Administration 
First puppet module published
I completed my first public module for puppet and submitted it to the puppet forge. It seems too simple to compile into a build and submit it to the forge; however, I made it public for these reasons:
- I needed experience with puppet code testing. This helped me at the most basic level.
- I felt like someone else could benefit fr… Read more →
Provisioning VMs with cloud init
One of the easiest ways to deploy a virtual machine in oVirt is first to install the OS then turn it into a template. This will allow you to copy that template to deploy new instances. One mundane task after a new template is copied to a new instance is logging in, changing the IP, setting the hostname, setting up Puppet, running puppet, etc.
Read more →Securing PWM
Read more →In last week's post we set up PWM insecurely. In this post, we are going to secure it down and install mysql to store the reset questions. This guide assumes you have this CentOS 7 server publicly accessible with ports 80 and 443 available t…
Password management portal for end users
Read more →We in IT have heard it often, the #1 request coming into help desk ticket systems is password resets, account lockouts, and the like. PWM is a password reset web application written in Java for use with LDAP directories. You can configure it to work with Active Directory, OpenLDAP, FreeIPA, and others. There are already a handful of good tutorials …
Avoiding Catastrophic Failure
Read more →You may have already heard the news about Delta Airlines catastrophic failure. Ars Technica reports the true cau…
Linux training on sale until 7/31/16
The Linux Foundation is offering select courses at a discount until 7/31/16. Some offers are up to 55% off. You can also get an additional 10% off in check-out by using the code
GSHOP. That brings the prices down to:$180 - For Read more →
Puppet as a GPO replacement
Read more →When you have a mixed client workstation environment (Windows, Linux, Mac) using GPOs only covers a portion of the environment. Sure, there are some AD plugins for Mac and Linux to let them read and apply those settings, however, those tools cost an exuberant amount of money compared to the open source version Puppet.
I haven't scratched the…
Why I went with Puppet over other CMEs
Read more →Configuration management engines (CME) have increased in popularity over the past several years. When I evaluated all the potential options, I needed one to be free in cost, work on Mac and Windows, and be easy to set up and use. At the time, only Chef, CFEngine, and Puppet had Windows clients so I tested them all out. Puppet came the victor for se…
oVirt mobile
I particularly enjoy using a web browser to administer GUI appliances. In the case of oVirt, it does become a little painful to do the Chrome-zoom-click on my massive 4k Android phone. It appears the oVirt devs have also seen this pain point and have released an Android app to make adminstration easier on Android.
7 essential Android IT tools
I have been using an Android phone for the past several years (since version 2.3.2). It has turned out to be the swiss army knife in my IT toolkit. Here are 7 apps that I cannot live without and help me perform my daily job duties.
ActiveDir Manager
oVirt pitfalls
Read more →After you use something for a bit, you notice the issues associated with it. While oVirt has solved my pain points of high availability, there are a few which stand out.
Logging in
To log in to oVirt for administration, you visit the landing page of the oVirt-engine website. This is perfect - it means I can administr…
Switching from Active Directory to Samba4
Active Directory is solid, secure, and stable platform for user, group, and computer management. I would go as far and say that it is probably the backbone of 99.9% of all organizations world wide. So why would anyone want to switch away from Active Directory? The answer to that question is varied, but the most common reason why are: