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Hello,

More DR stuff for me, I needed to restore a VM from Recovery Vault, heres how I did it:

Open PowerShell and connect to Azure:

Connect-AzAccount

Lets get started, as before, theres lots to change so READ it carefully:

#Find your vault and resouce Group, CHANGE FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$vault = get-AzRecoveryServicesVault -Name "LinuxVault" -ResourceGroupName "LinuxRG"
Set-AzRecoveryServicesAsrVaultContext -Vault $vault

#Set the fabric of your vault, CHANGE FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$PrimaryFabric = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrFabric -name asr-a2a-default-northeurope

#Set these
$PrimaryProtContainer = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrProtectionContainer -Fabric $PrimaryFabric -Name "asr-a2a-default-northeurope-container"

#set your network, CHANGE FOR YOUR ENVIRONMEN
$TFOVNet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name uks-kil-dr-test-vnet
$TFONetwork= $TFOVnet.Id

#Here we get the VM and start the recovery, CHANGE FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-1"
$TFOJob1 = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem -AzureVMNetworkId $TFONetwork -Direction PrimaryToRecovery

#Same but a different VM
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-2"
$TFOJob2 = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem -AzureVMNetworkId $TFONetwork -Direction PrimaryToRecovery

#Same but a different VM
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-3"
$TFOJob3 = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem -AzureVMNetworkId $TFONetwork -Direction PrimaryToRecovery

#Same but a different VM
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-4"
$TFOJob4 = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem -AzureVMNetworkId $TFONetwork -Direction PrimaryToRecovery

#Same but a different VM
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "DC-Server-1"
$TFOJob5 = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem -AzureVMNetworkId $TFONetwork -Direction PrimaryToRecovery

Once you’re done with you’re restored VMs should clean up your work if you need too (I was using them to test DR so wanted to deleted them after):

#Get teh VM you cloned and bin it off, CHANGE the VM name FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-1"
$Job_TFOCleanup = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverCleanupJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem

$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-2"
$Job_TFOCleanup = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverCleanupJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem

$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-3"
$Job_TFOCleanup = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverCleanupJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem

$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "Linux-Server-4"
$Job_TFOCleanup = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverCleanupJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem

$ReplicationProtectedItem = Get-AzRecoveryServicesAsrReplicationProtectedItem -ProtectionContainer $PrimaryProtContainer -FriendlyName "DC-Server-1"
$Job_TFOCleanup = Start-AzRecoveryServicesAsrTestFailoverCleanupJob -ReplicationProtectedItem $ReplicationProtectedItem

Hello,

So something fun I’ve been working on recently is cloning a Linux Azure VM from a snapshot, for my case so I can test it for DR.

To do this you basically need to:

1. Create a vnet for the clone if you need too (I reference it in the script)
2. Create a snapshot of the VM
3. Create a managed disk for the snapshot
4. Create a VM with different name using the managed disk
5. If needed rename the VM on the OS level to match the VM name.

Or you could use some PowerShell:

First open PowerShell and run:

Connect-AzAccount

The you need to change some of the below (look for “CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT”):

#Existing virtual network where new virtual machine will be created, CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$virtualNetworkName = 'uks-dr-test-vnet'  
  
#Resource group of the VM to be clonned from, CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$oldresourceGroupName = 'UKS-VM1-DR'  
$newresourceGroupName = 'UKS-VM1-DR-TEST'  

#Region where managed disk will be created, CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$location = 'UK South'  
  
#Names of source and target (new) VMs,CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$sourceVirtualMachineName = 'Linux-VM1'  
$targetVirtualMachineName = 'Linux-VM1-DR'  

#Set the subscription for the current session where the commands wil execute,CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Select-azSubscription -SubscriptionId '111111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111'  
  
#Get the existing VM from which to clone from  
$sourceVirtualMachine = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $oldresourceGroupName -Name $sourceVirtualMachineName  

$osdisk = Get-AzDisk -DiskName $($sourceVirtualMachine.StorageProfile.OsDisk.name) 
#Create new VM Disk Snapshot  
$snapshotconfig = New-AzSnapshotConfig -Sourceresourceid $osdisk.Id -Location $osdisk.Location -CreateOption copy  
$snapshot = New-AzSnapshot -Snapshot $snapshotconfig -SnapshotName "$($osdisk.name)-snapshot" -ResourceGroupName $oldresourceGroupName   

#Create a new OS Managed Disk from the Snapshot  
$disk = New-azDiskConfig -AccountType $osdisk.sku.Name -DiskSizeGB $($osdisk.DiskSizeGB) -Location $location -CreateOption Copy -SourceResourceId $snapshot.Id  
$disk = New-azDisk -Disk $disk -ResourceGroupName $newresourceGroupName -DiskName "$($osdisk.name)-DR"
  
#Initialize virtual machine configuration  
$targetVirtualMachine = New-azVMConfig -VMName $targetVirtualMachineName -VMSize $($sourceVirtualMachine.HardwareProfile.VmSize)
  
#Attach Managed Disk to target virtual machine. OS type depends OS present in the disk (Windows/Linux)  
$targetVirtualMachine = Set-azVMOSDisk -VM $targetVirtualMachine -ManagedDiskId $disk.Id -CreateOption Attach -linux 

$disks = $sourceVirtualMachine.StorageProfile.DataDisks
#$disks = Get-AzDisk -ResourceGroupName $oldresourceGroupName | where {$_.managedby -like "*$sourceVirtualMachineName" -and $_.Name -like "*Datadisk*"} 
foreach ($disk in $disks){
    #Create new VM Disk Snapshot
    $datadisk = Get-AzDisk -DiskName $disk.name   
    $snapshotconfig = New-AzSnapshotConfig -SourceUri $($disk.manageddisk.id) -Location $datadisk.Location -CreateOption copy  
    $snapshot = New-AzSnapshot -Snapshot $snapshotconfig -SnapshotName "$($disk.name)_snapshot" -ResourceGroupName $oldresourceGroupName 

    #Create a new Managed Disk from the Snapshot  
    $diskconfig = New-azDiskConfig -SkuName $datadisk.sku.name -DiskSizeGB $($disk.DiskSizeGB) -Location $location -CreateOption Copy -SourceResourceId $snapshot.Id  
    $newdisk = New-azDisk -Disk $diskconfig -ResourceGroupName $newresourceGroupName -DiskName "$($datadisk.Name)-dr"   
    $targetVirtualMachine = add-AzVMDataDisk -VM $targetVirtualMachine -ManagedDiskId $newdisk.Id -lun $disk.lun -CreateOption attach 

} 

#Get Virtual Network information,CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$vnet = Get-azVirtualNetwork -Name $virtualNetworkName
$subnetid = $($vnet.Subnets | where {$_.Name -like "DR_Sunet"}).id

# Create Network Interface for the VM, CHANGE THIS FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT
$nic = New-azNetworkInterface -Name ($targetVirtualMachineName.ToLower() + '_nic') -ResourceGroupName $newresourceGroupName -Location $location -SubnetId $subnetid -PrivateIpAddress 172.45.1.252
$targetVirtualMachine = Add-azVMNetworkInterface -VM $targetVirtualMachine -Id $nic.Id  
  
#Create the virtual machine with Managed Disk attached  
New-azVM -VM $targetVirtualMachine -ResourceGroupName $newresourceGroupName -Location $location  
  
#Remove the snapshot  
Get-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $oldresourceGroupName | Remove-AzSnapshot -Force

This chap does something similar too:

https://www.techmanyu.com/how-to-quickly-clone-a-vm-in-azure-c5299ff82496

Hello,

I had to join a Ubuntu server to a Window Domain recently, here’s what I did, the # are just annotated notes:

#Update the \etc\hosts file for 127.0.0.1 to be the hostname
sudo vi /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 UbuntuServer.domain.com UbuntuServer


#Install the packages
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install krb5-user samba sssd sssd-tools libnss-sss libpam-sss ntp ntpdate realmd adcli

#Update NTP for domain time
sudo vi /etc/ntp.conf

#In the ntp.conf file, create a line an add the following:
server domain.com
# I also removed out all the other NTPs


#stop and start ntp and we are golden
sudo systemctl stop ntp
sudo ntpdate domain.com
sudo systemctl start ntp


#Dicover the fookin domain (Case SeNsAtIvE)
sudo realm discover DOMAIN.COM
#should see the domain


#Initialise Kerberos (Case SeNsAtIvE) use yor own frickin username
kinit -V admin@DOMAIN.COM
#chuck in your password


#join the muther fuzin domain baby, you have a choice here, if your server can reach all your DCs in your domain then use the first command, if it cant then you have to specify one:
#1
#sudo realm join --verbose DOMAIN.COM -U admin@DOMAIN.COM --install=/
#2
sudo realm join --verbose -U admin@DOMAIN.COM dc01.DOMAIN.COM --install=/


#comment out the use fully qualified thing
sudo vi /etc/sssd/sssd.conf
# use_fully_qualified_names = True

#restart ssssd
sudo systemctl restart sssd

#enable the user to vcreate home dirve
sudo vi /etc/pam.d/common-session
#place the following under the line that contains session optional pam_sss.so
session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel/ umask=0077

#test
id admin@DOMAIN.COM

#visudo bitches
sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers
%Domain\ Admins ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL


#change the domains so we can login
sudo vi /etc/krb5.conf

        DOMAIN.COM = {
                kdc = dc01.domain.com
                kdc = dc02.domain.com
                admin_server = admin.domain.com
        }

.domain.com = DOMAIN.COM

#allows these to ssh
sudo realm permit -g 'Domain Admins'
sudo realm permit -g 'Tronstride Servers Local Admins'


#toublshoot
tail -f /var/log/auth.log

As you may have seen we have a Linux server in Azure running some weird stuff, anyhow the time was off screwing with reports and what not, so had to fix it.  Here’s what I did:

First, SSH onto the server and logon.

Check the time:

timedatectl

Find the timezone you would like:

ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/

Now change it:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Dubai

Check it again:

timedatectl

Example:

Had an annoying issue where the OS disk on a linux server (hosted on Azure) was partitioned too small:

This disk is 30GB but has loads of free space::

Disk /dev/sda: 136.4 GB, 136365211648 bytes, 266338304 sectors

Then partition /dev/sda2 on the disk: 

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda2         1026048    62914559    30944256   83  Linux

Feespace:

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags

        16.4kB  1049kB  1032kB           Free Space

1      1049kB  525MB   524MB   primary  xfs          boot

2      525MB   32.2GB  31.7GB  primary  btrfs

        32.2GB  136GB   104GB            Free Space

Here’s how I managed to grow the disk without loosing any data etc:

1) Login to the VM using SSH, we can check the size of the disk by using:

sudo dmesg | grep -i sda

2) To proceed with the partition resize, we will use:

sudo fdisk /dev/sda

type: p
this will show both partitions /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 which are basically partitions 1 and 2

type: d then 2 (to delete partition 2)
type: n then p, 2 (to recreate partition 2) you can accept the default values
type: w (to save the new partition)
type: q (to exit fdisk)
sudo reboot (to reboot the VM so the partition is updated)

3) To finalize the resize, after the reboot, execute the command:

For Red Hat 7.3 and CentOS 7.3:

sudo xfs_growfs /dev/sda2

For Oracle 7.3:

sudo btrfs filesystem resize max /

I’m no expert with Linux but I’m trying hard to improve my knowledge, I recently ran through some great CentOS videos on Pluralsight and after that tried to install Guacamole which is a clientless remote desktop gateway.  The long and the short of it is I didn’t get it fully working but really enjoyed the process.

Anyhow as I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to install Plex on a Ubuntu server as I think my problem with Linux is the lack of visual prompts i.e. If I can see or draw something then I often understand the process better.

So after my initial vmware issues, I downloaded and installed Ubuntu and installed VMware tools:

Open the VMware Tools CD mounted on the Ubuntu desktop.
Right-click the file name that is similar to VMwareTools.x.x.x-xxxx.tar.gz, click Extract to, and select Ubuntu Desktop to save the extracted contents.

The vmware-tools-distrib folder is extracted to the Ubuntu Desktop.
To install VMware Tools in Ubuntu:
Open a Terminal window. For more information.
In the Terminal, run this command to navigate to the vmware-tools-distrib folder:

cd Desktop/vmware-tools-distrib

Run this command to install VMware Tools:

sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

Note: The -d switch assumes that you want to accept the defaults. If you do not use -d, press Return to accept the defaults or supply your own answers.

Enter your Ubuntu password.
Restart the Ubuntu virtual machine after the VMware Tools installation completes.

Then I updated Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Next download the Plex Media server package

run from a terminal:

sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver_1.10.0.4523-648bc61d4_amd64.deb

(replace the filename with the name of the package you downloaded)

To setup Plex Media Server, on the same machine you installed the server on, open a browser window, and go to http://127.0.0.1:32400/web.

Then I decided it best to run Plex as a service so if the server rebooted I wouldn’t have to logon:

sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver.service
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver.service

Finally I need to map a drive so I could access the media (photos etc) on my windows server again in a fashion where if the server rebooted it would map.

To do this you need cifs utils to connect to windows shares:

sudo apt-get install cifs-utils

Then you need to create a directory to mount the share too like so:

sudo mkdir /media/windowsshare

Then add the the share and add the Windows credentials that have permission to the share via the config file /etc/fstab, to add this line:

Sudo nano /etc/fstab
//192.168.1.2/share /media/windowsshare cifs username=BohemianUser,password=BohemianPassword,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm 0 0

Finally, test the fstab entry by issuing:

sudo mount -a

If there are no errors, you should test how it works after a reboot. Your remote share should mount automatically.

See if you have access via Plex.

I run a HP G7 N54L which has ESXi 6.5 installed, its getting old but its brilliant.

Anyhow, I ran a Windows 10 VM which I had Plex installed on, for some reason Plex gave up the ghost so I decided to install Ubuntu and was planning on installing Plex on there.

Grabbed the ISO and installed and 5 minutes after install the Ubuntu server froze, so rebooted, froze again.

After some digging I post a post that mentioned its a hardware issue sorted in ESXi 6.5 update 1.

So downloaded and update my server (note there was a warning that future releases of ESXi wont be supported on this CPU) and ran Ubuntu and it worked flawlessly.