Create Bootable USB Pendrive...

1. Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool.

2. Basic Option.

1. Windows 7 USB-DVD Download Tool:

Just Download this Tool and Installed in your Desired PC then follow some easy Steps:-

 

2.Basic Option:

Tools Required:

1. USB flash drive with a minimum capacity of 4 GB.

2. Windows 7 Setup DVD. 

Step 1 : Plug-in your USB flash drive.

Step 2 : Open the PowerShell (OR Command Prompt if PowerShell Not Exist). If you are using Windows 7/Vista then open it with administrator rights*.
* Goto Start -> All Programs -> Accessories ->Windows PowerShell ->  Right-click on “Windows PowerShell” and select “Run as Administrator”.
Step 3: In the PowerShell, type

DISKPART

This will start the Microsoft DiskPart utility as shown below:

Now issue the following command:
LIST DISK

This will show you a list of  available disks on your system. Disk 0 is usually the hard disk. In my case, Disk 1 is the USB drive (this can be a different one in your case). Now issue the command as shown below:

 SELECT DISK 1

above command, 1 is the USB drive number on my system. If you have a different number on your system, then you need to replace 1 with that number.
Step-4: Now issue the following list of commands one by one as shown below:

CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
ASSIGN
EXIT

Close Power Shell and proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Insert the Windows 7/Vista installation disc and note down the “drive letter” of your DVD drive. In my case, it is “H:”.

Open the command prompt. If you are using Windows 7/Vista then open it with administrator rights*.
* Goto Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Right-click on “Command Prompt” and select “Run as Administrator”.

Now type the following list of commands as shown below:
H:
CD BOOT
BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 G:(NOTE:
G: is your USB drive letter)

EXIT

Step-6: Copy the contents of your Windows 7/Vista installation disk into the USB flash drive.
Directly Copy-Paste All DVD file into Usb Stick Then…

Your USB stick is now ready to boot and install the OS for you. Don’t forget to enable the “USB Boot” option and change the “Boot priority to USB device from hard disk” in your BIOS settings.

How to switch off my web cam of lenovo pc when my pc is on

IN Lenovo Laptop use FN+Esc button turn ON/OFF function used.

CPU Usage very High

I have solved this problem, it is registry misbehaviour in windows xp. Raybay is also true in saying about the process of elimination or hardware checking to solve the problem. there r a few spyware and worms that creates the same problem. but if spyware or worm is not present in your hard disk than it is the registry problem that comes with xp,which is true in most of the cases. To solve this problem, u have to do the following:
In windows xp,click start>run and enter regedit and remove the following registry key.

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREClassesCLSID{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}InProcServer32"

or

click Start>Run and enter regedit and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTSystemFileAssociations.avishellexPropertyHandler

by clicking the + signs beside

Hkey_Classes_Root/SystemFileAssociations/.avi/shellex

then select (highlight) PropertyHandler

>> next Click File > Export and give the file a name. Then export (save) it to a convenient location before deleting it. It can be restored later if necessary by clicking the saved .reg file

>> after saving it, Right click on the PropertyHandler folder in the left hand pane and select "Delete"

and your problm is solved..

I am in touch again...Raybay.. just to refresh memory..i am the same guy from the system instability problem that we discussed long time back...

What is jusched.exe And Why Is It Running?

If you’ve looked in Task Manager and wondered what on earth the jusched.exe process is and if you can turn it off, then you are in luck. This process is the Java Update scheduler, which is a process that wastes memory all the time just to check once a month whether there are new updates to Java.

There’s a scheduled tasks feature built into Windows for this type of thing… the java update scheduler is obviously not being used for critical updates since it’s only scheduled to check once each month. Since I simply can’t understand why the process needs to waste my memory, it has to go.

What you’ll need to do is open up Control Panel, and then if you are in XP you can click on the Java icon, or in Vista you can click on Additional Options, and then click on Java.

Once you have the Java Control Panel open, select the Update tab, and then uncheck the box for “Check for Updates Automatically”

You’ll receive a warning message stating that if somebody finds a security hole in Java that it will take up to a month before you are protected from it: 

Does anybody else think that the sentence should read “the fastest and most secure Java” instead of the way it’s worded?

After you click the Never Check button above, you’ll probably receive this error message if you are in Windows Vista, stating that it also hasn’t been properly certified to work with Vista in the first place. Just click that it works correctly.

That does make me wonder… I guess we’ll miss the update that fixes the problem with the control panel… or will we? What you can do instead is schedule a task to run monthly using the built-in Task scheduler. If you don’t care about updates to Java, then disregard the next part.

Schedule Java Update Check (Optional)

Just type in Task Scheduler into the start menu search box to open the task scheduler, and then click on Create Basic Task.

Follow the wizard along to pick a month and date, and then when you get to the “Start a Program” screen, use this as the path, adjusting if you are running a different version of Java. The key thing is that you run the jucheck.exe in your Java directory.

“C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jucheck.exe”

Now when the scheduled task runs once a month, or whenever you schedule it, you’ll get this dialog if there is a new version, or another dialog stating there are no updates to Java.

It’s actually somewhat ironic that there’s an update to Java on the day that I write this article…

How to Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel 2007?

Excel has lot of functions and most of the functions doesn’t have any keyboard shortcuts as they are used in only very specific conditions and cases. But for some cases, you may be required to do those tasks quite often and you may like if you have a keyboard shortcut.

Let me give an example, we have covered earlier how to convert rows to columns or columns to rows in Excel and while using formulas. Its just the transpose feature in the special copy feature. But if you are required to use this task quite often, you may create your own keyboardshortcut to do the transpose paste like Ctrl + T.

So how to create custom keyboard shortcuts in Excel 2007?

Before we proceed on the section of how to do create custom keyboard shortcuts, this method is done using the macros in Excel. For some Macros may not be enabled (you may not be able to see Developer tab), please refer to our previous post on How to Enable Macro Features and Settings in Excel from Office 2007? 

To create a custom keyboard shortcut, go to the Developer tab and press Record Macro.

Give the details of the macro, the keyboard shortcut, store macro in and description.

 Side Note: If you have not saved any macros before in Personal Macro Workbook (Personal.xlsb), you may get the message like this. “Do you want to save the changes made to Personal Macro Workbook? If you click Yes, It will be available next time you start MicrosoftOffice Excel”. Click here to know more about Working with Personal Macro Workbook in Excel

Next, perform the function that you want to be repeated by a keyboard shortcut (Make sure you have done whatever function that usually precedes the function that is being recorded, like copying some cells in this case) . In our example, right click in the place where you wanted to paste special with transpose. Select Paste Special -> Transpose –>Ok. Stop recording the macro.

Now you can use the keyboard shortcut you have mentioned to perform this custom function

How to quickly add comments in Excel? – Quick Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel

In the series of quick keyboard shortcuts for MS Office series, we have another quick tip to add comments in Excel. Adding comments can be very helpful especially when the files are reviewed by than a couple of members in the team.

You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + F2 to add a quick comment in any cell.

You can also edit, delete, show/hide comments by right clicking the cell and choosing appropriate commands.

How to Check If My Processor is x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) in Windows?

Up until this point you might not have wondered to check if your processor isx86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) as almost no one used 64-bit in Windows XP and when Vista came, most were cautious about the drivers and compatibility with 64-bit processor including me but I think its time everybody moves to 64-bit processing for Windows 7.

Windows 7 is here and you have to make a decision to go for 32-bit or 64-bit before you upgrade from XP or Vista to Windows 7 and I recommend you going for 64-bit.

But why? First let’s see what exactly these numbers 32 and 64 represent. These numbers 32-bit and 64-bit represent the Data Bus width that are between the Memory (RAM) and theProcessor. Obviously you can see that 64-bit has the capability of carrying data twice the width of 32-bit. If you were using 32-bit Vista so far, you would have seen the maximum memory it can realize is 3 GB (though you have 4GB) but with 64-bit Windows you can realize much higher (It was 128 GB with 64-bit Vista). Also, in days to come having more than 4 GB will become a standard and developers and service providers will have to give support and drivers for 64-bit processors. So it’s wise to invest in 64-bit processor and OS at this point in time!

