Download Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services Server and Client with Service Pack 1

Microsoft introduce Windows Rights Management Services in Windows Server 2003 to protect sensitive business e-mail messages and business productivity documents could be shared and used. In Windows Server 2008 it is named Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS). AD RMS is a role of Windows Server 2008 but with Windows Server 2003 it is must downloaded.

You can download Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8EF6D80A-6A9C-4FB9-AB51-790980816FFE&displaylang=en and Microsoft Windows Rights Management Service Client at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A154648C-881A-41DA-8455-042D7033372B&displaylang=en
How to install and configure AD RMS. I will write in later post.

Using SYSPREP.EXE to Change SID in Windows Server 2008 and Vista

I use VMware Workstration to create Virtual machines. Installing operating system for Virtual Machine is boring. I often clone virtual machine. This make virtual machines have same SID that these VMs do not have ability join domain. In previous version of Windows, we can use NewSID tool. This tool can not use in Windows Server 2008 and later. A new tool become candidate is "SYSPREP.EXE" included in Windows Server 2008 that we can use it by type sysprep in RUN dialog, SYSPREP Preparation Tool appear. If you want to create a new SID, remember to CHECK the “Generalize” checkbox

I use VMware Workstration to create Virtual machines. Installing operating system for Virtual Machine is boring. I often clone virtual machine. This make virtual machines have same SID that these VMs do not have ability join domain. In previous version of Windows, we can use NewSID tool. This tool can not use in Windows Server 2008 and later. A new tool become candidate is "SYSPREP.EXE" included in Windows Server 2008 that we can use it by type sysprep in RUN dialog, SYSPREP Preparation Tool appear. If you want to create a new SID, remember to CHECK the “Generalize” checkbox.

During the following reboot a new SID is automatically generated - and you will have to type in your Product/License Key, provide a new Computer Name, select an Administrator Password etc.

Ferrari Theme for Windows 7 (cool theme)

In previous post, I introduced to you some nice themes for Windows 7. Today, I will show you a nice theme that developed by Microsoft and Ferrari in italy. A Ferrari Desktop theme for Windows 7.

In previous post, I introduced to you some nice themes for Windows 7. Today, I will show you a nice theme that developed by Microsoft and Ferrari in italy. A Ferrari Desktop theme for Windows 7. Although, this theme is not yet officially release, but you can download and enjoy it. You can download here

Installing Active Directory Certificate Services

In Windows Server 2008, Micorosft introduce many features about Active Directory Services. One of them is Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS), it is important to understand what, why, when, how to use ADCS. ADCS is the backbone of Microsoft' Public key Infrastructures (PKIs). It will allow you to issue certificates for SSL/TTL user on websites or digitally sign your email.

Now let’s take a look at installing Active Directory Certificate Services.

Certain versions of Server 2008 only allow certain AD CS components to be installed; please take a look at this table for reference:

• CA – issues certificates to users, computers and services while also managing their validity; comes in root and subordinate
• Network Device Enrollment Service – allows network devices (i.e. routers) to request and receive certificates based on Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP)
• Online Responder Service – implements Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) by evaluating certificate status, decoding revocation status requests, and sending back signed responses containing certificate status information

Install Enterprise Certificate Authority on a Windows 2008 Server

In this article, I will show you how to install Enterprise Certificate Authority on a Windows 2008 Server. Although, You should plan to deploy ADCS carefully. There are two types root CA: Enterprise CA and Stand-Alone CA, common we install a Stand-Alone for the root CA and Enterprise CA for Subordinate . But for testing purpose only, i will show you how to install Enterprise Root CA on a Windows Server 2007.
The Server is a member of the domain, user is domain admins

1. Open Server Manager.

2. Select Roles, then click Add Roles in the center pane.

3. The Before You Begin page may show up if you haven’t turned it off already. If you see it just click Next.

4. In the Select Server Roles window go ahead and select Active Directory Certificate Services by placing a checkmark next to it, then go ahead and click Next.

5. Now you will see an Introduction to Active Directory Certificate Services, where you can read about the good things you can do with AD CS.

The biggest thing to note here is the following:

Name & Domain settings of this computer cannot be changed after a CA has been installed. If you want to change the computer name, join a domain, or promote this server to a domain controller do so BEFORE install thing the CA.

Now with that warning out of the way, go ahead and click on Next.

6. Next you get to Select Role Services, which can include any of the following depending on what version of Windows Server 2008 you are installing this on — refer to the table above for specifics.

For this install I am going to choose the Certification Authority only.

7. Now comes the Specify Setup Type, and for this I am going to select the Enterprise radio button.

8. For the Specify CA Type, I am going to choose the Root CA radio button and then click Next.

9. In Set Up Private Key, I am going to choose Create a new private key radio button and then select Next.

10. Now you have to Configure Cryptography for CA in this window and there are quite a few to choose from.

Now I am no expert on cryptography, but some basic rules do apply … the longer the key the harder it is to crack. For our purposes I am going to use the following settings:

RSA#Microsoft Software Key Storage Provider
4096 Key Character length
md5 Hash algorithm

Recommend using SHA1 or SHA2 hash algorithm for backward-compability with old versions

Now I am going to click Next.

