PST and PAB Folder Manipulation

Recently, I was tasked to change the path of the PST and PAB paths due to a change in the drive mapping for 14000 users. I was able to do this but had to create two modules to perfrom the task. A binary to string module was created to read hex bin data out of the registry. A kix32 wrapper was used to ensure all checks are in place prior to the registry modification. Well, I had to make sure that the Messaging Subsystem was backed first prior to making any changes.



No reported issues encountered. I had a good feeling after, of after a lot of painful testing. No pain no gain.

EventID 1054 : Group Policy affected by Gigabit Adapters

Experience issue with VPN connected machines not applying group policies. All possible checks were done, deleted security logs , checked the security database, DNS server etc..

found issue with GIGABIT adapters whose LINK state repeatedly turns OFF and ON during the initialization phase, which causes issues with Group POlicy as the protocols gets unbounded by the OS.

To disable Media State, do the following registry HACK..

1. Use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) to view the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
Add the following registry value:
Value Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense
Data Type: REG_DWORD -Boolean
Value Data Range: 0, 1 (False, True) Default: 0 (False)

Monitoring PPP Packets

I was troubleshooting a Dialup Issue when I stumble upon a authentication issue. I was trying to find a way to monitor PPP Packets but Ethereal does not have a packed decoder for Microsoft's PPP protocol. I was unabled to do monitor it using Microsoft's own packet capture utility.

Jet Database Corruption

I am currently investigating Secedit.sdb database corruption on machines. There is very little microsoft documentation on how this secedit.sdb relates to Group Policy. I can only assume for now that it was intended to Managed Local Policy settings on machines. To managed meaning, the ability to take a snapshot of the existing registry settings (LOCAL POLICIES) and export them to a file and vice versa, the ability to IMPORT policies defined as a template file to the REGISTRY.

Microsoft decided to use a JET DATABASE to store this information.

I will publish the results of my investigation.

Reset Password Issue

System Administration and Photography

Resetting the password gives an error cannot find the stored procedure, however the password gets RESET. Another one to investigate

Re-permissioning

Use of Tools such as xcacls and setacl will do the trick when permissions need to be re-applied or updated. I have created a set of tools like the automation script which allows creation of a single batch file that accepts multiple arguments.