Use the Kana Solutions DynDNS Updater version 3.1.0.  Edit the Dyndns.ini file, and, in the Options section, add the option

UseLanIP=1

This forces it to use your local IP.

When a client computer connects to a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer or a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer by using an alias name, the client may receive the following error message:

A duplicate name exists on the network.

Although, you're able to access the computer by FQDN or IP address, you're unable to access it by using DNS alias.

This problem can occur when you try to connect to the server by using a CNAME alias that is created in the DNS zone. For example, this problem may occur with a command similar to the following sample command

net view \\alias.domain name.com

where alias is a CNAME record that is created for the server in the domain name.com zone. The server is not "listening" on the alias, and therefore is not accepting connections to that name.

Here's how to fix this on Windows Server 2003

To resolve this problem in Windows Server 2003, follow these steps:

1. Create the CNAME record for the file server on the appropriate DNS server, if the CNAME record is not already present.
2. Apply the following registry change to the file server. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
   2. Locate and click the following key in the registry:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
   3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
      Value name: DisableStrictNameChecking
      Data type: REG_DWORD
      Radix: Decimal
      Value: 1
   4. Quit Registry Editor.
3. Restart your computer.

You may also have to set the SPN (Service Principal Name) for the Alias Name.
For example, you may have to enter a command that resembles the following commands:

setspn -a host/aliasname targetserver
setspn -a host/aliasname.contoso.com targetserver

I have read several complaints in this forum lately about port forwarding not working properly, and just to clarify, port forwarding is from WAN to LAN which still works fine, most users are having problems with loopback (LAN to WAN to LAN or LAN to LAN). The way dd-wrt implements it currently will not work for most setups, to fix it, you can go to the webgui in dd-wrt under Administration > Commands and enter in this code, once the code is entered, click "Save Firewall" and restart the router. 

iptables -t nat -I POSTROUTING -o br0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 -d 192.168.1.0/24 -j MASQUERADE

Of course if you use a different subnet than 192.168.1.1 you'll have to adjust the code to work for what subnet you use. Also, another great code, which i hope will soon be implemented into dd-wrt is.. 

insmod ipt_mark
insmod xt_mark
iptables -t mangle -A PREROUTING -i ! `get_wanface` -d `nvram get wan_ipaddr` -j MARK --set-mark 0xd001
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -m mark --mark 0xd001 -j MASQUERADE

Which can also be saved in Administration > Commands enter the code then click "save firewall"

This code adds loopback for ALL interfaces regardless of how many different subnets you use.

Automating Database maintenance in SQL 2005 Express Edition Part I

Author Jasper Smith Hits 26214
Create Date 31-07-2004 Last Updated 28-07-2008
Versions SQL2005    

Overview

In this series of articles, I'll demonstrate a couple of different approaches to writing a maintenance utility that mimics some of the behavior of the sqlmaint utility that is included with SQL Server 2000. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not include such a utility, so these articles will show how we can easily create one ourselves using either TSQL or SMO (SQL Management Objects - the successor to SQL-DMO). Rather than dive into the code, these articles will demonstrate how to use these utilities for backing up and maintaining your databases and how to schedule these tasks using the Scheduled Tasks facility in Windows XP and Windows 2003. In this article we will concentrate on the TSQL version of the utility which is in the form of a stored procedure - expressmaint. To download a command line version built using SMO go to Automating Database maintenance in SQL 2005 Express Edition Part II. To vew articles on performing maintenance operations using SMO including sample code see the Related Articles section at the bottom of the page

Expressmaint Stored Procedure

To view the full code for the expressmaint stored procedure click here
The expressmaint stored procedure supports the following operations

Full Database Backup
Differential Database Backup
Log Backup
Housekeeping of backup files
Database Integrity Checks
Database Index Rebuilds
Database index Reorganization
Report Creation
Parameter Required Default Description
@database Y NONE The target database for the maintenance operation. Valid values are a single database name, ALL_USER which will process all user databases and ALL_SYSTEM which will process all system databases
@optype  Y NONE The type of maintenance operation to be performed. Valid values are

DB - Full Database Backup
DIFF - Differential Database Backup
LOG - Log Backup
CHECKDB - Database Integrity Check
REINDEX - Rebuild all indexes
REORG - Reorganize all indexes
 
