It is likely obvious, but as I know that some people are searching for this information, creating administrative users in this way can be done very easily from remote command lines such as ScreenConnect, ConnectWise, MeshCentral, and so forth.

@pmoncho said in Get Windows Version from Command Line: No doubt. Currently working on getting Server 2019 DC, DHCP, and RDS working in a lab. A few challenges so far. Was going to try using PS to do many tasks I normally do in GUI (force myself to learn as I go) but decided to put it on the back burner due to frustration. I will get there with PS but it has to wait. Unfortunately, no matter how much we want to complain about PS and how Windows has no production-level roadmap at this point and is getting worse by the day, if you are going to run Windows today, PS is how it is done. Issues with PS have only one valid purpose to discuss - to use to explain to management why Windows shouldn't be getting deployed in production workloads, or why risks with it need to be accepted. It's like the licensing issues with Windows, these things all add up to cost and risk and risk is really just cost. It's part of the "decision numbers." Beyond that, it is what it is. If the business actually knows how costly it is and still chooses it, then PS is how you manage it. If you deploy and start without using PS, it'll be that much harder to switch later. I know the learning curve is absurd and the whole thing is so much harder than it has any purpose being, but I would bite the bullet if at all possible and learn it now. It'll just be harder later.

@scottalanmiller said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @dbeato said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @Obsolesce said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @scottalanmiller said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @Obsolesce said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @scottalanmiller said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: @JaredBusch said in Windows Server 2019 Basic Installation: The current install method brings Windows Server on parity with the Linux ecosystem really. You install, choose some options and end up at a prompt after reboot. Then you remotely add the features and shit you want. Yeah, very in like with Fedora, Ubuntu, or Deepin. Deepin might still be my favourite installer for normal stuff of the four. Did you have a Deepin install screenshot chain on here? No, but I do it so often, it would be easy to get. That'd be nice to see on here. Last post on it was below https://mangolassi.it/topic/14453/deepin-linux-15-4-1-install The install still looks like that. LOL that's not an installer. That's a push button, get peanuts. Nice though.

I ran into a language issue the other day when writing a PowerShell script that uses net localgroup and thought it could be useful to others: Depending on the language your Windows device is set to, the local Administrators group will be different, so the typical net localgroup administrators domain\user /add command will fail. Implementing the following will grab the actual name of the group by it's SID first, then use that result. Note that this is written to work in PowerShell, not CMD.exe. # Gets the name of the local Administrators group in appropriate language $localAdminGroupName = (Get-WmiObject win32_group -filter "LocalAccount = $TRUE And SID = 'S-1-5-32-544'" | Select-Object -Expand name) Write-Output "Local Administrators group detected as: [$localAdminGroupName]" # Sets the users as a local admin using appropriate local Administrators group name net localgroup $localAdminGroupName domain\user /add # Gets local Administrators group members net localgroup $localAdminGroupName

@scottalanmiller Sounds solid. The speed difference is dramatic. Thanks.

Topic has been forked, please keep discussions of OS comparisons to a different thread.

@black3dynamite said in Setting Up a Standard MySQL or MariaDB Database for an Application: @JaredBusch said in Setting Up a Standard MySQL or MariaDB Database for an Application: I like my approach to setting this up. Obviously, install MySQL/MariaDB first as noted above. Then do the following. This all needs done in the same SSH session, but otherwise things are simple. Choose once of these exports for your DB root password. The first one is for you to specify, the second generates a random one and echo's it back to you. # Specify your own password for MariaDB root user export DB_ROOT_PASS="somebigpasswordgoeshere" # Generate a random password for MariaDB root user export DB_ROOT_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 30)" echo "This is your MariaDB root password: $DB_ROOT_PASS" Specify the application database name and application user name # Database user to use for application export DB_USER='yourusername' # Database name to use for application export DB_NAME='yourdatabasename' Generate or specify a random password for the database user # Specify your own password for the application's database user export DB_PASS="somebigpasswordgoeshere" # Generate a random password for the application's database user export DB_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 30)" echo "This is your password for the application user: $DB_PASS" Then create the application database, use, and grant access. mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE $DB_NAME;" mysql -e "CREATE USER '$DB_USER'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '$DB_PASS';" mysql -e "GRANT ALL ON $DB_NAME.* TO '$DB_USER'@'localhost';" mysql -e "FLUSH PRIVILEGES;" Finally, lock down the system without the interactive requirement of mysql_secure_installation # Secure MariaDB (this does what mysql_secure_installation performs without interaction) mysql -e "UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('$DB_ROOT_PASS') WHERE User='root';" mysql -e "DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='root' AND Host NOT IN ('localhost', '127.0.0.1', '::1');" mysql -e "DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';" # Beginning on some version of MariaDB after Fedora 29 was released, the test DB is no longer there by defualt. mysql -e "DROP DATABASE test;" mysql -e "FLUSH PRIVILEGES;" Your approach makes it easier to use as part of a script. It also generates random passwords, which I prefer.

