

Storage pools allow you to pool available space on disks so that units of storage (virtual disks) can be allocated from this pool. To create a storage pool, you must have at least one unused disk and a storage subsystem to manage it. This storage subsystem can be the one included with the Storage Spaces feature or a subsystem associated with attached storage.

When a computer has extra hard drives in addition to the hard drive on which Windows is installed, you can allocate one or more of the additional drives to a storage pool. However, keep in mind that if you use a formatted drive with a storage pool, Windows permanently deletes all the files on that drive. Additionally, it’s important to point out that physical disks with the MBR partition style are converted automatically to the GPT partition style when you add them to a storage pool and create volumes on them.
Each physical disk allocated to the pool can be handled in one of three ways:

As a data store that is available for use
As a data store that can be manually allocated for use
As a hot spare in case a disk in the pool fails or is removed from the subsystem

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Active Directory

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Active Directory

What is Active Directory?
What is LDAP?
Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD?
Talk about all the AD-related roles in Windows Server 2008/R2.
What are the new Domain and Forest Functional Levels in Windows Server 2008/R2?
What is the SYSVOL folder?
What are the AD naming contexts (partitions)s and replication issues for each NC?
What are application partitions?
What applications or services use AD application partitions? Name a couple.
How do you create a new application partition?
What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server?
What can you do to promote a server to DC if you're in a remote location with slow WAN link?
...
How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs?
What is the Global Catalog?
How do you view all the GCs in the forest?
Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs?
Talk about GCs and Universal Groups.
Describe the time synchronization mechanism in AD.
What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN?
What is DCDIAG? When would you use it?
...
What are sites? What are they used for?
What's the difference between a site link's schedule and interval?
What is the KCC?
What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default?
Talk about sites and GCs.
Talk about sites and Exchange Server 2007/2010.
...
What is GPO?
Describe the way GPO is applied throughout the domain.
What can you do to prevent inheritance from above?
How can you override blocking of inheritance?
Name some of the major changes in GPO in Windows Server 2008.
What are ADM files? What replaced them in Windows Server 2008?
What's the GPO repository? How do you use it?
What are GPO Preferences?
Which client OSs can use GPO Preferences?
What are GPO Templates?
What are WMI Filters?
What is the concept behind GPO Filtering?
How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do that.
A user claims he did not receive a GPO, yet his user and computer accounts are in the right OU, and everyone else there gets the GPO. What will you look for?
You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that?
...
What are the major changes in AD in Windows Server 2008?
What are the major changes in AD in Windows Server 2008 R2?
What is the AD Recycle Bin? How do you use it?
What is tombstone lifetime attribute?
What are AD Snapshots? How do you use them?
What is Offline Domain Join? How do you use it?
What are Fine-Grained Passwords? How do you use them?
Talk about Restartable Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008/R2. What is this feature good for?
What are the changes in auditing in Windows Server 2008/R2?
...
How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later?
Can I get user passwords from the AD database?
What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire?
Talk about PowerShell and AD.
...
How do you backup AD?
How do you restore AD?
Talk about Windows Backup and AD backups.
How do you change the DS Restore admin password?
Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 7 months ago?
What's NTDSUTIL? When do you use it?
...
What are RODCs?
What are the major benefits of using RODCs?
How do you install an RODC?
Talk about RODCs and passwords.
What is Read Only DNS?
What happens when a remote site with an RODC loses connectivity to the main site?
...
Talk about Server Core and AD.
How do you promote a Server Core to DC?
...
What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails?
How can you tell who holds each FSMO role? Name a 2-3 of methods.
What FSMO placement considerations do you know of?
You want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do you need to do?
What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you NOT seize? Why?

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 TS/RDS

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 TS/RDS

What is presentation virtualization?
Describe the benefits of using TS/RDS.
Describe the drawbacks of using TS/RDS.
Describe the main TS role services in Windows Server 2008.
Describe the main RDS role services in Windows Server 2008 R2.
What are the major changes between the Windows Server 2008 TS and the Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS roles in relation to Windows Server 2003 TS.
...
What is the TS/RDS Session Host?
What are the benefits of using 64-bit hardware and OS vs. using the 32-bit version?
Describe your experience in using TS/RDS.
How can you configure TS/RDS session limits? Describe a couple of methods.
What is GPO Loopback Processing?
How do you standardize user profiles and settings across a TS/RDS farm?
What are the major drawbacks of using Roaming User Profiles?
Working with Outlook on TS/RDS, what can you tell me about using cached modes?
How do you install applications on a TS/RDS Session Host? Describe a couple of methods.
What are the TS/RDS command line management tools?
How would you achieve high availability with RD Session Hosts?
What is "Virtual Machine Redirection" and when would it be used?
...
Talk about TS/RDS licensing.
Is there any difference in RDS licensing in Windows Server 2008 R2?
What is the licensing grace period?
Where would you install the RD Licensing server? Talk about small implementation and large implementation scenarios.
...
What is RDS RemoteApp?
Describe the benefits of using RDS RemoteApp.
How do you publish a RemoteApp?
What's the difference between using .RDP files and .MSI files when publishing a RemoteApp to the users' desktops?
In Windows 7, it's possible to use RemoteApp in conjunction with RDS Web Access in a different manner. Can you describe this process?
Needing to control which users get access to which RemoteApp. How can you do that?
Describe the way RemoteApps integrate with the Windows desktop.
Besides RemoteApp, what other ways or software lifecycle management solutions are you aware of?
Talk about digital signatures and their relevance to RemoteApp publishing.
...
What is RDS Web Access?
Describe the benefits of using RDS Web Access.
Talk about the implementation scenarios of RDS Web Access.
Describe the process of securing RDS Web Access.
How would you publish an RDS Web Access site?
Can you use Web Access with other Microsoft-based solutions? Name a few.
What's the alternative for using RDS Web Access?
Talk about digital signatures in relation to RDS Web Access.
How can you control who has access to the RDS Web Access website?
What would you do in order to publish RemoteApps from multiple RD Session Hosts through one RD Web Access server?
What would you do in order to publish RemoteApps from multiple RD Session Hosts through one RD Web Access server?
...
What's RDS Gateway?
What are the main usage scenarios for RDS Gateway?
What are RAPs?
What are CAPs?
Describe the process of securing RDS Gateway.
Talk about digital signatures in relation to RDS Gateway.
What type of RD clients can be used with RD Gateway?
...
What is the RD Session Broker?
What was the original role of the RD Session Broker, and what where the names this role used in previous versions of Terminal Services?
When would you need to implement a RD Session Broker?
Talk about RD Session Broker and VDI.
Talk about the entire process of using all RDS components along with RS Session Broker.
How would you achieve high availability with RD Session Brokers?

