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Microsoft Office 365 Troubleshooting Tool

Working on a client who was the victim of their previous IT company over using Microsoft Office 2010 Pro Plus licenses on workstations. This caused them all to have licensing errors and required the client to switch to a Microsoft Open License agreement that they had previously for Office 2010 Standard. After uninstalling and re-installing the software, the Microsoft Outlook 2010 client repeatedly asked for credentials even though they were entered correctly. Stumbled across the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365 in my Google search for the root cause, so I gave it a try. This tool was child's play to use and within minutes found that Microsoft Outlook 2010 needed Service Pack 2 installed in order to be compatible with Office 365. Installed this patch and the client immediately connected. Thanks for the new tool Office 365 Troubleshooting Tool Microsoft.

Tips for on-campus technology protection

How often should you wash your bathroom towels? And what about the bathroom rug? Should you wash it every week? Every couple of weeks? Continue reading “Tips for on-campus technology protection” →

RDP Gateway NULL SID errors

Recently converted a client’s Windows Standard 2012 R2 terminal server into a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Gateway server so that remote users could connect to their workstations inside the corporate network. (The details of how to do this properly will follow soon in another post.) Once the setup was completed it was time to test the connectivity as follows:

Testing RDP Connectivity

Log into a remote workstation
Open Microsoft Terminal Services Client (MSTSC)
Type in the Computer name and User name into the General tab:
Click on the Advanced tab and then on the Settings… button.
Choose Use these RD Gateway server settings then type in the external URL of the RDP Gateway
Choose Bypass RD Gateway server for local addresses
Choose Use my RD Gateway credentials for the remote computer then click OK
Should then be able to click Connect to tunnel into that workstation

Issues with NULL SID as follows:

Getting errors during login process about inability to connect, noticed that it allowed for credentials at RDP Gateway but then failed when trying to login to local worksations.
Attempted to connect from machines without the KB2592687 and KB2830477 installed, but same errors occured.
Checked the event logs for the local workstation and found Event ID #4625 NULL SID errors. Which should have pointed to issues with authentication.
Tested NTLMv2 login issues via changing the following registry entry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] – LMCompatibilityLevel set above 3
Did the same thing via Group Policy using the following setting:

Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options – “Network security: LAN Manager authentication level” set to Send NTLMv2 response only
Finally narrowed it down to NTP settings on the router not being set and mismatch of time.

Choosing best browser – can it really be done?

How often should you wash your bathroom towels? And what about the bathroom rug? Should you wash it every week? Every couple of weeks? Continue reading “Choosing best browser – can it really be done?” →

Securing RingCentral via Juniper SRX

Recently wrestled with a Juniper SRX 220 router that a client needed help with securing RingCentral on. This entailed creating port forwarding rules for specific secure port ranges for TLS transport and linking those with rules for specific IP ranges belonging to RingCentral servers. Here are the specific lines of code that were used to make this connection possible (I am also throwing in the CoS settings used to shape traffic for good measure):

Setting to configure Juniper SRX for RingCentral

class-of-service classifiers dscp TRAFFIC_CLASSIFIER import default
class-of-service classifiers dscp TRAFFIC_CLASSIFIER forwarding-class PHONE_QOS_CLASS loss-priority low code-points 101110

class-of-service forwarding-classes queue 0 PHONE_QOS_CLASS
class-of-service forwarding-classes queue 1 Best_Effort_Class

class-of-service interfaces ge-0/0/0 scheduler-map WAN_SCHEDULE_MAP
class-of-service interfaces ge-0/0/0 unit 0 classifiers dscp TRAFFIC_CLASSIFIER

class-of-service scheduler-maps WAN_SCHEDULE_MAP forwarding-class PHONE_QOS_CLASS scheduler PHONE_SCHEDULER
class-of-service scheduler-maps WAN_SCHEDULE_MAP forwarding-class Best_Effort_Class scheduler BE_SCHEDULER

class-of-service schedulers PHONE_SCHEDULER transmit-rate percent 20
class-of-service schedulers PHONE_SCHEDULER buffer-size percent 20
class-of-service schedulers PHONE_SCHEDULER priority strict-high

class-of-service schedulers BE_SCHEDULER transmit-rate remainder

security alg sip disable

security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP1_NAT match source-address RingCentral_IP1
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP1_NAT match destination-address any
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP1_NAT match application RingCentral
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP1_NAT then permit

security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP2_NAT match source-address RingCentral_IP2
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP2_NAT match destination-address any
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP2_NAT match application RingCentral
security policies from-zone Internet to-zone LAN policy RingCentral_IP2_NAT then permit

security zones security-zone Internet address-book address RingCentral_IP1 199.255.120.0/22
security zones security-zone Internet address-book address RingCentral_IP2 199.68.212.0/22

applications application RingCentral term Mobile_App_Media destination-port 4000-5000 protocol udp
applications application RingCentral term Phone_Registration_UDP destination-port 5060-6000 protocol udp
applications application RingCentral term Phone_Registration_TCP destination-port 5060-6000 protocol tcp
applications application RingCentral term RTP_SRTP_Softphone1 destination-port 8000-8200 protocol udp
applications application RingCentral term RC_Meeting_Signaling_UDP destination-port 8801-8802 protocol udp
applications application RingCentral term RC_Meeting_Signaling_TCP destination-port 8801-8802 protocol tcp
applications application RingCentral term RTP_SRTP_Deskphone destination-port 16384-16482 protocol udp
applications application RingCentral term RTP_SRTP_Softphone2 destination-port 20000-60000 protocol udp

