Configure the file /etc/security/access.conf by adding the users that need ssh access to the console.

Example Below.

+:roo:ALL

+:yourownuser:ALL

+:vpxuser:ALL

+:vslauser:ALL

-:ALL:ALL

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How i fixed Crashing Firefox on Windows 7

Recently I had nightmare when Firefox started crashing consonantly on my Windows 7 machine. I like Firefox because it runs 10x faster then Internet explorer , even on Windows 7 -64 bit Edition the Firefox speed was significantly faster then Internet explorer. I am using Trend Micro Internet Security on my Windows 7 machines, reason i picked Trend Micro Internet security again because of speed reason, Comparing to Symantec Norton Internet Security TrendMicro is much better because it doesn’t slows down your PC even scanner is running in background.

Fixed FireFox Crashing

Recently Firefox version 3.63 start crashing automatically, problem got so worse that it wouldn’t let me even open the firefox windows.

What i did to fix Crashing Firefox on Windows 7

1.I read on Firefox support forums that i can try running firefox in safe mode , it didn’t worked out for me because i was not able to run firefox in safe mode.

2.It got so worse that i have to un-install the firefox out of my Windows 7 desktop and then reinstalled it. Guess what that didn’t resolved the issue, even after removing firefox and re-installing the crashing issue didn’t fixed

3.I tried removing firefox and installed older verison of firefox, started firefox 3.5 but that crashed right away , i wasn’t able to removed any addons, plugins.

4.Then i tried a system restore before i installed Windows 7 patches, i thought may be newly installed windows patches is responsible for Firefox crash.

I gave up and start using Chrome, but my love affair with Firefox didn’t vanished, for two days i survived without firefox, I am not the person who gave up easily, then i realized it’s probably some kind of rootkit or trojan or virus that TrendMicro is not able to detect , that could be issue. I started reading review on Security/Mal-ware Scanner and one of the top that came up in my list was Spyware Doctor, i purchased spyware Doctor and started scan on my PC , right after 10 minutes it did picked up some serious rootkit on my PC.

I managed to removed the rootkit and sure started Firefox , bingo ! that was it , I was able to get Firefox running again. I added Spyware Doctor to my Security Software list , Spyware Doctor not only saved me from root-kit and harmful security attacks but it helped my fixed Crashing Firefox error .

If your Firefox is crashing constantly and you are not able to get it running then try Spyware Doctor , It will fix your crashing Firefox issue. Good luck!

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Running p2v on Suse Enterprise server is not straightforward especially for windows folks. I read vmetc article on P2v SLES but that didn’t provide me enough details on how to do P2V on Suse Linux Enterprise server (SLES). In my lab i had to convert a physical server running Suse Linux Enterprise server 10 (SLES) on HP Proliant DL580 so i started searching online and stumbled onto vmetc article for doing P2V Suse Linux. According to Suse Linux P2V some customer used VMware Live Converter CD that was unusable so they had to use Ghost imaging on the physical server, and restored that image to “bare metal” VM , but they encountered some error like volume not mounted or something like that . In my attempt to complete a P2V on Suse Linux Enterprise error i didn’t noticed any Kernel panic or volume not found error but error was exactly like this

“resume device /dev/sda1 not found (ignoring) ”

“waiting for device /dev/sda2 to appear”

I am not sure how old that P2V SLES article is but VMware Converter now called VMware vCenter Converter has fixed lot of bugs and resolved various P2V related issues. If you want to convert Physical machine to Virtual machines you can download VMware vCenter Converter from VMware site (http://www.vmware.com/download/converter/) . There are two different version of VMware converter – Started Edition (Free) and vCenter Converter Standalone Enterprise Edition). In my SLES p2v conversion i used standalone Enterprise vCenter Converter. The Current version of VMware P2V standalone converter is based on WinPE. VMware Converter provides an easy-to-use, scalable solution for migrations of machines, both physical to virtual and virtual to virtual On my SLES physical host I have used P2V cold converter, conversion worked fine make sure you follow I have successfully converted P2V using VMware Converter using following steps:

Pre-requisites for SUSE Enterprise Linux (SLES 10) P2V using VMware vCenter Converter:

VMware vCenter Converter (Standalone Enterprise ) CD – Version 3.0.3

Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES 10) DVD/CD

1. Boot the Physical SLES 10 Linux host using VMware vCenter Converter for P2V.

2. Let the WinPE load up and watch for the Network adaptor settings screen. Make necessary network setting changes –use dhcp or static ip addess and make sure you can access VMware infrastructure server from P2V converter screen.

