Tag: Network

Mar192020March 19, 2020March 17, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Connect Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine to Azure VPN

Connect Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine to Azure VPN

Posted in Cloud, Hardware, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure

A couple of days ago I got a Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine, which is an all-in-one device with an access point, 4-port switch, and a security gateway. After the basic setup, I wanted to connect my Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine USG to an Azure VPN Gateway (Azure Virtual Gateway), using Site-to-Site VPN. In this blog post, I am going to show you how you can create a site-to-Site (S2S) VPN connection from your Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine to Azure Virtual Network Gateway.

Azure Virtual Network Gateway and Connection

I already have a virtual network in Azure with the address space 10.166.0.0/16, and I also deployed the Azure Virtual Network Gateway connected to that vNet. The next thing I did was to add a connection to the gateway.

Azure VPN Connection

Azure VPN Connection

You need the following:

  • Name for the connection
  • Set Connection type to Site-to-site (IPSec)
  • Create a local network gateway (basically the configuration of your local VPN gateway.
  • Define a shared secret

Configure Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine VPN connection

Now you can switch to your UniFI Dream Machine, which has an UniFI USG integrated. Under settings go to Networks and click on Create new Network. 

UniFi Network Azure VPN

UniFi Network Azure VPN

Here you configure the following:

  • Name of your VPN connection
  • VPN Type Manuel IPSec
  • Remote Subnets which is the Azure vNet address space (in my case 10.166.0.0/16)
  • Peer IP which is the public IP address of the Azure virtual network gateway
  • Local WAN IP
  • the pre-shared key (shared secret)
  • IPSec Profile: Customized
  • Key Exchange Version: IKEv2
  • Encryption: AES-256
  • Hash: SHA1
  • DH Group: 2

After that, the VPN will connect and the status of your Azure virtual network gateway connection will change to connected.

Dream Machine Azure VPN Connection

Dream Machine Azure VPN Connection

You can now reach your Azure virtual machine using the private IP address range.

Connected Azure VPN

Connected Azure VPN

I hope this was helpful and show you how you can connect a Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Machine (USG) to an Azure Virtual Network using a site-to-site VPN connection. If you want to learn more about Azure Virtual Network Gateways check out the following documentation:

If you want to know more about point-to-site VPN connection to Azure check out my blog posts:

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.


Apr272017April 27, 2017May 27, 20190Commentby Thomas Maurer
Performance Tuing Guidelines for Windows Server 2016

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Performance Tuning Guide

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hardware, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Nano Server, PowerShell, Server Core, System Center, Virtualization, Web, Windows, Windows Server, Windows Server 2016, Work

Yesterday Microsoft released the official Windows Server 2016 Performance Tuning Guide. The guide provides a collection of technical articles with guidance for IT professionals responsible for deploying, operating and tuning Windows Server 2016 across the most common server workloads. The guide is especially helpful if you deploy roles like Active Directory, Hyper-V, Storage Spaces Direct, Remote Desktop Servers, Web Servers, Windows Server Containers, and Networking features.

It is important that your tuning changes consider the hardware, the workload, the power budgets, and the performance goals of your server. This guide describes each setting and its potential effect to help you make an informed decision about its relevance to your system, workload, performance, and energy usage goals.

You can find the documentation on the new docs./osoft.com platform, where now all the Windows Server 2016 documentation is available. Here you can find the: Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2016

If you are looking for hardware recommendations check out my blog post: My Hardware Recommendations for Windows Server 2016 and you can also check my blog post about Getting started with Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016


Feb162016February 16, 2016January 23, 201911Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Get-NetIPConfiguration

Basic Networking PowerShell cmdlets cheatsheet to replace netsh, ipconfig, nslookup and more

Posted in Cloud, Containers, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Nano Server, PowerShell, Private Cloud, Virtualization, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Work

Around 4 years ago I wrote a blog post about how to Replace netsh with Windows PowerShell which includes basic powershell networking cmdlets. After working with Microsoft Azure, Nano Server and Containers, PowerShell together with networking becomes more and more important. I created this little cheat sheet so it becomes easy for people to get started.

Basic Networking PowerShell cmdlets

Get-NetIPConfiguration

Get the IP Configuration (ipconfig with PowerShell)

Get-NetIPConfiguration

List all Network Adapters

Get-NetAdapter

Get a spesific network adapter by name

Get-NetAdapter -Name *Ethernet*

Get more information VLAN ID, Speed, Connection status

Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, Status, Linkspeed, VlanID

Get driver information

Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, DriverName, DriverVersion, DriverInformation, DriverFileName

Get adapter hardware information. This can be really usefull when you need to know the PCI slot of the NIC.