Technical Interview Questions on Exchange Server 2010/2007/2013

What are the Exchange 2007/2010 server roles?
What are the benefits of using roles, vs. the way Exchange 2000/2003 worked?
What are the Exchange 2003 equivalents of the various Exchange 2007/2010 roles?
Name the system prerequisites for installing Exchange 2007/2010 in your existing Active Directory forest.
You have an Exchange 5.5 organization and finally decided to move forward and upgrade to Exchange 2007/2010. What's your next obvious step?
You're looking to install Exchange 2007/2010 and Outlook on the same machine. Should you do that? Why?
Where does Exchange store its configuration settings?
How do you prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010? Name 2 methods.
What permissions do you need to prepare the AD for Exchange 2007/2010?
How would you verify that the schema was in fact updated?
In the installation folder root you see setup.com and setup.exe. Which would you use and when?
How would you easily install all the Windows Server 2008/R2 roles and features required for Exchange 2007/2010?
How would you check your Exchange configuration settings to see if they're right?
.....
What is the latest Exchange 2007 Service Pack? Name a few changes in functionality in that SP.
Looking to install Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008. What SP version do you need? And for R2?
What's a Rollup Update? What's the latest RU for Exchange 2007/2010?
How can you easily integrate a RU in the Exchange 2007/2010 installation media?
Name a few reasons for using 64-bit hardware and OS version for Exchange 2007/2010.
Exchange 2007 came in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Name a couple of reasons for ever needing the 32-bit version.
....
Wanting to manage Exchange 2007/2010 from a remote computer, name a few of your management options.
Name a few changes that were made in Exchange 2003 Management Console (EMC) when compared to Exchange 2003 System Manager (ESM).
What's PowerShell and why do we care?
Name one major benefit of PowerShell v2 over V1.
What are the different Exchange Recipient types?
What are resource mailboxes? When would you use them?
What are Dynamic Distribution groups?
What type of groups would you use when configuring distribution groups in a multiple domain forest?
How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes in your organization?
How can you grant access for an administrator to access all mailboxes on a specific Exchange server?
Describe the differences in the permission model between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010.
....
What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2007 stores work?
What's the difference between the Enterprise and Standard editions of Exchange in relation with the number and size of the stores on the server?
What are the major changes in the way Exchange 2010 stores work? Name some of the changes in comparison with Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2007.
What's the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2007?
What's the major difference in store high availability in Exchange 2010?
What is the GAL?
When would you decide to create more than one GAL?
How would you modify the filter properties of one of the default address lists?
What is the OAB? When is it used?
What are the OAB distribution options?
You are at a client's location, and you see no Public Folders on any of the Mailbox servers. How can that be?
You don't have any Public Folder, but now you've got a bunch of laptop users that use Outlook 2003. What issues would you see? How would you fix these issues?
.....
In Exchange 2007, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?
In Exchange 2010, what are the minimum requirements for implementing a high availability topology, in relation to the server roles and server numbers?
Describe the concept behind Log Shipping.
What's the difference between LCR, CCR and SCR?
What's SCC?
You've installed Exchange 2007 RTM and are looking to enable SCR but cannot find the option to do so in the EMC or in PS. Why?
Describe DAG in Exchange 2010.
Considering DAGs in Exchange 2010, why does Microsoft claim that you can run "Raidless"?
Would you run "Raidless" even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?
Would you run "Backup-less" even when implementing DAGs in Exchange 2010? Why?
How do you enable LCR?
Why does Microsoft suggest using NTFS mount points when using LCR?
What Exchange edition version do you need for LCR? What Windows edition version do you need for LCR?
How do you recover from a store corruption when using LCR? Name the procedures you would use.
....
What are streaming backups?
What are VSS backups?
How would you backup Exchange 2007/2010 on a Windows Server 2008/R2 machine without using 3rd-party tools?
What's a Brick-Level backup?
What backup solutions are you familiar with in Exchange 2007/2010?
What's a Recovery Storage Group? How do you work with one?
Can you use Exmerge in Exchange 2007/2010? Why?
How do you export a mailbox content in Exchange 2007/2010?
What's a Dial Tone recovery?
What built-in tool do you have to allow you to manage Exchange store recoveries?
What's the difference between online and offline defrag?
In Exchange 2010, is there any change in the way online and offline defrags are used (or should be used)?
What is Eseutil?
What is Isinteg?
Name a few scenarios for using both tools?
What are the major considerations for using these tools?
...
Where does Exchange 2007/2010 get its routing topology from?
What protocol is used for the Mailbox to HT transport?
How would you achieve incoming mail redundancy?
Name all the client connection options in Exchange 2007/2010.
What happened to OMA?
Name some of the major changes in OWA in relation to Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003? And in relation to Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2007?
What's the ECP in Exchange 2010 OWA?
A user opens an OWA session from an external computer. Which role does that user connect to?
What are the major changes in Outlook 2010 in relation to Exchange 2010, when compared to Outlook 2007/Exchange 2007?
What's a mailbox move request in Exchange 2010?
What is Online Mailbox Move in Exchange 2010?
Describe the issues you're facing when attempting to obtain a digital certificate for Exchange 2007.
What's one of the changes that was made to the digital certificate request process in Exchange 2010 in relation to Exchange 2007?
What are SAN certificates?
Name a few commercial CAs you could use to obtain digital certificates.
What is Cached Mode in Outlook 2007/2010?
What are the benefits and "issues" when using cached mode? How would you tackle those issues?
What is S/MIME? What are the usage scenarios for S/MIME?
What is Outlook Anywhere?
Describe the method for enabling Outlook Anywhere.
You've just bought a new Internet domain name, and are looking to set up an Exchange organization to receive e-mail for that domain. Name ALL the steps you would need to take in order to successfully be able to work with that domain name.
You've installed Exchange 2007/2010 and now you need to be able to send e-mail externally (to the Internet). What do you need to do?
What's Accepted Domains?
Where in EMC would you look to configure Send Connectors?
What is a Mail Relay? Name a few known mail relay software or hardware options.
What's a Smart Host? When would you use it?
Wanting to configure a Send Connector to the world, what address would you use?
What are Receive Connectors?
In Exchange 2007/2010, what's the major issue blocking you from receiving e-mail from the world, considering you've enabled the right port(s) on the firewall, and properly configured MX records for your domain(s)?
What's the difference between the "Client" and the "Default" Receive Connectors?
You're looking to troubleshoot e-mail delivery issues. Name 4 options/tools/logs that are built into Exchange 2007/2010 that can help you in your task.
...
You're looking to enable Anti-Spam features on Exchange. Which role would you use to do so?
Let's say you're wanting to use Anti-Spam features on the HT role. You're looking to enable these features but cannot find them. What do you need to do?
Where does Edge role store its settings?
You have a need to enable high-availability and load balancing on your Edge role. How do you achieve that?
What's Edge synchronization?
What's Edge subscription?
How do you enable Edge subscription?
What's the default replication interval for Edge sync?
What ports do you need to open between the DMZ holding the Edge role and your internal network?

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Hyper-V and Virtualization

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Hyper-V and Virtualization

What is virtualization (in general)?
What are the 4 major virtualization areas?
Describe the major benefits of Server Virtualization.
What is the difference between hosted virtualization and hypervisor-based virtualization?
What's the idea behind Type 1 and Type 2 methods of virtualization?
Talk briefly about the history of Microsoft-based virtualization products.
What is Hyper-V?
Name a few competitive products that can be compared (even roughly) with Hyper-V.
What are the major differences between Hyper-V RTM and Hyper-V R2? Name some of the major differences.
What are the hardware requirements for Hyper-V?
How many logical CPUs does Hyper-V R2 support?
How much RAM can be assigned to VMs in Hyper-V R2?
What's Microsoft Hyper-V Server?
Describe the process of installing Hyper-V from scratch on a brand new Dell R710 machine.
...
What types of network connections does Hyper-V allow?
When building a new Hyper-V host, what would your networking considerations be?
Why is it important to leave one physical NIC for the host OS?
Talk about MAC address ranges and potential issues with Hyper-V RTM. How was this solved in R2?
...
What are the different virtual disk options in Hyper-V?
When considering performance, what type 0f virtual disk would you use?
What are pass-through disks?
Talk about hot adding and hot removing disks in Hyper-V R2.
What are VM snapshots?
Talk about performance considerations and other "issues" with VM snapshots.
What's the difference between applying, deleting and reverting to snapshots?
...
Describe the process of creating a new VM from scratch.
Where does Hyper-V place the files and settings for VMs, by default? How do you change that?
What are synthetic drivers?
What are emulated drivers?
When creating a new VM that'll run Windows Server 2008, what type of NIC would you create?
Following the previous question, what type of NIC would you create for a WIN PE-based VM? Why?
Migrating a Windows Server 2003 VM from Virtual Server 2005, what type of NIC would you need to use?
Creating a new VM, what type of disk controller would you need to use for the VM's system disk?
...
What are Integration Components?
Talk about certain issues with hosting DCs virtually.
What are "Enlightened Partitions"?
What OSs are supported on Hyper-V?
What types of backups can you use for VMs?
Talk about performing backups of VMs and VSS.
How do you export a VM? Mention a couple of methods.
...
Talk about domain membership considerations for Hyper-V hosts.
Where can you manage Hyper-V hosts from?
What is RSAT?
How would you manage Hyper-V from a Windows 7-based machine?
Talk about permission issues in regards of managing Hyper-V hosts.
What is AZMAN?
...
Talk about the licensing benefits of Hyper-V under the various editions of Windows Server 2008.
Wanting to create a failover cluster on 2 Hyper-V nodes in Windows Server 2008 R2, what edition of Windows would you prefer? Why?
...
Talk about Hyper-V-based high availability.
What's Quick Migration?
What's Live Migration?
Talk about downtime issues with Quick Migration vs. Live Migration.
Talk about the steps needed to be taken in order to setup a Live Migration setup.
What is CSV?
Can you create a Live Migration setup without CSV? Explain.
Mention a few methods for initiating a Live Migration movement of VMs between one host and another.
...
How do you monitor the performance of your VMs?
How do you know how much memory a specific VM uses?
How do you know what's the I/O used on a Hyper-V host?
How do you monitor the bandwidth used by a specific VM?
Talk about SCVMM, SCOM, SCCM and Hyper-V.
Talk about WMI and Hyper-V.

How can I help protect my PC from viruses on Windows8.1

How can I help protect my PC from viruses?

There are many preventive steps you can take to help protect your PC from viruses and other threats.

• Use an antimalware app. Installing an antimalware app and keeping it up to date can help defend your PC against viruses and other malware (malicious software). Antimalware apps scan for viruses, spyware, and other malware trying to get into your email, operating system, or files. New threats can appear daily, so check the antimalware manufacturer's website frequently for updates.
  Windows Defender is free antimalware software included with Windows, and you can update it automatically through Windows Update. You can also visit the Windows Store and look for an antivirus app, or visit the Windows Compatibility Center to look for antivirus apps that work with Windows 8.1.
• Don't open email messages from unfamiliar senders, or email attachments that you don't recognize. Many viruses are attached to email messages and will spread as soon as you open the attachment. It's best not to open any attachment unless it's something you're expecting.
• Use a pop-up blocker with your Internet browser. Pop-up windows are small browser windows that appear on top of the website you're viewing. Although most are created by advertisers, they can also contain malicious or unsafe code. A pop-up blocker can prevent some or all of these windows from appearing.
  Pop-up Blocker in Windows Internet Explorer is turned on by default. SmartScreen Filter also helps identify potentially malicious websites and known malware.
• Make sure SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer is turned on. SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer helps protect you from phishing and malware attacks by warning you if a website or download location has been reported as unsafe.
• Pay attention to Windows SmartScreen notifications. Be cautious about running unrecognized apps downloaded from the Internet. Unrecognized apps are more likely to be unsafe. When you download and run an app from the Internet, SmartScreen uses information about the app's reputation to warn you if the app isn't well-known and might be malicious.
• Keep Windows updated. Periodically, Microsoft releases special security updates that can help protect your PC. These updates can help prevent viruses and other malware attacks by closing possible security holes.
  You can turn on Windows Update to make sure that Windows receives these updates automatically.
• Use a firewall. Windows Firewall or any other firewall app can help notify you about suspicious activity if a virus or worm tries to connect to your PC. It can also block viruses, worms, and hackers from trying to download potentially harmful apps to your PC.
• Use your Internet browser's privacy settings. Being aware of how websites might use your private info is important to help prevent targeted advertising, fraud, and identity theft.
  If you're using Internet Explorer, you can adjust your privacy settings or restore the default settings whenever you want.
• Turn on User Account Control (UAC). When changes are going to be made to your PC that require administrator-level permission, UAC notifies you and gives you the chance to approve the change. UAC can help keep viruses from making unwanted changes.
• Clear your Internet cache and your browsing history. Most browsers store info about the websites you visit, and they might also store info that websites might ask you to provide (such as your name and address). While it can be helpful to have these details stored on your PC, there are times when you might want to delete some or all of them—for example, when you're using a public PC and don't want to leave personal info behind.

Ref: www.microsoft.com/help

How to Create and Host a Web Page of IIS server

IIS Web Server

Web Server is a computer that delivers “Web Pages”. Every web server has an IP address & possibly Domain

name. For example, if you enter the

URL: http://www.techoinfotech.com/index.html

In your browser, this sends a request to the server whose domain name is vikas.com. The server then fetches

the page named index.html and sends it to your browser.

(Note In above URL we can use IP address & Domain name as well)

You can run many web sites with different IP address or Different Port No.

By Default “Web Server uses http protocol on port no. 80/tcp”

To configure Web Server:

1. Create a Web Page.

2. Install Internet Information Service (IIS)

Go to Control Panel – Add Remove Programs – Add Remove Windows Component – Select

Application Server – Details – Check IIS – Ok – Next – up to Finish.

3. Configure one more IP in Same Net Adapter

Right click “My Network Places – Properties – Go to TCP/IP Settings – Properties – Advanced – Add –

Type IP & Subnet – Ok – Close.

4. Create a new Web Site in Server

Start – Programs – Admin tools – IIS Manager – Right Click Web Site – New Web Site – Type Any

Description – Select IP – Brows for You Web Folder – Select Web Folder – Finish.

Right click your new web site – Properties – Documents – Add – Type your html file name – Ok –

Move up – Apply – Ok.

Now your Web site is ready……

From your client computer “Open Internet Explorer & Browse: http://IP or http://Domain name

[Note: to see port number with protocol “c\windows\system32\driver\etc” open this file with notepad]

What is Disk Quota and How to Use Quota Entries

Disk Quota

Disk Quota is often used by the administrator to ensure that available disk Space is reasonably distributed

among the users. Normally administrator has the ability to assign Disk Quotas.

To enable it

Go to Any Drive (in which you want to set Quota) – Properties – Check “Enable quota management” – Check

“Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit” – Check “Limit disk space to” & Set limits – Apply – Ok

Quota Entries

Go to Any Drive(in which you want to set Quota) – Properties – Quota – Quota Entry – Click on Quota – New

Quota Entry – Advance – Find Now – Select Users – Ok – Set Limit – Ok – Apply – Ok

Note: Disk Quota is enabled only in “NTFS” file system.

To convert fat file system to NTFS [RUN – CMD – Type “Convert Drive Letter /fs:ntfs]

For Exp: [c:\convert E: /fs:ntfs]

Password Policy How to use it on Domain Controller

Password Policy

Go to Start – Program – Administrative Tools – Domain Controller Security Policy – Open A/c Policy – Open

password policy: You will find Six Password Policies

1. Minimum Password length: This security setting determines the least number of characters that a

password for a user account may contain. You can set a value of between 1 and 14 characters, or you

can establish that no password is required by setting the number of characters to 0.

Default: 7 on Domain Controller

0 on stand-alone Server

2. Password must meet complexity requirement: If this policy is enabled, passwords must meet the

following minimum requirements when they are changed or created:

1 Password should not contain significant portions of the user's account name or full name

2 Password should be at least six characters in length

3 Password should Contain characters from three of the following four categories:

a) English uppercase characters (A through Z)

b) English lowercase characters (a through z)

c) Base 10 digits (0 through 9)

d) Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)

Default: Enabled on domain controllers.

Disabled on stand-alone servers.

3. Minimum Password Age: This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a

password must be used before the user can change it. You can set a value between 1 and 998 days,

or you can allow changes immediately by setting the number of days to 0.

Default: 1 on Domain Controller

0 on stand-alone Server

[Note: Configure the minimum password age to be more than 0 if you want “Enforce password history” to be effective]

4. Maximum Password Age: This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a

password can be used before the system requires the user to change it. You can set passwords to

expire after a number of days between 1 and 999, or you can specify that passwords never expire by

setting the number of days to 0. If the maximum password age is between 1 and 999 days, the

Minimum password age must be less than the maximum password age. If the maximum password

age is set to 0, the minimum password age can be any value between 0 and 998 days.

Default: 42 days

Offline Files on Server 2003/XP/Windows7

Offline Files

If your network connection is not stable or network connection is not available at the time then you can make

network files available offline by storing shared files or folder on your computer so that they are accessible

when you are not connected to the network. If you do this, you can work with the files in the same way as you

work with them when you are connected to the network. When you reconnect to the network, changes that

you made to the files are updated to the network.

To Making Files & Folder Available Offline.

On Server

Go to Share Folder – Properties – Sharing – Offline Setting – Enable – Apply – Ok

Configure Client Computer to Use Offline File.

On Client Computer or Win XP /Win7

Go to – My Computer – Tools – Folder Option – Offline Files – Enable – Apply – Ok

Or

Go to – Control Panel – Folder Option – Offline Files – Enable – Apply – Ok

Creating Home Folder and Assign Home Folder to a User

Home Folder

Home folder makes it easier for an administrator to backup users file & manages user’s a/c by collecting the

users file in one location. If you assign a home folder to a user you can store user’s data in a central location

on a server, make backup & recovery of data easier & more reliable.

One more advantage of home folder is that wherever user would login, user would be able to access his Home

folder (his saved files…etc) which is assigned by Sever Administrator.

To Assign Home folder

First of all make a share folder then

Go to Start – Run – dams – Users – Click on User – Properties – Profile – Connect – Select Drive letter – In To

box type [\\IP or name of Server\folder share name] – Apply – Ok

Creating User Profiles Step By Step

User Profiles

User profile is used to save user’s settings & preferences & to provide a user with a default location or folder

to save documents & personal files. Profile can be at local computer or network location both. User profile can

also be changed by the user or locked by the administrator. Profiles can be redirected to a network share and

accessed by the user from any computer in the network.

There are three type of User Profile:

1. Local User Profile 

2. Roaming User profile 

3. Mandatory User Profile

Local user Profile is located in the in the “Documents & Settings” folder on the Local Computer. When a user

logs on to the local computer for the 1st time, a subfolder matching to their username is created under the

“Documents & Settings” folder which is located in Window’s drive (C drive). In this subfolder the users profile

& a hidden system file (netuser.dat) is also created.

When a user logs on to the computer, the ntuser.dat file is loaded, this contains the user’s preferences &

settings. Any changes to the user setting or preferences are saved back to the ntuser.dat file when the user

logs off the computer.

Roaming User Profile can be created when a users access more than one PC or move around the network to

ensure that the user will receive his or her user settings & preferences, no matter where they log on. This user

profile is created by the administrator in Active Directory by using profile tab in the user’s properties.

