Category:

Windows

Start Oracle database in Windows safe mode

by mn.sobieh October 7, 2022

Operating system crashes are one of the issues that might face you especially if your server is using windows. This article explains how backup oracle database from windows safe mode. and by example, I will explain the steps to start oracle in windows safe mode and backup it up.

Unfortunately, If you try to start the Oracle database while your Windows OS was in safe mode, It will fail giving an error message

Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

Start DB Service Error

Also, if you tried to use the command line by starting the instances or listener you will get the Listner error

TNS-12500 TNS: protocol adapter error.
 TNS-00530: Protocol adapter error

Enable Oracle Service.

Change the Oracle service status, This will enable you to start the oracle database in safe mode. In this example Oracle database instance is ORCL, and as a result, the service name is Oracle ServiceORCL.

You can use either Command line interface, execute the following command

sc config OracleServiceORCL start=auto

Or if you prefer using Windows graphical interface, then follow these steps to enable Oracle services in Windows services

Right-click on start windows then click on Computer Management.

In the right-side panel expand Service and Applications, then click Service Link.

On the left side, make sure that the Oracle database and listener services are not disabled. To enable the services, double-click to open OracleServicesORCL properties then select manual from the startup type drop-down menu.

Repeat the process for the listener service.

Configure the service to run on windows safe mode.

add the following entries to the windows registry, allowing the Oracle services to run in Operating system safe mode.

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\OracleServiceORCL" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"

REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\OracleServiceORCL" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"

Start oracle database

It’s essential to have your oracle database running to take a backup of the data you can start the service from the Computer management graphical interface. Just right-click on the service name then choose start.

or execute the following command from the Command prompt

net start OracleServiceORCL

To confirm that oracle is started. try to log in using sqlplus

sqlplus / as sysdba

Backup oracle database in safe mode:

To export the full database execute the following command

expdp directory=dump full=Y dumpfile=lastbackup_YYYYMMDD.dmp logfile=lastbackup_YYYYMMDD.log

This command used the database object directory named dump to save the database dump.

To create a directory using the following SQL statement.

SQL> CREATE DIRECTORY dump AS 'd:\dump_dir';

In Conclusion, If you were able to log in to your system in “Windows” safe mode, you will be able to back up the Oracle database from windows safe mode and recover your data from the database. follow the simple instruction mentioned earlier.

Change-WSUS-update-storage-00-FeaturedImages

Windows

Change WSUS Contents location

by mn.sobieh August 15, 2020

Have you tried to move WSUS contents folder to another location and failed, or can’t move WSUS content due to permission issues. This article explains how to use wsusutil to change WSUS content location.

WSUS Tool location.

Changing the WSUS update folder is not a CUT& PAST operation. to explain, There is a lot of work that includes updating registry values, database records, IIS configuration, and much stuff. Instead, Microsoft provides a utility to do all that, and it comes with Windows Server Update Services installation. The tool is wsusutil.exe

if you moved the WSUS storage manually using xcopy command, you still need to run WSUSutil.exe to update the WSUS.

Its location varies according to which Windows version you are using. for example, in Microsoft documentation, it says WSUSInstallationDrive:Program Files\Microsoft Windows Server Update Services\Tools. however, in windows 2016 default location is C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools.

Why Change WSUS update storage fails

If are getting an error message like the ” Fatal Error: Unable to access the log path because of the following error: Access to the path is denied.”. it’s because either you do not have required privileges or command syntax was wrong.

You must be a member of the local Administrators group on the WSUS server.
The destination folder where update files are moved to must be on an NTFS partition.

WSUS wsusutil tool, One tool to do it all.

This tool comes with many options. It allows you to change the WSUS content folder, Purges the unnecessary updates, troubleshooting.

wsusutil movecontent

to change WSUS content data we will use the movecontent command of WSUSutil.exe, in our example, we will move the WSUS folder from D:\WSUS1 to E:\WSUS.

First, log into the WSUS server.

Then, create a new path for local WSUS update storage.

Next, to change the location of local WSUS update storage complete the following steps:

1. Click Start, and then type CMD.
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
3. At the command prompt, navigate to the directory that contains WSUSutil.exe.

cd C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools

4. Type the following, and then press ENTER:

wsusutil.exe movecontent E:\WSUS E:\wsus-relocation-task.log

wsusutil Syntax:

You need to give the tool the new location of the WSUS update folder and filename to log the process output, besides if you only want to change the location of local WSUS update storage without copying any files. You can use -skipcopy parameter at the end of the command

wsusutil.exe movecontent NewLocationPath logFilePath [-skipcopy]

In conclusion, Microsoft provides wsusutil tool to facilitate WSUS management and troubleshooting. with one command you can maintain WSUS update storage.

Ansible Windows

Enable remote powershell for Windows

by mn.sobieh August 9, 2020

PowerShell is a framework from Microsoft. it’s heavily used in scripting and task automation. that is to say, PowerShell allows administrators to perform tasks on both local and remote Windows systems as well. hence, This topic aims to enable remote PowerShell execution for Windows by configuring winRM.

Check how to configure Ansible to manage windows.

Keep in mind that Ansible require

Ansible supports Windows 2008 and above. Though, configuration for versions earlier than Windows 2008 R2 is troublesome. for that, upgrade to at least win2008R2.
Ansible requires PowerShell version 3.0 and .NET Framework 4.0 or newer to function because most Ansible modules for windows require at least PowerShell 3.0 or higher to work properly, and Windows 2008 R2 has version 3.0.
A WinRM listener should be created and activated.
You need a centralized Windows privileged user (Administrator@Domain ) if you are going to manage multiple windows servers. It’s a hassle if every server has its distinct username or password.

Configure Windows to accept remote commands

If you have to use older versions of windows please refer to Ansible document to scripts which will allow you to upgrade your PowerShell.

On Windows hosts, you need to enable the Remote Management feature which is a built-in feature but it’s not active by default. Windows Remote Management (WinRM) is the Microsoft implementation of the WS-Management protocol which provides a secure way to communicate with local and remote computers using web services.

You have two easy ways to enable WinRM

One: Enable winRM using Ansible team’s script.

Ansible team provides a script that will configure WinRM. So, to execute that script, follow these steps.

First, Download Ansible PowerShell documentation script from here “Right click and save as ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1”.

Then, allow running unsigned scripts on your local computer and signed scripts from remote, by executing the following command.

set-executionpolicy remotesigned

Next, open a PowerShell as Administrator console

Finally, execute the downloaded script ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1 . the output should be like the following screenshot

Two: use SolarWinds Remote Execution Enabler for PowerShell tool.

That tool is a free desktop app that will configure WinRM on local and remote servers In just one step, in addition, It can do bulk configuration across multiple hosts, also, it will automatically generate and distributes certificates for encrypted remote PowerShell execution.

First, download it from the SolarWinds website. As the installation is simple, then, in a few clicks and finish the installation.

Next, Execute the application from the start menu.

Finally, configure the server, by following these steps:

Enter Server IP
Enter Administrator’s Password.
Click on Start Configuration

Windows

setup IIS reverse proxy

by mn.sobieh August 3, 2020

A proxy server acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from servers that provide those resources, In other words, The proxy controls and filters the data that go through it. Hence, organizations use it to filter and control Internet access, or to protect their servers. This article explains how to setup IIS reverse proxy using Application Request Routing ARR addons, So you can protect your servers.

This article is part of a series, how to manage, and troubleshoot the Microsoft IIS server.

Install IIS on Windows Server.
Configure a reverse proxy.
Setup IIS SSL certificate.
troubleshoot IIS reverse proxy error 500.25.
troubleshoot IIS reverse proxy ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

Why would I setup a reverse proxy?

Proxy servers provide varying levels of functionality, for example, security to achieve load balancing and high availability. For example, a website may have several web servers behind the reverse proxy for high availability. Above all, It depends on your use-case, needs, or company’s policy.

How to configure a reverse proxy server on IIS server?

Easy two steps to enable reverse proxy in IIS.

Install IIS extension.

URL rewrite extension: Download the extension from here. Or google it.
Application Request Routing (ARR) extension from here. Or google it.

Create an inbound rule

Allow redirection of any request coming to proxy to your Internal server.

