So I received loads of comments asking me what the other DC* log files where for below is an explanation of the DC* log files: DCPromoUI.log - Records detailed progress report of user selections and operations. DCPromo.log - Records summary of critical operations. DCPromos.log - Records graphical user interface mode setup, this is for upgrades ...

I always have to look up in different locations as to which ports are needed for certain functions like Active Directory, DFSR, Certificate Services, Cluster Service, DHCP Server etc. When you need them handy its always a mission to get to the documentation, here is a document that has all these ports in one article that you can always ...

So here is a list of things that you need to do when thinking and about to make schema changes: Understand the Active Directory Schema Terminology Then read How the Active Directory Schema Works Once you have that understanding you then go through our Checklist before extending the schema And make sure you know how to extend the schema by ...

I was chatting to a friend of mine and he was complaining of DCPROMO failing during a promotion of a member server to a domain controller. He could not understand why. With him about 17 000km away from me, I couldn't just jump over and help him. He didn't have VPN access for me and it was difficult to phone him to. When I asked him for the ...

I needed to change the way the DisplayName is automatically formatted in ADUC for a customer and was shocked to know they did not know of the createDialog propery in the CN=409 under DisplaySpecifier(s) in the Configuration partition. Below is a extract from the KB that shows you how to do this. You can change the automatic DisplayName ...

The ESE can support up to 16 Terabytes, the biggest I have seen 32gigs. I am sure someone can find a way to fill 16 Terabytes though ;) Carlos Magalhaes 

Most companies do not understand how important a PDC is in your environment. They often oversee this role and I think in a way it is our fault to make this single role “more important” than the other roles (** for those die hearts out there please note the quotes over “more important”).  With this in mind most customers go ahead and over ...

We all know how irritating it is when we try to explain to someone (a customer) which default delegations rights you can set for a user or group on a Active Directory object (lets use a Organizational Unit (OU) for example).   First of all we not to friendly with out Delegation Wizard form and we do not allow copy and paste of the check box ...

Tomek has once again shared his vast technical knowledge and posted an excellent ''Things to remember when extending the schema'' blog post http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/tomek/archive/2006/02/09/exending_schema.aspx I posted some comments on it - it was an awesome post. Well done dood! C

So working a lot with customers and their *interesting environments I often get called in to fix blotched permissions on important aspects of Active Directory. Which important aspects you ask well how about THE SCHEMA NC! I have seen this in many news groups and many times I have had to fix this so to help others I am blogging ...