When running MMC with any AD management component inside it, and try to switch to another server you may notice sometimes the status shows “Unavailable”.
Most likely this is due to IPv6 not fully disabled, or not fully enabled (if you decide to run it), and you will need to update the registry value as per Microsoft article:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929852/how-to-disable-ipv6-or-its-components-in-windows
HTH
Hereafter listed few filters I keep using on my projects.
Almost every client I’ve worked with had these filters implemented in their Group Policy Console of Windows Active Directory.
So I keep it here for faster access, and easier than searching for it every time on different sites on the the web.
FILTER 1: Select DCs & Member Servers
Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where ProductType=”3″ OR ProductType=”2″
FILTER 2: Select Domain Controllers (DCs) Only
Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where ProductType=”2″
FILTER 3: Select Member Servers Only
Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where ProductType=”3″
FILTER 4: Select Workstations Only
Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where ProductType=”1″
FILTER 5: Select Win 2008 Member Servers Only
Namespace: root\CIMv2
Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where ProductType=”3″ AND Version like “6.%”
Yep, you’ve seen so many like this one, mostly they will suggest you to stop Exchange searching services, then delete the indexing folder (located inside the database folder) and then restart the searching services.
Well, that would work if you don’t have DAG.
Again, mostly you’ll find suggestions to use the update-mailboxdatabase with -catalogonly key
Yeah, that would work if any of the DAG members have a healthy catalog. Now what if all DAG members doesn’t have it?
You’ve two options, but both are risky and I have no responsibility what so ever happens to your data.
Option 1:
Remove one of the copies of the database from one DAG member
Delete the database folder copy from that member’s disk
Add the database copy again to the DAG member
Database index shows crawling for few hours, then healthy
Finally, you can use this new catalog to update other DAG members
Option 2 (have downtime):
Dismount all database copies on all DAG members
Shutdown Exchange searching services (two services) on all DAG members
Delete the catalog folder from all copies on all members
Restart Exchange searching services (two services) on all DAG members
All servers will start crawling
HTH
This is an old method, yeh I know. But not everyone moved on to the PowerShell yet.
Anyway, if you’re trying to import a CSV file to Active Directory, and got the error message says:
Invalid file format. DN Attribute not defined
Just try to remove the Unicode switch “-u” from your command. If that works, then re-save (save as) the CSV file using Notepad, and make sure to select the unicode option, NOT the UTF-8
HTH some1
USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
You may come to a situation where the client is unable to use an Exchange aware backup solution, and for temporary situation, they cannot use the Windows backup. So basically you need to reset the Exchange LOGs without performing any actual backup.
This is applicable to Exch 2010 & 2013 on Windows 2008, 2008R2, 2012, and 2012R2
It works with single server, as well as DAG setups
Open elevated CMD
Run Diskshadow
Type “add volume E:”
(considering E: is the drive where LOG files exists)
Type “begin backup”
Type “create”
(This action will take some time, depending on the number of LOG files exist, and connection speed)
Type “end backup”
You should notice now the LOGs are being deleted
Make a full backup after this to protect the data