So you have an old Windows XP or Vista computer and now how do you find if your processor is 64-bit capable?

There are different ways to find if your computer processor is 64-bit capable:

Method 1: Easy Method!

Go to Start -> Right click on Computer -> Click Properties. Click on Windows Experience Index.

Now click on View and Print detailed performance and system information.

Here you will be able to see the current system type, number of processor core and if it is 64-bit capable. Note: If you are already running 64-bit processor, it will show in the current system type and you will not see if it is 64-bit capable or not.

If you feel a bit geeky then you can use the following methods to find if your processor is 64-bit:

Method 2: Using Regedit

Go to Start -> Type regedit

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

From ProcessorNameString you will be able to see the name of your processor and fromIdentifier you will see the family of the processor and if it has 64 then it is 64-bit capable.

Method 3: Using MSINFO32

Go to Start -> Type msinfo32.exe

From the System Information page under System Type you will find as x64-based PC.

Method 4: Using CPUZ

Download CPUZ

CPUZ is a small utility which gives all information about your CPU (Processor), Cache, Mainboard, Memory, SPD etc.

Under Instructions from CPU tab, if you see EM64T (if its Intel) or AMD64 (if its AMD) then your processor is 64-bit capable.

So are you using 32-bit or 64-bit processor and which OS are you using. If you are having 32-bit Windows, will you consider going for 64-bit OS, let us know in the comments.

Now, solar-powered bonsai to charge your mobile

A French designer has created a unique bonzai tree that will not only look pretty on your coffee table but also charge your mobile and other gadgets using solar energy.

Created by designer Vivien Muller, 'The Electree+' has 27 miniature silicon solar panels - or 'leaves' - that can be arranged in any style the users want to create their own unique tree.

The designer said he was inspired to make the product after observing real trees, noticing that their leaves acted as natural solar panels.

The base of the device conceals a battery that stores the solar energy and at full capacity it can hold enough power to charge an iPad twice and can charge a phone in just four hours, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The tree conceals a USB connection underneath its wood-topped base unit.

Muller is waiting to receive 400 presale orders for the product before commencing production.

The bonsai tree will cost 283 pounds.

NComputing L300 Virtual Desktop Technologies

NComputing Corporate Overview

NComputing, Inc. is the fastest growing desktop virtualization company in the world with over 20 million daily users
in 140 countries. The company’s award-winning, patented technology lowers desktop computing costs, improves
manageability, and reduces both energy consumption and e-waste for organizations. NComputing is the perfect
solution for unlocking the power and potential of PCs and cloud computing for any size company.
Today’s PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of users only need and use a small fraction of their desktop’s
computing capacity. NComputing taps this unused capacity from a single PC, allowing many users to share it
simultaneously. Each user’s monitor, keyboard and mouse are connected to a small and highly reliable NComputing
access device, which is then connected to the shared PC. NComputing’s award-winning vSpace desktop virtualization
software provides each user with a rich multimedia computing experience with its own computing session. This
means that each user can access their applications with their own user experience.
• NComputing works with the most common Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
solutions such as VMware, Citrix and Microsoft
• NComputing supports Linux and Windows OS
• NComputing also supports many 3rd party peripherals such as one-time
password solutions, fingerprint security, optical mouse, and other popular
USB 2.0 devices
NComputing L300 Virtual Desktop Overview
NComputing’s L300 virtual desktop delivers rich full-screen, full-motion multimedia playback; transparent USB
redirection; and unparalleled peripheral support. It is a simple-to-deploy, low-cost means to implement a complete
virtual desktop infrastructure in hours.
NComputing virtual desktops are more than simply an access device. We provide end-to-end desktop virtualization
solutions that include software infrastructure, desktop virtualization protocol and hardware.
The combination of the 3 key elements – software, protocol and hardware – provides a unique price: performance
ratio that is unparalleled in the market and provides an unparalleled end-user experience.
NComputing Delivers Highest User Density per Dollar
A core goal of the NComputing solution is to provide virtual desktops to as many users as possible with a minimum
amount of hardware and software. Said another way, NComputing focuses on providing the highest user density
at the lowest cost per seat, NComputing did careful evaluations of where most processing occurs, how fat a client
need to be, and how much server-side compute power is needed for the optimal solution to manage the end-to-end
solution cost.
The NComputing L300 maximizes user density per dollar spent by allowing you to use off-the-shelf, generic, PCclass
hardware without requiring any extra capabilities. There is no need to spend extra money on custom, complex,
purpose-built hardware (such as special graphics cards or co-processing boards) to make the NComputing virtual
desktop solution work on the server or client side.
NComputing end-to-end solution delivers a high-end virtual desktop experience at a third the cost of other vendors
trying to do a similar thing. The solution is made possible through technology delivered at the server, client, and
protocol layers as discussed in the next three sections.

