Administration – AgileOps

VMware Removing 2-year VCP Recertification Requirement!

Ibrahim Quraishi — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 19:45:13 +0000

Hello everyone I have some exiting news for you. It has been nearly 2 years since I got my VCP 6.0 Certification, hence I was in a process for re-certification for my VCP 6.7. I have also been considering for the VPC in NSX track for a change. However to my surprise, I got an email yesterday 5th Feb 2019 from VMware confirming that effective immediately VMware is removing the requirement for every two year VCP re-certification! As much I like to keep my certification valid its a good move that VMware has taken to give us the control when we chose to re-certify. Of course I will love to get another VCP in NSX , I wont be stressing myself to getting it done over a tight deadline. Check out the official blog VMware Official blog VMware Education Services blog VMware Certification: Recertification Is Changing and What It Means to You httpss://blogs.vmware.com/education/2019/02/04/vmware-certification-recertification-is-changing-and-what-it-means-to-you Check out the new book VMware vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive Kindle Edition by Frank Denneman (Author), Duncan Epping (Author), Niels Hagoort (Author) I got this book signed by them when I was in VMWorld 2018 ]]>

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator Installation on Windows Server 2012

Ibrahim Quraishi — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:21:29 +0000

Please go through the pre-requisite documentation for more detail information on installation of SCCM and good luck finding it J According to my experience their are the 3 main pre requirements

.NET 3.5 or above
MS SQL Server ( I have installed MS SQL Server 2008 Express edition ) please go through my post on how to install SQL for SCCM
Firewall ports need to be unlock

To be honest once you get the SQL installed and configured in the way I have shown on my recent post : https://quraishi.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/microsoft-sql-server-2008-express-for-system-center-configuration-manager-sccm/ There is very little to worry about, the installation of SCCM should be very swift. Just to define few terms which I will be using in my post / screenshots Server Name: SIZMIC1 Domain Name: Sizmic SQL Instance: MSSQLSERVER Account used are all local so sizmic1\administrator ( domain name\user name) So lets get started launch the setup by double clicking Orchestrator setup You will see the Getting started setup screen don’t bother about entring the key if you are using the Beta 180 evulation edition of System Center 2012. Click Accept the Licencing terms Click Please note that Server Manager is already installed on Windows Server 2012 and I have noticed that its also installed on Windows Server 2008 R2. Select all and Click > Please note that I am note that I have used the Domain credentials but if you want you can luse the Local admin account. on my server it will be Sizmic1\administrator as the server name is SIZMIC1. Click once the test is passed you will get Credintials accepted. Click Configurating the DB is a very important step if you have followed the post I have created for SQL installation their should not be any issue fingures cross. on the above screenshort I have tried to connect with the Doamin name and instance. NB: please dont get confused with the next screnshort as I have reinstalled the SQL DB and changed the instance name to the default one which was MYSQLSERVER I have changed to server insted of my domain SIZMIC so hence SIZMIC1\MSSQLSERVER (LOCALSERVER NAME\DEFAULT INSTANCE) also chose Authentication Credentials as Windows Authenticaiton Click <Test Database Connection> Leave the name as it is for the New database and Click leave the default setting and Click Leave default and Click leave the default setting for port unless you want to change them to your custome ports. Click I would sugget to leave the Updates on as its a new product and Microsoft pushes new updates quite offten. Click Ok so I would strongely sugget to leave this to Yes as thats the whole point of testing a Beta product to give feedback for Microsoft to improve the product. Click Finally you can review the configuration before you hit the Install. Once you are happy Click Once its Installed you can lauch the SCCM Hope you enjoyed my post and will comment if you have any questions, I will try my best to answer them. Usefull links: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/default.aspx https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/video/microsoft-virtual-academy-microsoft-private-cloud-infrastructure-module-1-microsoft-system-center-configuration-manager-2012-overview]]>

Virtualization Technologies used today and its benefits!

