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Archive for category HowTo

Add Windows 2008 Firewall rule with CLI

Jun 24

Posted by virtuEs in HowTo | 1 Comment

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For security reasons it is wise to keep your Windows firewall turned on. Even internal networks are not free of hack attempts. So to make sure the installed programs are functioning with the firewall turned on, you have to do your research on the communications that will occure between server and client (or other servers).
With an interest in automated installations, scripted installations and other unattended installations, I was looking for a commandline interface that would allow me to script the creation of the neccessary Windows Firewall rules for my applications.

 

For a list of known TCP and UDP IP ports you can easily check wikipedia or The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
 

 

This post is my own personal mental note for creating Windows Firewall rules with the NETSH commandline interface.

 
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Sysprep Windows Server 2008

May 23

Posted by virtuEs in HowTo, Install, Operating Systems | 7 Comments

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With Windows Server 2008 the newSID tool can no longer be used in combination with imaged deployment of servers. A deployment method that becomes even more important in Server Virtualization and Provisioned Infrastructures. Microsoft has improved the sysprep tooling by using XML config files and introducing the Microsoft Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) to create the unattended answer files. For Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, the WAIK version 1.1 can be downloaded here.

 

For Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 a different WAIK is to be used, which can be found here.

 

 

This post offers step-by-step instructions for the use of the WAIK to setup sysprep.

 

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Wake on LAN settings for XenServer 5.5

Apr 13

Posted by virtuEs in HomeLab, HowTo, Hypervisors | 3 Comments

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One of the create extra features on most NICs nowadays is the support for Wake On LAN. An option to wake up your system by sending a signal to your Network Interface Card (NIC). This signal can be a so called Magic Packet.
All you need for this option is a Motherboard that supports Wake-On-LAN (WOL) or Power Management Events (PME); which has to be enabled in the BIOS. And a NIC that also supports WOL. Even though WOL is Operation System independent, it’s behavior is usually configured from within the OS.

I want to be able to use WOL as a startup method for my XenServer systems, Therefore I looked at the options Linux has to offer to enable a NIC to listen for special WOL packets and boot up the system.

 

This post offers instructions to enable the WOL support with XenServer 5.5.

 
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Windows Server 2008 iscsicli.exe CommandLine Interface

Apr 6

Posted by virtuEs in HowTo, Management Tools, Scripts, Storage | 5 Comments

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The easiest way to connect to you iSCSI storage LUNs from Windows Server 2008 is by using the iSCSI initiator GUI. With the GUI you can easily make a connection with your iSCSI Storage by giving the ip-address and dynamically discover the LUNs (or Volumes) it has to offer. With the Windows Server 2008 R2 Core edition, you can start the GUI with iSCSICPL.exe.
In case you do not have the option to use the GUI (Core Server or when scripting the configuration), you can use the CommandLine Interface (CLI) Windows Server 2008 has to offer by default.

The iscsicli.exe command of Windows Server 2008 allows you to use the Microsoft iSCSI initiator without the GUI. Making it the perfect tool for scripting the iSCSI connections (Hyper-V Server shared storage). If you know the ip-address of your iSCSI storage and the IQN of the LUN you want to use (though it can be found with the command), you are all set to set up the connection and use your shared storage.

 

This post offers step-by-step instructions for the iscsicli.exe command.

 
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Install the XenServer PowerShell Snapin on a 64-bits Windows OS

Apr 1

Posted by virtuEs in HowTo, Hypervisors, Scripts | 3 Comments

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As I’m discovering the CLI options I can revert to for scripting automated jobs for the XenServer 5.5 environment, I wanted to check out the new PowerShell Snapin provided by Citrix. After downloading and installing the XS-PS Windows installer I discovered that the PowerShell cmdlets were only installed for the PowerShell (X86) console and were not installed for the 64-bits console.

Fortunately for me a solution is mentioned on the XenServer SDK download page

In order to use the cmdlets in the 64-bits PowerShell Console, all you need to do is run the following command after the msi install in a command box:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727>InstallUtil.exe "c:\Program File
s (x86)\Citrix\XenServerPSSnapIn\XenServerPSSnapIn.dll"

 

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