Selective Virtualization at the Server
No specialized hardware is needed to achieve a high fidelity experience; server CPU utilization is minimized by only
virtualizing those things needed for the virtual desktop experience. NComputing calls this a multi-layer virtualization
technique. Whereas many solutions virtualize everything on the OS, the vSpace software selectively virtualizes only
the necessary elements of the OS and hardware and combines that with session management to provide user and
session virtualization while minimizing CPU resource utilization.
NComputing will virtualize things like audio, graphics, video, input devices, and file system access points. This
technique allows for greater user density without virtualizing system resources that are of no use to the user.
Additionally, the NComputing multi-media subsystem can dynamically detect when multimedia is being used,
compress it for transport to the access device and accelerate it for a high-fidelity experience.
This solution is hardware agnostic and does CODEC independent media acceleration. As long as the host server can
play the media it can be played at the client. Most desktop virtualization solutions either limit the number of CODECs
supported on the server or require that a specific CODEC be supported at the client for client-side rendering.
Clients Utilize NComputing’s Own NUMO System-on-Chip
The NComputing client utilizes a dual-core ARM CPU with embedded media processors that support dynamic
bandwidth management and multiple protocols and codecs like UXP and H.264. The system on a chip (SoC) is
intended to be a hybrid of a general purpose computing platform and multi-media player. General purpose clients
generally lack local multi-media capabilities, which, in turn, require more software to do the same thing that can be
done with the L300. As a result, traditional thin clients use much more CPU power.
The NComputing solution includes the smallest, necessary multimedia elements at the client to ensure high fidelity
multimedia with the least amount of CPU. For traditional thin clients to accomplish the same requires a CPU, GPU,
Local Storage, USB Hub and Ethernet controller which can be done with a single, inexpensive SoC. In short, the
Numo SoC requires a fraction of the memory, storage and power of a traditional thin client, thus driving down
costs at the client.
Purpose-Built Protocol
The NComputing UXP protocol was purpose built with a strong end-user experience in mind for desktop virtualization.
Many virtualization solutions were purpose built for server administration, 1:1 desktop virtualization or centralized
computing (e.g. PC Blades). As a result, many of these protocols offer decent experiences, but are expensive and have
significant resource overhead to make up for any deficiencies.
NComputing utilizes a single protocol to optimize the user experience plus cost / benefits to the business such as
better network utilization. Most protocols need to either be integrated with a 3rd party solution at the client side
or server side with API add-ons to achieve what NComputing does in a single protocol. 3rd party integration with
API add-ons increases the numbers of processes running between the server and client and consumes more CPU
resources, thus driving up cost.
NComputing can also integrate the UXP protocol with our multi-layer virtualization and multimedia subsystems
ensuring minimum resource utilization on the host to improve the user experience. No other vendor owns server,
client, and protocol like NComputing. This requires other vendors to integrate multiple software components from
numerous companies, which, in turn, carry their own overhead and costs in to the system. For those vendors, there is
no opportunity to optimize the end-to-end experience and minimize resource utilization because many elements are
out of their control.

