ciphermethod.com

If moving a host to a new VMware vCenter Server produces this error:
Failed to install the VirtualCenter Agent service.
Login failed due to a bad username or password.

Do this at the host:
service mgmt-vmware restart

So, your company has been acquired. If climbing inside an escape pod and jettisoning your self into deep space is not an option, here is a list of things to expect:

• An order will be made to lower your firewalls and surrender your servers.
• You will be assimilated.  Resistance will only slow the process down.
• Assimilation is a means of adding or replacing spent drones.
• The Borg have no feeling, no emotion, no individual thought.
• Each Borg is part of a giant subspace communications network called Exchange Server.
• All communication is transmitted to the entire Collective via a process entitled Carbon Copy.
• Your present function and title is irrelevant.
• Strength is irrelevant.
• Negotiation is irrelevant.
• Freedom is irrelevant.
• Self-determination is irrelevant.
• Your life as it had been is over.
• From this time forward, you will service them.
• Your culture will adapt to service them.
• They will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.
• Resistance is, and always has been, futile.
• You will become one with the Borg.

UNIX Administrators: Saving servers from nefarious end-users since 1969.

Make sure kernel modules are present:
modprobe aes
modprobe dm-crypt
Create a 256 bit key file containing random data:
dd if=/dev/random of=/etc/key bs=1 count=256
chown root:root /etc/key
chmod 600 /etc/key
Initialize device:
cryptsetup –verbose -c aes-cbc-essiv:sha256 luksFormat /dev/sdb1 /etc/key
answer “YES” if you would like to overwrite data on /dev/sdb1 irrevocably
Create device mapping in /dev/mapper:
cryptsetup –key-file /etc/key luksOpen /dev/sdb1 sftpusers
Format partition:
mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/sftpusers
Add partition to /etc/fstab:
/dev/mapper/sftpusers /sftpusers ext3 defaults 0 0
Create/update /etc/crypttab with device info:
sftpusers /dev/sdb1 /etc/key

Reboot to verify that volume is mounted automatically. This configuration has been tested on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Done in order to satisfy a PCI compliance issue with VMware volume files. Files should be encrypted when not in use. Of course, this only ensures an encrypted virtual disk file at the ESX file system level. Credit card data inside the virtual drive still needs to be encrypted so that it is not accessible when the system is live.

Note: Exclude the key parts if you want an encrypted partion with prompt for password at boot.