Eng. Alessandro Mazzanti: May 2014

Tips - Change background color on your browser to easily read text

It's very useful read webpages with White text and Black background.

So I suggest this two addon for Firefox and Chorme that give you the ability to don't tyre your eye:

Blank Your Monitor + Easy Reading 1.9.8

High Contrast

Per evitare di affaticare gli occhi ho trovato due plugin per firefox e Chrome che rendono il testo bianco e lo sfondo nero.

Blank Your Monitor + Easy Reading 1.9.8

High Contrast

Tutorial - VSS questi sconosciuti

Here is a very intersting article (in italian language) that easilye explain how it iworks VSS tecnology.

It's allways important to know just a bit more about this technology.

http://www.achab.it/blog/index.cfm/2014/5/come-funziona-vss.htm

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Ecco un interessante articolo che spiega in maniera dettagliata la tecnologia VSS.

Con l'occasione estrapolo alcune informazioni specifiche:

VSS può creare snapshot con due livelli di coerenza:

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coerenza a livello di crash: viene creata la copia snapshot del volume selezionato. Questa copia non contiene dati in corso di modifica o presenti in memoria, pertanto alcuni possono mancare o essere incoerenti.
Coerenza a livello di applicazione: l'applicazione sottoposta a backup controlla i propri file presenti nella copia snapshot per accertarsi che siano corretti. Per esempio, comprende le informazioni residenti in memoria e le transazioni di database non ancora completate in modo da essere più precisa e coerente.

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Il servizio VSS si compone di tre sottosistemi che interagiscono per creare e mantenere le copie snapshot:

VSS requester (in pratica il programma di backup): richiede la creazione della copia snapshot e, quando questa non è più necessaria, ne richiede la rimozione.
VSS writer: permette a un'applicazione di accertarsi che i rispettivi file inclusi in una copia snapshot siano coerenti con l'applicazione stessa. I VSS writer sono integrati nelle applicazioni compatibili con VSS come per esempio Exchange e SQL Server.
VSS provider: crea e mantiene le copie snapshot. I sistemi operativi Microsoft sono dotati di un VSS provider denominato Microsoft VSS Provider.

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Nello specifico, consideriamo uno snapshot creato e mantenuto da un Microsoft VSS Provider.
Il Microsoft VSS Provider crea normalmente le copie snapshot sul medesimo volume dei dati di cui effettua la copia.
Se questi dati cambiano, una copia della loro precedente versione viene salvata in una destinazione denominata "shadow storage".
In questo modo la copia snapshot può mantenere una versione dei dati originali risalenti a un determinato istante temporale occupando su disco lo spazio equivalente ai soli dati modificati nel frattempo.
Questo per quanto riguarda il mantenimento della copia snapshot; e per quanto riguarda il suo utilizzo da parte del job di backup?
Il job di backup chiede al servizio VSS di fornire i dati selezionati. A questo punto:

se i dati sono cambiati, lo snapshot fornisce al job di backup una copia dei dati precedenti al momento del cambiamento prelevandoli dallo shadow storage;
se i dati non sono cambiati, la copia snapshot fornisce al job di backup i dati del volume attualmente in uso.

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Una volta che un'applicazione VSS-aware come Exchange Server sa che è stato completato il backup dei dati, il suo VSS writer effettua alcune operazioni di pulizia come la cancellazione dei log delle transazioni del database: in questo modo viene liberato spazio su disco e si velocizzata l'applicazione stessa.

HyperV - Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter 2.0

Microsoft® Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the information technology (IT) pro or solution provider who wants to convert virtual machines and disks from VMware hosts to Hyper-V® hosts and Windows Azure™.

Download:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42497

Microsoft® Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the information technology (IT) pro or solution provider who wants to convert virtual machines and disks from VMware hosts to Hyper-V® hosts and Windows Azure™.

MVMC can be deployed with minimal dependencies. Because MVMC provides native support for Windows PowerShell®, it enables scripting and integration with data center automation workflows such as those authored and run within Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2. It can also be invoked through the Windows PowerShell® command-line interface. The solution is simple to download, install, and use. In addition to the Windows PowerShell capability, MVMC provides a wizard-driven GUI to facilitate virtual machine conversion.

New Features in MVMC 2.0
MVMC 2.0 release of MVMC includes the following new features:

Converts virtual disks that are attached to a VMware virtual machine to virtual hard disks (VHDs) that can be uploaded to Windows Azure.
Provides native Windows PowerShell capability that enables scripting and integration into IT automation workflows.
Note The command-line interface (CLI) in MVMC 1.0 has been replaced by Windows PowerShell in MVMC 2.0.
Supports conversion and provisioning of Linux-based guest operating systems from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts.
Supports conversion of offline virtual machines.
Supports the new virtual hard disk format (VHDX) when converting and provisioning in Hyper-V in Windows Server® 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012.
Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.1, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts Hyper-V virtual machines.
Supports Windows Server® 2012 R2, Windows Server® 2012, and Windows® 8 as guest operating systems that you can select for conversion.

