My notes, things I have learned, and documentation I have created.

I have used the following to check when domain controller a member server has a secure channel with:

C:\>netdom verify SERVERNAME
The secure channel from SERVERNAMEto the domain DOMAINAME has been verified. Th
e connection
is with the machine \\SERVERNAME.DOMAINNAME.

The command completed successfully.

Furthermore, you can use the following to reset the secure channel:

C:\>NETDOM RESET SERVERNAME
The secure channel from SERVERNAME to the domain DOMAINNAME has been reset. The c
onnection is
with the machine \\SERVERNAME.DOMANANAME.

The command completed successfully.

I have used similar commands on older OSs, but I am not sure if they were part of the install or part of a resource kit. I have tested these on Windows 2008 and Windows 7.

To put your iPhone in field test mode, so that you can see the actual signal strength numerically:

Open the phone application.

Enter the following from the keypad: *3001#12345#*

Press call.

This will put in field test mode, and will replace your bar signal strength with the numerical representation.

Evidently, this has been blocked in a recent version of IOS. I did this from a jailbroken IOS version 4.1 (8B117) with baseband 01.59.00.

Merry Christmas, I got you a new toy.  A Samsung
Galaxy Tab.  Cool.  Let’s’ check out Pandora.  Oopps.  Hard crash.  Can’t turn it on or anything.  Had plenty of battery.  No choice but to reset.

Soft reset:
Hold down the Power, Volume Up and Home buttons at the same time.

Release them when you see the startup screen.

Use the Volume Up and Volume Down to choose an option.  There were four of which I remember “system reboot” and “factory reset”.

Push the Home button to confirm.

While I have not spent much looking, I have yet to find a way to have Ubuntu 10.4 manage the number kernels it keeps after upgrading. I have had to manually remove older kernels to apply updated versions later.

To list your currently install kernels:

From a Terminal session enter the following:
sudo dpkg -l | grep linux-image | more

To remove kernel packages, enter the following:
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.xx-yy-generic

Note: You can remove multiple installed kernels by just adding them to the list:
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.xx-yy-generic linux-image-2.6.xx-zz-generic

To list all installed packages:
dpkg --get-selections

To list all files a package contains:
dpkg -L packagename

To install a package:
dpkg -i packagefilename
For example:
dpkg -i somepackage.deb

To list available packages:
apt-cache search –names-only ‘stringtosearch’

To clear apt cache:
apt-get clean

To update your repository list:
apt-get update

To upgrade one software package:
apt-get install –only-upgrade packagefilename

To upgrade all software packages, if one is available:
apt-get upgrade

To disable a service:
update-rc.d servicename disable

You need to pass your UDID onto iPhone developers, if you want to beta test their software. To access your UDID, plug iPhone into your computer and bring up iTunes. Then, click on your iPhone under devices. Next, click the serial number, and the UDID will be displayed. From here, you can copy using Command + C or Control + C. I tested this MacOS, but not Windows. However, I am pretty sure it would be the same procedure. I would suspect that the same procedure applies to iPod touches too, but I do not know for sure.

I don’t know why, but I keep forgetting how to enable remote desktop administration in Windows 2008 server, so I am writing it down here. Maybe, I keep forgetting, because it is so simple.

Bring up the System properties. The easiest way for me is to right mouse click on Computer and go to Properties.

From here, click on Remote Settings.

Chose either “Allow connections from computers running any version of “Remote Desktop (less secure)” or “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure).”

When copying a virtual machine (VM) from on datastore or other VMware instance, you will need to add the copied VM to your ESXi inventory. To do this is not entirely clear, at least no to me. A lot of the postings I saw on this did not make it clear, so I want to get this down while I remember it.

Copy the VM to one of your datastores (i.e. /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ ).
Once the VM has been copied or moved, you will need to bring up the vSphere client.
Select your ESXi instance in the left panel.
Click on the Configuration tab.
Click Storage under the Hardware section.
Then, right mouse click on the datastore that you just copied the VM to, and click Browse Datastore.
This will bring up a window that will display all the directories under /vmfs/volumes/datastorex.
Drill down into the directory where you copied your VM and select the appropriate configuration file ( .vmx ).
Right mouse click on the configuration and select Add To Inventory.
This will run you through a small wizard procedure to name the VM.
Once completed, you can power on the virtual machine, by right mouse clicking on the VM and selecting Power On.
Note: Because you copied or moved the VM, when you power the VM for the first time, you will need to switch to the console and chose the appropriate option (copied, moved or cancel).

I configured postfix on my CentOS 5 machine to masquerade my entire private LAN Microsoft Exchange domain to my public internet domain so that sent Exchange email can be routed on the internet.

# vi /etc/postfix/main.cf
…
smtp_generic_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/generic
…

vi /etc/postfix/generic
…
@msexchangedomain @publicdomain
…

postmap hash:/etc/postfix/generic
service postfix restart

Sometimes resetting the SMC (System Management Controller) on a Mac can resolve an apparent hardware issue. I have found this to work sometimes, but usually it just delays the inevitable hardware issue. I have also documented how to reset the PRAM (Parameter RAM) and NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM). This is usually one of the first things tried by an Apple repair technician.

Intel Mac notebooks with removable batteries:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Disconnect the power.
3. Remove the battery.
4. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
5. Release the power button.
6. Reconnect the battery and power.
7. Turn on the computer.

Intel Mac notebooks without removable batteries:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Ensure that the power is connected.
3. Hit the Shift-Control-Option keys (on the left side) and the power at the same time.
4. Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
5. Turn on the computer.

Intel desktop Macs:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer.
3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
4. Attach the computers power cable.
5. Turn on the computer.

To reset the PRAM and NVRAM:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Turn on the computer while holding the Command-Option-P-R keys (4).
4. Hold down the keys until you hear the startup bong for the second time.

I finally upgraded Yourls in an attempt to get back to the Twitter plugin. Simple to upgrade.

Backup yourls directory location.
Backup yourls MySQL database.
Remove everything from your yourls location.
Unzip the new yourls software.
Copy the config_sample.php to config.php. The configuration files are location in the includes directory.
Modify the config.php with your site specific settings.
I had to modify the following definitions:
YOURLS_DB_USE
YOURLS_DB_PASS
YOURLS_DB_NAME
YOURLS_SITE
$yourls_user_passwords

And, because I was upgrading from 1.2, I had to add the following definitions:
define(‘YOURLS_DB_TABLE_URL’, ‘url’);
define(‘YOURLS_DB_TABLE_NEXTDEC’, ‘next_id’);

Go to your yourls site:
http://yourls-url/admin
Login and upgrade.