Hi there đź‘‹ I’m Aiden

Welcome to my blog! I’m a Systems and Infrastructure Architect based in Bournemouth, UK. Here you can find my general ramblings, fun projects, technical guides among other things. You can reach me at hello [at] aidenwebb.com
Digital artwork depicting the concept of Cloud-init technology in a hypervisor environment. The image features a central, stylized cloud with intricate digital circuit patterns, symbolizing Cloud-init. Surrounding the cloud are interconnected, floating, semi-transparent cubes with glowing edges, each representing a hypervisor. Faint streams of binary code flow between these cubes, illustrating virtualization and connectivity. The background is a gradient of blue shades, representing technology and innovation, with subtle abstract digital patterns enhancing the futuristic theme.

Create a Debian Cloud-init Template on Proxmox

Cloud-init is the industry standard multi-distribution method for cross-platform cloud instance initialization. It is supported across all major public cloud providers, provisioning systems for private cloud infrastructure, and bare-metal installations. Using Proxmox templates in tandem with Cloud-init streamlines the process of launching new VMs. With this approach, a template can rapidly generate a new VM, and Cloud-init takes care of the initial setup during boot, reducing your tasks to simply setting up the hostname and initial user account....

<span title='2023-12-16 13:46:03 +0000 UTC'>16 December 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;4 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;662 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb

Microsoft Office - Send a file as an Attachment

The Problem Microsofts latest update to Office 365 has changed the way “Share” function operates. Previously, when you clicked the “Share” button, you were presented with a list of options, including sharing a link, or attaching a copy of your document instead. Now, if the file you are working on is already saved in a shareable OneDrive or Sharepoint locationsync’d, the only option you are presented is to share a link to the document....

<span title='2023-06-14 15:14:38 +0000 UTC'>14 June 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;1 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;184 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
Terminal showing commands to mount a qcow2 image

How to Mount a qcow2 Disk Image

Here’s a streamlined guide on how to mount a qcow2 disk image on your host server/system, which can come in handy for tasks like resetting passwords, editing files, or recovering data without needing to run the virtual machine. Step 1 - Activating NBD on the Host In your terminal, run the following command to enable NBD (Network Block Device) on your host (with sudo if required): 1 modprobe nbd max_part=8 Step 2 - Link the QCOW2 to Network Block Device Next, connect the QCOW2 disk image to the network block device using the following command:...

<span title='2023-06-02 14:13:55 +0000 UTC'>2 June 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;1 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;197 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
tp-link | Omada logo

Install Tplink Omada on Debian 11

This guide covers installation of TP-Link’s Omada Software Controller on Debian 11. At the time of writing, Omada Controller version is 5.9.31. Update and Upgrade system 1 apt update && apt upgrade -y Install omada dependencies 1 apt install -y openjdk-11-jdk-headless curl autoconf make gcc Install MongoDB Go to Mongo DB’s repository and select an appropriate server version. I’m using MongoDb Server 4.4.16 1 2 wget https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian/dists/buster/mongodb-org/4.4/main/binary-amd64/mongodb-org-server_4.4.16_amd64.deb apt install -y ....

<span title='2023-04-05 17:44:11 +0100 +0100'>5 April 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;1 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;154 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb

Cve-2023-23397 - Quickly Check Vulnerability Status and Trigger Updates

Yesterday Microsoft announced a new critical vulnerability CVE-2023-23397, a vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook that allows a threat actor to harvest NTLMv2 hashes via a specifically crafted Outlook appointment. Microsoft state that attackers can exploit this vulnerability by sending an email that triggers automatically when it is retrieved and processed by the Outlook client. This can lead to exploitation BEFORE the email is viewed in the Preview Pane. They also state that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild....

<span title='2023-03-15 14:45:08 +0000 UTC'>15 March 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;2 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;245 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
A woman looking stressed and frustrated at a laptop

How to recusively apply NTFS permissions faster using PowerShell multithreading jobs

Do you relate to the cover photo? Have your NTFS permissions just bombed out and you can’t bare the idea of waiting hours or days for your new permissions to apply? Don’t worry, I’m here to help. It’s no secret that applying NTFS permissions to any directory tree larger than a few thousand files quickly decends in to a painstaking waiting game. The built in UI is garbage, and icacls is decent but single-threaded and slow....

<span title='2023-03-10 14:49:09 +0000 UTC'>10 March 2023</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;5 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;868 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
K-9 Mail logo

How to set up K-9 Mail With Office 365

I have a hell of a lot of mail accounts, K-9 Mail on Android helps me manage them all. Here’s how to set up K-9 Mail with Office 365. You will first need to set up SMTP Auth on your Exchange Tenant. This is a simple process, but it does require you to have access to the Exchange Admin Centre. If you don’t have access to the EAC, you’ll need to ask your Exchange Admin to do this for you....

<span title='2022-11-05 10:12:52 +0000 UTC'>5 November 2022</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;2 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;237 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
Cat laid on a bed with a laptop

Standard list of software I install on my mums computer and phone

You know the drill, as the kid with the tech skills you get roped into helping your parents and other family members with their busted tech. I notice that every time I ressurect or reincarnate the treasured device of a family member I end up installing much of the same software. I wrote this to save me some time, and to help others who are in the same boat. My preferred recommendation in each category is in bold....

<span title='2022-11-05 09:20:26 +0000 UTC'>5 November 2022</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;3 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;468 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
3CX Logo

How to replace SSL certificates for a custom domain in Self Hosted 3CX

3CX have updated their docs and removed help.3cx.com meaning the old documentation for updating SSL certs is now gone, or at least harder to find. The original URL was https://help.3cx.com/help/en-us/33-installation/148-how-can-i-replace-the-ssl-certificates-for-a-custom-domain. If anyone has a copy of this page, please let me know. Thankfully updating the SSL certificate is relatively straight forward as the web client runs on nginx. Updating the SSL Certificate Prerequisites You will need: Access to the server running 3CX Remote Desktop (Windows) SSH (Linux) The certificate and private key in PEM format Updating the Certificate Locate the certificate folder (default):...

<span title='2022-11-02 09:22:23 +0000 UTC'>2 November 2022</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;1 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;143 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb
Photo of a laptop with brightly coloured ambient clouds on the screen

Useful Tools for SysAdmins and Techies

I occurs to me that each time I set up a new system, or re-install my workstation, I often end up hunting down and redownloading tools and software that I use on a regular basis. So I thought I’d create a list of useful tools and pop it here on my blog for future reference and to share with others. I’ll try to keep this list updated as I find new tools and software that I find useful....

<span title='2022-10-25 14:33:04 +0000 UTC'>25 October 2022</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;4 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;683 words&nbsp;·&nbsp;Aiden Arnkels-Webb