DanielKassner.com

My work computer technician backpack – Condor Urban Go Pack

Nov 15, 2011 Work

For the longest time at my job I was talking about getting a special bag just for work. Something to use as a grab bag of tools, cables and possible random items I might need when going to another office to fix computers. The company I work for has 5 offices so I get to travel occasionally when I cannot fix things remotely over the network. I was going to use my current Ogio messenger bag with the Firefox logo on it, but since I ride a motorcycle most of the summer to work this would not work well. This was the year for the backpack to finally be purchased and get put to use. Especially now since I am having to bring a laptop home more often. After looking through a large amount of backpacks online I landed on the Condor Urban Go Pack, which is a tactical backpack. Due to working in an office I decided on the black color instead of any of the several other colors they provide like Coyote Tan and ACU. Below are a few pictures of the outside.

The front top compartment has a lot of pockets. Some are always open on top, some have a flap with hook/loop covering the pocket and some have zippers. All of these pockets can hold a lot of small equipment.

Contents shown in the pictures above.

• Various CDs
• Microfiber cloth
• Verizon broadband card
• Glasses
• Blackberry
• Post-it notes
• Business cards
• Plastic baggies
• USB thumb drive
• USB extension cable
• Micro USB cable
• Mini USB cable
• Sharpie permanent marker
• Pens
• Plastic poking/prying device (Got it from Dell long ago when I was replacing a keyboard in a laptop)
• Headphones
• Dell power cord strap

The next compartment contains mostly tools.

Contents shown in pictures above.

• Extra USB mouse
• Mini screwdriver set
• Tape measure
• Zipties of various sizes
• Network/Phone crimper
• Multibit screwdriver
• Mini torx screwdriver
• Larger ziplock bag (Mainly in case it rains)

Since I ride my motorcycle to work a lot in all weather I may get caught out in the rain. This is for all of the extra plastic bags in the bag. I have been caught in one light rain and it did not leak into the bag. I would prefer to not take any chances just in case. The bag does also have some drain eyelets on the bottom of each side and main compartments.

The side compartments are even large enough to store a good size water bottle in with no problems.

Inside the main compartment there are a few more pockets and sleeves. Extra cables fit great inside these pockets.

Contents shown in pictures above.

• Network cables
• USB cables
• Power cords for desktop computers and monitors
• Serial cable
• USB to serial adapter (My Dell laptop does not have a serial port so configuring network switches via console this is a must)
• Small parts holder:
  • Cage nuts
  • Cage Screws
  • Cheap cage nut tool
  • Cat5 network cable ends
  • Cat6 network cable ends with
  • Twisty ties
  • Rubber bands
  • 9v batteries (Added after my cable tester batteries died and had to run to the store for more)
  • AAA and AA batteries
  • Small variety of screwdriver bits and sockets

I still need to stock the bag with:

• Electricians scissors
• 110/66 punch tool
• Small parts grabber
• Better flashlight

If you are not a fan of the waist belt on this bag it is removable. I have not attempted to remove it yet but it is secured to the bag with hook/loop. I have been able to fit some rather large items in this backpack. I have occasionally had to carry items such as a Dell Optiplex 745 desktop unit or a desktop monitor with the stand sticking out the side. The one thing that has been a bummer about this bag so far is the zipper pulls.

They are CHEAP! They will fall apart no matter what you do. I will eventually find something else to put there as these keep falling apart. All in all I would recommend getting this bag for a computer tech that needs to travel between offices often.

What would you add to this setup?

Tags: Backpack, Condor, Laptop bag, Tools, Urban Go Pack

Uninstall Sophos Anti-Virus get Internal Error 2738

Jul 21, 2010 Technology, Work

Recently I was attempting to uninstall Sophos Anti-Virus from my computer to change which server I get the anti-virus updates from as we are switching which server anti-virus server is run on. I decided that I would uninstall the old version and re-install as this would be the easiest way for me to change settings that were all grayed out not allowing me to change. I was able to un-install everything except for the Sophos AutoUpdate service as it would error out with an Internal Error 2738. Doing a quick 10 minute Google search found that I should attempt to register the vbscript.dll file. To do this follow the instructions below. Please note I am running Windows 7 32 bit.

