Shawn Ross' IT Blog

Tip: Changing DeviceManageR Port #

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:59:00 +0000

Here's a tip, along w/ some self-documentation:

At Calvary we use an AVTech RoomAlert 11ER to monitor and alert us to environmental conditions in our "server room".

Recently I setup their Device ManageR software to get better reporting and historical metrics in place for the RoomAlert unit. I decided to put it on the same VM hosting some other support pieces. Out of the box Device ManageR uses port 8080 for it's web front-end. MaintenanceAssist on that VM also uses 8080, so I needed to change Device ManageR; I also did not want to change or modify the running MaintenanceAssist software. Here's how:

Login to the console of the VM that hosts Device ManageR
Stop the "AVTECH Device ManageR" service
In an Explorer window, open the Device ManageR install path, and navigate to the "conf" directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVTECH Device ManageR\conf
Locate the "settings.xml" file, and open it in your favorite text editor (note that you may need to elevate your privileges if you're using Server 2008R2)
Find the following line and change the # value to the desired port (in this example I used 8090):
Save your file
Make the appropriate changes to the firewall on the VM (allowing access on the port you selected)
Start the AVTECH Device ManageR service back up:
Open a web browser and check to make sure it's running properly

That's it, now Device ManageR will run on a "non-standard" port.

Tip: Initiating a NexentaStor upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:28:00 +0000

Have you heard of NexentaStor? If not, check it out. We use the community edition for a SAN at home and it's wonderful.

So, let's say you're like me, and you notice that there are new features and bugfixes available, and you're ready to upgrade.

TIP:

When trying to apply the upgrade, use the following process:

Backup data
Open an SSH session to the nexentastor box
Login as root (as opposed to the typical best practice of a non-privileged user)
Type "nmc"
puts you into the Nexenta Management Console
Type "setup appliance upgrade" and follow the prompts

It took me about 15 minutes of dorking around to realize that I had to login as root to apply the upgrade (I was using a non-privileged account).

Remote OS X Canon PS Driver lookup

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:44:00 +0000

We use Canon Copiers @ work for our high-quality print jobs. Recently I wanted to lookup what driver version an OS X machine was using. Here's what I did to look up the driver version (only tested for PS/PostScript drivers):

Open up terminal
SSH into the remote machine
ssh user@machine-name
Authenticate (password etc)
type:
cat /Library/Printers/Canon/CUPSPS2/Utilities/Canon\ CUPS\ PS2\ Printmonitor.app/Contents/Info.plist|more
Look for the section titled
Look for the line that says:
CFBundleShortVersionString
Look at the next line:
In my case it reads: 3.31
This means that the PS driver version is 3.31

Tip: The reason I looked in /Library/Printers/Canon/CUPSPS2/Utilities/Canon CUPS PS2/ is that there is an App there for Copier monitoring (and Apps on OS X are bundles that typically include plist's and binaries)

Navigate to the Canon directory under Printers
/Library/Printers/Canon
Navigate to the /CUPSPS2/Utilities directory
Navigate inside of 'Canon CUPS PS2 Printmonitor.app'
cd Canon\ CUPS\ PS2\ Printmonitor.app/
Navigate to the 'Contents' folder
Type 'cat Info.plist'

Workout Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 04:21:00 +0000

Recently I've been doing P90x for a workout plan. Like many IT professionals, I need to lose a few pounds. The hardest part so far has been the food. I need to keep a better log of what I eat, so here it goes.

What I did & ate today (7/28/11):

Water, Water, Water. I find myself needing to drink a lot of water
Workout: Yoga X (I only made it 1/2 of the way through, as I overdid my workouts earlier this week, didn't eat properly, and am now horribly sore)
Breakfast (after workout):
3 egg whites, 2 whole eggs, mixed together with 3 oz. of Chicken breast from last night and 3oz. of grated Parmesan Cheese
3 slices of low-sodium bacon (I splurged and went for real bacon)
An 8oz cup of coffee w/ 1oz 2% milk and 3/4 teaspoon sugar
10oz glass of OJ
Snack:
15 almonds (unsalted)
4oz coffee w/ 1/4 teaspoon sugar
Lunch:
Aldi's Fit & Active Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar
2 Turkey Franks
4 slices of Oven Roasted Turkey
A mini-whole wheat pita
6 oz. of Lite cottage cheese
Snack:
15 almonds (unsalted)
Dinner:
8 oz of Chicken (w/ a touch of Garlic Salt, Olive Oil, and Lemon Pepper)
1/3 cup of couscous
4oz green beans
10oz of 2% milk
Before bed 'edge-off' snack:
Almonds (salted!)

Maybe I'll get better about this and get the exact caloric #'s put in tomorrow.

Microsoft Office 365 for Non-profits: Real Info!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:29:00 +0000

Recently Microsoft launched their Office 365 product. As a 'cloud' product providing many of the same features of their 'hosted on your hardware' products (Exchange, SharePoint), it's definitely generating buzz.

Many of my fellow CITRT colleagues have become very interested in finding out more, including pricing. Recently I received some follow-up info from Brittany Fugate at Cenetric, a Microsoft Cloud Champions Partner for my region. The following were the highlights for me (these are my descriptions/summaries):

These prices are only available through 'Cloud Champions Partners' as Microsoft has chosen to not publish the pricing directly.
The 'additions' that were obvious to me between E levels are denoted with a +

Professional (P1): $4.25/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 25GB mailbox & 25MB attachments
Office Web Apps, including View & Edit
SharePoint Online, including Sharing & 'public website'
Lync Online w/ IM & Screen-sharing
Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange w/ Antivirus & Anti-spam
Enterprise (E1): $4/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 25GB mailbox
Sharepoint Online, including Sharing
Antivirus and anti-spam filtering with Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange
License rights to access on-premises deployment of Exchange, SharePoint, & Lync Server
Enterprise (E2): $6/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 25GB mailbox
Sharepoint Online, including Sharing
Antivirus and anti-spam filtering with Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange
License rights to access on-premises deployment of Exchange, SharePoint, & Lync Server
+View, edit, share with Office Web Apps
Enterprise (E3): $9/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 25GB mailbox
Sharepoint Online, including Sharing
Antivirus and anti-spam filtering with Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange
License rights to access on-premises deployment of Exchange, SharePoint, & Lync Server
View, edit, share with Office Web Apps
+Office Professional Plus
+Advanced SharePoint Online capabilities
+Advanced archive, unlimited email storage, & hosted voicemail w/ Exchange Online
Enterprise (E4): $10/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 25GB mailbox
Sharepoint Online, including Sharing
Antivirus and anti-spam filtering with Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange
License rights to access on-premises deployment of Exchange, SharePoint, & Lync Server
View, edit, share with Office Web Apps
Office Professional Plus
Advanced SharePoint Online capabilities
Advanced archive, unlimited email storage, & hosted voicemail w/ Exchange Online
+Enterprise voice to replace or enhance a PBX w/ Lync Server on-premises
Kiosk Worker (K1): $3/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 500MB mailbox
Web-based email, calendar, contacts via Outlook Web App, & POP email w/ Exchange Online
Access to SharePoint Online sites
View documents on the web w/ Office Web Apps
Kiosk Worker (K2): $4/user/month
Exchange Online w/ 500MB mailbox
Web-based email, calendar, contacts via Outlook Web App, & POP email w/ Exchange Online
Access to SharePoint Online sites
View & basic editing of documents on the web w/ Office Web Apps

The full set of info that I have is contained in this PDF

You also should know that this pricing is supposedly only available through the 'Cloud Champions Partner' program (and there's an approval process). I'm not really sure what that is yet, but Cenetric has been very helpful so far.