Proxy Inbound

Create outbound rule (Optional)

Allow you to control outbound transactions based on conditions redirection of any transaction coming from the server to the client to be masked with a specific URL.

Proxy outbound

Full example, step by step Setup IIS reverse proxy.

In this example we prepare two servers, the internal web server uses Ubuntu and the second server will act as a proxy server. As shown in the following table

	Reverse Proxy	WebServer
Operating System	Windows	Linux
IP Address	192.168.160	192.168.157.180
port	80	80
protocol	HTTP	HTTP
Server Name	prxy	Srv

Server names should be added to the client hosts file

Configure Internal server Installing Apache webserver

Easy steps just install apache webserver using the following command

 sudo apt-get install apache2 -y

Then , check if the apache installed the default index.html page. by executing the following command.

ls /var/www/html/index.html

Also, test your installation by opening your browser. then, type Ubuntu server IP to test if the webserver is runing. You should see a page like that

ubuntu-index

Configure IIS Proxy Server

Firstly, Open the IIS Manager. then, on the left side Navigate under “server name”, right-click on “Sites”, then chose Add website. After that, In the new window, enter the website name, location, and Listening Host-name.

Than, On the right side click on URL Rewrite Icon.

Choose Reverse Proxy then click OK. It will ask if you want to enable Proxy functionality, so click OK.

After that, when the Add Reverse Proxy window appears in the upper section titled ” inbound Rules” enter the Internal server hostname or IP of the internal server where HTTP requests will be forwarded to.

Finally, do not check the outbound rules as we will configure it separately, Click OK.

Conclusion

To summarize, with these steps you configured IIS to work as a reverse proxy server. you can test your efforts by typing the IP/URL in the browser.

Windows

Install IIS on windows server

by mn.sobieh July 26, 2020

Internet Information Services or IIS for short is an extensible web server created by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family. furthermore, it is distinguished by its graphical interface; Ease of management; and it fully supports .NET applications. Though IIS supports HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP, and NNTP, It doesn’t support PHP or JSP natively. This article explains step by step how to install IIS on Windows server in simple steps.

Steps to Install IIS on windows server.

Connect to your Windows server and open Server Manager windows. Usually, it appears on connection unless you’ve disabled it. otherwise, You can open it from start windows.

When you open the server manager windows, Click on Manage menu. then, click on “Add Roles and Feature” to open Add Roles and Features wizard.

The first screen is just an informational window that describes the functionality of the wizard. therefore, you can click in the checkbox to hide this screen in the future. then, click Next.

before you begin

In Installation Type Window. Click on Role-based or feature-based installation radio button. then, click Next.

Next, Server selection window: Select a server – usually it will be only one entry – on which you want to install IIS server. Then, click Next.

After that, Scroll down the roles list and check the Web Server(IIS) checkbox. You might see a window prompting you to add some require features by IIS. So, click add feature Button.

“Features” windows: In this window, you will find a list of additional Windows features and functionalities the might interest you. however, it is beyond our scope. So, Just click Next.

“Role Services” It will allow you to control the features of your IIS.firstly you will see an introductory screen. therefore, click next to move to the important stuff.

For example, if you plan to host ASP pages or .NET application you need to check ASP.NET. In that topic, I will choose CGI then click Next.

“Confirmation” windows: It will show you the summary of all chosen Roles and features you selected. Finally, begin the installation by clicking Install.

“Result” window: This screen will show the installation progress and high light any component failed to be installed. When the installation complete click Close.

When Installation complete you will find a new icon on your OS start menu titled “Internet Information Service” which will allow you to manage your IIS

Test your IIS installation

To test if your IIS service is working you need to open your browser and type the URL HTTP://<Your Server IP>/. if you still on the server just type http://localhost and you should see a page like that

By that, you have successfully installed IIS on that server. Next is to configure IIS as a reverse proxy.

Windows

mount NFS shares in windows

by mn.sobieh July 25, 2020

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol, It allows access to files over the network similar to local storage is accessed. It’s supported by Linux, Windows, and Mac. In the following few paragraphs, you will find steps on how to enable NFS services on windows and to allow Windows access NFS shares.

In this article, we will assume that there are two servers linuxsrv01 which is a Linux server that provides NFS services to your local network, and its counterpart winsrv01 is a windows server, hence we will configure that windows server to access the NFS shared storage.

this article is the opposite of mounting NTFS partition on Linux. as it allows windows to mount Linux Partitions over network.

Enable NFS support on Windows

Starting from Windows 2008, Windows started to support NFS protocol. However, this feature is not enabled by default. You just need to enable it from Windows feature, this feature enables Windows OS to access NFS protocol and even administer it. This feature called “Client for NFS”

Enable NFS support on windows 10:

Open Program and feature window from the control panel. Or just type “appwiz.cpl” in the Run window.

mount nfs share from windows1_run

When the Program and Features windows appear to click on the upper left of the window you will find the line “Turn Windows feature on or off”. In the Windows Feature’s window scroll down till you find Services for NFS then check Client for NFS then click OK. The wizard will install the feature and It might require a restart.

Click on the picture to see screen recording showing how to do it.

Your Windows 10 now supports NFS.

Enable NFS support on Windows Server:

On Windows server, you can enable NFS feature by accessing the Server Manager

Click on Manage then Click on Add Roles and Features.
The Add Roles and Features Wizard will open.
In Installation Type, Server Selection, and Server Roles sections just click Next.
In features section check “Client for NFS” click Next.
Click Install.

Click on the below image to see a recording of how to enable NFS on Windows server.

Your Windows server now supports NFS.

Mount the NFS share into Windows folder.

Here you have two choices to of mount the shared folder

Option 1: Assign a letter to it like E: or z: to look like a local drive.

Option 2: mount it into a Folder and access it through the existing drive, by giving it a name. example:

c:\mysharedFolder\

Option 1: Mount NFS shares as a disk.

Execute one the following command from the command prompt

syntax:

net use <DriveLetter>  \\<hostname>\path\to\share

example

net use x: \\wdmycloud\nfs\mysharedfolder

syntax

mount  \\<hostname or IP >\path\to\share  [<DriveLetter>]

example

mount \\192.168.43.57\nfs\mysharedfolder x:

if NFS share requires username and password

mount [-u:username] [-p:<password] \\<hostname>\path\to\share  [<DriveLetter>]

Option 2: Mount NFS shares as a Folder.

Execute the following command (from elevated CMD):

syntax

mklink /D [LinkLocation] [share location]

example

mklink /D C:\my_link2myshare \\192.168.10.15\mysharedFolder

The conclusion, there are many ways to access NFS shares. each method has its advantages. I prefer mounting the share into a folder because it allows me to access that share through Remote desktop unlike mounting it as a normal drive.

IIS reverse proxy ERR_CONNECTION_RESET fixed

Windows

IIS ERR_CONNECTION_RESET fixed

by mn.sobieh July 21, 2020

When you have an IIS working as a reverse proxy. the default configuration values cloud support small to medium loads. However, In the enterprise environment, these values need to be tuned up to suit the new high loads and the back-end server configurations. This article addresses error “This site can’t be reached” reported by IIS ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

IIS reverse proxy ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error message

Confusing issue!

Today’s adventure, We have an ADF application installed on Weblogic. That application is running behind an IIS reverse proxy. Though the application is working normally and its pages are loading normally, there are certain pages that fail to open showing error ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

The developers are saying “It’s working on my PC”

Tracing error ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

As a good administrator, I will investigate using the deduction process. hence, what I will do.

Initially, I will open the application directly using the URL of Web-logic deployment URL, that means, I opted out reverse proxy. Surprisingly, application pages including those pages work normally. That means the application has some requirements and ISS can’t fulfill them. Causing, connection to reset.

What causes it?

the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET errors appear in the browser console. This message sent by the reverse proxy indicating a failure in page caching or loading pages. It seems that these pages contain objects which can’t be split into default size of the proxy cache.

Solving ERR_CONNECTION_RESET

To solve that error, We need to increase the Response buffer cache and Response buffer threshold in IIS Server. By following steps

Firstly, Open IIS Administration console. Then, Click on the root structure on the left panel to view IIS icons. Secondly, click on the Application Request Routing icon.

IIS reverse proxy ERR_CONNECTION_RESET IIS main page

After that, Click Cache Configuration settings located on the upper right side.

