Tag Archives: connection

How Do I Find/Change My IP Address?

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KB ID 0000208

What’s an IP address?

An IP address is the address used on a network to find your PC, Server, Laptop, or Printer etc. It’s the networking equivalent of your house number and post code (or Zip Code for visitors from over the pond).

Do you want your PUBLIC or PRIVATE IP address? As we started to run out of addresses, there were a number of solutions that we came up with, one you will see below (DHCP) the other is NAT (Network Address Translation) that lets many IPs on a network share one (or more) public IP addresses on the internet. If you want to know your PUBLIC address (your address in on the internet) then simply see below;

Your Public IP Address Is: [user_ip]

Where does my IP address come from?

You get an IP address by two methods,

1. Statically Assigned: Your address never changes and is allocated to you manually.

2. Dynamically Assigned: Your machine gets its IP address automatically via a system called DHCP.

What does an IP address look like?

Most IP addresses in use today are IP version 4 and consist of 4 numbers separated by three full stops (or once again, periods, for overseas visitors).

An IP address 192.168.1.100

Is that all my computer needs?

NO! You need FOUR pieces of information to access the internet and work properly;

1. The IP address itself (i.e. 192.168.1.100) this is unique to every machine on the network.

2. The Subnet Mask (i.e. 255.255.255.0) this tells the machine how big the network it is on, is.

3. The Default Gateway, this is another IP address on the network that you need to go through to get off the local network, i.e. to access the internet.

4. The DNS IP address, this is another IP address of a machine that can translate IP addresses into names (e.g. translate www.bbc.co.uk to 212.58.246.159).

What’s my IP address?

1. Windows Key + R > type ‘cmd’ {Enter}

2. A Command Window will open, click within the box and you can type in commands, the command to show your IP address is ipconfig, but this WONT show us the DNS settings as well, to do that the command is “ipconfig /all“.

Note: If you have many network connections you will get results for them all, you may need to scroll up and down to find the right one.>

IP Problems

Problem 1: My machine has got an IP address that is 169.254.x.y (where x and y can be any number from 1 to 254).

Answer: This machine is set to get its IP address automatically via DHCP but it cant speak to the DHCP server, because either the DHCP server is down or there is no connection between the DHCP server and you.

Problem 2: My IP address shows as 0.0.0.0

Answer: You have been given a static IP address and someone on the same network is using the same address, this causes an IP conflict, change one of the IP addresses.

Find out if your IP address is statically assigned of dynamically assigned

The more eagled eyed of you will see on the ipconfig /all results above that this machine is disabled for DHCP so its dynamically assigned however, on your Windows machine do the following.

1. Windows Key + R > Tyoe ‘ncpa.cpl’ {Enter}

2. Your network connections window should open and locate the connection you are connecting with (you might have many, be sure to select the right one, i.e. you might have one for dial up, one for wireless, one for a VPN to the office etc). Right click the connection and select properties.

3. On the window that appears you may have to scroll down the list, we are looking for its TCP/IP (on newer machines it will be called “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”, Select it and click properties.

4. Now you can see if your addresses are set statically or dynamically.

How to change your IP address

To change your IP address you first need to know if you have a static IP address or a Dynamically assigned one. (That’s why this section is below the one above).

1. If you have a static IP address, simply change it on the screen shown (diagram above).

2. If you have a Dynamic IP address, you can either reboot the machine in question or Click Start > run > cmd {enter}

3. A Command Window will open, click within the box and you can type in commands, the command to release your IP address is ipconfig /release

Then to get a new address type in ipconfig /renew

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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ENE-NG and GNS3 – Speed and Duplex Mismatch

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KB ID 0000983 

Problem

I don’t know why this happens sometimes with GNS3, and EVE-NG but occasionally I will get a connection between two devices that constantly complains.

%CDP-4-DUPLEX_MISMATCH: duplex mismatch discovered on {interface-name} (not half duplex), with {host-name} {interface-name} (half duplex).

For the uninitiated, a speed/duplex mismatch, usually happens when both ends of the link are set differently, or (more commonly) both ends are set to ‘auto’.

