Backup Raspberry-PI using Ubuntu

While searching myself for a solution to backup Raspberry-PI disk using Ubuntu ,
I came across different methods and tools like, CloneZilla, dd, rsync.
I was hoping to find a tool similar to Win32DiskImager  that run on Windows.
and surprisingly, I found a solution myself that I didn't find while searching.

The solution is to use the Disk utility that ships with Ubuntu.
This utility will allow you to backup and also restore.

System.Data.Sqlite for Linux / Ubuntu / Mono

System.Data.Sqlite default Nuget package will not work in Ubuntu / Mono.
This error will occur:

System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteFactory' threw an exception. ---> System.DllNotFoundException: SQLite.Interop.dll  at (wrapper managed-to-native) System.Data.SQLite.UnsafeNativeMethods:sqlite3_config_none (System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteConfigOpsEnum)  at System.Data.SQLite.SQLite3.StaticIsInitialized () <0x4037a6f0 0x00087=""> in :0   at System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteLog.Initialize () <0x4037a370 0x00027=""> in :0   at System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteFactory..cctor () <0x403645f0 0x00057=""> in :0   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

copying over SQLite.Interop.dll to the bin folder didn't fix the issue.
the solution is to download Sqlite source code and build it yourself using this command:

MSBuild System.Data.SQLite.2012.csproj /t:Rebuild /p:UseInteropDll=false /p:UseSqliteStandard=true

here is a download link to save you time:

System.Data.SQLite.dll

Access SharePoint 2013 from Linux/ Ubuntu

For a long time I couldn't access SharePoint 2013 from my Ubuntu machine.

when I try to access it, I get this error:

401 UNAUTHORIZED

Here is the solution for this problem:

1- Use any other machine to access SharePoint and for each site you want to access from Ubuntu disable (  Minimal Download Strategy ) feature.

Site settings -> Manage site features -> Disable Download Strategy

2- Make sure you use the fully qualified name for your SharePoint server in the URL
so instead of http://sharepointserver, use http://sharepointserver.compnaydomain.com

not using the fully qualified name will cause SharePoint to keep prompting you for user name and password.

download Kensho OVF Tool

Kensho OVF Tool was developed by Citrix to convert the disk format of a virtual machine from Hyper-V (vhd) or VMWare (vmdk).

It was hard to find a download link for this tool, so I decided to provide one.

Download Link

Chef Fix for ( WARNING: No knife configuration file found )

if the command (knife client list) fails with this error:

WARNING: No knife configuration file found
WARN: Failed to read the private key /etc/chef/client.pem: #

make sure you downloaded the chef-repo and configured knife.rb file which looks like this:

current_dir = File.dirname(__FILE__)
log_level                :info
log_location             STDOUT
node_name                "admin"
client_key               "#{current_dir}/admin.pem"
validation_client_name   "org-validator"
validation_key           "#{current_dir}/org-validator.pem"
chef_server_url          "https://server_domain_or_IP/organizations/org"
syntax_check_cache_path  "#{ENV['HOME']}/.chef/syntaxcache"
cookbook_path            ["#{current_dir}/../cookbooks"]

also make sure you are at the chef-repo directory, running the command from another directory will give you the same error.

check this guide to learn how to setup and configure chef workstation :

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-a-chef-12-configuration-management-system-on-ubuntu-14-04-servers

MS Exchange mailbox quarantined Error

Problem : 

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
User name (username@xyz.com)
Your message wasn't delivered because the recipient's mailbox is quarantined. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk.
The following organization rejected your message: mail.domain.com

Diagnostic information for administrators:
Generating server: mail.domain.com
Total retry attempts: 1
username@xyz.commail.domain.com
Remote Server returned '550 5.7.9 STOREDRV.Deliver; Recipient mailbox quarantined.; STOREDRV.Deliver.Exception:StorageTransientException.MapiExceptionMailboxQuarantined; Failed to process message due to a permanent exception with message Cannot open mailbox


Solution : 

this is caused by either user reaching maximum quota limit or it is could be due to exchange server running out of disk space.

In my case it was due to disk space on the server, I had to truncate mail databases logs and other logs created by exchange and also I had to change the quota limit for the user even though it was not reached yet , also rebooting the server will be required.

Storage Migration of a Windows 2012 R2 VDI Deployment (Managed Virtual Desktops Collection)

Storage migration of VMs can be performed as one step easily using either the Failover Cluster Manager in Windows 2012 R2 or  VMM . However, migrating a VDI deployment that consist of a collection of virtual desktops is far more complex and there is no direct way to do the migration yet !

when you try to edit the deployment properties to change the storage location, you will be able to change certain configuration but not all of them, for example you can change the location of the users profiles but not the location of the parent disk of the image/template used to create the collection,
so to do the migration, you will need to create a new collection.

so here what I needed to do to migrate my VDI deployment :

1- Copy the master VM/Image used to create the collection to the new storage
2- Copy the users profiles vhd files (if your deployment use them) in a temp folder
3- Drop the existing collection
4- Create the new collection based on the Image you copied
5- Move the users profiles vhd files to the new storage location

Note: it is important to use the same template, otherwise users might have problems loading their profiles .