November 2006 - Posts

• Stayin' Alive in a Windows World

  It’s been almost 5 months since I brought a black MacBook to work.  At first I thought it was not such a good idea due to the incompatibilities I could face.  So far the experience has not been a bad one, and I can run most of the software I need without having to strive against slow performance or incompatibilities.  With the exception of screwing up some of Jose’s powerpoint slide animations, I don’t think there has been mayor damage done. The following compromises a list of the software that any individual looking for to work in a Windows environment should have on their list: Parallels: If you must run Windows on OS X, then you need Parallels.  It’s performance is superb and it will allow you to run a Virtualialzied Windows with a little performance hit.  This blog I am writing as of now is under BlogJet using a copy of WindowsXP.  I also run Office 2007, Firefox, Messenger, Project, and Visual Source Safe (watch out Parallels, someone is lurking in the dark) Crossover: it allows you to run Windows binaries without having to run Windows.  It is based on the Wine project and so far I have been able to run Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 6 without having to run Windows.  Still on early beta stages but nonetheless quite impressive. TSClient: I mentioned this on an earlier post.  It has become my default RDC client, extremely fast. NeoOffice: a port of OpenOffice but does not require x11 on your system.  It runs faster than Microsoft Office for Mac on my MacBook.  Until there is a universal binary for Office, I am using this one for Office productivity. And finally, if all else fails (as is the case of running VTune on a VM), I can always boot into Windows natively using BootCamp.   Fortunately, thanks to the great programs above, this is something that is happening less often every time. Posted Nov 27 2006, 06:55 PM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization, Random

• Automatically Adding Users to a Windows 2003 Server

  A crucial part when carrying out training labs is setup. Without a well thought plan that takes into consideration everything that can go wrong (because it will), your labs are toast. We've done about ~70 trainings so far and in every one of them something pops up. With more and more trainings, you start to develop a sixth sense of complete and utter pessimism that will help you identify problems before they even show up. That being said, we are in the middle of testing all of the setup for a series of Virtualization training labs in December 2007. We needed a way to quickly and painlessly add a bunch of users to a Windows 2003 Server. The following is the series of commands to create a user callled student1 on the server with Administrative priviledges that belongs to domain admins and an account that never expires: net user student1 p@ssw0rd /ADD /DOMAIN net group "domain admins" student1 /ADD /DOMAIN net localgroup Administrators student1 /ADD net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited /DOMAIN There are plenty more of options so check out the net command to find a command that best suits your need. Posted Nov 27 2006, 06:35 PM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization

• TSA providing Airport Security Checkpoints Wait Times

  Whether you travel a lot or just a few times per year, you have probably noticed the nuisance that it is dealing with the security checkpoints.  Depending on the airport you are in, it can easily take you anywhere from 20 minutes to up to an hour (in my experience, MIA is the worst airport in waiting times for anything - even for a sandwich!).  If you are flying in internationally to the US and you need to make a connection, there really is no way of knowing how bad the security checkpoints are to see if you are going to make your flight - until now. TSA has published this web page that lists the estimated wait time when going through security.  By selecting a couple of check boxes, you can get detailed information on the average wait time to arrive at a particular gate at a particular time.  This can really help you out beforehand in case you will miss your flight to reschedule a new one ASAP. Posted Nov 18 2006, 02:32 PM by Csaborio with no comments

• Error Starting Carmine: The credentials provided do not have sufficient privileges on localhost

  Today, while creating the final image for our SCVMM (System Central Virtual Machine Manager), one of the guys in our team stumbled into a problem in which the SCVMM (which I will refer to as Carmine from now on), was refusing to start up even though we had met every pre-requisite it had listed.  We were completely baffled, the error given was: Access denied while contacting the Virtual Machine Manager server.  The credentials provided do not have sufficient privileges on localhost.(ID: 1605) The account had full admin privileges, so what could be wrong?  The machine had joined our domain, how come it did not have the right credentials?  Well, after a while Jose suggested to check if the DNS were set to that of the domain controller (see previous entry regarding this) and indeed that was the culprit.  After setting the DNS severs, Carmine started up without any problems. Posted Nov 14 2006, 06:10 PM by Csaborio with no comments

