So I took the Exchange log parser tool and put it through a major remodel.

1. I added the ability to select multiple files to search.
2. I added the ability to capture however many lines you want after the intial line is found.
3. I modified the exclusion feature to use a data string instaed of an email address.
4. Modified the log file so that it writes data captured from each file it searches into one log file.
5. Big change in the search method/code execution that speeds up the search by 40%.

So the Log parser is a lot like the MS command line util “find.exe” except I have a GUI so you dont need to remeber “commands” and it can capture extra (user selected amount) lines in the output.

I just started a new job where I am searching logs for a vertical product. I made the changes in this tool to help me out. Sometimes I have a dozen or more logs per customer to look through and they have between 100 and 3000 lines. So this really helps me out and speeds up the process for me.

Try it out if you need to search through log or text based files for data. And please let me know if you have any ideas for changes!

You can find it here http://www.arconi.com/log_parser.html

So I performed a domain rename recently using Microsoft’s “Domain Rename Tools”.

I was building a lab domain that needed to be an exact copy of my production AD (active directory). But as the lab runs its own network on a separate Internet connection and is less secure than the production network, I didn’t want the “real” domain name available for hackers. In other words if the lab domain got hacked and the AD security info was compromised at least they wouldn’t have the production network name to search for. Read the rest of this entry »

 Mimosa just posted a press release on their product “Custodian Collector“. I am very interested to test this product in production. I have used Mimosa’s “Nearpoint” for MS Exchange for almost 2 years and I have been very pleased with it’s performance. The main reason I’m even posting something about this Read the rest of this entry »

Ok so your company is merging with another one and you have just been assigned the task of merging the computing infrastructures. So where do you start?

First clarify the scope of your ”infrastructure merge” Read the rest of this entry »

All systems administrators at one point in their career will more than likely have to perform a migration. It may be due to a merger of their company and another, a buy out or a purchase of another company. Hopefully you’ll keep your job but either way it’s great experience.

So I have been through many of these and with a lot of success so I want to share that experience with you as I know information about this process can be hard to come by. I’m going to break it up into several articles or “phases” that you will help guide you towards a successful migration. I’m going to include the tools you’ll need and where to get them. As well I’ll give the instructions on how to use them.

So stay tuned for the first article “Domain Migrations - First Steps” I should have it posted in a few days.

I have several tools that I have written to aid in the management of Active Directory. I use these really frequently and so do a lot of my co-workers and friends. Some are more usefull than others. This one is very useful and that’s why I’m giving it it’s own entry.

This one is called AD Attrib Change, I know not a very “cool” name but all I really care about is what it does.

In it’s current state it will update the bussiness phone, cell phone, department and location fields in AD for a user account. It will perform this on as many accounts as you throw at it. I recently ran it on a list of about 1500 users and it updated all of them without a hitch.

Read the rest of this entry »

This KB article title is a little deceiving because there are several other instances where this multiple CNAME problem occurs.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281308
Microsoft says:

“When a client computer connects to a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer by using an alias name, the client may receive the following error message: Read the rest of this entry »

Network Storage can quickly become a monster that you can’t control. Even in small companies that produce a lot of data. End users keep some data on their computer and some on the network. You create a share for every one to store important data on and instead their throwing mp3’s and family photos up there!

What to do, what to do? Well one thing to do is to build a scalable and manageable process Read the rest of this entry »