Cisco - ASDM Java Bug Windows 10

Cisco ASDM Java Bug

There apparently exists a bug in the Cisco ASDM with the ASA-X series when the Firepower services are enabled. The gist of the bug is that with Windows 10 and possibly other Windows OSes (Server 2008 R2 for me) you must run JRE 7.51 or you cannot get the ASDM to load. Oddly enough I was able to get the ASDM to run on the standby ASA but not the primary.

Workaround:

In order to get around the ASDM and Windows 10 compatibility bug, you'll have to install JRE 7 update 51. This can be download from the archives if you have a valid Oracle support account.

• JRE 7 Archive

I can confirm this worked for me on Windows Server 2008 R2 as well. I was using a Cisco ASA 5516-X failover cluster.

VMware - Installing VMware Tools on Linux

Installing VMware Tools on Linux

There are two different sets of VMware Tools available for Linux, the standard VMware tools ISO package that comes with VMware and the Open-VM-Tools package available within package manager repositories for distros like Ubuntu or RedHat. From what I've read, both appear to work well and I have not observed any difference between the two when running them in a production environment.

Installing VMware-Tools:

If you're using VMware Tools included with vCenter then you must first mount the ISO in order to access the "cd" from the guest Linux operating system. To do so first edit the configuration of the VM and select the CD/DVD Drive:

Once you have selected to "Connect to CD/DVD image on a datastore..." you can browse to the native datastore on the vSphere server and select the vmimages -> tools-isoimages folder and then the linux.iso file.

Once the ISO file is connected you can proceed to the console of the Linux server and enter the following commands to install VMware Tools.

• sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom
• sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom OR sudo mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom
• cd /mnt/cdrom
• tar xzvf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-x.x.x-xxxx.tar.gz -C /tmp/
• cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib/
• sudo ./vmware-install.pl -d

Installing Open-VM-Tools:

In order to install using a package manager such as aptitude, you will actually load the open-vm-tools rather than the standard VMware tools. Obviously the above process will work in any flavor of Linux but it's fully manual compared to using a tool like apt-get or yum to install or update the packages. The following commands are necessary to complete the open-vm-tools installation.

In Ubuntu Server:

• sudo apt-get install open-vm-tools

In RedHat Server:

• sudo yum install open-vm-tools

In either case, vCenter will show that VMware Tools is installed and display the version number regardless of which package you install, VMware Tools or Open-VM-Tools.

VMware - Migrating Exchange P2V

Migrating Microsoft Exchange P2V with VMware

A lot of what you read online related to migrating from a physical to virtual (P2V) MS Exchange server will say don't do it. That's probably good advice, but when you have no other choice, here's some tips I found that helped me get this working.

This was a Server 2012 R2 with Exchange 2010 migrated to VMware 6.5 using the VMware Converter tool. The best steps I've found to make this as successful as possible are:

• Disable all Exchange services before starting the conversion
• Make note of all network related settings, specicially all IP addresses used
• Run the P2V Converter, don't change the disk sizes, leave them as is
• After the conversion install VMware Tools
• Assign all IP addresses to the new virtual NIC(s)
• In Device Manager select "Show Hidden Devices" and remove all unused devices related to the physical hardware
• Reboot
• Enable the Exchange services
• Reboot
• Test for inbound/outbound mail flow

Disable Exchange Services:

The first step before migrating your Exchange server from physical to virtual is to disable all of the Exchange services. This will accomplish two things, firstly it will speed up the boot process of the virtual server after it has been converted because you won't have to wait on them to start. Secondly it will prevent new mail from coming in while the server is being migrated. You could also accomplish this by stopping SMTP routing to the server but that would involve changing other systems in addition to Exchange. I like to use a simple command line script to stop the services.

• sc config "MSExchangeADTopology" start= disabled
• sc config "ADAM_MSExchange" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeAB" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeAntispamUpdate" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeEdgeCredential" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeEdgeSync" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeFDS" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeFBA" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeIMAP4" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeIS" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeMailSubmission" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeMailboxAssistants" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeMailboxReplication" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeMonitoring" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeProtectedServiceHost" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeRepl" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeRPC" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeSearch" start= disabled
• sc config "WSBExchange" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeServiceHost" start= disabled
• sc config "MSSpeechService" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeSA" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeThrottling" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeTransport" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeTransportLogSearch" start= disabled
• sc config "MSExchangeUM" start= disabled
• sc config "msftesql-Exchange" start= disabled
• sc config "w3svc" start= disabled
• sc config "iisadmin" start= disabled

Not all of these services will be installed on every Exchange instance but I listed all of them for reference.

