Down the Rabbit Hole

My adventures as a Sys Admin. Here there be Linux, Powershell, and funny gifs.

[thingsprogrammersshout]

Things Programmers Shout #470

“Ok, I know what I have to do. Just create a new class…” *stares at screen for half an hour wondering how to name it*

// submitted by @cecilyacat

[thingsprogrammersshout]

Things Programmers Shout #455

“What do you mean variable not defined?!?! I just defined it, you sorry excuse of a language.“ // submitted by @aggressivelyshipsallships

[thingsprogrammersshout]

Things Programmers Shout #454

“A different error message! Finally some progress!” // submitted by @falterfire

[devopsreactions]

User says 10G network is not enough

by John

[securityreactions]

When my laptop starts acting funny

[devopsreactions]

Alerts when an outage starts

by Briggs

[devopsreactions]

Alerts when an outage starts

by Briggs

[adventures-in-systemsland]

Get Dirsync status with PowerShell

One of the biggest challenges I faced while automating mailbox creation and migration within a hybrid Exchange/O365 environment was figuring out when Dirsync had finished running.

By default, Dirsync runs x hours after the time the last cycle completes, which means that Dirsync never really runs on a fixed schedule. But, how does Dirsync know when the cycle completed?

Turns out, there’s a value in Get-MsolCompanyInformation called LastDirsyncTime. Get that value, store it in a variable, run Dirsync, then use a while loop to compare the value in your variable with the current value of LastDirSyncTime until the current value exceeds your variable value.

Here’s the code snippet, and the full function I use for O365 to On-Prem migration is below the cut.

$DirSyncTimeBefore = Get-MsolCompanyInformation | select LastDirSyncTime $dstimeb = $DirSyncTimeBefore.LastDirSyncTime Write-Output "Time before is $dstimeb"

$ScriptBlock = { Invoke-Command -ComputerName dirsyncserver.domain.com {C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe ` -psconsolefile "C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync\DirSyncConfigShell.psc1" ` -command "Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync"} } while ($timetest  -ne $True){    $DirsyncTimeNow = Get-MsolCompanyInformation | select LastDirSyncTime    $dstimen = $DirsyncTimeNow.LastDirSyncTime    $timetest = $DirsyncTimeNow.LastDirSyncTime –gt $DirSyncTimeBefore.LastDirSyncTime    Write-Output "Time now is $dstimen"    Start-Sleep(20)

   Function Invoke-MailboxMigration    {    <#     .SYNOPSIS     Migrates a mailbox from O365 to On-prem.     .DESCRIPTION     Cmdlet prepares mailbox for migration, starts dirsync, then finishes migration after dirsync has finished.     .EXAMPLE     Invoke-MailboxMigration -Username meowth -GUID "0x000x00-y0yy-000y-0000-00000z0z00zz"     #>    [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$True,ConfirmImpact='Low')]    param       (     [Parameter(Mandatory=$True,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$True,Position=0,HelpMessage='Please enter a username')] [string]$Username,     [Parameter(Mandatory=$True,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$True,Position=1,HelpMessage='Enter a GUID')]       [string]$GUID,   [Parameter(Mandatory=$True,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$True,Position=2,HelpMessage='Enter a database')]       [string]$Database       )    #region setup    $EmailAddress = [string]::Concat($($Username),"@domain.mail.onmicrosoft.com")      Enable-Remotemailbox $Username -remoteroutingaddress $EmailAddress    Set-Remotemailbox $Username -ExchangeGUID $GUID    Write-Output "Began migration process for $Username with remote routing address $EmailAddress and GUID $GUID"    #endregion

   #region Dirsync    try{Get-MsolAccountSku -ErrorAction Stop }    catch [Microsoft.Online.Administration.Automation.MicrosoftOnlineException]    {"Not connected to MSOnline. Now connecting."    $O365pw = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force -String s3cretP@ssw0rd!    $O365Cred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList "[email protected]",$O365pw    Connect-MsolService -Credential $O365Cred    }

   $DirSyncTimeBefore = Get-MsolCompanyInformation | select LastDirSyncTime    $dstimeb = $DirSyncTimeBefore.LastDirSyncTime    Write-Output "Time before is $dstimeb"

   $ScriptBlock = {    Invoke-Command -ComputerName dirsyncserver.domain.com {C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe `    -psconsolefile "C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync\DirSyncConfigShell.psc1" `    -command "Start-OnlineCoexistenceSync"}    }

   while ($timetest  -ne $True){       $DirsyncTimeNow = Get-MsolCompanyInformation | select LastDirSyncTime       $dstimen = $DirsyncTimeNow.LastDirSyncTime       $timetest = $DirsyncTimeNow.LastDirSyncTime –gt $DirSyncTimeBefore.LastDirSyncTime       Write-Output "Time now is $dstimen"       Start-Sleep(20) #sleep for 20 seconds    }    #endregion

   #region mailboxMove    $ExPW = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force -String s3cretP@ssw0rd!    $ExCred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList "domain\exchangeAdmin",$ExPW    New-MoveRequest -Outbound -RemoteTargetDatabase $Database -RemoteHostName mailserver.domain.com -RemoteCredential $ExCred -TargetDeliveryDomain domain.com -Identity [email protected]    #endregion    }

[devopsreactions]

So many tickets, so little time...

by @ReesReb

[devopsreactions]

Using "cat" instead of "tail"

by donttrustcats

[securityreactions]

Accidental chmod -R on /

by infra 

[devopsreactions]

How to respond about on-going outages

uaiHebert

[devopsreactions]

When staging/pre-prod is broken

by JK

[devopsreactions]

The service is broken for no apparent reason 10 minutes before the presentation

by mkzero

[devopsreactions]

Monday morning‘s requests

by Vincus

[devopsreactions]

Replacing all the SSL certs again, for SHA-1 to SHA-2 migration

by euc

[devopsreactions]

SELINUX=enforcing

by Briggs