Hi all,

I want to monitor emails traffic at Firewall to track any spam emails have been sending from any computers on network (if there are any spam passing through, I will track back the pc and scan it for virus/ malware).

But I am not seeing any traffic at all for our domain (O365 emails) at Firewall for emails on ports 587, 993 and 995. Is that because of Outlook connecting directly to exchange server over HTTP or HTTPS ? If yes, how it's going to use these ports (as mentioned on ports used for O365 on MS Website) And how can I track or figure out spam emails ? (I guess, spam emails should hit at firewall at some port if it is a spam)

Any hints ?

@scottalanmiller said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@openit said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

So, if it's not making enough benefit, better to leave it updates on it's own ? (automatic updates, individually)

And update to Windows 10 so that you get all the WAN benefits of WSUS without needing WSUS itself.
I think, it's about "Delivery Optimization " ? I will have a look....

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

Heck, considering that - I have what I consider a better situation, though I'm sure others will disagree with me.

Since you're making some pretty big changes, now might be a good time to rebuild all of these computers. If you you can move them all to the same OS.
Not sure you're aware, but all of the machines you listed (7/8/8.1/10) qualify to be on Windows 10. Any reason they weren't upgraded during the free upgrade window?

Personally, I'd take an image of each system using Clonezilla, and upgrade them to Windows 10. Assuming the machines are granted a free upgrade to Windows 10, then I would purchase one Windows 10 Open License granting you imaging rights, purchase the needed upgrades for your home licensed computers bringing them legally to Windows 10 Pro, then create and deploy a Windows 10 image.

I skipped a lot of steps here, ask if you want, need more details.

Why I didn't upgraded all to Windows 10 ?

Yes, we upgraded so many computers to Wins 10. But mostly preferred to upgrade Windows 8/8.1. Not upgraded for all, because it was still 1 year old, cannot say how stable it is and don't want to do at that much quantity (100pcs). And some users are happy with Windows 7, better to not touch them if they are going fine.

I don't work for the users, I work for my company. The best thing for your company is for all computers to be on the same version as much as possible. This reduces costs and complexities.

Oh and all those things Scott said that I haven't read yet

I understand about stability etc. as mentioned by Scott, but didn't understand how having same versions is useful ? how reduces costs and complexities ?

@scottalanmiller said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

Heck, considering that - I have what I consider a better situation, though I'm sure others will disagree with me.

Since you're making some pretty big changes, now might be a good time to rebuild all of these computers. If you you can move them all to the same OS.
Not sure you're aware, but all of the machines you listed (7/8/8.1/10) qualify to be on Windows 10. Any reason they weren't upgraded during the free upgrade window?

Personally, I'd take an image of each system using Clonezilla, and upgrade them to Windows 10. Assuming the machines are granted a free upgrade to Windows 10, then I would purchase one Windows 10 Open License granting you imaging rights, purchase the needed upgrades for your home licensed computers bringing them legally to Windows 10 Pro, then create and deploy a Windows 10 image.

I skipped a lot of steps here, ask if you want, need more details.

Why I didn't upgraded all to Windows 10 ?

Yes, we upgraded so many computers to Wins 10. But mostly preferred to upgrade Windows 8/8.1. Not upgraded for all, because it was still 1 year old, cannot say how stable it is and don't want to do at that much quantity (100pcs). And some users are happy with Windows 7, better to not touch them if they are going fine.

That's a very bad was to think about software. Windows 10 is not "one year old", it is the update to Windows 8.1 which is the update to Windows 8 which is the update to Windows 7 which was the update to Windows Vista. Windows 10 is the most mature of that family. Windows 7 is the "one year old" release (but patched since then.) Windows 10 is the one with the most time of people testing the code because it is a decade old. You are actually doing the opposite of what you are thinking... you are staying on young "immature" code and avoiding the most stable, most tested code. And you are not trusting a vendor on whom you have decided to depend. That's a bad combination.

http://www.smbitjournal.com/2014/04/software-versions/

I see, so I was wrong at this point

That's benefit of being active in community , learning things

Anyway, still I have chances I think, I seen somewhere to upgrade still to Windows 10 for free and second option is, we need to get Pro versions for some Home Editions, so I will get Windows 10 Pro.

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

Heck, considering that - I have what I consider a better situation, though I'm sure others will disagree with me.

Since you're making some pretty big changes, now might be a good time to rebuild all of these computers. If you you can move them all to the same OS.
Not sure you're aware, but all of the machines you listed (7/8/8.1/10) qualify to be on Windows 10. Any reason they weren't upgraded during the free upgrade window?

Personally, I'd take an image of each system using Clonezilla, and upgrade them to Windows 10. Assuming the machines are granted a free upgrade to Windows 10, then I would purchase one Windows 10 Open License granting you imaging rights, purchase the needed upgrades for your home licensed computers bringing them legally to Windows 10 Pro, then create and deploy a Windows 10 image.

I skipped a lot of steps here, ask if you want, need more details.

Why I didn't upgraded all to Windows 10 ?

Yes, we upgraded so many computers to Wins 10. But mostly preferred to upgrade Windows 8/8.1. Not upgraded for all, because it was still 1 year old, cannot say how stable it is and don't want to do at that much quantity (100pcs). And some users are happy with Windows 7, better to not touch them if they are going fine.

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

If the usernames for the staff are going to be the same on the domain as they were when the PC was in a workgroup, then I advise that you delete the local profile before you log in as the user the first time.

If you don't do this, you'll end up with two folders in c:\users, username and username.001 or something like this. In the future it will be easy to become confused which folder is the active one.

I understand, I will do the same way.

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

I'll expand on @travisdh1 posts.

Every IT admin should have two accounts. A local one to use day to day on their computer, and a domain admin one that is only used to log into server and run admin tools from their local workstations.

Example: dashrender and dashrender-admin

On my workstation (or any computer I log into) I log in as dashrender. When I need to install something, I'll be prompted (or right click the installer and choose run as admin) and type in my dashrender-admin user and password.

I am bit confused here.

While now we are in Workgroup, IT admins will be having :

a. Local Standard account
b. Local Admin account -with access( and knows the password for all PCs Local Admin account)

And End user while in Workgroup :

a. Local Standard account - with access
b. Local Admin account - with no access but only for IT.

After we move to Domain, IT admins will be having:

a. Local Standard account -not in use(maybe better to remove at all ?)
b. Local Admin account
c. Standard Domain Account - In use
d. Separate Domain Admin Account

And End users after migrating to Domain:

a. Local Standard account - not in use (maybe better to remove at all after copying everything?)
b. Local Admin account - with no access
c. Standard Domain Account - In use

am I correct ?

@olivier said in Free bare metal virtualization, HyperV free or VMware ESXi 6 free or else ?:

@scottalanmiller It's planned to release file level restore in next release (~15 days) if everything go smooth.

Thank You

@scottalanmiller said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@openit said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

You said "encourages people not to patch", what do you mean here ? do you mean not to patch Windows Updates with WSUS from MS ?

WSUS has one primary purpose in the SMB.... to stop or slow patching. But that's generally very, very bad. You want systems patched as quickly as possible. So WSUS actively gets in the way of doing a good job. What purpose do you see WSUS serving in your environment?

I guess, nothing much. But of course, new task, time and effort to be invested.

So, if it's not making enough benefit, better to leave it updates on it's own ? (automatic updates, individually)

@scottalanmiller said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@JaredBusch said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@Dashrender said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@StrongBad said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

PDQ is awfully good. But for patching, why not use the OS itself or WSUS?

That works for OS level, but what about application level patching?

Also WSUS is a disaster to deal with in a small business. More headache than it is worth really.

I generally avoid it. Lots of work, encourages people not to patch. In a big environment I totally get it, but in smaller ones, I skip it unless there is a very clear need.

I see, so it requires lots of work, which may not be feasible at Small Businesses ?

You said "encourages people not to patch", what do you mean here ? do you mean not to patch Windows Updates with WSUS from MS ?

If so, you are asking to go with some other third party software to manage Windows Updates ?

@JaredBusch said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@Dashrender said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@StrongBad said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

PDQ is awfully good. But for patching, why not use the OS itself or WSUS?

That works for OS level, but what about application level patching?

Also WSUS is a disaster to deal with in a small business. More headache than it is worth really.

Do you mean, it's not that much easy to use, so not suitable for Small Business ?

@Dashrender said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@openit said in Comodo One Free-Feedback, specially abt Patch Management vs PDQ Deploy Free.:

@Dashrender Not technically, but mentally maybe I prefer to be local than cloud.

While I can understand that - I know of many Exchange servers that have had zero no anticipated downtime, but you hear about outages in O365 all the time. Even so, the environment is still better in O365 than most if not all of the SMBs can provide.

I think, it depends on the service or benefits to choose Local or Cloud.

FYI, we are with O365, which is good. And we get more benefits on cloud for Exchange things than to be local ,especially when it comes to maintenance.

@scottalanmiller said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@Mike-Davis said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

How many computers total are you joining to the domain? You might want to have someone help you at the onset to line things up properly before you start joining computers. Or you can just start joining a few a week like you suggested and learn as you go. As long as your users are patient with you, that approach works too.

Around 100. Yeah, got few fellows to help and yes, I prefer to few people every week to make things easier.

But the issue will be with end-user, about Enabling Password (as few users do have password till now) and entering password every time pc got locked due to inactivity.

That's just a training thing. Not much to be done there. Your issue isn't moving to a domain, but moving from insecure to secure.

Moving to secure, that's right.

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@Mike-Davis said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

You didn't mention the client OS, except for that some have home versions. Depending on what OS that is, there are ways to move their profile from local to domain. There is also the Microsoft easy transfer wizard that will let you back up and copy profiles from one account to another. This does more than a simple copy of the my documents folder, etc, because it also backs up some of the registry keys that hold application settings.

All are Windows, with combination of 7/8/8.1/10.

Noted about easy transfer wizard, I will check it.

Definitely give this a try for users who have been on their computer for a while.

That said, using now as a way to cleanup profiles isn't a bad idea either. When possible I don't bring over anything more than is absolutely required (my docs, favorites, desktop icons) and then I reconfigure the rest (printers, app settings).

Yeah, maybe fresh profile I will try to go with, it may leave any bad things back in the profile which was effecting performance too.

@Dashrender said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

I'll expand on @travisdh1 posts.

Every IT admin should have two accounts. A local one to use day to day on their computer, and a domain admin one that is only used to log into server and run admin tools from their local workstations.

Example: dashrender and dashrender-admin

On my workstation (or any computer I log into) I log in as dashrender. When I need to install something, I'll be prompted (or right click the installer and choose run as admin) and type in my dashrender-admin user and password.

Yeah, that's how we are doing while we are in Workgroup with users too. All users have standard account and a separate local admin account, so if something needs to do setup etc. it will prompt for admin password.

@travisdh1 said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@scottalanmiller said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

@openit said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

2. Of course, I do not want to use main administrator account at client PCs while setting up applications, or any admin tasks, so what kind of account should I create (limited) ?

Every admin should have their own admin account that they use, not shared accounts.

Okay not shared accounts. Whether every IT person should have admin account with full rights ? isn't there any limited permission group for setting up applications etc. ?

IF the IT person needs an admin account (if they're only changing passwords, give them that specific right, not full admin). Then you want a standard user account for them to use, and a special admin account for each person who needs it. That way you're able to run audits, which are impossible with any shared account.

Got it.

@scottalanmiller said in Free bare metal virtualization, HyperV free or VMware ESXi 6 free or else ?:

@openit said in Free bare metal virtualization, HyperV free or VMware ESXi 6 free or else ?:

This is a basic edition, allowing you to do administrator tasks on a virtualized infrastructure. It's "like" XenCenter. You can:

You are looking at XOA, not XO. That's the problem. People do that all the time and get SO confused. Everything in XO is totally free, but NOT if you try to use XOA. You can't use the appliance and get stuff for free.

XOA is the fully supported, commercial packaged appliance version. This costs money if you want the features, but comes with inclusive support.

We don't mean XOA when we say XO and the script you are talking about above is for XO. XO is 100% free and open. We recommend you get support both to have support and to support the vendor, of course. But for testing or if you just don't have the budget, stick with standard XO for free and you get all of the features (except support.)

Okay, I understand now, noted

@dafyre said in Moving to Domain from Workgroup. How to be prepared ?:

I would suggest starting off with your fellow IT team members and moving them as guinea pigs. That way if there's any major problems they'll be able to accurately describe to you what is wrong, hopefully.

That's good idea, thanks.

@Danp said in Free bare metal virtualization, HyperV free or VMware ESXi 6 free or else ?:

@Dashrender https://xen-orchestra.com/docs/editions.html

How about VM backup in XenCenter or Xen-Orchestra Free ?

1. XenCenter : When I googled, there is backup option via Bash or manual way.....
2. XO Free: No VM backup too ?

This is a basic edition, allowing you to do administrator tasks on a virtualized infrastructure. It's "like" XenCenter. You can:

Create VMs, SRs etc.
Access to web consoles
Edit resources (VM, pools etc.)
Make snapshots
Migrate VMs

@hobbit666 said in Free bare metal virtualization, HyperV free or VMware ESXi 6 free or else ?:

Your best bet is to install Ubuntu and use the script
sudo curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/scottalanmiller/xenorchestra_installer/master/xo_install.sh | bash

see this thread.
https://www.mangolassi.it/topic/7349/xen-orchestra-on-ubuntu-15-10-complete-installation-instructions

Okay, noted to check it out later.