Category / Exchange

by LAO

How to remove hidden network adapters from virtual machines

LINK

When using virtualization on a Microsoft environment such as Hyper-V you can easily have network problems when restoring a Virtual hard drive or changing a network card. With some operating systems on Hyper-V you may notice that the network adapter “MS Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter” name changes and a number is associated with it, example “MS Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #3”.

This happens when you load an image from your backup. This will sometime cause network connectivity issues, due to the fact that other network adapters will still be configured (hidden) in the device manager which still lock your IP address. This will also cause the issue whereby although you configure the current network adapter (as seen in the Device Manager), no network activity can be achieved. Unfortunately these devices will not show directly in your device manager, so the following steps must be taken.

This can easily be removed by opening the command prompt with administrative access and typing the following command:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

This will start the Device Manager. It is important to start the Device Manager from the same command prompt, since it will lose the setting to show the non present devices. If you open the Device Manager from the Control panel, the hidden devices will not show.

When the Device Manager loads, from the File menu, expand the View and select the Show Hidden Devices option. This will enable and show any old un-used devices in the window. From here, expand the Network Adapters node and you can right click on the devices which are extra and delete them accordingly.

Another method which can be used to identify the hidden devices is a free tool from Microsoft called ‘devcon’ which is a command line alternative to the Device Manager, but it will not work since it only removes present devices. Maybe Microsoft will be adding this feature in the future releases of the tool, but for now, although it will show hidden devices, it is not capable of removing them. It will give an error saying ‘Remove failed. No devices removed.’

After this is done, your network adapter will be free and you can set up the correct network settings. This method of hidden device removal can be used for any type of device. Since this option may come in handy in your daily job, it would be best to configure the setting to show non-present devices in the Environment Variables from the system properties so that every time the server is loaded, the setting will be automatically configured and you will be able to see the hidden devices without running through the above commands. This can be set by clicking the New button in the System Variables frame and in the variable name enter ‘devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices’and in the variable value enter ‘1’.

by LAO

Exchange 2010: How to redirect non-SSL Outlook Web App traffic to SSL

Link http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/the-enterprise-cloud/exchange-2010-how-to-redirect-non-ssl-outlook-web-app-traffic-to-ssl/

 

With Outlook Web App being an outwardly facing service that relies on the use of your organization’s internal credentials, it’s important to make sure that miscreants don’t get access to your security jewels — individual usernames and passwords. Using SSL for this traffic protects your organization and your users.

In this Exchange 2010 tutorial, I focus on how to make sure that users who visithttp://webmail.yourorg.com are automatically redirected tohttps://webmail.yourorg.com/owa. I will not be covering the SSL certificate provisioning and installation process.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Log into your Exchange 2010 server with a user account that has administrative rights on the server.

2. Go to Start | Administrative Tools | Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. This opens the IIS7 manager, which is used by Exchange’s Client Access Server role.

3. Once you’re in the IIS Manager tool, expand your computer link, choose Sites, and then select the Default Web Site option.

4. From the Features View, choose the HTTP Redirect option (Figure A).Figure A

Choose the HTTP Redirect option

5. When you get to the HTTP Redirect page, do the following:

  • Select the checkbox next to Redirect Requests To This Destination heading.
  • In the box below, type in the full address – including HTTPS – for the site to which you’d like to redirect traffic. This would be the format:https://webmail.yourorg.com/owa.
  • Make sure you also select the checkbox next to Only Redirect Requests To content In This Directory (Not Subdirectories). If you fail to do this, you’ll break some other functionality.
  • In the Actions pane, click the Apply link to save your changes.

Your HTTP Redirect window should look like the screen in Figure B. Figure B

The HTTP Redirect options page

This step alone, however, isn’t enough. In fact, let’s try it. Browse tohttp://webmail.yourorg.com. You’ll get a message indicating that access is denied. The reason: SSL is currently required for the top level directory (Figure C). Figure C

The SSL redirect isn’t working.

In order for the redirect to work, the top level directory needs to be accessible without using SSL. In other words, it needs to be accessible via HTTP. To make that happen, you need to disable the SSL requirement on that directory. Once you do, the top-level directory is fully accessible via HTTP and then IIS can properly intercept your HTTP request and redirect you to the page that you specified earlier.

Now, follow these steps:

1. Select the top level directory – probably called Default Web Site – and browse to SSL Settings (Figure D). Figure D

Choose the SSL Settings option

2. Double-click SSL Settings.

3. Deselect the checkbox next to Require SSL (Figure E).

4. In the Actions pane, click the Apply link to save your changes.

Figure E

Disable SSL on the top level directory

For the remaining important subdirectories, make sure that the settings are as follows.

SSL

Redirect
aspnet_client

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
Autodiscover

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
ecp

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
EWS

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
OAB

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect
PowerShell

DISABLE SSL

Uncheck redirect
Rpc

Enable SSL

Uncheck redirect

You need to make sure that you run through each of the directory settings since some of the changes you made earlier will have propagated down through the folder structure. Figure F gives you a look at one of the settings you’ll need to change. Figure F

Set SSL and Redirect settings on each of the folders listed above

Once you’re finished, test your new settings. As you can see in Figure G, success! Figure G

The HTTPS redirect is working now.

Now, users can just remember webmail.yourorg.com, and you can do the heavy lifting behind the scenes to both protect them (SSL) and make their lives easier (automatic redirection).