Here are a few points which you can consider while doing computer migration. These points are applicable to all migrations irrespective of the migration tool (ADMT, NetIQ, Quest etc)
Here is a graphical representation of the high level steps involved in an Active Directory migration using ADMT
Pre-creating user account in the target domain is a common scenario these days due to single-sign-on solution, HR management procedure etc
Rights Management Service (RMS) is an add-on to many RMS aware applications. In this article my main focus is to explain how we can utilize RMS technology with Exchange 2003 and how we can take advantage of RMS technology to increase the email security
I am sure we have all either encountered or heard of this "problem" one time or another if the ISA Server is part of the Active Directory Domain. Is it a problem?
Microsoft Scripting Guy has announced the top 10 scripts in the Microsoft Script Gallery. My script - List Group Members in Active Directory has ranked #8 on the list..Woo hoo 
At number eight, we have the List Group Members in Active Directory script written by Microsoft Directory Services MVP, Santhosh Sivarajan. This excellent script had a great following in 2011.
Santhosh's blog: Santhosh Sivarajan's Blog
You can read the complete reports on the following website:
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award – Directory Services
Perfect start to my 2012. Received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for the 2nd time.
Received the email this morning.
Dear Santhosh Sivarajan,
Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2012 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Directory Services technical communities during the past year.
Also in this email:
- About your MVP Award Gift
- How to claim your award benefits
- Your MVP Identification Number
- MVP Award Program Code of Conduct
The Microsoft MVP Award provides us the unique opportunity to celebrate and honor your significant contributions and say "Thank you for your technical leadership."
Nestor Portillo
Director
Community & Online Support
MVP Award News
Business Journal - http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/potmsearch/detail/submission/479181
Indo American News - http://www.indoamerican-news.com/?p=5487
Voice Of Asia - http://voiceofasiaonline.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=1337
Update 12/6/2011 12:21 PM – I have added a few more Component Architecture Posters to one of my old blogs - http://portal.sivarajan.com/2010/07/microsoft-component-architecture-poster.html
The Component Architecture Poster provides a visual reference for understanding the key services and technologies. The following are the collection of these Microsoft Component Architecture posters:
Windows Server
Windows Server 2008 Active Directory - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17881
Windows Server 2008 Feature Components - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17881
Windows Server 2008 R2 Feature - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=7002
Windows Server 2008 R2 - Remote Desktop Services - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3262
Windows Server 2008 R2 - Hyper-V - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3501
Exchange
Exchange Server 2010 Architecture - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5764
Exchange Server 2010 Transport Server Role - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=21987
Exchange Server 2007 Architecture- http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4006
Exchange Server 2007 Transport Server Role - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=13117
Lync Server
Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads - http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=6797
SharePoint
Design Sample: Corporate Portal with Classic Authentication
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196969)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196970)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196971)
Design Sample: Corporate Portal with Claims-based Authentication
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196972)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196973)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196974)
SharePoint 2010 Products Deployment
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=183024)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=183025)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=183026)
Services in SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167090)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167092)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167091)
Cross-farm Services in SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167093)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167095)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167094)
Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167087)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167089)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167088)
Extranet Topologies for SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187987)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187988)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187986)
Hosting Environments in SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167084)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167086)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167085)
Search Technologies for SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167731)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167733)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167732)
Search Environment Planning for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167734)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167736)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167735)
Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167737)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167739)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167738)
Design Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167740)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167742)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167741)
Business Connectivity Services Model
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165565)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165566)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165571)
Content Deployment in SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=179391&clcid=0x409)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=179523&clcid=0x409)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=179524&clcid=0x409)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade Planning
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167098)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167099)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167100)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade Approaches
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167101)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167102)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167103)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 — Test Your Upgrade Process
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167104)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167105)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167106)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 — Services Upgrade
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167107)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167108)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167109)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 — Upgrading Parent and Child Farms
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=190984)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=190985)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=190986)
Getting started with business intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167082)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167170)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167171)
Databases That Support SharePoint 2010 Products
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187970)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187969)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=187971)
SharePoint 2010 Products: Virtualization Process
- Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=195021)
- PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=195022)
- XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=195023)
I am not sure if you guys are aware that a few Microsoft e-books are available for free download. Here are the details:
Moving to Visual Studio 2010
Programming Windows Phone 7
Office 365 - Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime
Windows 7 Product Guide
Introducing SQL Server 2008 R2
Introducing Windows 2008 R2
Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions
Deploying Windows 7 - Essential Guidance
First Look Microsoft Office 2010
Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft
Identify OCS enabled users in Active Directory
Dsquery * -filter (msRTCSIP-UserEnabled=TRUE) –limit 0 –attr name samaccountname
Query Password Last Set (pwdlastset) value
dsquery * -filter "&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)" -limit 0 -attr name pwdlastset
Note: Time can be convered using the w32tm /ntte command.
