6

Config snippets : ADLDS : Reset password without SSL

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By default ADLDS does not allow to reset password on users created in ADLDS repository over connection without SSL. As sometimes there is a need to build test environment with ADLDS quick, SSL is the last thing which anyone would care about, especially if main thing to test is script automating password resets.

So, for convenience of the developers ADLDS allows to disable requirements for SSL connection to reset passwords. How to disable that reuqirement? See below how it was done on server where ADLDS was installed on port 50389:

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0

Config snippets : ADLDS : Disable password policy

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By default password policy from Active Directory domain will impact ADLDS and users created in ADLDS instance. To prevent domain policies from enforcing password restrictions and rules on ADLDS users one simple setting has to be adjusted:

  • ADAMDisablePasswordPolicies

Here is how it looks on computer which has ADLDS instance installed on port 50389:

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3

How-to : Adding devices to RANCID

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Some time ago I described How to : Install RANCID on openSUSE 11.4 “Celadon”. However, just after installation RANCID will do nothing without proper configuration.

So, in this lab I will show how to:

  • create group of devices in rancid
  • add information about credentals to RANCID
  • add 2 Cisco routers to that group
  • collect configuration from routers
  • setup cron task to run rancid automatically

Systems which will be used to demonstrate how to add device to RANCID and collect configuration:

  • lab-gw-01 – IP: 172.16.90.5 – openSUSE witn RANCID – installed on VMware Workstation
  • lab-r1 – IP: 172.16.90.123 – Cisco router – started on GNS3
  • lab-r2 – IP: 172.16.90.124 – Cisco router – started on GNS3

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0

Config snippets : Cisco : Resetting interface statistics on Catalyst

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Recently I went through troubleshooting of Site-to-Site Layer-2 link. One of the things we did during troubleshooting of that link was checking interface statistics for interfaces which were connecting two geographical sites together.

Below quick overview how ot check and reset port statistics if required during troubleshooting process.

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25

How-to : Use SQL Server to query Active Directory

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I think it’s common problem as Active Directory gets bigger in organizations, control over content of that mission-critical component seems to be lost. Same happened in my place. In addition to that we had to provide information from AD on a regular basis in a form of report. We had no tools to pull all data from AD, process it and present in some readable format. However, I was working with skilled SQL guy who was also very good in Reporting Services. So, I proposed that we can link Active Directory with SQL Server and use Transact-SQL to pull information from AD, process it on SQL and then make it readable and presentable through Reporting Services. That would allow SQL guy to process all information and do all kind of reporting required.

Here are components of our LAB environment before solution went to production:

And below steps how we made SQL Server 2008 R2 to work with Active Directory to use Transact-SQL queries to pull information from directory database.

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