Hello, Bruce here again. 

With the release of Windows Server 2012 we all have to start learning the new features of the product.    So I thought I would share with you what I’m studying and some resources to bring you to speed at the same time.   Below is an index of my learning blogs:

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Dynamic Access Control

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Rapid deployment of DC with Cloning

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Active Directory-Based Activation

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Relative ID (RID) Improvements

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Flexible Authentication Secure Tunneling (FAST)

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Cluster Aware Updating

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Group Policy

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - iSCSI storage

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Resilient File System (ReFS)

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Storage Spaces

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Data Deduplication

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - New AD Users Interfaces

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Group Managed Service Accounts

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Virtual Machine Live Migration/Storage Migration

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 - Hyper-V Replica

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – NIC Teaming and SMB Multichannel

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – DHCP Server High Availability

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – IP Address Management (IPAM)

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Remote Desktop Services

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Hyper-V Dynamic Memory

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Scale-Out File Servers

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Installation Options

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Failover Clustering VM Monitoring

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Clustered Shared Volumes

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Hyper-V Features

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Server Manager

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – PowerShell Web Access

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – Virtual Smart Cards and Improvement in BitLocker

Follow me and learn Windows Server 2012 – DNSSEC, Chkdsk, Constrained Delegation

Bruce

Learn about my 2012 Core Survival Guide here.

WINS Client configuration

WINS still exist out there in the real world.  For that reason I am including it in this blog series.  PowerShell 3.0 does not have any new cmdlet for configuring WINS server settings.  So I have to drop back to using WMI to accomplish this.  Your WINS sever settings can be provided by your DHCP server or by manual configuration.  If your WINS server settings are provided by DHCP and are incorrect then fix the DHCP scope.  If they have been manually set and are incorrect then keep reading.

Viewing WINS Client configuration

WINS is a legacy component of networking.   I must use the WMI object win32_networkadapterconfiguration in order to retrieve this information.  

PowerShell Command:

Get-WmiObject win32_networkadapterconfiguration | where ipenabled -eq true | format-table index, description, ipaddress, winsprimaryserver, winssecondaryserver -autosize

This command uses the WMI component Win32_Networkadapterconfiguration to view the WINS information.  The output is a bit much.  I have to run 3 commands to ensure I am working with the correct NIC.  I first had to list out the basic IPv4 information.  Then I needed to determine if I was dealing with a DHCP or manual configuration.  Finally I ran the WMI call.   I needed to map the IP address to the correct “index” value.  If you notice the interfaceindex of the cmdlets does not match the index value of the WMI call.

Setting WINS Client configuration

I need know the index of the interface I wish to work with.  In the above case it is 13.  I need to use 2 PowerShell command to keep this simple.  The first command get the object I want to work with.  The second command set the values of the WINS Servers.

PowerShell Command:

$WINS = Get-WmiObject win32_networkadapterconfiguration | where index -eq 13

$WINS.SetWINSServer("192.168.0.10","192.168.0.11")

In the output below we have 4 commands. The first one simply displays the interfaces so that you can choose which one to work with.  The next two modifies the WINS client server settings.  The last one simply displays the information again to confirm the work.

Removing WINS Client configuration

Once again I must know the index of the interface I wish to work with.  This is the same process as setting the WINS server value.  But in this case I am setting it to $Null.

PowerShell Command:

$WINS = Get-WmiObject win32_networkadapterconfiguration | where index -eq 13

$WINS.SetWINSServer("$Null","$Null")

In the output below I used 4 commands. The first one simply displays the interfaces so I can choose which one to work with.  The next two removes the WINS client server settings.  The last one displays the information to confirm the work.

I hope you found this useful.  Please leave me a comment

Bruce

DNS Suffix List

Learn about my 2012 Core Survival Guide here.

I often find in large enterprises that the DNS Suffix list is inconsistent, contains out dated domains, or is incomplete for the environment.  The DNS Suffix list is what allows us to use computer names instead of fully qualified domain names (FQDN).  This is a key part of TCP/IP name resolution.  In this blog I will cover how to view, set, and remove DNS Suffix lists.

Viewing the DNS Suffix Search List

To view the DNS suffix search list use the Get-DNSClientGlobalSettings cmdlet

PowerShell Command:

Get-DNSClientGlobalSetting

In the output below we show the DNS Global client settings for the computer. It show us that our DNS Suffix list has 4 domains in it.   

Since two of the domains above (OldDomain, SoldCompany) are no longer needed I will show you below how to set it correctly.  Your DNS suffix list should list the domain used most often first, followed by the next most use domains.   This will help reduce unnecessary DNS traffic.