11. In Configure CA Name you can choose to overwrite the default common name for this CA and also the Distinguished name suffix if you so choose.

I am going to overwrite the default common name with Test-Enterprise-CA, but I will leave the rest alone.

12. Next we will Set Validity Period for this CAs certificate.

Remember a root CA issues itself a certificate. The default is 5 Years so I will just leave it at that. You can change this based on any need you might have in your environment. Click Next.

13. Configure Certificate Database will let you specify where you want to put the database and log files for the CA.

I am going to leave the default in place. Click Next.

14. On the Confirm Installation Selections you can see the answers you have chosen and you will again see a warning that you cannot change the computer name or domain settings for this server after installing the CA.

Go ahead and click Install… you know you want to!

15. After a few minutes you will see the Installation Results, and with any luck you will have the message: Installation succeeded.

After your glow of certificate happiness fades go ahead and click Close.

16. Now let’s go in and take a look by clicking on Certification Authority in Administrative Tools (if you get a UAC pop up just click Ok).

17. Now you can see the snap-in is showing the CA named Test-Enterprise-CA in the left pane with a bunch of folders for certificates.

18. You can also see that if you click the Certificate Templates folder, there are quite a few default templates that are already setup and ready to go.

Summary

Now that we have installed the Active Directory Certificate Services the next step would be to request some certificates and configure them.

The installation for a stand-alone CA is very similar to this. In fact if you are not in a domain and if you are not installing as a domain admin you will not even get the option for an Enterprise CA setup, so if you see that grayed out you now know why.

What is the difference between OSPF E2 Routes and E1 Routes

Look at the figure above, when using OSPF dynamic routing, all routers exchange Link-State Packets between each Router. Router A is Autonomous System Border Router (ASBR) because it advertises external link to internal Routers. With RIP, IGRP, EIGRP the external network is in one type, but with OSPF the external network is redistributed by 2 types: E1 and E2

R1#show ip route
Codes: C - connected, S - static, I - IGRP, R - RIP, M - mobile, B - BGP
D - EIGRP, EX - EIGRP external, O - OSPF, IA - OSPF inter area
N1 - OSPF NSSA external type 1, N2 - OSPF NSSA external type 2
E1 - OSPF external type 1, E2 - OSPF external type 2, E - EGP

E2 is the default routes type for routes learned via redistribution. For example, Router C and other routers in the routing domain will learn external networks that Router A redistribute with cost from Router A to external network.

If Router A is configurable with E1. At this time, Router C in the routing domain will learn external networks via Router A with cost is cost of Router C to Router A and Router A to destination network

RA#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
RA(config)#router ospf 1
RA(config-router)#redistribute rip subnets metric-type 1

After configure external type 1, the cost from RouterC to External network is larger the cost from RouterC to external network with E2 configuration.

Experience on Windows 7 RTM

Yesterday, i installed Windows 7 RTM 64bit by USB. Some people do not believe that can install Windows 7 64bit from USB when computer is running 32bit operating system, please read my previous post to do that. Wow, Windows 7 is very nice and fast, it is faster than Windows Vista. I used Windows 7 from beta version, and now it is RTMed, i really wonder on it. Although, Windows officially released to world wide start at 1, oct, 2009 but many people can download Windows 7 now and using it. This is my screen shot:
The theme that i use is downloaded at previous post.
My english is not good, some words or grammar may be wrong, but i believe that you can understand :).
Note: Edit some words or grammar in my post is welcome

How to check Intel and AMD Hyper-V Compatibility

You probably know that you can install Hyper-V only on a computer that supports Intel’s or AMD’s virtualization technologies (x86 virtualization), i.e. Intel VT and AMD-V. That is, the CPU and the BIOS have to support it. I have already encountered relatively new PCs which have processors with virtualization support, but the BIOS setup doesn’t have an option to enable it. Sometimes it helps to update the BIOS.
AMD and Intel both offer free tools that allow you to check whether a computer supports hardware virtualization. If you’re unsure, you should use these utilities before you install Hyper-V. They also show whether virtualization is enabled. On most systems it is disabled by default for security reasons. To enable it, you have to change the corresponding BIOS settings. That is, you have to enable hardware virtualization and the NX-bit (AMD) or the XD-bit (Intel) respectively. Hyper-V can be installed without CPU virtualization enabled, but then its hypervisor won’t start and you will find related error messages in the event log.
Unfortunately, the Intel tool is not 100% reliable. I tried it on a Fujitsu-Siemens server which definitely supported Intel VT, but Intel’s tool reported the opposite. We enabled Intel VT in the BIOS, and Hyper-V is running perfectly on this machine. I don’t know if the AMD tool is also that unreliable because we only have machines with AMD CPUs that don’t support AMD-V.
Please share your experiences with x86 virtualization. Did you have to update the BIOS? Did you also find that detection tools discusses here are a bit unreliable?

AMD Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility

Intel Processor Identification Utility

Source: http://4sysops.com/archives/free-detect-intel-and-amd-hyper-v-compatibility/