3rd Party Patching through Ninite

·         Download your NinitePro executable

https://ninite.com/ninitepro.exe

·         Upload the executable to somewhere you can download it from automatically (ex. Dropbox)

·         Use a procedure (ex. writefile) to get the executable down to the endpoint, maybe the temp folder.

·         Then use an execute file with something like this as the parameter to the executable:  /select Chrome Dropbox Firefox Flash "Flash (IE)" Java "Java 7" "Java x64" "Java x64 7" Air CutePDF Evernote Reader Silverlight Shockwave "Citrix Receiver" /updateonly /disableautoupdate /disableshortcuts /silent 

Diagnosing and fixing servicing corruption

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619779(v=ws.10).aspx
http://solution4techgeeks.blogspot.in/2015/06/how-to-fix-csi-payload-file-missing.html

Windows Update taking long to check/scan for updates

Install the update rollup provided below after clean boot

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608

Post installation reboot the machine and try running check for updates.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 8.1 and Server 2012

Install Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows 8.1 and Server 2012

    1.  Download Microsoft Security Essentials on your PC.
    2.  Right Click on MSEInstall (application package).
    3.  Click on Properties.

    4.  Click on Compatibility tab.

    5.  Under Compatibility mode, check Run this program in compatibility mode for:
    6.  Select Windows 7 from the drop down and click on Apply.

    7.  Open Command Prompt as an Administrator.
    8.  Navigate to the folder containing MSEInstall (application package).
    9.  Run the command mseinstall /disableoslimit and follow the instructions to install the MSE on your machine.

   

Uninstall QuickTime

Un-Install QuickTime Player

Use the following commands in your batch file to silently un-install QuickTime:

msiexec.exe /i "\\servername\share\QuickTime.msi" /passive DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS=NO
msiexec.exe /x {FF59BD75-466A-4D5A-AD23-AAD87C5FD44C} /qn /norestart

"DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS=NO" will suppress the creation of QuickTime desktop shortcut.
The first line will silently upgrade the QuickTime installed on the machine to the latest version 7.79.80.95 (will replace the previous version).
The second line will un-install the QuickTime completely.


Note: use the latest version of QuickTime.msi i.e. version 7.79.80.95 (copy the .msi to shared location \\servername\share\)

DNS Records

DNS Records

Record Type	Description	Function
A	Address record	Returns a 32-bit IPv4 address, most commonly used to map hostnames to an IP address of the host.
AAAA	IPv6 address record	Returns a 128-bit IPv6 address, most commonly used to map hostnames to an IP address of the host.
CNAME	Canonical name record	Alias of one name to another: Canonical records (CNAMEs) are useful for pointing one host name at another.
MX	Mail exchange record	Maps a domain name to a list of mail transfer agents for that domain. MX records are those that are looked up by mail servers when email needs to be delivered.
NS	Name server record	A NS record tells recursive name servers which name servers are authoritative for a zone.  Recursive name servers look at the NS records to work out who to ask next when resolving a name.
PTR	Pointer record	While the A record points a domain name to an IP address, the PTR record resolves the IP address to a domain/hostname. PTR records are used for the reverse DNS (Domain Name System) lookup.
SOA	Start of authority record	Specifies authoritative information about a DNS zone, including the primary name server, the email of the domain administrator, the domain serial number, and several timers relating to refreshing the zone.
SRV	Service record	SRV record is a specification of data in the Domain Name System defining the location, i.e. the hostname and port number, of servers for specified services. The SRV records relate to a particular service of the domain, like FTP or SIP, rather than a specific machine the way A or C-name records do.

Lockdown mode

Lockdown mode on an ESXi host

When Disabled - We can use Windows vSphere client to manage the ESXi host even when it is added to the vCenter Server.
The changes we made through vSphere client in the ESXi host will be reflected in the vCenter Server or added to the vCenter database after the polling interval (which is about 5 minutes).

When Enabled - We can manage the ESXi host remotely, only through vCenter Server to which the ESXi host is added. We can not access it using Windows vSphere client.


Note - We can manage the ESXi host using DCUI (Direct Console User Interface) by physically accessing it even when it is set to Enabled.