Month: April 2017

Installing an SSL Certificate in Exchange 2007 / 2010 and assigning it to Exchange Services

Installing an SSL Certificate in Exchange 2007 / 2010 and assigning it to Exchange Services

SSL Prerequisite(s):

You will have generated a CSR (Certificate Signing Request), prior to this. For an easy way to generate the EMS CSR Command, see here:

Exchange 2007 EMS CRS Command Generator: Exchange 2007 CSR
Exchange 2010 EMS CRS Command Generator: Exchange 2010 CSR

You will have Installed your Intermediate Certificate (via mmc) prior to the below.

——————————————————————————————–

How to Import the SSL Certificate

From an elevated Exchange Management Shell, run the following command to import the SSL Certificate into Exchange 2007 \ 2010:

Import-ExchangeCertificate -FileData ([Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path c:\certificates\YOUR_CERTIFICATE.cer -Encoding byte -ReadCount 0))

Note: Replace “c:\certificates\YOUR_CERTIFICATE.cer” with the path of your Certificate location

——————————————————————————————–

To enable the Certificate and assign it to the relevant services, run the following command:

Assign Certificate in Exchange 2007:
Enable-ExchangeCertificate -Thumbprint *Insert Thumbprint* -Services “POP,IMAP,SMTP,IIS”

Note: replace *Insert Thumbprint* with $your_Thumbprint (you will see this in the output of the previous command).

Assign Certificate in Exchange 2010:
Enable-ExchangeCertificate -Thumbprint *Insert Thumbprint* -Services POP,IMAP,SMTP,IIS

Note: replace *Insert Thumbprint* with $your_Thumbprint (you will see this in the output of the previous command).

Original Source:
https://support.comodo.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/712/37/certificate-installation-exchange-2010-powershell

Unable to add a new Backup Destination via the Windows Backup Console

Unable to add a new Backup Destination via the Windows Backup Console

Problem:

Unable to add a new Windows Backup Destination to an existing Windows Backup Schedule via the Windows Backup mmc snap-in (Console).

Resolution:

Use wbadmin in an Elevated Command Prompt to add the new Destination Drive to the Backup Schedule.

Run the following command in an elevated command prompt to determine the Disk Identifier of the new disk:

wbadmin get disks

Based on the output, locate the disk that will be added to the scheduled backup. Make a note or copy the Disk Identifier (including the brackets). Be sure to copy the correct ID! If you don’t you could end up formatting another drive. The output will resemble the following:

Disk name: xxxxxxxxxxx
Disk number: x
Disk identifier: {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}
Total space: xxx.xx GB
Used space : xxx.xx GB

Run the following command to add the new disk to the Scheduled backup. Use the Disk Identifier from the previous step as the “AddTarget” parameter.

wbadmin enable backup -addtarget:{xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx}

When you receive the following prompt, type Y for Yes.
“Do you want to enable scheduled backups with the above settings?”

Once this has been completed, open up the Windows Server Backup Console and make sure that you can see the new.

The only irritating thing about adding a drive via this method is that it allocated a long name to the disk. It’t not really a problem, its just annoying if you have a number of backup drives labelled as ‘Backup 1’ ‘Backup 2’ etc and then you have a generated disk name that doesn’t suit.

Microsoft KB Article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2009365/error-message-when-you-try-to-add-an-additional-disk-to-a-scheduled-backup-the-filename,-directory-name,-or-volume-label-syntax-is-incorrect

Configure a new NTP Server in Windows Server

Configure a new NTP Server in Windows Server

Configuring a new NTP Server in Windows Server

Open an Elevated Command Prompt:

Query the current Time Service using:
w32tm /query /status

Run the following Command to configure a new NTP Peer:
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:uk.pool.ntp.org

Restart the Windows Time Service:

net stop w32time
net start w32time

Certified Sage 50 Accounts and Payroll Product Specialist

Certified Sage 50 Accounts and Payroll Product Specialist

Sage

As an IT Engineer, I have a number of Certifications in and around the IT Industry. The company that I work for (Ability IT) have taken the decision to become Sage 50 Accredited Partners, something that I’ve been personally pushing for a while, as a result I have added the following Certifications to my certification list:

Certified Sage 50 Accounts Product Specialist 2017 – Attained 10th March 2017
Certified Sage 50c Accounts Product Specialist – Attained 17th March 2017
Certified Sage 50 Accounts Product Specialist 2018 – Attained 9th October 2017
Certified Sage 50 Payroll Product Specialist 2016 – Attained 24th March 2017
Certified Sage 50 Payroll Product Specialist 2017 – Attained 28th March 2017

Becoming Sage Partners is something that we as a company have wanted for a long time. 90% of our customers use the Sage 50 Product Suite in their businesses so it makes sense for us to be able to support the software to a certain level. Don’t get me wrong, we have been supporting Sage on the behalf of our clients for years but now our customers are able to see our commitment to the Software and it gives them extra comfort to know that we’ve been certified for it.

Personally, I’ve gained more from the course than just being able to install or fix the software. It’s given me a far better understanding of the procedures deployed by companies to manage their accounts and clarity around how business owners want to use the software to analyse there business finances.