@backupwith N NULL Specify additional backup options as documented in BOL for the BACKUP WITH command
@backupfldr N NULL The base folder to write the backups to. Sub folders will be created for each database
@verify N 1 Indicates whether to verify the backup file.
Valid values are 1 and 0 with 1 = TRUE and 0 = FALSE
@verifywith N NULL Specify additional verify options as documented in BOL for the VERIFY WITH command
@dbretainunit N NULL The unit of measure for the @dbretainval parameter. Valid values are minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and copies. The combination of these two parameters determines how long or how many copies of old backup files are kept
@dbretainval N 1 The time period or number of copies of old backups to keep
@report N 1 Indicates whether to produce a report of the maintenance carried out.
Valid values are 1 and 0 with 1 = TRUE and 0 = FALSE
@reportfldr N NULL The folder where maintenance reports are written to if @report = 1
@rptretainunit N NULL The unit of measure for the @rptretainval parameter. Valid values are minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and copies. The combination of these two parameters determines how long or how many copies of old reports are kept
@rptretainval N 1 The time period or number of copies of old reports to keep
@checkattrib N 0 Indicates whether to check the archive bit on a backup file before deleting it. This is a safety check to prevent deletion of files that have not been backed up onto tape.
Valid values are 1 and 0 with 1 = TRUE and 0 = FALSE
@delfirst N 0 Indicates whether to delete old backups prior to doing the current backup. This is not advisable but can be useful if disk space is limited.
Valid values are 1 and 0 with 1 = TRUE and 0 = FALSE
@debug N 0 Indicates whether print out debug information such as the commands generated and the contents of the temporary tables used in the procedure.
Valid values are 1 and 0 with 1 = TRUE and 0 = FALSE

Examples

To load the stored procedure into SQL Express using the sqlcmd utility simply download the code from here and save it as c:\expressmaint.sql. Open a command prompt and run the following command (assuming a named instance called SQLExpress)

sqlcmd -S .\SQLExpress -i c:\expressmaint.sql
 

1) Full Database Backup of all user databases to c:\backups, verify the backups and report to c:\reports keeping backups for 1 day and reports for 1 week

exec expressmaint
   @database      = 'ALL_USER',
   @optype        = 'DB',
   @backupfldr    = 'c:\backups',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @verify        = 1,
   @dbretainunit  = 'days',
   @dbretainval   = 1,
   @rptretainunit = 'weeks',
   @rptretainval  = 1,
   @report        = 1
 

2) Full Database Backup of all system databases to c:\backups, verify the backups and report to c:\reports keeping backups for 1 week and reports for 1 week

exec expressmaint
   @database      = 'ALL_SYSTEM',
   @optype        = 'DB',
   @backupfldr    = 'c:\backups',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @verify        = 1,
   @dbretainunit  = 'weeks',
   @dbretainval   = 1,
   @rptretainunit = 'weeks',
   @rptretainval  = 1,
   @report        = 1
 

3) Log Backup of all user databases to c:\backups, don't verify the backups and report to c:\reports keeping backups for 1 day and reports for 1 day

exec expressmaint
   @database      = 'ALL_USER',
   @optype        = 'LOG',
   @backupfldr    = 'c:\backups',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @verify        = 0,
   @dbretainunit  = 'days',
   @dbretainval   = 1,
   @rptretainunit = 'days',
   @rptretainval  = 1,
   @report        = 1
 

4) Check the integrity of the AdventureWorks database and report to c:\reports keeping reports for 1 week

exec expressmaint
   @database      = 'AdventureWorks',
   @optype        = 'CHECKDB',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @rptretainunit = 'weeks',
   @rptretainval  = 1,

   @report        = 1
 

5) Rebuild all indexes in the AdventureWorks database and report to c:\reports keeping reports for 1 day

exec expressmaint
   @database      = 'AdventureWorks',
   @optype        = 'REINDEX',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @rptretainunit = 'days',
   @rptretainval  = 1,
   @report        = 1
 

Automating backups using sqlcmd

Since SQL Server 2005 Express Edition does not include SQL Agent, we need to rely on the Windows Task Scheduler to run our maintenance tasks. If you are not familiar with how to set up a scheduled task, it's worth reviewing the Microsoft Knowledge Base article below

How to Schedule Tasks in Windows XP

The simplest way to pass our parameters to sqlcmd is to simply save the call to the stored procedure in a file. For example, we could copy the code from the Full Database Backup of all user databases example above (Example 1) and save it to c:\backup scripts\userfullbackup.sql. The walk through below assumes you have a named instance called SQLExpress.

