This falls under the category of Fun Apps. I recently installed GuessMyOS by Hyper9 (who make several virtualization management apps). This is a plugin for VI3 and vSphere4 client. GuessMyOS replaces the generic VM icons with OS-specific for Linux and Windows. Personally I like seeing the penguin.
This is tied to the client so must be enabled for each client instance.
- habanero_joe
After attending the VMware View 4 Launch tour in Tampa a couple of weeks ago, I loaded up the evaluation to give it a good field test.
NOTE: I recommend reading the documentation BEFORE installing…
A few points to consider prior to rolling out the product:
1) View Server requires a MS Windows Server (2008 is not supported yet) that is a domain member.
2) View Composer requires vCenter Server and is installed as a service on vCenter.
3) So far only Windows desktop OS is supported.
4) There is a 32-bit Open Source client available (Google it).
Note: View Composer is not required to evaluate View but it is worth the slightly extra work to see it in action. Composer certainly makes it easier to rapidly create multiple desktops from a single template.
Observations after a couple of weeks:
After the initial set up, I have not had to do anything other than reboot the View Server after it became non-responsive. This caused a seemingly unrelated error when trying to connect with View Client.
My next steps are to get the Open Source Client working and hopefully to get a PCoIP “zero client” device to test. My initial thought is why would I connect to a Windows desktop from a Windows desktop?
More later…
- habanero_joe
Ran into an issue today where a clients SBS 2008 server stopped servicing requests made to hostname/owa. I am still unsure as to what caused this issue but find a fairly simple way to recreate the OWA virtual directory for IIS. Many admins are familiar with this procedure / howto for Exchange 2003 but are unable to find something similar for Exchange 2007. While the step that I will describe below is not as in depth as the previous link, it did resolve my issue.
If your OWA is giving you the dreaded 404 treatment try this: Open IIS Manager and delete the OWA virtual directory. Next you will need to open the Exchange Management Shell. Enter in the following command and press enter afterwards: New-OWAVirtualDirectory -OwaVersion:Exchange2007 -Name "OWA" .
That will rebuild / recreate the OWA virtual directory and start accepting client requests immediately. Please note that this recreates the OWA virtual directory under Default Web Site, not under SBS Web Applications like a default SBS / Exchange 2K7 install.
Hopefully, this one liner will save you some trouble.
–Himuraken
This one seems like an obvious one, but I will post it anyways. Chances are that you have deployed and/or maintain Windows 2003 Small Business Server. Many small businesses purchased SBS during “the good times” of 2003-2008.
Due to the licensing restrictions imposed on the product by Microsoft, these servers are always one boxed. That is to say that they have too many servers and services on the same hardware. Most of these systems are reaching their end of life and are running slower than ever.
These 32bit boxes are usually maxed on RAM (4GB) and are starving for more. Lately I have been auditing the list of installed applications and removing as needed. The memory hog is usually some SQL server running even though it isn’t in use. Take into account Backup Exec, WSUS, SBS Monitoring, and Sharepoint and you begin to see where all that RAM is going. Almost all of my clients have been moved over to a managed services platform which handles Windows Updates and system monitoring. That takes out two standard SQL databases/instances right off the bat.
So the long story short is this: Reevaluate the needs of your aging servers and get more from them by removing obsolete tools.
–Himuraken
Interested in creating a hidden local maintenance account for a Windows box? Is easy to do, just go to the registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList, create a new dword and name it the exact same as the account you want to hide. A value of “0″ hides the account and a value of “1″ displays it at the welcome screen. That’s all it takes. This works the same on a Vista or Win7 box.
Ran into this one today… Client’s BlackBerry Professional server 1 user license and I had to remove the user from the configuration. After several minutes I attempted to add the user back in and was told that I was out of licenses. The status page showed that a total of one user(s) was configured, while the user page showed zero. I restarted all services and attempted a few other things before running into the following commands which worked immediately.
1. Open a command prompt on the BES/BPS database server and run osql -E
2. Next, enter the following commands one line at a time, pressing enter after each command:
-a. use BESMgmt
-b. select DisplayName from UserConfig
-c. go
3. You should get a name(returned) by the database.
-a. use BESMgmt
-b. delete from UserConfig where DisplayName="name-to-remove"
-c. go
You can now open or refresh the BlackBerry Manager and check the number of licensed users which will not be minus one.
–Himuraken
Happy New Year! Just dropping a quick one in case anyone has run into this simple issue.
I recently installed Blackberry Professional Server / Blackberry Enterprise Server on a new system for a client of mine and everything went well but for one exception. Upon opening the Blackberry Manager and checking the status I noticed that the SRP Status was “Not Connected”. A quick check of my firewall showed blocked connections originating from the BPS/BES server on TCP port 3101. After creating an allow rule for that port outbound, I restarted the Blackberry services and everything is working properly.
–Himuraken
This one is from a while ago. I originally used this back in May of 2009 and just realized that I hadn’t posted the link and info. Basically, shortly after migrating to Microsoft Exchange 2007 in-house, we purchased an SSL certificate for various reasons. Long story short, Outlook 2007 clients starting throwing certificate errors upon opening. So, our outside clients now trust the Exchange box, but the inside clients do not. I went round and round trying to resolve this on my own before searching the internet for a solution. Finding the solution was not easy at all, but I eventually located this link. After following the instructions, everything was up and running as one would expect.
I didn’t really think that this would have been such a PITA, but maybe thats what I get for naming a mail server Newman.
–Himuraken