Trending Topics

Implement and configure AWS Backup for VMware Cloud on AWS VM workloads

Image
In our previous post we saw the design of the AWS Backup on VMC. In this post we’re going through the implementation steps As per the design and best practice, we are going to use the ENI for the Backup traffic CREATE A VPC ENDPOINT  TO CREATE AN INTERFACE ENDPOINT FOR AN AWS SERVICE 1. Open the Amazon VPC console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/vpc    2. In the navigation pane, choose Endpoints 3. Choose Create endpoint 4. Name the endpoint   5. For Service category, choose AWS services 6. For Service name, search “ Backup ” and select “ backup-gateway ” service from the dropdown 7. For VPC, select the VPC which we used for SDDC deployment and extension 8. To create an interface endpoint for Amazon S3, you must “uncheck” Additional settings, Enable DNS name. This is because Amazon S3 does not support private DNS for interface VPC endpoints 9. For  Subnets , select one subnet per Availability Zone which we used for SDDC VMC selection  10. For Security group , sel

Control Windows services of a remote computer using the command line

You can control Windows services of a remote computer just using the command line.
There are some options around there, but the one I use is psservice. This is a command line utility, part of PsTools, that allows you to control services. (See at the bottom a short description of PsTools).
The syntax is very simple:

psservice.exe \\HOST -u USERNAME -p PASSWORD COMMAND SERVICENAME


HOST - is the hostname or ip address of the host to control (local or remote)
USERNAME - a user with permissions to control services of the HOST
PASSWORD - the password of the user
COMMAND - the action to take with the service. The most commonly used are: query, stop, start, restart
SERVICENAME - the name of the service to control

For example, to restart IIS service of a remote server:

psservice.exe \\192.x.x.x -u user -p ******* restart W3SVC

If you receive an error like:


Unable to access Service Control Manager on \\192.x.x.x:
Access is denied.

or

Unable to connect to \\192.x.x.x

It's because pstools relies on $admin share access. A way to open it is:

net use \\HOST\admin$ PASSWORD /USER:USERNAME

HOST - is the hostname or ip address of the host
PASSWORD - the password of the user
USERNAME - a local or domain user with permissions to map a folder in the host
if USERNAME is a local user, type it as HOST\USERNAME,
if USERNAME is a domain user, type it as DOMAIN\USERNAME

For example:

net use \\192.x.x.x\admin$ ****** /USER:DOMAIN\USERNAME

You can remove the connection using:

net use \\192.x.x.x\admin$ /DELETE

Whith this base, you can create a batch file to restart services of a remote host with just a double-click

----------------------------------------------

PsTools description
===================

This tool is a set of command line utilities that allow you to manage local and remote systems
PsTools is a set of commandline utilities that allow you to manage local and remote systems.

All of the utilities in the PsTools suite work on Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The PsTools download package includes an HTML help file with complete usage information for all the tools.

The tools included in the PsTools suite are:

· PsExec - execute processes remotely
· PsFile - shows files opened remotely
· PsGetSid - display the SID of a computer or a user
· PsKill - kill processes by name or process ID
· PsInfo - list information about a system
· PsList - list detailed information about processes
· PsLoggedOn - see who's logged on locally and via resource sharing (full source is included)
· PsLogList - dump event log records
· PsService - view and control services
· PsShutdown - shuts down and optionally reboots a computer
· PsSuspend - suspends processes
· PsUptime - shows you how long a system has been running since its last reboot (PsUptime's functionality has been incorporated into PsInfo)

Popular posts from this blog

HOW TO EDIT THE BCD REGISTRY FILE

Image
The BCD registry file controls which operating system installation starts and how long the boot manager waits before starting Windows. Basically, it’s like the Boot.ini file in earlier versions of Windows. If you need to edit it, the easiest way is to use the Startup And Recovery tool from within Vista. Just follow these steps: 1. Click Start. Right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 2. Click Advanced System Settings. 3. On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings. 4. Click the Default Operating System list, and edit other startup settings. Then, click OK. Same as Windows XP, right? But you’re probably not here because you couldn’t find that dialog box. You’re probably here because Windows Vista won’t start. In that case, you shouldn’t even worry about editing the BCD. Just run Startup Repair, and let the tool do what it’s supposed to. If you’re an advanced user, like an IT guy, you might want to edit the BCD file yourself. You can do this
Read more

DNS Scavenging.

                        DNS Scavenging is a great answer to a problem that has been nagging everyone since RFC 2136 came out way back in 1997.  Despite many clever methods of ensuring that clients and DHCP servers that perform dynamic updates clean up after themselves sometimes DNS can get messy.  Remember that old test server that you built two years ago that caught fire before it could be used?  Probably not.  DNS still remembers it though.  There are two big issues with DNS scavenging that seem to come up a lot: "I'm hitting this 'scavenge now' button like a snare drum and nothing is happening.  Why?" or "I woke up this morning, my DNS zones are nearly empty and Active Directory is sitting in a corner rocking back and forth crying.  What happened?" This post should help us figure out when the first issue will happen and completely avoid the second.  We'll go through how scavenging is setup then I'll give you my best practices.  Scavenging s
Read more

AD LDS – Syncronizing AD LDS with Active Directory

Image
First, we will install the AD LDS Instance: 1. Create and AD LDS instance by clicking Start -> Administrative Tools -> Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Setup Wizard. The Setup Wizard appears. 2. Click Next . The Setup Options dialog box appears. For the sake of this guide, a unique instance will be the primary focus. I will have a separate post regarding AD LDS replication at some point in the near future. 3. Select A unique instance . 4. Click Next and the Instance Name dialog box appears. The instance name will help you identify and differentiate it from other instances that you may have installed on the same end point. The instance name will be listed in the data directory for the instance as well as in the Add or Remove Programs snap-in. 5. Enter a unique instance name, for example IDG. 6. Click Next to display the Ports configuration dialog box. 7. Leave ports at their default values unless you have conflicts with the default values. 8. Click N
Read more