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Category: How-To

DNF-Automatic – Schedule Updates for Fedora (and other Linux distros)

DNF-Automatic – Schedule Updates for Fedora (and other Linux distros)

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If you want to have Fedora (and other rpm-based distros) update itself, you can use DNF-Automatic. First, we’ll need to install it. I’ll assume that this is a fresh server and you decided to login as root to get everything configured. # dnf -y install dnf-automatic Now that it is installed, we will edit the automatic.conf config file with nano- # nano /etc/dnf/automatic.conf You will notice that there are several sections. Each section has a description of the options and…

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VMWare PowerCLI – Backup ESXi Host Configuration

VMWare PowerCLI – Backup ESXi Host Configuration

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I had been using a version of this script to backup my VMWare ESXi host configurations for several years and across several versions of ESXi and vCenter server. This script was connecting to my vCenter Server (at 192.168.0.9) and downloading the configurations to a network share (at 192.168.0.62). It would also cycle the files in and out (deleting old backups) in a First-In-First-Out scheme. Param ( [string]$VIServer = “192.168.0.9”, [string]$ConfigPath = “\\192.168.0.62\backups\ESXiHosts\”, [int]$Days = 21 ) If (-not (Get-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core…

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PSWindowsUpdate – Use PowerShell (and other tools) to Automate Windows Updates

PSWindowsUpdate – Use PowerShell (and other tools) to Automate Windows Updates

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I was searching for a way to further automate new Windows system deployments. One thing I kept running into was Windows updating. I have refined and added automation to my process over the past several years. For Windows 10 clients, my current deployment process involves an MDT/WDS server that has a stock Windows 10 wim file. To customize the deployments, I have a collection of GPOs and PDQDeploy packages for software installation and some other GPOs for policies. I recognized…

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Need to Uninstall Software From Remote Computers on the Cheap? Use WMI CLI

Need to Uninstall Software From Remote Computers on the Cheap? Use WMI CLI

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Sometimes you just need to uninstall an application from several (or several hundred) computers and you don’t want to log in to each one individually. This came up recently when I was upgrading and migrating FileMaker 11 to FileMaker 13. If you are a domain admin, one way to do this is to use WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line). First, you will need to find out the product name associated with the piece of software you would like to uninstall….

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Reset OwnCloud 7 Admin Password (Linux Server)

Reset OwnCloud 7 Admin Password (Linux Server)

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If you lost your password for the web interface Admin login of your OwnCloud installation; Or perhaps, like myself, you weren’t paying attention and glossed over that part when you set up the MySQL DB settings and closed out the browser before configuring anything else, fear not! After searching high and low and trying several different methods, including replacing hashes and modifying database tables and whatnot, I have found the solution that is kind of cobbled together from a couple…

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Microsoft Azure DirSync for Office 365 – How to update/change the connectivity password (Resolve stopped-extension-dll exception error)

Microsoft Azure DirSync for Office 365 – How to update/change the connectivity password (Resolve stopped-extension-dll exception error)

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In this how-to article I am assuming that you have already setup/configured DirSync for Microsoft Office 365 and have found that the “stopped-extension-dll exception error” in the event viewer references an issue with the password of your sync/tenant account. What can cause this? The most common reason that I have found is that the account used to sync with the tenant has an expired password. By default, the passwords for tenant-based accounts expire every 90 days. This is controlled on…

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Using Ninite Pro in Conjunction with Group Policy to Automate Third-Party Application Patching

Using Ninite Pro in Conjunction with Group Policy to Automate Third-Party Application Patching

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In my quest, as the lone Sys Admin for an SMB, to automate third-party application patching and installation, I have found the inexpensive yet invaluable tool, Ninite Pro. This article assumes that you have a Microsoft Active Directory domain, have the permissions necessary to create GPOs and have subscribed to or are trialing Ninite Pro. Also, I am assuming you know basic server administrative tasks, such as sharing a folder, using GPMC, etc. Introduction to Ninite Pro Ninite Pro is…

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Disable NetBIOS on Windows Server 2008 R2 DHCP Server Scopes

Disable NetBIOS on Windows Server 2008 R2 DHCP Server Scopes

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  If you don’t need NetBIOS on your network any longer, here is how to disable NetBIOS on your Windows Server 2008 R2 DHCP server scopes. To disable NetBIOS on the DHCP server, follow these steps: Click Start>Programs>Administrative Tools>DHCP. In the navigation pane, click + to expand the your_server_name>Scope right click Scope Options, then click Configure Options. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Microsoft Windows 2000 Options in the Vendor class list. Make sure that Default User Class is…

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ShoreTel: Configuring DHCP Scope Option 156 in Windows Server 2008 R2

ShoreTel: Configuring DHCP Scope Option 156 in Windows Server 2008 R2

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This how-to article explains the process to add the necessary DHCP scope option 156 to a Windows Server 2008 R2 DHCP server for use with ShoreTel IP phones. This process assumes that you have already created a DHCP scope and is made up of two main steps. Step One – Creating Option 156 in Your Windows DHCP server. Open the DHCP tool in Windows – Start>Administrative Tools>DHCP Add all of the Windows DHCP servers to the manager – Right-click DHCP>Add…

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