@DustinB3403 said in How to adminstrate a handful of Windows workstations?: @JaredBusch said in How to adminstrate a handful of Windows workstations?: @Pete-S said in How to adminstrate a handful of Windows workstations?: @JaredBusch said in How to adminstrate a handful of Windows workstations?: Everytime I want to do something, I would make it a powershell script and save it. With remote powershell enabled on all workstations, it should be fairly effortless to maintain. Some individual tasks might take more time than it seems worth at first to figure out how to script it, but int he long run it will be the best solution. So you're saying I should keep the workstations as they are, but administer them as a group by using remote powershell? Yes. For example, somewhere on here, I have a Poweshell script posted that let's you install printers. Edit: Here is that post Post not found. fixed

@dustinb3403 said in Getting PowerShell to provide me the EventLog details in an email: Yup. . . I'm an idiot lol. I set it to only look back 1 day and email me those results within the past day. This obviously would show blank results, since there are no 2013 events within the past day! Ha ha ha. Whoops!

Not that there is much that can be done about it.

@gjacobse said in Managing Multiple Linux Servers via the Browser with Cockpit: I haven't read the article yet,... but would be nice if it is available on Windows - However, that said. I can just set up a VM and run there.... I don't do a massive amount of managing Linux Servers, but sometimes it would be helpful.. Not even on most Linux yet.

Good read, thanks.

@mlnews said in Apple Sys Admin job in DFW: @Tim_G said in Apple Sys Admin job in DFW: @NerdyDad said in Apple Sys Admin job in DFW: Anybody have 7+ years working with CentOS? Check out this job at Apple: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/253326083 Ohh, they're not using Windows servers? They just phased out Netware Just? That probably explains some things.

@dafyre said in Normal Forms of Systems Administration: @scottalanmiller said in Normal Forms of Systems Administration: @Tim_G said in Normal Forms of Systems Administration: So if 4th is strictly using RSAT... would 5th be full automation using SCCM, SCVMM, Orchestrator, and App Controller? Yes, I believe so. Those would be tools in the Microsoft toolset for that. They tend to take a very different approach than many of their competitors and it's been a while since I've used it. Not sure if SCCM goes all of the way to defined state or just really heavily automated forth form. But I think you can get to that state. I believe it is properly state defined (fifth form) but not code defined like most of the alternatives. I think I got lost in all the clutter... but why do you separate Remote GUI from Remote CLI ? Essentially "automatable interface" vs non-automatable interface. Not that GUIs cannot be automated, but effectively they cannot be.

It's true that you can make stateless systems without DevOps tooling and approaches. But the nature and assumptions of those systems is that you cannot. Just letting arbitrary logins (even of administrators) can undermine that. One of the beauties of the pure DevOps model is the lack of logins. Much like functional programming.

Fixed

@JJoyner1985 said in UNIX: What Is a Tarball: So, do you think the reason I am seeing a lot more gzip in use with tarballs is due to the familiarity of gzip and the negligible difference in the compression between it and bzip2? Basically, bzip2 doesn't make enough of an improvement with sufficient regularity to entice people to move away from gzip, or is there some other benefit to gzip that my training material hasn't covered? That's correct. The difference between the two is generally small enough that people are not concerned. And lots of systems still don't have bzip2 installed by default so if you want scripts or whatever to work universally you often use gzip because you know that it is always there and predictable.

http://blog.takipi.com/deployment-management-tools-chef-vs-puppet-vs-ansible-vs-saltstack-vs-fabric/

Very interesting, will check that out.

@techgameteddy said in Looking to Move from Windows to Linux Administration: @scottalanmiller To obtain the RHCSE you need to get the RHCSA first dont you? Should I focus on getting those at all then? Im definitely going to create a Media Server this weekend and a wordpress server at home. This is good information. Im also going to look into Containers too. I have noticed that its become a hot topic these days. The RHCE does seem to bring in job options. But certs, in general, are not a path to Linux jobs. I would focus more on gaining skills and experience. Volunteer work can do wonders for getting into Linux.

In larger teams, you normally have 24x7 staff. So the reboot schedule goes to the current shift to monitor. It's only shops that lack round the clock scheduling that have this as a real issue, and if you don't have 24x7, shouldn't you be outsourcing to a shop that does if you really need that at all? I think that this normally (maybe not always) becomes a problem when you are dealing with layers and layers of other problems like not having enough IT staff to properly staff a department without causing unnecessary cost and risk and choosing not to outsource to an MSP/ITSP that could do this cost effectively.

@scottalanmiller Thanks. I got it. I overthink everything.

User of CentOS and Ubuntu servers myself. Mint is still top go-to for desktop, though there are interesting alternatives like ElementaryOS. Linux is not always easy to learn, I just forget everything if it's not regularly used, especially CLI with their bazillion switches that no mere mortal can ever memorize. And moving between different distros where commands don't work exactly the same, Aptitude and Yum, etc. Cool, but always challenging.