I came across a product called Likewise, the free open-source version is available in the standard Ubuntu repositories. Here’s a quick guide for how to get up and running with likewise-open.

Firstly, install Likewise.

$ sudo aptitude install likewise-open

The final part of the installation will prompt you for some information about your Active Directory domain. If you need to change the settings you enter here run dpkg-reconfigure krb5-config.

The second screen asks you for an administrative domain controler where password changes will occur.

With the installation complete we now need to join the system to the Active Directory domain, this is accomplished with one simple command.

$ sudo domainjoin-cli join NWTRADERS.MSFT Administrator

I then wanted domain admins to be able to use sudo. This can easily be achieved by adding the following to the end of the /etc/sudoers file.

%NWTRADERS\\domain^admins ALL=(ALL) ALL

@echo off
REM ================================================================
REM CONFIGURATION INFO
REM ================================================================
set USERNAME=backupAccount
set PASSWORD=superSecretPassword
set CFGFILE=BackupList.txt
set DESTDIR=C:\Backups\

REM ================================================================
REM STOP CHANGING HERE OR YOU'LL BREAK SOMETHING
REM ================================================================
SET TIMESTAMP=%date:~-4,4%.%date:~-7,2%.%date:~-10,2%
for /F "tokens=1,2 delims=," %%A in (%CFGFILE%) do (
	IF NOT EXIST "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%" mkdir "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%"
	pscp -q -scp -pw %PASSWORD% %USERNAME%@%%B:ns_sys_config "%DESTDIR%%TIMESTAMP%\%%A.cfg"
)

The above will read the details of the firewalls from a CSV file (BackupList.txt) in hostname,ip address format. PSCP is then used to SCP the configuration from the firewall to the location specified in DESTDIR.

You’ll need to make sure SSH + SCP is enabled on your firewalls and that pscp is in the same directory as the script. You can find the latest version of Putty and PSCP here.

Facts

• 8 Chapters, 116 pages with an RRP of $34.99 US / £31.99 UK
• The book is aimed at anyone who wants to manage a network using Cacti. No previous Cacti or Linux experience is needed

Pros

• The book is ideal for someone who has never used a Linux or Cacti system before. It’s an ideal introduction to Cacti.
• The instructions and illustrations are clear and concise, with no room for misinterpretation
• Provides a good introduction to data, host and graph templates and how to use them.

Cons

• The book is filled with poor sentence structure and typos. Given that PACKT had someone review the writing and correct mistakes, this is a real shame.
• The book makes frequent and consistent spelling mistakes. For example, the book constantly refers to Tobi Oetiker as Tobi Oeticker
• The first 46 pages (of 116) cover what SNMP and rrdtool are and how to install Cacti. Given the book is so short, this seems a waste when a simple aptitude install cacti would have covered it.
• 10 pages on user management really is a waste. If you can’t figure out how to create a user on your own you really shouldn’t be setting up the network monitoring system for your organization.

Conclusion

I’m in two minds about this book. On the one hand it’s full of typos and poor English. It doesn’t go into much depth in the areas I wanted it to (Cacti XML Queries and data templates) but spends a long time on simple tasks (installing and basic configuration). On the positive side the book does provide a good introduction to SNMP and how to get started with Cacti.

All considered I think the book is suitable for someone who is looking at implementing Cacti but shouldn’t be considered a complete guide. One to avoid if endless typos are likely to get on your nerves.

Once the update fails to install, you’ll likely have to reboot as the system will be flagged as pending a reboot. Once rebooted we need to attempt to complete the SQL Server installation:

1. Open up Add or Remove Programs, select Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and click Change
2. On the Component Selection screen, choose Database Engine under SQL Server 2005 Instances and click Next
3. On the Feature Maintenance screen, choose Database Engine and click Next
4. Go through the setup wizard until the Change or Remove Instance screen. Then click Complete the suspended installation.
5. Follow through the wizard, if you get a prompt for the files point it at your SQL SP3 installation media and continue.

If you’re using SQL Server 2005 Express you can extract SQLEXPR32.EXE with the /x switch.

The installation will likely fail with the following error:

SQL Server Setup has encountered the following problem: [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]Password validation failed. The password does not meet Windows policy requirements because it is too short.. To continue, correct the problem, and then run SQL Server Setup again.

Edit C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Upgrade\sqlagent90_msdb_upgrade.sql with notepad or similar.

