Misc – Page 12 – jonamiki.com

July 15, 2014January 24, 2018

How to use openssl to create a certificate (CER) and PFX file to connect to Azure using the App Controller

First create the certificate for upload to the Azure account via the Azure web page:
jonas@nyx:~$ openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privateKey.key -out certificate.cer
It will ask for country, name, etc. Just enter something.

Next, create the pfx file required for the App Controller:
jonas@nyx:~$ openssl pkcs12 -export -in certificate.cer -inkey privateKey.key -out certificate.pfx

The App controller will also ask for Subscription ID This is listed under “settings” in your Azure account (far bottom on the left hand pane)

July 9, 2014January 24, 2018

XenDesktop 7.5 mapped drive execute permission

By default it’s not possible to run executables (install software) from a client drive which has been mapped to a XenDesktop VM. A work around is to copy the files to a network share and run the installation from there, but it takes time and can be a fair bit of extra work.

Instead, it’s possible to enable execute permissions via a quick and simple registry modification on the VDA (the XenDesktop VM). No DDC or client PC changes are required.

Start “regedit”
Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\GroupPolicy\Defaults\”
Add the key “CDMSettings”
Add the following DWORD value: “ExecuteFromMappedDrive”
Set “ExecuteFromMappedDrive” to “1”

A restart of the VM is required for the changes to take effect.

Tested on XenServer 6.2 with XenDesktop 7.5 on a Dell R720 with NVIDIA K2 GPU card (K240Q and K260Q vGPUs assigned to the VMs).

July 2, 2014January 24, 2018

Disabling Windows 2012 R2 firewall with netsh

Handy command to use when disabling the Windows firewall – especially for Windows core servers which lack the GUI:

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off

July 1, 2014December 14, 2021

VMware default user names / logins and passwords

Consistency in user names and passwords would be nice, but unfortunately that isn’t always the case. While setting up VMware’s vCenter, vCOPS and vShield recently I came across a few default logins / passwords worth jotting down for reference:

VMware vCenter Operations Manager: UI VM console login

Admin account: admin

Password: admin

root account: root

Password: vmware

VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Web GUI login

User: admin

Password: admin

VMware vCenter appliance login (same for both local console and Web GUI):

User: root

Password: vmware

vCenter appliance URL for initial access and configuration

https://[vCenter IP]:5480

vCenter appliance URL for normal web access (the web client: alternative to using the vSphere client)

https://[vCenter IP]:9443

vShield Manager console:

User: admin

Password: default

April 28, 2014November 21, 2018

Configuring iSCSI and management networks on a Dell EqualLogic PS-M4110 storage array

Quick instructions on setting up an EqualLogic PS-M4110 storage array.
In this case it’s a blade model located in a Dell M1000e chassis, slot 7 and 8.
Fabric B is the iSCSI fabric and fabric A is for management
We start by configuring fabric B, then A

Since there is no IP configured, we connect via serial.
Luckily the M1000e provides serial connectivity via the CMC as per the below:

SSH to CMC IP address:
==============================

Using username "root".
Welcome to the CMC firmware version 4.50.A00.201311120922

$
$

Switch to the EQL serial interface (connect to the slot ID)
==============================

$ connect server-7
Telnet escape character is '^\'.
Trying 169.254.31.7...
Connected to server-7.
Escape character is '^\'.

PS Series Storage Arrays
Unauthorized Access Prohibited

Log in (default user/pass: grpadmin/grpadmin)
==============================

login: grpadmin
Password:

Welcome to Group Manager

Copyright 2001-2012 Dell Inc.

2724:5:unknown (0-000000-000000000-0000000000000000):netmgtd:28-Apr-2014 01:52:53.590006:rcc_util.c:1029:INFO:25.2.9:CLI: Login to account grpadmin succeeded, using local authentication. User privilege is group-admin.
It appears that the storage array has not been configured.
Would you like to configure the array now ? (y/n) [n]y

Group Manager Setup Utility

The setup utility establishes the initial network and storage
configuration for a storage array and then configures the array
as a member of a new or existing group of arrays.

For help, enter a question mark (?) at a prompt.

Do you want to proceed (yes | no ) [no]: yes

Initializing. This may take several minutes to complete..

Enter the network configuration for the array.

Member name []: DSC-ARRAY-02
Network interface [eth0]:
IP address for network interface []: 192.168.105.29
Netmask [255.255.255.0]:
Default gateway [192.168.105.1]:

Initializing interface eth0. This may take a minute.....

Enter the IP address and name of the group that the array will join.

Note: If creating a new group, just enter the desired group name and IP
==============================

Group name []: DSC-SHARED-SAN
Group IP address []: 192.168.105.28

Searching to see if the group exists. This may take a few minutes.

The group does not exist or currently cannot be reached. Make sure
you have entered the correct group IP address and group name.

Do you want to create a new group (yes | no) [yes]:

Group Configuration

Group Name: DSC-SHARED-SAN
Group IP address: 192.168.105.28

Do you want to use the group settings shown above (yes | no) [yes]:
Password for managing group membership:
Retype password for verification:

Password for the default group administration(grpadmin) account:
Retype password for verification:

Saving the configuration...

Waiting for configuration to become active......Done

Group DSC-SHARED-SAN has been created with one member.
Use the Group Manager GUI or CLI to set the RAID policy
for the member. You can then create a volume which
a host can connect to using an iSCSI initiator.

To access the Group Manager GUI, specify http://group_ip_address in
a Web browser window. To access the CLI, use telnet or SSH to
connect to the group IP address from a remote terminal, or attach a
console terminal directly to a serial port on a group member's
active control module. Log in to the default group administration
account (grpadmin) using the password you specified when creating
this group. See the Group Administration manual for more
information.

DSC-SHARED-SAN>
DSC-SHARED-SAN>
DSC-SHARED-SAN>

Setting up the management network:
=====================================

DSC-SHARED-SAN> show member
Name Status Version Disks Capacity FreeSpace Connections
---------- ------- ---------- ----- ---------- ---------- -----------
DSC-ARRAY- online V6.0.0 (R2 14 8.72TB 8.72TB 0
02 59485)
DSC-SHARED-SAN> member select DSC-ARRAY-02 eth select 1 mgmt-only enable
Make sure the IP address is on the management subnet.
DSC-SHARED-SAN> member select DSC-ARRAY-02 eth select 1 ipaddress 10.6.26.227 netmask 255.255.255.0
DSC-SHARED-SAN>
DSC-SHARED-SAN> member select DSC-ARRAY-02 eth select 1 up
This port is for group management only. Make sure it is connected to a dedicated
management network.
Do you want to enable the management interface? (y/n) [n]y

DSC-SHARED-SAN>

The array can now be accessed via the web:
==============================
http://10.6.26.227