Deployment Use Cases:
NComputing’s desktop virtualization strategy is based on simplicity. vSpace is designed to install onto low-end servers
or PC-class hardware, quickly transforming it into a multiuser host capable of supporting up to 30 simultaneous users
per operating system. When paired with server virtualization infrastructure you can support hundreds of users on a
server with a minimal number of operating systems.
The NComputing L300 solution allows you great flexibility to host up to 30 virtual desktops on a single operating
system. In the following examples, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to transform a single PC in to three PCs
(one host PC and two virtual desktops). We will review the L300 being deployed from a single host to a single host and
virtual desktop and then to a single host and two virtual desktops. The installation of one virtual desktop or many is
basically the same.
Deploying Two L300 Virtual Desktops on a Supported Windows Platform
In this scenario we have installed two L300 Virtual desktops to a single host computer. The installation is fast and
easy, only requiring a keyboard, monitor, and mouse be connected to the L300 device. Once connected, you will
be prompted with a connection screen to enter your user name and password.
For evaluation purposes you can examine the administrator console which is accessible on the host computer. You can
also evaluate the user side by looking at the monitor and reviewing the desktop screen from that standpoint. The next
sections cover the installation steps and then we look at the administrator’s console and user screen, respectively.

More Details Visit

www.ncomputing.com

6 tips to keep your emails secret

Know adversaryPetraeus and his biographer , Paula Broadwell, may have thought the threat was their spouses. So, they reportedly did not send emails, but saved messages to the draft folder to avoid leaving a digital trail. But neither took steps to hide their computers' IP addresses.

Hide locationThey could have masked IP addresses using Tor, a popular privacy tool, or used a virtual private network , which adds a layer of security to public Wi-Fi networks.

Go off the recordChoose the "off the record" feature on Google Talk, Google's IM client, which ensures that nothing typed is saved or searchable in either person's Gmail account.

Encrypt messagesEmail encryption services , like GPG, help protect digital secrets from eavesdroppers. Without an encryption key, any message stored in an inbox or reached from the cloud will look like gibberish . Wickr, a mobile app, performs a similar service for phones, encrypting video, photos and text, and erasing deleted files for good.

Set self-destruct timerServices like 10 Minute Mail allow users to open an email address and send a message, and the address self-destructs 10 minutes later. Wickr also allows users to set a self-destruct timer so they can control how long a recipient can view a file before it disappears.

Drop draft ideaSaving emails in a shared draft folder is no safer than transmitting them. They are stored in the cloud. Even if they are deleted, email service providers can be compelled to provide copies.

Step-by-Step How to Create a Stub Zone in Windows Server 2008 R2

What is a stub zone? 

Stub zones are a way for different DNS servers from different domains to communicate DNS information to each other.  Technically speaking, a stub zone is a copy of a zone that contains only those resource records necessary to identify the authoritative DNS servers for that zone.  When someone wants a resource on another DNS namespace, the user first queries his or her specified DNS server.  If the DNS server (or any other DNS server on the domain) cannot resolve the query, the server sends its own query to the name servers specified by the stub zone.
Why are stub zones important?
Before a trust between two different domains in two different forests can be established, DNS must be configured between domains.  Stub zones provide one solution for that.
How do I create a stub zone?
The following tutorial will tell you how to create a stub zone in Windows Server 2008 R2.  In my tutorial I will reference three different servers on two different domains.  All of the servers are Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Active Directoy Domain Services role and the DNS server role.  Servers test1 and wg-dc2-2k8 are on the domain wgtesting.com.  The server called dc1 is on the domain trusttest.com.
1. Log onto the first DNS server.  Open the Server Manager administration tool and expand Forward Lookup Zones under DNS.  For this tutorial test1 will be the first DNS server.
  
2. Right click inside of the Forward Lookup Zones area and select New Zone.

3.  The New Zone Wizard will appear.  Select Next.

4.  A list of zones will appear.  Select Stub Zone and then select Next.  The option to store the stub zone in active directory will only be availabe if the DNS server is also a writable domain controller - test1 is a writable domain controller as well as a DNS server.  This is useful for replicating the stub zone to other domain controllers in your network.

5.  The next screen of the wizard asks how  active directory will replicate the zone throughout your network.  You can select whether to replicate the zone to domain controllers on the whole forest or to just domain controllers for the domain.  If you did not select Store the zone in Active Directory in the last step, this step will not appear; instead you would go straight to step 6.  Select an option and then select Next.

6.  Here you specify a zone name.  The name should simply be the name of the other domain you will be creating the stub zone for.  Select Next after specifying a zone name.

7.  In this step, you would specify the IP of the DNS server or servers from which you want to load the zone.  The option Use the above servers to create a local list of master servers allows you to get a list of all other DNS servers.  In other words, you do not have to put in the IP of every DNS server on the other domain as long as the one DNS server you specify here has a record of the other DNS servers.  After specifying the IP of at least one DNS server on the other domain, select Next.

8.  This is the last page of the New Zone Wizard.  Verify your settings and select Finish.

9.  Here you can see the contents of the stub zone.  It simply contains the SOA (Start of authority) record, NS (name server) resource records, and the glue A resource records for the delegated zone.

That wraps it up.  Creating a stub zone is a fairly straightforward process and can be the prerequisite to creating a trust between domains.  Here are a few other things to look for after creating the stub zone.
Here I have logged onto the second domain controller/DNS server, wg-dc2-2k8, on the wgtesting.com domain.  Because I selected the option for the stub zone to be stored in active directory in step 4, the zone was replicated from test1 to this server since they are both on the wgtesting.com domain.

For the purpose of later creating a trust, go ahead and create a stub zone on the other domain.  Repeat steps 1-9 on the other domain’s DNS server.  In this case, the server is dc1 on the domain trusttest.com.

Using Auto Discover with large numbers of accepted domains

Introduction

One of the great benefits of using Subject Alternative Name (SAN) SSL certificates with Exchange is that you’re able to specify additional names on your certificate to cater for your Exchange needs, covering multiple domains.

But what if you’ve got a large number of accepted domains within your organization and don’t want to specify AutoDiscover records for these on your SAN certificate, or you’re regularly adding additional domains? Then you could take a leaf out of Office 365’s book and use a simple technique known as AutoDiscover Redirection to allow you to only need your core names on your SAN certificate.

In this two part article series, we’ll cover the various methods of performing AutoDiscover redirection – IIS, a Load Balancer or TMG, along with how to simplify the DNS changes necessary internally and externally. In this part we’ll quickly example the other options available and look at how to create and configure IIS for redirection.

Our Example Exchange Organization

For the context of this article, we’ll base our problem against a simple Exchange organization, consisting of two multi-role Exchange Servers, a load balancer and a TMG server for external access to the organization:

Figure 1: Example Exchange Organization

Both internally and externally, we’ve got an assortment of clients, using both domain-joined Outlook for Windows, along with Mac Outlook and Tablet Devices. We’re using split-DNS, a method of presenting a single consistent namespace to clients regardless of whether they’ll contact an internal IP address or an external IP address to access our Exchange organization; with internal clients accessing our Load Balancer and external client first accessing our Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 server which is configured as a reverse proxy within the DMZ. All clients use the following HTTPS namespace to access Exchange Client Access servers:

• mail.exchangelabs.co.uk
• autodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk

Additionally, we’ve configured a Client Access Array for RPC access, which is also load balanced, with the nameoutlook.exchangelabs.co.uk, which is only configured in the internal side of the split DNS configuration. Therefore we’ve been able to use just two names on our SAN certificate; just mail.exchangelabs.co.uk andautodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk.

However, recent changes mean that the number of accepted domains used within Exchange has increased and will continue to increase as time goes on, and each of these accepted domains is used for primary email addresses for a proportion of users. So to maintain AutoDiscover functionality across the board, we’ve got a number of practical options:

1. Increase the number of subject alternative names on the certificate by replacing it or requesting the certificate vendor re-issue it, along with the addition of AutoDiscover DNS records for each domain.
2. Add a Service Location DNS record (SRV record) for each new domain, as described in KB12345.
3. Use AutoDiscover Redirection to provide a single point for HTTP redirect to our singleautodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk HTTPS name.

