Kenny's Blog

2010-07-08T22:35:00.000-04:00

useful Terminal Server command:

2009-06-25T09:46:00.002-04:00

How To: Restore a removed Mailbox Database

After a Mailbox Database is deleted, the actual database file (.edb) is still there. To recreate the original database from this file, do the following:

Create a new empty mailbox database, using the New-MailboxDatabase command
Enable "Over-written by Restore", using Set-MailBoxDatabase
Move the old database files to the same location as the new database
Mount the database
If restoring on a new exchange server, run Move-Mailbox - ConfigurationOnly

see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998340.aspx

2009-06-17T15:22:00.002-04:00

How To: send alert to distribution group in WSS 3.0

Go to Exchange server
Create a Distribution Group
Set Delivery Restriction to no authentication
Note the email address
Go to People and Groups
Add a domain group such as Domain Users
Edit E-Mail field with noted email address

now add alerts with this email address.

2009-03-13T08:49:00.001-04:00

What causes VDI client to prompt logon twice?

check for other remote desktop / access software installs such as citrix, novel neo clients...

2009-03-13T08:40:00.002-04:00

How to recover mail store (database) from exchange crash:

background: in 2007, can't mount mail store after crash.

reboot
run ESEUTIL /mh (mailstorepath\mailstore.edb) on all mail stores to determine if any store is in "Dirty Shutdown" state
run ESEUTIL /p (mailstorepath\mailstore.edb) on each "Dirty Shutdown" store
mount mail stores, if successful, go to end
if mount fails, move e00.chk, tmp.edb and catalogdata-xxx folders to other location
retry mount

2009-03-13T08:38:00.002-04:00

How to set up load balancing for Virtual Machines:

1) make sure the servers to be load balanced are on the same vSwitch
2) install and configure Microsoft NLB (see related articles)

2009-02-24T23:19:00.003-05:00

How to change Exchange Proxy settings:

use Exchange Management Shell (PowerShell) command, Get-OutlookProvider and Set-OutlookProvider to set it:

[PS] C:\>Set-OutlookProvider EXPR -CertPrincipalName "msstd:*.abcdef.com"

2008-12-19T12:51:00.004-05:00

How to configure ESX 3.5 (3.x) Service Console networking:

1) This command "esxcfg-vswif -i <10.10.10.1> -n <255.255.255.0> vswif0" modifies the network configuration file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-vswif0

# Broadcom CorporationNetXtreme BCM5754 Gigabit Ethernet
DEVICE=vswif0
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
PORTGROUP="Service Console"
MACADDR=00:50:56:4f:12:ae
BROADCAST=172.17.10.255
IPADDR=172.17.10.201
NETMASK=255.255.255.0

2) Edit the route file /etc/sysconfig/network

NETWORKING=yes
GATEWAYDEV=vswif0
GATEWAY=172.17.10.1
HOSTNAME=vinycesxtest.valiantinsurance.com

3) Edit the DNS resolver file /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 172.16.2.4
nameserver 172.16.2.5
search valiantinsurance.com

2008-12-11T01:15:00.004-05:00

SQL Problem installing WSS 3.0 - 'min server memory':

weird error when installing WSS 3.0 (during SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard) with SQL 2005. to fix it so that wizard can complete, execute the following on the SQL server:

use master;
go
exec sp_configure 'min server memory','256';
reconfigure with override;

2008-12-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

How to upgrade VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 SQL Express to SQL 2005:

Step 0: BACKUP or SNAPSHOT your VC server!
Stop VirtualCenter service
Stop VMware Update service
Stop License Server service
Stop SQL Express service
copy the SQL data files to the new SQL 2005 location. Example below:
on the new SQL 2005 server, start Management Studio and use "attach database" function import the migrated data files. Name the new database VIM_VCDB (or any other name).
identify or create a SQL user (vmware is recommended, but anything will work) on the SQL 2005 server to have db_owner role for the VIM_VCDB database.
on the VirtualCenter server, modify the both of the VMware DSNs in "Administrative Tools -> Data Source (ODBC)", see below:
take defaults for the rest of the steps.
Edit registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VirtualCenter\DB\2" with the SQL user name.
at cmd prompt, run "vpxd -p" from the VirtualCenter folder under "c:\Program Files" (or the equivalent) and supply the password.
start Licensing Server
start VMware Update Manager
start VirtualCenter Service
test connection and functionality from a VI Client and you are done. if it works with no glitch, pat yourself on the back!

