There's no place like 127.0.0.1

Home at last from an exciting week at TechEd Europe. My feet are aching and I’m tired – but luckily the weather in Denmark is sunny and warm (30.5 degrees Celsius) as opposed to the rainy weather in Amsterdam. I guess my lawnmower needs some exercise (At the very least I won’t sit down all weekend after all the “sitting” I’ve done this week). I have a lot of blogging to catch up on so expect to see more tidbits from TechEd - but for now I will shutdown my notebook and enjoy the weekend.

Thanks to you all for a great week!

Hardware management in Windows Server 2003 R2 - tidbits from TechEd Europe

A new feature of R2 is the ability to manage hardware through something called WS-Management. WS-Management uses the WS-* Web Service architecture to support a consistent method for remote management of devices (e.g. servers). It does this by exposing a set of functionalities to consume hardware management information on top of the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). In addition to hardware it also interfaces with WMI so you can accomplish management tasks both through IPMI-enabled devices and WMI.Functions exposed are Read and Set information. Execute methods, create and delete objects and retrieve collections of objects. By default it uses certificate-based authentication but R2 also provides basic authentication (over SSL of course).

An example would be enabling Remote Desktops through wsman as I've demonstrated earlier through WMI and through the registry -

wsman invoke http://schemas.microsoft.com/wsman/2005/
02/wmi/cimv2/Win32_TerminalServiceSetting?
ServerName=HOSTNAME -machine:FQDN @{AllowTSConnections="1"}

(Wrapped for readability)

The wsman command line tool itself is actually a script, so you can use this as a basis for your own scripts, furthermore it "only" needs port 443 open on the target system.

For more information check out the TechNet scriptcenter article or this whitepaper.

Microsoft's stance on third-party replication technologies in connection with Exchange

Third day at Tech-Ed. Need sleep / time off.

Attended a Chalk&Talk instead on Windows Server x64... Exchange was discussed - maybe a little off subject - but someone mentioned a KB on how Microsoft support third-party replication/clustering technologies. As that sounded interesting, I set off to find the KB. You can read it here. Required reading, if you have one of those systems, I think.

Tidbits on security and Windows 2003 SP1 - TechEd Europe day #1

As I wrote earlier I attended the "Active Directory Internals: the Sequel" a couple of hours in the late morning and there were a couple of interesting topics.

As you may know Windows Server 2003 contains a reanimation (undelete) API which recovers objects without buying third-party tools. SP1 now also recovers the sIDHistory of an object. Restore is quite easy if you know the ldp tool - just set LDAP control flags in LDP to show deleted objects, find the object and in one operation set the isDeleted attribute to NULL and set the DN appropriately (To where you want to locate your object). Find more on the subject of reanimation in KB 840001 under the topic "How to manually undelete objects".

Also SP1 introduces the notion of confidential attributes that can't be seen by default by Authenticated Users (As most attributes can). Just set the searchFlags bit 7 to 1 (Confidential / True) or 0 (False).

Steve Riley and Jesper Johansson on security
The presentation wasn't by anyway boring - I kept my eyes open all day (a first ;-) - but I'm sad to say that the overall technical content wasn't satisfactory. Most of the day wen't with plain vanilla stuff on security based on the Implementing Client/Server Security presentations used earlier, administrative templates and other plain/old information. Luckily it was nicely beefed up with good stories, discussions and provocating thoughts by Steve and Jesper.

So what was interesting? -Well "Passwords has passed the end of their useful lifetime." I do agree with that and it has also been discussed by other security experts than Jesper and the solution isn't always just to buy a two factor authentication device as Schneier discusses in his essay - To Little, To Late. But personally I do prefer to use Password Safe instead of jotting down my password ;-)

There was an interesting discussion on security and outsourcing and they stated that China doesn't even have the concept of Intellectual Property and that outsourcing companies that may have loads of internal information on their customers probably will be the next point of attack.

