All Things Techie

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-13T01:04:00.000-08:00

Most of us are busy getting ready for the holiday break, and I contemplated over probably the most overlooked part of society to most modern technology people – wishing holiday greetings.

The issue, simply, is that today’s technologies interfere with social communications amongst individuals.

I’m ready to sit down and write holiday cards to my friends and colleagues, and I’ve had a growing concern of the fact that most of us are disconnecting more and more with one another. Some of you may wonder “Why don’t you send them an e-mail?” or “Post a message on Facebook where they can see it” or tweet, text,…. you see where this is heading. If I sit down and think of you, my friend, and take the time to write you a letter, and ensure that it fits your taste and ensure that it gets to you in time, if not by hand delivery, that letter means something way more than any modern age youtube clip, lolzcat, or animated dancing hamster could ever mean. It means that I wanted to communicate with you. This blog’s intent is to share information that I, for some unknown reason, feel like sharing with anyone that may find relevant in their lives. But, if that anyone is not a stranger, I’d take the time to sit down with them and have some lunch, stop by to chat on a break, or write a letter when afar. There’s something very nostalgic to think that people had the forethought and effort and time to put into inter-communications with others than we do now.So, to my strangers, Happy Holidays! I take it you'll not be disappointed.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

http://www.webhamster.com/4.gif

BlackBerry Services Not Starting Correctly

2011-11-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

I found a couple of articles related to an issue with our Blackberry Enterprise Services not communicating with our user's BlackBerry phones. Apparently, the services didn't start correctly. We had been receiving the following events:

^{Event ID : 20000
Source : ExchangeConnector, BlackBerry Messaging Agent Localhost Agent 1, BlackBerry Policy Service, BlackBerry Synchronization Service
Description : BIPPeClient::Connect: Error calling host "localhost" 127.0.01 (10061)}

The cause is that BlackBerry services need to be started in the correct order or you’ll basically experience the lack connectivity and communication issues that we had been experiencing.
The official Blackberry Support article KB13718 describing how to properly restart or start the Blackberry Services, which states:
"...
The correct order to start the BlackBerry Enterprise Server services is detailed below:

1.BlackBerry Router
2.BlackBerry Dispatcher
3.BlackBerry Controller
4.All remaining BlackBerry Enterprise Server services
..."
-http://btsc.webapps.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB13718

I found the blog post, by John McLagan, which took it a step further by showing how to assign service dependencies, so that the services are FORCED to start in the correct order by using regedit. You can check his steps out, but you’ll see my steps below that I feel are less precarious then jumping into the registry, but keeps the underlying premise. http://www.johnmclagan.com/blog/2009/2/24/blackberry-messaging-agent-20000-is-showing-in-the-applicati.html

I liked everything John said to do except the regedit part, so I substituted it for the old service control command (Sc.exe). As Microsoft will tell you, "... You can use Sc.exe to help develop services for Windows. Sc.exe, which is provided in the Resource Kit, implements calls to all of the Windows service control application programming interface (API) functions. You can set the parameters to these functions by specifying them on the command line. Sc.exe also displays service status and retrieves the values stored in the status structure fields. ..." http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192

I feel it’s safer to edit the services using Sc.exe than using the registry (regedit.exe) and it left out the required reboot of the BlackBerry Server system in John's directions. I tested it on our Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 running Blackberry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange 5.0.1.

Open the command prompt

Set the Blackberry Router, Dispatch, and Controller services be dependent using the sc (service control command) by typing:

^{sc config "Blackberry Controller" depend= "Blackberry Dispatcher"
sc config "Blackberry Dispatcher" depend= "Blackberry Router"}

You should know have the dependencies visible from within the service control panel. You also will now be able to restart the three main services by just restarting the Blackberry Router services.

Note: Our Mail Store Service, Policy Service, and Synchronization Service are set to manual and stop and restart with the other three services, so I didn’t set their dependencies. The Blackberry KB mentions to set dependencies to the other services, but in our case, I didn’t see the need.

If you have a minute, comment if it did or didn’t help with a why and how. Thanks!

Clearing All Logs

2011-10-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've had the need to clear log files on multiple Windows Server 2008 R2 testing machines - more specifically virtual machines - and there was no easy way I could find to do this task. I wasn't going to open every log file in Event Viewer. I'd rather let a for loop do that for me, or a drinking bird.

Wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes!

via Command-Line (Run as Administrator)

^{for /f %e IN ('wevtutil el') do wevtutil cl "%e"}

or via batch file (.cmd or .bat)

^{@echo off
:: Clear all logs
::  10:55 AM 10/18/2011 Justin
::   http://justin-bennett-msjc.blogspot.com/
::
::
echo Clearing all log files
echo CRTL-C to abort within 10 secs.
echo .
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 11 > nul
color 07
@echo on
for /f %%e IN ('wevtutil el') do wevtutil cl "%%e"}

Linking Mouse and Keyboard to Multiple Computers

2011-10-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ever have to use a KVM to jump between systems? My buddy Anthony showed me years ago of a nice small software that links one set of keyboard and mice between multiple computers. It works to link Windows, Linux, and Mac OS keyboard and mouse control from one host system and control other client systems. I've used it to link Windows 7 to ArchLinux and Windows 7 to Windows 2008 R2. You then can have multiple monitors and OS running and not have to switch between multiple keyboards and mice to control the systems. I'd recommend using the Beta version as it's a bit easier to configure. It was a hoot to use the first time, so I thought I'd share.

http://synergy-foss.org/

Decode Password 7 Hash in a Cisco IOS Router

2011-05-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've used the technique of decoding an old password 7 hash encryption in the IOS of a router several times now. It's nothing new and I'm not taking credit, I only figured it'd be nice to help share the wealth. Two major facts I like is that you don't have to enter your password 7 hash into someone else's "decrypter" and it's very clean. (Side note: This cannot be used for secret MD5 algorithm hash. You'd have to brute force the hash to decrypt it.)

If you have don't have a password 7 hash, here's how I easily created one inside the configure terminal of a router for an example:

example>en
Password:
example#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
example(config)#service password-encryption
example(config)#username ichoosepoorencryption password andlamepasswords
example(config)#do show run | include ichoosepoorencryption
username ichoosepoorencryption password 7 0305550F0A0E2C495E080A16001D190817

Now with your password 7 hash, or the example, create a key chain and add the password 7 hash as a key string:

example(config)#key chain somename
example(config-keychain)#key 1
example(config-keychain-key)#key-string 7 0305550F0A0E2C495E080A16001D190817

Last part, decrypt the key chain to show the password in clear text:

example(config-keychain-key)#do show key chain somename
Key-chain somename:
key 1 -- text "andlamepasswords"
accept lifetime (always valid) - (always valid) [valid now]
send lifetime (always valid) - (always valid) [valid now]
example(config-keychain-key)#

Very simple and affective. Now, for they Royale with Cheese!

Example Putty Output on a Cisco 1812 Service Router:

Reference:
http://blog.ioshints.info/2007/11/type-7-decryption-in-cisco-ios.html
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk59/technologies_tech_note09186a00809d38a7.shtml
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk361/technologies_tech_note09186a0080120f48.shtml

Macintosh Classic II

2011-04-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

I got a hair up my butt and I decided to get a vintage Mac. It's so far the best $10, 19-year-old paper weight I've ever bought!

It didn't come with a keyboard and mouse, but I hope to borrow an old set on Monday to kick the tires on this beast some more. They don't make clickity-clacking hard disk drives like they use too. No sir.

Now, it didn't turn right on without some coaxing. The motherboard had some leaking capacitors and gave the screen some gobbly-gook image. The problem is quite common from leaking batteries or capacitors on the motherboard.

I pulled out the board and saw the culprit - leaking capacitors. I read that cleaning the motherboard with some isopropyl alcohol will generally get it back up and running, but you should really replace all the capacitors with tantalum capacitor to permanently fix the issue. I'll see how far my cleaning gets me. After all, I'm not sure how far my puppy love will last for this archaic pile.

References:

http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2009-04-13-mac-classic-2-dishwasher-fix.htm
http://68kmla.org/wiki/Capacitor_Replacement#Macintosh_Classic_II.2C_Performa_200

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

2011-02-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Wasn't there already a movie about a psycho computer with artificial intelligence? Am I the only one paranoid here?

Floppy Mini Orchestra

2011-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

This is one of the best re-uses of outdated technologies that I have ever seen. It strikes deep down into the strings of my techie heart.

If you have three minutes and fifteen seconds, give this, soon to become classic, youtube video a spin!