Search Password Never Expires Settings
Dsquery * -limit 0 “(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=65536))” –attr samaccoutname name
Password Expiring in 30 Days
dsquery * -limit 0 -filter "(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=4194304))" -attr name samaccountname
User accounts with “Do not require kerberos preauthentication” enabled
Dsquery * -limit 0 “(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=8388608)(!userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=65536)(pwdLastSet>=129522420000000000)(pwdLastSet<=129548340000000000))” –attr samaccountname name
List all Roaming Profile users in Active Directory
dsquery * -filter "&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(profilePath=*)" -limit 0 -name
Generate SIDHistory Report
dsquery * -filter "&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)" –attr samAccountName sidHistory
Generate SID (ObjectSID) Report
dsquery * -filter "&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)" –attr samAccountName Object
Identify all Security Groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectCategory=group)
(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.804:=2147483648))" –attr samAccountName nameIdentify all Built-In Security Groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectCategory=group)
(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2147483649))" –attr samAccountName nameIdentify all Universal Security Groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectCategory=group)
(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2147483656))" –attr samAccountName nameIdentify all Gloabl Security Groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectCategory=group)
(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2147483650))" –attr samAccountName name
Move Computer Objects Based on OS Version
Move Widnows 7 Computers
dsquery * CN=Computers,DC=santhosh,DC=lab -filter "(&(ObjectClass=computer)(objectCategory=Computer)(operatingSystemVersion=6.1))" | dsmove -newparent OU=Win7,OU=ComputerAccounts,DC=santhosh,DC=lab
Move Windows XP Computers
dsquery * CN=Computers,DC=santhosh,DC=lab -filter "(&(ObjectClass=computer)(objectCategory=Computer)(operatingSystemVersion=5.1))" | dsmove -newparent OU=WinXP,OU=ComputerAccounts,DC=santhosh,DC=lab
List all Sites in Active Directory
Dsquery site * -name
Get Site Name from Subnet IP Address in Active Directory (For example, Site Name for Subnet 192.168.2.0/24)
Dsquery Subnet -Name 192.168.2.0/24 | Dsget Subnet -Site
This is an updated version of one of my old scripts - http://portal.sivarajan.com/2011/04/list-local-administrator-group-members.html based on the discussion in the http://sivarajan.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=59 thread.
This updated script
Script
Output
It generates 2 output files – Servers.csv and SGroupMemberDetails.csv. The Servers.csv contains all computer information from Active Directory (output of Seach_AD function) and SGroupMemberDetails.csv file contains the Local Admin group membership details .
You will also see the status in the console itself.
An email alert will be generated with SGroupMemberDetails.csv file (Send_Email function).
Note
In PowerShell V2, you can use Send-MailMessage cmdlet create an email message:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347693.aspx
Download
You can download the script from the following 2 locations:
This PowerShell Script can be used generate reports on user home folder (homedirectory) in Active Directory.
Download:
This PowerShell script can be used to collect Service information from remote machines.
Input – input.csv, contains all computer names in the following format:
Script:
Output – Server and service information will in the output file, ServiceInfo.csv
Download – You can download the script from following 2 locations:
This is an updated version of one of my old scripts (http://portal.sivarajan.com/2011/04/list-local-administrator-group-members.html) based on the discussion in the following thread:
http://sivarajan.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=59
This script searches Active Directory for computer objects and generate an output file - Servers.csv. This will be an input for the second part of the script – Local Admin details.
Download
As you can see in the following screenshot, you can select remote servers using Active Directory, DNS or you can import them.
Once you complete this process, you will these new servers in All Servers group. You can Add Roles, Features, Change configuration or perform any other administration task from this console.
I am going to install Active Directory Domain Services Role and perform a remote DCPROMO on my remote server – SAN-WIN08-02.
The process is same as installing a Role on a local machine. You can see more information in http://portal.sivarajan.com/2011/09/windows-8-serveradd-and-remove-roles.html
The next step is to configure this server as a Domain Controller. From the Server Manger Dashboard, you will see the required configuration details in the Roles and Sever Group section.
From this Notification window, you can start the DCPROMO process – Post-deployment Configuration.
In this demo, I am adding an additional Domain Controller to my existing domain. As you can see in the following screenshot, you have three options available:
Also, you will see a few more options like selecting a Site Name, GC etc in the configuration wizard.
You can configure,enable the DNS delegation and change credentials if needed.
In the next window, you can configure the database, log and SYSVOL locations. Also, you can select a domain controller for replication (Replicate From).
More options are available to customize the application partition replication by adding or removing these partitions, selecting only critical data etc.
Review these installation options and click Next to start the domain controller promotion process. This server (SAN-WIN08-02) will be an additional domain controller in the Santhosh.Lab2 domain.
These settings can be exported to a Windows PowerShell script to automate the installation options.
The DCPROMO process will perform a Prerequisite Check and Complete the installation. You will see the summary report in the Installation Result window.
