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Shell Script: Splunk Syslog Server Update script

Here is a set of upgrade scripts I’ve created to automatically upgrade Splunk Syslog Server on Linux. This is primarily built with ubuntu server in mind, specifically 12.04 LTS. It’s easily editable for other distributions. You can download the files below (they are automatically zipped with the latest version.

wget -q --secure-protocol='auto' -O 'splunkget.sh' 'https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/sh/yjw4uewbrmotrpc/dVMlxqyDqk/splunkget.sh?dl=1'

chmod u+x splunkget.sh

Weekend Project: Windows 8 Enterprise

So I ended up having to reset a password on a Windows 8 notebook for a guest this weekend (which turned out to be a massive headache) and had to make a recovery CD. Since I had to make a Windows 8 VM to do that I figured I’d pack it up and share it for anyone who’s interested. It’s a 90-day evaluation using the Windows 8 Enterprise 64-bit ISO from Microsoft Technet. It’s a basic install, nothing fancy. It’s built in VMware Workstation 9 on the latest vmx-9 virtual hardware so it should work fine in most installations and with ESXi 5.0/5.1. It’s in my one of my dropbox accounts for the moment. Let me know if you have issues or have another host you’d like to see it on. I’ve included a link to the download page for the ISO’s if you want to install it yourself.

User: Test
Password: <no password>

OVA: Dropbox – 3.71GB Self Extracting 7zip Archive
Microsoft Technet Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation: Download Page

PowerShell: Empty Recycle Bin

Here is a quick PowerShell script I found recently to clear the Windows Recycle Bin. This can be really useful if you want to automatically empty the Recycle Bin through something like the Task Scheduler. This code comes from the TechNet Script Center, courtesy of Windows Engineer and PowerShell Blogger Rich Prescott.

$Shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$RecBin = $Shell.Namespace(0xA)
$RecBin.Items() | %{Remove-Item $_.Path -Recurse -Confirm:$false}

This script allows you to view the contents of the recycle bin in your profile. The first line creates a ComObject and then the second line grabs the Recycling Bin special folder. It then enumerates the items contained in that special folder and removes each of them. The Remove-Item cmdlet includes a switch to turn off confirmation for the removal of the files. It can be removed if you would like to be prompted for each file.

Works on:

Windows Server 2012	No
Windows Server 2008 R2	No
Windows Server 2008	No
Windows Server 2003	No
Windows 8	Yes
Windows 7	Yes
Windows Vista	Yes
Windows XP	Yes
Windows 2000	No

Source

RoboForm: A full featured password manager and more

Lets face it: We have more passwords than we can ever remember. Whether it’s personal or work, we usually have dozens if not hundreds of username/password sets to remember for various applications and sites. The solution for most people is to reuse their username and passwords across sites. While this may make them easier to remember it also makes it easier for  them to be compromised. The common recommendation is to use passwords composed of alphanumeric characters (0-9, a-z, A-Z) and symbols. While that may increase the security of your passwords the likelihood of remembering one instance of “a320#.?atx!” is small, let alone 30 for a dozen different systems. It’s much easier to remember the name of a pet or a relative/spouse. So how do you get around the need for more secure passwords while  actually being able to remember the passwords themselves or instituting expensive biometric systems?  One answer is to use a password manager. There are several popular ones available but I favor RoboForm after having used it for several years. Why use a password manager and why choose RoboForm over other solutions? Well, lets dig in below and see!

FizzBuzz for (almost) Every Language

FizzBuzz. Chances are that you’ll need to know it at one time or another if you apply for any programming or development job. Here are a couple ways to do FizzBuzz in a variety of languages. There are alternate ways to do this in each language but these are a few examples of some code that you could use. I”ll update this post over time as I find new examples.

PowerShell: Check System Execution Policy

Here is another quick script to check your system’s Execution Policy.

batch file: pspolicycheck.bat

@echo off
powershell.exe -noexit Get-ExecutionPolicy -list

This will give you a quick list of Execution Policies on your system and give you a PowerShell prompt. Of course you can always simple run “Get-ExecutionPolicy -list” from the Command Line or PowerShell prompt. You can download bar from the above link or copy the 2 lines above to a text file and rename it .bat.

PowerShell : Uptime scripts

I wanted a quick way to determine uptime for my servers and other windows pc and so started searching for solutions. After some time I finally found some good information but it wasn’t entirely user friendly. After another 2 hours of researching and trying to get it right, I came up with these scripts for displaying your computer’s uptime. The PowerShell scripts aren’t mine (you’ll find links to the originals below) but he batch files are. Pretty simple but a nice time saver.

Logitech K800 Illuminated Keyboard and Performance Mouse MX

After several years, my old Logitech MX3200 set was on it’s way out. The paint on the keyboards was worn off half of the left side of the keyboard. Keys stuck or wouldn’t click on the first press. Not to mention after years of use it had become filthy, despite my best efforts to keep it clean. The mouse was worse off, randomly double clicking everything. After it began to take several attempts to right-click  and drag anything I finally had to accept it was time for a purchase.

After a lot of research and reading tons of reviews I settled on the Logitech K800 illuminated keyboard and Logitech Performance MX mouse. Neither of these are cheap devices, both running $99.99 retail. Luckily there’s eBay so I was able to get them for just over $100 together. So how do this keyboard and mouse compare? See for yourself after the jump…