External NTP sync for Domain Controllers (refresh)

Waaaay back in 2012, I etched a note on how to sync Domain Controllers to an External NTP source.

Now, back to the future (not so near... 2013), it got *A LOT* simpler...

w32tm.exe /config /manualpeerlist:"0.#country_code#.pool.ntp.org 1.#country_code#.pool.ntp.org" /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:YES /update

And that's all, folks!

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Auto Save Keepass database

Keepass is one of THE best tools ever for any IT personna.

But if, as I usually do, you don't save it regularly, when your laptop runs out of battery, all your changes will be lost - I have my laptop on hibernate when not using it (SSD rules!!).

And then there's this lifesaver. This is not my doing, but it's a great KP keepsake :-) No plugin, just builtin KP triggers.

1. In KeePass Password Safe, click on Tools menu and select Triggers.

2. Click on Add button to open Add Trigger wizard.

3. Enter a name for the new trigger, such as Auto Save Database, then click Next. Left the “Enabled” and “Initially On” check boxes ticked, and “Turn off after executing actions (run once) check box unticked.

4. On the “Events” tab, click on Add button.

5. Select User interface state updated in the “Event” drop-down list, which evaluates to true when KeePass has finished updating the state of the user interface (menus, toolbar, …), including after most user actions, like adding / editing / deleting entries and groups, etc. Then, click OK, follow by Next in the wizard.

6. Optional: On the “Conditions” tab, click on Add button.

7. Optional (if perform step above):Select Active database has unsaved changes in the “Condition” drop-down list, and click OK, follow by Next in the wizard.

8. On the “Actions” tab, click on Add button.

9. Select Save active database in the “Action” drop-down list, and click OK.

10. Click Finish, follow by OK.

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mRemoteNG takes up to 30sec to start when cut from Internet

mRemote is your one-stop-shop for all your remote connection needs (telnet/ssh/rdp/ica).

But when connected on a network with no internet connection, it takes a while to load... 20~30 sec.

"mRemoteNG and many of its associated files are digitally signed with a certificate from Comodo. Microsoft calls this technology Authenticode. When the .NET Framework starts mRemoteNG, it verifies the certificate revocation list (CRL) from Comodo to verify that the certificate is still valid.

This is a security feature and is used to verify that mRemoteNG has not been tampered with."

"The checking is all handled by the .NET Framework before mRemoteNG even loads."
by rmcardle, coder of mRemoteNG.

But this can be disabled, if needed.

Add

<runtime><generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/></runtime>

to the end of mRemoteNG.exe.config file, inside the <configuration> tag, located in the directory where mRemoteNG.exe is installed/located. 

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Internet IP addressing map

This one is an oldie revisited :-)

Waaaay back then (2006), xkcd made an Internet IP address map.

Someone made an update (@2011)... the change is... abyssal!

Auto reboot on VirtualBox

If you ever get a linux on continuous reboot for some kind of 'virtual hardware' issue, it could be a real nag!!

# VBoxManage setextradata <VMNAME> "VBoxInternal/PDM/HaltOnReset" 1

This will do the trick!!

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Re-attach NFS share on ESX after connection loss

ESXi 5.x

To remove a datastore:

1. To list the mounted datastores on the host:
 
# esxcli storage nfs list

2. Make a note of the NFS datastore from step 1. Run this command to delete the NFS mount:
 
# esxcli storage nfs remove -v NFS_Datastore_Name

Note: This operation does not delete the information on the share, it unmounts the share from the host. If the NFS datastore is being used by either a virtual machine or a third party script, you may see this error:

Error performing operation: NFS Error: Unable to Unmount filesystem: Busy.

3. To add the datastore, run this command to mount the NFS datastore: 

# esxcli storage nfs add -H NFS_IP|NFS_HOSTNAME -s Share_mount_point_on_the_NFS -v DatastoreName

On a working cluster, you only need to do this on one node, the others will pickup.
 

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BASH redirection

   1>filename
      # Redirect stdout to file "filename."
   1>>filename
      # Redirect and append stdout to file "filename."
   2>filename
      # Redirect stderr to file "filename."
   2>>filename
      # Redirect and append stderr to file "filename."
   &>filename
      # Redirect both stdout and stderr to file "filename."
      # This operator is now functional, as of Bash 4,
      # final release.

   M>N
     # "M" is a file descriptor, which defaults to 1,
     # if not explicitly set.
     # "N" is a filename.
     # File descriptor "M" is redirect to file "N."
   M>&N
     # "M" is a file descriptor, which defaults to 1,
     # if not set.
     # "N" is another file descriptor.

And there you go :-)

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