Fedora VS Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu Server vs Fedora

This page is to be a 'live' page where I will be adding further details / discoveries as I progress

Out of the box

Out of the two servers currently Fedora out of the box wins hands down for ability and functions, inbuilt SSH, inbuilt web interface with system logs, basic services and some monitoring.

Ubuntu with Webmin

So far my experiences with Webmin have been okay, while quiet powerful in what it can implement it seems when errors occur that it is not overly helpful.

Ubuntu with Ajenti

Only basic installation done, no testing to date

Directory Services in the 'nix world

Choices for Active Directory Replacement

• OpenLDAP
• ApacheDS
• 389 DS
• FreeIPA
• Zentyal

Requirements

• Free
• Implementation difficulty shouldn't be too intense
• Able to integrate with AD

Final Choices

After quiet a bit of research the two finalists are:

• FreeIPA
• Zentyal

The decisions came down to ease of use combined with compatibility with AD. Trail VM's will be implemented shortly. 

Windows Engineer giving up on Windows @ home

Windows current state

I am currently working for a company deploying Office 365 and frankly the *mind-blowing* current incompatibilities within the MS world between office apps and combinations of their OS has driven me to a point to just utterly give up on windows at home. 

Besides the office incompatibilities the Win8+ vein of OS's I have found to increase the number of key strokes / mouse clicks to do the same thing as I did in Win7. The insanity of the dual control panel / PC settings continues into the Win10 realm too. 

The mind numbing management decisions to try and turn a PC into a tablet and turn what I felt was a very attractive Desktop Environment (DE) in Win7 into something designed by a retarded child with pastel primary coloured boxes with controls spread everywhere has driven me kinda batty.

Linux 2000 - 2014

Over the years I have had many stabs at running a Linux system at home, from Madrake back in the early 2000's to SUSE to several attempts at RHL and Centos. 

Unfortunately the complexity of entry and relative unstable / barely usable combinations at the beginning bared me from really picking up the platform. Also back then I still played games would of struggled without my Civ / Total War games!

Most previous and the closes attempts in 2014 were ElementaryOS and Mint Linux, though these where highly usable / hardware compatible and didn't look like utter crap, the one app I required to work, fancontrol, wouldn't work on my hardware. This app was a requirement due to overheating.

Linux 2016

I finally bit the bullet and installed few Linux's DE's on my work laptop. Ubuntu was bsolute pleasant surprise, lightning fast, and with a few apps Ubuntu is highly configurable and without the glitches you get from KDE plasma (graphical tearing, crashing apps) if you step slightly outside KDE's defaults. 

With the success of running Buntu as my primary home machine for couple of months I finally decided in combinations with my frustrations at work with the direction of MS, I have decided to move my fleet into the 'nix space.

Requirements

Currently systems: 

• Windows File server (running also Plex), 
• AD, DHCP, WSUS. 
• My previous SCCM build expired its license so I never bothered to refresh that system but would like to have something similar in 'nix world
• PC's and Laptops OS
• Gargoyle router OS with bandwidth monitoring / quotas / shaping

Desired Systems:

• Directory Services (AD replacement)
• File Server
• Plex Server
• Central App / Update deployment + internet caching
• Fleet Management / Monitoring

Linux Systems to be tested:

• Ubuntu DE's
• Ubuntu Server
• Fedora DE's
• Fedora Server
• Ubuntu Landscape
• Puppet
• Squid Server (transparent cache with bandwidth monitoring / quotas / shaping)

Ill be posting about my trials in moving to the open tomatoey saucy world over the next few months :)

WSUS downloading updates

WSUS downloading updates

Settings are found under WSUS Console -> Options -> Update Files and Languages

Snip:

These settings will download any update that is approved.

One of the issues with WSUS downloads is that if your bandwidth falls below a certain threshold the downloads will cease all together - I actually limit my server to 5KBps using a 3rd party app and the WSUS does not try to download.

To check to see if your downloads are occurring (wsus uses svchost.exe to download which can muddy weather or not they are downloading or another sub svchost process is using the bandwidth) navigate to your <WSUS Drive>:\WSUSUpdates\WsusContent and sort by 'Date Modified' to see how recent the last download folder was.

Snip:

Ping 127.0.53.53

Ping result of 127.0.53.53

In setting up my environment I had an old active directory domain that I built in 2009 called fight.club.

After initial set up I can across an interesting ping result of 127.0.53.53 when pinging my domain fight.club.

127.0.53.53 is a response when there is a name collision with a local domain an existing internet domain. One thing I had failed to think of is that the TLD .club had come into existence since the last time I had used my domain. The .club TLD came into existence on the 18th January 2014

Further reading:
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/name-collision-2013-12-06-en#127.0.53.53

127.0.53.53 is a special IPv4 address that will appear in system logs alerting system administrators that there is potential name collision issue, enabling a quick diagnosis and remediation. The "53" is used as a mnemonic to indicate a DNS-related problem owing to the use of network port 53 for the DNS service.

System administrators that encounter a system error due to name collision are encouraged to take the following steps:

1. Report the problem to ICANN »
   Instances where there is a reasonable belief of demonstrable, severe harm as a consequence of a name collision should be reported.
2. Read the Guide to Name Collision Identification and Mitigation for IT Professionals (version 1.1) [PDF, 476 KB] and implement the measures outlined therein.
3. Spread the word about the potential for name collision occurrence and mitigation in your professional circle.

Next step to rename my domain was needed.

WSUS Download Speeds

WSUS Download Speeds

Being on a metered internet connection I have to mind my downloads and also take opportunity to download as much as possible at the appropriate times, now being the time to download being the end of the month.

I kicked off my WSUS Sync and allowed the server to have access to the internet. The resulting data transfer was less than spectacular, averaging approximately 5-10 KBps.

Off to the googles with the following found: http://blogs.technet.com/b/msaad/archive/2010/09/24/increase-wsus-3-updates-download-speed.aspx

Command:
"%programfiles%\Update Services\Setup\ExecuteSQL.exe" -S %Computername%\MICROSOFT##SSEE -d "SUSDB" -Q "update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

Not having the executable "%programfiles%\Update Services\Setup\ExecuteSQL.exe" and also running 2012 which uses MICROSOFT##WID, not SSEE I moved on.

Next I checked my BIT's settings (Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network, Background Intelligent Transfer Service -> Limit the maximum network bandwidth for BITS background transfers) which were fine.

This fine post http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/3b9df918-411c-44f8-a905-024ad0dcc2a7/windows-2012-wsus-service-bits?forum=winserverwsus showed me the light.

I opened up an administrative cmd window to my sql 2012 folder "D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Tools\Binn"

Command:
SQLCMD.exe -S \\.\pipe\Microsoft##WID\tsql\query -d "SUSDB" -Q "update tbConfigurationC set BitsDownloadPriorityForeground=1"

Snip:

After running the above commands I cycled the WID and the WSUS servers, speeds ramped up to use the full bandwidth.

The first post was primarily correct, just not for Server 2012 R2 and requiring the mssql installed exe

DD-WRT PXE Configuration

DD-WRT PXE Configuration

Being use to windows DHCP options, I had to do some research into enabling my DD-WRT Buffalo router to forward the PXE boot requests to my SCCM 2012 server.

The below is the configuration I needed to add to the routers DNSMasq additional options:

dhcp-boot=<PXEImageName>,<PXE HOST NAME>,<PXE IP Address>

It is also worth to note that the \'s in the output because single quotes ' such as the below:

dhcp-boot=SMSBoot'x64'wdsnbp.com

Snip: