Powershell Store Credentials for a Script to avoid Password Prompt

#Script : To get Credential as SECURE STRING and save in Local Drive

Read-Host "Enter the password" -AsSecureString | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File C:\SecureData\SecureString.txt

#Script : To Execute PowerShell script with other credentials without prompts

$Uname = "DOMAIN\ADMIN"
$Password = Get-Content C:\SecureDate\securestring.txt | convertto-securestring
$Credential = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $Uname, $Password

Export and Import DNS zone

From Source server:
run this from command prompt to export > dnscmd  /zoneexport zonename.com zonename.com.bak

Note that the backup file you have created will land in %systemroot%\System32\dns
Move the file to Destination server\ %systemroot%\System32\dns
Rename from .bak to .dns

From Destination Server:
Delete existing  zone if it already exist
Create new zone using file zonename.com.dns

Query LDAP & Global Catalog servers with NSLOOKUP

nslookup -type=srv _ldap._tcp.DOMAINNAME

Windows 2008 r2 sysprep – A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine - Windows Could Not parse or process unattend answer file for pass

Windows 2008 r2 sysprep – A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine 

AND

 Windows Could Not parse or process unattend answer file for pass

When I run sysprep, I found an error message “A Fatal error occurred trying to sysprep the machine”

To solved this problem, I do a this workaround :

• Change registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus to 7

• Change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\SkipRearm to 1
• And then Delete the folder Panther.

• And then run sysprep again.

After reboot when the installation  through following error message

"Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file [C:\windows\Panther\unattend.xml] for pass [specialize]. A component or setting specified in the answer file does not exist"

do This:

1. Press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt
2. type regedit
3. in registry editor navigate to:
4. HKLM/SYSTEM/Setup/Status/ChildCompletion
5. if setup.exe is 1, change it to 3.
6. restart

Export and Import NTFS permission with Powershell from one domain to another

Steps:
Export Permissions
Modify the permissions.csv file - Change the domain name
Import permissions

Assumptions:
User name are same in both domains
Folder structure remains the same

Exports.ps1
Get-ChildItem "S:\Folder" -Recurse | ?{ $_.PsIsContainer } | %{
  $Path = $_.FullName
  # Exclude inherited rights from the report
  (Get-Acl $Path).Access | ?{ !$_.IsInherited } | Select-Object `
    @{n='Path';e={ $Path }}, IdentityReference, AccessControlType, `
    InheritanceFlags, PropagationFlags, FileSystemRights
} | Export-CSV "c:\temp\Permissions.csv"

Import.ps1
$par = Import-Csv -Path "c:\temp\Permissions.csv"

foreach ( $i in $par )
 {
 $path= $i.Path
 $IdentityReference= $i.IdentityReference
        $AccessControlType=$i.AccessControlType
        $InheritanceFlags= $i.InheritanceFlags
        $PropagationFlags=$i.PropagationFlags
        $FileSystemRights=$i.FileSystemRights
        echo $path $IdentityReference
        $acl = Get-Acl c:\temp
        $permission = $i.IdentityReference,$i.FileSystemRights,$i.AccessControlType
        $accessRule = new-object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule $permission
        $acl.SetAccessRule($accessRule)
        #$objACE = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule     ($IdentityReference, $FileSystemRights, $InheritanceFlags, $PropagationFlags, $AccessControlType)
        #$objACL.AddAccessRule($objACE)
        $acl | Set-Acl $path
        }

Release Mapped Files from Memory

User RAMMap to identify the leaked memory if a mapped file is cause of the problem then use following to fix this immediately:

1. Highlist the Mapped file
2. From Menu select 'Empty' > 'Empty Working Sets'
3. All the locked memory should be released, press F5 to refresh see the Mapped file total moved to Standby.
4. Again select 'Empty' from Menu bar > Empty Standby
5. F5 to refresh

Restart Windows Internal Database

NET STOP MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE
NET START MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE

Message Tracking in Exchange 2010 Using PowerShell

Get-MessageTrackingLog -Server Mailbox01 -Start "03/13/2013 09:00:00" -End "03/15/2013 17:00:00" -Sender "john@contoso.com"

$Temp = Search-MessageTrackingReport -Identity "David Jones" -Recipients "wendy@contoso.com"

$Temp | %{ Get-MessageTrackingReport -Identity $_.MessageTrackingReportId -BypassDelegateChecking }

http://www.mikepfeiffer.net/2012/01/generating-delivery-reports-and-tracking-messages-from-powershell/ 

This method is disabled by 'moref=vm-ID'

If you get this message when you are trying to Storage Vmotion a VM then this is likely to be a lock in vCentre SQL database for this VM, mostly put in place by the backup system e.g. Netbackup, Veeam etc

Vmware KB 2008957 has all the step to resolve the issue but I found that restarting SQL services is not really required. Carryout all the steps from 1 - 6 and then rerun that backup (incremental is good enough) and then do Storage Vmotion again...

1. Stop the vCenter Services.
2. Take a backup of the vCenter Server database.
3. Run this command against the vCenter Server database.
   
   select * from VPX_VM WHERE FILE_NAME LIKE '%Virtual-Machine-Name%'
   
4. Take note of the numerical ID value returned by the SQL statement in step 3, as this will be required in the SQL statement in steps 5 and 6.
   
5. To confirm the stale entry, run this command against the vCenter Server database:
   
   select * from VPX_DISABLED_METHODS WHERE ENTITY_MO_ID_VAL = 'vm-ID from step 4'
   
6. To remove the stale entry run this command against the vCenter Server database:
   
   delete from VPX_DISABLED_METHODS WHERE ENTITY_MO_ID_VAL = 'vm-ID from step 4'

ESXi 5.1 not detecting HBA adapter

Steps:

1) Make sure HBA is connected on the PCI slot and visible under esx hardware list:

esxcli hardware pci list

2) Check if VMKernel can detect any storage via Fibre Channel

esxcli storage san fc list
 
(output will be blank line if HBA driver is missing but HBA appears to be in PCI card determined from step 1)
esxcli storage core adapter rescan

3) Search and download the relevant ESXi drivers for HBA

the recommended driver (bfa) version for 82B in ESXi 5.1 is 3.0.0.0
You can download it from the following URL.
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=DT-ESXi50-BROCADE-bfa-3000&productId=229

4) Download the driver and install it using following instructions:

New Installation
----------------

For new installs, you should perform the following steps:

    1. Copy the VIB to the ESX server.  Technically, you can
           place the file anywhere that is accessible to the ESX console shell,
           but for these instructions, we'll assume the location is in '/tmp'.

           Here's an example of using the Linux 'scp' utility to copy the file
           from a local system to an ESX server located at 10.10.10.10:
             scp VMware_bootbank_net-driver.1.1.0-1vmw.0.0.372183.vib root@10.10.10.10:/tmp

    2. Issue the following command (full path to the VIB must be specified):
              esxcli software vib install -v {VIBFILE}
      
           In the example above, this would be:
              esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/VMware_bootbank_net-driver.1.1.0-1vmw.0.0.372183.vib

Note: Depending on the certificate used to sign the VIB, you may need to
      change the host acceptance level.  To do this, use the following command:
        esxcli software acceptance set --level=<level>
      Also, depending on the type of VIB being installed, you may have to put
      ESX into maintenance mode.  This can be done through the VI Client, or by
      adding the '--maintenance-mode' option to the above esxcli command.


Upgrade Installation
--------------------

The upgrade process is similar to a new install, except the command that should
be issued is the following:

    esxcli software vib upgrade -v {VIBFILE}