FortiGate LDAPS Authentication Failure
Jan29

FortiGate LDAPS Authentication Failure

KB ID 0001733 Problem Here’s a brief one that tripped me up a couple of weeks ago, I was deploying FortiGate LDAPS authentication for some FortiClient SSL VPN connections into a FortiGate firewall like so; Despite my best efforts I was getting authentication failures? If I tested the username and password in the GUI web management portal, that worked fine? Testing FortiGate LDAPS First step is to test authentication at command...

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Windows File Server Migration (Maintain Share & NTFS Permissions)
Jan27

Windows File Server Migration (Maintain Share & NTFS Permissions)

KB ID 0001201 Problem When attempting a File Server Migration why isn’t this better publicised? Did you know Microsoft have a set of Migration tools, and one of them is for file servers? Now traditionally I’d use RoboCopy or XCopy to migrate files and folders, and for ‘User Profiles’ I would normally back them up, and restore them to the new server. This is because the file permissions on ‘correctly...

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Domain Join SID Error
Jan26

Domain Join SID Error

KB ID 0001732 Problem Thankfully I don’t see a SID error very often these days; The following error occurred when attempting to join the domain ‘{domain-name} The domain join cannot be completed because the SID of the domain you attempted to join was identical to the SID of this machine. This is a symptom of an improperly cloned operating system install. You should run Sysprep on this machine in order to generate a new...

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Migrate From Server 2012 to Server 2019 Domain Controllers
Jan25

Migrate From Server 2012 to Server 2019 Domain Controllers

Server 2012 DC to Server 2019 DC KB ID 0001731 Problem I get asked about this quite a lot. In the past most of the queries were about moving from Server 2008 to Server 2019, if that’s what you are after then simply go here. This article is purely for the introduction of, and migration to Windows Server 2019 Domain Controllers. And it assumes your current domain controllers are Windows server 2012 (or 2012 R2). Adding a Server...

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FortiGate High Availability (Active / Passive)
Jan22

FortiGate High Availability (Active / Passive)

KB ID 0001730 So my aim was to setup FortiGate High Availability failover in Active / Passive mode. I’m setting this up in EVE-NG and here’s what my lab looks like; Note: Im using TWO connections for Heartbeat/Failover, you can simply use one if you prefer. FortiGate High Availability (Pre-Requisites) Obviously the firewalls need to be the same! For physical firewalls that’s straightforward, but be careful if you are...

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FortiGate: SSL Inspection (HTTPS Inspection)
Jan15

FortiGate: SSL Inspection (HTTPS Inspection)

KB ID 0001729 Problem Do you inspect the traffic on your network? You have a firewall? Maybe an IDS appliance? That’s good news, do you inspect HTTPS traffic? In most cases the answer is no. Because either you do not have the capability, or enabling SSL Inspection will degrade the firewall’s performance so much that you accept the risk. At time of writing (Early 2021) it’s estimated that 85% of all web traffic is now...

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The Web Site for the CA Must be Configured to use HTTPS
Jan13

The Web Site for the CA Must be Configured to use HTTPS

KB ID 0000838  Problem When attempting to contact a server running the Certification Authority Web Enrolment role, you may see the following error. In order to complete certificate enrolment, the Web site for the CA must be configured to use HTTPS authentication Solution The correct fix is to set the web server (IIS) to serve the certificate website securely using https, though you can just set Internet explorer to ‘work’...

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EVE-NG: Create Windows Server 2019 VM
Jan13

EVE-NG: Create Windows Server 2019 VM

KB ID Article  Problem I’ve had a Windows 2012R2 server image that I’ve ben using in EVE-NG for ever. This week it bit the dust so I thought, can I deploy a shiny new 2019 server? EVE-NG Windows Virtual Machines Yes! In fact the deployment procedure is the same for 2019 as it was for earlier versions of Windows server. First log onto your EVE-NG host and create the folder; mkdir /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/winserver-2019/...

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Software is Preventing Firefox From Safely Connecting to this Site
Jan12

Software is Preventing Firefox From Safely Connecting to this Site

KB ID 0001727 Problem I was setting up some HTTPS/SSL inspection this week and while testing it, I ran into this problem; Firefox Certificate Settings So the machine I’m using DOES trust the CA that issued that certificate, (it’s a FortiGate firewall) But the BROWSER does not. (Firefox maintains its own list of certificates, and more importantly which CA certificates it will trust). Essentially the browser is trying to...

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FortiGate: SSL-VPN With FortiClient (AD Authenticated)
Jan06

FortiGate: SSL-VPN With FortiClient (AD Authenticated)

KB ID 0001725 Problem FortiGate Remote Access (SSL-VPN ) is a solution that is a lot easier to setup than on other firewall competitors. Here’s how to setup remote access to a FortiGate firewall device, using the FortiClient software, and Active Directory authentication. This is what my topology looks like; Note: I’ve changed the FortiGates default management HTTPS port from 443 to 4433 (before I started). This was to let...

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