Booting and Installing Ubuntu Linux LiveCD ISO from the grub2 menu

May 22nd, 2010

Ubuntu 10.04 is just out and if your like me you will prefer to do a complete rebuild instead of attempting fate (upgrading).
Chances are every 6 months or so you will need to burn yet another Iso image onto cd for the one off time of installing your system.

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Determine table size of all tables in a MSSQL database

May 21st, 2010

I often have a requirement to find the largest tables in a MSSQL database

Microsoft provides a built in stored proc to find the the size of one table but no ease way to determine the sizes of all tables

the “sp_spaceused” stored proc returns the following table results

  • name: Table name for which space usage information was requested
  • rows: Number of rows existing in the table
  • reserved: Total amount of reserved space for table data and indexes
  • data: Amount of space used by table data
  • index_size: Amount of space used by table indexes
  • unused: Total amount of space reserved for table but no yet used

below I have used a CURSOR to loop through each table a the database and return the results for all tables
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Windows Server 2008 Core Commands

May 13th, 2010

A must have list of Windows Server 2008 Core commands

· Set IP Address: <Nic> <Dynamic or Static> <IP> <mask> <gateway>

o Netsh interface ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.10.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.10.1

· Set DNS <dns server ip>

o Netsh interface ip set dnsserver “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.10.10

· Rename Computer:

o Netdom renamecomputer <computername> /newname:<newcomputername>

· Join domain: please note paswordD should have two “D’s” because you are specifying a Domain password

o Netdom join <computername> /domain:<FQDN> /userD:<domain admin> /passwordD:<domain password> <or “*”>

· Enable Remote Administration
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Questions to ask and what to look for when buying a House

January 16th, 2010

Like many others, Im always out on the lookout for some property bargains, however when I do find a house its so easy to get caught up with certain bling an forget all about the must have important features you really require in a house.

I have put together a list of question to ask when dealing with agents, these question are broken down in to two type; contact by Phone or contact Face to Face ie: at the property inspection or open house.

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Creating a bootable WinPE iso image with all network drivers

September 5th, 2009

Recently I had a requirement to create a bootable WinPE iso image, i looked around an thought there would be some kind of general community script around but could not find one.

This requirement required that all network card drivers were installed and thus creating a one size fits all bootable ISO which could then be used to “net use” a remote network share and start the installation of Windows 2008.

This is the script I came up with. Its fairly simple. all you have to do is download the network drivers from the BTS download page here: http://driverpacks.net/driverpacks/windows/xp/x86/lan you can also download eg mass storage drivers if required.

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Configuring IIS 7 script with APPCMD – Altiris Script

September 2nd, 2009

Recently I was required to create a re-runable script which would configure an IIS web site and Application Pool. This script required to be re-runable to correct any inconsistencies from web server to web server.

The delivery method was to use Altiris to  deploy to numerous servers at once.

This script uses the Altitis WlogEvents.exe to pass back error and informational status to Altiris for collection and evaluation.

Although this configures HttpS and binds the site to an https IP address I am yet to configure the script to assign the correct Certificate to the site

Code Below…

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Repository for OzMyth is Back …

September 20th, 2008

Well it been a while now and have had many people (friends) asking when my OzMyth repository will be up and running

initially I started this as a mechanism of helping my friends out (and also so I wouldn’t have to keep spending my weekends rebuilding their MythTV boxes over and over again.

What I’ve done is simply created some metapackages to assist in the installation of MythTV as well as some configuration scripts

To use the repository simply add the following lines to you /etc/apt/sources.list file

Method 1

  1. open a terminal
  2. type in “sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list” to bring up the sources repository listing
  3. add the following codedeb http://bencic.net/repo/ hardy main
    deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ hardy free non-free
  4. type in “sudo aptitude update” to refresh the apt packages listing

Method 2

  1. open a terminal
  2. type in
    wget http://bencic.net/repo/pool/hardy/ozmyth-repo_2.0_all.deb
  3. type in
    dpkg -i ozmyth-repo_2.0_all.deb
  4. type in “sudo aptitude update” to refresh the apt packages listing

Once the repository is installed you can install OzMyth through Synaptics or via the command line sudo aptitide install ozmyth

Wedding Reception Venue: Lauriston House + GST

April 6th, 2008
After about 6 weeks of searching, we have finally chosen our wedding reception venue. Our wedding will be taking place at Lauriston House in early April 2008.The staff are friendly and the food is great however there are some things to watch out for when choosing Lauriston House as with any venue. Lauriston House Quote

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Creating a custom pages template with dynamic sub menu listing in WordPress

January 5th, 2008

I recently got my WordPress site up and running.
I had a need to have a “Parent Page” which would dynamically lists its child pages as a list. Example

Initially I thought there would be a method to call the wp_list_pages() function from the page content but I couldn’t find how (or doesn’t exist).

I explored my options there was exec-php however I didn’t want add any potential security holes by allowing php code to be executed (I have been stung in the past with something similar).

Searching through the internet, I couldn’t find any help out

I ended up creating a custom pages template.

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Canon EOS 40D DSLR

December 29th, 2007
On the 28 December 2007 we purchased a new Canon EOS 40D. This is our first digital SLR and we were a little confused because this is all new to us. I started to jot down a few tip and features which i have read from numerous sites articles so that I don’t forget them. to read the full article click on”Read the rest of this article” link. this is still a work in progress.. any assistance would be appreciate. Canon EOS 40D

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