Standard MVMC Features
In addition to the new features previously identified, MVMC provides the following functionality:

Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts on any of the following operating systems:
Windows Server® 2012 R2
Windows Server® 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Converts VMware virtual machines, virtual disks, and configurations for memory, virtual processor, and other virtual computing resources from the source to Hyper-V.
Adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.
Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 5.5, VMware vSphere 5.0, and VMware vSphere 4.1 hosts to Hyper-V.
Has a wizard-driven GUI, which simplifies performing virtual machine conversions.
Uninstalls VMware Tools before online conversion (online only) to provide a clean way to migrate VMware-based virtual machines to Hyper-V.
Important MVMC takes a snapshot of the virtual machine that you are converting before you uninstall VMware Tools, and then shuts down the source machine to preserve state during conversion. The virtual machine is restored to its previous state after the source disks that are attached to the virtual machine are successfully copied to the machine where the conversion process is run. At that point, the source machine in VMware can be turned on, if required.
Important MVMC does not uninstall VMware Tools in an offline conversion. Instead, it disables VMware services, drivers, and programs only for Windows Server guest operating systems. For file conversions with Linux guest operating systems, VMware Tools are not disabled or uninstalled. We highly recommend that you manually uninstall VMware Tools when you convert an offline virtual machine.
Supports Windows Server and Linux guest operating system conversion. For more details, see the section “Supported Configurations for Virtual Machine Conversion” in this guide.
Includes Windows PowerShell capability for offline conversions of VMware-based virtual hard disks (VMDK) to a Hyper-V–based virtual hard disk file format (.vhd file).
Note The offline disk conversion does not include driver fixes.

Tips - Open file .epub

If you need to open file .epub here is relative utility suitable for this purpose:

http://calibre-ebook.com/download

calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. It has a cornucopia of features divided into the following main categories:

Library Management
E-book conversion
Syncing to e-book reader devices
Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form
Comprehensive e-book viewer
Content server for online access to your book collection
E-book editor for the major e-book formats

You can see usage statistics for calibre here.
You can see usage statistics for the various news sources in calibre here.

Exchange 2007 - Backup Exchange 2007 Server with Windows backup utility

Using Windows Server Backup to Back Up and Restore Exchange Data

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007 SP3, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP1

Topic Last Modified: 2012-03-26

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes a new plug-in that enables you to make Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)-based backups of Exchange data using Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008. You can use Windows Server Backup to back up and restore your Exchange 2007 SP3 databases. A thorough understanding of what needs to be backed up, where to store backups, and how to restore backups is key to being an effective Exchange administrator. For more information about what needs to be backed up in Exchange 2007, see What Needs to Be Protected in an Exchange Environment.
The new plug-in is delivered in the form of a single executable called WSBExchange.exe. This plug-in is automatically installed by SP3 on all Exchange 2007 Mailbox servers. The plug-in enables Windows Server Backup to be able to make Exchange-aware VSS backups. Before using Windows Server Backup and the Exchange plug-in to back up Exchange data, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following features and options for the plug-in:

Backups are VSS-based only. You cannot make streaming ESE backups using Windows Server Backup with or without the plug-in.
Backups taken with Windows Server Backup occur at volume level. To back up a storage group and database, you must back up the entire volume containing the storage group and database. You cannot back up any data without backing up the entire volume containing the data.
The backup must be run locally on the server being backed up, and you cannot use the plug-in to take remote VSS backups. There is no remote administration of Windows Server Backup or the plug-in. You can, however, use Remote Desktop or Terminal Services to remotely manage backup.
The backup can be created on a local drive or on a remote network share.
Only Full backups can be taken. Log truncation will occur only after a successful completion of a full backup of a volume containing an Exchange storage group and database.
In a continuous replication environment, only volumes that contain active database copies can be backed up by using the plug-in.
When restoring data, it is possible to restore only Exchange data. This data can be restored to its original location or to an alternate location. If you restore the data to its original location, Windows Server Backup and the plug-in will automatically handle the recovery process, including dismounting any existing databases and replaying logs into the recovered database.
The restore process does not directly support the Recovery Storage Group (RSG). However, if you restore to an alternate location, you can then manually move the restored data from the alternate location into an RSG, if needed.
When restoring Exchange data, all backed up storage groups must be restored together. You cannot restore a single storage group or database.
The plug-in does not support the Exchange Replica VSS Writer that is part of the Replication service. As a result, you cannot use Windows Server Backup to backup passive copies of storage groups.