2008-12-04T00:02:00.000-05:00

How to build a VMware VDI environment (simple):

Prerequisite: ESX host (or cluster) 3.5, Virtual Center 2.5, a Windows XP template, a Customization Specification (basically a sysprep.inf, but configured through VC), a VM running 2003 (for the VDM server).

on the VDM server, run the VDM Connection Server setup and take all defaults
browse to the admin console http://vdmserver/admin

2008-12-03T09:39:00.001-05:00

How to enable the NetApp java shell:

An extremely neat command (undocumented) in NetApp DataOntap OS is "java netapp.cmds.jsh" which enables a command shell much like a stripped down version of linux. in this shell, you can use commands like "cd", "ls", "cat", etc.

2008-11-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

"host currently has no management network redundancy" warning in Virtual Center 2.5:

this warning happened after I created a HA cluster with 2 ESX hosts. they are
basically white boxes I run development VMs on. after the cluster creation, one
of the hosts had this in the summary display. This turned out to be a
configuration issue with the network adapters. VC 2.5 expects the Service
Console attached to at least 2 nics to avaid isolation response.

to add a user on ESX to have access to console (shell, ssh):

1) login to console with root
2) adduser -g users -d /home/ -s /bin/bash

2008-11-26T10:23:00.000-05:00

How to clone a Windows Virtual Machine in VMware Server 2.0 (or 1.0):

many believe that the free VMware Server 2.0 does not have cloning capability. but it does! though it's quite easy as far as the concept goes, it is troublesome in certain ways. here is what you can do to clone a VM in Server 2.0:

shutdown the VM you want to clone
copy the VM to a new folder in the datastore (usually in "C:\Virtual Machines") using your favorite copy utility - mine is ROBOCOPY
after you copy the VM, rename all the files in the new VM folder to the new VM name, for example: rename oldvm.vmx to newvm.vmx
edit the vmx, vmdk (only the virtual disk configuration text files) and vmxf files, and replace the old VM name with the new VM name
in the VI Web Access client (aka VMware Server Home Page link), click on "Virtual Machines", then "Add Virtual Machine to Inventory"; browse to the new VM folder, click on the new VM vmx file and click OK to register the new VM
power on the new VM and choose "copied_it" option if prompted
log on and rename the guest OS (reboot needed) then run NEWSID utility (downloadable) to regenerate the SID (reboot needed)
at this point, you nave a fully functional cloned VM in the VMware Server 2.0 environment

notes: many of the steps can be automated - using VB Script, I have automated 3, 4 just because they are really manually intensive. ideally, the whole process short of shutting down the inital VM should be scripted.

- Kenny

2008-11-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

Journey to Active Directory - Exchange reinstall:

today's topic is about upgrading AD and Exchange to Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 from 2003 SP2. since my test exchange server crashed due to "running out of HDD space", i am taking two approach to deal with this in parallel - 1) resizing the c:\ crashed exchange server (2003 sp2, we shall call it exchange1), and 2) building a new exchange server with sufficient c:\ (LOL).

while doing 2), i chose to deploy Server 2003 R2, and this presented a problem: the installation program doesn't work and gave a funny error about DNS incompatibility. after some troubleshooting, it was evident that the DC (schema master) needed to be upgraded to R2 first. with this requirement comes the requirement to upgrade all DCs to R2.

the following steps must be completed before these Domain Controllers can be upgraded to R2:

D:\CMPNENTS\R2\ADPREP\ADPREP.EXE /forestprep
SETUP2.EXE /quiet /accepteula /productkey:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX /suppressreboot

after bringing the whole domain to R2 and fixing the DNS architecture (removing dead DNS servers and records), exchange 2003 could finally be reinstalled.

- Kenny

2008-11-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

Active Directory - Accessing AD:

while VBscript supports LDAP querying and objects right out of the box, Powershell needs to ADSI Type Adapter (type cast, basically). the following are examples of how to connect to LDAP using both methods.

VB - SET objContainer = GetObject(ldap://cn=username,ou=abc,dc=xyz,dc=com/)
PS - $objContainer = [ADSI]ldap://cn=username,ou=abc,dc=xyz,dc=com/

the rest is usual.

2008-11-14T21:56:00.000-05:00

VMware VIX:

to list VMs on local computer (VMware server 2.0), use the following vmrun command syntax:

vmrun -T server -h https://:8333/sdk -u -p List
vmrun -T server -h https://:8333/sdk -u -p ListRegisteredVM

to start a VM, use:

vmrun -T server -h https://:8333/sdk -u -p start "[] \\"

for remote host, you must use FQDN (not the hostname) or IP address, otherwise it doesn't work.

