Admins eHow SysAdmin Tips & Tricks

March 26, 2011

Mac or Windows ? What is the right choice ?

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , , — admin @ 7:33 am

People who know me closely know I am not a fan of Microsoft and its products at all , as a professional IT system administrator , I have been against Microsoft for my whole life and supported open source operating systems like Linux. You know the big fight between opensource softwares and Microsoft softwares has been going on for a long time. if you don’t remember anything , I can remind you of FireFox just as an example, competing against IE.

Until 5 months ago, I had almost tried every single OS for my desktop usage except Mac OS X , so I decided to go with Apple this time and got an Intel iMac with latest version of Mac OS X on it.
As you can see in the following image , it is very classy like other Apple appliances.

From hardware point of view I can say Apple has done a brilliant job.
As a professional user, it was not hard for me to get started using mac. I learned very fast how to install and use applications in Mac.
Apple has tried to invent its own way usage of operating system , for example window system buttons ( minimize , maximize , close ) are located in top left side of window except right side ! or when you press enter on a file, it renames the file instead of executing the file !
If you want my idea it is stupid , it is very clear that apple just wants to be different. even in a non sense way ! who does expect the Enter key to be used for renaming files !? there are many many differences too , but I bore with them , I said myself it is a different OS , so there is no reason for it to operate like others , I should get used to it.
But days after days , I found out how limiting is using Mac OS X. A lot of applications are missing and poorly developed for Mac OS X. you only have a few options to choose from.
I guess if I had used Mac from the first day of my computer life , I was a chef now instead of system administrator ! I don’t want to live in Apple’s jail named Mac OS X ! thats what Apple does to you. thats why many people try to jail break their iPhones 😀
Hopefully my iMac was Intel based and I installed windows 7 on it and I am posting this writing from windows now.
I am so glad that I am back to windows 🙂
but with the money which I paid for my iMac , I could buy a PC 16x more powerful and  faster than this.

Conclusion :

If you are a rich guy and your usage of PC is browsing the web , chatting with friends and watching movies. then Mac could be an option for you.
But if price matters to you or you are a professional user , forget about Mac , it is just a waste money. buy or make your own powerful PC yourself and install windows on it and enjoy it.

July 20, 2010

Configure auto time sync on windows 2008 r2

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 2:48 pm

Run the following commands as admin in command prompt :

W32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:"time.nist.gov"
W32tm /config /reliable:yes
W32tm /config /update
W32tm /resync
Net stop w32time
Net start w32time

May 11, 2010

“ASN1 bad tag value met” error when processing a certificate request in IIS 7

Filed under: IIS,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 12:48 pm

We’ve seen a few instances of the following error message on 64 bit servers when IIS 7.0 is attempting to process a pending certificate request:

Complete Certificate Request
There was an error while performing this operation.
Details:
CertEnroll::CX509Enrollment::p_InstallResponse: ASN1 bad tag value met. 0x8009310b (ASN: 267)

This error seems to mean that the private key (created when the certificate request was made) does not match the public key (the .crt file). The keypair is not successfully joined into a working SSL certificate.
So far this behavior seems most common with .crt files (instead of the .cer files many of us are more used to) issued by one specific Certification Authority—which will remain nameless here.
The error shows up after reaching the point in the process where you ‘specify certificate authority response’ and guide the wizard to the ‘File name containing the certification authority’s response…’ (the .crt file).

Solution :
Begin by importing the .crt file into the Personal certificate store for the local computer. (Start button > Run: MMC > File Menu > Add/Remove Snap-in > highlight Certificates snap-in and click the ADD button > select Computer Account and click Finish > Click OK > drill into Personal > Certificates > right-click and select All Tasks > select Import > guide to the .crt file.) At this point your certificate is basically a half-certificate. It is still missing its private key.
Second, double-click the crt certificate file you just imported, select the Details tab, scroll all the way down to Thumbprint and highlight Thumbprint. In the lower pane, block and copy all the letters of the thumbprint. Paste the thumbprint characters into notepad. Open the command prompt and run this command: Certutil /?
The command you’ll want to run is:

certutil -repairstore my "{insert all of the thumbprint characters here}"

When you see the response: “CertUtil: -repairstore command completed successfully” you should have a private key associated with the .crt file in the personal store. There should no longer be any need to run through the “Complete Certificate Request…” wizard. The certificate should show up in the IIS Manager’s list of server certificates at this point. It should also be available in the SSL Certificates drop-down list when attempting to edit the https binding for a website.