Get-NetAdapterHardwareInfo

Disable and Enable a Network Adapter

Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Wireless Network Connection"
Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Wireless Network Connection"

Rename a Network Adapter

Rename-NetAdapter -Name "Wireless Network Connection" -NewName "Wireless"

IP Configuration using PowerShell

PowerShell Networking Get-NetIPAddress

Get IP and DNS address information

Get-NetAdapter -Name "Local Area Connection" | Get-NetIPAddress

Get IP address only

(Get-NetAdapter -Name "Local Area Connection" | Get-NetIPAddress).IPv4Address

Get DNS Server Address information

Get-NetAdapter -Name "Local Area Connection" | Get-DnsClientServerAddress

Set IP Address

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wireless" -IPv4Address 10.0.1.95 -PrefixLength "24" -DefaultGateway 10.0.1.1

or if you want to change a existing IP Address

Set-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wireless" -IPv4Address 192.168.12.25 -PrefixLength "24"

Remove IP Address

Get-NetAdapter -Name "Wireless" | Remove-NetIPAddress

Set DNS Server

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wireless" -ServerAddresses "10.10.20.1","10.10.20.2"

Set interface to DHCP

Set-NetIPInterface -InterfaceAlias "Wireless" -Dhcp Enabled

Clear DNS Cache with PowerShell

You can also manage your DNS cache with PowerShell.

List DNS Cache:

 
Get-DnsClientCache

Clear DNS Cache

 
Clear-DnsClientCache

Ping with PowerShell

PowerShell Networking Test-NetConnection Ping

How to Ping with PowerShell. For a simple ping command with PowerShell, you can use the Test-Connection cmdlet:

 
Test-Connection thomasmaurer.ch

There is an advanced way to test connection using PowerShell

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName www.thomasmaurer.ch

Get some more details from the Test-NetConnection

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName www.thomasmaurer.ch -InformationLevel Detailed

Ping multiple IP using PowerShell

1..99 | % { Test-NetConnection -ComputerName x.x.x.$_ } | FT -AutoSize

Tracert

PowerShell Tracert

Tracert with PowerShell

Test-NetConnection www.thomasmaurer.ch –TraceRoute

Portscan with PowerShell

PowerShell Portscan

Use PowerShell to check for open port

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName www.thomasmaurer.ch -Port 80
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName www.thomasmaurer.ch -CommonTCPPort HTTP

NSlookup in PowerShell

PowerShell Networking NSlookup

NSlookup using PowerShell:

Resolve-DnsName www.thomasmaurer.ch
Resolve-DnsName www.thomasmaurer.ch -Type MX -Server 8.8.8.8

Route in PowerShell

PowerShell Networking Route

How to replace Route command with PowerShell

Get-NetRoute -Protocol Local -DestinationPrefix 192.168*
Get-NetRoute -InterfaceAlias Wi-Fi
 
New-NetRoute –DestinationPrefix "10.0.0.0/24" –InterfaceAlias "Ethernet" –NextHop 192.168.192.1

NETSTAT in PowerShell

PowerShell Networking Netstat

How to replace NETSTAT with PowerShell

Get-NetTCPConnection
Get-NetTCPConnection –State Established

NIC Teaming PowerShell commands

Create a new NIC Teaming (Network Adapter Team)

New-NetLbfoTeam -Name NICTEAM01 -TeamMembers Ethernet, Ethernet2 -TeamingMode SwitchIndependent -TeamNicName NICTEAM01 -LoadBalancingAlgorithm Dynamic

SMB Related PowerShell commands

SMB PowerShell SMB Client Configuration

Get SMB Client Configuration

Get-SmbClientConfiguration

Get SMB Connections

Get-SmbConnection

Get SMB Mutlichannel Connections

Get-SmbMutlichannelConnection

Get SMB open files

Get-SmbOpenFile

Get SMB Direct (RDMA) adapters

Get-NetAdapterRdma

Hyper-V Networking cmdlets

Hyper-V PowerShell Get-VMNetwork Adapter

Get and set Network Adapter VMQ settings

Get-NetAdapterVmq
# Disable VMQ
Set-NetAdapterVmq -Enabled $false
# Enable VMQ
Set-NetAdapterVmq -Enabled $true

Get VM Network Adapter

Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName Server01

Get VM Network Adapter IP Addresses

(Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName NanoConHost01).IPAddresses

Get VM Network Adapter Mac Addresses

(Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName NanoConHost01).MacAddress

I hope you enjoyed it and the post was helpful, if you think something important is missing, please add it in the comments.