For detailed steps about how to back up an Exchange server using the SP3 plug-in for Windows Server Backup, see How to Perform a Backup of Exchange Using Windows Server Backup.
For detailed steps about how to restore data from a backup taken with the SP3 plug-in for Windows Server Backup, see How to Restore a Backup of Exchange Using Windows Server Backup.

To ensure that you are reading the most up-to-date information and to find additional Exchange Server 2007 documentation, visit the Exchange Server TechCenter.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/en-en/library/ee221172%28v=exchg.80%29.aspx

SCCM 2012 - Installing multiple Windows 7 hotfixes(.msu) with SCCM

With SCCM if you need to create package to install .msu file you must use following syntax:

Wusa.exe c:\temp\FILExxxxx.msu /quiet /norestart

Otherwise you can use following script that will parse all the files in the same directory as the script and install all files which ends with .MSU automatically.

Dim objfso, objShell


Dim folder, files, sFolder, folderidx, Iretval, return




Set objfso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")




Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")




sFolder = left(WScript.ScriptFullName,

(Len(WScript.ScriptFullName))-(len(WScript.ScriptName)))




Set folder = objfso.GetFolder(sFolder)

  


Set files = folder.Files




For each folderIdx In files




If Ucase(Right(folderIdx.name,3)) = "MSU" then




wscript.echo "wusa.exe " & sfolder & folderidx.name & " /quiet /norestart"


iretval=objShell.Run ("wusa.exe " & sfolder & folderidx.name & " /quiet /norestart", 1, True)




If (iRetVal = 0) or (iRetVal = 3010) then




wscript.echo folderidx.name & " Success"




Else




wscript.echo folderidx.name & " Failed"




wscript.quit(1)




End If




End If

Next

Original article:

http://ccmexec.com/2012/02/installing-multiple-windows-7-hotfixes-msu-with-sccm/

Veeam - Backup VM with SQL installed "Application -Aware Image Processing" enabled

If you backup VM that have SQL installed you must be sure that Data would be consistent.

Using Veeam Backup you must setting up Backup properly with VSS (application -Aware Image Processing)

For best tuning you must follow this Veeam Article:

http://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/70/vsphere/backup_job_vss_vm.html

Here are relative images:

vmware_backup_guest

Tips - Google Reader, feedly and Old Reader

Last Year Google Reader has been dismitted, I migrated to Feedly but it has less feature and to got pro feature (like search in old article) we must pay a lot of money.

So I have decided to move to Google Old reader.

The most difficult thing it was to export all subscription from Feedly account and import them in Old Google Reader

To export subscription you need to go following link:

http://feedly.com/index.html#opml

Later you must go:

And Import OPML file.

Manuals - Microsoft System Center: Integrated Cloud Platform

New ebooks

Microsoft System Center: Integrated Cloud Platform
David Ziembicki and Mitch Tulloch, Series Editor
April 2014
80 pages

This book is organized by cloud type and begins with a short overview of the Cloud OS strategy from Microsoft and a high-level hybrid cloud architecture. It also covers the design and deployment of private cloud solutions using Windows and System Center to deliver the software-defined datacenter where storage, network, compute, and management are all virtualized and delivered by the Microsoft platform.

Download the PDF (2.52 MB)

Download the EPUB file (5.32 MB)

Download the Mobi for Kindle file (8.1 MB)

SCCM 2012 R2 Cumulative Update 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2938441

SCCM 2012 R2 - How to manage modern mobile Devices (like MDM or BB) with SCCM 2012 R2 and Intune

Kali Linux - Penetration test e forensic analysis Linux Iso

From the creators of BackTrack comes Kali Linux, the most advanced and versatile penetration testing distribution ever created. BackTrack has grown far beyond its humble roots as a live CD and has now become a full-fledged operating system. With all this buzz, you might be asking yourself:

http://www.kali.org/downloads/

[update 2017.11.30]

Kali Linux is a Debian-derived Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and penetration testing. It is maintained and funded by Offensive Security Ltd. Mati Aharoni, Devon Kearns and Raphaël Hertzog are the core developers.

Kali Linux includes security tools, such as:^[13]

Aircrack-ng
Burp suite
Cisco Global Exploiter, a hacking tool used to find and exploit vulnerabilities in Cisco Network systems
Ettercap
John the Ripper
Kismet
Maltego
Metasploit framework
Nmap
OWASP ZAP
Social engineering tools
Wireshark

More details could be find here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Linux

Finally I would mention that Mr Ghaznavi-Zadeh published a chapter from his book "Kali Linux – A guide to Ethical hacking" and it is available for free here:

https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/kali-linux-a-guide-to-ethical-hacking/

Finally here it is Kali Linux video website presentation:

Pagine