How I found a stellar deal on a great MacBook Pro

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:07:00 +0000

Last week I received a new MacBook Pro. For about 1 year at work we've been saying "we need to figure out how to support Mac's". Well, that time has come, and a couple weeks ago I used the following method to get a great deal at Calvary. I thought it would be worth putting down in written form:

Make sure your church is part of the Willow Creek Association.
Use the WCA Apple Store to get discounted pricing.
Buy a refurbished Mac (after using the WCA link, it's on the lower left)

Resources and tips to use in making your decision:

Prayer!
www.macperformanceguide.com (great insight into what works, and how to buy wisely)
Don't buy any of the Hard Drive or Memory upgrades from Apple. Get them from OWC instead!
Buy AppleCare from B&H, not Apple (B&H is cheaper).
Common sense (think it through and get a second opinion; ignore the Apple ads)

In all, I was able to save ~15% on the price of a MacBook Pro, which is a stellar deal on an Apple product.

Enjoy!

IT Usage and Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:57:00 +0000

So I just received a Macbook Pro. It's exciting that I'll now be able to run all 3 major OS flavors in one place! We are using Mac's at work in some creative departments, and I wanted to give them good support, so it's time to learn how.

It has been a really long time since I used a Mac as a 'daily driver'. Anyone have a list of the things they use as an IT person to be productive on a Mac? So far, some of the things I'm looking at and working on getting setup:

Lastpass App or Chrome-style Application Shortcut
Evernote
Office
Chrome
Firefox
Virtualization (Parallels & VMware)
Remote Access (Dameware-like?, VNC?, RDP?)
IRC Client (X-Chat Aqua, Colloquy?)
Google Talk
Putty/SSH Client (DarwinPorts, iTerm, JellyfiSSH, Fugu, )
vSphere Client (on Mac, or by Windows VM)
Cyberduck (seems to do a lot of different, flexible things)
Vipre Enterprise Console (through VM only it seems)
Toodledo
Nook
Dropbox
Twitter & Social Networking Client (Hootsuite, Tweetdeck)
SafariBooksOnline shortcut
Quiksilver?
DarWINE?
Visor (Terminal shade/layer)
Veeam FastSCP
WinSCP (Transmit?
CoSign
Blogging tool

Creating a Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) vSphere 4.1 VM Template (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:31:00 +0000

This post is dedicated to my brain. This should help you understand the adventure you recently went on!

I have this in 2 parts, because Part 1 addresses the ‘standardization’ of our image, and Part 2 addresses the ‘templating’ of our image

There are a few places that I’ve found info about creating a Windows Server 2008 R2 VM Template (on VMware). I’m detailing here what I did to create our template at Calvary. I started learning from Jeremy Waldrop first and then used quite a bit of material from Jason Samuel and his instructions here. I did make some changes to this process based on my experience, Calvary’s needs, and the good thread of comments on the Jason Samuel 2008 R2 post. Hence the documentation here of my process.

Interesting tidbits:

Windows Server 2008 R2 needs more resources than 2003. Count on at least 1.5GB of RAM and 30GB of disk. I prefer to start w/ 2GB RAM and 30GB of disk. Many recommend (and VMware’s default) 4GB RAM and 40GB disk. I guess I’m just stingy
DO NOT use the vSphere sysprep tools if you want to maintain the user profile customization that you perform. If you use the directions below and then tell vSphere to sysprep, you’ll end up ‘double-sysprepping’ and you’ll end up with a headache.
If you are using ESXi 4.0 (pre Update 1) the vmware tools install won’t install the graphics drivers properly. You’re stuck w/ the SVGA driver until you get the host updated (See this KB: 1011709). I unfortunately struggled with this issue for a couple hours one day when my host was 4.0.0 b261974.

Basic Outline:

Create your VM
Customize your VM
Install the OS
Customize the OS

Now, let’s get on to the interesting part (the details)!

Creating your VM in vSphere 4.0 Update 1 or better

I’m running vSphere 4.1.0, 258902, and we’ll be using Windows Server 2008 R2; from what I understand this process is different if you’re using vSphere 3.5, and/or Windows 2008 (non-R2) or Windows 2003.

Create a new VM
Make sure to choose the following ‘non-standard’ settings:

Specify a ‘Custom’ configuration
VM Version 7
Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
1 vCPU
2GB RAM
VMXNET3 NIC (qty. 1)
40GB (thin-provisioned) LSI Logic SAS SCSI Controller (I have DAS, not a SAN. If you have a different storage subsystem, plan appropriately)

Make sure to check-mark the ‘Edit the virtual machine settings before completion’ box and then change the following:

Under the ‘Options’ tab, under ‘Advanced –> General’ make sure that ‘enable logging’ is unchecked
Under ‘Advanced –> Boot Options’ check-mark the ‘Force BIOS Setup’ box

Click ‘Finish’

Further customization of the VM after first boot

When I created the VM, I forced the system into the BIOS. Make the following changes

Disable Serial ports A & B
Disable the Parallel Port

Exit the BIOS, and connect the virtual CD/DVD drive to the Guest OS installer (an ISO in my case)

Installing the Guest OS (Server 2008 R2)

Use the typical click, next, etc. making sure to input the following settings (read through them before starting):

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter (Full Installation)
We use Datacenter Edition because of a previous bug where Enterprise Edition license keys were not available to us in VLSC
Choose a ‘Custom’ install
Wait for the base install to finish

Customizing the Guest OS

Change the administrator password (you’re forced to do this at first startup)
Create any other local user’s that are needed
Set the Time Zone
Install VMware Tools

DO NOT choose the automatic install, choose ‘Custom’
Disable the ‘Shared Folders’ feature under ‘VMware Device Drivers’ (it won’t be used, and has had issues in the past)
Set time synching in VMware Tools: It’s on the ‘Options’ tab for VMware Tools properties
Reboot the server when prompted

