If you interested in cryptocurrency and want to support certain coin and community as well as earn some money, you might be interested in running MasterNode for chosen coins.

In this article I put together some quick guide how to setup ArcticCoin MasterNode. I have this MasterNode setup and running on dedicated VPS with Ubuntu Linux 14.04 64-bit.

So, once you identified hosting provider of your choice, check if you can deploy VPS with that operating system.

Once you have server deployed you can SSH to it as root and follow commands below…

(more…)

As I had to fight with WIndows XP Autologon (we have it on many computers which are used for example for CCTV), I think can write down one more quick tips how to skip Autologon feature and use different account to access computer (for example to install Windows Updates).

So, situation I was dealing with was computer with Windows XP, connected to Active Directory domain with Autologn feature enabled. After computer started I’ve seen welcome dialog and after pressed ctrl-alt-del autologn procedure kick in and login to computer with restricted account. How to skip autologon process and be able to enter different username and password?

(more…)

As there is no GUI in Windows Server 2012 Core, we have to use command line and script in order to acivate system.

slmgr.vbs is a VBscript which allows to set product key and activate operating system. Below most common use of slmgr.vbs.

Set product key

slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Activate Windows

slmgr.vbs /ato

Display information about licenses

slmgr.vbs /dli
slmgr.vbs /dlv

Handy quick one to change script execution policy for PowerShell:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force

Now all scripts should work fine 🙂

Script changes description of My Computer icon to display Computer: ComputerName

Can be very handy when troubleshooting computer remotely when we require user to tell us name of the computer user works on.
Script works on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.

(more…)

Many times I came across one issue… how to grant access to CLI (Command Line Interface) on Cisco devices without creating separate username and password for each user on each device? In order to resolve that I did use AAA features of Cisco IOS and built-in Windows Server 2008 R2 component – NPS (Network Policy Server).

Those two mixed together can create very nice environment which allows flexible management who, when and how can access network devices. Same time, Active Directory will be central place to grant or deny access to devices as well as enforce specific privilege level.

Below is simple diagram of the whole process and steps which take place when accessing Cisco device integrated with NPS/RADIUS.

(more…)

Once you install CentOS 7, by default firewalld will block almost all network traffic.

In order to open ports for certain services you can easily reconfigure firewall using firewall-cmd command.

[root@localhost firewalld]# firewall-cmd --get-active-zones
public
  interfaces: eno16777728
[root@localhost firewalld]# firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=80/tcp --permanent
success
[root@localhost firewalld]# firewall-cmd --reload
success

Example contains port 80, however you can open any port using same method.
It is worth to check zones configured on your machine and make sure you open port in proper zone where service should be enabled.

By default remote management on Windows Server 2012 Core can be blocked by firewall.

In order to enable this functionality, issue following command from Command Prompt window:

Netsh.exe firewall set service remoteadmin enable ALL

Once it’s done you should be able to manage server remotely.

Quick side note, not to forget for future.

Rename computer

Netdom renamecomputer %computername% /newname:Test-Server

Join computer to domain

Netdom join %computername% /domain:domain.com /UserD:Administrator /PasswordD:*

Just quick config snippet for Debian 6.0 which I came across when setting up few Debian Linux 6.0 virtual machines for recent network LAB. By default network adapter is set to get IP address from DHCP.

/etc/network/interfaces – dynamic IP address configuration

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
# The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback
# The primary network interface allow-hotplug
eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp

(more…)