Mark Renoden’s Blog
My contribution to the thought bubble
AD FS 2016 and Azure MFA - a few Nuances
I was recently helping a colleague with AD FS 2016 and Azure MFA integration, specifically in-line...
Date: 06/20/2018
New Role for Me!
It's been a while since I last posted. This is largely due to a change in role. I've moved out of...
Date: 06/20/2018
Identify ADMX/ADML Files used by Group Policies
The Problem Group Policy ADMX versioning has caused a few concerns for Microsoft customers in the...
Date: 01/11/2018
Authoritative Restore of SYSVOL after Deallocation of Azure DCs
The Problem If you run an isolated lab in Azure IaaS with more than one Domain Controller and are in...
Date: 11/07/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Groups in Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect
Introduction Earlier this year I authored a post discussing choices for sourceAnchor in Multi-Forest...
Date: 10/13/2017
An Alternative for DFSR Database GUID-to-Name Resolution
Recently I was connected to a support incident where a SYSVOL DFS Replication storm was causing...
Date: 05/03/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 7, Migrating Users
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/24/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 6, Moving off objectGuid
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/24/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 5, Using mS-DS-ConsistencyGuid
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/23/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 4, Using msDS-SourceAnchor
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/22/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 3, An Aside on EmployeeID
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/21/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 2, Lab Setup
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/20/2017
Choosing a sourceAnchor for Multi-Forest Sync with AAD Connect - Part 1, Introduction
Update 25th May 2017:- As of AAD Connect May 2017 release, version 1.1.524, the default sourceAnchor...
Date: 02/20/2017
Revisit - Deploying a DC to Azure IaaS with ARM and DSC
Introduction In an earlier post I provided a walkthrough for the deployment of a Domain Controller...
Date: 11/24/2016
Making Network Changes During an Azure IaaS ARM Template Deployment
In my last post, I discussed the deployment of a Domain Controller to Azure IaaS using ARM templates...
Date: 07/28/2016
Deploying a DC to Azure IaaS with ARM and DSC
EDIT This post is obsolete! I've kept it here to preserve comments and to maintain information that...
Date: 07/26/2016
Using Azure RMS for Generic File Protection
Introduction Recently, I’ve had the need to work with Azure Rights Management and Generic File...
Date: 06/29/2016
MCSM (MCM) Distributed File System Content
Back in 2012 I was asked to take over from Ned Pyle as the presenter for DFS technologies at the...
Date: 06/12/2016
Using Azure Active Directory Domain Services with ARM VNets
It’s been a while since my last post – a combination of extended leave and being busy I guess. Even...
Date: 06/10/2016
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 9, Series Conclusion and Assets
This post concludes the series that started here. Over the past few weeks I’ve presented a overview...
Date: 09/24/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 8, DFSR Debug Log Charts
This post continues the series that started here. Up to this point I’ve discussed building a parser...
Date: 09/23/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 7, Dealing with Message Analyzer Limitations
This post continues the series that started here. Default Parser Up to this point the development of...
Date: 09/15/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 6, Parsing Specific Multi-line Messages
This post continues the series that started here. Last time I discussed parsing multi-line messages...
Date: 09/13/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 5, Parsing Multi-line Messages
This post continues the series that started here. Today I want to continue to demonstrate the...
Date: 09/09/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 4, DFSR Debug Log Headers
This post continues the series that started here. So far in this series I’ve discussed the creation...
Date: 09/07/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 3, DFSR Debug Log Analysis Grid Layout
This post continues the series that started here. Last post concluded showing fields that had been...
Date: 09/03/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 2, Timestamps and Simple DFSR Debug Log Messages
This post continues the series that started here. Last post, I started discussing my journey in...
Date: 09/02/2015
DFSR Debug Analysis with Message Analyzer – Part 1, Introduction
A little while ago I decided to spend some time learning Message Analyzer and to form an...
Date: 08/31/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 22, Blog Post Series Wrap Up
This post concludes the series that started here. Over the past few weeks I’ve presented a “lite”...
Date: 08/11/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 21, Infrastructure and Settings – Network
This post continues the series that started here. Earlier in this post series, I’ve discussed the...
Date: 08/10/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 20, Infrastructure and Settings – User Data
This post continues the series that started here. Just a short post today, due to the brevity of...
Date: 08/09/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 19, Infrastructure and Settings – User Profiles
This post continues the series that started here. Today I want to discuss the impact of user...
Date: 08/06/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 18, Infrastructure and Settings – Group Policy
This post continues the series that started here. Going forward from this post until the end of the...
Date: 08/05/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 17, Wait Analysis – More Challenging Example
This post continues the series that started here. In my last post I introduced Wait Analysis,...
Date: 08/04/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 16, Wait Analysis
This post continues the series that started here. From Part 6 to Part 15 of this post series, I’ve...
Date: 08/03/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 15, Boot Phase – Post Boot
This post continues the series that started here. Today I’ll be covering the last of our boot and...
Date: 07/30/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 14, Boot Phase – Explorer Initialization
This post continues the series that started here. In the last post, I mentioned that the Winlogon...
Date: 07/29/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 13, Boot Phase – Winlogon
This post continues the series that started here. Today I’ll be discussing the Winlogon phase. A lot...
Date: 07/28/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 12, Boot Phase – Session Initialization
This post continues the series that started here. In my last post, I mentioned that Kernel...
Date: 07/27/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 11, Boot Phase – OS Loader and Kernel Initialization
This post continues the series that started here. Last time, I began a breakdown of each boot phase....
Date: 07/26/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 10, Boot Phase – POST
This post continues the series that started here. My last five posts have been setting you up for...
Date: 07/23/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 9, CPU and Disk Utilization
This post continues the series that started here. In Part 6 of this series, I proposed a boot and...
Date: 07/22/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 8, Code Integrity Checking
This post continues the series that started here. Today I’m going to discuss another activity...
Date: 07/21/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 7, ReadyBoot Analysis
This post continues the series that started here. In my last post, I proposed that the...
Date: 07/20/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 6, Boot and Logon Overview
This post continues the series that started here. Before I discuss boot and logon analysis in any...
Date: 07/19/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 5, Windows Performance Analyzer - A Tour
This post continues the series that started here. Up to this point, I’ve discussed a process...
Date: 07/19/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 3, Trace Capture and Benchmarking
This post continues the series that started here. In the previous post I discussed instrumentation...
Date: 07/15/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 2, Tools and Instrumentation
This post continues the series that started here. The process that I’m going to describe in the...
Date: 07/15/2015
Windows Enterprise Client Boot and Logon Optimization – Part 1, Introduction
This is the first in a series of blog posts I'll be writing that discuss the optimization of...
Date: 07/14/2015