IT Support Servers and Desktop Solution: April 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64 bit)

Here are the step by step guide for the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64 bit).

Once you insert and boot your machine with the RHEL DVD, you will get the below screen. Select "Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0" and Press "Enter".

As you see the installation process is initiated

Select the Language preference

The Next screen contains almost all the configuration which has to be performed for the installation. Since we have already selected our Language and Keyboard preferences, we can skip that step here.

Lets start by setting the Date and Time

Select your Location as in figure it is Asia/Kolkatta

Next we will select the packages which we want to install. So Select "Software Installation" which will lead you to the below screen. In my case I will install the "Base Installation" package having "Server with GUI" and in case you want to add any extra Add On, you can select the same from the left panel as shown below.

Next we need to configure partitions. So select "Installation Destination"

Select the hard disk which you have used to install RHEL 7, as for my case as you can see 20GB hard drive.

Also if you want the OS to automatically create the partition select the same or else for this article letsmanually create the partitions.

You can create a partition with the below list of partition types. As for this article we will select LVM

Click on the "+" sign to add new partition.

For this article I will create /boot, /, swap partition under LVM with Volume Group name as "VolGroup00"

Change the partition type to Ext4 as by default XFS will be selected for every partition you create.

Once you change these settings make sure you "update settings"

By default Volume Group name is "rhel". Let us change it to "VolGroup00"

You can also configure the storage for RAID but let us skip that part as of now.

As you see all the mount points as planned are created with below name under LVM
VolGroup00-root
VolGroup-swap

Click on Done and select Accept Changes.

The last one is to Configure Network

Provide a hostname for your machine and enable the ethernet device. Next select Configure to configure network settings for your machine

Change the Ethernet device name or else you can skip that part. Next configure you IP details as per your environment i.e IPv4 or IPv6. We are using IPv4 so selected the "IPv4 Settings" and added the IP, Netmask,Gateway and DNS details in the same.. Click on "Done" to save the configuration and go a step back.

So we are done here with all the options on this screen. Next we can "Begin Installation"

As you see the installation has begun in the mean time you can add a password for your root user. Also you can create additional user by using the "User Creation" thumbnail.

Provide a password for root account.

Create a user.(Optional)

In the mean time let the installation complete. Once done click on Reboot.

Once the machine reboots, next it will prompt the below screen. Click on "License Information"

Accept the Terms and Conditions

Click on "Finish Configuration"

Next you will get the Kdump configuration page.

Let us enable the Kdump and let the machine decide the amount of memory required for the same.

I do not want to register my system to RHN as for now,also we can perform this step later so let us skip this part for now.

Next you get your Login Screen which means we have successfully installed our Operation System i.e. RHEL 7.0 (64 bit).

Hope you will enjoy it.

Other links you may like

Monday, April 25, 2016

Windows 8 VPN client

Connecting to a VPN is a similar process in Windows 8. Press the Windows key, type VPN, click the Settings category, and select the same Set up a virtual private network (VPN) connectionoption as in Windows 7.

You’ll see the same VPN connection window on the desktop. Enter the address and name of your VPN.

You’ll then see the Networks pane appear. Select the VPN you added and click Connect.

Enter the username and password credentials your VPN requires and you can connect to the VPN.

To access the Network pane in the future, click the network icon in the system tray or open the charms bar, select Settings, and select Network.

To connect or disconnect from a VPN, select it in the Network pane and use the Connect or Disconnect buttons.

To remove a saved VPN connection, press the Windows key, type View network connections, select the Settings category, and click the View network connections option. Right-click a VPN Connection and select Delete to remove it.

Windows 7 PPTP VPN Client Setup

Let’s talk about Windows 7 PPTP VPN client setup in this article, so that you can connect to your home or company’s PPTP VPN server later. In addition, you can also use this VPN client to connect to VPN server that supports L2TP/IPSec, SSTP or IKEv2 VPN protocol.

Without wasting more time, let’s start to configure Windows 7 PPTP VPN client:

1) Go to Start and click on Control Panel.

2) Proceed to click View network status and tasks in Control Panelwindow.

3) Network and Sharing Center window will appear, proceed to click onSet up a new connection or network.

4) Set up a Connection or Network window appears. Choose Connect to a workplace option and click Next.

5) Proceed to click on Use my Internet connection (VPN) (your computer should have connected to network).

6) Let’s type the IP address or host name of the VPN server computerthat you plans to connect to and also name the connection. Most of the time the IP address is the public WAN IP of your home network’s DSL/cable Internet connection if the VPN server is located behind your home router. Click Next.

Note: Tick that Don’t connect now; just set it up so I can connect later option if you are not ready to establish the VPN connection yet. You can also tick other options if it’s applicable.

7) Type your VPN user name and password, after that click Create.

Note: For safety concern, don’t tick Remember this password option.

8) Ok! Now the VPN connection is ready to use, just click Connect now to establish the VPN connection if you are ready. If not, click Close and connect it later.

9) If you click on network icon (right hand corner of taskbar area), you will notice that new VPN connection item is created and you can clickConnect to establish VPN connection.

Note: You can also right click the VPN connection and click on Propertiesin order to configure this connection in details as needed.

Note: If you open VPN connection properties, you can make further VPN configuration. The security tab also shows you the supported VPN types (Automatic is default setting)

VPN SERVER ON WINDOWS SERVER 2012 R2

Setup VPN in Windows Server 2012 R2

This tutorial will cover how to easily setup an VPN in Windows 2012 R2 using a legit cert. If you want to use your own domain’s cert, there are other websites that provide step-by-steps.

This post shows you how you can install a VPN Server on Windows Server 2012 R2 Step-by-Step. It shows you how you can easily setup a VPN server fro a small environment or for a hosted server scenario.

This is definitely not a guide for an enterprise deployment, if you are thinking about a enterprise deployment you should definitely have a look at Direct Access.

First install the “Remote Access” via Server Manager or Windows PowerShell.

Select the “DirectAccess and VPN (RAS)” role services.

On the next steps just use the default settings. After that you can have a look at the Overview screen and install the role.

After the features are installed, which can take a while to finish you see the link for the Getting Started Wizard. Click on “Open the Getting Started Wizard“.

This opens a new wizard which will help you to configure the server. On the first screen select “Deploy VPN only“.

This opens the Routing and Remote Access MMC

Right click on the Server name and click on “Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access“.

On the new wizard select “Custom configuration“.

Select “VPN Access“.

After you have click finish you can now start the Routing and Remote Access service.

If you have an other firewall between the internet and your Windows Server you have to open the following Firewall port sand forward them to your Windows Server:

For PPTP: 1723 TCP and Protocol 47 GRE (also known as PPTP Pass-through)
For L2TP over IPSEC: 1701 TCP and 500 UDP
For SSTP: 443 TCP

After the installation Users have to be enabled for Remote Access to connect to your VPN Server. On a standalone server this can be done in the Computer Management MMC, in a domain environment this can be done in the user properties of an Active Directory user.

If you don’t have a DHCP Server in your environment you have to add a static IP address pool. This is often needed if you have a single server hosted at a service provider. In the properties of your VPN server you can click on the IPv4 tab and enable and configure the “Static address pool”.

You now have to add a IP address from the same subnet as your static address pool to the network interface of your server, so users can access the server.

I hope this helps you to setup a VPN server in a small environment, lab or hosted server.

Other links you may like