Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/30
My own motto: learn new things every day.
Florian:
[Archive.is] Florian Haas 🇪🇺 on Twitter: “Docs or it didn’t happen.… “
David:
[Archive.is] ☁David Moreau-Simard on Twitter: “Hey software and system folks, I’m curious: what are some of the mottos you work by ? I’ll start:
Via Florian’s pinned Twitter post I found while writing media.ccc.de – No, we won’t have a video call for that! (Communications in distributed teams by Florian Haas).
–jeroen
Posted in Development, DevOps, Software Development | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/30
Quite a while ago I found [Wayback] windows 7 – How can I eject a CD via the cmd? – Super User, but forgot to document that in the batch-files I created from it.
It shows both this one-liner:
powershell "(new-object -COM Shell.Application).NameSpace(17).ParseName('D:').InvokeVerb('Eject')"
The hardcoded const 17 is for the ssfDRIVES element in the ShellSpecialFolderConstants, which is documented at [Wayback] ShellSpecialFolderConstants (shldisp.h) – Win32 apps | Microsoft Docs.
There is no PowerShell equivalent of that element, hence the hardcoded value 17.
The script invokes the verb Eject, which works on any kind of removable media (not just optical drives). If you want to limit it to only certain drive types, then you would need to compare the Type of the ParseName() result. However, that result has a Type property returns a string for which the possible values are not documented.
Here are some links I tried to find out what is returned:
(new-object -COM Shell.Application))NameSpace(17))FolderItem structures)ParseName('D:'))Verb on the FolterItem)FolderItem supports to be executed via InvokeVerb)FolderItem representing a drive will be the drive type)In addition to the Shell.Application, there also is Scripting.FileSystemObject, which allows enumerating the drives and filter on DriveType. This is the relevant documentation:
Drives collection type where each item is a Drive type.Drive type elementsDrives collectionDrive type indicating the type of drive:Case 0: t = "Unknown" Case 1: t = "Removable" Case 2: t = "Fixed" Case 3: t = "Network" Case 4: t = "CD-ROM" Case 5: t = "RAM Disk"
The second example in the above mentioned answer shows how to use this to filter for optical drives.
It also shows a cool technique to have a hybrid batch-file/JScript script:
@if (@CodeSection == @Batch) @then @echo off setlocal cscript /nologo /e:JScript "%~f0" goto :EOF @end // end batch / begin JScript hybrid chimera // DriveType=4 means CD drive for a WScript FSO object. // See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ys4ctaz0%28v=vs.84%29.aspx // NameSpace(17) = ssfDRIVES, or My Computer. // See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb774096%28v=vs.85%29.aspx var oSH = new ActiveXObject('Shell.Application'), FSO = new ActiveXObject('Scripting.FileSystemObject'), CDdriveType = 4, ssfDRIVES = 17, drives = new Enumerator(FSO.Drives); while (!drives.atEnd()) { var x = drives.item(); if (x.DriveType == CDdriveType) { oSH.NameSpace(ssfDRIVES).ParseName(x.DriveLetter + ':').InvokeVerb('Eject'); while (x.IsReady) WSH.Sleep(50); } drives.moveNext(); }
–jeroen
Posted in Batch-Files, Development, JScript, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/29
I wrote about the built-in smartinfo command before at NVMe and SATA health data on ESXi: some links to investigate.
It is at /usr/lib/vmware/vm-support/bin/smartinfo, which is not in the path. I used it recently after having trouble with some 2.5-inch SSD devices, of one which is listed below.
Some note on this error what smartinfo from ESXi throwed on some devices over time on various ESXi machines:
Failed to get SMART stats for t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ error Cannot open device -----------------------------------------------------
The same SSD sometimes had very big latency times:
2021-05-01T16:23:20.306Z cpu7:2097783)WARNING: ScsiDeviceIO: 1564: Device t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ performance has deteriorated. I/O latency increased from average value of 59147 2021-05-01T16:23:20.306Z cpu7:2097783)WARNING: microseconds to 1274466 microseconds. 2021-05-01T16:23:20.306Z cpu7:2097783)WARNING: ScsiDeviceIO: 1564: Device t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ performance has deteriorated. I/O latency increased from average value of 59150 2021-05-01T16:23:20.306Z cpu7:2097783)WARNING: microseconds to 2664445 microseconds. 2021-05-01T16:23:20.847Z cpu7:2097190)ScsiDeviceIO: 1530: Device t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ performance has improved. I/O latency reduced from 2664445 microseconds to 526814 microseconds. 2021-05-01T16:23:38.477Z cpu5:2097783)ScsiDeviceIO: 1530: Device t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ performance has improved. I/O latency reduced from 526814 microseconds to 116553 microseconds. 2021-05-01T16:24:01.380Z cpu9:2097674)NMP: nmp_ResetDeviceLogThrottling:3586: last error status from device t10.ATA_____Samsung_SSD_860_EVO_500GB_______________S3Z2NB0M529545P_____ repeated 1 times
[Wayback] “smartinfo” “error Cannot open device” – Google Search delivered mainly results around the old smartinfo.sh tool that is now replaced by the smartinfo binary:
[Wayback] “ESXi” “smart” “error Cannot open device” – Google Search returned no relevant results.
I think an 860 EVO 2.5-inch SSD is not on par running half a dozen Windows VM’s that have regular write actions, but I will later give this a try, though I doubt it will help as this is on a VMware 6.7 update 3 based system which should not have the vmw_ahci driver slowness:
[Wayback] NVMe SSD Fast, but SATA SSD slow ! – VMware Technology Network VMTN (hyphen fixes mine):
I have done the
esxcli system module set --enabled=false --module=vmw_ahciand rebooted, and I got a small performance increase. But still not what I thought.
It refers these other posts:
With the release of ESXi 6.5 Update 1, I am happy to report the observed performance issues with the Native AHCI driver have now been resolved! I have been running on earlier release of ESXi 6.5 Update 1 build for couple of weeks now and have not seen any of the problems I had before. For those interested, the official fix went is in version 1.0.0-37vmw or greater of the vmw_ahci driver.
…
If the Native AHCI driver is disabled as shown in the previous command, then you can re-enable it by running the following ESXCLI command:
esxcli system module set --enabled=true --module=vmw_ahci
The system with this behaviour is on these versions:
# esxcli software vib list | grep ahci sata-ahci 3.0-26vmw.670.0.0.8169922 VMW VMwareCertified 2021-04-03 vmw-ahci 2.0.7-2vmw.670.3.143.17700523 VMW VMwareCertified 2021-04-04
–jeroen
Posted in ESXi6, ESXi6.5, ESXi6.7, ESXi7, Power User, Virtualization, VMware, VMware ESXi | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/29
Not just for during the Covid times: the helpful examples and thorough explanation by Florian makes this a must-watch video for anyone wanting to participate in distributed teams.
[Wayback] media.ccc.de – No, we won’t have a video call for that!
The above link has downloads for both Video (mp4 and WebM formats) and audio (mp3 and opus formats). I found the video easier to digest.
If you want to watch it on-line, there is the YouTube video (below the signature) which has closed captions as well.
Kristian Köhntopp made a [Wayback/Archive.is] short intro and abstract on Twitter:
https://xahteiwi.eu/resources/presentations/no-we-wont-have-a-video-call-for-that/
Exactly one year ago, the office building I was working from every work day caught fire, and was closed for a month for renovation.
On the day of the planned reopening, my employer declared Covid emergency and asked everybody to work from home.
So that is how we work since then, and we will continue to do so until at least October.
Not too much has changed, though. When the new https://oosterdokseiland.nl/en/ opens, there will be probably a lot of pain between the people who go to the office to work and those who don’t.
The talk above by @xahteiwi explains in a nice way how to work properly remote first:
- Writing over speaking.
- Asynchronous over synchronous.
- Structured communication over free form.
Some things require a free form video chat, but even then, set an agenda and write minutes.
Florian also explains when to use what, and what situations would require a synchronous wide-band channel, but most of them are exceptional, and most of the time you could execute better using structured, written, async mode comms.
Having said that, if you want his talk as a briefing, here is a Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVnci3tyDa4
First watch the video, then read the full speaker notes at [Wayback] No, We Won’t Have a Video Call for That! – xahteiwi.eu “My talk from FrOSCon 2020, Cloud Edition.”
More on-line:
–jeroen
Posted in Agile, Conference Topics, Conferences, Development, Event, LifeHacker, Power User, Software Development | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/29
This option in Chrome has moved around a bit, so here is how it was in Version 89.0.4389.90 (Official Build) (64-bit) when I documented it.
chrome://discards/
https://web.whatsapp.com/ , so I searched for whatsapp which you see as orange in the screenshots below) for which you want to ensure it will never sleep/hibernate (Chrome calls this “discardable”)
Toggle under the checkmark ✔ so it changes into a cross ✘️ (so the URL will never be discarded, hence always stays awake)Do this only for tabs that are not CPU/memory/traffic intensive
I got there via these posts:
chrome://flags that does not work for this problem any more)chrome://discards alternative.When searching for discards, I found this post: [Wayback] How to Prevent Chrome from Reloading Tabs When You Switch to Them
Chrome has built-in memory management that causes inactive tabs to “sleep” as RAM is filled. When you click the tab again, it has to reload the page. It’s annoying.
–jeroen
Posted in Chrome, Development, Google, Power User, SocialMedia, Software Development, Web Development, WhatsApp | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/28
Via https://twitter.com/locuta/status/1475849029376516098
LET OP: We hebben een telefoonnummer gevonden dat je vanuit het buitenland kunt bellen om een boosterafspraak te maken: +31851124970. Deze lijkt nog wél te werken!
prikdoor
Draadje met extra informatie:
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/28
MSTSC.exe helptext
I created this small batch file:
:: start last RDP session (or new one with command-line parameters) full-screen :: see https://interworks.com/blog/ijahanshahi/2012/01/02/mstsc-commands-and-creating-custom-remote-desktop-shortcut/ mstsc /f %*
It is based on [Wayback] MSTSC Commands and Creating a Custom Remote Desktop Shortcut | InterWorks, which has the helptext for MSTSC.exe (which stands for MicroSoft Terminal Services).
