How to Configure Windows Remote Desktop Connection Manager

Most of the system administrators, especially those who manage server infrastructure remotely will be connecting to different windows servers on a day to day basis. Connecting to individual servers through terminal sessions will be time consuming and keeping a track of connected servers will also be troublesome. There is an easy way to avoid this situation. Microsoft is providing a remote desktop connection manager tool which we can download from Microsoft website and install it on your office laptop or management systems and configure your remote servers in that.

Find CPG information for a 3PAR virtual volume (vv)

Most of the storage administrators who manage 3PAR storage will be facing tough situations when they deal with adaptive optimization (AO) configuration, especially when you want to see the CPG wise information and growth factors.

Showvv command to collect 3par virtual volume information

Storage System Administrators will often come across situations like collecting disk information and generating reports. In most of the situations management GUI won't provide much help and you will end up using CLI to collect system related information .

How to download windows OS images

Most of us are either IT system administrators or working in system testing industry or something similar. At times we may have to test or deploy some tools or applications in latest windows environments and ensure its effective performance in the latest platform before we buy it!, isn't it?

How to add wireless printer in windows 8.1

Recently we have purchased an HP deskjet all-in-one printer which has a built-in wireless printing function and also can be configured using USB cable. configuring via USB was quite easy by using the software provided by HP, but the software could not detect the wireless printer and gave "unable to detect" error all the time.

How to enable Ping in Windows Server 2012

In our previous article we have discussed about enabling NIC teaming in WIndows server 2012 ,  Now we will see how to enable ping in windows 2012 so that we can check the availability of the server sitting at a remote site. This feature will allow windows server 2012 to respond to ping from any other client.

Windows Server 2012 : Creating a NIC Teaming

NIC bonding/NIC Teaming/network adapter teaming is a commonly used solution to solve the network availability and performance challenges in a networked server environment. NIC teaming  is the technique to configure multiple NICs as a single interface from the perspective of the system.

Windows Server 2012 comes with an integrated network adapter  teaming solution that is quite easy to setup and manage.

configuring 3PAR Multipathing in Windows

In case of SAN storage, most of the time we will be dealing with multipathing software to enable redundancy and load balancing of disks. The same is with 3PAR StoreServ.3PAR has HPDSMs for windows 2003 systems, but from windows 2008 onwards they are purely using native multipathing option to enable redundancy and load-balancing for SAN attached disks.

Brocade Webtools and Java issue

After upgrading customer Brocade switches to Fab os Version 7.0.1b, we followed the Release notes and installed Oracle JRE 1.6.0 update 24 and webtools were running as expected without any issues. To stay in accordance with the security standards, we upgraded the java version to Oracle Java 7 update 51 and after that we were unable to open webtools neither in IE nor in Google Chrome.

To troubleshoot the issue, the first option was to check the installed JRE version and the best method was to issue command Java –version

Or dig in to registry and follow below path

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Runtime Environment

Restoring java version was not a solution as customer has strict orders to follow security practices. After doing research we came to know that latest Java release supports adding IP exceptions and we decided to try that.

To do that, you have to access java control panel in windows as shown below 

Once the Java control panel is available, access “security” tab and  keep the security level High(as recommended). Go to Exception Site list and “Edit site list”

Insert your switch IP address (Webtools URL) and click “Add”.

Once done, open your browser, and try to access Webtools, there you go!.

If you have a better approach for enabling Brocade webtools access do share it under comment section. 

How to set up an iSCSI connection in WIndows

Brien Posey offers step-by-step instructions on how to set up an iSCSI connection in Windows Server 2008.

Working with Brocade SAN health Diagnostics

Are you Storage Administrator? Are you dealing with  lot of documentation related to SAN and report them? Then, Brocade SAN health Diagnostics tool is an ideal choice for you.

First of all, this tool is totally free(not sure brocade will make it chargeable in future)and easy to use. All you need is http://my.brocade.com/ login to download the report.

SAN Health Diagnostics Capture is a utility that perform SAN audits. Download it and run it on any Windows-based PC that has a TCP/IP connection to your SAN switches.This utility will automatically discover, analyze, and report the critical characteristics of your SAN, including switch, topology, and performance details. The results are presented in standard Excel and Visio formats.
This program will run against all Brocade B-Series and M-Series switches, Cisco MDS switches, and Brocade B-Series switches. This tool is intelligently build and it inserts necessary delays between commands to ensure the switch CPU is not loaded.

The process is really simple,

1, Download "SAN Health Diagnostics" from Brocade site or click here and you will be directed to download. This utility is specifically for windows and works with all windows versions.

2, Install the EXE and accepts defaults, the software will get installed in "program files" and until you change it, the default drive is going to be C:\.

3, Once the software is installed, access it from your desktop (or from start menu)and you will see first page(Site Details) as below, configure contact/company details and insert preferred email ID to which information to be delivered.

4, On the 3rd tab(SAN details) insert the fabric name which is being audited.

5, Next tab (Add switch Details) is for adding switch details, insert switch IP , user name and password.Click "Add switch/Fabric". This will add all the switches to the audit set ,which are connected to the fabric.

6,Once discovery is complete,move to "Start Audit" tab and click "Preflight Check". If everything is correct, the "Start Audit" tab will get highlighted.

7, click on "Start Audit", the audit will start straight away.

8, Once audit is complete, You will see two new files in the working directory(C:\SAN Health Audits): __.LOG and __.BSH.
The log file is record of the audit that completed and is useful when scheduling repeat or unattended audits.

The Brocade SAN Health (BSH) data file contains the encrypted and compressed raw diagnostic data from the switches that were audited. You must submit this data file to the Brocade report queue for processing.

BSH Files may be sent to the report processing queue as an email attachment to SHUpload@brocade.com or by using secure web upload.

Hope this helps!!:)

Changing/Tuning Block Size/transfer size in a QLogic HBA in Windows 2008

SAN performance depends on many factors including workload, application tuning, server and SAN hardware, HBA settings, switch settings, and storage array configuration.
With Windows 2003/2008 and HBA drivers,given a sufficient workload demand on the storage array including one or more hosts and applications and default HBA queue depths, the host I/O latencies might be higher which will cause performance issues on storage box. To overcome this situation,one tuning option available with the HBA drivers is to tune the HBA queue depth to lower values. Workload latencies, throughput and IOPs may see improvements with reduced queue depth values as the load on storage box will be less. There is a new option available with the latest release of Qlogic HBA drivers, which gives the ability to tune the data transfer size to values smaller than the default of 512 KB. 

Older HBA have a physical limitation and cannot handle block size bigger than 256 KB or 512KB. Newer HBA, even if they support 2048 KB (2 MB) Block size, default is set to/limited to 512 KB.In order to change the transfer block size limit, QLogic driver, version 9.1.8.28 or later, has been enhanced to allow the ability to optionally tune the data transfer size to less than 512 KB. The CLI command called QLogic FC Utility : qlfc.exe 


Usage:The user can open a DOS prompt in administrator mode typing in the Run /Search line CMD then press the CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER key, or right click on the CMD icon and select Run as Administrator .

qlfc [-list] [-tsize [/fc | /fcoe [/set [64 | 128 | 256 | 512 | 1024 | 2048 | default] ] ] ]
    -list                   List all HBA instances
    -tsize                  Show current transfer size setting for both fc & fcoe
    -tsize /fc              Show current transfer size setting for fc
    -tsize /fcoe            Show current transfer size setting for fcoe
    -tsize /fc /set value   Set transfer size parameter for fc
    -tsize /fcoe /set value Set transfer size parameter for fcoe

Note:
 * QLFC.EXE      - Command line utility (32-bit version)
 * QLFCx64.EXE   - Command line utility (x64 version)
 * QLFCia64.EXE  - Command line utility (IA64 version)

Examples:
    c:\>qlfc -list    
    c:\>qlfc -tsize    
    c:\>qlfc -tsize /fc  
    c:\>qlfc -tsize /fc /set 256    
    c:\>qlfc -tsize /fc /set default
This will allow the user to see the actual values and allow the user to change these values.In Windows 2008 one needs to run this command with Administrator right.After changing the parameter a reboot is required.

How to configure Native MPIO for Windows 2008 R2

Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) is a Microsoft-provided framework and it is available as a native component in Windows 2008 and its latest releases. though MPIO is generic, it is not enabled by default and need to be installed and configured to serve the purpose it meant for.

follow below steps to install and configure Native MPIO on windows 2008 and its latest releases,

• Go to Control Panel. 
• Open Programs and Features.
• Select Turn on Windows Features.
• select MPIO and put a check and click install.

• After the installation of this component, reboot the server.
• once the server is up, configure MPIO.

To configure the MPIO:

• Go to Administrative Tools then click MPIO.
• Select Discover Multipath Tab.
• Click Add in the Middle where the Storage controller will be listed.

• select MPIO-ed Devices and the added Storage controller will be available.
• Close the box once everything is complete.

Run Command Line Prompt as Administrator in Windows 2008

Some CLI command requires Administrator rights to run. How do we get Administrator command prompt in Windows 2008?.
There are multiple ways to load administrator command line prompt, 


1, Type cmd  into start menu search box and then you will see cmd on search output. Right click on cmd and select "run as administrator"

A regular command line will look like  this

An Administrator command line prompt will say Administrator in the top left, and the Administrator window operates from the system32 directory.

2, Type cmd  into start menu search box and then press keys Ctrl+Shift+Enter. you will get an Administrator command line prompt.

How to use Terminal Services /console switch in Vista SP1

Microsoft has changed the mstsc switch to launch the Terminal Services client to log on to the console of the machine/server.

The switch is changed to /admin from /console.

The new switch to connect to the server's active console session is:

%systemroot%\system32\mstsc.exe /admin

start-->Run-->type Mstsc  and press Enter

Specify the IP address of the server along with /admin switch

Now you will get the console access of the server.

How to find world-wide name (WWN) of a fibre-channel card in Windows

In windows i don't see any inbuilt tool to find the WWN of the HBA card associated with a server.

I Did a series of search and found some tools associated with card manufacturers like Qlogic(SANsurfer utility) and Emulux(HBAnyware utility). But consider the case if none of the tools are installed on your server?

i continued my search and finally i got "fcinfo" for windows. it is pretty good tool and gives much information related to your HBA and other stuff.

fcinfo for windows can be downloaded from following  link:-

fcinfo for windows

The installation of this package is too simple. download the package which suits to your server and double click on it.

accept the License agreement and click install to continue

Wait till the installation completes,

Click finish when it prompts.

To Run fcinfo, just go to command line and type the following

c:\fcinfo

you will get the WWN details of the attached FC cards.

and if you type fcinfo /? it will give you the supported options list(help).

it is not necessary to install fcinfo on server. just copy fcinfo and other  associated files(fcinfo.exe, hbaapi.dll and hbatapi.dll) from any fcinfo installed server and put those files together in a folder and you can run fcinfo without trouble.

Hope this help!!