Powershell: Predefined Variables

Also called Automatic Variables.

Get-help about_automatic_variable

Time service commands

Determine current time source

w32tm /query /source

Config a manual time source

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:peers /syncfromflags:manual /update 

Replace "peers" with a list of time servers, delimited by space, enclosed with double quotes.
Ignore KBs that manually set registry entries

Config a manual time source as the top time source in forest

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:peers /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

What you should specify in [peers] value: worth reading:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875424

Detect time difference

w32tm /stripchart /computer:TimeServerName /samples:n /dataonly

Set server to use domain hierarchy

w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /update

After change time settings, it's normally required to restart time service

Note: If there is time difference, it takes time for the  system to bring the delta down slowly depending on how much correction can be made in one step. The change is gradual.


[Addition， Jun 13, 2012] When workstations and member servers have trouble synchronizing time with domain, you should check the hierarchy all the way up to forest PDC. I was seeing "The computer did not resync because no time data was available." error, plus time source being "Local CMOS" or "free running OS" etc., in child domain, but the root cause turned out to be forest root PDC wasn't working properly.

Token Size vs. Paged Pool - draft

This is mostly a complete copy from microsoft.com

When users access a resource using Windows authentication and authorization (for example logging on to a workstation or accessing a file share), an “access token” is built to represent that user.
      The number of SIDs (representing group membership, etc) in that token largely determines how much kernel memory space (Paged Pool) is required to store each copy of the token.
      These allocations follow a “stair-step” pattern, as follows:
      At approximately 84 SIDs, allocation jumps from 4KB to 8KB.
      At approximately 177 SIDs, allocation jumps from 8KB to 12KB.
      At approximately 270 SIDs, allocation jumps from 12KB to 16KB.
      At approximately 363 SIDs, allocation jumps from 16KB to 20KB and so on.

Programer's Font On Windows 7

I've been looking for a font on Windows 7 that's good for scripting. The two main requirements are:

1. It has to be fixed width (monospace) (of course!);
2. It can easily let you tell the difference between a 0 (zero) and an O (as in Oops!)

There are a lot nice fonts but filtered by above two criteria and native to Windows 7, it comes down to Consolas.

2011 Microsoft Scripting Game - Advanced Leader Board

I was recently in the Scripting Guy 2011 game advanced group and placed 32nd overall. Not too bad :-) considering I didn't have enough time to finish all scripts (I've done 8 out of 10), neither did I have time to polish my scripts which costed quite a few points :-(. Nevertheless it's a great experience. I learned a lot new PowerShell techniques along the way!

2011 Advanced Group Final Leader Board

Using System Namespace In Powershell

There are many cool pre-defined constants, functions, methods, and etc. in System object. One would normally learn individual ones through sample scripts, but really should browse the MSDN page to explore what System namespace has to offer. Go to a class/structure/enumeration that you are interested, then pay special attention to those static members.

A few examples:

[System.DateTime]::Today  versus [System.DateTime]::Now
[System.String]::Empty
[System.Console]:: almost everything are static, not surprisingly
[System.Math]::PI

There are also a bunch of other namespaces, please see .Net Framework Libraries

Local Admin Account vs. account lockout

You can't really lock out an admin account - as long as you type in the correct password on *local console*, the system will unlock it automatically. This makes sense - legit users need a way to get into the system when all other credentials are failing - completely locking out all users surely won't make happy customers.

However this increases the risk of being cracked by brutalforce method. For companies who want to maximize the security and are willing to pay the cost of losing acceess due to lost passswords, there is a way to put admins under same lockout policy as ordinary users. MS has an old tool called passprop.exe that can enforce lockout policy, even against admins.

        passprop /adminlockout

This is no longer needed in Windows 2008. There are pre-define security polices in Windows 2008 will do the same.

