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Barracuda VPN Client on Mac crashes on macOS Mojave
by lunarg on January 11th 2019, at 09:06

The Barracuda VPN Client does not work properly on macOS Mojave: after connecting the VPN, the UI crashes and restarting it immediately makes it crash again. The VPN tunnel itself does work, but other than manually killing the process (kill -9), it is not possible to terminate the tunnel (other than rebooting of course).

An updated version of the client, Barracuda VPN Client 5.0.2.5 for macOS is available which resolves these issues.

 
Using libdvdcss with Handbrake on macOS
by lunarg on January 4th 2019, at 16:40
Handbrake offers the ability to convert copy-protected DVD's (aka "rip") too. It is not able to do this out of the box, but instead, relies on a specific library called libdvdcss. This library is installed by default when you also use VLC media player, but a version compatible with Handbrake is also available for download.

For Mac OSX, an installer was made available to easily install the library and have Handbrake use it, but due to the write-protection of system folders, introduced with macOS High Sierra, this method no longer works. As a result, it became difficult to use Handbrake. Fortunately, there are a number of workarounds and other methods of installing the library, whic  ...
 
Windows Server 2016: upgrade from evaluation to full
by lunarg on December 20th 2018, at 15:10
On Windows Server 2016, when attempting to enter a full edition product key on an evaluation edition, you will get the error: "This edition cannot be upgraded". Fortunately, you can workaround the issue by "upgrading" via DISM (a built-in command-line tool).

Note that you will have to reboot the server when performing the upgrade, so schedule some downtime for it. Also, you cannot only convert full GUI versions of Windows Server. Server Core or Nano Server cannot be upgraded. Additionally, if you have the ADDS role installed, you need to uninstall this role before performing the upgrade.

Start an elevated command prompt, then type in the commands listed below.

First, m  ...
 
PowerCLI: Starting/stopping SSH service on ESX hosts
by lunarg on December 20th 2018, at 11:17
Starting or stopping the SSH service on multiple ESXi hosts can be a tedious job when having to do this via the vSphere (Web)Client. Fortunately, you can also use PowerCLI to start/stop services quickly. With a little scripting, you can expand this to start/stop services on a set of hosts, a cluster, or the entire vCenter.

First, start PowerCLI and make a connection to the vCenter. For automation, you can use something like this (note that you have to add code for credentials, if needed):

if (-not (Get-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) { Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core | Out-Null }Connect-VIServer vcenter.domain.local

Once that's done, you can ga  ...
 
Yealink IP Phones: contents of LCD via webpage
by lunarg on November 20th 2018, at 12:23

A nifty little feature of the Yealink IP Phones the ability to display the contents of the LCD via the management page.

Access the web management page, and after authenticating, change your browser URL to http://IP_of_phone/screencapture. Refresh the browser to update the capture.

This works on the following models: SIP-T48G, SIP-T46G, SIP-T42G, SIP-T41P, SIP-T29G, SIP-T28P, SIP-T27P, SIP-T26P, SIP-T23G, SIP-T23P, SIP-T22P, SIP-T21P E2.

 
HP 3PAR default passwords
by lunarg on November 19th 2018, at 11:07

The following default passwords are used for HP 3PAR storage systems:

UsernamePasswordUsed for
3paradm3pardataManagement port (MGMT) for admin control
Setupusr / root(blank)SP initial default credentials (before config)
Spvar3V#rparSP default credentials (after config)
3parcust3parInServSP default credentials, meant for customers to use
 
Updating the vCenter Server Appliance via ISO and CLI
by lunarg on October 26th 2018, at 13:29

You can easily update your vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) offline by downloading a product patch ISO and via the CLI.

Download the latest patch from VMware Patch Download Center. Select VC from the Search by Product drop-down menu, then select the correct version (i.e. 6.0 or 6.5). Download the patch ISO and attach it to the VCSA.

Log in to the shell (using SSH or VMRC) and initiate the update:

  1. Stage the ISO updates:
    software-packages stage --iso --acceptEulas
  2. Optionally, you can view the list of packages to be updated:
    software-packages list --staged
  3. To install the updates, run:
    software-packages install --staged

After the update has finished, you will have to reboot the VCSA.

