Installing Oracle Database server 11g R2 on Windows

If you need to develop against an Oracle Database backend, you will probably want to be able to setup your own Oracle Database for development and testing.

Even though Oracle Database 12c has been out for quite some time, there will probably be numerous occasions where you have to install the older version of Oracle Database 11g R2 instead.  To do so, you simply have to download the Oracle Database 11g downloads from here (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/index.html), extract the .zip files and then run setup.exe:

Antivirus for Windows Server

If you are looking for Antivirus for Windows Servers, this can definitely be hard to find since most antivirus solutions are targeted towards Windows Desktop Operating Systems such as Windows 8 and Windows 10.

Well, thankfully, there are quite a few solutions available for Windows Server platforms such as Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2:

• Mcafee VirusScan Enterprise: http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/virusscan-enterprise.aspx
• ESET File Security for Microsoft Windows Server: https://www.eset.com/us/products/file-security-microsoft-server/
• AVG File Server Edition: http://www.avg.com/ppc/ww-en/avg-file-server-edition?ecid=ad:ro:se:smb-GUS1132&channel=ppc&gclid=Cj0KEQjwyJi_BRDLusby7_S7z-IBEiQAwCVvn5x7TB3qipIhDf8DlAF8GUr5ZLgIAEqx_iGVnm84-swaAgs18P8HAQ
• Symtantec Endpoint Protection: https://www.symantec.com/campaigns/endpoint-protection
• Sophos Antivirus: https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/server-security.aspx
• Avast File Server Security: https://www.avast.com/en-us/file-server-security
• TrendMicro ServerProtect: http://www.trendmicro.com/us/enterprise/cloud-solutions/server-protection/
• Kaspersky Business Security: http://usa.kaspersky.com/store/business-security/

Web Deploy v. 3.6 vs. 3.5

Microsoft has released Web Deploy v. 3.6 some time ago, and you can download this latest release from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43717

The earlier release of Web Deploy v. 3.5 can be downloaded from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39277

However, after installing Web Deploy v. 3.6, I noticed a major discrepancy in the integration with IIS!

When I install Web Deploy v. 3.5, I get the following User Interface in IIS:

However, after installing Web Deploy v. 3.6, these options to "Import Server or Site Package" or "Export Server Package" are not available!

In addition, the options for "Export Application" or "Import Application" are also not available!

Instead, when I install Web Deploy v. 3.6, the only option available in IIS is "Install Application from Gallery"!!

Needless to say, I am sticking with Web Deploy v. 3.5 for the foreseeable future until this issue is resolved!!

Configuring a fresh/clean Windows Server for software installations

I frequently have to work on setting up Windows Server for either installation or development purposes, so I usually have to repeat a common set of steps over and over on all of the servers that I set up.  When I set up and configure my own servers or virtual machines, I have all of this scripted and imaged so that I can set up my environments within a matter of minutes, but I usually have to repeat these same steps on environments built by other companies/network administrators, so I do not always have the luxury of using my own set of images as a base configuration.

Therefore, I usually have to perform many of these steps manually.

Here are the common steps that I follow when setting up any Windows server environment for my development and installation purposes:

1. If the server is an older server such as Windows Server 2008 R2, I will usually have to install .NET Framework v. 4.5.2 and Windows PowerShell v. 4.0
2. In many cases, I have to go in and turn off Internet Explorer Enhanced Security so that I can download any additional software that I need.
3. I usually need to test and verify connectivity to other servers, so I will usually install the Windows Server Feature for Telnet Client.
4. I then proceed to install my most commonly used alternative browsers such as Google Chrome 64-bit and Mozilla Firefox 64-bit.
5. On some Microsoft sites, I have problems downloading their software due to restrictions in providing a mix of secure and insecure content on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, so I install Opera browser as my backup in the event that one of these other browsers cannot download some Microsoft-specific content.
6. I go into Windows Firewall and open any ports or allow any programs that I will need to use for my installation and development purposes such as for FTP, SMTP, SQL Server, Oracle etc.
7. I run PowerShell an initial time to make sure that the ExecutionPolicy is set to either RemoteSigned or Unrestricted (Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned)
8. I use the PowerShell ISE frequently, so I usually pin an instance of PowerShell ISE to my Windows Taskbar.  I also configure the PowerShell ISE properties to "Run as Administrator" by default.
9. I usually use the Command Prompt very frequently as well, so I end up pinning that to the Windows Taskbar also and configure the properties to "Run as Administrator" just as I do with the PowerShell ISE.
10. I like to have a backup PowerShell IDE available for my development other than PowerShell ISE, so I will also install Idera PowerShell Plus, pin it to my Windows Taskbar and set it to "Run as Administrator".  
11. In the event I may have to install software from an ISO image, I usually install ISO mounting software such as Elaborate Bytes Virtual CloneDrive.
12. More often than not, I also require an FTP client at some point in time, so I will usually install the FileZilla 64-bit FTP client.
13. When I am doing some sort of installation or development, chances are that I will need to perform some types of file or folder comparisons at some point in time, so I will usually install a file comparison utility such as Scooter Software's Beyond Compare or Sourcegear's DiffMerge.
14. Most instances of servers that I set up require either SQL Server or tools to manage SQL Server, so I will also usually install SQL Server Management Studio (at a minimum).  
15. Most Windows servers I set up end being ASP.NET Web Servers, so I run a PowerShell script to install IIS and its associated features for ASP.NET.
16. I am usually very dissatisfied with using Notepad as my text editor of choice, so I will also frequently install Notepad++.