Facebook account de-activated

2011-01-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

I just de-activated my facebook account. I've been thinking about doing it for a long while, but the amount of work I have in my life and daily nonsensical updates from my group of "friends" drove me to it. I love my family and friends, but the constant feeling of being in a large room with everyone talking at once finally pushed me to closing the door.

Now I feel like I can do my homework, work, and spend quality time with my family instead of periodically checking my driod phone throughout the day to her what someone is eating, how beautiful they look in their new profile picture, or how late they're going to bed. It's all worthy enough information, but if it was really intended for me to read, it'd been mailed, e-mailed, phoned, telegrammed, or delivered in person for me to hear.

Thanks,

Justin "fed up with facebook" Bennett

PS: I know I just posted my "status" ; )

The great firewall of the U.S.

2010-11-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

China is well now for blocking its users from content on the Internet mandated by the Chinese government. The US will be moving toward such blocking in measure to help curb piracy. I am all for blocking piracy, but not the expense of our freedom to browse the Internet. It is called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act. We already have warrantless wiretapping and Internet data collection our government has gone overboard with and hacked away at our freedoms with, now they're going to control what you can see by what some corporation says is "copyright infringed".

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-3804

Microsoft Server 2008R2 Virtualization Licensing

2010-08-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

Ever get bored and just feel like making your head hurt?

Go try out the calculators at microsoft.com to figure out how to buy the licenses for your new Windows 2008 R2 Server Configuration! It's a real h00t!

I normally would try to explain a little about the topic, but... no... no point. It's about as clear as mud. All I can say is... "Good luck!"

http://www.microsoft.com/Windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv-calculators.aspx

Windows 7 - Icons / Shortcuts Disappear from the Desktop

2010-07-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

We've been deploying Windows 7 for a few months now and we noticed that a few users initially complained that their shortcut icons have been randomly missing or somehow deleted off the desktop. We started putting back old copies of their shortcuts and, lo and behold, they would disappear again in about a week or so.

After digging around on the internet, we found the source of the problem to be the part of the Windows 7's System Action Center scripts. It turns out that the Desktop Cleanup Wizard is now part of the scheduled maintenance. "... The System Maintenance troubleshooter performs a weekly maintenance of the operating system. ... When there are more than four broken shortcuts on the desktop, the System Maintenance troubleshooter automatically removes all broken shortcuts from the desktop. ..." This is also along with unused icons.

Now, knowing the source of the problem, we dug further and found that the scheduled maintenance can be controlled by Active Directory’s GPO policies, but only in an Enable all/On or Disable all/Off fashion. It also turns out that many people have posted how to modify the files responsible for removing those desktop shortcuts, so that their function is disabled without interfering with the other features or causing any errors. We couldn't find a complete solution that would fit our needs. We’re a large orginization and there didn't seem to be an already published way to disable the remove shortcuts feature globally without disable all the features of System Maintenance Troubleshooter and/or manually going to each computer, editing the troubleshooter's power shell script files.

The last few days, I’ve poured through the discussion board posts via Google and brushed up on my VBs scripting skills, and the end result is I came up with a script file to launch via network login on each computer. The script patches the files responisble for removing the shortcuts only once and only if they exist (so, they won't error or annoy any other OS users). The script will also ask the user for UAC elevation to modify the protected files. The original files are backed up using the orginal file names, plus the date the script was run, and plus the '.original' as the file extension. The files modified are: “c:\Windows\diagnostics\scheduled\Maintenance\TS_BrokenShortcuts.ps1” and “c:\Windows\diagnostics\scheduled\Maintenance\TS_UnusedDesktopIcons.ps1”.

Post analysis of our problem described by users: They reported that the icons being deleted seemed to happened more often when they left the computer locked vs. on without being logged in and the shortcuts where to documents saved on mapped network drives vs. the local shortcuts. Your mileage may very as far as exact scenario. Any feedback on your troubles would be great! (Comment below)

So, what would the internet be if we all didn’t all share?! Below are the script we now use and your welcome to it. Just be warned, I warranty NONE of my script; Use my script at your own risk! Please leave my author tag. Thanks! : )

VBS Script (Just copy and paste the below text into notepad and save it as any_filename_you_desire.vbs)