Note All Network Settings:

This may sound obvious since you probably already know the IP address of the Exchange server but keep in mind sometimes there's additional NICs or IP addresses for specific services such as a send/receive connector. Double checking this won't hurt and it might save you some time afterwards.

Clean Up Device Manager:

After you've run the VMware Converter tool and have your new VM up and running be sure to install VMware Tools before doing anything else. This will ensure all of the necessary virtual drivers are installed and up to date. Once the network drivers are loaded you can add back all of your static IPs and mirror the previous physical server's configuration. Assuming you have done those two items you now need to remove all of the previously used hardware that is no longer necessary from Device Manager. First enable the "Show Hidden Devices" option in Device Manager so that you can see all of the old grayed out devices.

Now you can expand each section within the Device Manager tree and remove the grayed out devices. The two key areas to check that will likely cause the most issues are under Network Adapters and Portable Devices -> Exchange. The behavior I experienced was an inability to send e-mail via the SMTP Send Connector. This was due to the leftover network settings from the physical server. Once I removed those I could send e-mail just fine. The really odd and frustrating part of this conversion was that everything except sending worked correctly as soon as I configured the network and started back up all of the Exchange services.

Enable Exchange Services:

The last step before testing to make sure everything is functioning normally is to reset all of the Exchange services from disabled to auto and reboot so they can start cleanly. The process to enable the services is exactly the same as disabling, the status just needs to be auto instead of disabled. Again I've listed those below for reference and scripting purposes.

• sc config "MSExchangeADTopology" start= auto
• sc config "ADAM_MSExchange" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeAB" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeAntispamUpdate" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeEdgeCredential" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeEdgeSync" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeFDS" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeFBA" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeIMAP4" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeIS" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeMailSubmission" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeMailboxAssistants" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeMailboxReplication" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeMonitoring" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeProtectedServiceHost" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeRepl" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeRPC" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeSearch" start= auto
• sc config "WSBExchange" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeServiceHost" start= auto
• sc config "MSSpeechService" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeSA" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeThrottling" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeTransport" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeTransportLogSearch" start= auto
• sc config "MSExchangeUM" start= auto
• sc config "msftesql-Exchange" start= auto
• sc config "w3svc" start= auto
• sc config "iisadmin" start= auto

From here there's nothing left to do but test your newly converted Exchange server. Make sure you can both send and receive.internally and externally. A good resource for testing your e-mail setup is MX Toolbox.

Oracle - Installing Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c

Installing Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c

The Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c is used to manager all aspects of an Oracle hardware/software environment. Here are my notes from the recent installation I performed.

Here's a link to the version requirements but the shortlist is:

• Oracle Linux 6.5 or older (I actually installed on OL6.9)
• Oracle Database 12.1.02 for embeded
• Oracle Enterprise Manager 12.3.2
• OCDoctor 4.67 or newer

Required Files:

• OCDoctor.zip (OCDoctor 4.67)
• enterprise-controller.Linux.i686.12.3.2.1113.tar.zip (Oracle Enterprise Manager 12.3.2)
• linuxamd64_12102_database_1of2.zip (Oracle Database 12c)
• linuxamd64_12102_database_2of2.zip (Oracle Database 12c)

Required YUM Prerequisites:

• yum install xinetd expect tftp-server dhcp gettext perl-XML-Parser perl-libintl gcc httpd keyutils compat-libstdc++-33 elfutils-libelf-devel gcc-c++ libstdc++-devel sysstat ksh libaio-devel openssl098e.i686 compat-expat1.i686 libuuid.i686 audit-libs.i686 cracklib.i686 db4.i686 pam.i686 compat-libstdc++-33.i686 glibc zlib expat.i686 libxml2.i686 libaio.i686 libstdc++.i686 glibc-devel.i686 openssh-clients nfs-utils perl-CGI nano

Required System Changes:

