Tech Sections
Azure Alerts: KQL, VM Availability and More
Alerts. It can be the word that induces anxiety in some, or a sense of comfort for others. In modern technology, you cannot have reliable systems without alerts. The challenge is creating meaningful alerts. And…
Find Virtual Machine Information using PowerShell Script
I think it’s safe to say; I’m a big fan of PowerShell. However, when checking Azure resources, it can be a lot quicker to use the portal/GUI–unless you’ve got the commands already cached in your…
Azure Tags and Virtual Machines
I have been incredibly remiss the last 6 months. After passing my last certification, I moved onto studying AWS while setting up Intune and AutoPilot at my previous organization; also, I was looking for Federal…
Active Directory User Sign-Ins and Updating Computer Description
There’s a wealth of information in Active Directory Users and Computers. Independently of each other, they can answer a lot of basic questions and help troubleshoot, audit, administer or even create better policies. One fundamental…
AutoFS and Mounting Network Shares Cont.
In a previous article, I went over how to setup a network share using the traditional client/server approach. It’s a great way to reduce unwanted file duplication, and share items in a secure manner. But,…
Adding Pronouns to Active Directory
More companies are adopting pronouns with digital identities. It’s not just social media platforms; C-Suite and staff are looking to add pronouns to their Outlook and even their Windows login. While it may be easy…
Windows Time Service: Check and change NTP Servers
It’s easy to forget how crucial time synchronization is across a network/domain until it stops working. After you setup your Domain controller and pick a time zone, it should all just work–and it typically does.…
Mounting FileSystems and AutoFS in CentOS/RHEL 8
I haven’t worked in an environment yet that didn’t share some sort of files over the network. Even some end users are trained to setup network drives and OneDrive/SharePoint syncing. Having multiple copies of the…
Manage Chrome through Windows Server GPO
I’ve been remiss with keeping up with my technical articles. I’ve devoted a lot of time to studying for the RHCSA, and last week, I passed on the first try. Feels amazing to achieve that…
Windows Global Catalog Server and Powershell
I’ve been working on the RHCSA, an Exchange migration and updating an Active Directory forest for the last few months, so I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like to. There’s quite a bit…
New System’s Administrator/Engineer Script
A few months ago I started looking for a new job. I wasn’t excited to start over again, but I wanted more challenges and technologies to work on. I remember starting my first few technology…
Windows Server DNS: Failover and Forwarding
DNS is pretty crucial in a domain environment. If you pull up DNS on your domain controller(s), you can see a listing of, well, a lot of different stuff–PC names to start in DNS >…
Subinterfaces: The Artist formerly know as Router-On-A-Stick
I wrote an article not too long ago about VLAN tagging from a post Cisco perspective. Since I covered the layer 2 aspect, I figured why not complete the setup and show how to configure…
VLANs: Tagged, Untagged and PVIDs
Coming from a Cisco background, VLANs were pretty straight forward–especially from a switching perspective. Once you get your Router On a Stick setup, you decide which ports are access and which are trunks. It looks…
Azure Group License Assignment
Adding Office 365 licenses to users isn’t necessarily an arduous task, but letting security group assignment (whether on-premise or in Azure) provision the licenses for you is a nice way to automate the process. This…
OneDrive Data Retention Part 2
In part one of this article series, we went over how to prevent access to Second Stage Recycle bin in individual OneDrive accounts. This method does not scale particularly well, so a global retention policy…
OneDrive Data Retention Part 1
While SharePoint Online and OneDrive share a lot of commonalities, they begin to diverge when it comes to permissions and administration. An administrator in SharePoint online can access everything by default. Sites and document libraries…
Windows Control Panel Shortcuts
Maybe it’s just me, but I really like control panel shortcuts. Not having to click through 5+ screens to get the correct administrative area gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I’ve tried to…
Storing PowerShell Credentials
I really enjoy a fully realized script with almost no required interaction. When working with on-premise or cloud accounts one of the things that can break the flow of a script is user credentials. While…
Compliance, Security, Protection and PowerShell in Office 365
I am sure at one-point or another, you’ve probably poked around in Office 365 Security and Compliance Center. There are a host of features waiting to be leveraged in this area: Advanced email tracing, Data…
Secure Mail in Office 365
If you are looking for a simple secure mail solution, and are already in Office 365, chances are good you have one ready to deploy. Office Message Encryption (OME) works with Azure Rights Management Services…
Azure Security Defaults
With more and more organizations moving into the cloud space, it’s greatly improved employees ability to work from a variety of locations and still remain productive. That access is not limited solely to employees. With…
MFA Setup in Azure
If you are using the free version of Azure, there is only one way to properly turn on MFA. This is located under the blank section. This will remove the ability for everyone in your…