Test Layout

As of build 1709 (that is September 2017), Windows Server 2016 does not support using FRS (File Replication Service) for the replication of SYSVOL data on domain controllers. Some of you are saying: "Man, that's old. Who uses that anymore?" Well, anyone that never bothered to update which is probably most small and even mid-sized businesses who have been updating to a new OS version over the years, but didn't realize they had a choice for SYSVOL replication. The good news is that the update is really easy to do. The steps are as follows: Run dfsrmig /setglobalstate 1 Wait until dfsrmig /getmigrationstate says all domain controllers have updated to state prepared Run dfsrmig /setglobalstate 2 Wait until dfsrmig /getmigrationstate says all domain controllers have updated to state redirected Run dfsrmig /setglobalstate 3 Wait until dfsrmig /getmigrationstate says all domain controllers have updated to state eliminated A very nice writeup for this process with screenshots

When you install your first Exchange Server 2013 or Exchange Server 2016 server, a certificate with the friendly name Microsoft Exchange Server Auth Certificate is created. This certificate is self-signed and used for OAuth authentication between applications such as Exchange Server and SharePoint. However, it is also used for hybrid deployments between on-premises Exchange Server and Exchange Online. This certificate is unique because it is installed on all of your Exchange servers. The subject for the certificate is "CN=Microsoft Exchange Server Auth Certificate" and does not contain any SAN names with references to specific servers. It also has a 5-year lifetime. Which is just long enough for everyone to forget about it. I suspect that this certificate is due to expire in many organizations soon. Today I got a call from an organization with the following symptoms: Outlook clients were slow to start Outlook clients were not displaying the user's calendar Outlook clients

While setting up a new server running Windows Server 2016, I had the install of the latest cumulative update (May 2018) failing with error code 0x800705b4. When I searched about this error there were a lot of articles describing how to reset Windows Update and potentially solve this issue. Most of those pertained to Windows 10. For Windows Server 2016, I found a quick and easy solution. Download and install the update by using sconfig instead. Apparently sconfig uses a different process for installing updates than the graphical interface. First, open a PowerShell prompt or command prompt as Administrator: Select Option 6 to download and install updates. This opens another window: Select whether you want to list all updates or just recommended updates. And then select which updates you want to install. After installation, you'll be prompted to restart just like the standard update process.