Set your network configuration, removing unnecessary pieces

Under Local Area connection:

Uninstall QoS Packet Scheduler (we don’t use it @ the server)
Uncheck IPv6 (because we don’t use it, and uninstalling it is a pain)

Set the server name

note: Keep in mind that this is our base template

System Properties
Change Computer Name

Set the proper name, and then restart when prompted (I did join the server to the domain)
note: to reiterate, we will be logging in with a local administrator account, not the domain admin

Configure Windows Update

Open the Windows Update config screen
Select ‘Download updates but let me choose whether to install them’
Make sure that ‘Recommended updates’ is not checked
Click OK

Run Windows Update, restarting as appropriate
Enable Remote Desktop

Open the Computer Properties (or use the initial configuration tasks shortcut)
Choose ‘Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)’
Add the proper accounts to the allowed users list (local admins in my case)

Disable Windows Firewall (we enable the firewall at the GPO level)
Disable the automatic launching of Server Manager, by choosing ‘Do not show me this console at logon’, and then close Server Manager
Make the following taskbar changes:

‘Unpin’ the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar by right-clicking on it and then choosing ‘unpin this program from taskbar’
If you want, remove the PowerShell and/or Server Manager icons from the taskbar (I prefer to leave both)
Right-click the Taskbar, and then choose Properties. Choose the ‘Customize’ button under the Notification area. Select ‘Turn system icons on or off’. I prefer to turn off the ‘Volume’ icon (unless I’m working on a Terminal Server/Remote Desktop template).

System Performance changes:

Open Server Manager and select ‘Change System Properties’
Select the ‘Advanced’ tab, and then under Performance click the ‘Settings’ button and choose ‘Adjust for best performance’.

Folder and Search Options changes:

Open ‘Computer’, then select ‘Organize’, then choose ‘Folder and Search options’
On the ‘View’ tab:

Select the ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’ option (we want to see these on the server)
Un-check the ‘Hide extensions for known file types’ check-box. (we also want to see the file extensions)

Change the IE ESC config:

In ‘Server Manager’, in the ‘Security Information’ section choose ‘Configure IE ESC’
Under the ‘Administrators’ section choose ‘Off’

This may be controversial, but a large portion of the tools we use have web control panels, config screens, etc. An Administrator should already be trained to not install the typical issue-creating software on servers (Flash, Adobe Reader, Java, etc.), and should not be going to any typical website (if any external sites at all!)

Set the Power Options

Open Control Panel, and then change the ‘Power Plan’ to ‘High Performance’

Disable Hibernation

At a command prompt (or powershell), with admin privileges, enter powercfg.exe –h off

Can anyone tell me why hibernate options are not available in Control Panel easily? I’m not sure

Defrag the system

First, turn off the ‘Automatic’ Virtual Memory allocation:

System Properties > Advanced Tab > Performance Options > Advanced Tab > Virtual Memory ‘Change’ button, then deselect the ‘Automatic…’ box

Choose the ‘No paging file’ option, and then click the ‘Set’ button.
Open a ‘Computer’ window, then choose ‘Organize’, then ‘Folder and Search Options’, then the ‘View’ tab, then un-check ‘Hide protected operating system files’

note: we will be turning this back on later
Reboot
Verify that there is no pagefile.sys on the C: drive
Defrag the C: drive

Shutdown the VM and snapshot before editing the VM hardware

At one point I ran into issues with the way that the templating process handled the addition of a 2nd virtual disk for the pagefile, so I always snapshot the VM before adding the 2nd disk (who wants to redo all of the previous work)
Add the 2nd Hard disk to the VM

Edit the VM properties in vSphere
Make the 2nd disk 10GB

This disk does not need to be thin provisioned (I chose not to make it think provisioned, so there would be no argument re: performance)
Set the ‘Virtual Device Node’ to SCSI (1:0)

note: this will create a 2nd SCSI Controller (LSI Logic SAS in my case)

Boot up the VM
Set the Page File to the 2nd disk

Format the drive

I choose to use drive letter Z:
Set the Page File to 6144MB:

System Properties > Advanced Tab > Performance Options > Advanced Tab > Choose Z: then type 6144 for both boxes under ‘Custom’ and hit the ‘Set’ button
NOTE: Choose wisely the amount that you set the page file to. If my VM (after I clone it, etc.) is hosting an application, I often use this article to determine where my page file should be set. (thanks to Carlo Costanzo for the heads up)

Restart the VM

In Part 2 I’ll outline the process that I used to ‘template’ this standardized config

Setting up a QuickBooks Enterprise 10 server

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Recently our Finance people discovered that they had outgrown QuickBooks Premier’s abilities when it came to our ‘company file’ (data file). The solution for this was to upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise, which could handle the larger amount of data. So, today I’ll be documenting what I did to setup their new system.

Prior to QuickBooks 2007 we didn’t have to do anything to ‘manage’ the QuickBooks files on the server side. However, with QuickBooks 2007 we had to install a piece called the ‘QuickBooks Database Manager’. This piece of software (in my experience) is somewhat quirky. So, when we went to upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise edition I decided to create a separate fileserver for the QuickBooks/Financial data. This gives me the following benefits:

Removes QuickBooks/Financial management tools off of my primary fileservers
Allows me to segment the financial data from my normal file stores

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 has the following pieces (from what I’ve read):

QuickBooks Database Manager
Provides ‘consistency checks’ on the QuickBooks files, and provides the ability for multiple users to access the same file(s)
QuickBooks Clients
The software piece that the end-user uses.

I’ll be covering the server piece of QuickBooks Enterprise 10 setup, QuickBooks Database Manager. Next time I’ll cover the clients.

Setting up your server with QuickBooks Database Manager

I’ll be using Windows Server 2003 R2 x32 Enterprise Edition for my ‘Finance’ server. We’ll perform the following steps:

Normal OS setup
Preparing the server for QuickBooks Database Manager
Installing QuickBooks Database Manager
Configuring QuickBooks Database Manager
Setting QuickBooks Database Manager to start as a service
Firewall considerations and configuration

To start, I performed our normal Windows 2003 R2 OS setup:

Installed the OS
Ran the appropriate updates
Installed our standard software package: Antivirus, other tools
Performed our standard security configuration

Preparing the server for QuickBooks Database Manager:

QuickBooks Database Manager has the following requirements that we’ll need to add to our standard setup:

Storage location for the QuickBooks files. I don’t want them on the boot drive
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

First, make sure you’ve setup the storage location for the QuickBooks files. You’ll need to make sure that the following settings are in place:

You may not use a mapped resource on the server that houses QB Database Manager. QB Database Manager must exist on the same server that the file share does.
Set the Share Permissions to ‘Full Control’ for ‘Everyone’
Set the NTFS Security Permissions as you would like, but make sure that the users who will be connecting have ‘Full Control’

Next, let’s install .NET Framework 3.5
Note: Windows Server 2008 R2 includes the .NET framework 3.5; you have to perform an ‘add role’ to enable it.