^{'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------'
'' Disable the Windows 7 Broken Shortcuts and Unused Desktop Shortcuts Scripts    ''
''                                                                                ''
'' Description:  Open up the two power shell scripts responsible for repairing    ''
''  the broken shortcuts and removen unused one, and then stop them from          ''
''  running any longer.  The original files are backed up in the same location.   ''
''                                                                                ''
'' Author - Justin Bennett, 9:24 AM 6/30/2010                                     ''
''          jbennett at msjc d0t edu                                              ''
''                                                                                ''
'' Resources -                                                                    ''
''  http://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/30/fix-windows-7-desktop-shortcuts-disappearing ''
''           - http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/185/1/VBScripts-and-         ''
''                                                              UAC-elevation.html''
''                                                                                ''
''  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED     !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   ''
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------'
'
  'Continue on errors - needed for ...
  'On error resume next 
'
'
' START - Script
'
'
'
' Global Variables
set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'
'
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
''
'' START - Patch File Function
''
'' Description:  A function to check a file for existence, size, then replace the
''   line it has been instructed to.  The original file is backed up as
''   'filename.ext.1-1-1990 1.00.00 AM.original' in the original directory.
''
'' filePath - The file path of where the file is.  It is used for adding/removing
''             permissions durning the patching process to create the patched file
''             and backing up the original.
'' fileName - The file name of the file.  It is used making a patched copy of the
''             file and renaming the original file for a backup durning the patching
''             process.
'' reqdSize - The file size in bytes.  Used to verify the file is the correct size.
''             If the file size has changed, it will not be patched.
'' findLine - Which line to replace in the file.
'' replaceWith - The text to be written into the patched file.
''
  function patchFile(filePath, fileName, reqdSize, findLine, replaceWith)
   'Temporary Variables
   dim tmpFilename, curLine
  
   'Check if file exists
   If objFSO.FileExists(filepath&filename) <> True Then
    exit function
   End If
   
   'Check if file is the desired size
   If objFSO.GetFile(filepath&filename).Size <> reqdSize Then
    exit function
   End If
   
   'Check to see if UAC needs elevation
   uacCheck()
   
   'Add permission to modify/create files
   wshShell.Run "takeown /f "&filepath, 0, true
   wshShell.Run "takeown /f "&filepath&filename, 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&" /grant %USERNAME%:F", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&filename&" /grant %USERNAME%:F", 0, true
   
   'Open main and temporary files  
   Set myFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(filepath&filename, 1, True)
   Set myTemp= objFSO.OpenTextFile(filepath&filename&".patch", 2, True)
   
   'Loop through and find my line, then replace it
   curLine = 0
   Do While Not myFile.AtEndofStream
    curLine = curLine+1
    If curLine <> findline Then
  myTemp.WriteLine myfile.ReadLine
  'myFile.Skipline
 Else
  myFile.Skipline
  myTemp.WriteLine replaceWith
 End If
   Loop
   
   'Close the main and temporary files
   myFile.Close
   myTemp.Close
   
   'Temporary new filename
   tmpFilename = filepath&filename&"."&Replace(Replace(Now, ":", "."), "/", "-")&".orginal"
   'Rename input file to filename plus date and .orginal
   objFSO.MoveFile filepath&filename, tmpFilename
   
   'Rename temp file to input filename
   objFSO.MoveFile filepath&filename&".patch", filepath&filename
   
   'Remove granted permission to modify/create files
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&" /setowner ""nt service\trustedinstaller""", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&filename&" /setowner ""nt service\trustedinstaller""", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&tempFilename&" /setowner ""nt service\trustedinstaller""", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&tempFilename&" /remove:g %USERNAME%", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&filename&" /remove:g %USERNAME%", 0, true
   wshShell.Run "icacls "&filepath&" /remove:g %USERNAME%", 0, true

  end function
''
'' END - Patch File Function
''
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
''

'
' START - Main Subroutine
call main
'
sub main
'On error resume next 
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
''
'' START - Launch fix functions
''
''           
  patchFile wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%windir%")&"\diagnostics\scheduled\Maintenance\", "TS_BrokenShortcuts.ps1", 2724, 22, "    return """" #removed $list to cancel out script"
  patchFile wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%windir%")&"\diagnostics\scheduled\Maintenance\", "TS_UnusedDesktopIcons.ps1", 2567, 36, "    return """" #removed $list to cancel out script"
  
