Blogs

HowTo - Create Dummy Event Log Items

Posted Thu, 07/22/2010 - 15:25 by MWalker

I found myself wanting to create dummy entries in the Windows Event Logs to test some monitoring and automated response mechanisms.  Some quick Googling brought the "eventcreate" command to my attention.

Using a simple command like this:

Perl Telnet Script

Posted Tue, 07/06/2010 - 15:23 by MWalker

I wanted to find a way to backup cisco device configurations and retrieve other bits of info in an automated fashion via telnet.  Unfortunately there is no good way with windows batch files without using a 3rd party utility.  If I was going to go 3rd party, I was going to install perl so I can write a script that could be used in windows and/or linux.

TFTP - Peer didn't Respond

Posted Tue, 06/15/2010 - 13:45 by MWalker

Thought I would share this little adventure.

While making a routine backup of various network devices, I went to access the Cisco Wireless Controller of our local LAN.  There is a TFTP option for the configuration file and I thought that should be simple enough.  I fired up my local SolarWinds TFTP server and tried to upload the file to my laptop.

ASA prevent TLS SMTP connections

Posted Sat, 06/12/2010 - 09:57 by MWalker

We deployed new Cisco ASA firewalls to upgrade/replace some very old firewalls.  Everything went pretty well with a few exceptions.  The biggest issue was that the Exchange server was unable to send outbound emails.  A STARTTLS error was shown in the logs.  Turns out it was the inspection map blocking the connections.

XP Install Blank Black Screen

Posted Wed, 06/09/2010 - 15:25 by MWalker

Recently I had to rebuild several desktops for redeployment for some summer interns.  I grabbed the manufacturer OS install CD and booted up, hit any key to boot from the CD, started initializing and ... Black Screen.  

Device Default Passwords

Posted Thu, 06/03/2010 - 08:22 by MWalker

Often times you will inherit some old equipment or were required to factory default / reset some piece of equipment and find yourself unable to access it.  Of course you can take the usual guess for default admin access or try to look up the information online.  However below is a nice handy URL with a list of typical manufacturer/device and their factory default admin credential

Military Alphabet

Posted Tue, 05/25/2010 - 09:01 by MWalker

It makes a good reference card to print out for the desk/cube wall.  Help reduce mistakes when communicating over the phone in a loud datacenter environment.  Also makes you sound more technical.

How To Replicate Public Folders Recursively in Exchange 2007 / 2010

Posted Thu, 05/20/2010 - 14:13 by MWalker

Thanks to Clint Boessen's Blog article, I saved quite a bit of time in configuring Public Folders to replicate from the Exchange 2003 environment to the Exchange 2010 Public Folder Databases.  Microsoft has a handy powershell script just for this purpose.  You can replicate an entir

Nagios SNMP Tools

Posted Wed, 04/28/2010 - 17:09 by MWalker

Just a quick post about trying to get Nagios to use SNMP.  You need to make sure you have the components needed.  My stripped down little VPS I use for testing did not.  I needed to run:

Exchange2010 Installtion Issues

Posted Wed, 04/14/2010 - 17:27 by MWalker

I have had a very busy time consulting of late and have not been able to update much on the blog.  However I did want to document this one issue that drove me BERSERK for so long.