Setting the DNS Suffix Search List

I change the DNS suffix search order list by using the Set-DnsClinetGlobalSettings cmdlet.

PowerShell Command:

Set-DnsClientGlobalSetting -SuffixSearchList @("contoso.com", "AD.contoso.com")

In the output below I changed the DNS suffix list to be Contoso.com and AD.contoso.com.  The nice thing about this cmdlet is you do not remove the old setting in order to give it a new setting.

Removing the DNS Suffix Search List

Removing the DNS Suffix list is nothing more than a special case of setting it.  In this case I set it using NULL.

PowerShell Command:

Set-DnsClientGlobalSetting -SuffixSearchList @("$Null")

In the output below I removed the dns suffix list of "contoso.com, ad.contoso.com". 

I hope you found this useful.  Please leave me a comment

Bruce

Learn about my 2012 Core Survival Guide here.

DNS Server Setting

Name resolution is critical to any server configuration.  DNS is required to function correctly to locate Active Directory domain controllers, Exchange Servers, and just about every service located on your network.  It is common for every server to be configured with two DNS servers.  The common errors I run into are misconfigured DHCP scope, DNS Servers are removed from service, or a manual typo in the configuration.  This blog will help you correct the last two mentioned where you need to reconfigure the settings at the server.

Viewing the DNS server

I use the same command to view the DNS server's settings as I did for the Default gateway.  I also show you a third way to view this configuration information.

PowerShell Command:

The command will show in a list format each network interfaces IP configuration.  Can you spot the IPv4 DNS configuration error?

If you wish to view this information in a table format you can use the following command

PowerShell Command:

 You can also use get-dnsclientserveraddress to view the Dns Server Address of an interface

PowerShell Command:

By now you should have noticed that there are no IPv4 DNS server address assigned to each network interface.

Setting the DNS Server Address

I set the DNS server address using the set-dnsclientserveraddress cmdlet.  You do not need to remove any previous settings.  In the example below we are going to set the DNS server address with two new DNS server IP address (192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.11)

PowerShell Command:

In the example output below I show you the current settings.  I run the Set-DNSClientServerAddress cmdlet to set the DNS Server Address. Then I show you the results.

Removing the DNS Server Address

You can remove the DNS server address by using the cmdlet below:

PowerShell Command:

In the example output below I show you the current settings.  I run the cmdlet to remove the DNS Server Address. Then I confirm the results.

I hope you found this useful.  Please leave me a comment

Bruce

Learn about my 2012 Core Survival Guide here.

Default Gateway Settings

Often when troubleshooting IPv4 configuration you may find a misconfigured default gateway.  Issue that may arise from a misconfigured gateway are:

• Ping responses not traversing the router
• IPv4 communication only working with clients on same network segment
• Server not receiving a DHCP address

Viewing the Default Gateway

Like with most of the IPv4 settings IPConfig can be used to view the configuration.  If you wish to change the default gateway settings you will have to know the “interfaceindex” to modify it.  We use Get-NetIPconfiguration to view both the interface index and the IPv4DefaultGateway value.

PowerShell Command:

The command will show in a list format each network interfaces IP configuration.  In order to get this in a table format the PowerShell command gets a little confusing.

If you wish to view this information in a table format you can use the following command.  I must admit, I had help with this command.

PowerShell Command:

In the output below can you see where we are misconfigured?

That right we should only have a single default gateway! To view the same default gateway using get-netroute use the following command.

 PowerShell Command:

 Get-NetRoute -DestinationPrefix "0.0.0.0/0" | Format-table -autosize

 In the screen shot below the default gateway is under the "NextHop" column the network interface it is configured on is under the ifIndex column.  We should only have a single default gateway!

Removing the Default Gateway

First you must locate the correct default gateway you wish to remove using the commands above.  You then need to know the ifIndex and the NextHop of the default gateway you wish to remove.  Below I show you how to use them in the PowerShell command.

PowerShell Command:

Remove-NetRoute -ifindex 12 -NextHop "192.168.0.3"

In the screen shot below the default gateway is removed. 

 Setting the Default Gateway

The easiest way to set the default gateway is to first make sure any pervious settings have been removed, shown above.

It is best practice to configure the IP Address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway all at the same time.  I show you how to do this in Managing basic IPv4 configuration information.

When there is no default gateway configure you can use the command below to set it.

PowerShell Command

New-NetRoute -interfaceindex 15 -NextHop "192.168.0.1" -destinationprefix "0.0.0.0/0"

In the output below I configured Interfaceindex 15.  I began with no default gateway set. Set the default gateway for interfaceindex 15 to 192.168.0.1 and then confirmed the setting was correct. 

I hope you found this useful.  Please leave me a comment

Bruce