Ibrahim Quraishi — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 02:18:51 +0000

Reduce power and space requirement in data centres

Fast application and service provisioning

Improved manageability

Business continuity
When these factors are measured by a survey taken by f5 few years a go we got the following results. This clearly explains that the Businesses are focused to do server consolidation and reduction of power and space requirement which is the driving factors even today. The types of virtualization do we currently have ? as discussed this on my previous post, I am going to compare them today. According to surveys taken recently we have the following stats. This clearly explains us that most of the Virtualization technologies are been used today, however still the most popular one is Server virtualization. Never the less this is taken on a different level today to get the Desktop virtualization for the end users companies like Citrix and VMware have got a lot of powerful products for this.

Finally I would like to discuss the products which are used in the industry and to what extent. The most widely used product is VMware ESX and then comes Microsoft Hyper-V. As we can see from the table below.

I will be disscussing VMware and Hyper-V Technologies and theire benifites over one and outher in detail in my next post.
Source: https://www.f5.com/pdf/reports/enterprise-virtualization.pd https://www.vmworld.com/community/conferences/2008/ https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmug/us_northeast/boston httpss://2008.msteched.com/itpro/public/precons.aspx www.microsoft.com/virtualization/default.mspx
www.f5.com/solutions/resources/white-papers/
]]>

Are you Secure when you browse the web ?

Ibrahim Quraishi — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 01:26:51 +0000

Eventually someone else started using their network; they only realized this after they felt that their connection became slow. This could have been worst as people can capture all the packets and get the critical information like online banking information, CC numbers etc. The truth is even if your using secure Wi-Fi connection, wireless technology can still be very easy to compromised, how ? Check out for yourself Googleit – how to crack Wi-Fi network and you will get the answer. However we can avoid this just by making sure we do not use simple name or dictionary words as a passphrase. Always use complex passphrase /WEP/WPA2 keys and make sure you have a key which is at least 10 to 12 characters long. Now let’s get to the point How to secure Your wireless network ? Change Your network name and Your router login information Simple job just login to the router using the details from Manufacture. Usually found at the back on the router long and change the Name of the network and login information or at least the password. Secure Your Wi-Fi network: If you do not secure your network it will be open for anyone who can get your wireless signal. WEP (Wire Enabled Protection) this should only be used if you have old laptop that does not support the advanced encryption. If you are using this make sure you use 128 bit encryption. WPA 2 encryption is the best so far, However I suggest you keep a long passphrase and complex at the same time. Hide Your network name (SSID) Although most people don’t do this, but I strongly suggest you to hide the SSID. Simple logic if they can’t find your Wi-Fi signal you will be less vulnerable to get hacked. Enable Software and Hardware Firewall: Let me explain Software firewall is the firewall built into the Operating System i.e., Windows Vista or Windows 7 just enable it. Hardware firewall ah might be new to some of us, but most of the routers built today even the cheapest one has a firewall program built into them.  So all you got to do is login to the router using your admin login and enable it. Hope you find this post useful feel free to comment if you ever used open / un-secure Wi=Fi.]]>

Put Ubuntu Release Candidate on Test – Version 10.10

Ibrahim Quraishi — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:06:05 +0000

Installing Ubuntu on VMware Player[/caption]
The system runs very smooth on such less configuration, the amazing thing even after the full install only 2.5 GB of disk space is utilized.
After going through some technical forums I found that there is not a lot of difference between the previous version when compare to RC edition, well I think Release Candidate edition is will always be better than beta version.
Anyway if you would ike to find the differences and more about the new features you can find it on Blueprints for Maverick   httpss://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/+specs
[caption id="attachment_246" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Ubuntu Release candidate[/caption]
If you wish to try it out yourself the download link is https://www.ubuntu.com/

I think the final release is due in a weeks time and so far it looks very promising.

]]>

Memory Support in Windows – Kernal v User Virtual Addressing

Ibrahim Quraishi — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:02:43 +0000

example: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT=”*****” /3GB Note: “*****” Can be any of the following operating system versions: Windows XP Professional Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition Windows 2000 Advanced Server Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition So if you think you need more memory you can give it a short. However if your Kernal is already struggling then,I would not suggest you to try this. you can try some other options like increasing the virtual memory. reference: https://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/pae/paemem.mspx]]>

Where in the World is Ibrahim Quraishi?