• Click the Start button/pearl
• In the Search programs and files box just above Start button do a search for Command. This will bring up the Command Prompt in the search. Right click this and Run as Administrator.
• This should open a command prompt window with the default file path of c:\Windows\system32. Type the following in the command prompt then hit enter:
  

  regsvr32 vbscript.dll

• If success you will see a message that says: “DllRegisterServer in vbscript.dll succeeded.”

Now that we have done that you can minimize the command prompt and attempt to uninstall the Sophos AutoUpdate client that we could not previously. If you are still getting the error above you will need to continue process below to delete a registry key. I would highly suggest backing up the registry before doing any changes to the registry in case something goes wrong which it shouldn’t.

• Bring back up your Administrator Command Prompt
• Paste the following into the command prompt and then press enter:
  

  reg delete “HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{B54F3741-5B07-11CF-A4B0-00AA004A55E8}” /f

• Once you have deleted the registry key run the regsvr32 vbscript.dll command that we did above

Now that we have deleted the registry key and re-registered the vbscript.dll file we should now have success in un-installing Sophos. If you are still having problems with this I highly recommend contacting Sophos support.

Tags: Sophos, Windows 7

Disable web browser tab previews in Windows 7

Jun 24, 2010 Technology, Work

Recently I upgraded my work machine from Windows Vista to Windows 7. While learning the new features of 7 I found that Aero likes to show tab previews of each tab I have open in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera. I am the kind of guy that keeps multiple tabs open almost all day long looking up items, coding, … the list could go on so I found this “feature” a pain. As you can see in the below image that I have multiple websites open but you cannot tell if it is multiple windows or multiple tabs.

Now with the picture below you can easily see I have only one window open but four tabs.

To disable tab previews in Firefox you need to do the following:

• Open the about:config page in a new tab or window
• Filter for: browser.taskbar.previews.enable
• By default this is set to true so double click on the true to swap the value to false
• Your done!

Now for Internet Explorer you have to open the the Internet Options. You will do this by opening Internet Explorer and in the toolbar look for the Tools icon which looks like a gear and then select Internet Options at the very bottom.

Once in the Internet Options click on the Settings button in the Tabs section.

Once in the Tabbed Browsing Settings un-check the option that says: Show previews for individual tabs in the taskbar*, then click OK on all the open windows and close out of Internet Explorer.

Now for Opera we have to open the opera:config page in a new tab or window.

Scroll down to a section titled User Prefs and expand this section.

Scroll down towards the bottom of the User Prefs section and un-check the check box: “Use Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnails”

Once you have unchecked this box scroll down to the bottom of the User Prefs section and click the save button. You will eventually be presented with the following dialog box once complete.

That is how you disable tab previews in Windows 7 for popular browsers.

Tags: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Web Browser, Windows 7

Change outgoing BlackBerry PIN message sender email address

Jun 9, 2010 Cell Phones, Technology, Work

At the organization I work for we have a BlackBerry server setup with around 30 users. Works great for those employees that don’t get computer access but still need access to get emails to stay up to date on daily schedules and patient care. However when there is a problem that affects email on the devices it is best to notify those staff there is an issue or that the issue has been resolved. This is where using PIN messaging comes in very handy. This last time I had a device in my hand and I noticed that the email address on the PIN message was from admin@yourcompanydomain.com instead of something related to our organization. Below I will show you how to change this so that your outgoing PIN messages have an email address that actually correlates with your own business.

* I am doing these processes on BlackBerry Server 5 and not 4. The process for 4 will be different as it is not a browser based management.

• Open your BlackBerry Administration Service page and log in.
• Navigate to the Devices > Wireless activations > Device activation settings
  
• You will notice at the top of this page there is a Email initialization message section with the Sender address by default as: admin@yourcompanydomain.com. Select the Edit activation settings button to change this
• Change the Sender address field to an actual email of your company and then select Save all
  

Once you have changed this all of your outgoing PIN messages will have the new email address as the sender name.

Tags: BlackBerry, Cell Phones, Email

Convert Dell service tags and express service tags with PHP

May 27, 2010 PHP Coding, Work

I was given the task at my real job of creating some code to find the service tag from the express service tag of Dell laptops. We only had recorded the express service tag for the 100+ laptops and needed to have the service tag in a project we were working on. I was given some very basic information about the relationship between the two and came up with the following code. With this code you can convert service tags into express service tags and the other way around. It uses a base 36 style formating.

<?php
/*
Author: Daniel Kassner
Website: http://www.danielkassner.com
*/
function convertExpress($tag) {
  $index = array('0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','e');
  
  for($i=10; $i>=0; $i--) {
    $digits[$i] = '0';
    for($k=1; $k<=36; $k++) {
      $tmp = (pow(36, $i)) * $k;
      $tmp2 = $tag - $tmp;
      if($tmp2 < 0) {
        $tmp = (pow(36, $i)) * ($k-1);
        $digits[$i] = $index[$k-1];
        $tag -= $tmp;
        break;
      }
      
      if($tmp2 == 0) {
        $digits[$i] = $index[$k];
        $tag -= $tmp;
        break;
      }   
    }
  }
  $leading = 1;
  foreach($digits as $digit) {
    /*if($digit != '0') {
      $num .= $digit;
    }*/
    if($leading) {
      if($digit != '0') {
        $leading = 0;
        $num .= $digit;
      }
    } else {
      $num .= $digit;
    }
  }
  return $num;
}
?>

To use this code you could use:

<?php
echo convertExpress('(YOUR EXPRESS SERVICE TAG HERE');
?>

Make sure you only use numbers this field.

To get the express service tag from the service tag use the following function:

<?php
/*
Author: Daniel Kassner
Website: http://www.danielkassner.com
*/
function convertTag($tag) {
  $tag = strtoupper($tag);
  $index = array('0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z');
  $count = strlen($tag);
  $count2 = $count - 1;
  for($i=0; $i<$count; $i++) {
    $digits[$count2] = substr($tag, $i, 1);
    $count2--;
  }
  $numb = 0;
  for($i=0; $i<count($digits); $i++) {
    if($i==0) {
      $m = 1;
    } else {
      $m = pow(36, $i);
    }
    $key = array_keys($index, $digits[$i]);
    $tmp = ($m * $key[0]);
    $numb += $tmp;
  } 
  return $numb;
}
?>

To use this code you can use:

<?php
echo convertTag('(YOUR SERVICE TAG HERE)');
?>

Tags: Coding, Dell, PHP

Sanitize copy/paste text from word

May 27, 2010 PHP Coding, Work

In a recent project I have had to deal with text copied from a Microsoft Word document and pasted into a textarea. Word automatically changes a few certain characters to what it thinks it should be, such as the ellipsis and quotes. When dealing with inserting that text into a database I was getting errors. To solve my problems I created a sanitize function to replace these certain characters with acceptable characters.

<?php
// Used to sanitize Microsoft Word's Special Characters
// Good reference http://www.lookuptables.com

