Vim Enhancement

In order to make our code or configuration files more readable, we can color and number the lines and the syntax by doing the following :
1. Open your terminal window
2. Create a file named .vimrc in your home folder
3. In the file add the following lines

syntax on

set number

4. Done !

Dennis.

How to disable GUI in Ubuntu 12.04

1. In /etc/default/grub, locate the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable and change it's value to "text".
2. Run sudo update grub
3. Reboot
4. To bring up the GUI at any given time, type startx

Dennis.

Mount Parallels Tools in Linux

In case you're using Linux on Parallels, you might consider installing Parallels tools, this is the way to do it :

1. From "Parallels" menu, chose install 'Parallels Tools'
2. Type su to gain root privilege. 
3. Type mount | grep iso9660
4. Type mount -o exec /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
5. Type cd /media/cdrom/
6. Type ./install

Dennis.

Preparing Windows Server for Exchange 2010

Hey guys,

Before the installation of Exchange 2010 we have to make sure our system answers Microsoft's perquisites.

The next step is preparing our Server by installing a few Roles and Features - Installing one by one is an effort which can be done by three PowerShell commands.

First, open PowerShell (If you don't have- Install it) and type the following commands:

1. Import-Module ServerManager

2.  Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy -Restart

3. Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

4. Download the Filter Pack Here

Finally, install Exchange. 

Dennis. 

Alternate DNS Servers for testing purposes

Hey guys,

While testing or troubleshooting different issues, sometimes we'll need alternate DNS server other than the ISP's.

The most popular one is Google's : 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4

Personally I'm using : 4.2.2.2 / 4.2.2.3

When comparing performance it'll be obvious that the ISP is the winner since the geographic location is closer from Google's - At least in my case (Israel).

Dennis.

Exchange 2003 - Recover Deleted Items

Hey guys,

In case of an accidental mail deletion, even with Shift+Delete, there's a way of restoring it with a simple Registry modification.

Basically when a mail is being completely deleted within Outlook, there is a way of recovering it by selecting the "Tools"->"Recover Deleted Items" option. There is a BUT, we'll be able to see the deleted mail only under "Deleted Items" and we won't be able to see the items that got deleted using Shift+Delete.

To bypass those defaults we'll open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path :

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Option"

There we'll add the following DWORD:"DumpsterAlwaysOn" and change it to 1.

**The Registry modification will be made on the client computer. We can use Group Policy to apply the change to all the computers in the organization while starting Windows**

I'm adding the Registry tweak which I created, using Group Policy you can apply it as a logon script.

Dennis.

Registry Modification

Shutting Down Exchange Server

In case an 'Exchange ' is installed on our server, we will notice that the 'Shutdown' process takes forever. This is because 'Exchange' has many services that run on the background such as: HttpFilter, Http, IISAdmin, Msechangesa, Msexchangemgmt, Msexchangemta, Msexchangeis

Sometimes, when shutting down our server for some reason (such as maintenance perhaps), Windows will wait 10 minutes by default for all the services to stop. In case Windows did not succeed, it will close them by force. 

:One way to speed things a little bit is to change the default waiting time that can be found in Registry

"Search for an object named: "WaitToKillServiceTimeOut 

Change 'Value data' from 600000 to 1000 and press OK. Shut down your server and you will feel the difference

Dennis