[box]

!
interface FastEthernet0/1
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
duplex auto
speed auto
!

[/box]

Solution

WARNING: DO NOT carry out this procedure on live networking equipment, this is only for use in the GNS3 environment.

If this happens to you, you will sensibly try and set the speed/duplex of both ends of the link correctly, on real networking equipment that would solve the problem like so;

[box]

PetesRouter(config)#interface FastEthernet0/1
PetesRouter(config-if)#duplex full
*Aug 6 13:40:39.815: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down
*Aug 6 13:40:41.823: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up
*Aug 6 13:40:42.823: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up
PetesRouter(config-if)#speed 100
*Aug 6 13:40:47.855: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down
*Aug 6 13:40:49.859: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up
*Aug 6 13:40:50.859: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up
PetesRouter(config-if)#

[/box]

But in some cases on GNS3 it does not, (not sure if it’s a bug?)

Is that happening to you, the only way to stop it is to suppress the error. To do this add the ‘no cdp log mismatch duplex’ command to the interface giving you the error.

[box]

PetesRouter(config)#interface FastEthernet 0/1
PetesRouter(config-if)#no cdp log mismatch duplex
PetesRouter(config-if)#exit
PetesRouter(config)#exit
*Aug 6 13:45:55.235: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console
PetesRouter#write mem
Building configuration...
[OK]
PetesRouter#
[/box]

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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VMware View 5 – Configure and Deploy Clients in ‘Kiosk Mode’

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KB ID 0000610 

Problem

Kiosk mode is quite useful, if you have some machines that you want to put in a public area for visitors to use, or for machines that are used in displays etc. Or if you have some older PC’s that you just want to repurpose as internet terminals or ‘point of sale’ box’s.

Essentially it’s a system that delivers a virtual VMware View desktop to a PC or Thin client without the need to authenticate to the connection server. Kiosk authentication is disabled by default, so you need to run a few commands to get it enabled.

Solution

Before starting you will need a Virtual Machine ready to be used for the Kiosk machine. You might want to create this machine with a “nonpersistent” disk.

Configure Windows 7 to be a VMware View Desktop

Step 1: Prepare Active Directory

1. Set yourself up an OU to hold your kiosk machine, and a security group that will contain the user account you are going to create later.

Step 2: Configure the VMware Connection Server

2. Now log into your VMware Connection Server, open a command window with elevated privileges. then issue the following command;

[box]vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -setdefaults -ou “OU=Kiosk,OU=ViewDesktops,DC=petenetlive,DC=com” -noexpirepassword -group kioskusers[/box]

Note: where kioskusers is the name of the group you created.

3. Now I will create a user ‘custom-kiosk-user’ with a password of ‘Password123’, and put him in the OU and group we created earlier;

[box]vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -add -domain petenetlive -clientid custom-kiosk-user -password “Password123” -ou “OU=Kiosk,OU=ViewDesktops,DC=petenetlive,DC=com” -group kioskusers -description “Kiosk Terminal”[/box]

Note: Alternatively you can create a user that matches the MAC address of the client machine and auto generate a password like so, (this assumes the thin client or PC’s MAC addresses is 3C:4A:92:D3:12:1C).

4. Then allow this connection server to accept kiosk connections with the following command;

[box]vdmadmin -Q -enable -s PNL-CS[/box]

Note: Where PNL-CS is the name of my VMware Connection Server.

5. You can view the settings configured on this connection server with the following command;

[box]vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -list[/box]

6. While still on your connection server open VMware View Administrator, and create a ‘Pool’ for your Kiosk machine.

7. Manual Pool > Next.

8. Dedicated > Next.

9. vCenter virtual Machines > Next.

10. Next.

11. Give the pool an ID and Display name > Next.

12. Select the machine you are using as the source for the Kiosk machine > Next.

13. When the pool is created > Entitlements.

14. Add in the group that you created in step 1 > OK.

15. Just check on the ‘desktops’ tab and make sure the machine is listed as ‘available’.

Step 3: Connect to the Kiosk Machine

16. Now from your client machine or thin client, you can execute the following command to open the kiosk session.

[box]c:program filesvmwarevmware viewclientbinwswc” -unattended -serverURL PNL-CS -userName custom-kiosk-user -password “Password123″[/box]

Note: In a live environment you may want to make the host machine or thin client automatically log on and put this command in the ‘startup’ folder, or call it from a startup/logon script so the machine will boot straight into the kiosk virtual machine.