Accept the EULA and click Install. It installs

Wow, that was easy! .NET framework is now installed.

I also installed the following patches & Service Packs:

2.0 SP2 – KB958481
3.0 SP2 – KB958483
3.5 SP1 – KB958484

Make sure to verify that you’ve installed all appropriate patches & upgrades, along with rebooting when it asks. Microsoft Update is a good tool that will help you catch anything you missed.

Installing QuickBooks Database Manager

After you’ve opened your installer, you’ll see the following screen. It will cache any files for the install

Wait a bit, and then you’ll get the next screen

Click Next

Accept the EULA and click next

Make sure to choose the 3rd option, ‘I will NOT be using QuickBooks on this computer. I will be storing our company file here so it can be shared over our network.’ After you’ve chosen the third option click next

We’re happy with the default install location. Click next.

This screen gives you a chance to print out any settings you’ve made before you start the install. When you’re ready click install.

QuickBooks Database Manager is now installed. If you would like you can use the ‘Help me get started…’ tools, but I opted to skip them. Click Finish

Don’t forget to install any updates at this time if you have already downloaded them. They are available online and free to download.

Configuring QuickBooks Database Manager

Let’s configure QuickBooks Database Manager so our staff can access the company file (repeat this process for each folder that you will be using QBW files in)

First, open QuickBooks Database Manager. There should be an icon on your desktop.

You’ll see a few tabs. Choose the one called ‘Monitored Drives’

In our configuration we don’t need to monitor the boot drive. We have the dedicated drive (F:) for the QB data. Uncheck C: and make sure that our data drive, F: is check-marked.

Click on the ‘Scan Folders’ tab.

Now we need to tell it where on the drive the files are. Click on the ‘Add Folder’ button.

Navigate to the folder where your QBW files will be (on the second disk drive you created earlier on the server). Choose ok.

Back at the main screen it lists the folder you just specified. Click on the ‘Scan’ button. This will search the directory and find any QBW files.

It should list any QBW files that are in that directory.

Now the meat of our configuration is done. But we also need to make sure that the Database Manager starts even if the computer restarts.

Setting QuickBooks Database Manager to start as a service

Open up the Services management console
- Start –> run –> services.msc
Locate the ‘QuickBooksDB20’ service
Right-click on the service, and choose properties
Under the ‘Startup Type:’ drop-down, choose ‘automatic’
Click ok
Done!

Firewall considerations and configuration for the QuickBooks Database Manager server

If you call QuickBooks support and ask them for firewall suggestions, they’ll point you to this KB article, which lists the following exceptions in our config:

note: if you are using the ‘server’ as an installation of QB you will have other exceptions you need to address. I’ve only listed the exceptions that apply to our configuration.

Programs:

DBManagerExe.exe located in C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0

QBDBMgrN.exe.exe located in C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0

QBCFMonitorService.exe located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks

QBServerUtilityMgr.exe located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks

TCP ports (bi-directional): 80, 8019, 56720, 55338 through 55342

To setup these firewall exceptions:

Open up the firewall (Start –> Control Panel –> Firewall)

Click on the Exceptions tab.

This lists all current exceptions. You should have a list there already (I removed them for this guide).

Click on the ‘Add Program…’ button

Choose ‘QuickBooks Database Server Manager’ from the list and click ok (if it isn’t listed, you’ll have to browse to it)

QuickBooks Database Server Manager is now listed as an exception

Now we need to add the other programs to the exception list.

Use the following method to add the other programs:

Click on the ‘Add Program…’ button
Click on the ‘Browse…’ button
Navigate to the directory that the exception is located in, and choose the appropriate executable.
Click OK (which should return you to the exceptions list)

Repeat this process for each of the following executable’s:

DBManagerExe.exe located in C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0
QBDBMgrN.exe.exe located in C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0
QBCFMonitorService.exe located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks
QBServerUtilityMgr.exe located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks

You’re done with adding the programs. Now you need to add the ports.

Use the following method to add port exceptions:

Click the ‘Add Port…’ button
Type in a name for each port exception. I just named all of mine ‘QuickBooks-Port#’ with # being the port #
Type in the port number for the exception.
Click OK

Repeat the process for the following ports: 80, 8019, 56720, 55338-55342

When you’ve added all ports and all program exceptions, click OK and that will close the firewall preferences machine

Reboot the server. This step is optional, but I highly suggest that you reboot to check your work.

Then check to make sure that the ‘QuickBooksDB20’ service is set to ‘automatic’ and ‘started’:

Open up the Services management console
- Start –> run –> services.msc
Locate the ‘QuickBooksDB20’ service
Under the ‘Startup Type:’ drop-down, verify that startup type is set to ‘Automatic’ and that the status is ‘Started’
If all of your settings are correct, then you should be done

If you have any experience with this process or suggestions, please let me know!

Fixing a broken AD Domain (part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:13:00 +0000

In part 1 and part 2 I explained what has happened to my AD domain, and the steps I’ve taken to fix it.

Now, let’s get a better safety net in place!

I’ve got a good, reliable PowerEdge 2650 that was donated by another IT guy (thanks Jim!) It’s been humming right along, waiting for ~~something to break~~ an opportunity to take on some further roles.

My PE2650 is a Windows Server 2003 R2 box. ‘Dorothy’ is a tired old Windows Server 2003 SP2 box (as are my other servers). To make the PE2650 a domain controller, I need to:

Extend the AD Schema to accomodate 2003 R2’s new functionality
Add the PE2650 as a Domain Controller

Step 1: Extend the schema

Log onto ‘Dorothy’ as a schema admin
Use this excellent TechNet article to extend the schema. Read carefully and follow every step
note: I had no issues extending the schema, and the directions were spot-on. Why re-invent the wheel?

