• iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    MacIT Presentation

    I enjoy going to MacIT so much. Paul Kent ran a great little conference in Monterrey one year and I am so glad that I started going to Macworld around that time. I missed it last year while trying to trim back on the travel and am pretty stoked I got to get there again this year. Special thanks to everyone I saw and was able to hang out with. Considering there isn’t a single person I didn’t want to hang out with, sorry if I didn’t see you or get to spend any time. Thanks to Duncan and Kevin White for making time to do the podcasts (hopefully the…

  • Mac OS X

    Stupid Human Tricks: Plug Your iPhone Earbuds Into A USB Port

    I was fumbling around in the dark on the plane and I tried to plug the Earbuds for my iPhone into my MacBook. In case you were considering doing the same thing I thought I’d post a screenshot of what happens. Hope you enjoy and now know that you don’t have to try to do the same! Yup, again I provide I’m not-so-bright!

  • Windows Server,  Windows XP

    Use PowerShell to Query WMI on Windows Servers

    I recently needed to check and see whether a backup drive (which was just a 4TB USB drive) was plugged into a server. But the server had no GUI, so I had to use the command line. There was no drive letter mapped to this drive, so I needed to use something else and I needed to make a script that could be used long-term. Luckily, PowerShell can be used to obtain WMI information on the hardware installed on a computer. This allows administrators to query WMI about the USB devices currently installed on a server. In the following command, we’re going to use gwmi from PowerShell and we’re going…

  • Windows Server

    Setting PowerShell Execution Policies

    Microsoft doesn’t want any old tool to execute PowerShell scripts. But sometimes when we’re running a tool, we need the tool to be run in a way that violates the default execution policy. In order to facilitate this, Microsoft has also provided four levels of security for the PowerShell execution policy. These include: Restricted: The default execution policy, which forces commands to be entered interactively. All Signed: Only signed scripts can be run by a trusted publisher. Remote Signed: Any scripts created locally can run. Unrestricted: Any script can run. To configure an execution policy interactively, simply use the Set-ExecutionPolicy command followed by the name of the execution policy you…

  • Mac OS X,  Mass Deployment

    Password Hints and Retries in OS X

    You can customize the number of times that you enter an incorrect password before you get the password hint in the loginwindow on OS X. To do so, use the defaults command to send a RetriesUntilHint integer key into com.apple.loginwindow.plist stored at /Library/Preferences using the following command: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow RetriesUntilHint -integer 10

  • Xsan

    Access Qlogic Switches & Other Java Apps From OS X

    Qlogic fibre channel switches are about the most common I see in Xsan environments. A common frustration when managing a Qlogic switch is that the Java runtime used to manage the switch is blocked from most OS X systems by default. But it’s pretty easy to get into them with a couple of minor adjustments. To get started, first download and install the latest Java from here. Once installed, open System Preferences on your Mac and then open the Java Preferences. Here, click on the Security tab. Click Edit Site List… In the pop-up, click Add and enter http:// followed by the name or IP address of your switch. Click…

  • Mac OS X,  Windows XP

    Produce Random Complex Passwords in Excel

    Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time normalizing data in Excel. And when I needed to generate a bunch of passwords for a project, I almost switched to another tool to do so. But I decided that I was already in Excel so I might as well do it there. Excel has a couple of random (pseudorandom) number and character functions in RAND() and RANDBETWEEN(). In its simplest, let’s just pick a number between one and ten: =RANDBETWEEN(1,10) Now let’s pick a number that’s 9 characters after a decimal: =RAND() Or make it a regular nine character number: =RAND()*1000000000 Regrettably numbers are OK for passwords. So let’s bump up…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Test Volume Speeds for Xsan Metadata Controllers

    I have used a variety of tools for testing the speed of Xsan volumes. But none have been as easy as the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test. It’s cute, it’s fast, it’s very informative and it requires no Terminal, unlike the other tools I’ve used for years. To use Disk Speed Test, first download it from the Mac App Store (it’s free). Then mount the volume you’d like to test and open the Disk Speed Test app.   Click on the Settings icon in the middle and select the volume you’d like to test. Then click Start. Enjoy.

  • Microsoft Exchange Server,  Windows Server

    Script to Create Exchange Mailboxes for Active Directory Users Based On OU

    Here’s a little powershell script to enable mailboxes based on an OU and put their new mailbox into a given database. To customize, change OU=ORGANIZATIONALUNIT,DC=companyname,DC=com to the DN for the OU you are configuring. Also, change DATABASENAME to the name of the information store that you’d like to use for the mailboxes in that OU. Import-module activedirectory $OUusers = Get-ADUser -LDAPfilter ‘(name=*)’ -searchBase {OU=ORGANIZATIONALUNIT,DC=companyname,DC=com} foreach($username in $OUusers) { Enable-Mailbox -Identity $username.SamAccountName -database {DATABASENAME} }