Some handy commands to see what's going on with a strongswan-based ipsec connection

ip -s xfrm state

ip route list table 220

ipsec status

If you work with the AWS CLI and it's cousins, you notice quickly that there are different versions and functionality depending on which version of python you use to install them. Therefore, I recommend setting up a virtual environment for each version of python, so you can always be working with the most functional packages and not have to create confusion in your root environment.

Are you plagued by that need for five 9's and have an Oracle RAC VM? Can't spare the time to shut down that VM? You don't need the Bass-o-matic 76 just the following to allow you to alter Change Block Tracking with an online VM. (Though a Bass-o-matic is highly recommended).

Just fetch your friendly PowerCLI interface to VMWare and connect to your friendly neighborhood vCenter:

$vm="VM_Name"

$vmtest = Get-vm $vm| get-view $vmConfigSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

Setup Ansible and AWS CLI to use multiple access keys

This jaunty little powershell profile will give you a multicolor prompt, and will change the username red when your running in administrator context.

This article assumes that you've uploaded a custom avatar to your Google chrome identity already.

Since I build an internal glossary at pretty much every organization I join, I figure it's about time to start writing down the most common definitions here that I reference globally:

Framework: A structure which provides a hierarchy, charter and reasoning for policies, standards, and procedures.

Policy: A guideline or statement of position with respect to a given topic.

Systemd

systemctl list-units --type service --all
systemctl status [service]
systemctl enable [service]

Firewalld

firewall-cmd --list-all
firewall-cmd --get-services
cat /usr/lib/firewalld/services/[service].xml
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=[service]
firewall-cmd --add-port=[port]/[tcp or udp]
firewall-cmd --reload

SELinux

getsebool -a | grep [service]
setsebool -P [service]

This is a simple Python script one can use to bring a single server stack online with a new Elastic IP. Note that sometimes you'll have properties nested within properties, such as the rules nested within the security group below. The only way to define these that I've found is by defining them within the property -- that is, one cannot define them outside the "Properties" tag of the current resource. Network interfaces are also an example of this.

One of the surprises that Python contains is that it appears to only pass variables by reference, which I'm sure will get me in hot water with Python gurus but walking and quacking like a duck will get you called a duck. In any case, something very useful that one might want to do in troposphere is to make value-based copies of AWS resources. While technically this is impossible, one can accomplish the net same affect with a simple for-each loop: