Tag: Admin Toolkit

12th November 2015 · Luca Sturlese

Today we will be discussing a topic that I believe is very important and should be at the forefront of consideration for all medium and large IT shops. The topic I am talking about is Automating User Account Provisioning.

In this article we will be making a case for automation by highlighting the common problems IT teams face when tackling account provisioning manually. We then discuss some of the solutions that are available to IT professionals when looking at automating user account provisioning. These solutions range from the do-it-yourself style all the way through to off-the-shelf products that will take care of all of the hard work for you.

For more information, keep on reading…

Read More “Automating User Account Provisioning”

6th September 2015 · Luca Sturlese

To coincide with my new PowerShell Logging Module, I have also updated my PowerCLI Script Template to now use the PSLogging module as opposed to my original PowerShell_Logging function library.

This template is based on my PowerShell Script Template Version 2, but has been modified for use with PowerCLI so that you can easily create scripts and solutions to automate your VMware world!

Below is everything you need to know on the PowerCLI template, as well as the template itself…

Read More “PowerCLI Script Template v2”

6th September 2015 · Luca Sturlese

Sometime back in 2011 when I first started using PowerShell, I developed some standard functions to handle the creating and management of log files for my PowerShell scripts. These functions were stored in a file called Logging_Functions.ps1 and I would simply dot source them into my script to be able to use them.

I posted them on 9to5IT PowerShell: How to easily create log files for your scripts and since then, to my surprise, they have been well received by many people, and hence the post has become quite a popular one. Recently one of the users emailed me and made a suggestion to convert them into a PowerShell Module.

That got me thinking…. so I have made a number of improvements to the PowerShell logging functions and have now made them available as a PowerShell Logging module. Available right here, below….

Read More “PowerShell Logging v2 – Easily create log files”

5th August 2015 · Luca Sturlese

Recently I needed to find if any virtual machines had been deployed or cloned on a particular day (in order to troubleshoot a storage issue).

The Tasks & Events view in the VI client only shows the last few days of events, so if you need to get events from an older date the only way is through PowerCLI.

Here is how to do get a list of events from vCenter Server using PowerCLI…

Read More “Get vCenter Events using PowerCLI”

28th July 2015 · Luca Sturlese

A while back I wrote an article about all of the different Active Directory FSMO roles available, why they are important and on which Domain Controller they should be place in a Windows forest and/or Windows domain.

However, even if you have placed all FSMO roles on the correct DCs, sometimes it is necessary to move them to another server for one reason or another. This article documents how to move Active Directory FSMO roles from one Domain Controller to another.

Read More “Transferring Active Directory FSMO Roles”

19th March 2015 · Luca Sturlese

By default DHCP works via broadcasting on the local subnet and therefore is limited to being able to provide IP addresses for devices on its subnet only. In modern day networks this is a serious limitation as it would mean that for every subnet you would need a DHCP server – imagine the management overhead!

So how can we configure a DHCP server in one subnet to respond and provide IP addresses to clients in multiple other subnets? The answer is to use a DHCP Relay Agent.

The following article explains how to configure a DHCP relay agent for a Cisco SG300 Layer 3 managed switch.

Read More “Cisco SG300 – Configure DHCP Relay to allow DHCP server to support multiple subnets”