ISA 2004 was as usual well appraised especially the fact that Application Proxy’s are much more usable than standard Packet filtering firewalls. I do agree that ISA 2004 is a great firewall with one exemption - the application filters aren't updated on a frequent basis and there are no new ones coming unless there is a product upgrade. Like MOM Management Packs it should be a requirement that each product group, if applicable, should release a new/updated application filter at the same time or just after releasing their product (E.g. for Live Communications Server). I discussed this with Steve and he told me that there are no plans for this (And he already had a discussion with the product group around this without luck).

On the point of SP1 it was emphasized that in an Exchange scenario SCW is used to secure the OS itself - NOT exchange so we should still use the Exchange 2003 Security Hardening Guide to secure Exchange.
Also I discussed with Steve on when the Firewall actually is disabled; a discussion I’ve had earlier with Susan Bradley on my article Microsoft Security Initiatives in SP1 and SP2 - nothing but a complex toy? (Check the comments). There’s apparently some confusion on this topic – in my experience with the RTM release the Firewall is always disabled after an upgrade or on in case of a new slipstreamed SP1 installation after you press Finish in the Post Setup Security Updates (PSSU) wizard.

As I mentioned in the start I wasn't bored at anytime but each time a topic looked a bit interesting (Like on Network Isolation or Wireless Security) the comment was We have a session during the week on X and X go listen to that instead and we want to make sure that we have enough attendees to our other sessions - Well why do you think we paid for a pre-conference day ? To listen to security for one day so that we could follow other tracks or the hands on labs the rest of the week! (To Steve and Jespers defence they were provided with a set of standard slideware that they were required to follow).

The hunt for non-PC SMS programs (SMS 2003 SDK v3)

Having created an SMS script late yesterday, setting the MOM flag on the programs for one of my customers, he came back and told me, he had to do an SMS restore as it trashed the image packages.
Bad, bad.

Ok, I said to myself. I'll just modify the program to skip those image package programs - and exclude any device management programs as well.
But this was easier than done. First of all, I'm at Tech-Ed in Amsterdam with my fellow blogger Dennis. Secondly, the battery of my Dell is bad and finding power for charging is difficult here at the RAI.

Having come across all those obstacles, I went on...

First I stumbled across v3 of the SMS SDK. It was released June 21st. Get it from MS downloads. This is a must-have for all doing SMS automation. The official voice says: New for the SMS V3 SDK is a .NET server side library which simplifies access to the SMS WMI site provider, and Device Management inventory extensibility information.

So I looked to the program flags and found that bit 9 indicates a device program. But how do I see, that the program is an OS installation?

That it NOT documented.

Found it myself though. The SMS_Package class has an ImageFlags property. It seems to be zero - remember this is undocumented and at your own risk - for normal packages.

So I redid my script and can now first filter away the image packages and then the device programs.

I hope my customer does not have to do a new restore tomorrow...

Arrived at Teched Europe and looking forward to a interesting week

I arrived Sunday at the Golden Tulip Inntel which is nicely situated between the Dam place and the Central Station. Beside being a nice hotel it has free wireless and lots of shopping/restaurants and the Tram nearby as some of the best features.

I originally meant to follow the pre-conference day on security with Steve Riley and Jesper Johansson. Primarily because they both are hilarious speakers and their views on security are interesting - but the first two items on their agenda were Implementing server/client security on Windows. Those specific sessions I delivered as a speaker a year ago on one of the TechNet days in Denmark - so probably nothing new there :- Instead I joined John Craddock and Sally Storey on "Active Directory Internals the Sequel" for the morning (ldp tool advanced topics usually ;-) and then I'll probably switch back to Steve and Jesper for the afternoon sessions.

When I'm at TechEd I usually find some of the subjects that's in the future or that I don't normally specialize in myself and also I like to use quite a lot of time in the Hands On Labs. I personally use TechEd as a possibility of delving into Technology a whole week without thinking on colleagues, customers and family and this year is business as usual.