Double-click Add Scheduled Task to start the Scheduled Task Wizard, and then click Next in the first dialog box
Click Browse, browse to SQLCMD.exe (by default it can be found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn), and then click Open.
Type a name for the task e.g DAILY FULL BACKUP and then choose Daily from the scheduling options
Click Next, specify the information about the time to run the task e.g. 00:00, and then click Next
Type the name and password of the account that will execute this task. Make sure that you choose an account that is a syadmin for your instance
Click Next, select the checkbox to Open the Advanced Properties for this task and then click Finish
In the Run text box append the following to the contents : -S .\SQLExpress -i"c:\backup scripts\userfullbackup.sql" (You must leave a space after the existing contents)
Click OK. If prompted, supply the password for the account again
An alternative to the penultimate step above is to remove the entire contents of the Run text box and simply supply the following

sqlcmd -S.\SQLExpress -i"c:\backup scripts\userfullbackup.sql"
 

Another alternative rather than maintaining an individual script for each task is to parameterize the script and take advantage of the ability to pass parameters to sqlcmd from the command line. If we take the same example script we used in the task above (c:\backup scripts\userfullbackup.sql), we could add parameters to it as shown below

exec expressmaint
   @database      = '$(DB)',
   @optype        = 'DB',
   @backupfldr    = '$(BACKUPFOLDER)',
   @reportfldr    = 'c:\reports',
   @verify        = 1,
   @dbretainunit  = '$(DBRETAINUNIT)',
   @dbretainval   = '$(DBRETAINVAL)',
   @rptretainunit = 'copies',
   @rptretainval  = 2,
   @report        = 1
 

This allows us to pass in the database, backup folder and backup retention parameters from the command line. To simulate the same parameters as example 1, we would supply the following command to the task (note that this entire command should all be on one line)

sqlcmd -S .\SQLExpress -i"c:\backup scripts\userfullbackup.sql" -v DB="ALL_USER"
 -v BACKUPFOLDER="c:\backups" -v DBRETAINUNIT="days" -v DBRETAINVAL="1"
 

As this demonstrates, sqlcmd is a lot more flexible than osql/isql and there are numerous options available for scheduling our maintenance tasks. In Part II of this article, I'll be demonstrating how we can build an expressmaint.exe command line utility using SMO to provide the same functionality. In the meantime, to supply feedback on this article and the code or to report bugs/issues email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Back in September of last year I wrote up an article on how to get osTicket to authenticate with Active Directory. That article was based on version 1.6 RC5. It actually worked very well for my company. Users could simply login to the staff panel with their domain\username credentials.

Well, we started getting weird database errors recently, so I thought it might be good to move away from the RC5 version, and move to the final release. Well, if you read the comments at the bottom of my previous article you will know that my customizations didn’t carry over to the final release. That is ok though, because I found an even better and easier way to get osTicket to authenticate with AD. I got it working in about 2 minutes in Ubuntu Server 10.04.

First you will need one little perquisite package, php5-ldap. Just run the following:

>sudo apt-get install php5-ldap

Next you will want to manually create a user with a username that matches active directory. For instance is your AD username is jsmith create a user in osTicket called jsmith and give it a temporary password of 123456 (Doesn't matter because osTicket will look to AD right?)

Once that is installed, edit include/class.staff.php:

>sudo nano include/class.staff.php

Replace the following code:

/*compares user password*/
function check_passwd($password){
return (strlen($this->passwd) && strcmp($this->passwd, MD5($password))==0)?(TRUE):(FALSE);
}

With:

/*compares user password*/
function check_passwd($password){
// Change made for LDAP Auth based on -> http://osticket.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3312
// Change this line to the FQDN of your domain controller
$ds=ldap_connect('mydc.mydomain.local') or die("Couldn't connect to AD!");
// Change this line to the name of your Active Directory domain
if ($ds) {
$domain="mydomain";
$ldapbind = ldap_bind($ds);
if (!@ldap_bind( $ds, $domain."\\".$this->username, $password) ) {
// Auth failed! lets try at osTicket database
return (strlen($this->passwd) && strcmp($this->passwd, MD5($password))==0)?(TRUE):(FALSE);
// return(FALSE);
}
else{
// Auth succeeded!
return(TRUE);
}
// End Changes
}

}

After you do that change the items in red to match your environment then restart Apache:

>sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Bam! You now have Microsoft Active Directory authentication, and you don’t have to specify a domain name at login either!

If you are looking for additional functionality, check out the osTicket Forums, there are a lot of cool customizations I am sure you will find useful!

You need to add a modem manually. After adding in the serial port to the virtual machine, you then add the modem into windows just as if you attached an old-fashioned serial port modem, the kind that's not plug-and-play.

For instance on my host machine, I have 2 serial ports, COM1 & COM2, and one winmodem set as COM3. I add a serial port to the virual machine, COM1. I configure the virual COM1 to point to the host's COM3. Then I add a modem to the virual machine. Since it's not a plug-and-play modem, it's detected as "unknown modem." I then manually change that to Standard 33600. If you know your modem is Flex, v90 or x2, then you can choose one of those. Otherwise Standard 33600 will always work for any winmodem. Done! The virtual machine now has a modem on COM1.

BTW, VMWare "takes over" the serial port, and thus the modem, while it's connected. So if you want to use the modem from the host, either disconenct the serial port the from VM menu or shut down the virtual machine.

or

Use an external modem that plugs into the serial port on your host.