''
'' END - Launch fix functions
''
''
'
'
' END - Main Subroutine
end sub
'
'
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
''
'' START - UAC Check Function
''
''
  function uacCheck()
'''Check to make sure this is a Vista or 2008 server first
   strComputer = "."
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
   Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select Caption from Win32_OperatingSystem Where Caption like '%Vista%' or Caption like '%2008%' or Caption like '%Windows 7%'")
   For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems 
    If WScript.Arguments.length =0 Then
     Set objShelluac = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
     'Pass a bogus argument with leading blank space, say [ uac]
     objShelluac.ShellExecute "wscript.exe", Chr(34) &  WScript.ScriptFullName & Chr(34) & " uac", "", "runas", 1
     wscript.quit
    End If
   next
''
  end function
''
'' END - UAC Check Function
''
' END - SCRIPT}

Here's how we're launching it from our batch network login script

^{::Disable Deleting Broken/Unused Shortcuts (Windows 7)
:: 12:55 PM 7/12/2010 Justin
::
if "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%"=="%SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData" ( call cscript "\\domainname\netlogon\_patch_Windows_7_ScheduledMaint-Stop_Icons_Disappearing.vbs" )}

References:
http://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/30/fix-windows-7-desktop-shortcuts-disappearing
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/185/1/VBScripts-and-UAC-elevation.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978980

System Status and Operation Indicators

2010-05-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

Ok... I'm jealous... I want this too geek additions at last.fm's control center. We have laptops with displays of our paging system on the screens, but no light up bears!!! Now, how would you work a budget change proposal request to include a system that would light plastic toys during system/network outages as necessary purchase. Illuminated plastic molded ursus arctos horribilis indicators for system status indication perhaps??? : )

http://blog.last.fm/2008/08/01/quality-control

McAfee Virus Protection Attacks svchost.exe on Windows XP

2010-04-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Source Episode #4: Sales Demolition! | The Website Is Down - http://dpt.thewebsiteisdown.com/dpt/node/883

Luckilly, we only use McAfee on a few machines and they happen to not be the OS affected by the latest problem with virus definition 5958.

When I heard about this, it reminded me when we use to have McAfee Virus Protection across all of our computers on our network (back in 2000 in the Windows 95-98 days.) We had a very similar problem with machines at 100% CPU usage. I did some hunting and found a news post back from when we had that problem.

New McAfee virus update can freeze some computers - [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/07/mcafee.windows.freeze.idg/index.html]
"...
November 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:23 a.m. EST (1423 GMT)
...
(IDG) -- The latest virus definition update for Network Associates' McAfee VirusScan can freeze computer systems, Network Associates has confirmed.

"It can cause the CPU utilization of the machine to go to 100%, effectively freezing the system for an extended period of time," said Simon Leech, an Amsterdam security engineer for Network Associates.
..."

I feel for all the customers struggling with fixing their machines from this mishap. One thing positive, at least it wasn't malicious and/or a data breach to add further insult to injury.

McAfee should have learned something from The Website is Down, episode #4, "Sales Demolination". "... Fake a virus attack. ... How do you think I made it 20 years in I.T. ..." [http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/]

Microsoft's Cloud Computing

2010-04-13T23:26:00.000-07:00

I went to the Microsoft Virtualization Summit today in Irvine, CA. It ended up being about how all the components of virtualization aggregate into cloud computing, how to use cloud computing to be greener, and how cloud computing will be more transparent to applications and design in the future.

What I took away from today:

Administrators in the future will be split into application administrators and datacenter administrators, Microsoft's Azure project talks in great detail to this new vision.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/azure/default.aspx
Business IT departments will have to go to cloud computing to stay efficient, effective, and green
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/en/us/default.aspx
Microsoft is pulling some quasi kamikaze tactics on VMware's VDI product, View, by offering to convert their licensing straight across for free up to 500 users. They're calling it their "Rescue from VMware VDI"
http://www.citrixandmicrosoft.com/
Microsoft has put together some awesome FREE dashboard gauges for monitoring products, like SQL and Exchange, into their System Center Operations Manager Product
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff369719.aspx
A FREE copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition; I can't complain. ; )
And some rockin' photos, wooooooo

Here's the obligatory pun, "I had my head in the Clouds at Microsoft's conference today".

Moved from Altiris Deployment Solution to Windows Deployment Services (WDS)

2010-03-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

We have been using Altiris for years and since Symantec bought them out, the price structure has been too cost prohibitive for us to continue to re-license it. As we prepare for Windows 7, we were able to setup two Windows Deployment Service servers fairly easy. I was happy that we were able to capture Windows XP images, so that as we transition we don't have to worry about holding onto our old Altiris setup.

I used the Windows Deployment Services Step-by-Step Guide and the Windows Deployment Services Getting Started Guide to setup the systems (which those URLs at the bottom of this post). The following is a quick overview of our settings.

Our Configuration

Two stand-alone Windows 2008 R2 servers running Windows Deployment Services
Two subnets
Independent DHCP servers per subnet

Setting up the stand-alone Windows Deployment Services servers:

Installed Windows 2008 R2 Standard Server
Installed the Windows Deployment Services Role - Deployment and Transport Services
Configured my settings and added the boot and install images off my Windows 7 and Vista DVDs.

Adding the PXE Boot settings to our independent DHCP servers

Opened the DHCP Administrative utility
Opened the scope options
Added options 66 and 67 ("server1" for option 66 and "\boot\x86\wdsnbp.com" for option 67)

Conclusion

Everything went very smoothly and faster than expected to transition. We all trained on Windows Deployment Services one afternoon and were able to install and capture images quite easily. I do want to note, since I didn't read this anywhere in the documentation, that it appears that you can only capture one disk image at a time per image group. We started four machines at once to capture an updated Windows 7 image and only one machine captured with the other three erring out. The reason why is we were trying to capture an image from each machine to one image group. Each image group has a database type file that the images are stored to and it appears only one write sequence can occur at a time. It's not a frequent occurrence that multiple images would be captured, but I thought it was worth noting.

We are very pleased and within one more day of testing, we stopped using Altiris Deployment Solution all together.

References

Windows Deployment Services Step-by-Step Guide - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=84628
Windows Deployment Services Getting Started Guide - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771670(WS.10).aspx

Battery Chargers Be Warned

2010-03-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Energizer®'s USB Port Duo Battery Charger, which charges your batteries via your computer's USB port, has backdoor that may allow a remote attacker to view files or launch software. The software is supposed to allow the user to see how the battery charging progresses is going on. It also loads a .dll and sets it to load automatically every time the computer is started by adding to Windows Start-Up and launching arucer.dll.

I just want to know who thought this was a good idea anyway? Wait only 10 hours to charge two AA rechargeable batteries and stress my USB port's power, were do I pickup one of these gems?!!? :P

References:

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/154421
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#engergizer_duo_usb_battery_charger
http://www.energizer.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/pdf/rechargeable/chusb_instructions_english.pdf

No Flash photography! Please!

2010-02-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

Last year seemed to have been the year of Adobe software exploits as depicted in the "10 Most Vulnerable Software Apps of 2009". Their most popular products Acrobat Reader, Flash Player and Shockwave have been the central point for the latest viruses and spyware. On an enterprise level, it's wreaking havoc for many system administrators and security experts.

Adobe has made attempts to write up white papers for Acrobat and Flash that describe how to deploy and maintain their key products, but with half hearted effort at best. There's also a storm of custom script files, packages, group policy templates that are floating around by other administrators. We have our own piecemeal scripts and GPOs currently in place at my job to do the best that we can at maintaining the latest "safe" versions.

Microsoft's products have not been the most secure over the years, but they have long given administrators proper tools deploy, maintain, and update their products and stay ahead. Windows Server Update Services, for example, allows administrators to get a view of machines on their network and maintain the vast amount of Microsoft's software. When updates are released, WSUS will allow you to get a report showing how many machines needed, push out the update and even set a deadline to force installation.

Adobe has taken such a market share of web content, but when will they take security seriously and offer an enterprise level solution? For now, No Flash, Please!!!

vCenter Upgrade 2.5 Upgrade 5 Fails and Windows 7/2008R2 Freezing

2009-11-26T21:34:00.000-08:00

I downloaded vCenter Server 2.5 upgrade 5 and fought to get it loaded on our server this week. Every time I launched the wizard I ran into an error once the MSI installer kicked off. I kept getting 25035 and 25055 errors from the installer. I found one article, http://communities.vmware.com/thread/140517, which finally tipped me in the right direction. Someone was getting 25095 errors while trying to install the infrastructure client, and it was failing for them, because of a GPO restriction. When I checked the file properties inside the vCenter 2.5 upgrade 5's folder, I found that all but the autorun program for the upgrade (.exe and .msi files), were all being blocked by the Windows Attachment Manger. I'm guessing the files are packaged in the zip file blocked, which caused the problem. I went through and unblocked them all and installed the patch without incident. (Outside of accidently selecting purge my existing database... doohhhhhh!!!)

