Robert Vance

Author's posts

HOWTO: Get Timestamp of a file from a remote FTP site using PowerShell

This HOWTO describes how to programmatically obtain the timestamp of a file on a remote FTP server.  This can be useful in situations where you only want to check, update or delete the newest or oldest files.  I opted to create a HOWTO for this as I found a large number of requests for this kind …

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HOWTO: Resolve CID_MISMATCH error with VMware virtual machine

This HOWTO describes how to resolve a situation where a running virtual machine suddenly abruptly powers off and when you attempt to start it again, you are given the error “the content ID of the parent virtual disk does not match the corresponding parent content ID of the child”. In this instance, a virtual machine …

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HOWTO: Write Chinese on a Computer Keyboard

Last year I wrote a post on how to write Japanese on a western style keyboard. You can find that HOWTO along with some fascinating backstory here.  As I was already comfortable with Hangul (Korean), that meant that of the “big 3” Asian languages, I had a (very) basic comprehension of how to write with …

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HOWTO: The wrong way to use VMware DirectPath

Consider the following scenario:  You have a physical IBM server running Windows 2008 R2 with an LSI SAS controller PCIe card connected to an IBM LTO5 tape library and controlled via NetBackup 7.6.  You wish to obsolete the Windows 2008 server and move the SAS card onto a new IBM x3650 M4 server running ESXi 5.5.  …

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HOWTO: Backup and Restore FreeNAS Bootable USB Keys

I have several RAID5 NAS devices at home that are built upon the excellent FreeNAS.  One of the catches to using FreeNAS is that you must dedicate an entire drive to the operating system.  This means if you have say 3 1.5TB drives, you have to allocate (and therefore lose) 1.5TB of disk space to …

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HOWTO: Fix vRanger "The database transaction was rolled back" Error

Update: Andrew G in the comments posted a link to a newer version of this script for newer versions of vRanger.  You can find that link here: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/data-protection/f/4784/t/19555569 This HOWTO describes how to resolve an issue with vRanger 6.0.1 whereby ALL jobs be it existing or new, incremental or full always fail with the same …

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HOWTO: Automate Deployment of VMware Workstation VMs

This HOWTO describes the fastest way I’ve figured out thus far to deploy net-new Windows 2012 VMs using VMware Workstation for a Lab environment.  The first thing we need to do is build our "golden master" VM.  For our purposes, we will be using the Windows 2012 R2 180 Trial ISO which is freely available …

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HOWTO: Cheap way to perform offsite backups to your own cloud

March 31st was World Backup Day (http://www.worldbackupday.com)  This special date is intended to help raise awareness to the importance of having backups of your data.  In my case, having served in the role of a Systems Administrator for many years now, I’ve repeatedly been saved by some kind of backup in my professional life and …

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HOWTO: Easily add Powershell code to a WordPress Blog Post using Windows Live Writer

Have you ever wanted to publish Powershell code (or other languages) directly to a WordPress blog such that it automatically is syntax colored and line numbered?  Now you can!  Here’s how: Download Syntax Highlighter Evolved WordPress Plugin and install it on your Worpress installation (https://wordpress.org/plugins/syntaxhighlighter/) Install Source Code plugin for Windows Live Writer (http://sourcecodeplugin.codeplex.com/) From …

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HOWTO: Remove inherited permissions from Symantec Enterprise Vault Archive

First let me say that I take back everything nice I ever said about Enterprise Vault.  It’s a Symantec product and that heritage shines through. I was tasked with removing two permissions from an EV archive for  let’s call him “A User”.  Simple, right?  Ha! I connected to our EV Server and opened the Admin …

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