Connecting to SMB Share on MacOS

 Connecting to SMB Share on MacOS

• At the toolbar on the top of the screen, press Go and then “Connect to Server…“.

• In the address bar, enter smb://SERVER-IP/SHARE and click Connect. We can also select the plus at the bottom to save this information if we need to reconnect.

• Enter the login to connect to the SMB share.

• Here we can see our SMB share is connected, and we can create a folder.

How to find out SSD, NVMe or HDD in a Windows 10/11 computer

 These days, there are three types of drive you can find in the computer.

• Hard disk drive (HDD) is a classic device with a magnetic spinning disk inside. These drives were first introduced in 1956, and are widely used until now. They perform read and write operations with a magnetic head, and can also retrive data in random-access order.
• Solid-state drive (SSD) is a modern type of drives which has no rotating parts. It is like a huge flash drive with a controller that operates the data transfer. The information will be written into special memory cells. Obviously, SSD work much faster than HDDs and produce no noise. Classic SSDs are often interchangable with HDDs.
• Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is the latest version of solid state drives. They are different from classic SSDs as they use a special interface. They are not compatible with HDDs and Sata SSDs, yet they offer incredible data transfer speeds. Also they are very compact in size.

Detect SSD or HDD in the Optimize Disks tool

1. Right-click the Start button and select Run, or press Win + R.
2. Type dfrgui in the Run box and hit Enter to open the Optimize Drives tool.

1. 
   In the drive list, look at the Media type column. For an SSD drive, it will say Solid state drive.

You are done. While this method is the simplest one, it may be not that accurate. Because Windows detects the drive type with its own tests, including the drive speed. If it works slowly or is too new for your Windows version, the OS may be detect it as HDD.

Another method is a PowerShell applet.

Find SSD or HDD in Windows 11 with PowerShell

1. Press Win + X and select Terminal (Admin) from the menu.
2. Ensure it opens with a PowerShell tab, and type the following command: Get-PhysicalDisk.
3. In the output, check out the MediaType column. It will say SSD or HDD depending on the drive type.

Finally, you can use the Task Manager app to learn about your drives.

Using Task Manager

In Windows 11, Microsoft has updated the Task Manager with advanced capabilities. Besides the updated look, it is able to display extra details about your hardware.

To find the drive type with Task Manager, do the following.

1. Open the Task Manager app with the Ctrl + Shift + Esc shortcut.
2. In the app, click on the hamburger icon to see the text labels, and then click on the Performance tab.

1. Finally, on the Performance tab, select the disk. You will see if it is SSD or HDD in a note below the partition names.

Also, you can try to look on the Internet for technical specification of your drive. There, you will find a lot of information about it, including its type. But first you have to learn its model.

Find drive type by its model

First of all, you need to find the drive model. You can find it either in Device Manager,  Task Manager, or System Information tool.

Task Manager

• In Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), the Disks tab on the Performance page shows the drive model.

Device Manager

• Right-click the Start button in the taskbar and select Device Manager from the menu.
• Expand the storage section.
• Write down the drive model.

Using System Information tool

1. Press Win + R and enter msinfo32 in the Run dialog.

1. 
   In the left pane, expand the tree to Components > Storage > Disks.
2. Look for the drive model in the right and select it.
3. Press Ctrl + C to copy the drive model to the clipboard.

Now, when you know the drive model, do a web search with Google or Bing using the model words as a keyword. On the vendor's website or some reputable hardware resource you will find all the information about the drive, including its type. I.e. it will show if it is SSD, NVMe, or HDD.

Now, when you know how to find if you have SSD or HDD, let's look how to differentiate NVMe for SATA SSD.

Find out NVMe in Windows 11

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Go to the System > Storage page and click on the Disks and Volumes option under Advanced storage settings.

3. On the next page, click on the Properties button next to the drive name. 

4. The properties page will show the NVMe line for the Bus type. Otherwise, you will see SATA.

You are done!

 

Note: On some devices, NVMe is reported as 'RAID'. It must be the driver which reports the interface type to the OS. It is also reported as RAID in third-party tools reviewed in the next chapter. Keep this in mind.

For the completeness' sake, let's review a couple of alternative methods you can use for finding out NVMe in Windows 11.

Find if you have NVMe in Disk Properties

1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.

2. In Device Manager, expand the Disk drives category on the left.

3. Double-click the drive to open its properties. 

4. In the Properties window, switch to the Details tab. 

5. In the Property drop-down list, select Hardware Ids. 

6. In the Value list, check out the list entries. It should include "NMVe" for NVMe drives.

Password reset for HPE Storage Works 1/8 G2

 This is the solution that will reset the Administrator password of HPE StorageWorks 1/8 G2.

Here is a short JavaScript program that will let you enter the autoloader's date and time in your browser and calculate the override code for you.

https://jsfiddle.net/0kf8w6n5/1/ 

How to boot in Safe Mode in Windows 10?

 There are many ways to enter Safe Mode, but here are the three easiest.

Using the Power icon

If you're signed in: 

1. Click the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner.

2. Holding down the Shift key, click the Power icon and then Restart.

Hold down the Shift button as you click "Restart."

3. Your computer will restart, and then open onto a blue screen titled Choose an option. Select Troubleshoot, and then Advanced options.

Choose "Troubleshoot" on the Choose an option screen.

Dave Johnson/Business Insider

4. Click Startup Settings, and then Restart. Your computer will turn off and on again.

Choose "Startup Settings" and then click Restart to get to the final selection menu for Safe Mode.

5. Once the screen comes back, you'll be given a few options. Press 4 to start your computer in Safe Mode, or 5 to start Safe Mode with internet access.

Enable Safe Mode with or without internet access.

If you're not signed in, do the same thing, but click the Power icon on the sign-in page.

Using the Settings app

1. Open the Settings app by pressing the Windows key + I.

2. Click Update & Security, and then Recovery.

3. On this page, underneath Advanced startup, click Restart now.

Click "Restart now" to get to Safe Mode.

4. Your computer will restart onto the Choose an option screen. Here, click Troubleshoot, and then Advanced options.

5. Select Startup Settings and then Restart.

6. When your computer boots back up, you'll be given some startup options. Here, press 4 to start your computer in Safe Mode, or 5 to start Safe Mode with internet access.

Holding down the power button

This is the method to use if you can't boot into Windows normally.

1. Press your PC's power button to turn it on.

2. As soon as you see something appear on the screen — probably the manufacturer's logo — hold down the power button until the PC turns off again.

3. Do this two more times, and then turn on your PC again. As it's starting, the words Preparing Automatic Repair will appear at the bottom of the screen. Let your PC go through this process — it should eventually boot onto the Choose an option screen.

Force-restarting your computer three times will put you into automatic repair mode.

4. On this screen, select Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, and then Startup Settings. When prompted, click Restart.

5. When the computer turns back on, press 4 to start your computer in Safe Mode, or 5 to start Safe Mode with internet access.

How to exit Safe Mode

There are two ways to exit Safe Mode.

The first — and easiest — is to just restart your computer. You can do this by holding down the power button, or by going through the Start menu.

If you've restarted your computer but it's still in Safe Mode, you should:

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run menu.

2. In the text box, type msconfig and press Enter.

Run should still be a usable tool in Safe Mode.

3. At the top of the System Configuration menu, click Boot.

4. Underneath Boot options, make sure that Safe boot is unchecked. Once it is, click OK and restart your computer again.

The menu you're looking for should look like this. The button you're looking to uncheck is in the bottom left.                                              

How to Upgrade or Downgrade VMWare vSphere/vCenter License Keys in Customer Connect?

 Important notes:

• To upgrade a product to the most current version, please make sure your Support and Subscription contract is current and active when the new product version is released.
• When a new version of a product becomes available, you will receive an alert that you are entitled to the new version of your current product. If you do not receive an alert, your Support and Subscription contract may have expired or you may not have the permissions to upgrade that license key. If your contract has expired, you can request a support contract renewal quote.
• Only Super Users with Upgrade and Downgrade License Keys permissions can upgrade/downgrade a license key.

Major upgrade Vs Minor Upgrade
 

Major Upgrade	Minor Upgrade
This changes the product version; it is an upgrade from a lower to a higher version of the software. This requires a license key change, where a User is required to upgrade the keys on Customer Connect portal along with their Environment upgrade. Example: vSphere 6.0 >> vSphere 7.0	This does not change the product version and does not require a license key change in Customer Connect portal. Users are only required to update their Environment and their existing license key would work on the same Patch. This is an upgrade for bug fixes, new features/components and other small improvements. Example: vSphere 7.0 >> vSphere 7.1

---

 

How to Upgrade License Keys:
1. Log in to Customer Connect.
2. Select either Products and Accounts >Account > Manage Licenses from the top of the homepage or Manage Licenses Quick Link icon when you login.


3. Alternatively, when you receive an alert for subscription upgrade, click Upgrade Licenses in the alert. This takes you to the License Keys page.

