Many Cisco Switches (3750, 2960x) support some basic cable tests that can be run from the CLI.

To start the tests you run

Switch# test cable-diagnostics tdr interface g0/1
TDR test started on interface Gi0/1
A TDR test can take a few seconds to run on an …

Though I am taking some risk by automatically updating my servers. I prefer that they always update so that security patches are applied very quickly. Here is how I configured my Debian servers (jessie) to update on a daily bases.

I created a shell script in /root/update.sh

apt-get …

With dovecot 2.2 Autocreate was deprecated. and the very helpful message started popping up in my logs

Warning: autocreate plugin is deprecated, use mailbox { auto } setting instead

Dovecot’s wiki does have a page on this http://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailboxSettings but its not very helpful.

So here is …

I needed to take a look at a .pem cert file to take a look at the expiration dates.

What do you know openssl makes it somewhat easy to do this.

openssl x509 -in invoke.coffee.pem -text

There you go all the signing info. expiration, signing algorithms etc.

I ran into an issue with rsyslog on debian.

when running apt-get install (in this case git) I would get this back.

Setting up git (1:2.1.4-2.1) …
Errors were encountered while processing:
rsyslog
fail2ban
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

So I removed …

Each IOS upgrade on a 4500 series switch can be different depending of the specific configuration that is implemented. This guide will provide some high level concepts and pointers to assist with an IOS upgrade.

BOOT variables

Boot parameters for 4500 series switches are controlled by two parameters the Configuration …

Running PowerShell scripts is significantly different from batch files and normal exe files.

Starting PowerShell

Search for PowerShell in the start menu, then right click and run as admin. Enter your username and password (or user your Piv Certificate) like normal.

You will then have PowerShell running as admin.

Basic …

I have been a huge fan of podcasts for a couple of years. so I decided to share my list of podcasts that I listen to.

I use byondpod on android that generates a smart playlist general in the order below. I rarely even get through half of this list …

I recently started playing around with the raspberry pi 2.

I followed the guide on lifehacker to get this set up.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-turn-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-retro-game-console-498561192

The setup is really easy to get going but I did find a couple of commands very helpful. updating

rpi-update will update the raspberry pi …

Many guides for securing a SSH server will mention changing the SSH port you are using away from the default (TCP/22). while this is not bad advise what security are you really gaining from this?

Changing the default port does create one more thing that you have to remember …