Once I have all that in place, I am ready to begin my Windows server installations!

SHA1 Self Signed Certificates in IIS

If you have ever created a Self Signed Certificate in IIS (or using SelfSSL7) you may discover that the Self Signed Certificate you created only supports SHA1!!

However, as you may well know, SHA1 is being deprecated in favor of SHA256 certificates (http://blogs.technet.com/b/pki/archive/2013/11/12/sha1-deprecation-policy.aspx) and if you are using an SHA1 SSL certificate, you may get a browser warning such as the following:

Therefore, in order to avoid using an SHA1 SSL Certificate, you will have to resort to setting up your own hosted Windows Certificate Services which supports SHA256 SSL Certificates.

If you want Windows to support Self Signed SHA256 SSL Certificates, then you should vote for this UserVoice item: https://windowsserver.uservoice.com/forums/310252-iis-and-web-server-role/suggestions/9979233-provide-support-for-sha256-self-signed-certificate

How to change the listening port for Remote Desktop

If you have ever needed to change the default Remote Desktop Port, you probably have consulted this article for modifying the necessary Registry Key for Remote Desktop: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306759

However, manually modifying the Registry is time consuming and tedious (especially if you have to do this for a lot of servers), so I created a very convenient PowerShell script to make this process that much easier!!

Installing Windows Features via PowerShell without an Internet connection

As many Windows Server Administrators already know, if you want to install additional Windows Server Features, this usually requires access to the Internet.

Unfortunately, if you do not have access to the Internet, you cannot use the standard Install-WindowsFeature command to install Windows Server Features.

Fortunately, Microsoft offers the ability to install features directly from the source media via the -Source parameter such as this: -Source D:\sources\sxs

You can read more about how to use this parameter in conjunction with the Install-WindowsFeature PowerShell command here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj205467%28v=wps.630%29.aspx

Capturing a reference image for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

If you want to create a base Windows OS reference image to be used with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, you will want to follow these steps:

1. Install the base Windows OS as well as all of the software required for the base Windows image
2. From Windows Explorer, connect to the DeploymentShare path for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
3. Browse to the Scripts directory so that you can run the LiteTouch.vbs script
4. Once you run the LiteTouch.vbs script, you can go through the Wizard prompts to perform a "Sysprep and Capture"
5. This will then provide several other prompts which will Sysprep your target computer and then reboot to begin capturing the Windows image as a .WIM file and storing it in the Captures directory on your MDT DeploymentShare
6. Once the .WIM file has been captured, you can import the .WIM file in MDT to use it as part of your MDT OS deployments!

 

Installing and configuring PowerShell Web Access

If you want to install and configure PowerShell Web Access, you will definitely want to read these 2 MSDN Articles:


Install and Use Windows PowerShell Web Access

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831611.aspx

Use the Web-based Windows PowerShell Console

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831417.aspx

However, even after reading both of these articles, I could not set this up on one of my servers in a Workgroup!

After going through an additional 2 articles, I finally came up with a useful PowerShell script that will set up everything for you to make the process as simple as possible:

Enable and Use Remote Commands in Windows PowerShell
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff700227.aspx

Step-By-Step: Deploying PowerShell Web Access

http://blogs.technet.com/b/canitpro/archive/2013/11/14/step-by-step-deploy-powershell-web-access.aspx

$ComputerName = $env:COMPUTERNAME

$UserDomain = $env:USERDOMAIN

$UserName = $env:USERNAME

$DomainQualifiedUserName = "$UserDomain\$UserName"

$ConfigurationName = "Microsoft.PowerShell"

Install-WindowsFeature –Name WindowsPowerShellWebAccess -ComputerName $ComputerName -IncludeManagementTools -Restart

Install-PswaWebApplication -UseTestCertificate

Write-Host $DomainQualifiedUserName

Enable-PSRemoting -Force

Add-PswaAuthorizationRule –UserName $DomainQualifiedUserName -ComputerName $ComputerName -ConfigurationName $ConfigurationName

Getting started with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

If you want to deploy system images to multiple computers, then you will definitely want to familiarize yourself with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.

To get started, you will need to install the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit as well as the Windows ADK:

• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40796 
• Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) for Windows 8.1 Update: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39982

Once you have these tools installed, the next thing you have to do is run the Deployment Workbench.

Before you can do anything else in Deployment Workbench, you will have to start off by creating a Deployment Share.

 Once you have the Deployment Share created, the next thing you need to do is Import an Operating System. 

Once you have the Operating System imported, you can proceed with adding your various applications:

Finally, you have to go ahead and create a Task Sequence.

Once you have completely configured your Task Sequence, you need to Update your Deployment Share:

Now, you will get a Boot image created in the Boot folder of your Deployment Share.

Using this Boot image, you can now boot your target system to begin loading the OS and then prepping the system for an image capture!