Step 2: Add the PE2650 as a Domain Controller

Log onto the PE2650 (w/ admin rights)
Follow this excellent Petri article to add the PE2650 as a domain controller
note: I did not have to restart the netlogon service

Fixing a broken AD Domain (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:14:00 +0000

Earlier today I started a series about fixing my problematic AD Domain. This is part 2

So, at this point I have an unhealthy Active Directory infrastructure. What I’m facing:

Domain Controller that doesn’t exist
DHCP server that doesn’t exist
Working DHCP server that’s worrisome
The need for a 2nd quality Domain Controller and backup DHCP server

What I’ll be tackling in this post:

Removal of the bad Domain Controller (DC) from our systems
Removal of a DHCP server that was added during RIS trials (the trials have been canned)

Step 1: Verify documentation of AD servers

Be sure to include the following:

Domain Controller’s (DC’s)
Schema Master
Domain Role owner
PDC Role
RIP Pool Manager
Infrastructure Owner

In my case, all of these roles belong to my primary server, ‘dorothy’

Also make sure to document any Trust relationships (other domain’s, etc.). I don’t have any

Step 2: Remove the failed Domain Controller

To remove a failed/dead domain controller, I used the following method:

At a command, type ‘ntdsutil’ and hit enter to open the Directory Services Utilities menu
Type in ‘metadata cleanup’ and hit enter to enter the metadata cleanup menu. This will help us clear out the stale information referencing our dead DC.
Type in ‘select operation target’ and hit enter
Type ‘list domains’ and hit enter. This will list the domains we have available. Mine is called ‘calvary.com’ (no we don’t own it; it’s a long story)
Type ‘select domain 0’ and hit enter (calvary.com i.e. DC=calvary,DC=com is 0 for me)
Type ‘list sites’ and hit enter. This lists all sites. I only have one
Type ‘select site 0’ and hit enter (my site # is also 0)
Type ‘list servers in site’ and hit enter. This shows you the list of servers in the site (domain controllers). I took note of the # for my bad DC (1)
Type ‘select server 1’ and hit enter. This selects the bad DC
Type ‘q’ and hit enter. We need to go back to the metadata cleanup menu to finish
Type ‘remove selected server’ and press enter
I got a warning message asking for confirmation. Obviously I wanted to complete this (because the physical DC doesn’t exist anymore)
Now you get a confirmation line
Type ‘quit’ and hit enter

Next, I need to remove the DC from the corresponding other areas: Active Directory Sites and Services, Active Directory Users and Computers, DNS, and possibly DHCP

Open up ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’
Expand the site that the DC exists in
Right-click on the bad DC, and then left-click on ‘Delete’
Open up ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’
Open the ‘Domain Controllers’ container
Delete the bad DC computer object. You may get a warning. Heed it and proceed
Open the ‘DNS’ snap-in
Remove the bad DC records (CNAME, hostname, NS, A, etc.) from the appropriate Forward Lookup Zones. In my case, I had 2 areas to go through and check:

_msdcs.calvary.com
calvary.com

Remove the bad DC records from any Reverse Lookup Zones. In my case these were already clean (I’m unsure as to why)
Go through and check DHCP to make sure that you’ve removed all traces of the bad DC. I didn’t have anything in DHCP, but wanted to double-check. If the bad DC was a time server or some other role, make sure you make the proper modifications

I went ahead and restarted DHCP, flushed my DNS server’s cache, and then restarted DNS.

Great! Now I have cleaned up my AD infrastructure.

Let’s get the ‘extra’ DHCP server that was added during RIS trials removed
note: the DHCP server for RIS never went active. It was added to the DHCP server list as a prerequisite

Open up the DHCP snap-in on your DHCP server (‘dorothy’ for me)
Right-click on the icon labeled ‘DHCP’ (not the icon for ‘dorothy’)
Left-click on ‘Manage authorized servers…’
Select the DHCP server that doesn’t exist and then click ‘Unauthorize’

That’s it!

Up next time:

Extending the schema of my AD domain to support Windows 2003 R2
running adprep on ‘dorothy’
Adding a 2nd (replica) domain controller

Fixing a broken AD Domain (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:17:00 +0000

NOTE: This post (like many) is mostly for my documentation. If you derive some value from it, great!

I received a phone call on the way in to work today that we had the following symptoms:

Some staff weren’t seeing their network shares
Some staff had issues logging on
The internet was working sporadically
Some staff noticed no difference

Needless to say, this caused me to breathe quickly for a few seconds, and then I started praying on the way in, because it means that:

Domain controller(s) aren’t responding
Our internet connection (Bonded T-1’s) are down
Our firewall is having issues
Some other, unknown, time-consuming thing has happened

After praying, I remembered Romans 12:2 ; this was another reminder that God has bigger plans for my life, because this verse was brought up during a morning accountability group this very morning. Set my mind on Him and His things, and He will hold true to His promises.

Upon arriving at work, I found the following:

My FSMO, PDC, GC, and otherwise-depended-upon server was having serious issues. NTFRS, NTDS, Directory Services, DHCP, DNS, etc. were all throwing out errors.
My firewall (pfSense) was showing connectivity issues on the WAN link
Staff was able to log on with cached credentials, but could not access network resources
Staff that had previously logged on (before 8:45am) were sometimes working normally
My bosses laptop OS decided to finally junk out. It’s been showing bad signs, but ‘it’s not at the top of the list’

What I did:

Checked the backups of my FSMO/GC/Schema Master/RID/Infrastructure server. We’ll call her ‘dorothy’
Rebooted Dorothy

What happened:

Staff was able to login
Network resources mapped and were available to staff

Whew! Crisis averted, right?

WRONG! This was just a small band-aid on a gushing wound. Time for surgery.

What the real problem was:

We have a ‘stale’ Domain controller (died)
‘Dorothy’ is a very old server (at least 6 years old). She’s also had an in-place motherboard replacement done (to dis-similar hardware).
DNS is flaky
DHCP is showing signs of flakiness on Dorothy

Up next: Fixing all the issues. Hopefully I’ll be done today

Dell Desktop System Software – Do you use it?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:40:00 +0000

Recently I’ve been working on updating our images for some new (to us) machines we purchased and our Office 2007 rollout. Along the way, I noticed something interesting:

Dell recommends that you install ‘Dell Desktop System Software’ before installing any drivers, etc. on your new Windows installation. This is the description of DSS:

Desktop System Software (DSS) is a utility that provides
critical updates and patches for your operating system

I did a little more digging, and here’s an interesting tidbit I found on a messaging board:

This is the equivelent of windows update, but it updates dell device
drivers, and dell supplied software. MS doesnt do that.

I haven’t been using Dell DSS for my machines, and I haven’t had any serious recurring issues. I did have one issue, one time, with 2 Optiplex 755’s needing a BIOS update, but I determined that after calling support. I wonder now if this would have made that process easier or automated.

What’s your experience? Do you use Dell DSS? Has it saved you a support headache? Has it caused a support headache?

AccessACS and Switchvox integration, iteration 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:15:00 +0000

Recently I've been helping one of our volunteers, Rick, to integrate Switchvox (our phone system) with AccessACS (part of our Church Database/ChMS). I’m the big picture guy (Michael Scott), and he’s the day-to-day guy (Jim Halpert).

Well, when I first tweeted about this, I got quite a bit of good feedback, and even more asking for examples/documentation. Well the day has come, and below is the information that Rick has passed along to me:

We have this setup on an IIS server that is *only* available internally.
Switchvox sends the callerid info, etc. using their 'switchboard' functionality to the IIS server
Rick packaged up a Visual Studio project that you can download here which includes his work, etc.

