Despite what Microsoft has stated you need to generate a new SID when using Windows 2008 images. On Windows 2008, you can use the native sysprep.exe utility. Note that running sysprep.exe will reset your hostname, IP and local Administrator password. When done generating a new SID you have to change your hostname, password and set your IP. If you want to see the before and after SID, download the PStools package at the URL below and run psgetsid.exe before you sysprep and then after.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649

1) Open Windows explorer and browse to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep and double-click sysprep.exe.

2) Make sure the Generalize option is checked under System Cleanup Action and click OK.

3) When the system reboots it automatically prepares it for first use.

4) On the Windows Setup screen, select your county, language and click Next.

5) Accept the license and click Start.

6) Click OK to set the local Administrator password.

7) Enter a password and click the blue arrow to complete the setup. The system will log you in. Make sure you change your hostname and IP before you join the domain. Also, if the old server object is still in AD, delete it before joining the domain.

It’s well known that when you delete files and folders in Windows they are not technically deleted.  When you delete a file, the disk space used by these files is tagged as available for use. This allows the files to be reconstituted using various free recovery utilities such as SoftPerfect’s File Recovery or Piriform’s Recuva. The blocks must be overwritten to actually eliminate them completely.

Windows has a native utility named cipher.exe that can wipe those pointers and make sure the data is actually purged. Cipher.exe can overwrite all free space on your disk thus insuring files you have deleted and actually gone.

This is a safe utility. I have run this command many times over the years. You can also setup a scheduled task and run weekly to keep your systems clean. Launch a command prompt as administrator (right-click cmd.exe and select Run as administrator) and type the following:

c:\cipher /w:X where X is the drive letter you want to clean.

You can run this on your c:\ drive without any issues. Also note that the larger your drive, the longer this will take. For reference, a 1TB drive 3/4’s full took about 3 hours.

Example (this is on Windows 7):

C:\Windows\system32> cipher /w:c

To remove as much data as possible, please close all other applications while
running CIPHER /W.
Writing 0x00
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Writing 0xFF
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Writing Random Numbers
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

C:\Windows\system32>

Further reading on cipher.exe options is available here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771346(v=ws.10).aspx

This is a followup to a previous post where I outlined how to deploy iSCSI LUNs using NetApp SnapDrive for Windows. This post does not use SnapDrive.

This document demonstrates how to enable MPIO, configure Mutual CHAP for iSCSI sessions, create iGroups and LUNs and then format the LUNs with NTFS.

The doc is here: Configuring MPIO and iSCSI Mutual CHAP on Windows v1

It covers Windows 2003, Windows 2008 and Windows 2012. Since Windows 2003 is quite lame, I had to use the NetApp DSM MPIO. Otherwise, its just plain old native Windows features and NetApp LUNs. All OS’s are grouped together by task so if you only need Windows 2003, just follow those steps through the document. Same for Windows 2008 or 2012.

Yes, Mutual CHAP does not provide robust crypto security but its better than nothing. It’s also a DoD STIG finding if not enabled. Its fairly easy to configure so why not use it.

I set out to do a quick comparison between SoftPerfect Network Scanner (Netscan) and AngryIP because AngryIP seems to get more love. I don’t know why. Just spend 5 minutes with SoftPerfect Network Scanner and you will abandon AngryIP in a heartbeat. SoftPerfect Network Scanner is clearly a better application. Its faster, highly configurable and more feature rich than AngryIP. SoftPerfect Network Scanner is a must have for all Sysadmin or Security professionals.

Both are standalone executable for Windows so no installation is required. The scan results below (with defaults enabled) proves the speed test. Netscan is much faster.

AngryIP
Version: v3.2
Speed: 5 minutes to scan a /24
Max Threads: 10 threads at a time

SoftPerfect Network Scanner (Netscan)
Version: 5.4.11
Speed: 1 minute and 5 seconds to scan a /24
Max Threads: 50 theads at a time

See the .pdf for the interface differences between SoftPerfect Network Scanner and AngryIP here: Netscan vs AngryIP

Take them both for a spin and see for yourself.

SoftPerfect Network Scanner URL:
http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/?from=auto

AngryIP URL:
http://angryip.org/w/Home