I have benefited greatly from the Internet community and am attempting to give a little something back to everyone. This site includes a variety of extremely helpful articles that explain how to solve problems that are far from trivial. My hope is that these articles are well indexed so that they can be easily found by others in their time of need.

Any feedback or suggestions regarding comment on this website would be appreciated. Please email WEBMASTER (at this domain name) with feedback, etc.

Recent Articles

SEP 14 2008

Linux: Moving a Windows 2000 (win2k) Physical Computer to a Xen 3.0.3 DomU running on CentOS 5.x or RHEL5

This article describes how to successfully migrate a physical host running Windows 2000 to a Xen 3.0.3 DomU. The Xen Dom0 is running Linux CentOS 5.2 on Intel Xeon CPUs with VT extensions. Other online disc ussions and examples led me to believe this would NOT work unless I was using Xen 3.0.4 or later. The process was fairly simple. The process works with Windows 2000 Professional as well as Windows 2000 Server variants.

DEC 01 2006

Windows: Using BackupPC with mobile Windows XP clients via OpenVPN and Cygwin Rsync Server

BackupPC assumes your mobile hosts will occassionally visit your network and allows backup of those hosts while they are on your local network. But what if you need to backup mobile Windows hosts that NEVER connect to your BackupPC LAN? We will use OpenVPN to build a VPN connection between the client and the BackupPC server. We will configure BackupPC server to backup via an Rsync Server on the BackupPC client. This solution is working well for several remote PCs (Windows XP) and Servers (Windows 2000).

OCT 15 2006

Linux: Configuring Sipura SPA-3000 as trunk within Asterisk VoIP PBX Server

This article describes how I successfully configured the Sipura SPA-3000 (fw 2.0.13) for use as a single line inbound/outbound trunk within Asterisk at Home (asterisk 1.2.1). Unlike the other examples I found, this configuration is fairly simple and does NOT require configuration of special extensions, etc. This configuration should be fairly secure, but any suggestions and/or feedback are very welcome!

JUL 21 2006

Windows: Windows Terminal Server Printer Driver Compatibility

We are often asked to assist with printer configuration in Terminal Server environments. This article provides a brief list of the native printer drivers we have successfully used with numerous "unsupported" printers. This driver compatibility list is helpful since Microsoft and others recommend you avoid using third-party printer drivers on your Terminal Server. You should only use the native printer drivers provided by Microsoft to ensure system stability (ie: avoid blue screens and other unnecessary errors).

JUL 20 2006

Windows: Mapping any RDP printer in Terminal Services w/ REDMON

I have always felt that RDP printer mapping within Windows Terminal Services has been more challenging than necessary. Especially since previous articles I have read from Microsoft and other sources do not recommend using ANY third party printer drivers on your terminal server. These articles claim that third party printer drivers are the #1 cause for blue screen situations on a terminal server. As a result, I would often try to find a "compatible" driver in the existing Windows printer list. Sometimes I simply could not get a printer to work within a terminal server session.

This article demonstrates how to map ANY working client printer within a terminal server session. Although I would still recommend settling on a compatible driver when possible, this allows black and white printing on any working client printer from within an RDP session.

JUL 20 2006

Windows: Setup Solomon IV client in Terminal Server 2003

We are often hired to assist customers with application compatibility issues on Windows Terminal Server. We use a variety of methods to determine why an application is not working (properly) on a Terminal Server. Today, I was tasked with configuration of the Solomon IV client on Windows Terminal Server 2003. The application was returning numerous errors, mostly while trying to use Print or Print Preview functionality. The Solomon IV server had already been properly installed and configured and had already been used to successfully install the Solomon IV client on standard Windows workstations. This article assumes you are also to this point and only addresses installation of the Solomon IV client onto a Terminal Server.

JUN 26 2006

Windows: Using Sprint PCS internet (PPP) via Samsung SPH-A680 w/ USB cable

If you use Sprint PCS and you have a Samsung SPH-A680 handset, you can likely use your phone to dialin to the Internet from anywhere you receive a reasonable (2-4 bars) Sprint PCS signal. Depending on your account, your usage may be unmetered (ie: vision plan) or may consume minutes as if the connection were any other phone call. I can receive SMS (text) messages while I am dialed into the Internet through my handset, but I cannot make calls or send SMS messages. You only need to install the necessary driver and dial into the Sprint PCS PPP phone number (see below).

MAY 18 2006

Linux: Configuring MEGARAID driver in CentOS4 kernel to support Dell PERC2/SC and PERC2/DC

This article describes how I successfully installed CentOS4 on a Dell PowerEdge with a PERC2/SC (or PERC2/DC) hardware SCSI RAID controller. The Kernel bundled with CentOS4 uses a newer megaraid_mbox module that no longer includes support for these older Dell PERC-2 (ie: LSI Megaraid 467) controllers. First, you begin by building a "megaraid.ko" module for each kernel you will use (ie: UP/uniprocessor, SMP/multiprocessor). Then you install CentOS4 using the UP module. After installation, you configure CentOS4 to use the MP module.

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