Instructions to setup ACSPanel.
1.    Setup a folder called ACSPanel as a virtual directory on IIS.

2.    Set directory permissions in IIS to allow Anonymous Access.

3.    From the attached zip file, copy only the files from the 'Install' subdirectory to the new web directory. The top level of the directory should have folders called 'bin' and 'Web References' in it.   Note that this folder also contains a Visual Studio 2008 solution file in it if you want to make changes to the code. Although it hasn't been tested, it is possible that you can use the free version of Visual Studio to make changes.

4.    Edit the web.config and change the following:

a.    AccessACSSecurityId: Set this to the SecurityId assigned to you by ACS. This is the longer cryptic token, typically 24 characters.

b.    AccessACSSiteId: Set this to your ACS SiteId. This is usually a 6-digit number.

5.    Setup this site up as a panel in ACS. The URL to the panel will be: http://YourServerName/ACSPanel/Default.aspx?CallerId={CallerIdFromSwitchVox}

If you want to see some of Rick’s coding genius, you can always check out his technical blog (way above my head)

A new adventure: Proxmox VE

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:01:00 +0000

This last week or so, I've undertaken a new tech adventure at home: Proxmox VE.

First, a little backstory:

My wife, Michelle, has a photography business.
She has a lot of photos, and generates a lot of data (currently over 600GB/year), all of it important. Every time she gets a new camera, that number increases.
She's outgrown her built-in RAID array on her workstation (the backing up, etc. is too time-intensive).
We bought a Dell PowerEdge 1900 II server for all of her future data storage, etc. (Dual Xeon 5310, 4GB RAM, 2x750GB disks, LTO3 tape drive).
Tip: Make sure you look at the Dell Outlet if you're looking for a deal on a system including a tape drive. We got the complete system including the tape drive for slightly more than the cost of the tape drive.
I made the decision that we would use non-Microsoft products to handle her file storage, file sharing, etc. The cost of Microsoft was going to be more than we could handle.

So, I then made the decision to virtualize this system. I needed setup to be easy, and a slick, easy-to-use management interface. I came up with a list of 2 choices (for free):

VMWare ESXi (what I use @ work): Free, 'industry-standard', proven tech, but no backup abilities (without $), no volume management in Host OS, no Tape Drive use in Host OS.
Proxmox VE: Free, proven tech, with every management feature I could want. But I don't use it at work (the only downside).
I did consider other OpenVZ or KVM-based solutions, but they didn't have the ease of management that Proxmox has.

Up next (later posts):

Installing Proxmox on a Dell PE1900
Setting up and managing storage on Proxmox
Getting VM's access to the Host OS hardware (tape, etc.)

Automating Video Conversion, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:14:00 +0000

Part of my role here at Calvary is “other duties as assigned”. This blog post today is the first in a series with the goal of “documentation for myself and my coworkers category”. This post is from the viewpoint of an IT guy trying to help coworkers out (when you really need a Broadcast engineer for all this video stuff). You’ve been warned ;)

A little background:

Recently we started using MediaShout for some ministries (Youth, Children’s, etc.) It’s a very nice product, but definitely has some quirks. One of those is getting it to play QuickTime files. The nuances of video formats and vendors makes my head hurt, so we’ll skip most of it.

Our Children’s Ministry recently started using some curriculum from Re:Think Group. They get a “packaged” solution, and can adapt it to their needs. Unfortunately, Rethink doesn’t offer their files in a format that works well (supposedly it works perfect if you have Mac’s). Unfortunately we discovered this after purchasing the curriculum (which is marketed as working on Windows OOB).

Note to curriculum vendors: my next post will be highlighting automating this process. You’ll earn big customer loyalty if you provide your video in a format that a non-video/non-techie can use.

So, as part of my helping, I was tasked with finding a solution. After spending a few hours working with the people at Rethink, we reached the conclusion that the only way to get their files to work reliably was to convert them (they primarily provided some h264 format that didn’t work for us). Rethink recommended QuickTime Pro ($30). Fortunately we had a license handy to give it a go.

Using Quicktime to convert video files

Install QuickTime player, and then register your "Pro” version (the free version doesn’t convert files).
Open your source file in QuickTime (if it plays w/ QuickTime, you should be able to convert it)
File –> Export (specifying the destination directory)
Specify your export settings. In my case I’m exporting with the intent of using these in MediaShout, and I’ve previously decided on “mp4” files:

Choose “Movie to MPEG-4” in the “Export” menu:
Click the “Options” button. This will bring up the Export Settings dialogue. We’ll be changing a lot of these settings:
Note: many of these options stay in the format that you last used, i.e. you don’t have to change them every time.
First of all, change the “File Format” to “MP4” without the (ISMA). Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. What I do know is that vanilla MP4 worked, and MP4 (ISMA) didn’t work in our situation:
Next, we need to specify a video format. We decided on H.264, because it provides high quality, and high compression, and the source content is H.264:
Now we need to specify the “Image Size”. We’re just looking to do a format conversion (no scaling), so choose “current”:
Next we need to change the “Data Rate” (the amount of disk space used during compression). We’re going with 6000kbits/sec (that’s what I picked). Go ahead and replace the current setting with “6000”:
Now, we need to change some other, more advanced options. Click on the “Video Options” button:
We’re going to stick with the “Main” profile (that’s the default), but change the “encoding mode” to “Best Quality (Multi-Pass):

Click OK
At this point, we’ve set all the options. Before moving on, let’s review the options we’ve set:

H.264 Video (in an mp4 “wrapper")
maintain the video size/frame size
use a video compression rate of 6000kbps (6mbps)
use the default of 30 fps
AAC-LC audio, Stereo
128kbps audio compression rate
44.1 kHz

Click OK, name your file, and click “Save”
Go get a cup of coffee, and then (hopefully) it will be done converting your file. If you want to, you can start up multiple conversions simultaneously.

Note: We decided to use Sorenson Squeeze to automate this (detailed in my next post)

Clonezilla, Imaging and Sysprep

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:13:00 +0000

My apologies for the long wait on a new posting. Chalk it up to living life ;) This is the first in a 2-part post.

This post here is of the "technical, document it so I don't forget" nature.

One of the "projects" that I've been working on lately is getting a more standardized installation of software on our computers.

To help accomplish this, I've been working with a volunteer, Phil, on using Clonezilla (currently the Live version). Up until now, we've been using all WindowsXP boxes. Here's an idea of the process as it happens (some of this is scripted):

NOTE: All installs are done as a local "admin" account, not as a domain account (more on that later). We use an internal software repository. This order is simply a guide, and what we've found works best from trial and error.

