How to create a selfcontained Wireless Network

This was a challenging project, put upon me by a friend and colleague who needed a web server that they could carry around with them. The goal was to have it accessible by wireless devices such as mobile smart phones (Android, Blackberry and iPhone etc), iPods, Playstation portables, and Nintendo DS'; without the requirement for either the server or the devices to be connected to the Internet.

For the purpose of a presentation and demo, the web server would contain a small mobile website that the devices could view at any location that the demo was taking place, and interact with, without having to worry about having Internet or even local network connectivity.

Clear ReadOnly Disk in Windows Server 2008 R2

We recently had an issue with a hard disk on one of our servers reporting that it was set to read only. It occurred after an unknown error with the system. Windows refused to allow us to write to the disk and stated that the "Media was Right-Protected."

We also found that the read only attribute was nowhere to be found on the properties of the disk, so that we could remove it. To cut a long story short, it can only be removed using the Diskpart Utility with the following commands.

Diskpart is run from the command prompt and launched by typing "diskpart" and hitting enter.

Save Sent Items in folder of a shared mailbox in Outlook 2007

We have a lot of users that access multiple mailboxes from within their own exchange account in Outlook. Attached as "additional mailboxes".

Mail can be sent and received from these mailboxes as long as the user has send of behalf of permissions. This is set in Exchange.

However, when a user sends an email on behalf of the additional mailbox, the sent email goes into the sent items of the person who has the additional mailbox attached (their own mailbox). And NOT the sent items of the additional mailbox.

Use a Proxy Server on Android 2.3

Like many other HTC Users, I am thoroughly enjoying the freedom and flexibility of my Desire HD. With the new Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update last month, the usability has only made the experience even better.

As with many other Smart phone users, my phone has become an intricate part of my life and I take it everywhere with me. However where I work it is getting increasingly difficult to get a reliable signal. Or more importantly a HSDPA or even a decent 3G signal. Result: I have to opt for Option B; company WiFi.

The problem here is that my company's Internet connection goes through a proxy server and is heavily filtered. I have found dozens of similar complaints all over the Internet, with everyone asking "Can I set proxy settings for WiFi on Android." Every time I find a negative response. In addition the same people complain that no effort has been made by the Android developers to solve this issue.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Update Issues and Role Errors

For sometime now we have been finding that some of our Windows Server 2008 R2 servers were not installing Windows Updates.

Some servers would not even find any updates, and others would simply get to the "Downloading..." screen and never progress any further. In addition we would also get an annoying problem in Server Manager; where the Roles and features are usually displayed, the window would be blank with a message that simply said "Error."

Cannot Open an Anonymous Level Security Token in IE

Recently I had an issue in Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit, when logging into a web page. Every time I logged in with the correct credentials it would flash and NOT open the secure page. The credentials were correct and the same page opened correctly on another computer.

Upon investigation I found the following error. This was found in the bottom left hand corner of the status bar in Internet Explorer.

"Cannot open an Anonymous Level Security Token"

Using Local Internet Connection While Connected to a VPN

Occasionally work has to be done "out of hours" by IT Professionals to avoid disruption to users. Sometimes this can be done from a remote site with our feet up, a hot cuppa and an episode of friends. During these times, nothing is more valuable than a VPN connection to your workplace. It gives you connectivity to everything on your network as if you were sitting in your office. All you need at home is an internet connection and a computer. Both of which all IT Professional's tend to have.

I am not going to take you through the configuration of the VPN at either end. We are going to assume that your VPN at work is configured and that you have a connection setup on your home PC.

One of the main problems we encounter while using a VPN is with general local web browsing. Connected to a VPN your computer will try and use the same web connection that your PC at work uses. This can prevent your local browser from displaying the latest footie results.

Error When Trying to Install WSUS on Server 2008

Due to one of our server's operating system corrupting on us, we had to rebuild it with a fresh install of Windows Server 2008 R2. This server amongst other things ran Windows Server Update Services for our entire network.

We got everything reinstalled and working fine from scratch until it came to installing WSUS.

Everytime we tried to install the "Windows Server Update Services" role it would fail almost immediately with the following error.

"The update could not be found. Either the update is not applicable to this computer or the update no longer exists. Verify that the update still exists and is applicable to this computer from your WSUS server or Windows Update."

Change VMWare ESX/VSphere Host VLAN ID

Recently we had an issue where we had not set the VLAN ID on 10 new VMWare VSphere servers. This resulted in us being unable to manage the VMWare hosts, the only way to resolve this was to change the VLAN ID manually on each of the hosts.

If you find yourself in this situation, you can use the following procedure to change the VLAN ID in VSphere/ESX.

Log on to a VMWare VSphere or ESX host with your ROOT account.

At the prompt enter: esxcfg-vswitch -l

Setup Mobile Broadband on Dell XPS M1530

A couple of years ago I bought my Dell XPS M1530 Laptop. At that time I had the chance to include mobile broadband with the package. Unfortunately if I had I would have been tied to a 12/18 month contract etc. With the amount I was already paying for the unit, I decided against the extra cost.

This resulted in the laptop coming without a HSDPA module.

It was a good job I did, as I found out the other day that the modules that are factory installed are "locked." Fixed to the Vodafone network.

Time passed and a friend of mine introduced me to his new USB T-Mobile 3G dongle. 3.6 Mbits of highspeed, wireless broadband awesomeness. Then came along smartphones and the ability to use them connected to your PC for access to the internet, via 3G networks. All this is great and works very well, but having an extra piece of hardware dangling from your laptop can be annoying if your moving around. It was time for plan B.