Ibrahim Quraishi — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:18:37 +0000

I haven’t had a chance to write a new post in a while because I’ve been busy working at Orange. I am mostly involved in managing and maintaining Microsoft Windows 2k and 2k3, however we still have some of the legacy WinNT 4.0 nightmares every now and then. I have been working on HP Open View Operations version 8 involving some auditing on our servers.

I have finally become Expert in configuration of iLo Management Boards for the HP Bladservers also have had training by HP for HP BladeSystem Administrator

I am also quite keen on learning to use the magic of BladeLogic, ( running jobs for package deployments)

Apart from that I’ve been playing with VM Ware ESX server and also the VM Ware Infrastructure 2.0 managing quite a lot Virtual Machines, should admit Virtualization is really good fun. I am looking forward for training on VM Ware which will give me an insight how this technology mingles with the physical hardware.

In my spare time I have started working on Linux Administration, I have recently build a CentOS Server which is the exact binary of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Not to forget that this is a free distribution unlike RHEL, the good thing about this Linux version is this is quite robust unlike Fedora family.

My next experiment on another famous brand of Unix system called FreeBSD, Although it took me considerable amount of time to figure out the terminology of the Operation system itself.

Yes how can I forget to mention! just creating a simple user is also a nightmare on this Unix flavor. Thus I have decided that I will be loyal to Mr Red Hat. J

In addition to this, I have few trainings lined up which I am looking forward for.

Microsoft Windows 2003, February 23 -27, London, UK

Microsoft Windows Server 2008, March 17- 20, Bristol, UK

Virtualization VM Ware, April, Reading, UK

Finally before I my end my blog today some updates on my personal, I recently got engaged on 26 Jan, yeh that’s right India’s Republic day.

More update on my wedding which is not too far will be coming soon. …

If you wish to contact me or have any comments feel free.
]]>

Get more done by working Smarter!

Ibrahim Quraishi — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:04:47 +0000

Working as a System Analyst is very exiting job, but if your not smart enough! It can become a little boring. let me give you a simple example, I was doing some of the housekeeping of the Servers that we support, which involved me to do a series of task on each Server, you might be thinking that’s not a big deal ! well reconsider it once more if you have to do that task 300 times, the same steeps on all the Servers (if you have 300 Servers) or if you have to do a task several time a day on few Servers, Now that can get very tedious job, and off course can become boring too. the only solution around this problem is scripting or Coding or Programming. Ok hang on are you one of the guy who likes to keep away form programming like me ? Well in all honesty, I use to say that programming is not my peace of cake as I am a system Admin, but let me give you another example. As you’re the Administrator you are been told to create a user account for a new starter, well if he just needs the domain access your job is very easy as you just need to create one user at the Active directory dome controller. But if you need to give him logon locally access you have to create a local account on each of the Server, if you have 300 Servers, then its not wise to logon each server and careate a user. Ok now you will need a method or a script to do that job for you, You do not need to be an expert to do it, you should just know, want to be done. Dint get it ? I know scripting sounds scary isn’t it, don’t worry you do not need to learn every thing, Scripting is very simple, its a set of commands which you want to do. If your very lucky you can find a ready to use code on the internet, all you got to do now is download it and edit it according to your need then please do not forget to test before you implement. once your convinced that the script is doing the exact job as you wanted. Wala Believe me it does make our life a lot easy so if your need to do a task more then once which can take 10 minutes each time you do it. Try to write a Script. if you have to do a series of admin tasks on several computers Try to write a script If you want to run a particular task at a time when you wont be in the office or it simply does not need any monitoring. Again try to write a script. just write a simple script and keep it. so wheen you need to do it again you can just execute that code and it will do it for you Magic isn’t it J Ok this is how you can work smatter rather then harder I have gathered some useful links which is worth watching.
Special thanks to my friend Nathan who has not only given me this idea but helped me by going through some of the scripts which he wrote earlier, now I have managed to do the same task with in a matter of minutes just by working smarter.

Hear are some of the links you can find useful other wise just use Google

You will find a lot of new scripting tools like windows Power Shell, and other useful software and technical articles for making the Admin task easy by scripting

Microsoft TechNet :

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx

Scripting: Your First Steps

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/beginner/firststeps.mspx

]]>