I originally was trying to remedy a problem with a Windows Server 2008 R2. I found out that the VMware video driver is the culprit. The problem seems to occur on ESX Server 3.5 and 4.0 with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 virtual machines. The remedy is to uninstall the VMware SVGA video driver and/or don't install it with the VMware tools. The problem was the video locking up and the system not properly responding. You could RDP into the virtual machine, but it wouldn't reboot or shutdown under it's own power; You had to turn off the VM power and restart it. So far, so good. Hopefully, the SVGA II driver will be updated soon.

KB from VMware:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011709

Microsoft Technet Forum:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsserver2008r2general/thread/bc0f3c12-eda7-440d-a228-213a8d0b956c

Happy Turkey Day!

Playing with Windows 7

2009-11-10T19:59:00.000-08:00

I just installed Windows 7 today. So far, so good. (Is that even a sentance?)

I installed office and some basic programs quickly. I started at 1:00 and was done by 2:00. Only loaded a video driver, everything else detected on it its own. The machine is a Dell Latitude D630 with 4GB of ram and Core2 2.4GHz.

Only problem I ran into was with my Cisco VPN Client. I only needed to install the latest client version available from cisco.com, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/ I only had version 5.0.03 installed initially and the latest version is 5.0.06.0110. The old version worked, but the split-tunneling appeared to not work. After I uninstalled the old version and installed the new 5.0.06, I had no problem connecting to my VPN network and the internet. (Spilt-Tunneling has to be configured on your router as well. Our is configured for split-tunneling, but the old client appeared to no longer work with Windows 7)

Update: 5 hours and 26 minutes of run time isn't too bad either...

220 and not 110

2009-09-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

Keep 220 outlets and me away from computers. In the last two years, most recently in August, I've managed to burn up not one, but two power supplies in workstations by plugging them into 220V ups units without flipping the voltage switch. Good news, the new Dell OptiPlex 960's are auto switching. Bad news it was too late for those others. ;)

Irresponsibly Reported Vulnerability

2009-09-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Watch out how you let some know about a bug, they may document how "Irresponisble" you are in their advisory...

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/09/08/microsoft-security-advisory-975497-released.aspx

WPA / TKIP - Hacked in 60 seconds!

2009-08-28T20:50:00.001-07:00

Ahhh crap... there goes the neighborhood...

["... Kobe, Japan - Japanese scientists took just sixty seconds to break the WPA encryption used in wireless routers. The previous record stood at 15 minutes.

Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University plan to reveal exactly how they did it at a conference on September 25 in Hiroshima. ..."]
Source: TG Daily - Japanese break wi-fi security in 60 seconds - http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43797/108/

Looks like we really need that AirDefense system. Anyone have $30k-$60k?

["... As the market leader and innovator of 24x7 RF monitoring solutions, Motorola provides a complete suite of wireless security and operational support solutions to enable risk-free wireless LANs. ... "]
Source: Motorola, Enterprise Wireless LAN Security - http://www.airdefense.net/

Bestiest Freeiest Solution - E-mail me when diskspace get's low

2009-08-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was just talking with my co-worker, Brian, and he asked "Is there any easier way to monitor free disk space on my (Windows) servers?"

I then thought of the bestiest, freeiest solution and I thought I would share...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324796
Configure an alert with Windows Performance Logs and Alerts, then have it set to run a program to e-mail you.

"...

Click Add to open the Add Counters dialog box.
Click Select counters from computer, and then select your computer in the list.
In the Performance object box, click LogicalDisk.
Click Select counters from list, and then click % Free Space.
Click Select interfaces from list, and then click the logical drive or volume that you want to monitor.
Click Add to add the counter, and then click Close.
In the Alert when the value is box, click Under, and then type the value that you want in the Limit box. For example, to trigger an alert message when disk space is under 1 megabyte (MB), type 1000.
Accept the default value of 5 seconds in the Sample data interval, or specify the value that you want. (I'd suggest every 5 to 10 minutes, but it's up to you and your needs)
Click Apply.
Click the Action tab, and then specify... (a script to e-mail you about the disk space; I'll get to this further on).
Click Apply.
Click the Schedule tab, and then specify the start and stop parameters for the scan ...
Click ok

..."