Change password on line 30683 to something more complex, from:
encryption by password = 'Yukon90_'
To (for example):
encryption by password = 'Yukon90_23423ASDzz}{'

Then further down, change line 30977 to reflect the same value:

From
set @exec_str = N'add signature to ' + @sp + N' by certificate [##MS_AgentSigningCertificate##] with password = ''Yukon90_'''

To
set @exec_str = N'add signature to ' + @sp + N' by certificate [##MS_AgentSigningCertificate##] with password = ''Yukon90_23423ASDzz}{'''

Cancel out of setup. Back in Add or Remove Programs choose Change again for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 continuing through the wizard as before. This time, you wont get the error and the upgrade will complete.

• Exchange Server Remote Connectivity Analyzer
• OCS Remote Connectivity Analyzer

Both domains look to be owned by Microsoft and are hosted on servers run by Microsoft. Even so, I’d suggest using a test account rather than your own.

Once your license has expired, you’ll want to do is check with Google and make sure they don’t want the hardware back (they never do, but best to check). It’s safe to say that doing this is going to void your warranty.

The first thing you’re going to need to do is reset he password on the BIOS so that you can change the boot order. The easiest way to do this is to open the chassis and remove the jumper labeled PWRD_EN. The jumper is located just behind the memory towards the rear of the server. The next time you boot you can hit F2 to get into the BIOS.

With the BIOS now open, set the option to boot form the front USB ports. You’re going to want to flash the BIOS with a newer, non-branded one. A Google appliance is just a Dell PowerEdge 2950 with a yellow coat of paint and a snazzy front bezel. Head over to the Dell site and download the latest BIOS (I used 2.6.1). Once downloaded, run the utility to create a BIOS update floppy disk.

With the floppy disk in hand, connect an external USB floppy drive to one of the front USB ports and boot from your BIOS update disk. The update will give you an error message saying that a Dell PowerEdge 2950 BIOS cannot be applied to a Google Enterprise Search Appliance. Fear not, when the update exits it’ll leave you at a DOS prompt. Run the following command:

020601 /forcetype

It should complete successfully and reboot. Remove the floppy drive, enable visualization support in the BIOS and then install ESX. If you don’t have a USB CD drive handy, check out my guide on installing ESX from a USB Key.

Usage is simple, run the program with the /remote argument, like so.

CPP-ProductKeyFinder.exe /remote Dave-Win2k8
The keys will be logged to a txt file in the working directory in a file named whatever the computer name is, in this case Dave-Win2k8.txt.

Any errors will be logged to Errors.txt in the same directory.

This application will not generate license keys, it will recover them from your system. It will not help you pirate software.

Unfortunately the system didn’t come with a CD drive so the next easiest installation was going to be from a USB thumb drive.

If you’re keen to install ESX from a USB thumb drive, you’ll need:

• A USB thumb drive, I used a 1Gb Lexar
• An ESX iso, I used VMware-VMvisor-Installer-4.0.0-164009.x86_64.iso
• The latest version of syslinux (I used 3.82)

With those bits in hand, do the following.

1. Format the USB drive with a FAT32 filesystem
2. Use something like 7-Zip to extract the ISO to your USB thumb drive
3. Download the latest syslinux ZIP file and extract it somewhere
4. From the “syslinux\win” directory run
   syslinux.exe -s -m -f -a h: Where h: is the letter your USB thumb drive is assigned
5. Rename the hidden file isolinux.cfg on your USB thumb drive to syslinux.cfg
6. Safely Remove your USB thumb drive and install ESX

Thankfully Microsoft provide a tool to do just that:

STSADM -o migrateuser -oldlogin "NWTRADERS\Dave Hope" -newlogin "LONDON\Dave Hope" -ignoresidhistory

STSADM is stored in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\

Bear in mind that you may need to alter the display name etc if you’re migrating the settings to a different individual.

I was unable to retrieve the password, however I was able to reset it.

First, navigate to c:\compaq\wbem\homepage and open up cpqhmmd.ini with notepad (or similar).

Set the following values:
[HMMDConfiguration]
AnonymousAccess=True
LocalSecurityAccess=true

Save the file and then open up cpqhmmdx.ini from the same directory. Set the following values:
[HMMDConfiguration]
LocalAccessEnabled=true
LocalAccessType=Administrator

Now restart the HP services and the next time you launch the system management homepage you’ll not be prompted to login and will have administrator access.

Once logged in you can reset the password to something you know and then undo the changes to cpqhmmd.ini and cpqhmmdx.ini