The ability to create snapshots is one of the best reasons for dividing your workloads into different virtual servers. If a specific service crashes, you can quickly restore it to a previously known setup with very little effort.
I especially appreciate this feature when running a training class. I can create a snapshot of a VM prior to class, then teach students how to perform certain functions hands on. In the event something goes catastrophically wrong (and it will!), simply restore the machine to the exact condition it was in when the snapshot was originally created!
Multiple snapshots can be created per virtual machine, so it is possible to restore a VM to any state you had created a snapshot for.
Once inside Hyper-V Manager, click the server name in the left column under “Hyper-V Manager”, then click on the desired virtual machine. For our example, we will create a snapshot for the Virtual Machine named “Jump”.
In the far-right column under the name of the VM you have selected, click “Snapshot”
After the snapshot is created, you will see it listed in the center column under “Snapshots” (Underlined in Yellow)
By default, the snapshot will be named with the VM name, the date and the time the snapshot was taken, however you are more than welcome to change this.
To change the name of the snapshot, simply right click on the snapshot, then select “Rename…”
Enter the new name, which often will have more meaning than just the date and time, and press
You can create as many snapshots as you disk space to allow for. Simply repeat the steps outlined above. Each subsequent snapshot will appear under the current snapshot where you see -> Now displayed.
One thing this author prefers, it is the Debian (apt-get) style use of a2ensite and a2dissite to enable and disable hosted domains. This guide will show you how to set up a similar system in rpm based (Redhat, Fedora, CentOS, etc) systems.
To setup a similar system on your rpm based server, simply follow the steps outlined below.
As root, run the following commands:
mkdir /etc/httpd/sites-available mkdir /etc/httpd/sites-enabled
The first step is to include the sites-enabled folder in your httpd.conf file.
nano /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Now add the following line at the bottom of the file and save the file.
Include sites-enabled/*.*
Restart apache to use the new setting
service httpd restart
Create the following files and add the content displayed.
nano /usr/local/bin/a2ensite
#! /bin/bash # bash script to use debian style vhosts # vhost file must be in /etc/httpd/sites-available # script will make a softlink to /etc/httpd/site-enabled # and restart httpd # use a2dissite to remove the link AVAILABLE="/etc/httpd/sites-available" ENABLED="/etc/httpd/sites-enabled" FILE="$1" if [ -f $AVAILABLE/$FILE ] then if [ -s $AVAILABLE/$FILE ] then ln -s $AVAILABLE/$FILE $ENABLED/$FILE service httpd restart else echo "File $FILE is empty. No action taken" fi else echo "File $FILE does not exist. No action taken" fi
nano /usr/local/bin/a2dissite
#! /bin/bash # bash script to use debian style vhosts # vhost file must be in /etc/httpd/sites-available # script will delete a softlink from /etc/httpd/site-enabled # and restart httpd # use a2ensite to restore the link AVAILABLE="/etc/httpd/sites-available" ENABLED="/etc/httpd/sites-enabled" FILE="$1" if [ -f $ENABLED/$FILE ] then rm -f $ENABLED/$FILE service httpd restart else echo "File $FILE does not exist. No action taken" fi
chmod 744 /usr/local/bin/a2ensite chmod 744 /usr/local/bin/a2dissite
The examples below assume you named the domain virtual configuration files after the domain name.
This can be used as a very basic, yet functioning virtual host configuration file:
nano /etc/httpd/sites-available/domain.com
<VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin admin@domain.com ServerName domain.com ServerAlias www.domain.com DocumentRoot /var/www/vhosts/domain.com/httpdocs/ ErrorLog /var/www/vhosts/log/error_log TransferLog /var/www/vhosts/log/access_log LogLevel warn </VirtualHost>
a2ensite domain.com
a2dissite domain.com
In the vSphere client, click File > New > Virtual Machine…
If you have not done so, download the VMware vSphere Client from your ESXi server.
Log into your ESXi Server using the VMware Client. You will need to enter the IP address of the server, root for the User name and your root password for the server.
If you get a certificate warning, check the “Install this certificate and do not display any security warnings for “IP.ADD.RE.SS”
Inside the vSphere Client, click the server IP in the left column, then click the “Configuration” tab.
In the Hardware window, click Storage
In the View section click Datastores then click the Add Storage… link
In the Add Storage window, select (*) Network File System, then click
In the Properties area, use the following values::
Server: 64.150.179.80
Folder: /home/repo/data/isos
[X] Mount NFS read only <- make sure this is checked!
Datastore Name: Codero ISOs (or something else of your choosing)
Click
On the final screen, click
The Codero ISO Datastore is now available for you to use when creating new VMs.
This guide will show you the steps required to install the Hyper-V Role on a Windows Server. While this guide was created using Windows 2008 DC Edition, the steps should work for any Windows 2008 Server.
To add your IP by clicking “cPHulk Brute Force Protection” from the WHM main menu, then click the “White/Black List Management” tab. Enter your IP in the text box under “White List (Trusted IP List)” then click the [Quick Add] button.
Once your IP is registered on the white list, you will no longer receive the dreaded “password failed” error from WHM when trying to log in as root.
Heartbleed is a vulnerability found in certain versions of OpenSSL, the encryption software found on many Linux and Unix based servers. This vulnerability bug allows a hacker with the correct skills to read random areas of your server’s memory. By taking many, many samples, a hacker may be able to piece together the “snippets” and recreate encryption keys used to protect the server and even gain root access to the server.
Visit this website and enter either your domain name, or your server’s IP address.
If your server is vulnerable to this type of attack, you should repair it immediately!
Fortunately, the fix for this is pretty simple. Log into your server as root and run the following commands based on which version of Linux you are using.
yum update openssl service httpd restart
apt-get update openssl /etc/init.d/apache2 restart