Make a script to e-mail you

If your using Windows 2003, you can easily right a .vbs script with Windows Script Hosting (WSH) language using CDO.Messages, but you're bumming if you try this on a 2008 server (or Vista). Then you should probably just go to Windows Powershell and write it with the system.net.mail.MailAddress class; your effort will pay off more better.

Conclusion

Freeiest, bestiest (blogged) solution :-)

Configured VMware VirtualCenter Management Server

2009-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

I looked into our licensing and it turns out we had purchased VirtualCenter Server along with our ESX servers.

I set off to configure it by loading a Windows 2003 R2 server with SQL 2005. I then proceeded to install the management software.

You need to download the software from VMware and your licensing file.

After installing VirtualCenter, I attempted to add my ESX standalone host to the management server. I then got this error "There are not enough licenses installed to perform the operation".

I did some research and found out I needed to load my license file for my ESX servers in the VirtualCenter. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1005265

So, I loaded the licenses off my ESX server onto the Virtual Center, restarted the licensing server, but no dice. Same error "There are not enough licenses installed to perform the operation" occurred.

At this point I contacted VMware support. I got no where after a week, so I started looking at the problem more myself. I noticed license file and notice the site said "Single Host" next to the license model. I removed the active license, and reactivated it as Centralized, loaded it on my VirtualCenter, BOOM, Works!!!

Before: [Single Host License]

After: [Centerlized License]

Duck tape does fix everything

2009-02-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

I saw this on my way to my car a few days ago and thought it was hilarious...

"Huge dent and falling off bumper? No problem. A few rolls of duck tape and were all good as new..."

Wall of H2O

2009-01-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

This is the scariest thing I've ever seen in a server/switch room.

I was with my co-worker dropping off equipment for a upgrade planned for the next day when we stumbled apon this...

Needless to say, shortly after this picture the (55) 5 gallon water jugs were removed.

-Justin

ESX Server v3.01 - Connected Buffalo Terastation NAS via NFS

2008-11-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have a set of Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers running VMware ESX 3.01 connected to my CX3-20 SAN with Q-Logic HBA's. I wanted to move old and test Virtual Machines to my 4.0 TB Buffalo Terastation Pro TS-RHTGL/R5 unit. To add 4TB of storage to my SAN would have cost me nearly $9,000, and instead, I'm using my cheaper and less robust $2,000 NAS unit. Obviously this is not the best solution for enterprise, but perfect for my testing and archiving.

This is how I configured my 4.0 TB Terastation II Rackmount with NFS and connected it to my ESX 3.01 servers.

1. I had to load the newest firmware from Buffalo for my unit so it would support NFS (I had 1.26 which does not support NFS). The newest firmware that I loaded is version 1.33. You can find yours and download it from http://www.buffalotech.com/support/downloads/

2. I setup the NFS service on the Terastation unit by logging into the web interface, clicked on NFS, clicked on Enable, entered my units IP and Subnet and then clicked Apply. I then clicked on Folders under NFS and checked the already Shared Folder I wanted to make available for NFS; mine happens to be vmware. Copy down the mount location, such as mine is /mnt/array1/vmware; you'll need this on the forth step. You also need to specify the client NFS devices that will be connecting to your NAS under the Registration section.
Here's the screenshots of the completed configuration:

3. I configured my VMware servers with a VMKernal adapter. You need the adapter to connect to iSCSI, NFS or VMotion. Under the servers Configuration tab, I went to Hardware-> Networking, clicked Add Networking..., selected VMKernal, picked the network adapter, and enter the IP address. I used the directions in this manual, on pages 33-37 and 194-197, to configure VMKernal adapter.

Here's the screenshot of the completed configuration:

4. Now that I configured the VMkernal adapter I was able to attach the NFS. Under the servers Configuration tab, I went to Hardware-> Stroage (SCSI,SAN, and NFS), clicked on Add Storage..., selected Network File System, entered my IP address 10.11.0.13, the mount point from step 2., /mnt/array1/vmware, and named my Datastore archive1. I used the directions in this manual, on pages 132-136, to configure Storage Device.

Here's the screenshot of the completed configuration:

Hope this helps someone else. Let me know who it works for you or if you found this useful.

Update 2009-08-26: Here's my terastation's drive configuration...