2008-11-05T01:18:00.000-05:00

VMware VI Client: add an existing vm to inventory:

(VI 2.5, ESX 3.5) open VI Client
click on the esx server in the inventory panel
click on the "configuration" tab
click on "storage" in the hardware section
right-click on the datastore in the "storage" area
choose "browse datastore"
browse to vmx file and right-click
choose "Add to Inventory" menu command

2008-11-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

VMware Remote CLI - register vm:

vmware-cmd --server --username --password -s register --resourcepool
note: there was not a lot of documentation on --resourcepool parameter, strange...

2008-10-04T17:47:00.000-04:00

SMTP forwarding doesn't work with Roadrunner ISP:

when setting up exchange internet mail connector, use smtp-server.nyc.rr.com (smart host) for smtp forwarding.

2007-05-17T23:55:00.001-04:00

No-Limit Texas Holdem Strategy Tips:

Preflop:

don't fight big reraises
don't get over-committed with bad hand
stay away from trouble hands in a raised pot (KQ, AJ, etc)
build a big pot with a big hand (AA, KK, QQ, AKs; AK, AQ, JJ, TT in position)
isolate with reasonable hands only
frequently slow play AA more first in with mid-small stack
sometimes, slow play AA-QQ from blinds against "stealer"
sometimes, slow play AA-QQ in position against 1 raiser, for value and deception
usually raise less after limpers with big pairs than big cards
min-reraise (sometimes OOP) is generally weak

Flop:

OOP in big pot, over pair in scare board, play safe. try not to lose big stack in messy flop
when flop good on baby board HU in POS, check behind as non-aggro (hope for good turn for opponent)
sometimes, with AK flopping A out of position, bet-n-stop to induce big turn "bluff"
don't invest too much to win small pots, even with a OK hand
sometimes, when flop trip, use stop-n-go
avoid losing too much when AK misses
as the re-raiser, c-bet flop, not turn
rarely, bet into HU weak raiser with cinch, c/r him. but do bet into strong hand
bet big into strong hands with very big hand to build pot

Reading Opponents:

fold one pair hand if bet big and get raised on flop (when deep)
if opponent bets weakly after scare card, he mostly ready to fold
if opponent betting out of position, they are usually strong, especially if the pot is multiway
if opponent bets weakly after you call his raise, he is probably ready to fold to a big raise
if aggro lead big into multi-way, it means he has big hand, min-raise him with 2-pair+ HU, but be cautious with 1-pair hands
small re-raise followed by small c/bet = weak - c/r him and bet turn
aggression elevate is usually very strong
check/raise against aggressor means great strength, be careful
think a little in big bet situation

Facing big raise:

have i acted strong thus far?
am i strong enough to beat a hand that beats a strong hand?
does his bet look like he wants a call?
does his bet look like he fears a raise?

Getting Value:

don't raise (or too much) donk bet with set
GET THE MONEY IN when your hand is strong! (trip w good kicker, set, top two pair, or complete hands)

General Rules:

draw as cheaply as possible in a raised pot
when board develops for others, don't overbet (or "protect your hand")
check behind with a vulnerable made hand HU to reduce risk
don't slow play 1 pair hand OOP
in big pot with big stack - protect the stack

Bluffing:

avoid spending too much stealing
avoid bluffing too frequently
rarely bluff on the river, instead, bluff on turn if opportunity presents
avoid bluffing with too much money
avoid bluffing opponents that display strength
delayed bluff-raise in small pot doesn't work well
semi bluff best starts on flop
never bluff when tilt (or tilt image)

2006-04-21T13:04:00.000-04:00

Play games through corporate firewall on Windows XP:

If you ever tried to play an online game at work, you have probably already found out that you can't. Luckily, I have spend some time and got it working and here is what I had to do.

1. Set up a Windows server outside of the firewall, ie. your home computer (connected to the internet).
2. Install a SSH server such as OpenSSH, a copy of it can be found here.

2a. take all default settings
2b. follow \OpenSSH\docs\readme.txt directions to set up groups, and passwords
2c. edit the \OpenSSH\etc\sshd_config to change the listening port to 443

3. Install SSH client (I prefer PuTTY because it works well on Windows and it supports proxy)