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Russell Smith
Editorial DirectorRussell Smith, the Editorial Director at Petri IT Knowledgebase, has over two decades of hands-on experience in IT, in both small business settings and government IT infrastructure projects.
Russell started writing for Windows IT Pro Magazine in the early 2000s. Since then, he has contributed insights to various IT publications, including Petri and CDW. His authoritative voice has resonated across industry blogs, where he dissects complex topics into an ‘easy read’.
Russell has authored over a thousand articles, each a testament to his depth of knowledge. His expertise doesn’t stop there: he wrote a book on Privilege Management and co-authored another for Microsoft’s MOAC series. Moreover, Russell’s commitment to education shines through in the courses he crafted for Pluralsight.
He is also presenter on his own YouTube channel, This Week in IT, and the current presenter of Petri Dish.
LATEST
Do We Still Need GUI Management Tools in Windows Server?
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Apr 02, 2015
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Russell Smith
Are the GUI management tools still relevant for Windows Server? Russell Smith explains how we’re moving away from the traditional GUI in lieu of PowerShell.
Monitoring Windows Event Logs for Security Breaches
Last Update: Feb 23, 2026
- Mar 31, 2015
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Russell Smith
Discover the most important events to monitor in the Windows Event logs that might indicate a security breach.
Configure Event Log Forwarding in Windows Server 2012 R2
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 25, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shares simple steps for configuring event log forwarding in Windows Server 2012 R2.
Query XML Event Log Data Using XPath in Windows Server 2012 R2
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 24, 2015
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Russell Smith
Learn how to query XML Event Log data using XPath to make your custom views even more valuable.
Audit Internet Explorer Usage with the Enterprise Site Discovery Toolkit
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 23, 2015
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Russell Smith
Learn how to gather Internet Explorer usage telemetry with the Enterprise Site Discovery Toolkit.
How to Create Custom Views in Windows Server 2012 R2 Event Viewer
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 19, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shows us how to make Event Viewer in Windows Server a more useful tool by creating custom views.
Configure Distributed File System Replication in Windows Server 2012 R2
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 13, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shows us how to configure distributed file system replication in Windows Server 2012 R2 in this step-by-step tutorial.
Enable Notifications to Open Firewall Ports in Windows Server 2012 R2
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 12, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shows us a simple way to enable notifications to open firewall ports in Windows Server 2012 R2 in this step-by-step tutorial.
Create a Distributed File System Namespace in Windows Server 2012 R2
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 11, 2015
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Russell Smith
Learn how to create a Distributed File System Namespace in Windows Server 2012 R2 in this tutorial by Russell Smith.
Back Up and Restore Group Policy Objects Using PowerShell
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 11, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shows us how to easily back up and restore Group Policy Objects with the help of PowerShell.
Automate Domain Controller Deployment in Microsoft Azure
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 10, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith walks us through improvements to his script used for automating domain controller deployment in Microsoft Azure.
How to Rename a Windows Device
Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
- Mar 05, 2015
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Russell Smith
Russell Smith shows us two different approaches to renaming Windows devices.