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Always On VPN and the PSPKI PowerShell Module

Certificates are a crucial part of a secure Always On VPN implementation. Certificates are phishing-resistant forms of authentication that, when configured correctly, provide robust and multifactor authentication for remote access users and devices.

AD CS

Most commonly, certificates are issued by an on-premises Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) server. Administrators configure and deploy a Certification Authority infrastructure to issue and manage user and device authentication certificates in their organization. CA certificates are also required on the VPN server to support Always On VPN device tunnel connections and IKEv2 user tunnel connections. The NPS server also requires an enterprise CA certificate. Of course, the CA can issue certificates for other purposes, including Wi-Fi authentication, document signing, and code signing, just to name a few.

PSPKI

PSPKI is a PowerShell module available in the PowerShell Gallery for configuring, managing, and troubleshooting Microsoft AD CS. Created by Vadims Podans of PKI Solutions, PSPKI includes over 100 functions for various AD CS and certificate-related tasks. Always On VPN administrators will find this PowerShell module helpful when configuring and troubleshooting certificate-related issues for their Always On VPN deployments.

Note: The AD CS remote server administration tools (RSAT) must be installed to access all of the PSPKI module’s functionality.

Installation

Run the following PowerShell command to install the PSPKI PowerShell module.

Install-Module -Name PSPKI

Always On VPN and PSPKI

Always On VPN Administrators will immediately find a few PSPKI functions helpful when implementing and supporting Always On VPN.

Test-WebServerSSL – This function will connect to a remote web server and display details about the TLS certificate included in the response. This can be especially helpful when troubleshooting SSTP VPN connections.

Convert-PfxToPem – This is a handy utility for converting a PFX file to the PEM format. This is commonly required when importing CA certificates on non-Microsoft platforms, security devices, and load balancers.

Convert-PemToPfx – Occasionally, administrators must convert a certificate and private key in PEM format to PFX to install on a Windows server. This tool allows administrators to perform this task easily.

Get-CertificationAuthority – This function quickly enumerates all enterprise CA servers and displays information about their hostname, accessibility, service status, and type.

Ping-ICertInterface – This function helps troubleshoot CA connectivity issues. Administrators can quickly determine if a CA is reachable and capable of issuing a certificate using this command.

Get-CaTemplate – This command displays a list of certificate templates published on the specified target CA server. The certificate template’s display name and the minimum support CA version are provided. In addition, the output indicates if certificate autoenrollment is enabled on the template.

Much More

The PSPKI PowerShell module for AD CS has many tools for configuring and managing AD CS. PSPKI recently received a major update to version 4.0. Download and install PSPKI today. It will make your life easier, I can assure you!

Additional Information

PSPKI PowerShell Module – PowerShell Gallery

PSPKI PowerShell Module – GitHub

AOVPNTools PowerShell Module – PowerShell Gallery

AOVPNTools PowerShell Module – GitHub

InboxAccountingDatabaseManagement PowerShell Module

InboxAccontingDatabaseManagement – PowerShell Gallery

InboxAccountingDatabaseManagement – GitHub

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by Richard M. Hicks on June 20, 2023 • Permalink

Tagged AD CS, administration, Always On VPN, AOVPN, CA, certificate, certificates, Certification Authority, gallery, GitHub, MFA, Microsoft, module, multifactor authentication, pem, pfx, PKI, PowerShell, PowerShell gallery, pspki, RSAT, SSL, template, TLS, troubleshooting, VPN

Posted by Richard M. Hicks on June 20, 2023

https://directaccess.richardhicks.com/2023/06/20/always-on-vpn-and-the-pspki-powershell-module/

Inbox Accounting Database Management

The Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) role in Windows Server is a popular VPN server choice for administrators deploying Windows Always On VPN. It is easy to configure, scales well, and is cost-effective. After installing RRAS, administrators can optionally enable inbox accounting to log historical data and generate user access and activity reports as described in Always On VPN RRAS Monitoring and Reporting.

Inbox Accounting Database

A Windows Internal Database (WID) is automatically installed and configured for data storage when inbox accounting is enabled.

WID is nothing more than a basic instance of Microsoft SQL Server. As such, the database will require periodic maintenance to perform optimally.

Inbox Accounting Database Management Scripts

I have created a series of PowerShell scripts to address the inbox accounting database management requirements for organizations using Windows Server RRAS. Scripts are available to perform the following inbox accounting database management tasks.

Optimize the inbox accounting database.
View the size of the inbox accounting database files.
Compress the size of the inbox accounting database.
Back up the inbox accounting database to a file on disk.
Restore the inbox accounting database from a backup file.
Move the inbox accounting database file to a different location.
Remove the inbox accounting database.

Optimize Database

A known issue with the inbox accounting database can result in high CPU and memory utilization for very busy RRAS VPN servers. Specifically, a crucial index is missing from one of the tables in the logging database. This issue persists in Windows Server 2022. To correct this issue, download and run the following PowerShell script on each RRAS VPN server in the organization.

Optimize-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

View Database Size

The database can grow rapidly depending on how busy the RRAS server is. Administrators can view the current database file sizes by downloading and running the following PowerShell script on the RRAS server.

Get-InboxAccountingDatabaseSize.ps1

Compress Database

Over time, the database can become fragmented, decreasing performance. Compressing the database can improve performance and result in significant recovery of disk space. To compress the inbox accounting database, download and run the following PowerShell script on each RRAS server in the organization.

Compress-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

In this example, compressing the database reduced its size by more than 8MB, resulting in a nearly 70% reduction in disk space usage.

Backup Database

Administrators may wish to back up the inbox accounting database before purging older records from the inbox accounting database. Also, backing up the database preservers access records when migrating to a new server. To back up the inbox accounting database, download and run the following PowerShell script on each RRAS server in the organization.

Backup-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

Restore Database

Naturally, to restore the inbox accounting database from a previous backup, administrators can download and run the following PowerShell script.

Restore-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

Restoring a database from backup will erase all records in the current database. It does not append. Proceed with caution!

Move Database Files

Inbox accounting database and log files are located in C:\Windows\DirectAccess\Db by default.

However, storing database and log files on the system drive is not ideal. A better alternative is to place the inbox accounting database and log files on a separate disk for optimum performance. To move the inbox accounting database, download and run the following PowerShell script on each VPN server in the organization.

Move-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

Moving inbox accounting files may not be formally supported by Microsoft. Use caution when making this change.

Remove Database

Occasionally an inbox accounting database becomes corrupt and can no longer be managed. If this happens, completely removing the database is required. It is essential to know that simply disabling and re-enabling inbox accounting on the VPN server does not delete the database. To delete the database completely, download and run the following PowerShell script.

Remove-InboxAccountingDatabase.ps1

PowerShell Module

To simplify things, the PowerShell scripts described in this article are available in a PowerShell module that can be installed from the PowerShell gallery using the following command.

Install-Module InboxAccountingDatabaseManagement