My agenda for this week contains playing in the Hands On Labs with Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Project Management Solutions (EPM), Microsoft Identity and Integration Server (MIIS), NLB/CARP Load Balancing with ISA Server 2004, Indigo and the new Data Protection Manager - sometimes I follow the lab guidelines (E.g. for Indigo) but most times I don't.

For the Sessions I look forward to hearing about the Network Isolation that Microsoft uses (As a Microsoft vendor I've had all the hassles during their initial roll-out when connecting a non-Microsoft domain joined computer to their network through RAS). Also I'm attending sessions on Scripting with R2, Longhorn Client Security, Microsoft ITs administration of Windows Mobiles, MIIS, Active Directory Federation Services (Including Web SSO), System Center Reporting and not least Running Windows with least privileges by Aaron Margosis (I really enjoy reading his blog - its a 'recommended').

Btw. my postings on TechEd Europe are cross-blogged on the MS Exchange Blog.

ExBPA v2.1 Released

According to You Had Me At EHLO... a new version of Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer has been released. If you don't know ExBPA by now then it's time to get acquainted with it. IMHO it should be part of every Exchange Admins toolbox!
Check the overview or the Microsoft Exchange teams blogs about it here and here and also you can find the history behind the tool here.

Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4

has finally been released -

The Update Rollup contains all security updates produced for Windows 2000 between the time SP4 was released and April 30, 2005... The Update Rollup also contains a number of updates that increase system security, reliability, reduce support costs, and support the current generation of PC hardware.

Interestingly it won't be delivered to Windows 2000 through automatic updates until each server has been moved to Windows Update v6. See more info here and in the KB.

Windows AntiSpyware beta update

The beta 1 just got updated. The second beta refresh (!) build is 1.0.614. The Microsoft AntiSpyware Update start menu shortcut does not seem to update it despite what the download page claims. Maybe I'm just too fast...
The update is a genuine Microsoft Windows update - which reminds me of an article on slashdot.org claiming that the check was cracked by the Indian researcher Debasis Mohanty.

TechEd Europe T minus 9 days

Per and I will both be at TechEd Europe in Amsterdam. I'm personally looking forward to the Pre-Conference day with Jesper Johansson and Steve Riley on the topic "Be Secure: How to Build a Defense-in-Depth Strategy for your Environment - Today!" they are both great speakers and always fun to listen to (Even though they also can be busted as you can hear approx 17 minutes into this webcast where Steve just has been 'taught' by an MVP why 802.1x on Wired Lans isn't perfect and why a personal firewall in this case will lower your security ;-)

Anyway we look forward to seeing both former and current customers/colleagues and maybe even a reader or two (If its two its probably all of our readers ;-) My e-mail at TechEd will be My.Initials@mseventseurope.com or as usual My.Initials@inceptio.dk.

Top client/server support issues in Microsoft Exchange

PSS has gathered a good list of KB's / their top issues in the following areas -

• Microsoft Outlook. This includes topics that are related to Microsoft
Exchange connectivity.
• Microsoft Outlook Web Access.
• Exchange Mobility. This includes topics that are related to remote
procedure call (RPC) over HTTP.

You can find the KB article here

Nasty stuff - Vulnerability in SMB Could Allow Remote Code

This is bad news. Even though most systems will be protected from internet attacks, this opens up for a new worm flooding your internal network.
Get the update distributed right away!

For those of you with NT4 systems - hmmm - bad luck??

Customers who require additional support for Windows NT 4.0 SP6a must contact their Microsoft account team representative, their Technical Account Manager, or the appropriate Microsoft partner representative for custom support options.
Customers without an Alliance, Premier, or Authorized Contract can contact their local Microsoft sales office.

Microsoft Security Initiatives in SP1 and SP2 - nothing but a complex toy?

I've written an essay on the security initiatives in SP1 and SP2 for the Industry insiders forum and it can be found here or in this post -

I recently read Kevin Day's book "Inside a Security Mind" - not because I pretend or intend to be a security guru but because I'm aware of the fact that we as a industry need to change focus in terms of security.

