I have started a new job and as usual had to set up a new computer. Using Windows in a Unix environment seems like a bad choice at first. However, Microsoft has changed strategy and embraced the Unix world with projects such as Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or Windows SQL Server support for Linux. In result you can install bash with WSL and use the native ssh client. But there is also another way. If you install Git for Windows a ssh binary is shipped as well. This binary and other tools such as ssh-keygen are not available from the command line by default. I want show you how to fix this, setup a keypair and start using ssh in a Windows environment.
Intrigued by the title you might ask your self: What is the reason to store ether in a software wallet? Well, If you have cryptocoins on an exchange platform there is always the risk of the account getting hacked or the platform goes offline (see MtGox). Exchange platforms for cryptocoins are not as regulated and institutionalized as banks and trading centers are. The risk is in favor of the provider. To assert full control of your coins aka your money it is recommended to store them in a wallet.
I visited China from the beginning of last december until christmas. My backpack was filled with prejudice and the expectation of having a hard time travelling there. The reality looked quite different. China was a blast! Vibrant, lively, fascinating, contradictory and quite the opposite from the european life style. Swallowed in Beijing and spit out in Hong Kong I enjoyed China all over. Definitely not the last I have been there. Again my favorite pictures:
My local sports club STV Kerns organized and performed a cinema themed gymnastic show Turnerabend. Together with other sports clubs we’ve put together a program and presented during two evenings and one after noon. During the event I was in charge of technical aspects and making photos of the show. Here are some of my favorites.
Syslog is the defacto standard for sending log messages in an IP network. Instead of pulling log messages from a remote computer as you would do it in a windows environment, the log files are sent by remote computers to a central log repository. This way of managing log files has become the standard for Linux / Unix environments. As our IT systems tends to become hybrids, the questions arises how it possible to send syslog messages from a windows computer. In this post I will present you a simple approach.
CMTrace is probably the first choice for a log viewer in a Microsoft environment. When working with System Center Configuration Manager there aren’t any alternatives available. In a recent scenario I had to write log files in the CMtrace format. There are already many cmdlets available to do so, however, most of them did not work well or were overengineered. There I’ve taken a look at the CMTrace format specs and wrote a PowerShell function to create compatible log files.
Configuration Manager applications can be equipped with powerful requirement rules. For example an application must be installed only if there is enough disk space on the target device or only if the device is the users primary device. The second example is an important requirement rule when working with user device affinity. Configuring this kind of rule is done in a few seconds using the management console. However, scripting the rule with PowerShell is much more difficult. As of today the cmdlets provided by Microsoft for automating Configuration Manager assets do not support building requirement rules for deployment types. But as always there is a workaround. In my case I’ve decided to create an application template containing all requirement rules and copy specific rules from there to other applications.
With additional steps in an image deployment task sequence the log files will grow quite big. By default the Configuration Manager client keeps a log history of 0 and a size limit of 2 MB for each log file. In result you’ll find yourself missing important details when trying to debug a failed operating system deployment. At some point the log files will be cut off. In order to increase the log size and retention, parameters must be configured in two places.
Traceability is key when collaborating in the Active Directory (AD). Multiple admins changing and updating permissions and policies makes it difficult being compliant with the company’s policies. It is important to monitor mutations in the directory. By default audit policies are disabled for Domain Controllers (DC) and must be enabled explicitly. Enabling auditing for the DCs is quite easy, querying the logs for a specific event is a bit more difficult.
In this guide you’ll learn how to enable auditing for a specific case and how to query the audit logs for a specific event.
In terms of IT compliance having valid GPOs is essential. They must be update to date and the GPO directory should be free of any unlinked GPOs. Retrieving a list of unlinked GPOs in the management console is impossible. With PowerShell it is quite easy.