This should be everything unless you have custom firewall filters to lock down management access or something else like that. Please feel free to contact us if you need any help configuring either your RingCentral account or Juniper routers or switches.

Make OneDrive for Business Accessible

There is a huge debate raging about which company to use for file sync and share for businesses with many turning to Dropbox to make efficient mobile workforces possible. The only problem with this is the costs don’t scale well. As OneDrive for Business becomes more mature it becomes a real contender for this space especially when integrated with Windows Explorer. Here is how to make this happen for the “Sharepoint Online” shared storage space for an organization:

Configure Sharepoint Online and OneDrive for Business

Sign in to Office 365 using your credentials at the Portal Login. Make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box.
Switch to the SharePoint Online site by clicking on the Sites tile.
Open a document library in Explorer View – we need to do this to obtain the URL for the library.
1. From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
2. In the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
3. In the Connect & Export group, click Open with Explorer.
4. Click on Allow if an Internet Explorer Security warning pops up.
5. Explorer should now Launch with your chosen Library
Right-click and Copy the URL from the Explorer window address bar.
Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose to Map Network Drive.
Click the Connect to a Web site that you can store your documents and pictures link, and then click Next two times.

Paste the site URL, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard. For example, https://companyname.sharepoint.com/Shared Documents
This location will now be added as a Network Location in Windows Explorer

There is still one piece missing from this puzzle which is easily changing folder permissions from Windows Explorer. To do so it is still needed to login to the portal as follows:

From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
Select the Folder and click on the Share button.
In the Share window, click Invite People.
In the dialog box, enter the names of the people or groups that you want to give access.
As you add names, you can cspecify the permission level that you want the new users to have.
You can also include a personal message
When you finish, click Share.

Those are the basics for using Sharepoint Online’s OneDrive for Business to function like Dropbox for Business. If you need any help with this setup contact us and one of our Office 365 Sharepoint Online experts will help.

LeChiffre Ransomware Hits Server

Recently had a non-managed client hit by the LeChiffre Ransomware which encrypted their entire data share on the Windows Small Business Server 2008 that they have been using for some time. Here is what the virus left in every folder along with adding the word LeChiffre (aka encrypt) to the end of all files:

LeChiffre Ransomware Traces

This company was at least partially protected – even though they made the cardinal mistake of not having anti-virus on the server, they did have recent backups that were usable. Used the backup to restore the files that were effected by the virus and everything seemed good for a couple weeks until they realized that the backup set was incomplete and didn’t include some vital files related to their website. Found and used the LeChiffre Decryptor from Emisoft to try and recover the remaining files from the server, but ended up having mixed results. They were able to open GIF and PNG files but DOC and PDF files were hopelessly corrupted.

This infection of the LeChiffre Ransomware is just another lesson to those who think that their systems are just fine. Please take the time to contact us for a free security evaluation, so that a proper plan can be put in place to protect vital company documents from being lost to situations like these.

Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection

Big thanks go out to the folks at SANS Institute for this write-up on Detecting Security Incidents Using Windows Workstation Event Logs that gave the guidance for this article on Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection. These are the basics of creating Custom Views in Event Viewer on Microsoft Windows 2012, but the actual monitoring for these events should be done by more complex log parsing software that is beyond the scope of this article. Here are the basic steps towards finding these events:

Create Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection Custom View

Open Event Viewer
Right click on Custom Views then choose “Create Custom View…”
Make sure to select all event levels and all Windows Logs
Add the following event id numbers into the space provided:

1001,4624,4625,4657,4688,4697,4698,7034,7035,7036,7040,64004
Click OK. Give the Custom View a name then Click OK again.
Right click on the newly created Custom View and select “Attach Task To This Custom View…”
Work through the wizard based interface and select the desired task. Email is a nice one but is depreciated and will require the setup of an SMTP Relay unless there is an onsite Exchange server or dedicated email setup for this purpose with your email provider.

These are just the basics the article from SANS goes into greater depth on how to configure event log monitoring software to parse these for you. Better yet contact us to setup remote monitoring and maintenance to do the heavy lifting for you.

