Networknet.nl

Wow! On 12th of June 2007Networknet.nl Blog become online .  In the first half year I was learning WordPress system and posted some posts. After getting familiar with the blogging system I started to blog on various topics and areas I was working on. I received feedback from the readers hitting my website (thanks to google ) and enjoyed publishing my posts.

Where do we stand now:

• 20-03-2008 : 10000 visitors
• 31-07-2008: 50000 visitors
• 18-12-2008: 100000 visitors
• 2009: 250000 ??? just kidding

Tot twee weken geleden wist ik niet zeker of ik dit jaar aan de VMug Event 2008 deel kon nemen. Gelukkig kon ik de dag vrij krijgen en was een van de zeshonderd gelukkigen. Dit jaar wederom het event en nu maar liefst plaats voor 600 deelnemers. Vorig jaar waren er 400 en wie weet hoeveel er volgend jaar zullen zijn gezien de wereldwijde crisis en de kostenbesparing die wij met virtualizatie zouden kunnen realiseren.

Op 12 december 2008 vindt in het NBC Nieuwegein de 4e editie van het VMware User Group (VMUG) Event plaats! Het VMUG Event is het grootste virtualisatie evenement van Nederland: Een technische dag die volledig in het teken staat van de virtualisatietechnolgie van VMware.

Mijn agenda:
8:30 - 9:30 Ontvangst, registratie en koffie (VMUG Exchange)
9:30 - 9:50 Openening van het VMUG Event 2008 (Grote Zaal)
9:50 - 10:30 Keynote – VMware (Grote Zaal)
10:30 - 10:50 Pauze (VMUG Exchange)
10:50 - 11:35 ESX Server en Virtual Center Server Best Practices (Grote Zaal)
11:35 - 11:40 Zaalwisseling
11:40 - 12:25 VMUG Sessie: Streaming Smackdown 2009  Ruben Spruijt - VMUG / PQR (Zaal 2 Boven)
12:25 - 13:30 Lunch
13:30 - 14:15 Virtualisatie en Storage (Grote Zaal)
14:20 -15:05 SRM & DR Best Practices (Grote Zaal)
15:05 - 15:20 Pauze
15:20 - 16:05 VMware - 3rd Party Utilities for VMware Richard Garsthagen – Vmware (Grote Zaal)
16:10 - 16:30 VMUG Event 2008: Afsluiting  Viktor van den Berg (Grote Zaal)
16:30-17:30…………..Borrel!

Hopelijk geen file vanuit Dordrecht naar Niuewegein morgen voor mij. Meer info volgt!

If you managing routers,switches and linux machines than it really makes sense to install a SSH daemon on your Windows machines. I installed freeSSHd daemon which is free on couple of my Windows Server 2008 machines. See my log below:

What is freeSSHD?

freeSSHd, like it’s name says, is a free implementation of an SSH server. It provides strong encryption and authentication over insecure networks like Internet. Users can open remote console or even access their remote files thanks to buit-in SFTP server.

Current version: 1.2.1

Go to http://www.freesshd.com/index.php?ctt=download and download the latest version of freeSshD deamon.

Run and allow the setup file.

Click Next, Next, Next, Next and Install. Click Yes to generate the private keys.

Click Yes to run the freeSshD as system service.

Click Finish to close the installation wizard.

Open FreeSSHd shortcut on the desktop. FreeSSHd will start and new icon will appear on the right side of the taskbar. Right-click and choose settings.

Click here to start it for SSH server.

Start putty or add mRemote SSH connection to your Windows Server:

PS: don’t expect too much on the performance as you would connect to a linux based SSH server; for example you can’t scroll uo;-( At least there is a remote shell and you can securely transfer files from Internet to it.

AutoCAD “Out of the Box” is not tuned to perform particularly well in a WAN environment. This tip is about ways to make AutoCAD respond faster in a networked environment.  After implmenting central file serverices with Riverbed appliances the performance and usage of AutoCAD drawing become almost unusable when browsing for a file in Windows Explorer. AutoCAD files were located on a LAN connected file server before and migrated.

Autodesk’s Infamous Explorer Shell Extension
Since Autodesk included the ability to add digital signatures to drawings, they’ve also included an Explorer shell extension that allows Explorer to display signed .DWG files with a different icon than unsigned .DWG files. When Explorer lists .DWG files in a folder, it has to examine each file to determine whether or not it is signed and then display the correct icon. This takes time. On your local workstation’s folders the extra time is insignificant; however on a LAN the lag is noticeable, and across the WAN the lag can be crippling. The Explore lag occurs in AutoCAD File Dialogs as well as just plain Explorer.

By default this shell extension is installed and enabled with any Autodesk product.
To disable it:

• Right-click on any .DWG file and choose “Enable/Disable Digital Signature Icons” from the menu.
• In the Signature Validation Options dialog uncheck the “Validate digital signatures and display special icons” check box. 
• Click OK and Reboot.

Any AutoCAD product install or update will re-enable this shell extension, so you may get to do this more than one time. Anytime your browser access becomes slow, check this setting.

Disabling the the digital signature icon display does not invalidate a drawing’s digital signature. End users are still notified on Open that they’re opening a signed drawing.

Related links:

• AutoCAD in a Networked Environment

If you are experiencing replication problems from one of your domain controllers than there is a quick and dirty way to force the NDTS topology updates. Usually I hit those problems when moving between locations and workstations in my lab and testing environments.

Start “Active Directory Sites and Services” console, locate the site, domain controller and open NTDS settings and remove all connection links.

Start “Command Prompt” and execute repadmin /kcc (Forces the KCC to recalculate replication topology for a specified domain controller. By default this recalculation occurs every 15 minutes.)

Wait for a while and check the replication between your domain controllers.

Related links:

• Repadmin Syntax

Since couple days I am running Windows XP x64 and I wanted to scan some documents with my old Canon Lide scanner which is connected by USB cable on the host. Drivers are not supported in Windows XP x64 and therefore I am using a Windows XP 32bit virtual machine.

After connecting the scanner in Removable Devices I get the message below: 

• Please upgrade your virtual machine to enable high-speed USB 2.0 support for the device “Canon CanoScan”. An attempt will be made to connect this device to the best available host controller. This may result in an undefined behavior for this device

• Shutdown the virtual machine; click VM in the menu and choose “Upgrade or Change version”; follow the wizard and choose VMWare Workstation 6/6.5
• Open the vmx file in Notepad and change virtualHW.version = “6.0″ and add ehci.present = “TRUE” to the configuration.

Getting done is how the virtualization at least helps me here. Scanner is now working.