Working as a Solution Architect and Managing Consultant I've been pushing security focus to my customers for a long time - both in term of technology itself and more importantly around the processes involved in implementing and supporting technology - and it's quite frankly at times an uphill process. The comment from Kevin Day's book that triggered me to write this article was –

“.. a security device, no matter how expensive or complex, is nothing more than a toy if it does not function within a greater security framework.”

I principally agree with this statement as it relates directly to some of the solutions I have seen at customers and in terms of XP SP2 it reminds me of one of the first customer comments I heard about the Windows XP SP2 firewall - "Very fine – but how do we disable it?". From a short-sighted manageability point of view, I understand the comment, but from a security Point of View the possibility of implementing a managed firewall is an opportunity that I personally would not let go.

The same applies to the security initiatives in Windows Server 2003 SP1. These includes the Windows Server Post-Setup Security Updates (PSSU) that works as a firewall blocking all incoming traffic during OS installation until all required security updates has been installed and the person installing the server presses "Finish" in the wizard that pops up after logon. PSSU is luckily on by default in slipstreamed Windows 2003 SP1 installations.
Furthermore the Security Configuration Wizard and its 50+ role-based configurations allows us to create templates/roles for all servers in a organization – allowing us to take a role-based approach towards the security configuration on servers. Using the “scwcmd transform” command takes SCW to the next step by converting our templates to group policies that now can be linked to our OU structure and further enhancing the roll-out of our security policies to servers that are domain members (Be aware though that IIS settings aren’t deployable through group polices and therefore NOT part of the transformation).

One of the main advantages of the enhancements in both service packs is that when properly implemented they are a good start towards the “principle of least privilege”; in terms of OS hardening almost everything incoming is blocked by default – except the settings/roles you have defined as allowed.

This essay is not meant to be a review of all the security enhancements in SP1/SP2 but I feel the need to comment that I’m not saying SCW or the firewall in SP2 are perfect. An important feature missing in the firewall is outgoing connections – including which applications are allowed to initiate these (Although I recognize the fact that it would be hard to implement and manage in a corporate environment) another is the many different tools used for security configuration. Furthermore, I think it’s disappointing that Microsoft didn’t have the nerve to enable the firewall by default in a slipstreamed Windows Server 2003 SP1 installation (Although I’m sure they had good reasons for this) – so that “everything” was blocked by default and you had to use SCW to open the server for the necessary applications/usages. Last but not least I’m painfully aware of the work required to actually making these technologies work in an existing production environment (But I personally think it’s worth the effort).

Back to the point that relates to one of the Ten Immutable Laws of Security "Technology is not a panacea" and Kevin’s point about expensive/complex toys. If the full functionality of the Service packs isn’t implemented in your organization or if they are implemented in a environment where the proper processes around security isn’t in place or where simple things as password protected screensavers are disabled (as I’ve seen in our of my enterprise clients, due to a Managing Director that was annoyed with having to unlock Windows when returning to his desk) and/or the rest of the organization isn’t security aware – then whatever security initiatives Microsoft makes it’s almost a dead end game.

I do believe however that the enhancements in SP1/SP2 are much more than toys and that you and I can use it to make a difference - they are way better than the current situation where machines are often attacked during installation or before they are fully patched – and I do believe that if we all try to influence the people around, below and/or above us that we can help to raise the security bar and awareness in our respective companies and in the industry (Just to be clear - I don't think its Kevin’s point either that we should give up on security if all processes/systems aren’t in place ;-)

So come on – let’s join forces and go and test and design the firewall for our XP clients and role-based security based on GPO and SCW for all our servers (Btw. don’t use it with SBS 2003 and do try this Google search for other known issues).

