How to reboot a Nortel VPN router using the CLI

telnet 10.0.16.247

Log in to the VPN Router using an account with administrator privileges, for example:

Login: admin
Password:<password>
CES>

When you log in, the CLI prompt (CES>) appears, indicating that you are in CLI User EXEC mode. To restart the router you need to be Privileged EXEC mode by entering enable at the prompt. The Privileged EXEC mode prompt is: CES#

CES>
Password:<password>
CES#

To force the VPN Router to reboot immediately, use the reload command.
You need to be You can execute any User EXEC mode command or change the command mode to execute other commands

CES# reload restart latest
Reload: Scheduled Shutdown
Reload Explanation: latest
After Shutdown: RESTART
Disable New Logins: No
Disable Logins after Restart: No
Boot Mode: NORMAL
Config File: latest
Boot Drive: /ide0/

%Proceed with reload? (y/n)y

Hide and Seek – before and after Tiesto’s golden touch

Imogen Heap – “Hide And Seek”(original version)….

Imogen Heap – “Hide And Seek”(Tiesto’s In Search Of Sunrise Remix)….

Mircrosoft extends Windows 7 RC downloads date

Microsoft have extended downloading of the RC until August 20, 2009. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but if you have the software, you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one. (Keys will be available till March 2010. To get a key, just go to the Downloads page and follow the instructions.)

How to determine which version of SQL Server 2005 is running

To determine which version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is running, connect to SQL Server 2005 by using SQL Server Management Studio, and then run the following Transact-SQL statement.

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')

The following results are returned:

• The product version (for example, 9.00.1399.06)
• The product level (for example, RTM)
• The edition (for example, Enterprise Edition)

For example, the results resemble the following.

 Collapse this table Expand this table

9.00.1399.06

RTM

Enterprise Edition

The following table lists the Sqlservr.exe version number.

Collapse this tableExpand this table

Release	Sqlservr.exe
RTM	2005.90.1399
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 1	2005.90.2047
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2	2005.90.3042
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3	2005.90.4035

 Source (KB321185)…

Snort Windows service startup error 1067

Problem…

After installation, when you run “net start snortsvc,” the following error is displayed…

The Snort service is starting.
The Snort service could not be started.

A system error has occurred.

System error 1067 has occurred.

The process terminated unexpectedly.

Eventvwr shows the error as…

The following information is part of the event: c:\Snort\etc\snort.conf(114) => Missing argument to AIM_SERVERS

Cause…

This is due to the c:\snort\etc\snort.conf being edited using Notepad using the wordwrap settings. This can be confirmed by var AIM_SEVERS setting spanning across of 4 instead of a single line e.g.

var AIM_SERVERS

[64.12.24.0/23,64.12.28.0/23,64.12.161.0/24,64.12.163.0/24,64.12.200.0/24,205.188.3.0/

24,205.188.5.0/24,205.188.7.0/24,205.188.9.0/24,205.188.153.0/24,205.188.179.0/24,205.

188.248.0/24]

Solution…

Simply open the original setup snort.conf file using Wordpad, copy the VAR AIM_SERVERS line and paste to your snort.conf file which must also be opened in Wordpad.

Snort service fails to start after installation

Problem:

Snort service will not start after installation under Windows 2003 and shows the follwing error in Event Viewer: Failed to load /usr/local/lib/snort_dynamicengine/libsf_engine.so: 126.

Resolution:

Edit snort.conf and modify the following lines….

dynamicpreprocessor directory c:\snort\lib\snort_dynamicpreprocessor

dynamciengine c:\snort\lib\snort_dynamicengine\sf_engine.dll

Tiesto – Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek

After been at work all day doing “trained monkey” tasks,” I was lazying on the couch channel surfing the Saturday night lineup. Unfortunately common to weekend viewing, there was nothing but crap to watch so I decided to leave it on “The Last Kiss.” Yes that is sad as well as a feeble excuse but to my surprise Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap started playing on one of the scenes reminding why this is on of the biggest trance anthems of all time after passing through the amazing hands of Maestro Tiesto. Thank you DJ Tiesto and thank you Imogen Heap.

Is Windows 7 worth it?

Windows 7 is now ‘RTM’ Released to Manufacturing which is Microsoft speak to say that all the programming and testing is done – now they make the DVD’s and boxes as well as fully unleashing the marketing mavens.

At least 1.5GB of RAM is suggested for any machine running Windows 7, preferably more if you intend to run Outlook at the same time as other Office programs.

Cool features….
 

