Unlike Windows 2K, which only had SMTP service by default, Windows 2K3 also has POP3 in addition to SMTP services. So basically you can use it as a mail server. This is a small How-to for the configurations involved

server Config

Make sure SMTP Is Installed. If not, follow these directions:

Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

In the Windows Components Wizard, click Internet Information Services (IIS), and then click Details.

Click to select the following check boxes:

SMTP Service

World Wide Web Server

Click to select any other components that you want.

Click OK two times, then click the checkbox on the POP3 windows if it is not checked.

Click Next, and then click Finish to close the Windows Components Wizard.

Configuration

In IIS6 open the Service Manager

Go to the Default SMTP Virtual Server and Right Click
(Note: If the SMTP Virtual Service Manager is not visible, run this command from a Command Prompt: regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\smtpsnap.dll).

In the General Tab - Make sure the IP address is that of your machine.

In Access click Access Control and verify that Anonymous and Integrated
both are checked.

In Access and the Relay Tab make sure that you have granted access only to either your machine IP or to the local host identified as 127.0.0.1

Open the POP3 Service Manager in Administrative Tools

Select your Server with a Right Click and check that the root mail directory is where you are planning on placing your email. I use the default which is C:\InetPub\mailroot.

Next make sure that both the Require Secure Password and Always Create an Associated User are both checked. The later is optional however makes it easier to add your user accounts to the server for email.

Create a New Domain in the server and double click it. (Domain is domain.com, not www.domain.com ).

Click Add Mailbox and fill in the blanks, if you have the Create Associated User checked

Now SMTP and POP3 are setup and you only have to setup the Email program on the client. Ideally, this is Microsoft software so the expectation is Microsoft Technology and software on the client side, so Outlook Express is best.

Client Configuration

Make sure the following is conveyed to the user you just established in the mailbox above.

The Account Name is the Username with no domain. (Because we are using SPA. If not using SPA, then username is username@domain.com )

The password is completed.

The Log On using SPA is checked. (Because we are using SPA. If not using SPA, then leave this unchecked.)

The Outgoing Mail Server Requires Authentication is Checked. and then click the Settings Tab and make sure you have checked the Same as Incoming

It is just not necessary to use the default DNS server in Windows. You can ofcourse install and use ISC BIND (though I still prefer dear old MS DNS

Download links are as follows
http://www.isc.org/products/BIND/bind8.html

Setting up and configuring BIND on Windows might turn out to be nightmare

Anyway, here goes

Section 1: Location of files

[C:\Program Files\DNS\bin\]

In this folder are all the executeables that came with BIND.

[C:\Program Files\DNS\etc]

In this folder are all configuration files. This includes:

named.conf — main BIND configuration file
rndc.key — required for rndc to manage your BIND Server
root.hint — a hint to BIND as to what the root servers are
named.pid — created by BIND when running
example.com.zone — zone file containing my example zone
1.0.0.127.IN-ADDR.ARPA.zone — zone file for reverse lookup

[C:\Program Files\DNS\log]

Create this folder to store my log files in

[C:\Program Files\DNS\manual]

help files and other text files were placed in this folder

Section 2: Configuration

I’m not going to teach you how to configure your Server

Refer to the manuals for details . However here are someworkign examples

http://serialcoders.sytes.net/BIND/

Consider copying those files in to their respective directories on your Server

and modifying them

To remotely test your BIND servers:

http://serialcoders.sytes.net/cgi-bin/DNS/…S/index.pl?lr=3

First, bind the IP to your server. Do this in Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Network > Properties > TCP/IP > Properties > Advanced

It seems long, but it’s not. Then add the additional IP there.

Okay, now open the DNS MMC snap-in. Create a new primary zone, and have it be for domain.com — the same domain that your NS records are for.

Then do the following:

Create:
A ns1 x.x.x.x
A ns2 y.y.y.y
A www x.x.x.x
A mail x.x.x.x
MX mail x.x.x.x, 10

Then DELETE the records of type NS… And replace them with:
ns1.domain.com
ns2.domain.com

That should do it. Open a cmd prompt on your server, and:

nslookup
server localhost
www.domain.com

Then it should read off your IP… If it does, everything looks good so far.

Now open a cmd prompt on your local box, and:

nslookup
www.domain.com

If everything comes out okay, then you’re all setup. If it doesn’t come back, then try this (still within nslookup):

server x.x.x.x
www.domain.com

If that comes back, then the problem lies in your NS records at the registrar, or the registrar’s NS records for the domain.

