IT Pro Tuesday #120

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Hello IT Pro,

Welcome back to IT Pro Tuesday!

First, a quick apology for the mistake in last week's header for Windows Server 2016 Unleashed, which should have been listed as a book instead of a free tool. We've corrected it in all online versions. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

This week, we’re looking for your favorite tutorials to share with the community. Please let us know those that help you do things more easily so you get better at your job!

As always, we’re updating the full, searchable list on our website here. Enjoy.

But on with this week's tools...! Here are the most-interesting items that have come across our desks, laptops and phones this week. Hornetsecurity has no known affiliation with any of these unless we explicitly state otherwise.

A Free Tool

RANCID monitors a device's configuration and uses CVS, Subversion or Git to keep the history of changes. Tracks both software and hardware configuration; supports cisco, juniper and foundry; and can use telnet or ssh to connect to devices. jimlahey420 adds, "if you don't mind having to do some Linux stuff, RANCID is an awesome free network device config backup and comparison tool... I still run a Linux VM with RANCID for my mission critical devices (firewalls, core routers, edge routers, etc.) in addition to our other configuration depots and backups, because once it's set up, it just works. If you don't need to constantly be adding and removing devices into it, it's a great tool for historical config comparisons and troubleshooting in a nice simple no-nonsense web interface."

A List

William John Holden Resource List is a compilation of useful tools and resources from his "side projects." Generously shared by the author, who explains, '"... yeah, I have a pretty serious 'not invented here' syndrome, where I prefer to use tools I built to the things you can download or purchase.

A Free Service

IntoDNS checks your DNS configuration and offers recommendations for improvement. You'll receive DNS and mail server reports that include references to the official protocol documentation. Kindly suggested by SensitiveBug0.

A Free Tool

Bugzilla is a powerful bug-tracking system that allows developers to keep track of all unresolved bugs, issues and other change requests, with advanced features like workflow management and custom fields. Appreciated by organizations that have outgrown the basic defect-tracking capabilities built into environments such as Github.

A Website

SRE Weekly focuses on a comprehensive view of Site/Service Reliability Engineering (SRE) that takes into account servers, human factors, processes, automation and more. Features discussion on the obvious areas like automated failover and fault-tolerant architectures, plus everything else that's related to keeping a site or service available as consistently as possible.

P.S. Bonus Free Tools

Simple IP Config is an easy way to change common Windows network settings without having to wade through a frustrating barrage of system windows. It's basically a small, portable IP change utility, which according to the recommendation by ThisCircus, "works nice."

Ventoy allows you to create bootable USB drives for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files. Copy multiple files at once, and Ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them. jantari describes it as, "an all-software multi-boot USB solution where you can just drop ISOs, even WIMs, into a folder and choose between them with a menu when you want to boot!"

Have a fantastic week and as usual, let us know any comments.