- IIS 8.5 SNI – Fixing SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN
As you probably know SSL certificates use the https protocol to encrypt communication between your web browser and the web server hosting the web site you’re visiting. You can always tell when your session has been encrypted because your browser will display a lock icon near the address of the ... read more - Resolving IIS WMSVC Underlying Connection Was Closed
IIS Manager Remote Administration is a handy tool for for a web server administrator when you have multiple servers to manage. This feature will save you the trouble of having to Remote Desktop into each server every time you need to touch IIS. With IIS Manager Remote Administration you can ... read more - Using aspnet_regiis.exe to Encrypt Connection Strings
When it comes to securing IIS web applications on Windows Server 20008 R2 or Windows Server 2012 R2 one typically thinks of firewalls, access control lists (ACL), and using an application pool identity. These security measures will protect a site from external threats . However, .Net configuration files which typically ... read more - Blocking SQL Injection with IIS Request Filtering
SQL Injection became a favorite hacking technique in 2007. Despite being widely documented for so many years it continues to evolve and be utilized. Because SQL Injection is such a well known attack vector, I am always surprised when as sysadmin I come across someone’s site that has been compromised ... read more - Managing IIS Logs with GZipStream
Depending on how many sites your Windows web server is hosting maintaining IIS logs can be a challenge. IIS logs provide valuable insight into the traffic your sites are experiencing as well as detailed SEO metrics and performance data. A typical web server will have just enough free disk space ... read more - 3 Steps to Securing FTP on IIS 8
- Preventing Automated Attacks with IIS Dynamic IP Restrictions
Another one of the great built-in features of IIS 8 is Dynamic IP Restrictions (DIPR). With a few simple configuration steps you can quickly set limits for blocking IP addresses based on the number of concurrent requests or frequency of requests over a period time. With these parameters in place ... read more - Solving SQL Server High CPU with IIS Request Filtering
The other day I was troubleshooting 100% CPU utilization on a SQL Server 2008 database server. The server had 100 or so databases of varying sizes however none were larger than a few hundred MB and each database had a corresponding web site on a separate web server. Since the ... read more - Scaling SSL With IIS 8 Server Name Indication (SNI)
One of the many great new features with IIS 8 on Windows Server 2012 is Server Name Indication (SNI). SNI is a TLS extension that includes the hostname or virtual domain name during SSL negotiation. The reasoning behind this was to improve SSL scalability and minimize the need for dedicated ... read more - Installing WordPress, PHP, and MySQL on Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer (Web PI) makes installing applications a breeze. In a recent blog post I covered just how easy installing IIS has become using Web PI. In this walkthrough I’m going to cover installing WordPress, PHP, and MySQL using Web PI. I remember the days when installing these ... read more
- Windows 10 Data Recovery – Getting Files Back After a Crash
The other day I was working on a Windows 10 laptop when it started acting erratically and then crashed. One moment I was working as usual and then suddenly I was presented with the nice picture below indicating Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. Instinctively the ... read more - Windows Low Disk Space – Easy Drive Cloning With Macrium Reflect
Recently I had a family laptop that was low on hard drive space and was periodically causing “operational” issues. Family members would be using the computer and then get the Windows Low disk space message and simply closing the notification wasn’t enough. Naturally being the official tech person in our ... read more - Using C# to Automate Java Keytool Certificate Signing RequestsThe Java keytool is a utility to manage public/private key pairs for certificates used in authentication services. Keytool is straightforward to use and runs from the command line. Creating a new certificate at high level involves first creating a keystore to store the private / public key pair, then creating ... read more
- Using C# to Modify Windows Server Environment Variables
Recently I was working on an issue where the path to an application needed to be in the server Path Environment Variable. I didn’t have physical access to the server and needed an easy way to get the path updated so I created a simple Asp.net Windows Form to accomplish ... read more - How to Integrate a Mailchimp Mailing List with WordPress
Having a mailing list is a important aspect to operating a website that is often overlooked. Engaging your audience via email is great way to bring visitors back to your website for a new promotion or updated content. If you have recently looked into setting up a mailing list you’ll ... read more - The Best PayPal WordPress Plugin I Have Ever Used
Have you ever wanted to accept a payment with your web site but didn’t know how to get started? Accepting online payments via real-time credit card authorizations requires an online merchant account, a shopping cart, and payment processor like Authorize.net. And all the monthly fees from these services will substantially ... read more - How to Securely Erase Hard Drives
Recently I found a few old 2.5” laptop hard drives in storage and figured I would try sell them for a few bucks on Ebay but first I wanted to make sure my personal data on them was erased. As an experienced sys admin I am already in the habit ... read more - Easy USB Drive Mirroring With Windows 10 Storage Spaces
Speaking from experience having a computer hard drive fail is not when you want to discover your backup software didn’t run overnight and you’ve lost some important data. Laptops or a space a saving All-in-One desktop like my Dell XPS 2720 typically only have one hard drive. Hard drive redundancy ... read more - Upgrade PHP 7 on Windows Server with WebPI
I was recently working on a Windows Server which hosts a WordPress site that had been upgraded from version 4.x to version 5.3. While reviewing the WordPress Dashboard afterwards to ensure everything was working properly I noticed the warning below about PHP being out of date. It turns out starting ... read more - Protecting a WordPress Contact Form with reCAPTCHA
Having a contact form is one of the most important pages a web site can have. It enables you to receive communication for your audience or customers without having to provide a specific email address. Publishing an email address on your site while simple to implement and low-tech makes it ... read more