3. On VMware Converter screen click on “Convert machine” to start the P2V converter process.

4.Make sure you select convert all disk and maintain size option and not resize to save or add space.This is important step the other option didn’t worked for me so in my successful P2V conversion i used convert all disk and maintain size.

5. Enter VMware infrastructure hostname, login information and select appropriate destination template for SLES server.

6. Once P2V conveter step completes Edit settings to make BIOS changes to boot the SLES using SLES10 installable CD/DVD. Select Power on the SLES VM and select “Linux rescue” option to boot the Suse Linux Enterprise server virtual machine into rescue mode. I missed this step and got into “waiting for device /dev/sda2 to appear” error but didn’t notice any kernel panic error.

7. Select Rescue login: root and run cat /proc/partitions to find the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 disk devices. Ignore type 82 which is Linux swap partition, for finding root partition mount the /dev/sad1 on /mnt and look for file listing /etc , /root. If you can see these partitions you are good.

8. Mount the SLES /root partition on /mnt directory and run chroot for accessing file with root privileges.

#mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

#chroot /mnt

9. Edit the /etc/sysconfig kernel file and look for INITRD_MODULES to replace Physical server SCSI driver to Bus Logic :

INITRD_MODULES=”mptspi reiserfs dm_mod”

to

INITRD_MODULES=” BusLogic reiserfs dm_mod “

Save the changes.

Change ip address in /etc/sysconfig/network folder to ip address you want to assign to SLES P2V host.

10. So far so good, in last step you have to rebuild the initial ram disk to update the driver changes we just did in last step.

Go to /boot directory and save a copy of initrd file not the link file, initrid is the link for initrd file

#cp –p initrd-version-default initrd-version-default.preBusLogic

#mkinitrd

Once you are done reboot the VM and your P2V converted SLES Linux will come up without any errors .Red Hat has pretty good documentation on doing P2V on RHEL 4/5 Linux server in their Knowledge base, i have done several successful P2V conversion on RHEL5 server running on HP DL servers onto VMware ESX. Probably i will add RHEL 5 Linux P2V steps in here.

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Get FREE HP-Compaq Mini Netbook from  Verizon on High speed Internet bundle -while supplies last

Verizon in 2010 running special promotional deals on High speed Internet , these deals includes FREE HP Compaq Mini Netbook ($299) on Double play and Triple play bundle packages.

Verizon Double play bundle package with FREE Compaq Mini Netbook

When you Sign-up for Verizon High Speed Internet bundle with 1 year agreement you get $5 off for 1 year – that’s an extra $60 off .Your Monthly bill cost you $64.99 with Verizon Freedom Essentials phone plan- unlimited residential local and long distance calling and Free WiFi with 3 Mbps download speed.

• Verizon Phone plan includes calling features: Home Voice Mail, Caller ID and Call Waiting
• High Speed Internet Power plan with Wi-Fi included- good for sharing photos, downloading music and gaming.Special offer Includes:
Order today to get a FREE Compaq Mini netbook, a $299.99 value (taxes, shipping & handling apply).

Internet + TV + Phone starting at $89.99/mo for 1yr – FREE HP Mini netbook + FREE DVR Upgrade & FREE Showtime® 1yr w/term agmt. Ends 4/17

Verizon is running FiOS special offer called FiOS Triple Freedom where if you sign-up for FiOS bundle offer you can choose to get either FREE Compaq Mini netbook or FREE Flip ultra camcorder.This is the best FiOS bundle deal i have ever seen comparing to AT&T Uverse or Comcast offering.With Current Verizon FiOS bundle promotional offer you will get $5 Off on your monthly FiOS bundle package which would normally costs $119.99/mo. This Verizon FiOS bundle promotional offer started on  6/21/2009 and will be valid till 9/19/2009.For monthly bill of $114.99 on your bundle Verizon FiOS you  will get :

• Verizon Freedom Essentials ($49.99/mo), which includes  unlimited local, regional and long distance calling across the U.S. and to Canada and Puerto Rico – PLUS these popular calling features:  Voice Mail, Caller ID and Call Waiting. You will get additional $5 off/mo for a period of 1 year.
• Verizon FiOS inter

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Microsoft didn’t confirmed final release date for Windows 7 yet, there are lot of speculations on final release date for Windows 7.New PC buyers have hard time dealing with Windows Vista, lot of people still prefers Windows XP. Even with Windows Vista Service Pack 1 release Vista is not even close to Windows XP in performance comparison but Windows 7 is going to be better then both.