When a user logs on using Roaming Profile a local profile will remain on the local machine also if there is

unavailability of network then next time the user logs on from that PC, the locally cached profile will be

loaded. Changes to the local profile will not saved back to the Roaming profile

Note: when a user logs on user’s profile are taken form the network which creates a network traffic & long

logon time if user saves large files to their desktop or to their My Documents folder.

Steps to Create Roaming User Profile:

1. Create a share folder in any drive in any PC.

2. Open Active directory users & computers

3. Select user to create roaming profile & Go to its Properties

4. In User Properties click on profile tab.

5. Type Profile Path [\\IP of the share folder PC\Folder share name\%Username%]

Mandatory User Profile is used when administrator wants no changes to Users’ Settings & Preferences by any

user. This is a fixed profile of a user which can not be modified or changed, if still user makes changes to

his/her profile the all changes will be lost when the user logs off, the next time when user logs in again all

settings will be reset to mandatory user profile.

To make Mandatory user profile

Go to user profile – Right click on “ntuser.dat” file – Rename the file to ntuser.man

Note: The ntuser.dat file is a hidden system file by default. To see this go to folder option – view - uncheck “hide protected

operating system files”

How to Earn MCITP and MCSE or MCSA

How to Earn Your MCITP: Server Administrator (windows server 2008)

Candidates earn their MCITP: Server Administrator by passing three required exams.

MCITP Exam 70–640: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCITP Exam 70–642: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
MCITP Exam 70–646: Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers



How to Earn Your MCITP: Enterprise Administrator (windows server 2008)

Candidates earn their MCITP: Enterprise Administrator by passing these five required exams.

MCITP Exam 70–640: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
MCITP Exam 70–642: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
MCITP Exam 70–643: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring
MCITP Exam 70–647: Windows Server Enterprise Administration
MCITP Exam 70–680: Microsoft Windows 7, Configuring



MCSA: Server Infrastructure Solutions Associate  (windows server 2012)

70–410 Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
70–411 Administering Windows Server 2012
70–412 Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services

MCSE:   Server Infrastructure Solutions Expert

70–410  Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
70–411  Administering Windows Server 2012
70–412  Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
70–413  Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
70–414  Implementing an Advanced Server Infrastructure

What is Disk Quota ,Quota entries,Convert FAT to NTFS

Disk Quota

Disk Quota is often used by the administrator to ensure that available disk Space is reasonably distributed

among the users. Normally administrator has the ability to assign Disk Quotas.

To enable it

Go to Any Drive (in which you want to set Quota) –> Properties –> Check “Enable quota management” –> Check “Deny disk space to users exceeding quota limit” –> Check “Limit disk space to” & Set limits –> Apply –> Ok 

Quota Entries

Go to Any Drive(in which you want to set Quota) –>Properties –> Quota –> Quota Entry –> 

Click on Quota –> New Quota Entry –> Advance –> Find Now –> Select Users –> Ok –> Set Limit –> Ok –> Apply –> Ok

Note: Disk Quota is enabled only in “NTFS” file system.

To convert fat file system to NTFS 

[RUN –> CMD –> Type “Convert Drive Letter /fs:ntfs]

For Exp: [c:\convert E: /fs:ntfs]

How to Install and Uninstall Active Directory on windows 2003/2008 server

To Install Active Directory Service

Go to -> Start –> Run –>type “dcpromo” & Press Ok & follow the wizard

Requirements:

A) Windows Server 2003/2008 must be installed.
B) LAN Card device & driver must be installed.
C) IP Address must be configured
D) LAN card must be connected to a switch & must be activated.

To Uninstalled Active Directory Service

Same Command as Installing it.

Go to -> Start –> Run –> type “dcpromo” or “dcpromp /forceremoval” & Press Ok & follow the wizard

What is Domain Controller

Domain Controller

It is a Windows Server 2003/2008 installed computer in which “Active Directory” Service is installed. Domain Controller is used to manage domain object such as “Users & Computers” Centrally.

Workgroup vs Domain

Workgroup

Workgroup is a group of computers in LAN. In workgroup each computer is a standalone computer which has their separate local user a/c & groups.They can share resources & peripherals to each other.
In a network a computer will be either in workgroup or joined in domain.

Domain
Domain is a group of users & computers defined by the administrator with the common rule & procedure.
Domain has a DNS (Domain Name System) Name such as:

Microsoft.com
Google.com
Redhat.com
Yahoo.com

When a computer joins to a domain it has its own local users & groups as well as it also logon in domain

Creating users and Groups using CMD ,manage,control panel

We create Group to give similar authorities to a set of users.

We can create user through 3 methods:

1. My computer -> Manage
2.CMD Prompt
3. Control Panel

To Create a User a/c

1. Go to, My computer –> Right click on it –> Manage –> Local users & Groups –> Users –> Right click –>New  user –> Type user name & Password –> Confirm Password –> Create

2. Go to, Run –> net user username password /add (For limited A/c)

3. Go to, Control panel –> Users account–> Create a new a/c

To create a group of user at one shot: create a notepad file & type commands
(Type “Net user name password /add” for each user) to create as many user as you want & save the file name with (.bat file) & run it.