Later I found out a way easier method to get that helptext is to run MSTSC.exe /?, which shows a nice dialog:
[Window Title] Remote Desktop Connection Usage [Content] MSTSC [] [/v:<server[:port]>] [/g:] [/admin] [/f[ullscreen]] [/w: /h:] [/public] | [/span] [/multimon] [/edit "connection file"] [/restrictedAdmin] [/remoteGuard] [/prompt] [/shadow: [/control] [/noConsentPrompt]] "connection file" -- Specifies the name of an .RDP file for the connection. /v:<server[:port]> -- Specifies the remote PC to which you want to connect. /g: -- Specifies the RD Gateway server to use for the connection. This parameter is only read if the endpoint remote PC is specified with /v. /admin -- Connects you to the session for administering a remote PC. /f -- Starts Remote Desktop in full-screen mode. /w: -- Specifies the width of the Remote Desktop window. /h: -- Specifies the height of the Remote Desktop window. /public -- Runs Remote Desktop in public mode. /span -- Matches the remote desktop width and height with the local virtual desktop, spanning across multiple monitors, if necessary. To span across monitors, the monitors must be arranged to form a rectangle. /multimon -- Configures the Remote Desktop Services session monitor layout to be identical to the current client-side configuration. /edit -- Opens the specified .RDP connection file for editing. /restrictedAdmin -- Connects you to the remote PC in Restricted Administration mode. In this mode, credentials won't be sent to the remote PC, which can protect you if you connect to a PC that has been compromised. However, connections made from the remote PC might not be authenticated by other PCs, which might impact application functionality and compatibility. This parameter implies /admin. /remoteGuard -- Connects your device to a remote device using Remote Guard. Remote Guard prevents credentials from being sent to the remote PC, which can help protect your credentials if you connect to a remote PC that has been compromised. Unlike Restricted Administration mode, Remote Guard also supports connections made from the remote PC by redirecting all requests back to your device. /prompt -- Prompts you for your credentials when you connect to the remote PC. /shadow: -- Specifies the ID of the session to shadow. /control -- Allows control of the session when shadowing. /noConsentPrompt -- Allows shadowing without user consent. [OK]
–jeroen
Posted in Batch-Files, Development, Power User, Remote Desktop Protocol/MSTSC/Terminal Services, Scripting, Software Development, Windows | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/28
It still seems that WMIC is the quickest way to get CPU information on the console:
T510-PSO C:\bin\rdp> wmic cpu get name,CurrentClockSpeed,MaxClockSpeed CurrentClockSpeed MaxClockSpeed Name 2667 2667 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 560 @ 2.67GHz T510-PSO C:\bin\rdp> wmic path win32_Processor get Name,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors Name NumberOfCores NumberOfLogicalProcessors Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 560 @ 2.67GHz 2 4
Actually, wmic cpu is shorthand for wmic path win32_Processor, so this works fine:
T510-PSO C:\bin\rdp> wmic cpu get name,CurrentClockSpeed,MaxClockSpeed,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors CurrentClockSpeed MaxClockSpeed Name NumberOfCores NumberOfLogicalProcessors 2667 2667 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 560 @ 2.67GHz 2 4
The reason is that cpu is an alias:
T510-PSO C:\bin\rdp> wmic alias cpu list brief FriendlyName PWhere Target CPU Where DeviceID='#' Select * from WIN32_PROCESSOR
Via:
–jeroen
Posted in Batch-Files, Console (command prompt window), Development, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, T510, ThinkPad, Windows | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/28
People around me often wonder why things that seem so obvious does not work, and ask me if I bump into similar things.
I do, and often wonder why banks do not pay users to do testing for them instead of the other way around.
Below the fold a few Twitter threads. They might be mainly involving ING, but that’s just because I use their business and consumer portals more than those of other banks.
Here are the summaries:
Posted in Development, Software Development, Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/12/27
The cool thing about the Chocolatey NirLauncher install, is that it not just installs the launcher in the path, but all the NirSoft tools.
I wanted it in the path initially because I needed InsideClipboard to do some investigation (I wrote a similar tool ages ago, but could not readily find the source or executable, but InsideClipboard is better anyway).
This is cool, as I now can start any of the NirSoft tools from the cmd prompt, including [WayBack] NirLauncher itself, [WayBack] InsideClipboard and [WayBack] NirCmd (so I can now set the sound volume to 25% by running nircmd setsysvolume 16000)
To install:
choco install --yes NirLauncher
An older WayBack link notes a few important issues about anti-virus tools:
Posted in Chocolatey, NirSoft, Power User, Windows, Windows 10 | Leave a Comment »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 