• Disable SELinux
• vi /etc/selinux/config
• change SELINUX=enforcing to SELINX=disabled
• reboot
• Set local hostname to match eth0 IP
• vi /etc/hosts
• add new line SERVERIP SERVERNAME SERVERNAME.DOMAIN.LOCAL (replace server IP and server name and domain as appropriate)
• Copy both Oracle Database zip files to /var/tmp/downloads

Installation Process:

• From the directory where you extracted the OCDoctor archive run:
• ./OCDoctor.sh --ec-prereq (this will notify you of any missing dependencies to run the install)
• once all prerequisites are met you can proceed to the installation of ops center
• From the directory where you extracted the enterprise controller archive run:
• cd xvmoc_full_bundle
• ./install
• Enter your Oracle registered e-mail address when prompted
• Enter your My Oracle Support password when prompted
• You should now start to see different items (1-21) stating [Completed] and a few that show [Not Completed] until it finishes.
• Once everything has completed you should see this prompt or similar:

Virtualization - Oracle VM Manager 3.4.3 Upgrade

Upgrading to Oracle VM Manager 3.4.3

Backup Oracle VM Config File

Prerequisite Files:

• ovmm-3.4.3-installer-OracleLinux-b1511.iso (requires My Oracle Support account)
• Oracle Manual

Prior to upgrading the Oracle VM Manager make sure you backup the configuration.

• cd /u01/app/oracle/ovm-manager-3/
• mkdir /root/ovm3
• cp .config /root/ovm3/.config-20170715

---

Install Oracle VM Manager via ISO

Copy the ISO you downloaded for Oracle VM Manager 3.4.3 to the Oracle VM Manager server using WinSCP or similar. You can copy the ISO anywhere, I typically use /var/opt. Once you've gotten the ISO copied you can mount it using a standard mount command. The installation is easy once you have the ISO mounted. Simply run the installer and follow the on screen prompts.

• mount -o loop /var/opt/ovmm-3.4.3-installer-OracleLinux-b1511.iso /mnt/dvd
• cd /mnt/dvd
• ls -la
• ./runInstaller.sh

For an Upgrade select option 2.

You will now be asked for the credentials for the install.

Next you will need to continue with the installation if your current version meets the minimum requirements.

The ovmmcli and ovmm services will be stopped so the admin console will be unavailable until the upgrade completes.

You should see something similar to this:

After that you should be able to go to https://serverip:7002/ovm/console/faces/login.jspx and log into your newly upgraded Oracle VM Manager 3.4.3.

Virtualization - Oracle VM 3.4.2

Oracle released version 3.4.2 of Oracle VM on 9/21/16 which can be upgraded manually via the downloads here or can be initiated via the Update option on the VM server right-click menu.


Once we've completed this upgrade we'll post updates with our findings.

Outlook/Exchange - Winmail.dat

If you use ZixGateway from ZixCorp for encrypting e-mail you may have run across an issue where your recipients start receiving attachments as Winmail.dat files. This is likely to show up when the ZixGateway is used as a smart host for your local Exchange server. The real issue is Outlook/Exchange are sending the e-mails as Microsoft's proprietary Rich Text Format. In order to resolve this issue you'll need to check several places in Outlook as well as Exchange to verify the RTF is not being used.

In Outlook 2013/2016 check under the Outlook Options, Mail settings. The heading is "Message format" and has an option to convert to HTML format when sending RTF to internet recipients.


Additionally you might want to check your Exchange server settings to ensure the remote domain transport is not set to always use RTF. Under your Exchange organization select Hub Transport, then under the Remote Domains tab select your default domain and click properties. From there you should see the option for Exchange rich-text format which can be set to Always use, Never use, or Determined by individual user settings.


To disable TNEF from the registry use the following steps:

1. Close Outlook
2. Start Registry Editor (type regedit in the Start Search box or Start menu, Run command and press Enter)
3. Locate the following registry key:
   In Outlook 2016:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
   In Outlook 2013:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Preferences
   In Outlook 2010:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences
   In Outlook 2007:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Preferences
4. Add a new DWORD named DisableTNEF.
5. Double click on DisableTNEF and in the Value data box, type 1
6. Close the Registry editor and Restart Outlook

More helpful details can be found here.