Author Archives: admin

Reset HPE ILO Password from vSphere ESXi Host

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Changing the login password of the ILO Out-of-Band Management with an ESX host can be done by doing the following:

  1. Enable SSH on the host you need the ILO IP from
  2. SSH into the host using Putty or another SSH client
  3. Type: cd /opt/hp/tools

From here, we will create a new file that will contain the new credentials you want to use on the iLO going forward. You can create this file and copy to the above location using WinSCP,or use Vi to do this all within putty

4. Type: vi pwreset.xml
5. Type: i
(this will put you into insert mode and allow you to copy the below text so you don’t have to type it. Please use your own password on line 5)

<RIBCL VERSION="2.0">
<LOGIN USER_LOGIN="Administrator" PASSWORD="unknown">
<USER_INFO MODE="write">
<MOD_USER USER_LOGIN="Administrator">
<PASSWORD value="Enter-Your-Password-Here"/>
</MOD_USER>
</USER_INFO>
</LOGIN>
</RIBCL>

6. Press the Esc key
7. Type: :wq to save and exit the file
8. Type: ./hponcfg -f pwreset.xml to reset the iLO

You should now be able to login with your new credentials. The last step is to remove the file you just created.

9. Type: cd /opt/hp/tools
10. Type: rm -rf pwreset.xml

iDRAC6 Virtual Console Java – (Connection Failed)

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Here is a quick fix to connect to an iDrac Console session using Java, if you are getting the “Connection Failed” error. You simply need to re-enable SSLv3 support in Java temporarily.

  1. Browse to the Java Security File (C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.x.x\lib\security)
  2. Edit the java.security file. (May need to open Notepad as Admin first)
  3. Comment out the following line “jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3“.

That should allow you to connect without any errors. For security purposes, you should uncomment that file line when you are finished to disable SSLv3 again.

Update Plex – FreeNAS 11.3

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The path to the iocage jails has changed in FreeNAS 11.3. This post shows the new path, but the instructions are the exact same as they were on FreeNAS 11.2.

  1. Download the newest Plex Update via Plex Dashboard Link
  2. Extract the file twice so folders can be accessed
  3. Rename folder plexmediaserver
    For Plex Pass Subscribers, rename plexmediaserver-plexpass
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4. Stop the current Plex Jail
5. Open WinSCP and login to FreeNAS and browse to: /mnt/FreeNAS/iocage/jails/plexpass/root/usr/local/share
6. Rename existing plexmediaserver folder and add _old at the end
7. Copy the plexmediaserver folder you downloaded into the WinSCP window

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8. Right-Click on the copied folder and set permissions recursively to 0775
9. Open the plexmediaserver folder and select the file Plex Media Server
10. Click New – Link

11. Name the link Plex_Media_Server and click OK
12. Click the Link you created and select the Console Button
13. Enter the command: chmod -h 775 Plex_Media_Server

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Upgrade Complete!

Update Plex – FreeNAS iocage

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Manual Plex Upgrade

  1. Download the newest Plex Update via Plex Dashboard Link
  2. Extract the file twice so folders can be accessed
  3. Rename folder plexmediaserver
    For Plex Pass Subscribers, rename plexmediaserver-plexpass

4. Stop the current Plex Jail
5. Open WinSCP and login to FreeNAS and browse to /mnt/iocage/jails/root/usr/local/share/
6. Rename existing plexmediaserver folder and add _old at the end
7. Copy the plexmediaserver folder you downloaded into the WinSCP window

8. Right-Click on the copied folder and set permissions recursively to 0775
9. Open the plexmediaserver folder and select the file Plex Media Server
10. Click New – Link

11. Name the link Plex_Media_Server and click OK
12. Click the Link you created and select the Console Button
13. Enter the command: chmod -h 775 Plex_Media_Server

Upgrade Complete!

Factory Reset Aruba IAP Access Point

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Reset APs via Console Cable (preferred method)

  • Connect the serial console breakout adapter cable to the AP Ethernet port and a laptop.
  • Power on the AP and get into apboot mode.
  • From the apboot prompt, configure:
    apboot> purge
    apboot> save
    apboot> reset

Reset APs via GUI

  • Click on “Maintenance” and go to the “Convert” tab .
  • In the dropdown for “Convert one or more APs to” choose “Standalone AP”.
  • Pick the one you want. 
  • This will gracefully exit the IAP from the VC cluster.

Disable “Send Read Receipts” via OWA

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Believe it or not, disabling Read Receipts in Outlook does not disable this feature from your mobile device. In fact, Send Read Receipts is enabled out of the box, and it has to be disabled via OWA. Big thanks to Gostev from Veeam for pointing this out!

Disabling it is easy, and I can’t think of many scenarios in which someone would NOT want to disable this. It can be disabled by logging into OWA from a computer (or a mobile browser that will disable the mobile view) and go to the following:
Settings -> General -> Mobile Devices -> and make sure to check the “Don’t send read receipts for messages read on devices that use Exchange Active Sync” checkbox.

Update Plex – FreeNAS 11.2 iocage via SSH Console

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Basic Plex Upgrade

  1. SSH into FreeNAS
  2. Type jls to list installed jails

3. Type jexec {n} csh where {n} is the installed jail ID
4. Type pkg upgrade

5. Type service plexmediaserver stop
6. Type service plexmediaserver start

Plex-Pass Upgrade

Change the following commands in step 5-6

5. Type service plexmediaserver_plexpass stop
6. Type service plexmediaserver_plexpass start

Finding Raw Device Mappings (RDMs) used in your VMware vSphere Environment

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Cleaning up legacy storage and vSphere environments is always fun, especially when you think you have everything moved off an old array, only to find that your production database goes offline when that array is unplugged -totally made up scenario, did not happen to me  🙂

The slow way to approach this would be to go through every VM, one by one, and check the disks associated with the VM, and then reference LUN numbers on the SAN, etc. OR, you could use PowerCLI and find that info in a snap.

For instructions on how to install PowerCLI, see my previous post here

  1. Connect to you vCenter Server through PowerCLI by using the following command and entering appropriate vSphere Credentials

connect-viserver YOUR IP ADDRESS

If you see the following error, you will need to set PowerCLI to disregard Self-Signed Certs

Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction ignore -confirm:$false

  2. Run the following command to produce a list of VMs with RDMs

Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl

The output will look similar to this (sorry, I didnt have any additional RDMs when making this tutorial for a real screenshot)

  3. Finally, if you would like to save the output to a file, use the following command

Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,DiskType,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName | fl | Out-File –FilePath RDM-list.txt

 

Install VMware’s PowerCLI in Windows

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VMware PowerCLI is a very powerful tool to assist in automating tasks, advanced configurations and troubleshooting, etc. The following procedure can be used to install PowerCLI.
Downloading and installing PowerCLI is all done within Windows PowerShell itself.

  1. Open Windows PowerShell (Run as Admin)
  2. Run the following PowerShell Command to download the PowerCLI modules. (Path = wherever you save your PS modules). This Process may take a few mins. 
    Save-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI -Path <path>

  3. Run the following PowerShell Command to Install the PowerCLI Modules

    Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI

  4. Finally, you can test to make sure the modules installed properly by running the following: 
    Get-Module -ListAvailable -Name VMware*