4. Select one or more license key folders.

5. Highlight the checkbox next to the key to be upgraded and change the Dropdown to Upgradable Products. All products that are eligible for upgrade are displayed.


6. Click Upgrade

7. After clicking Upgrade, a screen will be displayed to confirm the product version that you are going to receive after the upgrade.
Note: If there is more than one upgrade option, you need to select the upgrade option you wish to upgrade to.

8. Select the quantity of licenses you want to upgrade.
Note: The quantity you are upgrading must be equal to or less than the available quantity.

9. Click Continue.


10. Indicate that you have read and understood the warning, then click Confirm.

11. The upgraded license key is displayed in a dialogue box. If any quantities of the current key remain not upgraded, new licenses keys are generated for the remaining portion of the current product and are displayed in the confirmation process.

12. Click Done to return to the License Key page. 
Note: The old/upgraded license key no longer displays in Customer Connect. 




How to Downgrade License Keys:
1. Log in to Customer Connect
2. Select either Products and Accounts >Account > Manage Licenses from the top of the homepage or Manage Licenses Quick Link icon when you login.



3. Select one or more license key folders.

4. Highlight the checkbox next to the key to be downgraded. Alternatively, you can select Downgradable Licenses from the dropdown. All products that are eligible for downgrade are displayed.

 
5. Click Downgrade. 
  

6. After clicking Downgrade, you’ll receive a screen that confirm the product version that you are going to receive after the downgrade and the quantity, and review.
Note: If there is more than one downgrade option, you need to select the option you wish to downgrade to.

7. Select the quantity of licenses you want to downgrade.
Note: The quantity you downgrade must be equal to or less than the available quantity.

8. Indicate that you have read and understand the warning, then click Confirm


9. The downgraded license key is displayed in the dialogue box. Click Done to return to the License Key page. You can select Send a copy to my email if you wish to.



Important: 
• NFR (Not for Resale) licenses shall only be used for Partner test, demo, and development purposes, as specifically authorized by your partner agreement. Partners are not permitted to perform license operations (combine/divide/upgrade/downgrade) on NFRs with non-NFR licenses obtained from VMware. Use of NFRs in any production and end user environment is strictly prohibited.
• The downgrade option is not available for ESXi 4 Single Server to ESXi 3.x.
• The downgrade option is not available for vSphere Essentials to VI3.
• If license keys are downgraded from vSphere Enterprise version 5 to ESX version 3, the vSphere Enterprise 5 key will still remain in the license portal and a new license key will be available in the VI3 license portal. You will not be able to upgrade this new VI3 key. To remain in compliance, use either the vSphere Enterprise 5 key or the downgraded VI3 key. 
• Site Recovery Manager 5 has two different editions: Standard and Enterprise. You can downgrade the Site Recovery Manager 5 Enterprise licenses to previous version, but you cannot downgrade Site Recovery Manager 5 Standard licenses.
• There is no option for an edition downgrade.
• The downgrade view portal may vary depending on Browsers.
• After downgrading a license key, the original key should not be used in order to remain in compliance.   


Troubleshooting Steps:
1. If you are associated with multiple accounts, ensure that you are working within the correct account. You can switch between accounts in the dropdown at the top of the License Keys page and the Users and Permissions page of Customer Connect portal.
2. Ensure that the key is associated with an active support contract. If your contract has expired, you can request a support contract renewal quote. 
3. Ensure that you have Upgrade & Downgrade License Keys permissions.  
4. Ensure that the total number you are upgrading/downgrading is equal to or less than the number of total licenses available.
5. Ensure that the license key is eligible to be upgraded/downgraded. VMware Fusion 1 and 2, VMware Workstation 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and Enterprise products released before May 2009 cannot be upgraded or downgraded.  

Installing Oracle OLE DB 32-bit and 64-bit drivers side-by-side - ODAC 19c

 

Installing Oracle OLE DB drivers on Windows

Oracle provides ODAC Runtime Downloads, which contains drivers for Windows. These are available as:

• ODAC XCopy
• 64-bit ODAC OUI

The ODAC OUI gives you a graphical user interface for installation, but it only provides you with 64-bit version of the drivers. If you need 32-bit drivers, you will have to use the command-line ODAC XCopy.

Using ODAC XCopy you can install 64-bit or 32-bit OLE DB drivers for Oracle. You can also use ODAC XCopy to install the Oracle Instant Client which supports ODBC.

However, installing any of the drivers (32-bit or 64-bit) disables the other driver. How can you make them co-exist?

Side-by-side installation

The trick is to use Windows symbolic links. The Windows system folder will be in different locations depending on 64-bit or 32-bit mode. Using symbolic links, you can therefore create a path that points differently for 64-bit applications and 32-bit applications.

• C:\Windows\System32 for 64-bit applications
• C:\Windows\SysWOW64 for 32-bit applications

Here are the full steps:

1. Download ODAC XCopy 64-bit and 32-bit from Oracle's website
2. Unzip the files and open a command prompt as administrator. Go to the location of the unzipped files.

   

   
   

   Oracle ODAC installation

3. Run install.bat for the 64-bit driver:

    install.bat oledb C:\Oracle\64bit odac

Go to the location of the unzipped files for the 32-bit driver and install from there:

    install.bat oledb C:\Oracle\32bit odac

4. Now create symbolic links to your driver folders:

    cd C:\Windows\System32
    mklink /d odac C:\Oracle\64bit
    cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64
    mklink /d odac C:\Oracle\32bit

5. Edit your environment variables and add C:\Windows\System32\odac and C:\Windows\System32\odac\bin to your path:
   
   
   

   Oracle Odac Path

   Now the OLE DB driver will automatically be loaded from C:\Oracle\64bit or C:\Oracle\32bit depending on if in 64- or 32-bit architecture of your application.

Migrate Jump List Contents from one Computer to Another

 Base on my research, all the Jump Lists items are saved in the following locations:

 

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations

 

You can try to copy the jump lists items on the old machine and paste on the same location of the new machine.

Figure 1. Sample of Jump List Items

How to upgrade vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 to 7.0?

 Getting Started

Before beginning, I HIGHLY recommended you first check the VMware Interoperability Matrix before performing any upgrade to check compatibility of other VMware products.

Then go download the VCSA 7.0 ISO if you haven’t already and lets get started with the upgrade!

How to Upgrade VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.7 to VCSA 7.0

1. Mount the vCenter 7.0 ISO to your computer and start the vCenter Server 7.0 installer located at /vcsa-ui-installer/win32/installer.exe
   
2. When the vCenter Server 7.0 installer starts, click on Upgrade.
   
3. Click Next through the Introduction.
   
4. Agree to the End User License Agreement and click Next.
   
5. Next enter the EXISTING VCSA FQDN or IP address as well what ESXi host the existing VCSA is running on, along with all of the login credentials for the existing VCSA and ESXi host.
   
6. Now enter the ESXi host or vCenter server where you would like the new VMware vCenter Server 7.0 appliance to be deployed.
   
7. Next specify a VM name and root password for the new 7.0 VCSA.
   
8. Select an appropriate deployment size for your environment.
   
9. Select a datastore you want the new vCenter 7.0 appliance to be stored.
   
10. Next configure a temporary network configuration. Once Stage 2 of the upgrade has been completed the new 7.0 VCSA will take the network identity of the old existing VCSA.
    
11. Review the Stage 1 summary and click on Finish.
    
12. Once Stage 1 of the vCenter 7.0 upgrade completes, click on Continue to move on to Stage 2.
    

Stage 2 – Upgrade vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 to 7.0, copying VMware vCenter data

13. Click on Next through the VCSA Stage 2 Introduction.
    
14. The installer will then automatically run a Pre-Upgrade check on your existing VCSA. Make sure to review those results, then click on Next. Note: Be sure that DRS is disabled if you have more than one host. I only have one host, so DRS isn’t an issue.
    
15. Next select which data you would like to copy from the existing VCSA 6.7 to the new VCSA 7.0 appliance.
    
16. Join the VMware customer experience improvement program, or don’t, and click Next.
    
17. Finally, review the Stage 2 summary and check “I have backed up the source vCenter Server and all the required data from the database” and click Finish.
    
18. Now at this point, Stage 2 of the upgrade will start copying the data from the old 6.7 vCenter over to the new 7.0 vCenter appliance. After some time, depending on how much data needs to be copied, the upgrade will complete.
    

Now enjoy the new dark theme and all the other improvements that VMware vCenter 7.0 brings. You’re also ready to start upgrading your VMware ESXi hosts to 7.0.

Implementing DNS Security in Windows Server 2016

 A number of options are available for protecting the DNS server, including :

• DNS cache locking
• DNS socket pool
• DNSSEC

Before we start the step by step to implement the DNS Security, lets go through a theory behind this technology.

DNS Cache Locking

Cache locking is a Windows Server 2016 security feature that allows you to control when information in the DNS cache can be overwritten. When a recursive DNS server responds to a query, it caches the results so that it can respond quickly if it receives another query requesting the same information. The period of time the DNS server keeps information in its cache is determined by the Time to Live (TTL) value for a resource record.

DNS Socket Pool

The DNS socket pool enables a DNS server to use source port randomization when it issues DNS queries. When the DNS service starts, the server chooses a source port from a pool of sockets that are available for issuing queries. Instead of using a predicable source port, the DNS server uses a random port number that it selects from the DNS socket pool. The DNS socket pool makes cache-tampering attacks more difficult because a malicious user must correctly guess both the source port of a DNS query and a random transaction ID to successfully run the attack. The DNS socket pool is enabled by default in Windows Server 2016

DNSSEC

DNSSEC enables a DNS zone and all records in the zone to be signed cryptographically so that client computers can validate the DNS response. DNS is often subject to various attacks, such as spoofing and cache-tampering. DNSSEC helps protect against these threats and provides a more secure DNS infrastructure.

So now, lets go through a simple step how you as Server Administrator can implement DNS Security.

01 – Step to configure DNSSEC

1 – Open Server Manager,  click Tools and open DNS Manager.

2 – In the DNS Manager, browse to your Domain name, then right click domain name, click DNSSEC and then click Sign the Zone.

2 – In the Zone Signing Wizard interface, click Next.

3 – On the Signing options interface, click Customize zone signing parameters, and then click Next.

4 – On the Key Master interface, ensure that “The DNS server CLOUD-SERVER is selected as the Key Master“, and then click Next.

5 – On the Key Signing Key (KSK) interface, click Next.

6 – On the Key Signing Key (KSK) interface, click Add.

7 – On the New Key Signing Key (KSK) interface, click OK.

~*~ please spend some time to go through about key properties on the New Key Signing Key (KSK) interface.

8 – On the Key Signing Key (KSK) interface, click Next.

9 – On the Zone Signing Key (ZSK) interface, click Next.

10 – On the Zone Signing Key (ZSK) interface, click Add.

11 – On the New Zone Signing Key (ZSK) interface, click OK.

12 – On the Zone Signing Key (ZSK) interface, click Next.

13 – On the Next Secure (NSEC) interface, click Next.

~*~ NSEC is when the DNS response has no data to provide to the client, this record authenticates that the host does not exist.

14 – On the Trust Anchors (TAs) interface, check the Enable the distribution of trust anchors for this zone check box, and then click Next.

~*~ A trust anchor is an authoritative entity that is represented by a public key. The TrustAnchors zone stores preconfigured public keys that are associated with a specific zone.

15 – On the Signing and Polling Parameters interface, click Next.

16 – On the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) interface, click Next, and then click Finish.

17 – In the DNS console, expand Trust Points, expand ae, and then click your domain name.

Ensure that the DNSKEY resource records display, and that their status is valid.

18 – Open Server Manager,  click Tools and open Group Policy Management.

19 – Next, open Group Policy Management, expand Forest: Windows.ae, expand Domains, expand Windows.ae, right-click Default Domain Policy, and then click Edit.

20 – In the Group Policy Management Editor interface, under Computer Configuration, expand Policies, expand Windows Settings, and then click Name Resolution Policy.

~*~ In the right pane, under Create Rules, in the Suffix box, type Windows.ae to apply the rule to the suffix of the namespace.

~*~ Select both the Enable DNSSEC in this rule check box and the Require DNS clients to check that the name and address data has been validated by the DNS server check box, and then click Create.

02 – Configure the DNS Socket Pool

1 – In domain Server, open Windows PowerShell and type : Get-DNSServer

~*~ This command displays the current size of the DNS socket pool (on the fourth line in the ServerSetting section). Note that the current size is 2,500.

~*~ Please take note that the default DNS socket pool size is 2,500. When you configure the DNS socket pool, you can choose a size value from 0 to 10,000. The larger the value, the greater the protection you will have against DNS spoofing attacks.

2 – Now lets change the socket pool size to 3,000.

type : dnscmd /config /socketpoolsize 3000

3 – Restart your DNS Server for the changes to take effect.

~*~ confirm that the new socket pool size now is 3000

04 – Configure the DNS Cache Locking

1 – In Windows PowerShell, type Get-Dnsserver

~*~ This command will displays the current percentage value of the DNS cache lock.

~*~ Note that the current value is 100 percent.

2 – type Set-DnsServerCache –LockingPercent 70

~*~ This changes the cache lock value to 70 percent

~*~ Please take note that you configure cache locking as a percentage value.

3 – Looking your DNS Manager Verify.