Functions released in this module: Get-ECSWSUSUpdateReport

This is the easiest way to install all my modules in one shot. Sub-modules released in this module: ECS.WSUS 1.1.0

We migrated to Office 365 last year and were are in the process of cleaning up some items left behind. One of the many things we’ve needed to clean up is stale activesync devices. I wanted to share a very simplified example of the code I used to delete the container in case it helps anyone in the future. <pre...

This is the easiest way to install all my modules in one shot. Sub-modules released in this module: ECS.WSUS v1.0.0 You can learn more about the module here.

This is the initial release of my WSUS module. This is a module I put together to properly organize a lot of my one off WSUS functions. I have found these functions useful for reporting n the status of computers in WSUS in mass. Querying the DB directly, while not recommended, is much faster than using the API, and you...

I love chatting about tech and anytime I get to do so with folks like Josh Odgers, Cody Hosterman, Exchange Goddess, Dan the builder, Duncan Epping, Frank Denneman, Chrissy LeMair, etc. it’s a good day. They’re all IT celebrities in my books, and I failed to even scratch the surface of all the folks I’m following /...

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve wrote anything. I’ve been busy with life and working on a new Powershell module. I’m hoping to get back into the groove soon. I’ve been working on a few things at work that might be interesting to write about. For now, I’ll leave you with this. I’ve released my 1.0.0 version of my...

This is the second release of my LocalGPO module. Mostly code enhancement, but a few property changes as well. Functions released in this module: Add-ECSLocalGPOUserRightAssignment Get-ECSLocalGPOUserRightAssignment Remove-ECSLocalGPOUserRightAssignment Show-ECSLocalGPOUserRightAssignment You can learn more about the...

This is the second release of my all encompassing module. This is the easiest way to install all my modules in one shot. Sub-modules released in this module: ECS.LocalGPO v2.1.0 ECS.WindowsGeneric v1.1.0 You can learn more about the module here.

Just a quick pubic service announcement. If you’re on Nimble NOS 5.x and you use vVOL’s and you’re backing up VM’s with a vendor that uses the VDDK API’s, you might want to confirm your VM’s are in fact using hot add mode. We discovered by happen stance, that after upgrading our Nimble SAN from 4.x to 5.x, that any VM...

This is the first release of what I hope to be more Powershell modules. As mentioned in my earlier posts, I won’t go into details of the module in my posts, instead I’ll direct you to my GitHub page where you can read about the modules, it’s functions and release notes. Functions released in this module: Convert...

I know I haven’t been posting a lot, but that’s because I’ve been busy developing my first public Powershell modules. This short post isn’t to discuss the specifics of that, but rather my new strategy going forward. Many of you probably know what GitHub is by now, but for those of you who don’t, it’s pretty much the...

I created a function while ago that utilizes the VMDK serial number to map which VMDK is used for a Windows volume. Starting with Windows 10 / Server 2016, I noticed that I could no longer see the serial number of a VMDK insides the OS. After reaching out to VMware, turned out to be a really simple fix. First let me...

In general, I find DRS does a fantastic job of keeping VM’s happy. However, in the past, I’ve seen a number of unexplained situations where hosts in a cluster run out of memory when a VM goes from idle, to busy all of a sudden. In fact, this happened three times to us in a dedicated cluster for our SQL VM’s. What was...

Introduction: We setup a decent number of SQL servers every year. Most of the time we’re migrating to a newer OS + SQL combo, but sometimes it’s for a new product. As you may have read in my virtualizing SQL post, one of the pros to virtualizing SQL, was having this ability. Having seen the ameba affect virtualization...

Introduction: I know what you’re thinking, it’s 2017, why are you writing about virtualizing Microsoft SQL? Most are doing it after all. And even if they’re not, there’s this whole SQLaaS thing that’s starting to take off, so why would anyone care? Well I’m writing this as more of a reflection on virtualizing SQL. What...

I know I’m totally guilty of saying expletives with regards to truckers. Being honest, most of it is due to my own impatience / selfishness. Still once I realize, that I’m getting upset about a person that’s driving a 40-ton vehicle cautiously, things tend to fall back into perspective. In fact, the more I’ve watched...

Series Introduction: Back in October I had a grand plan to have 23 days of thanks. Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I never had the time to pre-write all the posts I wanted to. Rather than giving up, I’m going to punch out as many as I can before the 24th. Since I want to focus on the month of thanks, by giving...

Introduction: I hate the WSUS reports built into the console. They’re slow, and when it comes to doing something useful with the data, it’s basically impossible. That’s why I wrote this function. I wanted an ability to gather data on a given WSUS computer(s), and work with it in Powershell. This function gives me the...

Introduction: These two functions by themselves aren’t exactly sexy. Their main goal is to be used to feed my function Get-ECSWSUSComputerUpdatesStatusReport. Still, I can see some limited value to them outside of that use case. One thing you’ll notice, is i’m hitting SQL directly instead of querying the WSUS APIs. I’m...

Introduction: This post is 100% off topic, it’s about my “exotic car” experience through 877stockcar.com. In general, my blog is for tech stuff, but I figure it might be fun to write about something non-tech for once. This is about the https://877stockcar.com/experiences/exotic-experiences/ located at Pocono Raceway. I...

Warning: This post is clicking in at 6k words. If you are looking for a quick read, this isn’t for you. Disclaimer: Typical stuff, these are my personal views, not views of my employers. These are not facts, merely opinions and random thoughts I’m writing down. Introduction: I don’t know about all of you, but for me,...

Introduction: If you don’t know by now, I’m a huge PowerShell fan. It’s my go to scripting language for anything related to Microsoft (and non-Microsoft) automation and administration. So when it came time to automating post exchange cumulative update setting, I was a bit surprised to see some of the code examples from...

Introduction: If you remember a little bit ago, I said I was trying to work around the lack of driver management with vendors. This function is the start of a few tools you can use to potentially make your life a little easier. VMware’s drivers are VIBS (but not all VIBS are drivers). So the key to knowing if you have...

Hi Folks, After updating WSUS to support Windows 10 newer update format, we noticed that our Windows 10 client weren’t working. The error they were getting was 8024401c whenever we checked for updates (post WSUS upgrade). Initially we thought it was related to the WSUS upgrade, but found out that most of our systems...