Tag: Windows Server

Hardening IIS Servers – some nifty tools

I was recently in need of the ability to harden an IIS server to remove things like the IIS and ASP.NET identifiers as well as enforce HTTPS, when I came across a great Powershell (go Powershell!) script that automates the whole process. You can download the script from https://github.com/drewhjelm/iis-hardening/blob/master/configure%20IIS%20security.ps1

*Test in a non-production environment first!*

There is only one prerequisite to deploy to IIS servers and that is URL Rewrite 2.0. After deploying URL Rewrite, run the Powershell Script (reboot will be required) and it will set the following settings:

  • Remove IIS and ASP.NET identification
  • Enforce HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security)
  • Enforce HTTPS (redirects all requests from HTTP to HTTPS)
  • Prevent framejacking
  • Disables insecure / weak ciphers
  • Configures SSL / TLS to meet PCI best practices

Another useful tool is Nartac Software IISCrypto. This tool focuses on crypto management of IIS in an easy to use interface as opposed to making all changes in the registry.

Thank you Microsoft for year #5!

I tend to look forward to January 1st each year, as this is my MVP Award renewal date. Woke up this morning and received the following message.

Thank you Microsoft, thank you to my wonderful MVP lead, and thanks to all of you. My goal this year is to try to do more blogging, and with Windows 10, Windows Server v.Next, and more on the way, that should be a relatively easy goal to achieve.

mvpaward

 

Office 365 / Azure Integration Update for Windows Server 2012 R2

If you’re a Windows Server 2012 R2 user and you use the Essentials Experience role (same features as the standalone SKU) in a multi domain controller (DC) environment, you may have noticed that the wizards for integrating with Office 365 and Windows Azure Active Directory are disabled. This is because they were designed to function in a single DC environment.

Today, Microsoft has corrected this behavior as part of update rollup 2975719. If you install this update rollup, you should now be able to use the wizards as intended.

More info: Update Rollup August 2014 | Office 365 Integration KB

Tip: Install Windows Server 2012 Essentials Connector without Domain Join

There may be times where you want to install the Windows Server 2012 Essentials Connector without joining a domain. By not joining the Essentials domain, the following features are impacted:

– Any features that require a domain such as Group Policy, SSO by use of AD credentials to domain resources

– Any 3rd-party add-ons or applications that require the use of a domain

The connector can be installed in these cases by creating a registry key prior to launching the connector installation.

1. Launch Command Prompt as an administrator

2. Run the following command (may need to remove the dash in “SkipDomainJoin” due to formatting):

reg add “HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows ServerClientDeployment” /v SkipDomainJoin /t REG_DWORD /d 1

3. Launch the Connector Installation

Honored for 4th year in a row as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

I am very pleased to announce that Microsoft has chosen me to be a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for the 4th year in a row. As many of you may know, I have been an MVP for Windows Home Server. However, with the discontinuation of Windows Home Server, I have been chosen to be an MVP for Windows Server for Small and Medium Business.

I am honored to have been chosen, and I look forward to all the amazing community work ahead in 2014.

Dear Tom,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2014 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 Windows Server for Small and Medium Business technical communities during the past year.

Microsoft releases Media Streaming Pack for Windows Server 2012 R2

As some of you may have noticed, Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials no longer includes media streaming functionality out of the box. This feature existed in the non-R2 version, as well as previous versions, dating all the way back to Windows Home Server v1.

Instead of keeping this feature in the base product, Microsoft have released the Media Streaming Pack for Windows Server 2012 R2.

The Media Streaming Pack adds media streaming functionality to Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials as well as those Standard and Datacenter servers running the Essentials Experience role.

The following features are included:

  • Streaming of media (photos, music and videos) to DLNA-compliant receivers
  • Smooth streaming to HTML5-compliant browsers through Remote Web Access and web service applications
  • Configuration through the Windows Server Essentials Dashboard

The Media Streaming pack is a free download from Microsoft and is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40837

How-to: Install Windows Server Update Services on Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

It’s here! As part of the general availability of Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, I’m releasing a new how-to guide. This guide is for installing Windows Server Update Services on Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. Windows Server Update Services is a valuable tool in any IT professional’s toolkit, and can be used to manage the distribution of updates to clients, be very useful in low-bandwidth environments where it is not a good idea to have 20 clients downloading the same files 20 times from the internet, and is a great way to get basic reporting about systems.

If you have feedback, either leave it in the comments or send me an e-mail (tom at tomontech dot com). NOTE: I can not provide individualized installation support, I simply don’t have the time.

WARNING: By viewing and / or downloading this guide, you assume all responsibility and liability in case anything goes wrong. You agree that I can not and will not be held responsible for any data loss or other issues resulting from the installation or use of Windows Server Update Services. This guide is intended to be a sample and is not representative of every scenario. Please consult with a qualified professional if you are unsure about any of the steps herein.

To view the guide, click here, or view the embedded version below. To download a PDF copy of this guide, click here.

//www.scribd.com/embeds/177586048/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-1s8n6ss0lrri27hsxa8o&show_recommendations=true

Configuring Group Policy for Windows Server Update Services on Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

This post is intended to be a supplement for the Installing WSUS on Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials guide.

To configure your client workstations to connect to WSUS, it is highly recommended to use Group Policy. Below I have included examples of Group Policy settings and the necessary WMI filters that can be used as a baseline policy in any environment.

The Default Windows Update Settings policy is intended to the base / default policy that is applied to all systems in the domain.

The Windows Update Settings – Servers policy is intended to supplement the default settings and apply server specific installation settings to server OSes. This policy requires the Servers WMI filter.

The Windows Update Settings – Workstations policy is intended to supplement the default settings and apply workstation specific installation settings to workstation OSes. This policy requires the workstations WMI filter.

WMI Filters

The following filters will work with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2.

Namespace (case-sensitive) WMI Filter
Servers (applies to domain controllers and member servers) rootCIMV2 select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where (Version >= “6.1%”) and ProductType = “2” or ProductType = “3”
Workstations rootCIMV2 select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where (Version >= “6.1%”) and ProductType=”1″

Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Experience Release Notes

Might be old news for some, however, in advance of General Availability this week for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, I wanted to highlight a couple items relating to the new Windows Server Essentials Experience.

From the Release Notes:

· The Windows Server Essentials Experience only works in a single-domain environment that does not include a read-only domain controller. There is no workaround at this time.

· If you install Windows Server Essentials as a virtual machine, and if your server is not connected to the network (or the DHCP service is not available) while running the Configure Windows Server Essentials Wizard, Anywhere Access functionalities (such as Remote Web Access, virtual private networking and DirectAccess) are blocked.

To avoid this, ensure that your server has a network connection when you install Windows Server Essentials as a virtual machine and run the Configure Windows Server Essentials Wizard. If this has already occurred, manually configure the DNS settings.

Quick Tip: Windows Server 2012 Internal Database Connection String

Today’s quick tip is for Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. If you’re attempting to use SQL Server Management Studio to manage the Windows Internal Database instance, the connection string has been changed.

To connect to Windows Internal Database on Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2, you will need to use the following.

\.pipeMICROSOFT##WIDtsqlquery

SQL 2012 Connect to Server