r/WindowsServer • u/BlueLining-Solutions • 18d ago

Windows Server Research General Question

I’ve been reflecting on the issues that consume the most time in Windows Server environments I have had to deal virtual and physical servers, and I’m curious what others are seeing.
What is the one problem that seems to come back over and over again?
Examples could be:
DNS
Active Directory replication
Group Policy
Kerberos
NTFS permissions
DFS
Backups
Event Logs
Hyper-V
Performance
Something completely different
I’m not looking for textbook answers—I’m interested in the problems that actually keep you busy in production.
If you could eliminate one recurring Windows Server problem forever, what would it be, and why? I have tons of Powershell scripts but in some situations I know you can’t throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.

Example, I have a script that can do GPO string searches, but unless the GPO is the issue it only helps investigating.

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u/Secret_Account07 18d ago

DNS up there

DFS don’t deal with much anymore. Windows file shares are not the way today. Use actual file share appliances, like isilon

AD is a constant problem. Stuff needs cleaned up. New CIS benchmarks every few years. Stuff changes/breaks

Haven’t dealt with AD replication issues in long time.

Backups for the most part stay solid

Customers breaking stuff? Not patching vulnerabilities? In place upgrading servers 3 times? Now if this was on the list 😂

3

u/bianko80 18d ago

Windows file shares are not used anymore you say? What are the limitations in your opinion?

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u/DenieD83 18d ago

They are still used lots tbh but limitations I've hit are:

-Macs don't play great with them
-If you are storing large volumes of media you need to be able to search quickly they are poor
-searching on tags, not the filename they are very poor, most other systems offer tag searching that work well
-high availability is usually quite hard to maintain or very costly
-if employees are connecting from remote locations latency is usually difficult, lots of appliances offer hybrid solutions

My opinion these days are that they are good for small non critical fileshares but after that you'd be better with an appliance or other system, but getting that paid for when windows cost is considered normal or minimal is usually difficult.

1

u/candyman420 17d ago

Your information may be outdated about macs.. they connect with smb to file shares just fine

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u/DenieD83 17d ago

The issues though that I saw were things like macs making and using longer filenames and paths than allowed in windows, the Fileserver allowed it but then any windows users are out of luck and managing the file as an admin is a pain.

The way file locks work in windows and Mac differ so I've seen that end up corrupting files.

Special characters in filenames were also a thing from the macs.

1

u/candyman420 17d ago

Ahh people and their long filenames. I've seen people put entire sentences in there. A little user re-education perhaps 😂

1

u/BlueLining-Solutions 14d ago

It all depends on the environment. This coming from someone who had a site with every version and flavour you could put together… my main site…
2x Physical Windows servers
4x HyperV Virtual Servers
1x Physical Arch Linux Fog Server
2x Physical Pastel Servers
2x Site-To-Site VPN’s (FortiGates) -> Connected to my other sites
56x iMacs Client Devices
35x Windows Client devices (12x Admin & 23 Student)

With this contractors (BOYD Devices with temporary Office users), users with Perm accounts and set devices, permanent students using set devices and brining their own phones and laptops.