Branded Email using Custom Domain Name

There are many reasons your business needs to use a branded email address using a customized domain name. Let’s look at what the top ones are:

Branded Email Establishes Legitimacy

Customers want to trust a companies before they choose to give their business to them. This is the number one reason businesses should use branded email – not only does it give your business a deeper level of branding, but it establishes the business' legitimacy. This is because your email is often the customer’s first impression of you, especially if email or print marketing had an email for contact. It makes your business look professional and can set it apart from the competition. Phishing schemes are a very real concern these days and many of these fake emails come from people trying to pose as a legitimate business. The best way for your customer to know if the email is really from you or a potentially dangerous location, is by the email address' domain name. If the customer can look at the sender address and see your business’ domain, they will feel more confident clicking links or replying back with sensitive information.

Branded Email Builds Your Brand

A business can never have too much company branding. From business cards to bumper stickers to coffee mugs, there are branding opportunities everywhere. This should includes your business email too. Every time your employees send an email, it reinforces your business brand to the customer. It not only reminds the customer that you have a website, but gives them a peek into what your company is all about.

Branded Email Separates Company Departments

Having a branded email allows you to create multiple email addresses or email aliases for different departments and company objectives. This is a huge benefit as yourname@mycompanyname.com may not always the best address to email or your business may not want the customer to directly contact your employees. It helps compartmentalize the work and make sure that the right person / department receives the correct emails. You can create emails like support@mycomanyname.com, info@mycompanyname.com, sales@mycompanyname.com and many others that can point to one or more members of the organization. It also helps the customer, by pointing them to the right email address for the issue they need addressed.

Branded Email Isn’t Expensive

With Office 365’s Hoste Exchange service your business can add as many individual email addresses and email aliases to your company's branded domain on an as needed basis, access email from anywhere across all major platforms, get industry leading anti-malware / anti-spam filtering built in, send email attachments up to 150MB in size and get 50GB of storage per mailbox. Prices start at just $4 per user per month. Microsoft manages the email server and Farmhouse Networking handles the setup / administration of the rest, which making it simple for you to have a professional branded customized business email address.

If you don’t have a branded email address, now is the perfect time to get one. Small businesses often think they don’t need one or can’t afford it, but that is simply not true. Help your business by setting up a branded email today by giving us a call or email to let our Office 365 experts get your business started on the path to better branding.

Server Battery Backup Best Practices

It is astounding to think that many servers in small businesses are plugged directly into the wall for power without any protection from outages or dirty electric current. It is easy to mitigate up to 44% of data loss incidents that are due to hardware failure by providing clean and consistent power to servers on the network. Installing a server battery backup is quite easy to do and the possible return on investment will never be seen due to the possible issues being taken care of. Here is a basic list of best practices for purchasing and setting up the monitoring software that comes with the unit:

Server Battery Backup Purchasing:

Budget to purchase new battery backup devices every 5-6 years
Replace internal battery on unit at the 3 year mark
Based on maximum load (think power supply total watts) select an Uninterupted Power Supply (UPS) that will not be loaded over 80% which protects the unit from undue wear and allows for some growth
Consider redundant UPS configuration for larger servers with multiple power supplies
In high production environments, consider adding an UPS for each workstation to allow for file saves before file server shutdown occurs.

Server Battery Backup Setup:

Make sure buildings elecrical breakers are rated to handle the 80-100% load of the UPS
If single UPS used in multiple power supply server scenario then put one plug into the wall and the other into the UPS, but please consider redundant power supplies.
Plug in serial, usb or network management and install the management software that comes with it
Configure the management software to gracefully shutdown the Operating System (OS) of all connected servers
If using sequential shutdown of servers then shutdown database servers first, file servers second and domain controllers last.
Configure either SNMP alerting or email alerting to get status updates from the device
Configure regular self-test of the battery to make sure there is no failure of the internal battery before the replacement period

Taking the time to do this right the first time will save headaches later when things go wrong. Call or email us to do an evaluation of your power infrastructure.

Microsoft Office 365 Troubleshooting Tool

Tips for on-campus technology protection

RDP Gateway NULL SID errors

Testing RDP Connectivity

Issues with NULL SID as follows:

Choosing best browser – can it really be done?

Securing RingCentral via Juniper SRX

Setting to configure Juniper SRX for RingCentral

LeChiffre Ransomware Hits Server

Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection

Create Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection Custom View

Branded Email using Custom Domain Name

Branded Email Establishes Legitimacy

Branded Email Builds Your Brand

Branded Email Separates Company Departments

Branded Email Isn’t Expensive

Server Battery Backup Best Practices

Server Battery Backup Purchasing:

Server Battery Backup Setup:

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Testing RDP Connectivity

Issues with NULL SID as follows:

Setting to configure Juniper SRX for RingCentral

Configure Sharepoint Online and OneDrive for Business

Create Windows Event Logs Intrusion Detection Custom View

Branded Email Establishes Legitimacy

Branded Email Builds Your Brand

Branded Email Separates Company Departments

Branded Email Isn’t Expensive

Server Battery Backup Purchasing:

Server Battery Backup Setup:

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

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