Good overview of AD enhancements in SP1

Just a quick note - I found a nice overview of the New Active Directory features in Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

SAP Enterprise Portal 5.0 / AD Schema conflict

SAP Enterprise Portal 5.0 requires schema changes in Active Directory and if you have SAP installed with EP 5.0 SP5 Patch 3 hotfix 2 and higher or EP 5.0 SP6 Patch 1 then it is supported on Windows 2003 - but the schema changes made by SAP Portal conflicts with the Windows 2003 schema upgrade process. During the adprep /forestprep process you will get a failure with an error like "cn=uid,cn=schema,cn=configuration windows 2000 schema and extended schema does not match" and a message to contact your supplier/vendor responsible for the schema changes for assistance.

SAP Note Number 640923 addresses this and the solution is basically to change the DN from uid to SAP-UID and add some entries to SAP Portal that tells it where to look for its usergroupmap.

Reports on Microsoft Update v6 release !

Just a quick notice - it just thought that Microsoft Update v6 was released including updates Office 2003 (That I hadn't seen as part of the Beta) and through automatic updates. Typing http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com forwarded me to http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-us. Also I found a few similar reports on Google. But in my case it related to the fact that I'm testing MBSA 2.0 which has a checkmark for Configure computers for Microsoft Update and scanning prerequisites under Check for security updates - these checkboxes causes computers scanned to use Microsoft Update v6 ;-)

DNS Zone Transfer from Bind to Windows Server 2003 "silently" fails

It seems there are a few "interesting" oddities with DNS on Windows Server 2003 (See my earlier post on replication problems during a domain upgrade).
The last one I encountered is replication of secondaries from Bind DNS servers to Windows Server 2003 that fails (Its also a problem with SP1 according to my sources - but I haven’t tested that yet).
After the first successful replication of a secondary zone or after a Reload from Master (Full Zone Transfer / AXFR) Windows will request Incremental Zone Transfers (IXFR) from the BIND server. Windows then expects to receive an IXFR back but instead receives an AXFR that starts and ends with an SOA - Windows then (correctly IMHO) detects the first SOA as a "bad packet" as it should have been a record instead and drops the zone transfer.
The problem is further described in KB 841467 but there is an error in the KB as it states that a Transfer from Master will work - this isn't correct as only a Reload from Master will work (At least in the environment I worked with - Windows 2003 without Servicepack 1 and Borderware firewall with Bind 8.x).
The hotfix itselfs contains a new version of dns.exe and you don't have to boot after applying this hotfix if you manually stop the DNS service before installing it (IMHO the package should do this for you - but thats just my opinion ;-)
Furthermore according to THE book on DNS (DNS and BIND from O'reilly - if in doubt) IXFR didn't work well in BIND until version 8.2.3 (And better yet 9.x)

Two new public patches for MPS

According to Conrad there are two new patches released for MPS (Microsoft Provisioning System) -

FIX: Event ID 5896 is logged every 15 to 60 seconds on a server that is running the Provisioning Audit and Recovery Service component in Microsoft Provisioning System 2.0

FIX: You receive a "The parameter is incorrect" error message, and the CreateMailbox procedure does not succeed in Microsoft Provisioning System

Thanks to Conrad for telling us about these ;-)

SP1 for SBS 2003 has been released

Microsoft has finally released SP1 for SBS 2003. This contains among other updates/fixes support for these server components -

Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003
Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2003
Service Pack 1 for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0
Service Pack 4 for WMSDE
Service Pack 4 for MSDE
Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000
ISA Server 2004 with Service Pack 1

Windows SBS 2003 SP1
Windows SBS Upgrade Best Practices
Installation Instructions
Release Notes
Setup for Microsoft Windows SBS Premium
What's new for SP1

The ISA 2004 bits needs to be ordered on CD from here (The link is currently broken - I will update if its changed).

For gotchas with SP1 and general tips and tricks for SBS i would recommend that you check out the SBS Diva's blog. It so happens that I'm responsible for two small instalations of SBS 2003 - so I guess I need to take the time to read all these papers :-

Slow blogging ahead

My blogging rate has slowed down lately. I'm using a lot of time trying to buy a new home and getting my old one sold..