 
Barracuda NG Firewall: exclude Apple Appstore from AV scanning
by lunarg on October 22nd 2018, at 10:35
Barracuda NG Firewall has a comprehensive anti-malware and anti-virus scanning engine. Unfortunately, this clashes with the Apple Appstore: downloading apps and updates get blocked by the AV scanning engine. In order to resolve this, the URLs from Apple need to be excluded.

Using NGAdmin, log on to the firewall (or Control Center), navigate to the Virus-Scanner service of the firewall, and open the Virus Scanner Settings configuration node.

Click on Content Scanning and under the HTTP Multimedia Streaming section, add a new Scan Exception.

Enter a name for the exclusion, then enter these values:

Allowed MIME-Types: add the value *

Domain: *.apple.*

Setting the allowed MIME-type to * is  ...
 
VMWare: mark all optical drives as client
by lunarg on September 27th 2018, at 11:38
It is best practice not to have an ISO mounted on a VM if it is not necessary. This is especially the case with VDI: if you forget to set the optical drive back to client, each of your desktops will have the ISO mounted as well, which can create a hassle with dependencies on the datastore where the ISO is located.

With PowerCLI, you can quickly resolve the matter with this one-liner:

Get-VM | Get-CDDrive | Where {$_.ISOPath -ne $null} | Set-CDDrive -NoMedia -Confirm:$false

For VDI, note that this will not work for replicas and master images containing snapshots, as the dependency remains intact if a snapshot exists where the ISO was still mounted. In that case, it is better to clone the m  ...
 
Add/remove network routes in macOS
by lunarg on September 27th 2018, at 10:35

Similar as on FreeBSD and Linux, you can add/remove static network routes through the command line with the route command. The syntax somewhat differs from Linux, though.

To add a route (e.g. subnet 192.168.3.0/24 to gateway 192.168.1.254):

sudo route -n add -net 192.168.3.0/24 192.168.1.254

To remove a route:

sudo route -n delete -net 192.168.3.0/24

To show the current route table, you can use netstat:

netstat -nr
 
macOS: reset folder view for all folders
by lunarg on September 27th 2018, at 10:15
Folder view preferences are stored separately in a hidden file called .DS_Store in each folder. If you want to reset the folder view options to the default settings, you can use Terminal to do a search for those files and remove them.

To remove them in your home folder, you can run this:

find ~ -name ".DS_Store" -delete

Note that you can also do this on network shares. Just adjust the search path accordingly.

Suppose you have a share mapped to smb://server/data, then you would type:

find /Volumes/data -name "*.DS_Store" -delete

Caution
Be very careful with this command. It will not ask for confirmation!Making a typo (like forgetting to add the -name parameter) could result in permanent  ...
 
Backup switch configuration to TFTP (CLI reference)
by lunarg on August 24th 2018, at 15:14
In case of disaster, it is usually a very good idea to periodically back up the configuration of your network switches. This article lists syntax for backing up configuration to a TFTP server for different vendors.

In the syntax examples below, the IP for the TFTP is 1.2.3.4, and we're writing to the file switch.cfg.

Note that this article is definitely not complete. If you have additions to this article, please post them in the comments.

The syntax for Dell and Cisco switches is mostly the same. For N-series and PowerConnect, a summary is displayed which needs to be confirmed, which is not the case for Cisco and Dell S-series.

For Cisco Small Business (SF- and SG-series), the CLI ne  ...
 
Enable Telnet/SSH on Cisco 300/500 switches
by lunarg on August 21st 2018, at 14:44

Cisco's SF/SG 300/500 series managed switches have CLI access via Telnet and SSH but this is turned off by default, leaving only the web interface to manage the switch. You can enable Telnet and/or SSH via the web interface, enabling management via CLI.

  1. Log on to the web interface, then navigate to Security → TCP/UDP Services.
  2. Check the Enable boxes for Telnet Service and/or SSH Service. You can check both if you wish to enable both protocols. Click Apply, which will immediately start the selected services:
  3. Don't forget to save the configuration change to flash. Otherwise, the change will be lost after a reboot:
 
Configure tftpd-hpa to allow upload of new files
by lunarg on August 21st 2018, at 14:16
When installing tftpd-hpa, as a security measure, the service does not allow uploading new files. It does allow overwriting existing files, provided that the permissions are set correctly (as expected). The idea behind this is to secure TFTP a bit by only allowing uploads if the file already exists (and is writable). But this can be very tedious in some cases, where a lot of files have to be uploaded, and it is not possible to guess the names to create them in advance.