LDAP search can't find secondary email addresses

You can search primary address using filter like (mail=JohnDoe@foo.com), but similar filter (proxyAddresses=johnDoe@foo.com) won't return anything. This is because attribute "proxyAddresses" holds not only smtp addresses, but also other types, e.g. RightFax, X.25, as well. To search secondary smtp addresses, you need to define a filter like this

(proxyAddresses=smtp:johnDoe@foo.com)

Java JDNI Authentication Against AD

Keep in mind that some of the mechanisms require the user's password stored in reversible format and password be reset.

JNDI, Active Directory and Authentication (Part 1) (Kerberos)
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=579829&tstart=300

JNDI, Active Directory & Authentication (part 2) (SSL)
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=581425&tstart=50

How LDAP Error Codes Map to JNDI Exceptions

LDAP Status Code Meaning Exception or Action
0 Success Report success.
1 Operations error NamingException
2 Protocol error CommunicationException
3 Time limit exceeded. TimeLimitExceededException
4 Size limit exceeded. SizeLimitExceededException
5 Compared false. Used by DirContext.search(). Does not generate an exception.
6 Compared true. Used by DirContext.search(). Does not generate an exception.
7 Authentication method not supported. AuthenticationNotSupportedException
8 Strong authentication required. AuthenticationNotSupportedException
9 Partial results being returned. If the environment property "java.naming.referral" is set to "ignore" or the contents of the error do not contain a referral, throw a PartialResultException. Otherwise, use contents to build a referral.

What Certificate Authorities You (Are Forced to )Trust and Why

In our real life, any identity issuing agency gets their power from government that people elected. You can't just claim you can/want to issue identity certificates because nobody is going to trust what you issue.

Then why the heck that there are so many "trusted" root CAs in our operating systems that we didn't endorse? In other words we are forced to trust some companies that we didn't elect. How did those CAs get their "trusted" status?

The answer is that it's Microsoft who decides what CAs it wants to add into its Windows trusted list. They have a program called "Microsoft Root Certificate Program". As long as you meet MS' requirements, you can apply and (hopefully) get the same status as big guys as VeriSign, Thawte, etc.

Not surprisingly, you can expect that other main stream OSes/browsers have same kind of programs.

Some may argue that why should Microsoft make the choice on their behalf. Well, if you decided to use Windows, you, intentionally or unintentionally, decide to trust whatever Microsoft put on the system anyway, don't you? We can only trust that Microsoft's verification program will do their job.

Want to know who is in the list being trusted? Please see KB931125

Access denied when open a network drive

When openning a network drive, what is the difference between double clicking the driver letter versus typing the letter in address bar then enter? No really you would think.

I was troubleshooting a ticket where a user got "Access Denied" by double clicking in the meantime using address bar worked just fine. Needless to say, permissions are all correct on the netwokr share. It's just how you access it. The issue follows the user so I looked up and down in the user's properties in AD and group policies but failed to find anything.

It turned out it was caused by a little file, autorun.inf, under the root of that network drive. By double clicking the system tried to run it and it required something that this user didn't have permission to. Removing the file resolved the issue!

AD limitations and scalability

This topic describes Active Directory scalability and other limitations, as well as recommendations that apply when you are designing or implementing an Active Directory infrastructure. These limitations include the following:


Maximum Number of Objects
Maximum Number of Security Identifiers
Maximum Number of entries in Discretionary and Security Access Control Lists
Group Memberships for Security Principals
FQDN Length Limitations
File Name and Path Length Limitations
Additional Name Length Limitations
Maximum Number of GPOs Applied
Trust Limitations
Maximum Number of Accounts per LDAP Transaction
Recommended Maximum Number of Users in a Group
Recommended Maximum Number of Domains in a Forest
Recommended Maximum Number of Domain Controllers in a Domain
Recommended Maximum Kerberos Settings
Maximum Number of Objects

MIT Kerberos 5 FAQ

Account lockout-related event logs

Event ID
Description
528
A user successfully logged on to a computer. For information about the type of logon, see the Logon Types table below.
529
Logon failure. A logon attempt was made with an unknown user name or a known user name with a bad password.
530
Logon failure. A logon attempt was made, but the user account tried to log on outside of the allowed time.