Tag Archives: Windows
Windows host based Firewall: Your fist line of defense for Windows desktop
Protection from unwanted threats and attacks to hosts in your company network is very important part of your business activity. Today there are many threats which can be dangerous for your IT infrastructure. Because of that there are many hardware and software tolls and devices for your network protection. Antivirus software and hardware firewalls are used in most situations. On the market also exist many software firewalls which are used to protect computers from attacks from internal or external network. Software firewalls can also protect network from attacks sourced from computer on which software firewall is installed. One of the most used software firewalls is Windows Firewall which comes along with Windows OS installed. In this article we will describe Windows Firewall and explain how you can use it to protect your network hosts.
Step by Step guide to install XAMP in Windows
XAMPP is multi platform package which includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpmyadmin, OpenSSL and some other useful tools which enable efficient web development. It is very useful tool because it includes most web development packages which you need to make powerful web applications. Also it comes in single installation package. When installation is finished you can start developing your applications immediately. Installation of XAMPP is very simple and straightforward. In this guide we will describe installation process of XAMP.
How to add a Second Domain Controller in Windows 2008 domain
Domain controller as server for hosting your company Active Directory (AD) is very important part of your network infrastructure. In case of its failure logging users on AD is impossible. Because of that one of the main things in planning your network infrastructure is make plan for implementing redundant domain controller in network infrastructure. In case you have it, failure of one of them does not mean that user will be unable to log on the system. Since failed domain controller is up again, backup controller will be in function of users authentication or other functions which it can have (DNS server etc.). On this way your network can stay functional, reliable and more resistible to failures.
How to manage and view Even Logs in Windows Server 2008
In system administrators daily work there is often need for researching causes of problems that users report. Windows OS offers a few tools which can make your admin life easier and enables quick and efficient problem solving. In case of problems caused by high hardware utilization, Windows Performance Monitor described in one of the previous articles can be helpful. But in many cases Performance Monitor cannot help for problem solving because cause of problem is deeper in system. Then, on scene appears Windows Event Viewer, tool which can help you in solving many problems related to your Windows and its services and applications. In this article I will make brief description of using and managing this tool.
Step by Step Installation Guide of Windows 2008
Windows Server 2008 is the newest server operating system from Microsoft. It has many powerful tools for network administration and controlling user activity. There are many advantages Windows Server 2008 has over prior windows server version. One of benefits when using Windows Server 2008 is its easy and simple installation. In this article will be described process of Windows Server 2008 installation, from beginning to end.
How to Setup Active Directory Federation Services: Part 2
This is the Part 2 of our previous article about Active Directory Federation Service. You can visit Part 1 here.
When you have Federation Services installed as server roles on both sides of federation (account and resource) you have to properly configure servers to establish trust between them. Configuration includes configuring trust policy on both servers, create and configure group claim and AD account store and establish trust by importing policy from one federation server to another, on partner side. In this article I will describe process of AD FS server configuration. Configuration of both federation servers (account and resource) will be described.
How to setup Active Directory Federation Services:Part 1
Active directory federation service is Windows component which enables authentication of users on sites beyond its administrative domain. Example for this type of authentication is when users from one site have to access resources on some external site such as resources in partner network (e.g. Partner web sites etc.) When resource on remote site needs authentication for accessing, but “local” credentials should to be used, that is point where Active Directory Federation Service (AD FS) takes place.
Active Directory Federation Services enable using your AD (Active Directory) service to authenticate its users when they access resources belonging to other domains and placed on remote locations. To enable service which allows this type of authentication Active Directory federation should de established between two remote sites. There should be Active Directory Federation servers placed on both locations.
Windows Domain and Forest: What are they actually?
Many organizations and companies have implemented Microsoft Active directory service as central database of their information system objects. You can think about Active Directory (AD) as database of all objects used in your company information system. Those objects are computers as main part of your IT systems, then users, group of users, printers, scanners, applications and many other objects used in production computer network and IT system. Active directory is used for centralization control of all objects placed in it.
Active Directory has logical and physical structure. Logical structure of AD is database of objects in your infrastructure. But all data from AD should be placed on physical servers. These server which host data from AD are domain controllers. There can be one or more domain controllers on which AD structure are placed. Because of complexity of its structure planning and organizing it before implementation, it is not easy task and needs big effort to achieve efficient and useful implementation of your AD company infrastructure.
How to configure Single Sign On for IIS Using Windows Authentication
Companies and organizations often have many applications for internal use. For almost all of that there is need for user authentication during login process. In most cases user and password combination is unique application in which users are logging. Users have to remember or keep all this password and usernames which can be difficult for handling. In that case mechanism known as Single Sign On (SSO) enables easier management with users credentials.
SSO is a software mechanism that enables using one username/password combination for set of applications in which SSO is applied. Example for SSO can be using windows domain credentials for logging in applications used in company. For that authentication mechanism windows Domain Controller (DC) is needed. When logs in application, user credentials are passed to domain controller, authentication is performed and user is allowed access to application. This authentication is applied when user logs to Windows after system boot.
Certificate Deployment Through AD Group Policy
Certificate authentication is one the most secure authentication methods today used. Use of private/public key pair along with associated certificate enables establishing authenticated and encrypted communication channels between communication peers. There are many situations in which communication should be strongly secured such as VPN access, access to web sites for payment, online banking and many others.
In windows, for storing certificates needed for authentication there is certificate store in which all certificates are placed. To open this store click Start, type mmc in the Search Programs and Files box and press ENTER. Then go to file menu and click Add/Remove snap-in. When Add/Remove snap-in window opens choose certificates, click Add and choose account for which you want to manage certificates.
