Category: Windows Server

RDP Logs

February 13, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2012 Server, Windows Server

You should be able to check the Event Viewer and go through the Security section to see the Audit Successes and Failures for logins. If you are on the general tab, there is a box at the top (which you have to scroll through) that would say why it failed if it was a Failure and lower in that box it would say the source network address and the workstation name that was connecting.

Update:

To view the RDP logins:

Event Viewer > Applications and Services logs > Microsoft > Windows > TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager > Operational

Disabling Recursive DNS in the Plesk Panel and No Panels

January 30, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Administration, CentOS 6, CentOS 7, DNS, Plesk, Windows Server

To Disable Recursive DNS in the Parallels Plesk Panel

  1. Log in to the Parallels Plesk Panel as administrator.
  2. Click Tools & Settings.
  3. From the General Settings area, click DNS Template Settings.
  4. Click DNS Recursion.Select Localnets, and then click Ok.

For Windows Servers:

  1. Log in to your  Server  through a Remote Desktop Connection.
  2. From the Start menu, click Control Panel, Administrative Tools, then DNS.
  3. In the console tree, right-click the appropriate DNS server, and then click Properties.
  4. Click the Advanced tab.
  5. Under Server options, check Disable recursion, and then click OK.
  6. In the console tree, right-click the appropriate DNS server, and then click Clear Cache.

CentOS


# cd /etc
# nano named.conf

Change this line

# recursion yes;

to

# recursion no;

Restart

# service named restart

Ubuntu


# nano /etc/bind/named.conf.options

Set up like this

// global options apply to external clients
options {
    recursion no;
    additional-from-auth no;
    additional-from-cache no;
};

view "local" in {
    // view options enable recursion only for local clients
    match-clients { 172.16.45.80/23; 192.168.12.0/24; 127.0.0.1/8; ::1; };
    recursion yes;
    additional-from-auth yes;
    additional-from-cache yes;

    zone "." in {
            type hint;
            file "/etc/bind/db.root";
    };

    // put definitions for zones like "localhost" and "127.in-addr.arpa" here
}

// put definitions for real authoritative zones here.

PLesk and Windows HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable

January 21, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Plesk, Windows Server

You get this error:

Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

The application pools were failing to start as they were not able to login using the proper account. Here is the error:

Application pool plesk(default)(2.0)(pool) has been disabled. Windows Process Activation Service (WAS) did not create a worker process to serve the application pool because the application pool identity is invalid.

Reset the password on the two accounts:

IWAM_plesk(default)
IWPD_11(unique)

Then reset the login creditendials for the two application pools. The application pools started and the sites are working again.

How to connect and disconnect a network drive in Windows

January 17, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Windows Server

Connect a drive from My Network Places

Click Start, click My Network Places, click Entire Network, and then double-click Microsoft Windows Network.
Double-click the domain that you want to open.
Double-click the computer that has the shared resource you want to map. All the shared resources for that computer automatically appear in the window.
Right-click the shared drive or folder that you want to map, and then click Map Network Drive.
Click the drive letter that you want to use, and then specify whether you want to reconnect every time that you log on to your computer.

Note Network drives are mapped by using letters starting from the letter Z. This is the default drive letter for the first mapped drive you create. However, you can select another letter if you want to use a letter other than Z.
Click Finish.

A windows opens that displays the contents of the resource you mapped.

Connect a drive from My Computer or Windows Explorer

To connect a drive from My Computer, click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Explore.

To connect a drive from Windows Explorer, right-click Start, and then click Explore.
On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.
In the Drive box, click a drive letter.
In the Folder box, type the UNC path for the server and shared resource in the following format: \\server name\share name. You can also click Browse to find the computer and shared resource.
You can map shared drives and shared folders. When you access a shared drive or folder you can also access subfolders if you have the appropriate permissions. However, you cannot map a drive for a subfolder that is not explicitly configured as a shared resource.

Use the Net Use command to map or disconnect a drive

You can use the net use command for batch files and scripts. To use the net use command to map or disconnect a drive:
To map a network drive:
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type cmd.
Type net use x: \\computer name\share name, where x: is the drive letter you want to assign to the shared resource.
To disconnect a mapped drive:
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type cmd.
Type net use x: /delete, where x: is the drive letter of the shared resource.

Disconnect from a mapped network drive

Click Start, and then click My Computer.
Right-click the icon for the mapped drive.
Click Disconnect.

SQL Server Firewall Rule in Plesk on Windows server

January 16, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Plesk, SQL Server, Windows Server

Enable the firewall within Plesk then add the needed rules to Windows Firewall (set the IP’s can connect on tcp/1433). Plesk does not have the ability to set the IP’s or IP range.

Resources
http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/configuring-ms-sql-server-for-remote-access
http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/creating-an-inbound-custom-allow-rule-for-windows-firewall-windows-2008

Change Windows Server 2008 Password

January 3, 2015 The Geek Decoder No Comments Windows Server

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754651%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

To change the Administrator password in Windows Server 2008

Log on to the computer using the Administrator account.
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click User Accounts.
In User Accounts, in Make changes to your user account, click Change your password.
In Change your password, in Current Password, type your password.
In New password, type a new password.
In Confirm new password, retype the password.
In Type a password hint, type a word or phrase that will remind you of your password or, optionally, leave this field blank.
Click Change password.

If in RDP:

Press CRTL+ALT+END

this is in essence the same thing as CTRL+ALT+DEL, it will display the login security screen where you can change the password, lock the computer, shut down, etc.

Add User to Filezilla Server

November 7, 2014 The Geek Decoder No Comments FTP, Windows Server

If you have a Windows server and FileZilla Server as your FTP server (the default for our Managed Windows servers), you can easily add additional FTP users as needed. Each user will be ‘jailed’ into their shared folder.

Open FileZilla Server Interface (start menu or desktop icon), then click ‘OK’ on the ‘Connect to Server’ dialog.’
Go to Edit -> Users.
Click Add, type in username, then click ‘OK’.
Click the ‘password’ checkbox and enter the password.
Click ‘Shared folders’, then click ‘Add’ and choose a folder.
Check (enable) all permissions under ‘Files’ and ‘Directories’.
Click ‘OK’ towards the bottom.

The users/settings will be updated on the last step.