Remember, setting a domain to point to your nameserver is NOT enough, you must also create NS records at the registrar

——————————————————

Problem

When I did nslookup and typed localhost it didn’t recognize it (I had to type 127.0.0.1). And also, when I didnt specify the server it used as default nsx.hostings_nameserver.net, shouldnt it have used one of my nameservers? I then tried with server nsx.mydomain.com and it worked.

workaround

it’s using nsx.hostings_nameserver.net because that’s the default it’s set to use when the server company binds IPs to your box…

You can change that by going to:

Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Network > Properties > TCP/IP > Properties

Use the following DNS server addresses:
127.0.0.1

Because it’s your local box, use the loopback IP to speed things up… Also, you don’t need a secondary (alternate) server — just the one loopback

You can use the netsh command in Windows 2000 to script the process of changing a computer from a static Internet Protocol (IP) address to Dynamic Host

Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or vice versa. The netsh command accomplishes this task without the need to restart the computer.

MORE INFORMATION

To switch the specified adapter from a static address to DHCP, type the following command:

netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” dhcp

NOTE: Typing this command changes the interface named “Local Area Connection” to DHCP. Ofcourse, you have to replace that if you have renamed your NIC. And be careful if you got two of them

To display all of the adapters in the computer with their current IP addresses to determine the correct adapter name, type the following command:

Netsh interface ip show config

To change to a static address, type the following command:

netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” static ipaddr subnetmask gateway metric

NOTE: Replace ipaddr with the static IP address, subnetmask with the subnet mask, gateway with the default gateway and, if necessary, metric with the appropriate metric.

Example

The following example changes the interface “Local Area Connection” to a static address of 192.168.0.10 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, and the interface has a default gateway of 192.168.0.1 with a metric of 1:

netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1 1

Before you start to configure your DNS, you must gather some basic information. Internic must approve some of this information for use on the Internet, but if you are configuring this Dedicated Web Server for internal use only, you can decide what names and IP addresses to use.

You must have the following information:

1. Your domain name (approved by Internic).
2. The IP address and host name of each server that you want to provide name resolution for.

Note: The Dedicated Web Servers may be your mail servers, public access servers, FTP servers, WWW servers, and others.

Before you configure your computer as a DNS, verify that the following conditions are true:

1.Your operating system is configured correctly. In the Windows Server 2003 family, the DNS service depends on the correct configuration of the operating system and its services, such as TCP/IP. If you have a new installation of a Windows Server 2003 operating system, then you can use the default service settings. You do not have to take additional action.

2. You have allocated all the available disk space.

3. All the existing disk volumes use the NTFS file system. FAT32 volumes are not secure, and they do not support file and folder compression, disk quotas, file encryption, or individual file permissions

Install DNS

1. Open Windows Components Wizard. To do so, use the following steps:

1.1 Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
1.2 Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

2. In Components, select the Networking Services check box, and then click Details.

3. InSubcomponents of Networking Services, select the Domain Name System (DNS) check box, click OK, and then click Next.

4. If you are prompted, in Copy files from, type the full path of the distribution files, and then click OK.

Configure DNS

1. Start the Configure Your Web Server Wizard. To do so, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Configure Your Server Wizard.

2. On the Server Role page, click DNS server, and then click Next.
On the Summary of Selections page, view and confirm the options that you have selected. The following items should appear on this page:

2.1 Install DNS
2.2 Run the Configure a DNS Wizard to configure DNS
If the Summary of Selections page lists these two items, click Next. If the Summary of Selections page does not list these two items, click Back to return to the Server Role page, click DNS, and then click Next.

3. When the Configure Your Server Wizard installs the DNS service, it first determines whether the IP address for this server is static or is configured automatically. If your server is currently configured to obtain its IP address automatically, the Configuring Components page of the Windows Components Wizard prompts you to configure this Web server with a static IP address. To do so:

3.1 In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
3.2 In the Internet Protocols (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, click Use the following IP address, and then type the static IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for this server.
3.3 In Preferred DNS, type the IP address of this server.
3.4 In Alternate DNS, type the IP address of another internal DNS server, or leave this box blank.
3.5. When you finish setting up the static addresses for your DNS, click OK, and then click Close.

5. After you click Close, the Configure a DNS Server Wizard starts. In the wizard, follow these steps:

5.1 On the Select Configuration Action page, select the Create a forward lookup zone check box, and then click Next.
5.2 To specify that this DNS hosts a DNS zone that contains DNS resource records for your network resources, on the Primary Server Location page, click This server maintains the zone, and then click Next.
5.3 On the Zone Name page, in Zone name, specify the name of the DNS zone for your network, and then click Next. The name of the zone is the same as the name of the DNS domain for your small organization or branch office.
5.4 On the Dynamic Update page, click Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates, and then click Next. This makes sure that the DNS resource records for the resources in your network update automatically.
5.5 On the Forwarders page, click Yes, it should forward queries to DNS servers with the following IP addresses, and then click Next. When you select this configuration, you forward all DNS queries for DNS names outside your network to a DNS at either your ISP or central office. Type one or more IP addresses that either your ISP or central office DNS servers use.
5.6 On the Completing the Configure a DNS Wizard page of the Configure a DNS Wizard, you can click Back to change any of the settings. To apply your selections, click Finish.

After you finish the Configure a DNS Wizard, the Configure Your Dedicated Web Server
Wizard displays the This Server is Now a DNS Server page. To review all the changes that you made to your Hosting Server in the Configure Your Server Wizard or to make sure that a new role was installed successfully, click Configure Your Server log. The Configure Your Server Wizard log is located at %systemroot%\Debug\Configure Your Server.log. To close the Configure Your Server Wizard, click Finish.

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…kb;en-us;814591

SUMMARY

This article explains how to set up Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) on an Internet Information Services (IIS) version 5.0 computer, using Certificate Server 2.0 as the certificate provider.

MORE INFORMATION

First, the Web server must make a certificate request. To do this, follow these steps:
Start the Internet Service Manager (ISM), which loads the Internet Information Server snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
Right-click the Web site on which you want to enable SSL, and click Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Server Certificate to start the Web Server Certificate Wizard.
Click Next to start the wizard, and select Create a new certificate.
Click Next, and select Prepare the request now, but send it later.
Click Next, and give your certificate a name. You may want to match it with the name of the Web site. Now, select a bit length; the higher the bit length, the stronger the certificate encryption. Select Server Gated Cryptography if your users may be coming from countries with encryption restrictions.
Click Next, and type your Organization and Organizational Unit. These values do not need to match any Active Directory entries.
Click Next, and enter the common name. The common name must match the fully qualified domain name of the server as listed in DNS. For example, if the URL is https://www.mydomain.com/securedir, then the common name must be www.mydomain.com.
Click Next, and type your country, state, and city or locality. Type the full name of your state here; do not abbreviate.
Click Next, and select a location and file name to save your request to.
Click Next twice, and then click Finish to close the wizard.

Process your request through Certificate Server. To do this, follow these steps:

Browse to http://CAServerName/CertSrv, and select Request a certificate.

NOTE: Do not use “localhost” as the server name. If you browse from the Certificate Server computer, use the computer name instead.

Click Next and select Advanced request.
Click Next and select Submit a certificate request using a base64 encoded PKCS #10 file or a renewal request using a base64 encoded PKCS #7 file.
Click Next, and open the request file that you saved from the Web Certificate Wizard in Notepad. Paste the entire text of the file, including the BEGIN and END lines, into the Base64 Encoded Certificate Request text box.
Click Submit. You may be presented with a Certificate Pending dialog box. If you are prompted for download, skip to step 2j.
Close your browser. On the Certificate Server computer, open the Certification Authority MMC.
Expand the tree underneath the server name, and select the Pending Requests folder. Right-click the certificate that you just submitted (scroll to the right for more information to determine which certificate is yours if there are several pending), click All Tasks, and then click Issue. You may now close the Certification Authority MMC.

Open a new browser window, and browse to the URL that is listed in step a. Select Check on a pending certificate.
Click Next, and select the request that you made earlier.
Click Next, select DER encoded, and then click the Download CA certificate link. Save the certificate file to your Web server’s local drive, and close your Web browser.
Now, finish processing the request within IIS to install the certificate to the server, and enable SSL.

Open the Internet Information Services MMC, right-click the Web site on which you want to enable SSL, and click Properties.
Click the Directory Security tab, then click Server Certificate.
Click Next, and select Process the pending request and install the certificate.
Click Next, and enter the path and file name of the certificate that you saved in the last section.
Click Next twice, and then click Finish to complete the wizard.
Click the Web Site tab, and make sure that the SSL Port text box is populated with the port you would like SSL to run on. The default (and recommended) port is 443.
Click OK to close the Web site Properties dialog box.

You can now use SSL on your server. Test the setup by connecting to the Web site’s home page by using https instead of http. You have a valid connection if the page comes up and a small lock appears in the status bar in the lower right-hand corner of the browser.

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…kb;en-us;299525

This is one of the most common problems on Windows Terminal Services. The Terminal Services is licenced for a maximum of two connections by default, unless ofcourse someone decides to buy more licenses from Microsoft (I doubt that though!!).

So, when its two connection limit is reached, it does not allow any more connections and gives you an error (not exactly replicated here, please check for exact wording!!).

Maximum connection Limit reached

Now you got two options in this case:

1. You can ask the other person (hopefully the system owner) to log out and give you access.

2. You can log in via telnet and follow the following

a. List all the tasks presently running

tasklist

b. Note down the Process ID’s of the processes associated with rdpclip

c. Kill all the tasks associated with “rdpclip” (repeat till all processes
are killed )

taskkill /pid

d. Finally, kill the rdpclip sessions (by now, these should be the only
ones assosciated with rdpclip.exe)

taskkill /pid

e. Now, try to log on via terminal session

P.S.

There also a third method….namely reoot the machine, and be the first person to log on via terminal servcies client

Heres how to Remotely start Terminal Services from telnet

log in to you windows Server with telnet and type

c:>Sc.exe start TermService