Windows Server 2012 - slmgr activation

So I keep forgetting how to update my SPLA key for new 2012 builds from the shell.



-upk
Uninstall key

-ipk
Install key in xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx format

-ato
Activate it online

Netscaler VPX - Support more NICs (VMware)

When I needed to add a 5th NIC to my NS10.0 Build 72.5.nc, I received error stating that 4 NICs was the maximum.  According to Citrix documentation my VPX should be able to support 10 NICs so what gives.

It turns out that the limitation was the OVF I downloaded from Citrix which creates the VPX and sets it to VM HW version 4 which I assume for compatibility reasons.



I took my veeamzip backup, in addition to a snapshot then proceeded to update the HW version from 4 to 9.  Also note that the Guest OS changed itself from Oracle Solaris to FreeBSD.



Once this completed, I was able to add my 5th NIC with no issues.  So here's a proof of concept in case anyone else was wondering the same, also remember to take a backup or at least a snapshot.  Here's a link to VM's KB that verifies that HW versions are reversible from version 8 or 9 back to 4 by simply taking a VM snapshot.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010675

P2V - OEM Windows OS

So here I am up at 4:00AM on a Sunday morning having spent the past 4 hours on the phone with Microsoft Licensing/Professional Services/Partner support only to confirm what various google searches tell me that the OEM Windows key must die with physical server.  In a nutshell, this is what needs to happen in order to my virtualized copy activated.

1)  Get VLK media
2)  Get VL Key
3)  Boot VM to it
4)  Select option to install Windows
5)  Select option to repair it (note this is not the recovery console which is what you would get if you selected "r" on the previous screen.
6)  Next > next wizard and type in your VL key

Reboot and we're done here.

PS - This was on server 2003 standard

HTTP to HTTPS redirect on Citrix WI+SG

The objective is to find a simple way to redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS for a pair of Citrix WI+SG servers.  Initial research shows either installing/using the MS URL rewrite module or forcing SSL via IIS and configuring a custom error page.  This post uses neither method as we are are simply modifying the WebInterface.htm landing page.

Navigate to the root of your WI site.



Edit WebInterface.htm to the URL of your secured WI site.