A duplicate name exist error when connecting to SMB share using CNAME alias

Description
When you are setting up CNAME alias in DNS for a Windows 2003 Server and then try to connect to server using CNAME alias, you may encounter "a duplicate name exists on the network" error.

Resolution
To resolve this problem in Windows Server 2003, complete the following steps:
1. Create the CNAME record for the file server on the appropriate DNS server, if the CNAME record is not already present.
2. Apply the following registry change to the file server. To do so, follow these steps:
a. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
b. Locate and click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
c. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: DisableStrictNameCheckingData
type: REG_DWORD
Radix: Decimal
Value: 1
d. Quit Registry Editor.
3. Restart your computer.

GPRS / 3G Settings in Indonesia

Excelcomindo
APN : www.xlgprs.net
Username: xlgprs
Password: proxl

IM3
APN: www.indosat-m3.net / wap.indosat-m3.net
Username: gprs
Password: im3

Indosat(Matrix)
APN: satelindogprs.com / indosatgprs
Username: -
Password: -

Telkomsel
APN: internet / telkomsel
Username: wap
Password: wap123

Tools For DNS Testing and Validation

Here are some of the websites that I often use for DNS validation or testing from external network perimeter.
Whenever you do email troubleshooting, website lookup, and or domain whois, you will find that these websites are quite helpful.

1. www.dnsstuff.com > This is the best one I think. It has a lot of tools and the result are very accurate and fast. You can query and get almost every information here. However you have to pay to get the service. They are not free anymore. Trial period are available.
2. www.zonedit.com/smtp.html > You can send email testing from this website for validation or troubleshooting. All you have to do is put the email server MX record, sender address, and recipient address.
3. www.mxtoolbox.com > Through this tool you can query MX record from a domain name.
4. http://network-tools.com/nslook > You can do NSLookup query for A record, CNAME, PTR, MX, NS, etc to certain server through this tool.
5. http://www.dnstools.com/ > Besides getting IP whois information, you can also do port checking status from this website.

How to use Blackberry 7100 as a modem

For those who don’t know, here are the steps:

1. Connect your BlackBerry 7100 (BB 7100) with computer through USB cable.
2. Activate the Blackberry Handheld Manager and or Blackberry Device Manager (Depends on the Blackberry software version) and make sure the status is connected to the device.
3. Open Device Manager. Expand Modems and double click on Standard Modem.
4. Go to advance tab, add extra initialization command +cgdcont=1,”IP”,”your_apn_name” (depends on your network provider).
For example I put; cgdcont=1,”IP”,”satelindogprs.com” for Indosat Network. Sometime you may have to put a different format such us; +cgdcont=1,”IP”,”satelindogprs.com”,””,0,0
5. After that, do a test query on your modem. You should see what type of modem, Research In Motion, etc.
6. Create a new Internet Connection. On number to dial type in *99#. Leave the password and username blank.
7. Last, depends on the Network Provider, you may have to enter the DNS server IP on TCP/IP Property. In my experience, most of the time leaving the DNS setting to be automatic should be fine. Confirm with your Network Provider about the IP or if you find any difficulty connecting to the Internet.
8. Dial the newly created connection and have fun trying.

How to configure a display message when users log on to the Windows 2003 domain

You can configure Windows Server to display a message to users when they log on. The message appears after the user presses CTRL+ALT+DEL and disappears after the user clicks OK. After the message disappears, the user can complete the logon process.

Configuring a Group Policy Setting for a Domain:
1. On the domain controller, start the Group Policy Management snap-in.
2. Expand the forest object in the left pane.
3. Expand the domains object in the left pane. Expand yourdomain.
4. Right Click Default Domain Policy, and then click Edit.
5. Expand the following folder:
Computer Configuration\Windows Settings \Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options
6. In the right pane, double-click Policies, and then follow these steps to create the message text:
> On a Windows Server 2003-based domain controller:
a. Click Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to log on, and then type the text that you want to appear in the title bar of the message dialog box.
b. Click Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to log on, and then type the text of the message that you want to appear in the message dialog box.
> On a Windows 2000-based domain controller:
a. Click Message title for users attempting to log on, and then type the text that you want to appear in the title bar of the message dialog box.
b. Click Message text for users attempting to log on, and then type the text of the message that you want to appear in the message dialog box

Note: If you do not use carriage returns in your display message, the maximum number of characters that you can add to the logon box is 512. If you add carriage returns, you can add up to 2048 characters (512 characters per line).