From http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd197418(WS.10).aspx
RegistrationRefreshInterval
Registry path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters
Version
Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008
The RegistrationRefreshInterval registry entry specifies how often the DNS Client service will register the A DNS resource records for its host computer. The value for this registry key is specified in seconds.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Windows Server 2008 R2 Core - Poking at the Firewall: Part 2
Despite my efforts, I have not yet found a way to use the "Server Manager" MMC snap-in to connect to a Server Core server (maybe it is too complex) ... but RDP, and other MMC snap-ins like Firewall management, DHCP, DNS, etc ... they are all available.
From http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee441255(WS.10).aspx
"1.On the server running a Server Core installation, type the following command at a command prompt:
cscript C:\Windows\System32\Scregedit.wsf /ar 0
This enables the Remote Desktop for Administration mode to accept connections.
"
and
"To allow all MMC snap-ins to connect, at a command prompt, type:
Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=“remote administration” new enable=yes
"
From http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee441255(WS.10).aspx
"1.On the server running a Server Core installation, type the following command at a command prompt:
cscript C:\Windows\System32\Scregedit.wsf /ar 0
This enables the Remote Desktop for Administration mode to accept connections.
"
and
"To allow all MMC snap-ins to connect, at a command prompt, type:
Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=“remote administration” new enable=yes
"
WuInstall - Command Line tool for WU Client
WuInstall 1.1 is a free command line tool (with a license for unlimited commercial & non-commercial use) for managing Windows Update clients a bit more effecively that the basic client provided by Microsoft.
It is written in C++ & uses the Windows Update API.
The three main commands /search /download & /install along with /reboot /shutdown /match & /criteria allow for a much more precise and informed method of managing updates via the command line.
It is written in C++ & uses the Windows Update API.
The three main commands /search /download & /install along with /reboot /shutdown /match & /criteria allow for a much more precise and informed method of managing updates via the command line.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Server 2008 upgrade to R2 - PART 3: Windows Server Update Services
Following the previous success of upgrading my DC, and Hyper-V servers I decided that it was time for my server that hosts the "Windows Server Update Services" role to be updated.
How did it go? In a nutshell... BLAH!
After the upgrade completed, WSUS was logging errors in the system log about not being able to connect to it's web sites. The reason became very obvious to me after I installed the IIS Management Console and had a look.... the WSUS application pool was not there, and neither was there any of the WSUS content in the "Default Web Site".
After a bit of searching on Google & Technet and finding nothing, I decided to uninstall the WSUS & IIS roles & then re-install.
Uninstall was easy ... just made sure to leave behind the downloaded updates, database, etc... and reboot.
Re-install was failing, saying that updates could not be found and suggesting that I might have a network connectivity issue. Well I didn't have a network connectivity issue, but I figured it was trying to use the WU client to connect to the MS updates site, and seeing how my WSUS Group Policy on the domain was pointing all systems to my WSUS server there was little wonder that it could not find any updates.
I decided the simplest and most certain way to revert the WU client to use the MS updates online was to change the "Specify intranet Microsoft update service location" to "Disabled" .... doing this instead of "Not Configured" ensured that it was actually disabled. I didn't really care if other systems picked up the policy in the short time it was going to be active.
Once I refreshed the policies on the WSUS server ("gpupdate /force"), and restarted the WU client service the installation of the WSUS role was successful - made sure to point to the original database & downloaded updates location... and everything was back to normal. PHEW!
How did it go? In a nutshell... BLAH!
After the upgrade completed, WSUS was logging errors in the system log about not being able to connect to it's web sites. The reason became very obvious to me after I installed the IIS Management Console and had a look.... the WSUS application pool was not there, and neither was there any of the WSUS content in the "Default Web Site".
After a bit of searching on Google & Technet and finding nothing, I decided to uninstall the WSUS & IIS roles & then re-install.
Uninstall was easy ... just made sure to leave behind the downloaded updates, database, etc... and reboot.
Re-install was failing, saying that updates could not be found and suggesting that I might have a network connectivity issue. Well I didn't have a network connectivity issue, but I figured it was trying to use the WU client to connect to the MS updates site, and seeing how my WSUS Group Policy on the domain was pointing all systems to my WSUS server there was little wonder that it could not find any updates.
I decided the simplest and most certain way to revert the WU client to use the MS updates online was to change the "Specify intranet Microsoft update service location" to "Disabled" .... doing this instead of "Not Configured" ensured that it was actually disabled. I didn't really care if other systems picked up the policy in the short time it was going to be active.
Once I refreshed the policies on the WSUS server ("gpupdate /force"), and restarted the WU client service the installation of the WSUS role was successful - made sure to point to the original database & downloaded updates location... and everything was back to normal. PHEW!
Windows Server 2008 R2 Core - Poking at the Firewall: Part 1
So... I can't ping my Core server, and I can't remotely manage it!
Well it's time to get cosy with Windows Advanced Firewall, and configuring it using the netsh command :-)
If you want to get your boots on and get into it knee deep, you can list all the firewall rules using the command:
netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all
Wow, now there's something to get your teeth into and provide yourself with some gripping reading for the next 15 minutes... not. Well not unless you know what you are looking for... and unless you have already had a good play with this stuff, then you can probbly only make an educated guess at what it is that you are looking at.
So, the first thing I want to be able to do is to get IPv4 ping replies from my server. You might ask: "Surely there is already a rule that I can turn on to allow this", and the answer would be "Yes"... there is, but I find that the rule is named in a way that slightly throws you off course...
The rule is called "File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)"
So, take a look at it with the following command:
netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name="File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)"
You will see that the "Action" will be set to "Allow" ... buuut the "Enabled" parameter is set to "No"
So to enable this rule you use the following command:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)" new enable=yes
While most of that is self explanetory, I wondered what the "new" bit was for, well the built-in help explained that:
"Values after the new keyword are updated in the rule. If ther are no values, or keyword new is missing, no changes are made."
So there we go, the server is now ping-able using IPv4. If you use IPv6, then the rule name is almost identical .. just change the 4 to a 6!
Remote Admin, and other fun things will follow in my next post!
Well it's time to get cosy with Windows Advanced Firewall, and configuring it using the netsh command :-)
If you want to get your boots on and get into it knee deep, you can list all the firewall rules using the command:
netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all
Wow, now there's something to get your teeth into and provide yourself with some gripping reading for the next 15 minutes... not. Well not unless you know what you are looking for... and unless you have already had a good play with this stuff, then you can probbly only make an educated guess at what it is that you are looking at.
So, the first thing I want to be able to do is to get IPv4 ping replies from my server. You might ask: "Surely there is already a rule that I can turn on to allow this", and the answer would be "Yes"... there is, but I find that the rule is named in a way that slightly throws you off course...
The rule is called "File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)"
So, take a look at it with the following command:
netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name="File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)"
You will see that the "Action" will be set to "Allow" ... buuut the "Enabled" parameter is set to "No"
So to enable this rule you use the following command:
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In)" new enable=yes
While most of that is self explanetory, I wondered what the "new" bit was for, well the built-in help explained that:
"Values after the new keyword are updated in the rule. If ther are no values, or keyword new is missing, no changes are made."
So there we go, the server is now ping-able using IPv4. If you use IPv6, then the rule name is almost identical .. just change the 4 to a 6!
Remote Admin, and other fun things will follow in my next post!
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