Citrix XenDesktop Personal vDisk Stats using Microsoft Excel and PowerShell V2.1
Posted inBlog PowerShell XenDesktop 5.x

Citrix XenDesktop Personal vDisk Stats using Microsoft Excel and PowerShell V2.1

Yeah, I know.  I just updated the script a couple of days ago and here is another update.  Well, I just couldn’t stand it that the script couldn’t support sending email over anything but the default SMTP port 25.  I just had to fix that but doing so required basing the script on PowerShell version 3.  The script now requires at least PowerShell version 3 and there are a couple of more parameters.

Posted inActive Directory Certification Server 2012

Default Domain Group Policy – What Should Be Configured?

Ever since I started working with Microsoft Active Directory (AD) in July 2001, I have always wondered what should be configured in the Default Domain Group Policy Object (GPO).  I have had a couple of my AD mentors tell me what should be in the Default Domain GPO and I have parroted their recommendation for years now because I agree with them.  I am sure I also read somewhere in the past 12 years the Best Practices for this GPO but just have never been able to find it.  This morning I finally came across an article from Microsoft that clearly states what the Best Practices are for the Default Domain GPO.

Creating a Group Policy using Microsoft PowerShell to Configure the Authoritative Time Server
Posted inActive Directory PowerShell Server 2012

Creating a Group Policy using Microsoft PowerShell to Configure the Authoritative Time Server

In my 10 Things in AD… presentations, I talk about the importance of having the domain controller that holds the Primary Domain Controller Emulator (PDCe) role configured as the authoritative time source for the forest.  In the PDF that accompanies the presentations, I include a link to a Microsoft Ask the Directory Service Team blog article.  The main problem with that article is there is not enough detail for a lot of people.  Now that Server 2008 and later include PowerShell cmdlets for Group Policy, I thought I would add some detail on creating the Group Policy with PowerShell.

Posted inActive Directory Server 2012

What Happens to the FSMO Roles When the Domain Controller That Holds Them is Demoted

At Briforum 2013 Chicago, after my session on More Things in AD…, someone asked me a question.  The question was “What happens to the FSMO roles when the domain controller that holds them is demoted and is no longer a domain controller?”  The person asking the question was wondering, in an emergency, if a  domain controller (DC) must be quickly demoted and it is unknown if the DC holds any FSMO roles, what happens?  I gave the answer and this article is to show proof my answer was correct because the asker gave me a puzzled look.  Kind of looking at me asking “Are you sure?”

Posted inReceiver XenApp 6.5

Curious Case FP2

At Synergy 2013, Citrix announced XenApp 6.5 FP2, among other things. I have been looking at this announcement with a kind of special interest, my first curious case, which you…
Documenting a Citrix XenApp 6 Farm with Microsoft PowerShell and Word – Version 3
Posted inPowerShell XenApp XenApp 6.0

Documenting a Citrix XenApp 6 Farm with Microsoft PowerShell and Word – Version 3

The script to document a Citrix XenApp 6 farm has proven to be very popular.  I had not always wanted to take the time to create a version of the script that would output to a Microsoft Word document because this script had not been downloaded very much.  But in the last few months, the script has been downloaded several thousands of times.  So I finally decided it was time to create a version of this script that creates a Word document.  Ryan Revord had taken the XenApp 6.0 version of the script and changed it to create a basic Microsoft Word document.  Ryan saved me a lot of work but I wanted improve on the document created by adding a cover page, Table of Contents and footer.  This article will explain the changes to the script to create a Word document.

Documenting a Citrix Provisioning Services Farm with Microsoft PowerShell and Word – Version 2
Posted inPowerShell PVS

Documenting a Citrix Provisioning Services Farm with Microsoft PowerShell and Word – Version 2

The script to document a Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) farm has proven to be very popular.  I have always wanted to take the time to create a version of the script that would output to a Microsoft Word document.  Ryan Revord had taken the XenApp 6.0 script and changed it to create a basic Microsoft Word document.  Ryan saved me a lot of work but I wanted improve on the document created by adding a cover page, Table of Contents and footer.  This article will explain the changes to the script to create a Word document.