In the Cache configuration setting window navigate into the buffer settings section, then, Increase the value of the Response buffer cache and Response buffer threshold.

Conclusion, IIS ARR buffer cache causes the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET due to insufficient buffer cache size. Therefore, Increasing the values will solve the issue.

Ansible Linux Operating Systems Windows

Configure ansible inventory to manage Windows

by mn.sobieh June 26, 2020

As an adventurer, It is time to see how to manages windows using ansible, hence this article is part of a series focus on how to configure ansible for windows automation.

I use Ansible documentation as my reference.

Configure Ansible to connect to Windows servers

Firstly, we will enable Linux network authentication protocol, to allow remote authentication. then, add sever. Finally, we will test our configuration.

You should know that the following instruction will not succeed unless you already configured your Windows to permit remote commands to execute.

Step one: Install few packages

Log into your ansible server. then, install packages for Kerberos, Python package manager.

In this article, I explain using Ubuntu. therefore, If you have ansible on CentOS or Other RPM-based OS check the other article Configure Ansible for Windows Authentication.

At first, Install the following packages

apt-get install -y gcc python3-pip python3-dev libkrb5-dev krb5-user

Secondly, update Python package manager.

pip install --upgrade pip

Finally, install python packages essential for Ansible.

pip install pywinrm Kerberos

Step two: add your server to ansible Inventory

Ansible inventory file is /etc/ansible/hosts, however, you can have multiple inventory files, So, in our adventure, we will create an inventory file to manage windows using ansible.

Ansible Inventory file has the following properties:

It will have a group, So, it makes it easier to manage a group of servers that have the same role.
a variables group, then we will add four variables.
You can add a server by IP, or DNS-name under the group name.

the variables will set how ansible connects to windows server, for example, It will define the credentials and how to validate the SSL certificate used.

In the following example, it shows a simple inventory file for a group of windows 2008 servers. Also, it tells ansible that group is not Linux, locally managed, provides username and password.

[winsrv]
s06
[winsrv:vars]
ansible_connection=winrm
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore
ansible_user=Administrator
ansible_password=p@ssw0rd

I usually use servers name instead of IP. I usually add a comment with name and functionality, If I used the IP.

Step three : Test Ansible configuration

I prefer to use multiple inline commands to verify our work, For instance , i use win_ping and win_shell modules.

ansible winsrv -m win_ping

the output should be like this

Other modules, for example both win_command or win_shell allow executing window commands. like command whoami to identify who is executing the command

$ ansible winsrv -m win_shell -a "whoami"
$ ansible winsrv -m win_command -a "whoami"

If results like that

In conclusion, it is easy to configure your server to be managed by Ansible. That is to say, If your servers are domain authenticated, It will be easier. Just flow instructions shown in Kerberos setting for ansible article.

Windows

Enable Oracle Service.

Configure the service to run on windows safe mode.

Start oracle database

Backup oracle database in safe mode:

WSUS Tool location.

Why Change WSUS update storage fails

WSUS wsusutil tool, One tool to do it all.

wsusutil movecontent

wsusutil Syntax:

Keep in mind that Ansible require

Configure Windows to accept remote commands

One: Enable winRM using Ansible team’s script.

Two: use SolarWinds Remote Execution Enabler for PowerShell tool.

Why would I setup a reverse proxy?

How to configure a reverse proxy server on IIS server?

Install IIS extension.

Create an inbound rule

Create outbound rule (Optional)

Full example, step by step Setup IIS reverse proxy.

Configure Internal server Installing Apache webserver

Configure IIS Proxy Server

Conclusion

Steps to Install IIS on windows server.

Test your IIS installation

Enable NFS support on Windows

Enable NFS support on windows 10:

Enable NFS support on Windows Server:

Mount the NFS share into Windows folder.

Option 1: Mount NFS shares as a disk.

Option 2: Mount NFS shares as a Folder.

Confusing issue!

Tracing error ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

What causes it?

Solving ERR_CONNECTION_RESET

Related Topics

Configure Ansible to connect to Windows servers

Step one: Install few packages

Step two: add your server to ansible Inventory

Step three : Test Ansible configuration