additional auditing can be enabled on the domain controllers by going to:
local security policy->advanced audit policy->account management

then enabling
audit user account management (for successes)
audit security group management (for successes)

these events will be listed in the windows security log

source:
http://whatevernetworks.com/?p=21

update 12/6/2013:
some other useful audit policies to enable on domain controllers are:
kerberos authentication services – success/failure
account lockout – success
logoff – success
logon – success/failure
special logon – success

these will have to be set on each domain controller unless they are set on the Default Domain Controllers Policy.

IP address, subnet mask, default gateway:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=10.0.0.0

/etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING_IPV6=no
GATEWAY=10.0.0.254

DNS:
/etc/resolv.conf
search domain.com
nameserver <primary ip address>
name server <secondary ip address>

then either use ifdown/ifup eth0 or service network restart
disable iptables on boot with chkconfig iptables off
or temporarily with service iptables stop

source:
http://www.how2centos.com/centos-configure-network/

recently, i was having a problem getting a scheduled task to run a batch file. i would check after the task was supposed to run and it clearly didn’t run. the solution was to open the scheduled task properties up then go to the Actions tab. edit the action and add the directory the batch file is in to the “Start in (optional):” entry.

source:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winservermanager/thread/d47d116e-10b9-44f0-9a30-7406c86c2fbe

also, i really dislike the new layout of task scheduler…seems so convoluted.

it’s been a long while since i’ve had to do anything with microsoft KMS…so here’s a quick refresher:
slmgr.vbs -dli – displays license information

slmgr.vbs -ipk <kms key> – installs product key

slmgr.vbs -ato – activates key

this time around i set up the KMS host on a 2008 R2 core as the role seemed to be a perfect candidate for core. the core setup went fairly well using sconfig except for one error thrown while trying to apply a static IP address. the error was “the ip address could not be changed” and i tried to apply it like 3 different times with no luck. i didn’t research the problem much at all and just decided to fall back on using:
netsh interface ipv4 set address “Local Area Connection” static IP SM GW 1

so anyway, since it had been awhile since i dealt with KMS i was initially confused on why i couldn’t install a windows 8 KMS key on the 2008 R2 server. note: this was after i installed the required update KB2757817 for allowing 2008 R2 to activate windows 8 and windows 2012 machines. after some research and my memory returning, i remembered that a windows 8 KMS is assumed to be installed on windows 8 and that you have to install a server KMS key on 2008 R2 (a KMS A, B, or C type key). the server KMS key is capable of activating client machines.
more info (outdated but still useful): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793422.aspx

installing office KMS keys is brand new to me. i went about it by trying to use slmgr.vbs -ipk <office kms key>, that totally does not work. what you have to do is install a “Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack” or a “Microsoft office 2013 Volume License Pack” on the box that you’re using for a KMS host. the installation will then ask you for your office KMS key (the key you want is named “office 20## suites and apps KMS” and is located under the relationship summary volume licensing page).

then running slmgr.vbs -dli all will show that the office KMS key is indeed installed.

also the volume activation management tool (3.0) is now part of a package called windows assessment and deployment kit (ADK).

update 10/18/2013:
KMS update for windows 8.1/windows 2012 r2: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2885698

update 9/21/2015:
KMS update for windows 2008 r2 to activate windows 10 (previously this was only supported on windows 2012+): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3079821
locating the correct KMS key for this was tricky, it’s not listed under windows 10, windows 2008 r2, or windows 2012 r2 and if you try to gather details about the key with VAMT 3.1 the verification fails. the key was listed as “Windows Srv 2012R2 DataCtr/Std KMS for Windows 10” under Licenses->Relationship Summary in the MS volume licensing portal. i know of know other way to locate this key.
source: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ab2783f0-11a4-45ef-844e-cf8e4c3627ce/how-to-activate-windows-10-enterprise-and-2012-r2-servers-via-the-same-kms-server?forum=winservergen

update 2/15/2016:
i ran into some issues installing the office 2016 kms key as well. the installation and assignment of the key looked successful but activations were still failing. i eventually found out there was a specific issue with coexisting office 2013  and 2016 kms installations on a windows 2008 r2 server. the solution was to install the latest version of the office 2016 kms package. in my case this was “office2016volumelicensepack_4324-1002_en-us_x86”. it worked fine after installing the most recent package.

also c:\program files\microsoft office\office16\cscript ospp.vbs /act can be used to force an activation from a client.
sources:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3104410
http://edhammond.blogspot.com/2015/10/add-your-office-2016-kms-keys-to-your.html

the chromium web browser profile is located in ~/.config/chromium/Default

various files in this location are actually sqlite databases and can be opened with the sqlite database browser program

today was the 2nd time i’ve encountered a server with kingslide (or similar type) rails. and even though i’ve dealt with them before i still forgot how to remove a server from them. the server today was a sun “sunfire” and i struggled trying to remove it. eventually i gave up and decided to google. i had a nagging feeling in my head that this scenario was very familiar as i encountered this same problem when trying to de-rack a cisco UCS server.

so the thing is…a portion of the slide rails is actually attached to the server. so when you want to remove the server from the rack you push two white tabs in the middle section of the rails towards you (there’s an arrow on both tabs that points to you). then pull the server out towards you a little bit and stop (no longer need to push the white tabs). then at this point you should be able to keep pulling the server out towards you until it’s entirely out of the rails.

this is in contrast to the dell poweredge rails (that i’m very used to) where you unlatch the server from the rails and then lift the server straight up. i’m not sure if it’s just because i’m used to the dell rails most or what, but i definitely prefer their design.

managed from the IIS 6.0 manager console
if .eml files are stuck in the c:\inetpub\mailroot\queue folder, a SMTP service restart can help force their delivery. apparently, new items can be placed directly in the pickup folder (verified – 7/11/2013).

update/correction:
when problem emails (undeliverables) are stuck in the queue then even a SMTP service restart won’t get rid of them. you’ll have to wait until the messages are expired and dropped (these settings are configurable). you could also stop the service and manually remove the problem emails and then restart the service. also anytime you actually see items in the queue that indicates a problem…

another update 7/11/2013:
you can sometimes fix mail marked as bad if you know what the exact problem is. for instance, try renaming the sender as From: <user@mydomain.com> or change the delimiters in the To: section from semicolons to commas, etc. then rename the .bad file to .eml and place it in the pickup folder to see if it sends.

the NCSA common log file format seems to provide more verbose information than the W3C format.

how to quickly send a test message:
telnet to smtp server port 25
helo me
mail from:test@test.com
rcpt to:myemail@domain.com
Data
Subject:Test
Testing
.
quit

source:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323350

further troubleshooting:
there is a microsoft utility called SMTPDiag that i have not tried yet
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11393