Migrate RDP License server to Server 2012

Published on in Terminal server, Windows Server by Elvis

One of the things we have to do when we upgrade our server environment, is to migrate licenses for the RDP clients. This job is done by the RDP Licensing server. I want to explain the process of migrating licenses from Windows Server 2008R2 to Server 2012.

The process is easy, but before you start the migration, is necessary to have the documentation for all licenses (you need authorization numbers or keys during the migration process).
The first step is the installation of the RDP Licensing role in Server Manager true Add Roles and Features Wizard.

Here you have to select Role-based or Feature-based installation and in the Server Role step you have to check Remote Desktop Services.

Later, on Remote Desktop Services, on the step Role Services, you have to check Remote Desktop Licensing (of course you can check also other functionalities if you need them).

Complete the wizard.
In the Server Manager menu Tools, Terminal Services, open the Remote Desktop Licensing Manager, right click on the installed server and select Activate server.

Add your data and complete the activation wizard.
The next step is transferring the licenses from the old server to the new one. To do this, you have to right click on the newly installed server and select Manage Licenses.

This will open the Manage licenses wizard. As the first step, select Migrate licenses form another server to this license server and select the reason (in most cases is The source server is begin replaced by this license server). Click Next.

In the next step, you have to identify the old, decommissioned server, by typing his name or IP address. Click Next.

At this point, you need to type your keys or agreement number and confirm the licenses with the Add button. When you have added all your licenses click Next.

The wizard will transfer your licenses to the new server. At this point you are ready to unauthorize and uninstall the old server..

Controlling the Hyper-V replica

Published on in Virtualization, Windows Server by Elvis

For many of us will be Hyper-V replica in Windows Server 2012 very useful. The technique permits to small companies or datacenters to have a system online very quickly and with minimum investments. There are a lot of blogs and documents where it is explained how Hyper-V replica works, but at the same time I could not find any document how to implement monitoring.
This is why I wrote the script for sending the mail, if something goes wrong. This script (you can download it for free) sends a mail if there is any replication out of normal state. Of course, you can change the expression at your own choice and use it in your environment.

 Hyper-V Replica SendMail.zip (1.09 kb).

ImagePathcher.ps1: You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression

Published on in Deployment, Windows Server by Elvis

In my environments, I use MDT and/or WDS in many cases. Here is always the problem of updating images, because it takes a lot of time. For this reason, I was looking for a script, which would do the same work as I, but without losing my time.
Imagepatcher PowerShell script from CodePlex (http://imagepatcher.codeplex.com) was the perfect solution for me, but not in the last months. I think that the problem occurred after I upgraded my environment to Windows Server 2012, but I am not sure. Anyway, when I tried to execute the script, I received the error that there is something wrong with the saving of downloaded files. I analyzed the script and found that something is not working properly when combining the name from few variables.
I repaired the issue and you can download the new imagepatcher.ps1 from here.

imagepatcher.zip (36.63 kb).

Changing Office365 password policy with PowerShell

Published on in Office 365, Windows Server by Elvis

I want to spend some words about changing password policy in Office 365, where ADFS is not installed. In these cases, we have usually two passwords – one for local system and one for online environment. This is an exception in Essentials server, because it is possible to synchronize on premise and online environment, but we can do some nice things also in other environments with few PowerShell commands. The thing that is really not good and is not possible to change is the password structure. We must preserve password 8 to 16 characters long and with allowed characters (http://community.office365.com/en-us/wikis/administration/characters-in-passwords-or-user-names-in-office-365.aspx).
Anyway, you can change some settings like password age, password expiration and you can do this for user or for domain. The first thing, that you have to do, is install Office 365 cmdlets from this link (http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/office365-enterprises/hh124998.aspx). On this point, you have to install two things: Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant and Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell. After this operation,you are ready to begin.
The first step to do is connecting to Office 365 environment. For this you need three simple PowerShell commands and credentials of administrative account:
Import-Module MSOnline
$O365Cred = Get-Credential
Connect-MsolService -Credential $O365Cred
After this you can change password policy with command Set-MsolPasswordPolicy -ValidityPeriod 60 -NotificationDays 14 -DomainName domain.com, which will change policy for domain named domain.com. The password validity period will be 60 days with notification to change password 14 days before it will expire.
If you want to set password never expire to user, you have to do user by user with command Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName <user ID> -PasswordNeverExpires $true. Of course is possible to automate also this task and for example, if you want to do this step for all users it is very simple: Get-MSOLUser | Set-MsolUser -PasswordNeverExpires $true.

Good work..

Windows Server 2012 Essentials is now RTM

Published on in Windows SBS Server, Windows Server by Elvis

Today Microsoft published the RTM version of Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Download is available on MSDN for Microsoft partners. The new version is similar to the old one, with some new features (like the connector for on premise Exchange, Cloud backup …). This version is also a replacement for Home server, which means that now are available Media functions (similar as that in Home server).
Good, now you have enough reasons to download it. Test and enjoy it!.

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