What is nfslock?

Q: What is the service nfslock used for in Linux?

A: Used for NFS file locking – this is only required if you are connecting to an NFS server.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 1:26 am

What is xfs?

Q: What does the xfs service on Linux do?

A: The xfs service is the X windows font server.  This is only required if you are using x windows (graphical interface) and is not usually required on a server.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 1:21 am

What is cups?

Q: What does the Linux service cups do?

A: It is used to manage a print queue.  This service is only needed if you will be printing from the server.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 1:09 am

What is anacron?

Q: What does the Linux server anacron do?

A: It is like cron in that it schedules jobs, however assumes that the server is not always on.  This service is not needed unless you specifically are using it.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 1:08 am

What is rpcidmapd?

Q: What is the service rpcidmapd on Linux?

A: It is used for running an NFS server, and you only need to keep this service running if you are running an NFS server.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 1:04 am

Preparing Windows Server 2008 to image using sysprep

If you need to prepare a Windows 2008 Server image (any version: Web, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter) to install on other computers of multiple Virtual Servers, it is highly recommended you use the sysprep tool to wipe the image of all unique information Microsoft assigns in the specific install.  If you are running multiple VMs in the same environment, and don’t do this you could run into problems.

Unlike previous versions of Windows, sysprep is actually located on the server and you do not need the installation CD to use it.

1. Run sysprep: c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe

2. If you are using it on  VM, select the shutdown option as you don’t want to reboot straight after.

If you wish to do it from Windows Server 2008 Core (i.e. command line interface) you can run it as follows: sysprep /OOBE /Generalize /shutdown

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:43 am

How to enable Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server

Enabling Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server is slightly different to enabling it on Windows 2003 Server so this has been placed in a separate article.  To enable Remote Desktop on Windows 2008 Server (Web, Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter) use the following steps:

1. Right click on My Computer, and go to Properties.

2. Click Remote Settings.

3. Select the second option, Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure).

4. Click ok, and accept the change to allow the firewall exception.

5. If you have any issues, ensure you have created an exception for any third party firewalls you might be using, and allow incoming connections to port 3389.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 8:34 am

How to enable Remote Desktop on Windows Server 2003/XP

To enable Remote Desktop on a newly configured Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP computer, you can follow these steps:

1. Right click on My Computer, and go to Properties.

2. Click the Remote tab and click the Allow users to connect remotely to your computer check box, then click Ok.

3. If you are having issues connecting still, ensure incoming connections to port 3389 are enabled through your firewall.

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 8:24 am

Enabling Remote Desktop on Windows Server 2008 Core

On Windows Server 2008 Core you do not have a graphical interface, so how do you enable Remote Desktop?

1. Login to the server console.

2. To enable remote administration from Windows 2008 Server systems run:

> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0

3. To enable remote administration from Windows 2003/Windows XP and earlier operating systems run:

> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /ar 0
> Cscript %windir%\system32\scregedit.wsf /cs 0

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:27 am

How to configure IP address, Hostname, and DNS in Windows 2008 Server Core

With Windows 2008 Server Core you don’t have a nice graphical interface to configure everything, therefor you need to configure via the command line. This article will cover how to configure an IP address, Hostname, and DNS servers in Windows 2008 Server Core.

1. Login to the server.

2. Configure your hostname:

> netdom renamecomputer %computername% /NewName:<newservername>

Where you replace <newservername> with the servername you wish to use.

3. Configure IP address:

> netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”2″ source=static address=192.168.0.5 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.1

4. Setup DNS:

> netsh interface ipv4 add dnssserver name=”2″ address=192.168.0.1

NOTE: We have referenced in these commands an interface name of “2″. If you want to find out what name/number your interface is, do the following:

> netsh interface ipv4 show interface

Filed under: Uncategorized by — aaron @ 2:21 am