Mike's Blog

 I keep forgetting the MS provided keys to convert Windows Server OS's to retail so here they are. After you run these, reboot the server, and then apply your own key. SERVER 2016 STANDARD dism /online /set-edition:ServerStandard /productkey:WC2BQ-8NRM3-FDDYY-2BFGV-KHKQY /accepteula SERVER 2016 DATACENTER DISM /online /Set-Edition:ServerDatacenter /ProductKey:CB7KF-BWN84-R7R2Y-793K2-8XDDG /AcceptEula SERVER 2019 STANDARD dism /online /set-edition:ServerStandard /productkey:N69G4-B89J2-4G8F4-WWYCC-J464C /accepteula SERVER 2019 DATACENTER dism /online /set-edition:ServerDatacenter /productkey:WMDGN-G9PQG-XVVXX-R3X43-63DFG /accepteula SERVER 2022 STANDARD dism /online /set-edition:serverstandard /productkey:VDYBN-27WPP-V4HQT-9VMD4-VMK7H /accepteula SERVER 2022 DATACENTER dism /online /set-edition:serverdatacenter /productkey:WX4NM-KYWYW-QJJR4-XV3QB-6VM33 /accepteula

 This is going to be a public running tally of an incident that happened Dec 28, 2021. Its the kind of nightmare scenario as a parent and a vehicle owner that no one wants to go through. I loaned my 2019 Transit 250 XLT to inlaws as they were going to take my 3 year old twins and my two oldest daughters to Louisiana for Christmas. Our van was the perfect size to transport their dogs, kids, and luggage while having plenty of room. The wife and I were on a flight out to Colorado to enjoy an adult vacation and anniversary at the hot springs around Denver. Late one night ont he 28th, we got a call from my eldest stuttering that there was a wreck and then she broke down crying. After a few minutes we were able to glean that they had just mad eit into town in Bossier City, LA and as they went to back the van into the driveway, the ground sunk in and the van got stuck blocking half of the road. See the crude diagram for reference. They immediately got out, started pulling people in the house

I did a cutover to a new domain and had to merge proxy addresses to existing users. Ill do a better write up later but here is the script I used(Thanks Google). It just needs two columns in the .csv. samaccountname and proxyaddresses. The proxyaddresses must be in smtp:user@domain.tld and the samaccountname is just the windows sam name. It will post any errors in powershell as it rolls. Script: Import-module ActiveDirectory $Imported_csv = Import-Csv -Path "PATHTOCSV\.csv" foreach ($user in $Imported_csv) { $User.samaccountname $User.proxyaddresses Set-ADUser -Identity $User.samaccountname -Add @{proxyAddresses= $User.proxyaddresses} } $total = ($Imported_csv).count $total write-host "AD accounts added with proxy addresses..."

 I use an application called Remotely(  https://remotely.one/ ) to manage unattended access for a number of systems. I had originally installed the base and never done any updates for about a year now and had to do some digging to figure out how to update the IIS site it runs on. Step 1: Stop your IIS Site Step 2: Go to  https://remotely.one/#serverPackages and download the Windows Server files. Step 3: Extract the server files and overwrite the files in the wwwroot folder of IIS with the new ones.  Step 4: Restart the IIS site, browse to it, log in and enjoy the updates! As a safety precaution, I recommend doing a snapshot of the VM, or backing up the IIS site just in case something goes wrong. Another note: This can be used in the exact same way to update the linux server version as well. You just have to make sure the web server service is stopped before updating. For more info about Remotely:  https://remotely.one/About 

                                                          So I have a 12 hour white noise clip I pulled from somewhere some long time ago that I have loaded into my Plex media server. I usually open Plex on my phone and cast it to my Bedtime google group every night but that gets tedious and tiresome after a while. Why not automate it to auto load at 8PM every night?  If you already have Home Assistant already configured and setup then cool! If not refer to here: Installation Guide . I installed on a Pi 3B+ with 32 gig SD card. First off, upload the mp3 file to your google drive and make it shareable to all. Follow the steps to get a  an API key and generate a direct google drive link. You will need this if you audio file is large than 100MB as google natively pops up with a display that says too large to scan and thus you cant stream it. Follow the guide here for more info to get the direct link:  https://www.wonderplugin.com/online-tools/google-drive-direct-link-generator/ Once you h

So we ran into an issue where a clients server(VM running on esxi 6.0) just went offline. We logged in and found an All Paths Down situations but the datastore and all hardware was still alive and kicking. Turns out HPE is already aware of the issue and will send a replacement part at no charge and overnight. There is a USB sd adaptor plugged into the motherboard that is actually at fault. Read here: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c05369827 On an HPE ProLiant server running VMware ESXi and utilizing an HP Dual 8GB microSD Enterprise Midline USB Kit, the HPE microSD card carrier solution may experience memory corruption, which may lead to an all paths down situation.