What NETBIOS Is The Machine On?

Windows ServerI was recently doing some work for a client installing some software and realised that I didn’t know what their NETBIOS was and the application didn’t have a lookup option for the service account so I needed to type the domain and username directly. The IT people I was working with were in a meeting and not going to be available for a while so I couldn’t ask.

I did some checking around and found a command which can be run to get the NETBIOS:

nbtstat -n

There may be other ways of doing this and I’d be interested in hearing about them.

Trust Relationship Between This Workstation and the Primary Domain Failed

MicrosoftHaving never seen the below error message before, I have now seen it twice in the last few weeks.

The first time was when I started a VM running an old version of Microsoft Dynamics GP for the first time in a few months; the second was when I copied the VM from my laptop onto the server which had a previous copy of the domain controller VM.

The second instance was not unexpected, but at least I knew how to resolve the problem having seen it recently on a VM which hadn’t been run for a while.

The error is produced when you try to log into Windows:

Trust relationship error when logging in

The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed

The solution is to remove the computer from the domain, restart the computer and then add it back to the domain.

PowerShell to Promote Domain Controller

Windows ServerWhen testing Microsoft Dynamics GP, I often need a domain controller within my set of virtual machines. I’ve been promoting a server to be a domain controller manually, but it recently occurred to me that I could probably do the same task using PowerShell.

After doing some research, I came up with four commands which will rename and restart the server, install the Active Directory feature and add a forest.

To rename a server, run the following command, replacing the highligted section with the new server name:

Rename-computer -newname {server name}

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All Workflow Approvers Need A Display name in AD

Microsoft Dynamics GPGetting on towards two years ago, I did a post where I mentioned that AD Groups used as approvers need to have a display name set; I don’t seem to have mentioned that ordinary domain user accounts set as approvers also need to have a display name set.

I’ve recently been reminded about this on a test system where the admin account I was logging in as did not have a display name.

Where there is no display name, you can set the approver, but when you click OK, the name disappears.

Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment: Creating Required Service Accounts

Microsoft Dynamics GPDepending on your selected options when installing the Microsoft Dynamics GP web client, there are between three and four service accounts required.

The three which are always required are:

  1. Web Application User
  2. Session Service
  3. Session Central Service

The one which is optional dependent on installation options is:

  1. Management Console Application User

This last is only required if the Management COnsole is installed to a different web site to the web client.

To create the service accounts, you need to be logged onto the Domain Control (in my case DC1 which is running Windows Server 2008 R2) and open Active Directory Users and Computers.

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Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 SP2 Web Client Scale-Out Deployment: Creating Security Groups In AD For The Web Client

Microsoft Dynamics GPThere are two security groups required for the Microsoft Dynamics GP web client:

  1. A group for users who can access the web client
  2. A group for users who can access the web client’s management console.

To create these groups we need to be logged onto the domain controller which on my test system is AZC-DC1.

On the domain controller, open Active Directory Users and Computers.

I decided to create a business unit called Microsoft Dynamics GP but you could create the required groups anywhere. To create the web console user’s group click the Create Group button on the toolbar:

Active Directory Users and Computers

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