Why DFS doesn’t replicate certain files ?
January 28, 2008
Posted by Roel in : Technical , add a comment
I always advise everyone to use DFS (Distributed File System), even when you do not plan to replicate files/folders between servers, it’s a good way of getting rid of all that server names.
Do these problems sound familiar: "On which server was that share ?" or "The share is running out of space, but we can’t move it to another server because 1000+ employees mapped it" ?
Take a look at this video (or show it to your manager), it’s easy to understand.
Problems
After I configured DFS for the Home Directories share (using replication to another server), i saw that not all files were replicated.
5 files to be exactly, 4 pictures (jpg/gif) and 1 PDF document.
Diving into this issue, there are a few reasons why files won’t get replicated; (more…)
X64 issues (when migrating some servers)
January 10, 2008
Posted by Roel in : Technical , add a comment
I recently migrated some Windows platforms to Windows Server 2003 x64 which were running Windows 2003 Server (normal 32-bit version).
The reason for this was that i migrated to a new virtual platform (in my case Xen Enterprise 4.0.1) which supports 64bit Operating Systems, so it would be a quick win… If i didn’t had XEN (or another virtual platform), i would have to buy several complete new servers (hardware) when i wanted to do this (migrating to 64bit) because none of my ‘old’ Pentium III, Pentium IV and Xeon processors supported 64bit, even the system boards did’t support 64bit CPU’s.
(more…)
Script to sequentially defrag remote servers (example: on a SAN!)
December 13, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , 1 comment so far
Previous years i had running several scheduled tasks on all my servers.
Recently I migrated all my Physical Large Iron Hardware (mostly servers) to Virtual Servers (VMs) in XEN. I have an OpenFiler SAN which hosts all the Storage (iSCSI storage or NFS shares).
I still had all my scheduled tasks running at all the Virtual servers, which included Backup and Defrag tasks, they all started somewhere between 02:00 and 06:00 during the night.
Because the defrag and backup tasks were now running all on the same OpenFiler SAN and all at the same time, the SAN was getting a bit slow,… as you can imagine ;)
That’s why i made a sequential defrag script!
Best Case for HP IPaq 6910/6915/6925/65xx
November 16, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Life , 1 comment so far
For quite some time i’ve been looking for a case or wallet for my HP Ipaq 6915 phone/pda. 
I was looking for a case which is (a little) shock proof, which i could put in my Cradle without removing the case and also has stylish look. Water resistant was no issue for me.
I searched my head off, including the following cases/wallets:
Noreve (beatifull, quite expensive but not cradle compatible)
User reviews say it is not easy to remove the phone from this case because of the joystick on the phone needs to slide under some tight leather/plastics. The included belt-clip also seems to be a bit weak. Noreve cases might be hard to get in your local shop. (more…)
How to resize your SR in Xen
November 3, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , 5comments
Since a while, i’m using OpenFiler 2.x and Xen 4.01 Enterprise.
I use the iSCSI capabilities of OpenFiler for my Storage Repositories (SR) in Xen.
Last week i had a space problem for one of my VMs in XEN: The (virtual) Harddrive was only 30GB and i wanted to add another drive of 60GB. However, my Storage Repository (SR) was only 30GB! (more…)
Hidden Share$ in OpenFiler
October 16, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , add a comment
You can create a hidden (Windows) share in OpenFiler (SMB/CIFS Share) by entering the “Override SMB share name” ending with the $ sign. Do not forget to restart (disable and enable) the SMB/CIFS service.
This actually changes the /etc/samba/smb.conf file to something like this (you can also do that manually):
[Backup$]
comment = Backup
path = /mnt/...../Backup
...
Note: Linux boxes always see ‘hidden’ Windows shares, only windows is hiding them.
obscurity != security
Windows .NET 2.0 Update warnings (aspnet_perf.dll / KB928365)
October 14, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , add a comment
I had a Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 (30day edition) running. When I decided to run all updates (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com), I saw the following warnings in the Application Event Log:
Event ID: 37
Type: Warning
Source: WINMgmt
Description:
WMI ADAP was unable to load the C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_perf.dll performance library due to an unknown problem within the library 0×0.
Finally, ICACLS Valhalla !
August 20, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , 2comments
Did you ever need to script ’setting-file/folder-permissions’ or making a deployment or install script ? Or did you ever screwed-up the NTFS permissions on the C:\Windows folder (including all the subfolders) ?
If so, you’d better read on;
Microsoft finally came with a solution which stops all the horror of automaticly setting-NTFS permissions, including the slow and buggy CACLS variants. (more…)
Summer birthday party
June 23, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Life , 1 comment so far
Today i’ll give a small party, already announced via this site. I hope the weather is good and we make a lot of cool photo’s and short movies. I’ll post them next week.
Happy boarding and be carefull…
ABN-AMRO security weaknesses
April 17, 2007
Posted by Roel in : Technical , 1 comment so far
Today i took some time to write a little about ABN-AMRO’s security weaknesses.
This article including it’s examples and example code (which will be posted later) are for educational purposes only.
Account blocking
It’s made too simple to lock an account for internet banking. Going to https://www.abnamro.nl/nl/homepage/overview.html and typing an existing bank account number with any card number, submit this 5 times and the account will be locked.
The owner of the account needs to call the Service Center (or submit a letter/fax) and request to unlock his/her account. This takes some time,.. meanwhile he/she cannot enjoy internet banking or online stock trading.
You might think: “Nothing wrong, it’s just one account”.
Wrong!, imagine building a script, blocking all account numbers of all internet banking customers.
(more…)
