install / configure exchange 2013 using one public certificate, in two domain space situation

on the positive side, I achieve using one certification to get exchange 2013 working by checking via the microsoft online testing tools.

in a two domain scenario, I mean, for example,  the customer has tophead.net on the internet, but their internal AD domain is tophead.com. and tophead.com belongs to someone else.

the trick to solve the issue is to created an internal AD dns zone tophead.net. eventually we are using split brain dns.

create a dns record for the server in both ad zones like mail.tophead.net and mail.tophead,com

set all exchange 2013 CAS URL to mail.tophead.net , both internally and externally .

so you only buy one certificate for mail.tophead.net

for outlook auto discovery, in the public dns , add service records like _srv_tcp .....

hopefully your dns provider supports that kind of srv records.

I tried to use autodiscover cname, but that doesn't work for me. funny that works for MS O365.

ip address conflict , pride got dented, hyper-v windows 2012 wont give promt warning IP address conflict

hours got trashed

in a server install, an ip scan was done, a free IP address got picked for a hyper-v domain controller / dns server, for some bizare reason that site's wireless access point tp-link is also using that IP, but it didn't showing up in the initial IP scan.

the server 2012 is installed on the network, it didn't complain about IP address duplicates /conflicts like its various previous version.

surprisingly that worked for a few weeks to my shocking brain. the problems after the server install are about 4 PCs having problems connecting with intranet which is hosted on the new DC.

for two w7 PCs, I removed panda anti-virus filter, then seemed better.

for another windows XP, and vista, the error still there, intranet broken, prompting for passwords. co-work indicated the PC tried to access a TP-LINK interface.

went down the wrong road, a number of trojans got cleaned, but the errors persists.

vaguely felt there is an IP address conflict , a co-work points out in the documentation that 192.168.1.15 was assigned to the TP-link access point. the solution is to disconnect the conflicting device for now.

again, when weird thing happens, check from the very basic things, check current documentaion to see what's the current IP lay-out. it payes to design an IP layout even if it's a small company.

the log on the server 2012 side is pretty vague, it only indicates some data transmission issue, something wrong with the network.

outlook 2007 and exchange 2013 : setting up additional mail user profile

exchange 2013 is not using the server name to connect outlook.

for a domain joined PC, if you want setup a outlook profile not related to the windows login,

you need get the mailbox guid, and put in the address field, then manually put in exchange proxy settings like msstd: string

I can goto sleep now.

here is a link for this new feature

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/364534-can-t-connect-to-exchange-2013-by-server-name

The performance counter '\\myarse\LogicalDisk(C:)\Free Megabytes' sustained a value of '81,226.00', for the '15' minute(s) interval starting at '10/11/2013 7:31:00 a.m.'. Additional information: None. Trigger Name:DatabaseDriveSpaceTrigger. Instance:c:

The performance counter '\\myarse\LogicalDisk(C:)\Free Megabytes' sustained a value of '81,226.00', for the '15' minute(s) interval starting at '10/11/2013 7:31:00 a.m.'. Additional information: None. Trigger Name:DatabaseDriveSpaceTrigger. Instance:c:

new exchange 2013 RTM and CU2 installed, and this happens,

the trick is

http://edwardvbs.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/207/

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/1c814008-3cde-4b07-bbcf-b28345afd10d/databasedrivespacetrigger

really shocking
 

my Friday horror story continues : Terminal Server weird black RDP login screen

my Friday horror story continues : Terminal Server weird black RDP login screen

the be-loved customer got a windows 2003 terminal server, all users profiles located on C: drive, and they are very busy, that means the C: drive got filled up pretty quick from time to time.

this morning I got a panic phone call, the whole thing crashed big time, I clear more space , saddenly the login screen gone blank, I can login blindly, once logged all normal. just the login screen totally stuffed, at the time I tought a reboot would fix it, but a restart is not fixing the black screen.

frantic googling found some good source
here is the link saved the day
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-server/1051149-terminal-server-weird-rdp-login.html
https://www.serverintellect.com/support/windowsserver/remote-desktop-black-screen/

namely , the reg settings got corrupted by old h/w or heavy load or something

to restore it, merge to reg the following (quoted from above)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors]
"ActiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"ActiveTitle"="10 36 106"
"AppWorkSpace"="128 128 128"
"Background"="102 111 116"
"ButtonAlternateFace"="181 181 181"
"ButtonDkShadow"="64 64 64"
"ButtonFace"="212 208 200"
"ButtonHilight"="255 255 255"
"ButtonLight"="212 208 200"
"ButtonShadow"="128 128 128"
"ButtonText"="0 0 0"
"GradientActiveTitle"="166 202 240"
"GradientInactiveTitle"="192 192 192"
"GrayText"="128 128 128"
"Hilight"="10 36 106"
"HilightText"="255 255 255"
"HotTrackingColor"="0 0 128"
"InactiveBorder"="212 208 200"
"InactiveTitle"="128 128 128"
"InactiveTitleText"="212 208 200"
"InfoText"="0 0 0"
"InfoWindow"="255 255 225"
"Menu"="212 208 200"
"MenuText"="0 0 0"
"Scrollbar"="212 208 200"
"TitleText"="255 255 255"
"Window"="255 255 255"
"WindowFrame"="0 0 0"
"WindowText"="0 0 0"

exchange 2013 installation horror

exchange 2013 installation horror

surprisingly my first exchange 2013 setup crashed and burn

I was trying fixing to install the exchange 2013 server against the server 2012 DC, not the w2003 dc

until I saw the link below

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/16d5e6c4-00a3-4636-a2e0-555c3eda3b03/error-installing-exchange-2013-on-server-2012-with-preexisting-environments-20072010?forum=exchangesvrdeploy

eventually I run
Setup.EXE /Mode:Install /Roles:ca, mb, t /IAcceptExchangeServerLicen
seTerms /InstallWindowsComponents

I can't believe it doesn't throw up an error

I was using GUI install, ie, right click on setup.exe and run as admin

I am yet to test more

at least I can goto sleep tonight.