PowerShell Basics: How to Delete Microsoft Teams Cache for All Users
Sometimes there is a need to delete Microsoft Teams cache to quicken the adoption of an in-band policy change or simply troubleshoot an issue. The challenge here is that the cache for Microsoft Teams is in multiple directories. This can be done manually but would result in a slow and tedious process. Again, we turn to PowerShell to automate this process and this time it's a one-liner that addresses this opportunity.PowerShell Basics: How to Delete Files Older Than X Days
Currently spring cleaning your home... or trying to find something to do while stuck at home? I've recently taken up the task to clean my NAS and other storage devices of files not touched in over 6 months to clear up storage space. I once again turn to PowerShell to automate the task.Governance 101: The Difference Between RBAC and Policies
Organization's that adopt governance can achieve effective and efficient use of IT by creating a common understanding between organizational projects and business goals. To achieve said goal, "guardrails" have to be set in place to ensure resource creation and utilization meet the standards an organization needs to abide by. Sometimes it is to follow a regulation or even control costs. In any case Role Based Access Control (RBAC) and Policies play an important role in governance to ensure everyone and every resource stays within the required boundaries.Step-By-Step: Migrating The Active Directory Certificate Service From Windows Server 2008 R2 to 2019
End of support for Windows Server 2008 R2 has been slated by Microsoft for January 14th 2020. Said announcement increased interest in a previous post detailing steps on Active Directory Certificate Service migration from server versions older than 2008 R2. Many subscribers of ITOpsTalk.com have reached out asking for an update of the steps to reflect Active Directory Certificate Service migration from 2008 R2 to 2016 / 2019 and of course our team is happy to oblige.The Syntax Difference Between Python and PowerShell
During MS Ignite 2020, I was surprised to learn of a growing debate that system administrators are starting to become increasing vocal on... "Which scripting language is better? Python or PowerShell?" Having only dabbled in both, I am not an authority on either to share my opinion. From a facts perspective, PowerShell provides a shell scripting environment whereas Python is an interpreted high-level programming language. Now both can accomplish similar tasks but thier differences also help distinguish themselves to complete certain tasks.How to Manage Microsoft Teams via PowerShell
Microsoft Teams usage has increased greatly during the current pandemic. All types of organizations are using the communications tool to stay connected with its employees and customers alike. The increase of use has also resulted in an increase of demand of system administrator's time to manage Microsoft Teams. Everything from adding users and groups to managing policies of said users and groups can be managed via PowerShell. This post will highlight the foundations to get started and provide links to continue your automation through script writing journey.PowerShell Basics: How to Scan Open Ports Within a Network
Network complexity is rapidly increasing with the addition of non-traditional devices gaining access to organizational networks. Singular purpose devices made available through the Internet of Things (IoT) offering has increased network complexity even further with the ease of adding said devices to the network and sometimes without the knowledge of a system administrator. Hence the following received question: "How do I ensure all the appropriate ports are closed with all these devices being added to my network?"PowerShell Basics: How to Force AzureAD Connect to Sync
In every organization, the possibility of role changes or change of contact information can occur quite frequently. AzureAD Connect is a great tool that allows administrators to make said updates either on-premises or in cloud and will sync all changes accordingly. It can take up to 30 minutes for Azure Active Directory to update these changes when these changes are applied on the on-premises Active Directory instance and vice-versa via AzureAD Connect. It can also take up to an additional 30 minutes to then sync changes with Office 365. This post will detail steps to force AzureAD Connect to sync on command when required via PowerShell to combat the delay.Step-By-Step: Creating a SQL Server Always On Availability Group
One of the most requested features in SQL, from as far back as SQL 2012, has been Always On Availability Groups. This takes disaster recovery and high availability to a new level by enabling multiple copies of the database to be highly available, enabling the possibility of Read-Only workloads and enabling the ability of offloading management tasks such as backups. Unlike database mirroring, Always On Availability Groups allow for failover of a group of databases in a single SQL Server instance. This step-by-step details the creation of a SQL Server 2016 / 2017 Always On Availability Group to ensure high availability of mission-critical databases.Step-By-Step: Manually Removing A Domain Controller Server
Use of DCPROMO is still the proper way to remove a DC server in an Active Directory infrastructure. Certain situations, such as server crash or failure of the DCPROMO option, require manual removal of the DC from the system by cleaning up the servers metadata. This blog post will help you accomplish this.