function SanitizeFromWord($Text = '') {

	$chars = array(
		130=>',',     // baseline single quote
		131=>'NLG',   // florin
		132=>'"', 	  // baseline double quote
		133=>'...',   // ellipsis
		134=>'**',	  // dagger (a second footnote)
		135=>'***',	  // double dagger (a third footnote)
		136=>'^', 	  // circumflex accent
		137=>'o/oo',  // permile
		138=>'Sh',	  // S Hacek
		139=>'<',	  // left single guillemet
		140=>'OE',	  // OE ligature
		145=>'\'',	  // left single quote
		146=>'\'',	  // right single quote
		147=>'"',	  // left double quote
		148=>'"',	  // right double quote
		149=>'-',	  // bullet
		150=>'-',	  // endash
		151=>'--',	  // emdash
		152=>'~',	  // tilde accent
		153=>'(TM)',  // trademark ligature
		154=>'sh',	  // s Hacek
		155=>'>',	  // right single guillemet
		156=>'oe',	  // oe ligature
		159=>'Y',	  // Y Dieresis
		169=>'(C)',	  // Copyright
		174=>'(R)'	  // Registered Trademark
	);
	
	foreach ($chars as $chr=>$replace) {
		$Text = str_replace(chr($chr), $replace, $Text);
	}
	return $Text;
}
?>

Enjoy!

Tags: Coding, Microsoft, PHP

Cell phone tip: Remove false voicemail indicator

Apr 27, 2010 Cell Phones, Work

With my day job I have to deal with a lot of cell phones (around 200 to give you a good idea). Recently a co-worker came to me stating that they had the new voicemail icon on their home screen and when they checked the voicemail it was empty. My first solution to solving a cell phone issue is a battery pull while the phone is still on. However with this situation it did not solve the problem. With this particular phone being a Verizon phone I did the standard *228 to update the phone just in case with no luck either. The fix is actually to just call and leave a new voicemail on the phone and wait for the phone to prompt you of a new voicemail. Once you have the new prompt of a voicemail listen to the message and hang up. The voicemail indicator should be gone.

*This was done on a Motorola W755 but should work for other phones. I have seen this same issue on a BlackBerry however this did not seem to fix the BlackBerry.

Tags: Cell Phones, Tip, Verizon, Voicemail

Adobe Reader closes unexpectidly when printing

Apr 8, 2010 Technology, Work

When there are a lot of employees working on the same computer something is always bound to break. Lately the item that is breaking is Adobe Reader when trying to print on our Terminal Server. It has happened frequently in the past but has started to happen again lately. The most interesting part about this problem is that it does not happen to everybody who is logged into the Terminal Server. If it was happening to everybody my phone would be ringing off the hook as a lot of our reports get exported to PDF and then printed. If an employee rarely prints any PDF files they may not even know that there is a problem as you can still open the documents to view without any problems. The problem only comes about when trying to print. In my circumstance we have found that it is a printer driver issue. Below is how to troubleshoot and fix the issue:

• Open a PDF file to print and select print. If Adobe Reader crashes we know we have a problem
• From the Windows Start menu select Printers and Faxes or Control Panel and then go to the printer section
• Right click on your default printer (Identified by check mark on printer) and navigate to Properties
• Once in the Properties section select the Advanced tab and find the Driver drop down menu. Change the driver to one driver below your current driver and then click apply. Once you have changed your printer driver change the driver back to the correct driver.
• Attempt to print PDF file again. If it works than that was all the problem was. If it does not print than you may need to re-install Adobe Reader.

Changing the printer driver to another driver and then back again seems to fix the issue. We use a combination of HP and Savin printers and it happens more with the Savin multifunction printers.

If you have any more information on this please leave a comment and I will attempt to get back with you.

Tags: Adobe, Fix, PDF, Printer, Savin, Terminal Server

Remote computer management

Mar 10, 2010 Technology, Work

Sometimes it is rather amazing what some people can call for help with on their computers. Many times they have done something really simple such as remove a toolbar, switched default printers or something similar. If something is not the way it looked when they got trained they freak out! If you are like me you start to become aware of these co-workers and you can easily walk them through most problems over the phone. However there are special circumstances when attempting to walk somebody through a process over the phone just does not work and you need to take control over their computer to see what they are talking about. Having 5 different offices with computers in and only 2 IT people it can make it a challenge to drive to each office on a whim to support the user. Here are a few things that we use in the company I work for to support the employees:

Microsoft Terminal Services Manager: Our employees do 50-90% of their work in a Remote Desktop(RDP) terminal server. All of their email, health care software and most all other software is installed on this terminal server. Very few users actually use their local computer to do any actual work. Using the Terminal Services Manager we can easily see which terminal server they are logged into and remote control their session or even log off the user.

