IT Knowledgebase Articles

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 now has built-in Open Relay Filter (ORFilter) or DNS Blacklist and Realtime Blackhole List (DNSBL, RBL) capabilities, which releases us from the need to rely on 3rd party software for the spam filtering. Update – Exchange Intelligent Message Filter Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter (IMF) was first released at the end…

How can I configure Exchange 2003 to block unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam) with Intelligent Message Filter? Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter is a product developed by Microsoft to help companies reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), or spam, received by users. Intelligent Message Filter is based on Microsoft SmartScreen Technology from Microsoft Research….

How can I configure a Windows 2000/XP/2003 computer to block Ping packets? Windows 2000/XP/2003 machines have a built-in IP security mechanism called IPSec (IP Security). IPSec is a protocol that’s designed to protect individual TCP/IP packets traveling across your network by using public key encryption. In a nut shell, the source PC encapsulates the normal…

How can I block a Windows 2000/XP/2003 computer from surfing on the Internet but still allow it to surf to Intranet sites? As written in the previous article – Block Web Browsing with IPSec, Windows 2000/XP/2003 machines have a built-in IP security mechanism called IPSec (IP Security). IPSec is a protocol that’s designed to protect…

How do I block incoming Internet mail to specific users or groups in Exchange 2003? This tip might come in handy when you want to effectively block all incoming Internet mail traffic for a specific user or a specific group. Note: The original tip was submitted by Ade Famoti on the excellent You Had Me…

Before you begin messing with your system The registry is no child’s play Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. I cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved nor do I provide technical support for such issues if they occur….

ADSI is a set of COM objects that are used to programmatically manipulate a namespace. A namespace could be anything from the Active Directory to an application such as MS Exchange Server. Since ADSI is based on COM, it may be scripted using any language with COM bindings (any language that supports accessing the COM…

How do I backup my Exchange 2000/2003 server? One of the most important tasks for an Exchange administrator is the regular, day-by-day, backing up of all the Exchange databases. This can be easily accomplished by use of the built-in NTBACKUP.EXE software found on your Exchange 2000/2003 server. Some administrators might choose to your 3rd-Party backup…

Backing up Active Directory is essential to maintain the proper health of the Active Directory database. You can backup Active Directory by using the NTBACKUP tool that comes built-in with Windows Server 2003, or use any 3rd-party tool that supports this feature. Backing up the Active Directory is done on one or more of your…

  Windows Server 2008 has a new feature allowing administrators to create snapshots of the Active Directory database for offline use. There are quite a few scenarios for using AD snapshots. For example, if someone has changes properties of AD objects and you need to revert to their previous values, you can mount a copy…