Don’t just copy VMs, do a full bare metal restore from your actual backups, you get the advantage of completely testing your DR process and correcting any imperfections. (whatever your definition of bare metal and forest recovery happens to be, hopefully not involving 3rd party sw or imaging [1])
[1] Personally, I consider the combination of AD and external image backup tools to be more like playing with anti-matter. The best outcome you could possibly hope for would be a quick death. ~Don Hacherl From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Lum Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 7:49 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain Here’s an opportunity to test backup/restore. Want a dev environment? Restore your production environment into a sandboxed one. Of course if you have VM’s it’s even easier (from a technical standpoint, if not financial/political) to create a dev environment. We did exactly this (copied the DC VM’s into a sandbox) when we weren’t able to extend the AD schema and needed Microsoft’s help troubleshooting and support. From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 12:08 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain I get it. But I’m not in charge. Joe Heaton Enterprise Server Support CA Department of Fish and Wildlife 1807 13th Street, Suite 201 Sacramento, CA 95811 Desk: (916) 323-1284 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Daniel Chenault Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 11:48 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain <pokes head out of foxhole> You still don’t have a test environment. You have a sandbox without walls sitting in the middle of the floor where people are trying to work. If the app you’re testing runs wild and trashes AD (and that is a very real possibility) then you’ll understand the difference. <back into foxhole> From: mailto:[email protected] Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 1:39 PM To: mailto:[email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain Dev and test are on different boxes from prod. Just part of the same AD. Joe Heaton Enterprise Server Support CA Department of Fish and Wildlife 1807 13th Street, Suite 201 Sacramento, CA 95811 Desk: (916) 323-1284 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael B. Smith Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 10:57 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain And… that is so true. Even in my small company’s AD, I broke it once. After that, I ALWAYS do dev and testing on a separate box. Hasn’t need to be a physical box since, uh, 2004? A long time anyway. From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Free, Bob Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 1:51 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain > those servers are still part of the prod AD. You do, in fact, have a lab environment. What you do not have is a production environment. ~Don Hacherl circa 2009 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 11:40 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain Oh, I don’t mind the joke. I’m just glad it was that easy to get something stood up. We have plenty of VMWare licensing, so throwing up a virtual domain should be pretty easy. Good luck with your crew. We do have a dev and test environment for our devs, which they do use. We even have it so that we (server admins) have to do the push to test/prod. That said, those servers are still part of the prod AD. Joe Heaton Enterprise Server Support CA Department of Fish and Wildlife 1807 13th Street, Suite 201 Sacramento, CA 95811 Desk: (916) 323-1284 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William Robbins Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 11:33 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain I only joke because I'm currently in the same position. Also at a .gov coincidentally. You'd think it wouldn't be such a novel concept that perhaps you shouldn't test in environments where you can potentially impact provided services...but it is here. I've finally got them to add it to this years budget, so in July I get to stand up a QA forest. Now getting the devs to use it will be the next challenge. :P - WJR On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 1:29 PM, Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: That’s about the size of it. I’m talking with our architect, and he agrees that we should stand up a test domain, so we’ll be doing that, and I’ll do an LDIF export/import of our user base so we have “stuff” to play with. Joe Heaton Enterprise Server Support CA Department of Fish and Wildlife 1807 13th Street, Suite 201 Sacramento, CA 95811 Desk: (916) 323-1284 From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of William Robbins Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 11:08 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain :) - WJR On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 12:59 PM, Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Michael, I finally have time to look at this. The parameters at the top of the script are what I have to set beforehand. Do I have to do something with all of them? To begin with, I want this to only come to me, so I set $adminEmailOnly = $True, is that correct? I don’t think we’re using ANR, so I left that alone. I do want a report afterwards, so I need to leave $Quiet blank? Just want to get these clarifications before I run it the first time. Unfortunately, I don’t have a test domain to play in, so it will be run against our production domain. I don’t want any notifications sent to the users until I’m satisfied with it. Thanks, Joe Heaton From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of Michael B. Smith Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 7:00 AM To: Heaton, Joseph@Wildlife; [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [NTSysADM] RE: password change notification to users not physically connected to domain http://theessentialexchange.com/blogs/michael/archive/2012/01/17/sending-an-email-to-users-whose-password-is-about-to-expire-a-powershell-rewrite.aspx From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Liby Philip Mathew Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2013 8:16 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [NTSysADM] password change notification to users not physically connected to domain Hi, I am in the process of setting up a password reset policy of 90 days. I have a lots of users that are part of the domain but their laptops are not physically connected to the domain (commuting users). But, these users are all always connected to our Exchange 2010 mail server. How can I notify (automated) these users in advance of 14 days to change the password? Liby Disclaimer [The information contained in this e-mail message and any attached files are confidential information and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This transmission may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the information contained herein is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Path Solutions accepts no responsibility for any errors, omissions, computer viruses and other defects.] P Protect our planet: Do not print this email unless necessary. ________________________________ PG&E is committed to protecting our customers' privacy. 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