Aironet AP Missing config command?

Doing just a simple SSID and security change on an AP, I was using the web GUI. But then I was not able to successfully enable WPA, so I resorted to the CLI, only to find that I couldn’t even get into global config mode! —–ES-AP>en Password: —–ES-AP#config t ^ % Invalid input detected at ‘^’ marker. —–ES-AP#? Exec commands: <1-99> Session number to resume access-enable Create a temporary Access-List entry access-template Create a temporary … Read more…

RemoteApp Icons missing

I ran into something strange when adding the Failover Cluster Manager tool to RemoteApp – the icon on both the RD web services site and RemoteApp and Desktop Connections did not show properly – here’s what I mean:   The above was taken from RemoteApp and Desktop connections – here’s what it looked like on the RD Web Services site:   As you can see, the Failover Cluster Manager app has the standard RDP connection icon. Something is … Read more…

Data Protection Manager 2010 – Backup to [empty] Disk

When I transfered most of my VMs over to shared storage, I didn’t really have the time (or money) to build a respectable storage environment. Needless to say there are some VMs that are stored on non-redundant storage….but most are on at least a RAID1 volume. It was at this time I decided to install Data Protection Manager 2010 and start getting things backed up. Obviously I will be using backup-to-disk as 1. no tape … Read more…

Fine Tuning Media Center 7 – Is it all worth it?

See Part 2 here. I didn’t think that it would come to this…but we have finally switched to a cable box, and I’ll be re-purposing the Media Center PC shortly. This post has 2 purposes: 1. To help me make sure I did the right thing and work out ways to get functionality back. 2. Help anyone that is thinking about going this route make the decision. We have used a Media Center based TV … Read more…

SBS System drives running out of space

I have seen this issue more and more lately…don’t get me wrong, Windows SBS is a perfect solution for smaller businesses that can’t afford a more robust infrastructure…however – the nature of Small Business Server can be its downfall: all applications and core services running on a single server. Thus the problem: a SBS system drive tends to run out of space quick. Consider the following applications\services running on a single box: Active Directory Domain … Read more…

Cardmember Service hijacked

The other day a user sent me a screenshot of an online banking website with a comment of “I have a virus..?” I was happy that the user had learned to spot malware or fraudulent activity so quickly….but as it turns out, the user had already called the bank and spoke to the support team – they were the ones that informed the user about having a virus. I tried logging in to the banking … Read more…

More plagued capacitors

Same story, different capacitors. The symptoms were “a loud pop, followed by the smell of burning plastic”. This PC was made by a certain small company that went bankrupt in 2008…it’s a P4 Intel board, so it’s fairly old. Removing the side panel from the case exposed the vented electrolyte: This failed capacitor was a part of the processors VRM – only one showed to be failed, but where there is one, there are probably … Read more…

An Exercise in Networking – NATing twice

And I don’t mean Twice NAT as on Cisco ASA devices. The problem: I have been using a PIX 501 as a gateway for some time. It works great – except for one small problem – it has a 10-user license. What does this mean? It means that if you are using NAT or VPN (or anything) there can only be 10 devices behind the firewall on the inside interface. The easiest way to see … Read more…

Scammers phishing by phone now?!?!?

I just got a call from 620-450-4497 which came up as Pratt, KS. It was some cheap recording stating that “My debit card has been lost or stolen. Press 1 to reactivate” Being that I just love hearing all the latest scams, I eagerly pressed 1 to “find out more about my debit card”. I was then prompted to “press 1 to continue or 2 to exit”- 1 was pressed again of coarse. I was … Read more…

Network Time vs. Hyper-V Time syncronization

I have dealt with incorrectly configured NTP in a domain several times – the worst case was where all client computers were off by 14 minutes from real time! Why did this happen? That happened because the GPO and w32tm settings were configured completely wrong and the authoritative time source for the domain was a local servers local hardware clock. The proper configuration for NTP in a domain is a whole post in itself, and … Read more…