According to Mary Jo Windows 7 release date could be Q3 2009 but Microsoft is still saying early 2010. Also Mary Jo is reporting that Tech ARP may have found some information on Windows 7 release date. According to Tech ARP Microsoft provided PC partners with a first pass draft of its Tech Guarantee documentation on December 10. If you are planning to buy new PC and wouldn’t want to use Windows Vista then it is really worth waiting few more months as new PC buyers will get Windows 7 Free upgrade with new PC. As per Tech ARP site if this date is going to be correct then Windows Vista Home Premium purchasers will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. The Windows Vista Business users will get an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional. And users who buy PCs running Windows Vista Ultimate starting July 1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. PC buyers will receive the free Windows 7 updates some time after Windows 7 becomes generally available – a date not mentioned in the Tech ARP posting. Last Year PC word reported that Windows 7 should be released by October 2009 but with Tech ARP report it looks like Windows 7 can be released by July 2009.

The following Windows 7 upgrade will be available from Microsoft for Windows Vista users:

1. Windows Vista® Home Premium -> Windows® 7 Home Premium

2. Windows Vista® Business -> Windows® 7 Professional

3. Windows Vista® Ultimate -> Windows® 7 Ultimate

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I have been hearing  lot of speculation  on Windows 7 release date since last year.

We are already in 2009 and i hope to see Windows 7 coming out either mid of this year or no later than end of this year. I have been looking for Microsoft Windows 7 pre-release version for long time finally i have got my hands on Windows 7 beta (build 7000). Since i don’t have any spare PC to install Windows 7, so i thought it would be worth to install Windows 7 on VMware workstation as virtual machine. In my VMware workstation virtual machine for Windows 7 i selected Windows XP Professional template.For your information i  have successfully installed Windows 7 beta on VMware Workstation running on Windows Vista Ultimate without experiencing any driver issues.

Windows 7 beta installation requires minimum 512 Mb. Memory and 8 Gb. of disk space to install on VMware Workstation.After finishing Windows 7 virtual machine creation i have to mount the DVD image to start the install process so i clicked on power on, within few seconds I got to see the Windows 7 installer screen which was very much like Windows Vista splash installation screen, so from Graphical user interface point of view Windows 7 is more like Windows 7. I was surprised to see that Windows 7 didn’t have any issues finding hard disk drive, this was huge for me because i remember there was lot of driver issue installing Windows vista on VMware. After setup finished copying installation file Windows 7 rebooted to continue with installation, while entering username and password i notice Windows 7 ultimate on screen so this tells me that Microsoft is going to release several similar version of Windows 7 like Vista – Home – Basic, Premium, Business and Ultimate. If you are not familiar with different versions of Windows Vista then you should check out pricing and feature differences on Microsoft Vista edition URL. Entire Windows 7 installation took me 20 minutes .I decided to install the VMware tools which was infact Windows XP Professional VMware Tools , i was little spectacle about installing Windows XP VMware Tools on Windows 7 beta but since this was test machine i decided to go ahead with VMware Tool install. The VMware tools installation worked fine without any issues.If you are planning to install Windows 7 on VMware Workstation then you can choose either Windows XP Professional, Windows vista or Windows 2003 template.I can say this time i am impressed with Windows 7 because installation was really a breeze, there was no driver issues i had to struggle with . Some of the improvement  I have noted on Windows 7 are:

1.) Quick installation

I have noticed Windows 7 Beta installs more quickly than does Windows Vista installation.

2.)Windows 7 New Task bar

I quick find the new task bar which is still controversial , if you want to read about new task bar check out Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite Windows 7 review. The new taskbar at the bottom of the screen now functions somewhat like Mac OS X’s Dock, probably Microsoft want this feature to be part of Windows 7 to compete with Mac OS. X Large application icons on the taskbar launch programs when clicked on. You can customize which application live there, In addition, when you run applications, they run in the taskbar as well.Here is an update Microsoft announced that Windows 7 beta will be available for download for the first 2.5 million users who would like to try out Windows 7 beta. This is first public announcement done by Microsoft on Windows 7 beta downloads. If you are looking for Windows 7 beta download you can find information here on how to download Windows 7 beta , ISO file size is close to 2.4 GB so download can take couple of hours based on your internet connection. Windows 7 beta can be installed on VMware ESX and VMware ESX 3i for testing purposes.

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uverse deals-AT&T uverse $300 deals,uverse $200,$100 uverse deals

AT&T uverse deals is offering $300,$200 and $100 reward card to new residential uverse customers for ordering uverse bundle package online.For uverse orders between 5/23/2010 and 5/26/2010 and get additional $50 reward card back.

uverse Phone+uverse Internet+uverse TV deals:

uverse online orders can get you $350 back on uverse Phone,TV and Internet bundle. Order U-family or higher Uverse TV service with any High Speed Internet and Uverse Voice plan and receive a $300 AT&T uverse Reward Card. PLUS, if you order today, you get an additional $50 AT&T uverse Reward Card. That’s a total of $350 back!

uverse Internet+uverse TV deals:

With uverse double bundle deals you get $250 back as reward card when you order U-family TV or higher service with any High Speed Internet and receive a $200 AT&T Reward Card. PLUS, if you order today, you get an additional $50 AT&T Reward Card. That’s a total of $250 back!

uverse TV deals:

The  $100 in AT&T Reward uverse Card(s) available to new Uverse residential customers ordering U-family TV or uverse higher online at att.com. Offer ends 11/6/10. An additional $50 AT&T Reward uverse Card for qualifying services purchased online at att.com between 5/23/10 and 5/26/10.  Card Redemption details provided to customer within 4 weeks of activation of qualifying service. Card(s) sent to customers 4-6 weeks after redemption. Redemption requires customer to retain qualifying service a minimum of 30 days and at time processing of reward is completed. The AT&T Reward Visa® Prepaid Card is not redeemable for cash and may not be used at automated gasoline pumps or for cash withdrawal at any cash dispensing locations.The TV uverse deals  include package starting from $39/month for 6 months.

uverse deals Coupon code offer portal

1.Click on Uverse Coupon code to get to uverse deals page on AT&T Uverse site.
2.Select Shop uverse and enter your address to check uverse availability in your area.
3.You will get $350 reward card information in your mail after 4 weeks of activation

Order uverse online and Get uverse $350 reward card – uverse deals expires 11/06/2010

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I encounter an error while installing vSphere vCenter 4 on a Windows 2008 64 Bit vm. The vCenter installation refuses to install because port 80 is in use or disable. I took a few snapshots to give a visual of what I did to fix it.

1)      I new that the vCenter would not go on with the installation because port 80 was in use and I didn’t want to change the port number, so I ran the command “netstat –anb” to see what ports were in use, see snapshot below.

2)      So I found that port 80 was in use by an unknown service and it was displaying a weird message “Can not obtain ownership information”, see the snapshot above.

3)      So the previous command did show me the service; so I ran “netstat –ano|more” to check the PID number, see snapshot below.

4)      I ran Task Manager to compare PID 4 to all the running services and found nothing.

5)      My next step was to do a google search of “what is blocking port 80” and got the following link http://forums.techarena.in/vista-security/1134326.htm.

6)      The service that was blocking port 80 was “SQL Server Reporting Service”.

7)      After disabling SQL Server Reporting Service I ran “netstat –ano|more” again and saw that port 80 was free again and my installation when on without any issues.

8)      To install vCenter4 on a Win2k8 standard 64Bit server Microsoft SSRS needs to be disabled.

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For enabling Windows XP/Vista VMware virtual machines to be accessible using VMware View portal you would need to install VMware View agents on the base (master) Windows VM used in desktop pool.

I ran into some permission issues while installing VMware View agent on base Windows XP image. If you are unable to install VMware view agent then you are definitely missing some of the requirements

For installing VMware View 3 agent on Windows XP/Vista virtual machines running on VMware ESX make sure you have latest VMware tools installed. While installing VMware View 3 agent on Windows XP virtual machine (vm) i received error “you need administrative privileges to install this software” even though i was logged in as Active directory domain administrator. This is more of Windows Security issue where vmware view active directory domain administrator accounts needs to be added to Windows XP local administrator group to install the VMware View agent software. If you cannot install VMware View 3 agent on Windows XP vm because of same error then try adding active directory administrator account to local administrator group.

1. Login in to Windows XP virtual machines using local administrator account on Windows XP vm.

2. Open Windows computer management by running compmgmt.msc from Run

3. Select Groups under Local users and Groups and add VMware View administrator active directory account. This VMware view administrator account has to be same account you use for VMware View Manager server.

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