Bits, Bytes, & Radio Waves

A Journey Through Discovery

  • Using PowerCLI in Smart Card Based Environment

    ref: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/67789 Problem You work in a hardened environment and you don’t have an administrative username and password because you only have smart cards or tokens. Resolution According to VMware, this is expected behavior. Uh, what? Workaround According to VMware, “Use Windows SSPI to pass through the Windows logged session Smart Card credentials to PowerCLI…

  • VMware Authentication Proxy in a DoD Hardened Environment

    If you work in IT in the DoD in any capacity, then you know your systems can be a pain to work with if you followed a Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG). This can be even more of a pain when following a commercial vendor’s installation or configuration documentation, since they write in the general…

  • Installing VMware App Volumes 4 Manager – Part 3

    ref: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-App-Volumes/4/com.vmware.appvolumes.admin.doc/GUID-3E512951-4045-4C15-A642-69BBCF4C34B6.html This section should really be called Configuring VMware App Volumes 4 Manager, but since it is part of a multi-part series, I kept it for uniformity. If you followed along in part 2 (Installing VMware App Volumes 4 Manager – Part 2), then most of the hard work will already be accomplished and…

  • Installing VMware App Volumes 4 Manager – Part 2

    This is a prerequisite phase before configuring App Volumes Manager in the browser. A lot of this should already be accomplished in a production environment except the newly installed App Volumes Manager specific settings. This page can serve more than just for configuring security for App Volumes Manager. At this point, the App Volumes Manager…

  • Adding a Computer Account to MS SQL Server for a VMware App Volumes Manager Database

    ref: https://www.enhansoft.com/updated-how-to-create-a-sql-server-computer-account-login/ This post will probably work for other use cases, but I am specifically needing it for VMware App Volumes Manager. Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Expand Security Right-click Logins Select New Login… 1. Do not use the Search… button! Type the Login name: as DOMAIN\computer-name$ The dollar sign is necessary to signify…

  • Installing VMware App Volumes 4 Manager – Part 1

    ref: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-App-Volumes/4/com.vmware.appvolumes.install.doc/GUID-2E6F56D8-E657-4290-BAE7-E18E7556ADDC.html (VMware App Volumes Installation Guide) ref: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-App-Volumes/4/com.vmware.appvolumes.install.doc/GUID-25B53F4E-C22B-4DBD-A253-D7FA33D965BF.html (Installing App Volumes) I will start out this post to mention that if you try to install App Volumes 4 and are stuck on the SQL database portion trying to get Windows Integrated Authentication (WIA) working, you are not alone. I have spent countless hours troubleshooting…

This is how it all started…

I started this site with the intent to aggregate as much information as possible in one place. I use this to record lessons learned or frustrating configurations I have experienced on the job or just tinkering (learning) and just couldn’t find a better resource available. I have tried to be as thorough and accurate as possible, but technology is rapidly evolving and every environment is different. I may miss things along the way and my setup most likely differs compared to yours.

I hope you find this site has some value to you.

Welcome to Bits, Bytes, and Radio Waves! 

If you have any questions or comments (or just want to give me a shout-out), please feel free to contact me!

Aaron Rombaut

Writer & Technologist