Creating a group

Go to My computer –> Manage –> Local User & Group –> Right click –> New Group –> Give name & password –>Apply

Adding user in a Group

Go to My computer –> Manage –> Local User & Group Groups –> Right click on Group –> Properties –> Add –>Advance –> Find Now –> Select users –> Ok -> Apply

[Press Ctrl to select more then one user]

To Reset a Password

Go to, My computer -> Manage –> Users –> Right Click on User –> Set Password
Or
Run CMD –> “net user username *” and press Enter

Type password” (should be complex & at least of seven character)

To Enable or Disable a/c

Go to –> Manage –> Local users & Group –> Right click on User a/c –> Properties –> Check or Uncheck to Enable or Disable a/c respectively

Local Users & Groups and Bult-in Groups

Local Users & Groups

When we install operating systems it creates two local users accounts.
a. Admin
b. Guest

By default guest account remains disable.

There are two more users
a. IUSR
b. IWAM

That is called internet guest a/c.

We create user a/c so that a user can login to a computer & can work on it.

Administrator a/c is called built-in a/c which has full access on computer & can perform any task.

There are some built-in groups which has special authority on computer such as

1. Administrator group
2. Backup operators
3. Guest
4. Network configuration operator
5. Performance log users.
6. Performance monitor users
7. Power users
8. Print operators
9. Remote desktop users
10. Replicaters
11. Users
12. IIS_WPG
13. Terminal Server Computer

Dynamic Disk and RAID Levels 0,1,5

Dynamic storage is supported in Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. A disk initialized for dynamic storage is called a dynamic disk. A dynamic disk contains dynamic volumes, such as:

1. Simple volumes,
2. Spanned volumes,
3. Striped volumes, (RAID 0)
4. Mirrored volumes, (RAID 1)
5. RAID-5 volumes. (Striped with Parity)

R – Redundant
A – Array of
I - Inexpensive/Independent
D – Disk

A basic disk doesn’t support above features. We can convert a basic disk into dynamic disk any time without data loss. But to convert a dynamic disk into Basic disk we need to format whole hard-disk so backup your data before converting.

When we convert a basic disk into dynamic disk, all primary partition & Logical partition changes to Simple
Volume & free space of extended partition become unallocated partition. With dynamic storage, you can
perform disk and volume management without the need to restart Windows.

1) Simple Volume: It’s Similar to primary partition but you can extend size of simple Vol. without data loss. But you can’t reduce size of Vol. If you extend size from same hard-disk it will be simple volume, but if you extend size from different HDD it will become spanned Vol.

2) Spanned Volume: you can create a single volume containing size of multiple HDD. It means you can create 160 GB Vol. by using two HDD of 80 GB.

You can use Min- 2 HDD
MAX – 32 HDD

3) Striped Volume: You can create a single volume using multiple HDD. It takes equal size from all disk, it saves data of 64kb in all HDD in a scattered way. It enhances volume’s read & write performance. It provides no fault tolerance. If any disk crashes your all data will become inaccessible.

You can use Min- 2 HDD
MAX – 32 HDD

4) Mirrored Volume: It takes two hard disks. It saves same data in both disks. It means it automatically copy data in to second HDD. In this 80GB Vol. will take two HDD of 80GB.
It is Fault tolerance & its overhead is 50%

5) RAID 5: It combines the feature of striped volume & mirrored Vol. It also saves data of 64 kb like striped volume. It also saves parity (Compressed form of data) in another disk. For 160GB Vol. you will require Three HDD of 80GB each.
It is Fault tolerance & its overhead is 33%

You can use Min- 3 HDD
MAX – 32 HDD

How to enable Printer pooling,print Priority,spooling

Printer Pooling: 

If you have more than one printer of same manufacturer & same model then you can enable
printer pooling. If you are pooling in printers than make sure that your all printer should be kept in the same
location or else you will not able to find that which printer has printed out you document.

Enable Printer Pooling

Go to Printer Properties –> Ports –> Check on Enable Printer Pooling –> Check both Printer Port –> Ok

Priority: 

If there is long waiting queue for print job & want to set priority to any user then you can configure
Printer priory. As soon as printer will finish the current job it will take high priority printing job at 2nd instance.

Enable Printer Priority

Install a printer twice –> Go to printer properties –> Advanced –> Set priority

Spooling: (Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line)

the overlapping of low-speed operations with normal processing. Spooling originated with mainframes in order to optimize slow operations such as reading cards and printing. Card input was read onto disk and printer output was stored on disk. In that way, the business data processing was performed at high speed, receiving input from disk and sending output to disk. Subsequently, spooling is used to buffer data for the printer as well as remote batch terminals

How to Installing internet printer on client computer

Installing internet printer on client computer

Go to Printer & fax –> Add Printer –> Network Printer –> Select connect to a printer URL [http://IP of
print server/Printers/Printer share name/printer]

How to Enable Internet printing on server

To Enable Interne printing on server

Go to Control Panel –> Add Remove Program –> Add remove windows component –> Select Application Server –>Details –> Select IIS –> Details –> Check on Internet Printing –> Ok -> Finish

How to Create a Hardware Profile

Hardware Profile

You can create hardware profiles with different Hardware settings. It’s mostly useful for laptop. It provides
you options to choose Hardware profile during system start up.

You can create Many Hardware profile.

[i.e. if you have more than one LAN-card you can enable one LAN-Card in each Profile.]

