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How-to : Integrate Cisco Easy VPN authentication with Microsoft NPS RADIUS on Windows Server 2008 R2

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In this article will go through configuration of Cisco Easy VPN along with Microsoft NPS RADIUS on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Article covers:

  1. Basic information about Cisco Easy VPN
  2. Cisco IOS router configuration for Easy VPN
  3. Windows Server 2008 R2 NPS and RADIUS configuration

Let’s go…

(more…)

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Tips & Tricks : Windows 8.1 as wireless hotspot

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When you need to use your computer as wireless hotspot, you can easily enable that functionality with PowerShell:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\windows\system32> netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Windows-Wireless-Hotspot key=password123
The hosted network mode has been set to allow.
The SSID of the hosted network has been successfully changed.
The user key passphrase of the hosted network has been successfully changed.

PS C:\windows\system32> netsh wlan start hostednetwork
The hosted network started.

PS C:\windows\system32>
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How-to : Publish multiple URLs with single IP and HAProxy

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Many times there is a need to publish multiple websites from internal network, but there is only one public IP address available.

How this can be done easy way? HAProxy can help us with it.

In example configuration I have 2 URLs registered to same public IP address:

  • first.laboratory.net
  • second.laboratory.net
  • third.laboratory.net

Here is how HAProxy configuration for given example looks like…

(more…)

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Code snippets : Restart IIS Application Pool in PowerShell

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If you need to watch IIS application pool and start it once goes down and want to use PowerShell for that here is simple script for that.

Script includes also logging all restarts in log file which is created in same folder as script.

# AppPool to monitor
$AppPoolName = "AppPoolName"

# Log Destination
$LogToScreen = 1
$LogToFile = 1

# Determine script location for PowerShell
$ScriptDir = Split-Path $script:MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path

# Output log
$OutputLogPath = $ScriptDir + "\AppPoolRestart.csv"

#Check if file exists and create if it doesn't
If(!(Test-Path -Path $OutputLogPath)){
#Create file and start logging
New-Item -Path $OutputLogPath -ItemType File
}

###
# Function: LogMessage
###
function LogMessage($Msg, $ToScreen, $ToFile)
{
if ($ToScreen -eq 1)
{
Write-Host $Message
}

If ($ToFile -eq 1)
{
Add-Content -Path $OutputLogPath -Value $Message
}
}
###
# End Function: LogMessage
###

While (1 -eq 1){

Clear-Host

$AppPoolStatus = Get-WebAppPoolState -Name $AppPoolName

$DateTime = Get-Date

If ($AppPoolStatus.Value -eq "Stopped"){
Write-Host "Not Working"
Start-WebAppPool -Name $AppPoolName
$Message = "App Pool $AppPoolName restarted at $DateTime"
LogMessage $Message $LogToScreen $LogToFile
}Else{
Write-Host "Working"
}

Sleep 5
}
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Tips & Tricks : Fixing TMG 2010 and IE 9 issue

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When you install TMG 2010 on Windows Server with IE9 you might find that TMG console will not work.

That is caused by IE 9. In order to fix it follow steps:

  1. Open “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway\UI_HTMLs\TabsHandler\TabsHandler.htc”
  2. Search for the 3 lines which contain “paddingTop“, and remark-out each of them by adding “//” in the begining.
  3. Save the file, and re-open TMG management console.

 

Example: Change the line:

m_aPages [niPage].m_tdMain.style.paddingTop = ((m_nBoostUp < 0) ? -m_nBoostUp : 0) ;

into:

// m_aPages [niPage].m_tdMain.style.paddingTop = ((m_nBoostUp < 0) ? -m_nBoostUp : 0) ;

 

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How-To : Use Raspberry PI as Wireless Access Point

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Here is how to turn Raspberry PI with Linksys WUSB100 v2.0 adapter and Raspbian into wireless access point. This might be handy for conference rooms where you have wired connection, but wireless signal is too low. Just quick setup on Raspberry, plugin the cable and you have wireless available.

Install required packages

apt-get install firmware-ralink wireless-tools hostapd bridge-utils

Modify /etc/network/interfaces to add bridge interface

auto lo br0

iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet manual

allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet manual

iface br0 inet dhcp
bridge_ports eth0 wlan0

Once network configuration is modified reboot Raspberry PI.

Create /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf file to define access point configuration

interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
bridge=br0
country_code=PL
ieee80211d=1
ssid=raspb3rry-wifi
hw_mode=g
channel=6
wme_enabled=0
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=raspberry123
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

Add configuration information to /etc/default/hostapd

That will make hostapd daemon to start automatically each time Raspberry PI will bootup.

DAEMON_CONF=&quot;/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf&quot;