It is possible to configure tftpd-hpa to allow the creation of new files by adding the -c or --create parameter when starting the daemon.

For Ubuntu and Debian, this means editing the file /etc/default/tftpd-hpa, and adding   ...
 
Enable SSH on Dell Networking N-series (PowerConnect) switches
by lunarg on August 21st 2018, at 11:20
To enable SSH on Dell Networking N-series (formerly known as Dell PowerConnect), you first have to generate the required private RSA and DSA keys. If you don't, you're met with a very secretive error message:

SSH could not be enabled.

To generate the keys, and configure and enable SSH, log on to the switch using the console cable or log on through Telnet:

Go into EXEC mode, then in CONFIG mode:

enableconfigure

Generate both the RSA and DSA keys:

crypto key generate rsacrypto key generate dsa

Now, you can enable the SSH server:

ip ssh server

Optionally: you can also change the default listen port:

ip ssh port 22

With more recent firmware versions, you are no longer able to   ...
 
Revive your old Macbook with MacPostFactor
by lunarg on August 16th 2018, at 10:13
MacPostfactor is a tool to install Mac OSX 10.8+ on older Macbooks that normally only support up to OSX 10.7 (Lion). It works through a combination of a highly customized installer, a replaced set of drivers and various frameworks, and the original installation app from the App Store. The installation can be done directly on a Macbook already running OSX Lion (so no USB disk required), or on an USB media for installation on another system.

You need an Intel-based Macbook capable of running OSX Lion (10.7) (otherwise your Mac is too old), but one that does not support OSX Mountain Lion (10.8) or higher. PowerPC-based Macs are not supported (they do not run OSX Lion).

The installer app of th  ...
 
Change owner of a SQL Server maintenance plan
by lunarg on July 12th 2018, at 09:47
When creating a SQL Server maintenance plan, the owner of the plan is set to the user logged in when the plan is created. If another user makes changes, the owner does not change. Sometimes it may become necessary to change the owner (e.g. if the owner's account is being disabled or removed). You can manually change the owner through the SQL Server Agent's Job Activity Monitor but changing it there is only temporary: changes to a maintenance plan will reset the owner back to the original one. Changing the owner from within the maintenance plan is not possible through the GUI, but there is a way to make the change through T-SQL statements.

The following queries need to be run against the msd  ...
 
Managing Office 365 and Exchange Online using Powershell
by lunarg on July 10th 2018, at 14:46
A few steps to enable management of your Office 365 subscription using Powershell. One uses Powershell because not all configuration is available through the Office 365 Portal, and it's also useful for automation.

Note that the old method of installing the Azure Active Directory Module is deprecated. The only supported way is to install the cmdlets directly through Powershell, as described below.

UPDATE (2018-07-09): removed all deprecated information.

UPDATE (2016-04-20): updated links and information.

Download and install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant.

Download and install Windows Management Framework 5.1.

Open an elevated Powershell, and run the following comma  ...
 
Managing Exchange Online using Powershell (deprecated)
by lunarg on July 9th 2018, at 14:30
You can manage Exchange Online through Powershell in a similar fashion as you would an on-premise Exchange. There are some differences between available cmdlets and what they do between on-premise Exchange and Exchange Online, but the majority are the same.

Using multi-factor authentication
The method mentioned below is deprecated and only works for non-MFA usage. If you are using multi-factor authentication, you will have to use the Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module to connect to Exchange Online. Instructions can be found in this article.

Using PS remoting, the cmdlets for Exchange Online are imported through the internet, so first, you need to change the Powershell execution polic  ...
 
VMware vConverter: A File I/O Error Occurred while accessing ''
by lunarg on July 3rd 2018, at 14:58
When using VMware vConverter Standalone 6.1 or newer, performing a P2V may fail very early in the process with the following error:

Error
FAILED: A file I/O error occurred while accessing ''.

You can work around the issue by enabling Use proxy mode on the Destination System page at the conversion wizard. As an alternative workaround, perform the P2V directly to a ESX host.

The reason for the error has to do with the ESX host's certificate not being trusted when performing a P2V to a vCenter.

If the Use proxy mode does not resolve your issue, please check whether the FQDN of the ESX host is resolvable on the machine running vConverter. Even when using strictly IP addresses, the FQDN still  ...
 
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