Source

April 20, 2010

April 10, 2010

Benchmark network throughput between 2 systems

Filed under: General,Windows — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 2:22 pm

Today I had 2 systems connected to each other with Mellanox MT25208 InfiniBand cards with 40Gbps speed ( it is fast , isnt it ? 😀 ) , after setting up IPoIB ( IP on InfiniBand ) on cards. I wanted to make sure I really have 40Gbps speed , so I searched the net for a network throughput benchmark utility and I found a great software named PCAUSA Test TCP (PCATTCP)
You can download its latest version from its original site : Original Download Page
Or from my site : PCATTCP-0111.zip
Usage :
you have to run a receiver on one of systems by following command :

PCATTCP.exe -r

the default setting was not optimized for testing a 40Gbps line , so I used the following command on transmitter part :

PCATTCP.exe -t -l 819200 -n 1024 10.0.0.1

10.0.0.1 is the IP of receiver part.
You are curious to know the result ? 😀 Here it is :

PCAUSA Test TCP Utility V2.01.01.11
Started TCP Transmit Test 0...
TCP Transmit Test
  Transmit    : TCP -> 10.0.0.1:5001
  Buffer Size : 819200; Alignment: 16384/0
  TCP_NODELAY : DISABLED (0)
  Connect     : Connected to 10.0.0.1:5001
  Send Mode   : Send Pattern; Number of Buffers: 1024
  Statistics  : TCP -> 10.0.0.1:5001
838860800 bytes in 1.97 real seconds = 416683.62 KB/sec +++
numCalls: 1024; msec/call: 1.97; calls/sec: 520.85

Yes , I have a working 40Gbps line 😀

March 20, 2010

How to Disable Password Expiration on Windows Server 2008

Filed under: General,Security,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 2:31 pm

If you’re not using Active Directory, your “Local Security Policy” dictates things like password complexity rules, account lockouts, and password expiration. To turn off password expiration:

1) Login as Administrator or a user with Administrator rights
2) Launch “Local Security Policy”: Start > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy
3) Expand “Account Policies”
4) Select Password Policy
5) Set Maximum Password age to “0”

Source : Ryan’s Tech Notes

March 8, 2010

Workaround to Run Windows Vista Bar Style Sidebar in Windows 7

Filed under: General,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 1:23 pm

There is a workaround to get back the Windows Vista Sidebar in Windows 7. Follow these steps:
1. Close the Windows 7 sidebar by killing the sidebar.exe in the task manager
2. Download this zip file: Win7-Sidebar-Fix.zip
3. Extract the zip content to your Windows Sidebar folder C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar (overwrite existing files)
4. Run the sidebar.exe from C:\Program Files\Windows Vista Sidebar
5. Add your gadgets and have fun with the Windows Vista Sidebar!

Clipboard Manager Gadget with Customized Height

Filed under: Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 12:29 pm

I am a fan of Clipboard manager gadget from Jan Zeman
It is a very useful gadget and lets you to use your clipboard very efficiently.
I have created a customized version of this gadget for myself with Height 260 ( instead of 160 ) which shows 13 last items of clipboard ( instead of 7 ).
You can download it here :
http://adminsehow.com/files/ClipboardManager-H260.Gadget

March 4, 2010

How to run multiple instances of yahoo messenger

Filed under: General,Windows — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 1:46 pm

It is possible to run several instances of Yahoo! Messenger using a tiny registry tweak.
Create a file named “yahoo.reg” and copy and paste the following inside it :

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\yahoo\pager\Test]
"Plural"=dword:00000001

Save the file and double click on it , windows asks for a confirmation to write the data inside windows registry , click on Yes.
We are all set 🙂

August 27, 2009

How to change windows 2003 administrator password from RDP.

Filed under: General,Security,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 6:48 am

In order to connect to a windows VPS remotely , you need to use a software named “Remote Desktop Connection” which is bundled with all versions of windows.
under windows XP it is located under : All Programs –> Accessories –> Communications
under windows Vista it is located under : All Programs –> Accessories
after running this software you will see the following window , enter the IP or host name of your VPS into the computer filed and click on Connect.

after a few seconds a new windows will be opened and you will be asked for the username and password , enter the username and password which is provided by your windows VPS provider. usually the username is Administrator.
if you enter the login details successfully , the desktop of windows VPS will be shown to you.

After you are logged into VPS , follow the below instructions :

Press CTRL+ALT+END buttons simultaneously , the following menu will appear :

Click on Change Password :

Fill the fields and click on OK.

Done 🙂

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