In an ideal world, the first option is preferred and if the additional domain names are known or small in number it’s a straightforward solution that requires no additional configuration to work. However, if new domain names are added regularly, the organization doesn’t own those domains and just hosts another company’s email, or there’s a large number of additional domains, using this technique isn’t necessarily practical.

The second option, to use SRV records, seems at first glance the easiest– only DNS records are needed to make the AutoDiscover information to clients. There’s one major drawback to using SRV records however – although supported by Outlook, mobile clients such as Tablets and Smartphones have very little support.

This leaves us with option three, which is to use AutoDiscover Redirection. This technique allows the client to lookup the AutoDiscover DNS record as normal, and after attempting (and failing to connect) via HTTPS, the client will attempt to connect via standard HTTP.

Upon connecting via HTTP, a redirect is sent to the client advising it to attempt connection to our single AutoDiscover endpoint, https://autodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk/AutoDiscover/AutoDiscover.xml instead.

Configuring the AutoDiscover redirection web site

To provide AutoDiscover Redirection, we’ll need to configure a HTTP-only web site or web listener on an IP address that’s not already providing HTTPS service. That means we can’t share the same internal or external IP address that Exchange’s HTTP namespaces such as mail.exchangelabs.co.uk and autodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk already use.

We’ve got a number of options available for providing these services, and the one you choose depends on your environment and what resources you’ve got available:

1. A dedicated IIS website listening on it’s own IP address.
2. A new Virtual Server or Virtual IP address on a Load Balancer providing a simple redirect for all traffic on port 80, listening on an IP address that isn’t already providing HTTPS services.
3. A listener in TMG, again bound to an IP address that doesn’t provide HTTPS services, with a rule set to deny traffic and redirect it.

You might find that a combination of two of these techniques suits you; for example using a load balancer redirect internally and a TMG deny-redirect externally. In this section we’ll cover each one, starting with the IIS method in the first part of this article.

IIS Redirection

The IIS method is straightforward to configure and can be applied to either a local on-premises server, an additional IP address and web site within Exchange or even a Virtual Machine in Windows Azure.

As with all these suggested methods, the key thing we’ll need is to listen on an IP address that’s not being used for SSL traffic; otherwise AutoDiscover will attempt to connect to the SSL site first and likely fail due to certificate errors, and not continue. If it’s a fresh installation of IIS on a new server, this will be the default so further configuration isn’t necessary.

When installing IIS, we don’t need many additional components; if this will be dedicated to AutoDiscover redirection, then we won’t need components such as ASP.NET or Authentication. The key component to select during the installation of IIS is the URL Redirect module:

Figure 2: Selecting the HTTP Redirection IIS role service

After installation and configuration, we’ll then create an AutoDiscover subdirectory within the Default Web Site (or any other web site of your choosing), and then select this in the IIS Management Console, then choose HTTP Redirect:

Figure 3: Configuring HTTP Redirection for the AutoDiscover Virtual Directory

In the HTTP Redirect options, configure the following options:

• Redirect all requests to this destination: Configure this to your AutoDiscover URL, for examplehttps://autodiscover.exchangelabs.co.uk/AutoDiscover/AutoDiscover.xml
• Select the following checkboxes:
  • Redirect all requests to exact destination (instead of relative to destination)
  • Only redirect requests to content in this directory (not subdirectories)
• Choose the status code Found (302).

When you’re finished, choose Apply.

Finally, you might want to ensure that only requests to your correct full AutoDiscover DNS names are redirected; for example if this will be a multi-purpose web server then you might host other web sites alongside this one. We can do this by configuring the Bindings within IIS. To access this, right click the website (in our case Default Web Site) and select Edit Bindings:

Figure 4: Configuring Bindings for IIS

For each AutoDiscover DNS name, enter a separate host header entry bound to port 80:

Figure 5: Modifying the Host Header list for IIS

After configuring this optional step, requests to names other than those specified in the site bindings list will fail; so if it’s not strictly required for your environment (for example, you’ve used a dedicated IP address for the site, or even a dedicated server).