Install Windows XP on the machine (using the proper media)
Install any needed service packs
Join the machine to our AD domain
Add local administrator accounts, including setting passwords (we'll call these accounts "admin1" and "admin2" for now)
BIOS update (if applicable)
"System Software" ala Dell Desktop System Software
Chipset Software/Drivers
Graphics Card software/drivers
NIC software/drivers
If a laptop, management software, ala Dell Quickset
Audio card software/drivers
Wireless Card software
Touchpad/Pointing software
vPro/TPM software
Antivirus/Anti-Malware software (we use Sunbelt Vipre, a great product)
MS Office
MS Office addendum's (visio, etc.)
MS Office service pack's
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 & patches
Paint.NET
Foxit Reader
Mozilla Firefox
XP Previous Versions client
UltraVNC (used for in-house remote tech support)
Verify UltraVNC setup is working
Adobe Flash Player plugins
CDBurnerXP
ACS Facility Scheduler
ACS People Suite
ACS The Ministry Scheduler
Copy "Sysprep" folder to C:\ drive
Run Windows Update (preferably use Microsoft Update)
Setup and copy a clean user profile
- This is why we have 2 local admins. You need "admin2" so that you can copy the profile info from "admin1" to the "default user" profile
Run Sysprep
- we use "C:\sysprep\sysprep -reseal -quiet -mini -pnp"
- This cleans the SID's from the system, does all it's work with little/no intervention, and also "resets" the system (similar to how a new PC comes from the OEM)
- If you also create a "sysprep.inf" file, you can make the complete setup "unattended"
Image the machine. We use Clonezilla
Reboot, and watch the magic happen
Properly name the computer, and add it to the domain

Some possible "gotcha's":

If you use the "pnp" switch, upon first bootup (after you re-image a system), you will have to wait 3-6 minutes for Plug-n-Play to redetect hardware, but you get the added advantage of having images that can traverse hardware types (Core2Duo -> P4, etc)
I have ran into issues when working with large platform changes (i.e. very old P4 ServerWorks architecture to a new AMD architecture). This happens because the system doesn't have the proper IDE/ATA drivers in place, and sometimes different drivers don't play well together.
If you are moving between different hardware with one image, you need to include the proper drivers for all your systems before you image the machine.

This process works for us, even though it's very 2004. There are now better solutions, and Vista requires some rethinking/reworking of this process. At some point we'll upgrade. How do you handle imaging/deployment of your machine's?

House Purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:17:00 +0000

Today my wife Michelle and I started the process of purchasing a house.

Details at our family blog.

ESXi monitoring, for free!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:36:00 +0000

A few months ago I transitioned us from VMware Server to VMware ESXi, booting off of a USB flash drive. If you don't know about server virtualization, VMware ESXi is a great way to get your feet wet, and it's a stable, production-ready (IMO) product.

However, one of the things that eluded me (in both the "Server" flavor and the "ESXi" flavor) was proper monitoring. Sure, I could setup data on each guest VM, but that didn't give me any info on the host.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I hear through the grapevine that Veeam is offering a free ESXi monitoring tool. Go get it here.

I'm just downloading it today, but if it does what the "Features and Benefits" page says, then this will be a new must-have in my toolkit. More updates to come (hopefully) as I try it out.

HELP: ACS TMS to Facility Scheduler Conversion

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:29:00 +0000

One of my current projects at Calvary is to work on moving us to the latest release of the ACS People Suite (10.1.1.2). Part of this process is getting all of our ACS The Ministry Scheduler data into ACS Facility Scheduler.

ACS Facility Scheduler is an "on demand" product. This means that all the actual data sits on ACS' servers, and they handle data integrity, backup, etc. for you. Months ago, we looked at converting to Facility Scheduler before ACS 10.0 came out. At the time, there were some issues we had (features missing). So, we waited until those features came out. When they arrived, I had other projects taking precedence, and consequently we rolled it all into the 10.x upgrade.

As part of our upgrade process, I found out that ACS has a great conversion tool to transfer your current ACS TMS data into Facility Scheduler. I first used this tool when we were testing the feature set. Before this 10.x upgrade, I got in touch with one of the ACS people about "resetting" our data so I could re-upload the current data. He kindly let me know that the latest version of the tool had this functionality built in!

However, if you take a look at the ACS Knowledge Base article or Facility Scheduler FAQ on the subject, you find that you can no longer download the conversion tool (and it doesn't show up in the previous "client downloads" section either).

Does anyone out there have the file "tmsconversion.exe" or "ACS_TMS_to_FS_Conversion.exe", the converter to move from The Ministry Scheduler to Facility Scheduler? If so, please shoot me an email: sross *at* calvaryonline.cc

Moving an Ubuntu virtual machine from VMware Server to ESXi (on a PE1950)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:41:00 +0000

Wednesday I migrated my PE1950 from VMware Server (1.0.2!) to ESXi 3.5 Update 2. During the process I ran into some issues moving my Ubuntu 6.06 LTS VM to ESXi. Here's the play-by-play (including my hardware upgrade).

Copy the VM's off of the VMware Server.
Verify the copied VM's work ok, and that you have valid backups.
Shutdown the PE1950.
Update the BIOS on the PE1950. Without a BIOS update, ESXi will not run correctly.
- Can you believe I was running 1.x, when we're now at 2.3.x! This box has been very, very reliable.
Unrack the PE1950, and replace the SAS 5/iR (no RAID) controller with a PERC 6/i controller.
- ESXi needs a hardware RAID controller.
- I was previously running software RAID-1 on the Ubuntu LTS host. We needed a reliable system, since this box had become mission-critical.
Install ESXi onto a USB flash drive (>=1GB).
Boot the PE1950, and setup the RAID array (2x300GB 7200RPM SATA in RAID-1).
After the array has initialized, reboot with the USB Flash drive plugged in (preferably to one of the rear USB ports).
Enter the BIOS (F2), and modify the boot order.
- I set the USB Flash Drive's mode to "Hard disk"
- Modify the boot order to include the USB flash drive as taking higher priority than the PERC array.
- Save and exit the BIOS.
Setup ESXi.
- ESXi will give you the IP you need for setting up the Virtual Infrastructure client, etc.
- Your RAID-1 array will be setup as your primary datastore (datastore1).
Use VMware Converter to move the vm's to the new ESXi box.
Boot up the Ubuntu guest OS.

Upon boot, you'll notice that the Ubuntu machine has no network connectivity. Here's how you fix it (commands you need to type are in bold):

Install VMware tools on the guest os (it's probably outdated)
- In the VMware Infrastructure Client, choose the VM, and then go to Inventory->Virtual Machine->Install/Upgrade VMware Tools
- log into the ubuntu console
- elevate your privileges to root level by running sudo su
- mount the cd-rom drive: mount /media/cdrom0
- change directories to the cdrom drive: cd /media/cdrom0
- copy the vmware tools tar archive to your tmp directory (making sure you pay attention to the name of your archive, including case):
  cp VMwareTools-3.5.0-110271.tar.gz /tmp/
- change to the tmp directory: cd /tmp
- extract the tar file: tar -xvf VMwareTools-3.5.0-110271.tar.gz
- change directories to the vmware-tools installer: cd vmware-tools-distrib
- run the vmware tools installer script: ./vmware-install.pl
Restart your networking: /etc/init.d/networking restart
Check to see if your NIC is now working properly. You can check your interfaces using the following command: ifconfig -a
If you are receiving an IP properly, you're probably OK. This didn't work for me.
DO NOT complete the following steps unless you have no network connectivity
Shut down the VM: shutdown -h now (remember, we elevated our privileges earlier to root)
Remove any NIC's that are currently in the VM.
After removing any NIC's that are currently in the VM, add a new NIC.
Boot the VM
I now had a NIC that my system recognized, but I wasn't getting an IP. The issue was with my interfaces file.
- Contents of /etc/network/interfaces:
  # The loopback network interface
  auto lo
  iface lo inet loopback
  
  # The primary network interface
  auto eth0
  iface eth0 inet dhcp
- Notice how it lists "eth0" When I ran "ifconfig -a" earlier, I received eth1 as an interface, not eth0
Change eth0 to eth1 in my interfaces file: vi /etc/network/interfaces (replacing eth0 with eth1)
Restart networking: /etc/init.d/networking restart

At this point, everything was working well.

VMware ESXi (bootable) USB flash creation tip

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:38:00 +0000

Yesterday I went to install VMware ESXi on a Poweredge 1950. All along I wanted to get the system setup with a USB flash drive (and not use the onboard storage as my boot disk).

I did some research, and this blog post seemed to be the most complete posting on creating your own ESXi bootable flash drive.

So, I downloaded the ESXi installable ISO, opened up 7-Zip, and went for it.
I was very surprised that every time I tried to image the flash drive, I got an error in WinImage. Now, this was running on my Vista x64 box, so I went ahead and fired up a VM w/ XP Pro 32-bit. At that point, I attempted to re-image the USB flash drive, and things worked as planned

Moral of the story: Don't try and create a bootable USB flash drive using Winimage on Vista x64, it won't work! Use VMware (or another computer) to create the flash drive's ESXi install (apparently on a 32-bit OS).

AV Software Initial Thoughts: Sophos Endpoint Security

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:02:00 +0000

During my "find a new Security Software" dance, I've narrowed it down to 3 vendors/products:

- Sophos Endpoint Security
- Eset NOD32
- Sunbelt Vipre

I'm going to focus on Sophos Endpoint Security here. If you're interested in Sunbelt Vipre, check out my previous post.

The setup is very easy on the server side. If you would like to install on an x64 Edition of Windows Server, you'll need to create the database ahead of time.
The local "agents" on your computer are pretty slim. They aren't as lean/mean as the Sunbelt agents, but do have the option of adding NAC and a firewall. I tested without NAC or firewall enabled. Running with open file/copy file protection enabled really slows things down.
Sophos is way ahead of our previous version of Symantec. It uses fewer resources, and actually catches malware (and removes it). Symantec at best reported Malware. Windows Defender did a better job than our version of Symantec.
Deploying the software wasn't an issue. I didn't try a Vista rollout, but some people have had issues with Vista rollouts. I'm assuming any Vista issues are fixed at this point (Vista SP1 has been out for a while now).
The Enterprise Console is very powerful and flexible. It is very busy, imo. I felt like I really needed to spend some time getting familiar with Sophos' admin philosophy before I was ready to go. This isn't a bad thing.
I saw some of the reports. There seem to be enough. I didn't play with customizations.
I was able to run the "Console" without any issues.
Licensing was straight-forward.
Sophos arguably has the most feature-rich product I've seen to date that doesn't eat your computer for lunch.

Sophos' pricing was extremely competitive. Their rep's were knowledgeable and courteous.

I really have no complaints about Sophos.

AV Software Initial Thoughts: Sunbelt VIPRE Enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:40:00 +0000

I'm currently in a cycle of reviewing some Antivirus/AntiMalware software for our next round of protection.

Here are my initial thoughts on Sunbelt's VIPRE Enterprise (remember, I'm just a normal, non-AV-specialist IT admin trying this out):

The setup is very easy on the server side. Just make sure you have .NET framework installed (it will notify/install it for you).
The local "agents" on your network computers use a ridiculously low amount of resources (my Vista x64 box uses just 52MB of RAM when I turn all of the protection on; XP Pro uses less). Running with "open file/copy file protection" can slow things down.
Deploying the software to Vista machines is easy as pie. I've had some struggles with my XP boxes (haven't finished reading the proper way to do it yet).
The Enterprise Console can be a little slow at times when doing intensive tasks (like loading all of the threats in the database as a list, or sorting them).
A LOT of good reports come standard in the box.
Run the "Console" on a computer with a lot of RAM. When making changes to policies, etc. you can eat a huge amount of RAM. I ate 500+MB when doing some large list/policy settings.
Licensing is not complicated. I was very happy that it was straight-forward, and easy to understand

More updates to come! Up next is Sophos Endpoint Security.

Windows Vista Testing: Update 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:28:00 +0000

Welcome to part one of my Windows Vista testing experiment!

I'm going to try and put this in a series of Pro's/Con's, with a summary write-up at the end.

Pro's:

It sure is pretty. My machine uses Aero Glass, and it's a breeze to look at. I'm not sure yet if it makes life "easier" or "better"
Font rendering is greatly improved. Looking at XP (even on the same exact hardware), it's not as smooth. This reminds me of the good font rendering Apple has had for a while.
I was able to "push" my AV client to the Vista install without a hitch.
Vista is capable of using more RAM than XP 32-bit.
Vista x64 is more stable than XP x64.
Sidebar gadget's have immense potential for making my job easier (think management).

Con's:

User Account Control can be very annoying. Especially when getting everything installed.
You can't right-click on a folder and "Search" anymore.
Searching for "*.mp3" takes a LOT longer than searching for "mp3".
Setting up Search Indexing is not easy. I keep on using the "Click to turn on the index..." link, but then it keeps telling me it's not on.
Vista x64 uses more RAM than XP x64.
Vista's Task Manager doesn't give you the "usual" picture on Memory usage:
- While using VMWare Workstation 6.5 today I noticed that my Sidebar was telling me I had used 89% of my 8GB of RAM. This seemed odd, because I looked in task manager and found that the largest process, explorer.exe, was using "186,104K". I only had a total of 80 processes, with 3 consuming >100,000K.
- Upon further investigation, I found that the default "Mem Usage" column from Win2k/XP has now been replaced with "Memory (Private Working Set)".
- To really see how much memory your processes are using, add the "Memory-Working Set" column.