Category Archives for Windows Server

AppCmd introduction and examples

The AppCmd command is your one-stop-shop for administering Windows Server IIS web servers. In combination with WinRM it’s your Swiss Army knife for your daily routine. This post introduces appcmd and provides you with a lot of helpful appcmd examples.

Ghost on IIS with HTTPS, how to resolve a “Too many redirects” error

When you use iisnode to host the Node.js blogging software Ghost on your IIS web server, and you set up an SSL certificate for your Ghost website, you may run into too many redirect issues when changing Ghost’s config.js file. This happend to me yesterday, and here is the solution.

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Simple PowerShell introduction for Windows Server administration, automation and scripting

Windows PowerShell (“PS” for short) is an important tool in Windows Server for administrators. You can use PowerShell for Windows Server administration, software installation, automation, and shell/command-line scripting. Here is a small and simple introduction to Windows PowerShell.

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Windows Update error 0xc1420127 and 0xc190010b when upgrading Windows 8.1 to Windows 10

Last weekend I had to update my girlfriends laptop from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Some might say, an easy task. Well, it wasn’t. After downloading the Windows 10 update through Windows Update, Windows Update returned errors 0xc1420127 and 0xc190010b, even using the Windows 10 media creation tool. And as always there are many reasons for these errors. In this short post, I’ll provide some possible solutions and tips.

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How to install Microsoft’s SQL Server Driver for PHP

In this article I’ll show you how to install the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP 7+. This makes the use of an SQL Server database back-end for your PHP website easy. If you want to communicatie with SQL Server using PHP you need to rely on some additional software and PHP extensions. This post walks you through the steps necessary to install the SQL Server driver and SQLSRV extension for PHP 7+, on Windows Server IIS of course.

HackRepair.com’s Bad Bots .htaccess in web.config for IIS

Jim Walker from HackRepair.com posted a 2016 version of his Bad Bots .htaccess on Pastebin. I offered Jim to translate his Bad Bots .htaccess to web.config, to be used with Windows Server IIS. And here it is, learn to protect your WordPress website with this web.config file!

IIS URL Rewrite “Rewrite Module error: Expression contains a repeat expression”

How to fix the URL Rewrite Module error “Rewrite error: Expression contains a repeat expression” on Windows Server IIS.

Deny vulnerable WordPress plugins using Windows Server File Server Resource Manager’s File Screens

Using Windows Server File Server Resource Manager‘s File Screens you can block vulnerable WordPress plugins from being saved on your IIS web server. In the following example, you’ll learn how to block WP DB Backup plugin system-wide on Windows Server, read on…

SQL Server versions list

How to Identify Your SQL Server version and edition.

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RewriteProxy with .htaccess in IIS

Rewrite and proxy HTTP requests in IIS using a .htaccess

In my case scenario, I had to proxy requests in IIS, because a website was moved from web server A to B, and the DNS wasn’t updated yet. All HTTP requests for the moved website are handled in IIS’ Default Web Site; that’s the wildcard host, and the original host no longer existed there. We needed to match our website and proxy those requests to the new IIS web server. This can either be done using a proxy with URL Rewrite, IIS Application Request Routing (ARR), or a .htaccess file handled by Helicon Ape.

How to block BaiduSpider bot User-Agent?

The Baidu spider (BaiduSpider user agent) can be a real pain to block, especially since it does not respect a robots.txt as it should. This post shows you how to block Baidu Spider bot, using IIS URL Rewrite Module based on its User-Agent string.

How to optimize PHP OPcache configuration

Tune OPcache and make PHP OPcache perform even better! Now that you’ve optimized PHP realpath_cache_size, it’s time to fine-tune OPcache. With just a few tweaks you can tune PHP OPcache to make it perform much better, and here is how…

How to enable HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) on IIS

Set up HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) in Windows Server IIS. Scott Hanselman wrote a great post on how to enable HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) on IIS web servers, and here is some more technical information about HSTS in IIS (and other security headers)…

Tunnel RDP through SSH & PuTTY

How to tunnel Remote Desktop (RDP) over SSH with PuTTY.

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to perform remote administration on a Windows Server, and the RDP port 3389 is blocked on a firewall? Did you know you can tunnel RDP over SSH with PuTTY? This particularly comes in handy when there is no VPN available to the remote network… Here is how to set up a RDP SSH tunnel with PuTTY.

Set IIS Application Pool recycle defaults to Specific Times, not Regular Time Interval

By default, an IIS application pool (or “AppPool”) recycles on a regular time interval of 1740 minutes, or 29 hours. One reason for this time interval is that application pools don’t recycle at the same moment every day (every day at 07.00 for example). However, sometimes you want to change this regular time interval to specific times. And when you try to configure this in IIS Manager, it gives you an error. Luckily, AppCmd and PowerShell come to the rescue!