To create hardware profile:

Go to –> My Computer property –> Hardware –> Hardware profile –> Copy –> Name (any) –> Ok

How to Install devices using Add hardware Wizard

Installing devices using “Add Hardware Wizard”

Installing loopback adapter

The Microsoft Loopback adapter is a testing tool for a virtual network environment where network access is
not available. Also, you must use the Loopback adapter if there are conflicts with a network adapter or with a network adapter driver. You can bind network clients, protocols, and other network configuration items to the Loopback adapter, and you can install the network adapter driver or network adapter later while retaining the network configuration information.

Step to Install

Start –> Setting –> Control panel –> Add Hardware –> Add new Hardware Device –> Select Advanced –> Select Network Adapters –> Select Microsoft Loopback Adapters –> Finish

Go to My Network Places –> Properties –> Here you can see it.

Step to uninstall

Go to Device manager –> Expend Net Adapter –> Right click on Loopback Adapter -> Uninstall.

how to create System Restore Point

System Restore Point
You can create a system restore point when your system is working properly. With this restore point you can
undo harmful changes to you operating system. Basically it restores window settings & performance without
destroying saved documents, emails, history & favorite list.Your computer also creates automatically restore point called check point.

To create a Restore Point

Start –> Program –> Accessories –> System tools –> System restore-> Select create a restore point.

“You can also undo your restore”

Safe mode options /windows start-up options

If your computer is not booting properly or normally then there is some advance boot option that you can
choose to boot your computer such as:

1. Safe mode
Safe mode option Boots your computer with minimum driver required. In this mode you can disable any
device driver & you can backup you data... etc.

2. Safe mode with networking
Safe mode with networking also loads driver of LAN card so your computer will be in network.

3. Safe mode with Command Prompt
Safe mode with command prompt boots your window & provides on command prompt. You can work
with command prompt as far as you can

4. Enable Boot logging
Enable boot logging creates file which contains boot information & problem.

5. Enable VGA Mode
It boots your window with minimum graphic resolution.

6. Directory Services Restore Mode
This mode is used when we restore Active Directory in Win Server

7. Debugging Mode
If two computers are connected with serial cable by com port, it will display boot info in another
computer

To Grant full control permission to any user for a share folder

To Grant full control permission to any user for a share folder

Go to folder properties –> sharing –> permission –> click add –> advance – >find now –> select any user –> ok –> select user –> check “allow full control” –> apply

Note: If there is no security page is shown then open my computer –> tools –> folder option –> view –> un-check last option (use simple file sharing)

To Access a share folder from another computer

Start –> run -> \\IP –> OK

Or Click My network places -> entire network –>windows network –>open domain name or workgroup name –> open computer name –> open share folder

Note: By default all drives of a computer is shared. You can access it by the command (\\IP\ drive letter with $ sign)

Using Recovery Console to Repair Windows XP/2003 server.

Using Recovery Console

(While Booting From CD)

If for any region your computer is not booting up & showing “NTLDR file missing or corrupted or compressed”

you can copy NTLDR file from recovery console

To Choose Recovery Console

1. Insert OS CD in CD-ROM & Restart your computer.

2. Press any key to boot from CD

3. Next you’ll get the option to “Repair or Enter Setup” Press R for repair using Recovery console.

4. Here you will be in DOS mode.

5. After the first question, type 1 and press enter.

Type the administrator password (if available) and hit enter.

6. Type CD .. (Note there must be a space between CD and ..)

This will bring you to the main "C" directory.

7. Then type “d:” to locate the CD-Rom Drive

8. D:\>dir

9. cd i386

To Copy file

10. Copy ntldr c:\

11. Copy ntdetect.com c:\

To decompress

12. c:\attrib -C ntldr

13. Exit

Boot Files of Windows XP/2003 server

Boot Files of Windows XP/2003 server

There are some boot files which are hidden in “C Drive”

To view hidden boot files

Open My computer –> C drive -> Tools –> Folder Option –> View –> Click on Show hidden file – > Uncheck hide protected system files –> Apply - Ok

It will display some more files which are needed in boot process such as:

1. NTLDR (New Technology Loader)
2. NTDETECT.COM
3. BOOT.INI (It has multiple OS chosen Option)
4. CONFIG.SYS
5. IO.SYS (INPUT & OUTPUT)
6. MSDOS.SYS
7. PAGEFILE.SYS
BOOT.INI

It’s a notepad file which has two information.

1. Time out
2. Default Operating System to Load

You can change time out & default OS through Boot.ini

[My computer –> Property –> Advance –> Setting under Startup & Recovery

Unattended Installation Process of Windows XP Professional

Unattended Installation Process of Windows XP Professional

In this installation we create an answer file which is used while installing Operating System. So there is no
need to attend the installation process after running setup.

Steps for unattended installation

1. Insert XP CD in the Drive

2. Browse XP CD

3. Go to SUPPORT – TOOLS - DEPLOY.CAB – Setupmgr.exe (right click & Extract )

4. Select location & click extract again.

5. Go to the location & open setupmgr.exe & click next

6. Create New answer file – Windows Unattended Installation – select window & version – select fully
automated – Click No – I accept - Next

7. Now fill the Prompt & required Information.

8. You will find two files (unattended. bat & Unattended.txt)

9. Click on unattended. bat (Your installation would start)

10. If you installation doesn’t start then right click on unattended. bat & click edit…

Check the file path… & run again

Note: 1. This installation doesn’t format the drive.

2. A running Operating system is required

3. This installation is for Dual boot, Multi Boot, Upgrade & Repair the window