Windows Server 2012 R2 & HP Proliant Microserver

Windows Server 2012 R2 hangs on 'Getting devices ready 84%'
Fails to Complete the installation on HP MicroServer Gen7 (N36L, N40L & N54L)

The MicroServer N36, N40L and N54L all share the same embedded NC107i PCI Express gigabit NIC. The NC107i uses the Broadcom BCM5723 chip which doesn’t have an updated driver included with the Server 2012 R2 installation media. The lack of drivers will get you stuck at 84%...

The current workaround is to disable the on-board NIC and install another card.
Flash the custom BIOS to unlock the hidden BIOS screens
Install a supported NIC in the PCIe slot (Joe used the Intel EXPI9301CTBLK
Go into the BIOS and change the settings to match
Boot Settings -> Embedded NIC Port 1 Control – [Disabled]
Boot Settings -> Wake-On LAN – [Disabled]
Chipset -> Atheros AR8132M NIC – [Disabled]
After a reboot, Server 2012 R2 should install fine.

Fall back to R1 or...., here's a solution for you!

Download this driver and add it to the $WinPEDriver$ folder of your media installation kit.
Disable Embedded NIC Port 1 Control in BIOS
Install Windows Server 2012 R2
Add a Server name
Reboot into BIOS to Enable the NIC
This should get you working, have fun!

HP have documented this as a known issue and are currently working with Microsoft to resolve prior to the official release of R2.

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Global Smartphone Sales

CouponAudit infographic.

This Infographic is produced by Coupon Audit (provides Zappos coupon code) and VoovodeNET
<br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <br /> <img style="max-width: 100%;" src="http://www.couponaudit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Global-Smartphone-Sales7.jpg" alt="Global Smartphone Sales" /></p> <br /> <p> </a></p> <br /> <p> This Infographic is produced by <a href="http://www.couponaudit.com/coupons/zappos">Coupon Audit (provides Zappos coupon code) </a> and <a href="http://www.voovode.net">Voovode</a> </p> .<br /><br /> <br />

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ITProDevConnections 2013

ITProDevConnections

It's time to attend a conference this weekend all about technology with my friend nick.

I`ll possibly stick to the networking & security area again as every year....

Hope it's gonna be good! See you on monday!

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Administer samba shares via SWAT

Is it hard for you to play with smb.conf and other stuff? Are you afraid of doing any mistakes?

Then you have to think about using swat, the samba web administration tool.

We will first install samba, cifs-utils, swat and xinted, all needed for our SWAT installation.

sudo apt-get install samba cifs-utils swat xinetd

Then we will go ahead and enable swat in our internet service deamon,

sudo update-inetd --enable 'swat'
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xinetd

after xinetd, we will create the swat service.

sudo cat > /etc/xinetd.d/swat <<-EOF
service swat
{
port = 901
socket_type = stream
wait = no
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/swat
log_on_failure += USERID
disable = no
}
EOF

SWAT needs to have access to the smb.conf file to edit it automatically. We will now give those permissions and restart the xinetd service:

sudo chmod g+w /etc/samba/smb.conf
sudo chgrp adm /etc/samba/smb.conf
sudo service xinetd restart

By now you should be able to login to the administration tool via http://localhost:901/
Start sharing!

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How to generate entropy in few easy steps

You will possibly need this for a PGP key.. So how to generate entropy through a secure shell connection in an easy way?

You don`t have to smash the keyboard or move the mouse and stuff...

Install haveged, a simple entropy deamon.

apt-get install haveged

then type in -w with your bits:

haveged -w 4096

Now you can re-start your PGP-key entropy gatherer in order to finish quickly, right after it's done, you might consider removing haveged as i did.

apt-get remove haveged

Easy eh?

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