17. All being well you should be presented with the kiosk VM machine, note you no longer get the normal VMware View tool bar etc, it will behave as if the machine is in front of you.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Deploying VMware View 5

Exchange 2013 – ‘The WinRM Shell client cannot process the request’

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KB ID 0000855

Problem

After building a new Exchange 2013 Server on my test network and changing the Certificate over, I ran a few updates and rebooted. Post reboot I was greeted with this,

VERBOSE: Connecting to PNL-EX2013.petenetlive.net.
New-PSSession : [pnl-ex2013.petenetlive.net] Processing data from remote server pnl-ex2013.petenetlive.net failed with the following error message: The WinRM Shell client cannot process the request. The shell handle passed to the WSMan Shell function is not valid. The shell handle is valid only when WSManCreateShell function completes successfully.
Change the request including a valid shell handle and try again. For more information, see the
about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-PSSession -ConnectionURI “$connectionUri” -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Excha …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OpenError: (System.Manageme….RemoteRunspace:RemoteRunspace) [New-PSSession], PSRemotin
gTransportException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108212,PSSessionOpenFailed
Failed to connect to an Exchange server in the current site.
Enter the server FQDN where you want to connect.:

Solution

Everything was working fine before I changed the certificates, and all the management runs out of IIS so I headed there first. I found when I checked the ‘bindings’ for the ‘Exchange Back End’ site that HTTPS did not have a certificate selected.

After I selected the correct certificate, the Command Shell opened fine.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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Cisco ASA 5500 – Throttling (Rate Limiting) Traffic

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KB ID 0001001 

Problem

If you have one client that’s taking all your bandwidth, or a server that’s getting a lot of connections from external IP addresses, and that’s causing you performance problems, you can ‘throttle’ traffic from/to that client by ‘policing’ its traffic.

Solution

To demonstrate, I have a 30Mb connection at home, when I run a test on the download connection speed from my desktop PC this is what I get;

So I’m going to throttle traffic to that IP address (10.254.254.90), so that it can only use 1Mb of the connection.

1. Create an ACL for traffic to and from the IP address you want to throttle. (Note: If your firewall is running a version older than 8.3, and you are throttling an IP that has a public IP address, use its public IP address not its private one).

[box]

User Access Verification

Password:*******
Type help or ‘?’ for a list of available commands.
PetesASA> enable
Password: ********
PetesASA# configure terminal
PetesASA(config)# access-list ACL-THROTTLE extended permit ip host 10.254.254.90 any
PetesASA(config)# access-list ACL-THROTTLE extended permit ip any host 10.254.254.90

[/box]

2. Now create a class-map that will match all traffic in that ACL, (so all traffic to and from 10.254.254.90).

[box]

PetesASA(config)# class-map CM-THROTTLE
PetesASA(config-cmap)# match access-list ACL-THROTTLE
PetesASA(config-cmap)# exit

[/box]

3. Then create a policy-map, that takes all traffic identified in your class map, and rate limits the traffic to 1000000 bps (1Mbps) with a ‘burst-rate’ of 2000bps.

[box]

PetesASA(config)# policy-map PM-THROTTLE
PetesASA(config-pmap)# class CM-THROTTLE
PetesASA(config-pmap-c)# police output 1000000 2000
PetesASA(config-pmap-c)# police input 1000000 2000
PetesASA(config-pmap-c)# exit
PetesASA(config-pmap)# exit

[/box]

4. Now apply that policy-map with a service policy. (Note: Generally you apply the policy to the interface closest to where the traffic is coming from, as this is an internal host, I’m applying it to the inside interface. If you were throttling traffic from outside it would be better to apply the service-policy to the outside interface).

[box]

PetesASA(config)# service-policy PM-THROTTLE interface inside

[/box]

5. Let’s run our test again.

6. Looks good!

 

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