• Virtualization Training

  Are you new to Virtualization?  Do you want to learn the best ways to manipulate Virtual Server using the Virtual Server API?  Do you want to learn about future Microsoft Virtualization technologies such as Carmine and VT support in Longorn?  Well, today is your lucky day. In its continuing effort to provide customers with the latest technology, Microsoft has launched the Virtualization Events lab series.  During 3 days, you will learn everything you need to know in order to code your way through Virtual Server.  Please bear in mind that the lab is not targetted for the IT Pro, but instead for programmers who want to learn the latest tips and tricks without having to read through thousands of pages of documentation. Virtualization is a very hot topic, and I would not be surprised if the events filled up very quickly, so act fast if you want a seat reserved! Posted Nov 10 2006, 08:57 PM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization

• VHD Test Drive

  On November 6th, Microsoft had a big announcement to make.  This announcement is only the beginning of something that will, without a doubt, become a huge success: the VHD Test Drive program. The program’s idea is that a user can download a pre-configured VHD that has and operating system already installed.  The idea is evolved a bit more in the sense that the VHD not only has an OS, but also has some kind of pre-configured environment in order to test out a particular product without the hassle to go through difficult setups. For instance, if you want to test drive Exchange Server 2007 quickly and effortlessly, just download this VHD and you are good to go.  Want to install something on Windows Server R2 without having to install the OS?  This VHD right here will help you accomplish your task.  There are 4 VHDs available for download, the entire list is summarised below: SQL Server 2005 VHD Windows Server 2003 R2 VHD ISA Server 2006 VHD Exchange Server 2007 VHD For the official press release, click here. Posted Nov 10 2006, 07:52 PM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization

• RDC on a Mac (OS X)

  Even though there are not many Macs at Artinsoft (2, I believe :) this might come in handy for someone who needs an efficient remote desktop connection.  Even though Microsoft makes a RDC client for Macs, running it on an Intel mac can be a bit of a drag.  Rosetta apps (applications that do not run natively on Intel macs) are kinda sluggish when launching.   Also, if you need to run various instances of RDC, you would need to make copies of the app itself (or use this utility). Luckily, there are various free alternatives out there that work like a charm.  My personal favorite is CorD (cocoa remote desktop).  It is lightweight, fast, free, and offers tabbed windows for various simultaneous connections.  The only con I have found so far is that it does not support copy paste. You can also use TSClient, which has more features than CorD but unfortunately requires the installation of x11.  While this may not be a big issue, some people are not very fond of running programs under x11 for performance reasons.  TSClient is the client that most resembles the official Microsoft client and it even offers several features that the official client does not have. Posted Nov 03 2006, 02:43 AM by Csaborio with 1 comment(s)

• The New VMware Converter

  The race between Microsoft and VMWare for the virtualization space can only offer benefits to the end user.   The close competition will push the limits of both Microsoft and VMWare in offering the best of each other.  Point in case is the (beta) release VMWare's Converter. The VMWare converter makes the process of moving a physical machine to a virtual a painless process.   So far in our tests, we've managed to hack our way with some unconventional methods, but these take a lot of time.   The VMWare tools offers a new level of Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion by having a manager that can queue operations for this process.   It is fully scriptable as well, which can only simply and make the whole process more efficient for system administrators.  Microsoft is not falling behind in this area.  The Virtual Machine Manager has plans for not only fully automating P2V conversions but guiding you on the best Virtual Server where the new physical machine can be.  Unfortunately, this is not currently supported at the beta stage that the product is right now, but from demos I have seen I am sure it will be a sure contender to VMWare's offerings. For more info on VMWare's Converter visit this page and for Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager info, check this site out. Posted Nov 03 2006, 01:30 AM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization