a wandersick's Tech Notes

This introductory article is about Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and a major player of which, Ansible , its concepts — control node, managed host, inventory, playbook and modules — along with a quick example using an ansible command to remediate configuration drift of managed computers, so that a specified service on them is running in its desired state. Infrastructure-as-Code DevOps is not a Goal, but a never-ending process of continual improvement. —  Jez Humble It is the era of DevOps, where development (Dev) and operation (Ops) are converged and streamlined for the benefit of the business. On the infrastructure side, it is also desired that managing hosts (mostly servers and workstations) be done in a modern way to fit in the DevOps mindset where everything is defined as code to allow for agility which enables continual improvement. Comes Infrastructure-as-Code automation engines, available as command-line tools which can be leveraged for infrastructure compliance remediation. Such ...

I came across this top session, 45 Life Hacks in 45 Minutes, from Microsoft Ignite 2018 which I consider to be a gem to Windows enthusiasts. It is packed with useful Windows techniques, many of which are advanced while practical. This blog post merely summarizes the interesting tips from the session as an entry point – to experience the amazingness of the live demos, please go watch the recorded session on YouTube and look for other works by Sami Laiho from whom I learned a lot. 1. Exit Explorer Windows 10/2016 Right-click taskbar > Exit Explorer Windows 8/2012 Press Alt+F4 to bring up shutdown dialog. Next, while holding Ctrl+Shift+Alt, click Cancel 2. Violate a Group Policy which e.g. only allows running IE, but not Command Prompt or others In Task Manager > Run New Task It always open a Command Prompt 3. Redo old commands from history without typing again F7 hotkey History of Command Prompt or PowerShell 4. Tab auto completi...

Note: This is a template to ease development. The storage-vendor-specific part of the scripts have to be coded by yourself. An alternative way is to engage professionals to develop the script on one of the freelancing platforms . There sometimes comes a need to simplify complex operations, in this case failover and failback operations of SAN storage replication between sites (e.g. production and DR), for reasons such as letting operators or the less technically-confident colleagues to more easily perform the operations in case of disasters or drill tests. To achieve that, this template has been created. Written primarily in PowerShell, this package contains a set of SAN storage failover and failback scripts for Microsoft Failover Cluster (including Hyper-V cluster) and vendor-neutral pseudo code for SAN storage (for further modification to support different SAN vendors). Not only does it perform storage failover and failback, services running on top of it such as databases and vir...

This is a quick guide showing how to include/slipstream custom packages (rpm, exe, etc.) in HP/HPE SPP (Service Pack for ProLiant) ISO images for updating of system software or firmware of components within HPE/HP servers. Next, the process of offline updating will be shown. Finally, a few handy tips and reference URLs will be provided before conclusion. The Need for SPP Customization Below are a few of the reasons: SPP is released several times per year by HPE. Component updates released in between may not be covered and would require a separate updating process had SPP not been customized. Although SPP supports online firmware updating within a suitable OS, in limited environments where online updating is impossible, offline updating, which often require SPP, might be the only way. The current SPP ISO is over the size of a single-layer writable DVD disc. However, not all firmware files are required for everyone; it may be desirable to only select desired firm...