Jul102015July 10, 2015November 1, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows Server

List of Recommend Hotfixes and Updates for Hyper-V Network Virtualization (HNV)

Posted in Cloud, DirectAccess, Hyper-V, Microsoft, PowerShell, Private Cloud, System Center, Virtual Machine Manager, Virtualization, Web, Windows Azure Pack, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Work

I already made some post where I list the websites to recommended hotfixes and updates for Clusters, Hyper-V and File Server such as the Scale-Out File Server for Hyper-V over SMB. Now Microsoft also has an official list for Recommended hotfixes, updates, and known solutions for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Network Virtualization (HNV) environments. Which will list hotfixes for Hyper-V, Windows Server and System Center related to Network Virtualization.

You can find the List here on the Microsoft Support Site: KB2974503 Recommended hotfixes, updates, and known solutions for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Network Virtualization (HNV) environments


Jun242015June 24, 2015September 2, 20181Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows 10 IoT Core Watcher

Find your Windows 10 IoT Core device on the network

Posted in Cloud, Hardware, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, Web, Windows, Windows 10, Windows IoT, Work

If you have done the setup of your Windows 10 IoT Core device you can see the name and the IP address on the default app using a HDMI output. If you don’t have a display connected to your device, Microsoft as a cool tool for you to find your device on the network.

When you download the Windows 10 IoT Core Image you also have a installer file called “WindowsDeveloperProgramForIoT.msi”. This installer installs you a tool called Windows 10 IoT Core Watcher, which will discover your Windows 10 IoT Core devices on the network.

You can also open some options directly from that tool:

Windows 10 IoT Core Watcher Access

This is needed for the next steps in this blog series. If you want to know more about Microsoft and Windows IoT check out my first blog post: Microsoft and the Internet of Things.

 


May162014May 16, 2014July 1, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Savision Whitepaper

On Demand Webinar: VMM Fabric and Cloud Management by MVP Thomas Maurer

Posted in Cloud, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft MVP, Private Cloud, System Center, Virtual Machine Manager, Virtualization, Web, Webinar, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 R2, Work

Together with Savision I worked on a whitepaper about System Center Virtual Machine Manager Fabric Management and Resource Pooling. After the whitepaper was released I also did two webinars where I presented the information from the whitepaper about Fabric and Cloud Management with Virtual Machine Manager.

Now the webinar recording is available for an on demand online.

On Demand Webinar

On Demand Webinar

On Demand Webinar: VMM Fabric Management and Resource Pooling by MVP Thomas Maurer

 


Apr302014April 30, 2014July 1, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Savision Whitepaper

Whitepaper and Webinar “VMM (fabric) Management and Resource Pooling”

Posted in Cloud, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft MVP, PowerShell, Private Cloud, System Center, Virtual Machine Manager, Virtualization, Webinar, Windows, Windows Azure Pack, Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 R2, Work

One of the most challenging things during the shift to Cloud Computing is to manage Fabric Resources efficiently. Together with Savision I have worked on a whitepaper in which it is outlined how Fabric resource like Compute, Storage and Network can be managed efficiently and how System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides a solution to build a datacenter abstraction layer.

The whitepaper is focused on building a datacenter abstraction layer of your fabric resources, self-service and service deployment. If you would like to know more about it, join our webinar.

Register now (free)

Register for EU webinar

Register here for the EU webinar on Webinar “VMM (fabric) Management and Resource Pooling” by MVP Thomas Maurer – 7th May 3.00pm CEST (English)

Register now (free)

Register for US webinar

Register here for the US webinar on Webinar “VMM (fabric) Management and Resource Pooling” by MVP Thomas Maurer – 8th May 2.00 pm EDT (English)

We’re looking forward having you logged in!

Btw you can download the Whitepaper right here:

Download

Download the Whitepaper

Download the Free Whitepaper on “VMM (fabric) Management and Resource Pooling” by MVP Thomas Maurer

If you have questions join the webinar or feel free to comment.



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    Thomas Maurer

    My name is Thomas Maurer. I am a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. I am part of the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI) and engage with the community and customers around the world. I am located in Switzerland. I am focusing on Microsoft technologies, especially cloud and datacenter solutions based on Microsoft Azure, Azure Stack and Windows Server. Opinions are my own.

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