It is not uncommon to end up with a number of shares on a server, be it Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. With all of this sprawl it can be useful to see the shares in a quick and concise manner. using the Win32_Share WMI class through PowerShell you can do just that from the command line, similar to the sharing command in Mac OS X Server. The command, from PowerShell would be something similar to the following: get-WmiObject -class Win32_Share Assuming communication is working as intended, you can also query for the shares of other systems, by adding a -computer switch and specifying the host you’re listing shares…
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Delegating DirAdmin to Windows Clients
The default behavior of a Windows Server NT4 through 2008 based domain is to allow a Domain Admin account to manage Windows clients. A number of environments have been moving over to using the PDC emulator on Mac OS X as a means of replacing aging Windows servers. One of the biggest annoyances is that the Open Directory administrative accounts they use to bind the Windows computers to are not local administrators. When you bind Mac OS X to Active Directory you can specify which Active Directory groups are administrators of Mac OS X client systems so you would imagine you can do the same thing on an OS X…
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Entourage Web Services Edition Available
For those who have been waiting for a time when Entourage uses less bandwidth, has enhanced support for EWS features and well, works better, the time has come. The beta came and went and we waiting. And the wait is now over. Entourage Web Services Edition is now available for download. You only really need this if you have an Exchange Server 2007 environment and can support EWS.
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Windows Login Screen Customizations
OK, OK, you’re right – if I’m going to cover customizing the loginwindow of Mac OS X then the least I can do is cover Windows as well. Because the registry is basically a bigger, more monolithic version of the defaults domains, we’re going to do pretty much the same stuff at the login screen for Windows. First, open the registry editor (regedit) and browse to HKEY USERS .DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop Then edit the value for wallpaper, typing in the path to the image you’d like to use. To set it as tiled add TileWallPaper and set it to the integer 1 or to stretch add WallPaperStyle and set it to the…
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Keystrokes for Windows 7
Windows Keys: Alt+ Enter: shows properties for selection Alt+ Esc: switch between applications in the order they were opened Alt+ F4: closes the active window Alt + Shift + F4: closes all open windows of the type matching the Active Window Alt + Spacebar: shows the System menu Alt + Tab: switch between open applications Control + Escape: opens the Start Menu F1: requests help Shift: while inserting removable media, skips auto-run Shift: while logging in, bypasses startup items Shift + Delete: deletes the selection permanently Windows Key: opens the Start menu Windows Key+D: shows Desktop Windows Key + E: opens Internet Explorer (or the default browser if it is…
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Growl for Windows
I’ve grown to love and to hate the growl alerts on my Mac. Whether it’s Lithium telling me a server is down and I have to get back to work or my favorite FTP app telling me a transfer is complete or being notified that the Subversion box at the office just had a new copy of a script checked in and I need to go review something. Across the board it’s a love hate relationship. And the one place where I’ve always found solace is Microsoft Windows. You see, when I’m on Windows I don’t get those updates… But all of that is changing because of growlforwindows. Now, the…
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Mac AD Password Expiration Monitor
Password Monitor is a somewhat new look on a tool that has been in production in a number of environments for awhile. According to the site: Password Monitor is a simple utility that will count down the days until a user’s Active Directory password is due to expire. An OS X 10.5 (or newer) system properly bound to an Active Directory is the only requirement. Additional features include the ability to display the exact expiration date on the logon window (admin rights required) and to automatically launch the utility at startup. The number of days between required password changes has to be manually set in the preferences. The range has…
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Installing a Vtrak for Windows
If you are installing a Vtrak from Apple on Microsoft Windows you can download the drivers from Promise here: http://www.promise.com/support/download/download_eng.asp Having said this, you can use the Promise drivers or generic drivers if you’re using the Promise as targets and connecting to those LUNs via StorNext that are managed by Xsan. The reason for this is that StorNext will manage the LUNs. To see the LUNs, check Windows Device Manager.
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New Windows Keystroke and Xsan Keys
OK, probably not new but oddly enough, this one is new to me. Control-Alt-Escape launches the Task Manager instead of using the ole’ three finger salute to fire up the screen to get to the Task Manager. I was on a KVM, switched between a Mac and PC accidentally, hit the same keystroke (funny keyboard map) and bam, there it was… Also, in Xsan. You can click on the Command key plus a number to cycle through the various options in the list along the left hand side of the screen. For example, the overview page when you first log in is Command-1 whereas the next one down in the…
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Debug Logging in StorNext
If you create a folder in c:Program FilesStorNext called debug then after you restart the FSS StorNext will create a file called c:Program FilesStorNextdebugnssdebug.out, which contains very verbose logs from the perspective of the StorNext system. This can be useful, for example, in debugging connectivity issues with other StorNext systems and/or Xsan.