• Start menu with documents fly-outs
• ‘Jump Lists’ of open windows from the taskbar
• Libraries, they let you display files from multiple folders in one list e.g. all images can appear in one library regardless of where you saved them.
• More connectivity improvements especially for wireless links.
• BitLocker for removable drives
• Improved backup, mostly in the more expensive versions of Windows 7

With any Microsoft product marketing check the fine print for any feature before you get too excited about it. E.g.– DirectAccess, a new Windows 7 feature, sounds great; Just plug into a network and you get a VPN link to your office network, butto make it work your NW Adminneeds to make specific changes and use the latest server software from Microsoft.
HomeGroup is yet more improvements for homes and small businesses to make a shared network, but you need to buy Windows 7 on all the computers to make it work.

Should you upgrade from Vista?
Windows 7 has much to like however the main advantage of the new Windows is also the main reason not to upgrade.

Windows 7 is a considerable improvement in stability and performance over the complex and clumsy Windows Vista, only problem for customers, is that they are being asked to pay around US$200 (Windows 7 Professional Upgrade) for what amounts to a recanting of Microsoft’s previous mistakes with Vista.

Should you upgrade from Windows XP?
Windows XP users qualify for the ‘upgrade’ pricing for Windows 7 but don’t get an easy conversion path on their computer.

At first glance it seems that upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 would be a good idea on computers with sufficient hardware to take advantage of it.

However there’s a catch – Microsoft has NOT provided upgrade software to convert Windows XP to Windows 7. You have to save all your documents and settings from Windows XP, then install a ‘clean’ Wndows 7 operating system. You’re then left with the tedium of re-installing all your software and re-configuring both Windows and your software.

The process of ‘scrubbing’ a computer and starting again from scratch can speed up your computer however it takes time, need to be done carefully and is far too much hassle for many regular computer users.

Moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 involves more than the price you pay to Microsoft; there’s a significant cost in your own time and trouble in the changeover.

Windows 7 on a new computer
If Windows 7 is offered on a new computer, get it.

That advice applies for both desktop and laptop computers. For MS Office at least 2GB of RAM is suggest, preferably more if you’re running Outlook and/or various Office apps at the same time. You can use up to 4GB which is the maximum with a 32-bit processor.

Windows 7 also supports 64-bit machines and for power hungry users it might be worth considering a 64bit computer, if only so you can make use of more than 4GB of RAM.

Finally, if buying Windows on a new computer or as an upgrade, make sure that you buy the version that has all the features you need. Microsoft has a brief compare editions summary.

Source: OfficeWatch

Windows 7 will not be shipped with IE in Europe

You probably have already heard that in Europe, Windows 7 will be supplied without a pre-installed web browser. With Windows 7 it has always been possible to remove Internet Explorer (IE) and this will continue to be the case in other countries outside Europe. This initially caused some confusion, which was compounded by the fact that because Windows Vista always contains IE, the European versions will not do an in-place upgrade as versions in the rest of the world do.

What does this mean to IT pros? Not much really. The European position does mean that you must actively ask ‘which browser(s) does my company need?’ rather than passively accepting the browser in the box. This matters much less to IT pros than to consumers, assuming they are deploying machines efficiently. For IT pros with more than a couple of computers to deploy there is a good set of free tools which allow you to quickly make your own customised installation image. Unless you are installing on the day of release, you’ll probably apply updates to the operating system. For example, on your to-do list there may be Windows settings you want to customise, you may want to add corporate wallpapers or fonts, and there are most likely applications you’ll want to install as part of the set-up process. Now, you’ll simply need to add ’select a browser’ to your to-do list. At the time of writing, the exact process to add Internet Explorer 8 or another browser hasn’t been announced, but whichever browser(s) you choose, you should not find the extra step onerous.

2 tips to keep in mind when deploying Windows 7

1. Make images from a standard installation and put these on to DVDs which employees can use to deploy for themselves, or better yet, USB flash devices which cut down installation time, is a very quick process. You can use the same image with Windows Deployment Services to install from the network without ever needing to take media to the computer. Read more about deployment tools.
2. Windows 7 is not an in-place upgrade. Customers who are still on Windows XP have known such an upgrade was never going to be an option, so only customers with Windows Vista will be affected. If you want the option to use bitlocker it will be necessary to repartition your disk (Windows 7 partitions disks to be bitlocker-ready). Many of the IT pros and support staff that I speak to say they prefer to avoid in-place upgrades as they can carry problems forward. By contrast, a re-installation is cleansing, as ‘dead’ applications are removed and systems are imaged to a common starting point, including standard applications. Remember there are tools to assist you. Windows Easy Transfer lives up to its name – easy by name, easy by nature – although it is user driven. If you want to co-ordinate the process centrally, you can use the User State Migration Tool.