DameWare Mini Remote Control: We use this tool if the user is having difficulties getting into the terminal server or using their local computer. We will even use this application for setting up new software on a computer in a remote location without having to be in front of the computer. Sure there are methods of installing software via Active Directory GPO, System Center and others but sometimes manual is how it has to be done.

Lantronix SecureLinx Spider KVM over IP: This is great for computers that are having issues with WiFi connectivity issues and you cannot use the above tools while they are in the office. This device is powered by the USB ports and requires just a network cable plugged directly into the device. Also works great for laptops that are having problems booting. Just walk the person on the other end of the phone how to connect the device and go from there.

LogMeIn Rescue: This is the tool of choice for those employees that work outside the office where DameWare and KVM over IP just don’t work for us. Easily walk them through accessing a certain website, give them the 6 digit pin code and connect a remote support session easily. You can even install an application (Calling Card) to give even easier access to support right on the local computer desktop.

Dell Remote Access Controller(DRAC): Used in our servers for quick easy access to the machine. Easily power on/off the machine as well as view the screen. This will be helpful if we accidentally select shutdown instead of reboot on the ESX or SAN host cluster servers late at night while working from home via VPN. Just login to the web control panel and a few minutes later the server is back on.

With these tools we can easily solve most problems remotely unless it is something major like a hardware failure. Even re-loading the OS could be done remotely if somebody put the OS CD in the machine and plugged in the KVM since we currently are not using any imaging software.

If you have any other suggestions for remote management of computers leave a comment. Always looking for potentially better/easier ways to support computers.

Tags: Dell, Microsoft, Server, Troubleshooting

New servers and the standing room only office

Feb 25, 2010 Technology, Work

It has been a while since my last post here. I have a few things in the works to put up that are still in draft form and I am hoping to finish the documentation here shortly to get those items out. In the mean time though here is my latest project. The company I work for is in the process of changing out some of our main software to another companies software. Due to this new software we are in need of more servers to handle this software. We are in the process of adding 2 new switches and 2 more ESX servers. It is a beauty seeing 128GB of RAM in each of the 2 servers I just put in the rack today. If you were wondering what 128GB of RAM looks like here it is:

With this new hardware we have started to take a better care of how we deal with cables. Mostly in regards to labeling and color coding since we(I) have not done that well with this in the past. I am in the process of replacing the cabling for certain functions going to our other servers along with updating the labels on all network cables. All of our cabling currently is gray CAT6 cable that is labeled on one end only which is a real pain. Here is how things will be structured now:

• All servers/switches/SANs have a label on front AND back such as VMx for ESX servers, SANx for either SAN and SWx for switches.
• All network cables will be labeled at BOTH ends of the cable. Label will consist of equipment name, PCI slot and which jack on the PCI card.
• Network cable will be color coded based on function:
  • KVM = Purple
  • Dell Remote Access Card (DRAC) = Orange
  • iSCSI = Red (Means don’t touch this or something terrible will happen, heads will roll!)
  • Regular LAN = Gray and some blue since I have run out of gray
• Power PDU (Power Distribution Unit) have a stripe of colored electrical tape on each and labeled as to which UPS they go to
• Power cords for servers have corresponding stripe of electrical tape wrapped around signifying which PDU connected to as well as being labeled on PDU side what the power cord goes to.
• Any power cord connecting two PDUs has a stripe of each color electrical tape signifying where it is coming from/going

Once I get done with the entire project in the next couple business days I will post more pictures of things. Until then I will leave you with a view of my standing room only office for the past/next few days with the folding wall shelf.

If you have any other type of labeling/coloring of your wires please feel free to leave a comment.

Tags: Dell, ESX, Labeling, Networking, Server