http://jasonconger.com/ Why I moved my blog to GitHub Pages - Is GitHub Pages better than WordPress? Maybe. For me, GitHub Pages seems to have everything I need, so I moved my blog there, and I’m not looking back. Here’s the story as to why I made that move. Blog Platform Backstory My blog platform has changed multiple times over the years. I started out with a custom-built site built on ASP.NET. It utilized IIS, a Microsoft SQL backend, and code written in C#. This gave... Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2022/04/05/goodbye-wordpress-hello-github-pages/ http://jasonconger.com/2022/04/05/goodbye-wordpress-hello-github-pages/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/animate-simplexml-dashboard-elements-with-a-carousel.html Many years ago, as a learning exercise, I created a Citrix web interface that took some boring static icons and made them spin around like a carousel. Check out a video here: This interface was never meant to be particularly useful, but it worked and looked nice. Fast forward to today. Thinking back on that carousel, I wondered if I could create something similar in Splunk. After... Tue, 25 Apr 2017 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2017/04/25/animate-simplexml-dashboard-elements-with-a-carousel/ http://jasonconger.com/2017/04/25/animate-simplexml-dashboard-elements-with-a-carousel/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/splunking-microsoft-azure-network-watcher-data.html Microsoft has released a new service in Azure called Network Watcher. Network Watcher is a network performance monitoring, diagnostic, and analytics service which enables you to monitor your network in Azure. The data collected by Network Watcher is stored in one or more Azure Storage Containers. The Splunk Add-on for Microsoft Cloud Services has inputs to collect data stored in Azure Storage Containers which provides valuable insights... Mon, 20 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2017/02/20/splunking-microsoft-azure-network-watcher-data/ http://jasonconger.com/2017/02/20/splunking-microsoft-azure-network-watcher-data/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/event-calendar-custom-visualization.html Awhile back, I wrote a blog post about using a custom calendar visualization in Simple XML dashboards. To accomplish this, I used a technique sometimes referred to as escape hatching JavaScript into Simple XML. While this works okay for a developer, the technique does not lend itself well to the end user. Splunk Custom Visualizations Splunk 6.4 introduced reusable custom visualizations which allows a developer to package... Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2016/11/01/event-calendar-custom-visualization/ http://jasonconger.com/2016/11/01/event-calendar-custom-visualization/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/using-html5-input-types-on-splunk-forms.html Text inputs on Splunk forms allows for free-form user input. However, there are times when you need to control the type of this data input. HTML5 has several input types that control what can be entered in text boxes and how the text box behaves during user input. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could apply these HTML5 input types to Splunk text boxes? Hint: the answer... Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2016/09/21/using-html5-input-types-on-splunk-forms/ http://jasonconger.com/2016/09/21/using-html5-input-types-on-splunk-forms/ Here is a quick tip for you. I had a need to get the Citrix Configuration Log, so I dropped into PowerShell and ran Get-CtxConfigurationLogReport. That is all good and well, but you do not get all the old and new values of the changed properties. However, converting this output to JSON will do just what I want. Plus, converting to JSON is better for me anyway as I want to push this stuff over... Thu, 15 Oct 2015 11:00:59 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2015/10/15/use-powershell-to-get-the-citrix-configuration-log-as-well-as-old-and-new-property-values/ http://jasonconger.com/2015/10/15/use-powershell-to-get-the-citrix-configuration-log-as-well-as-old-and-new-property-values/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/iot-and-flying-ponies-at-conf-2015.html One of the coolest demos I witnessed at Splunk .conf 2015 was the one by Nate McKervy. The reasons this demo was so cool is 1) it was live, 2) it involved audience participation, and 3) it involved shooting stuffed ponies out of an air cannon. This article will explain a little more of what was going on under the covers. Skip to 19:18 for the demo... Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2015/10/15/iot-and-flying-ponies-at-conf-2015/ http://jasonconger.com/2015/10/15/iot-and-flying-ponies-at-conf-2015/ A Poor Man's iBeacon a.k.a. I needed a quick solution for proximity without an iBeacon During the Citrix Geek Speak demo I previously blogged about, we needed a way to kick off everything.  Steve and I discussed a few different ways of doing this, but we landed on using proximity - meaning when Steve walked over to the IoT workspace with a particular device, everything would light up and we would be off to the races.... Mon, 29 Jun 2015 11:00:33 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2015/06/29/using-proximity-to-start-an-octoblu-workflow/ http://jasonconger.com/2015/06/29/using-proximity-to-start-an-octoblu-workflow/ An alternate title to this article might be “How Steve Greenberg and I Pulled off the Robo-Kitty Monitor Alerts at Citrix Synergy Geek Speak Tonight”. In case you missed it, here it is below: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9jTeWQbVYE&t=54m21s[/embed] The Demo Scenario Anyway, Octoblu does some incredible stuff with physical things driven by software. In the demo that Steve and I did, Steve set up an actual desk with various IoT devices on it.  We will call this the... Wed, 17 Jun 2015 09:42:34 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2015/06/17/trigger-an-octoblu-iot-flow-from-splunk/ http://jasonconger.com/2015/06/17/trigger-an-octoblu-iot-flow-from-splunk/ Mobility is so ubiquitous that it is almost not even a separate thing anymore. This creates a challenge for enterprises that offer BYOD mobile devices and corporate data access. How do you enable the mobile workforce with enterprise applications? One way is to roll your own mobile application to get the necessary data into the mobile user’s hands. I have had some experience with this and wanted to ponder some self-proclaimed theorems which are outlined... Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:00:07 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/10/31/mobile-application-development-theorems/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/10/31/mobile-application-development-theorems/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/rdp-to-windows-server-from-a-splunk-dashboard.html and https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/rdp-to-windows-server-from-a-splunk-dashboard-example-code.html Say you are browsing a Splunk dashboard and notice something odd in the data about a Windows server and you feel compelled to remote in to that server to do some more investigation. Sure, you could pull up your favorite RDP client and connect in. Or, you can save a couple of clicks and RDP to your server directly from the Splunk dashboard in one... Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/07/31/rdp-to-windows-server-from-a-splunk-dashboard/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/07/31/rdp-to-windows-server-from-a-splunk-dashboard/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/quick-tip-wildcard-sourcetypes-in-props-conf.html Here is a quick one I use often. Here is an excerpt from props.conf.spec: [<spec>] * This stanza enables properties for a given <spec>. <spec> can be: 1. <sourcetype>, the source type of an event. 2. host::<host>, where <host> is the host, or host-matching pattern, for an event. 3. source::<source>, where <source> is the source, or source-matching pattern, for an event. 4. rule::<rulename>, where <rulename> is a... Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/07/31/quick-tip-wildcard-sourcetypes-in-props-conf/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/07/31/quick-tip-wildcard-sourcetypes-in-props-conf/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/monitoring-windows-service-state-history.html For Microsoft Windows Operating Systems, it is extremely important that certain services are running to maintain functionality. For instance, if your Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service is not running, your machine is most likely jacked up. This article will show you how to monitor Windows Services and get a history of service state change history. Getting Windows Service Data into Splunk In order to monitor Windows Services,... Fri, 30 May 2014 00:00:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/30/monitoring-windows-service-state-history-with-splunk/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/30/monitoring-windows-service-state-history-with-splunk/ At Citrix Synergy this year, the “one more thing” at the end of the keynote was a new offering called Citrix Workspace Services.  Brian Madden wrote an article explaining what CWS is and isn’t, but I wanted to take a look at this from a Citrix Service Provider’s perspective. Where Citrix Workspace Services Fit Automation and self-service are two major factors for CSPs.  Citrix Workspace Services potentially helps with both of these factors.  Since CWS... Wed, 14 May 2014 08:21:00 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/14/citrix-workspace-services-friend-or-foe-for-the-citrix-service-providers-csp/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/14/citrix-workspace-services-friend-or-foe-for-the-citrix-service-providers-csp/ It is time for Citrix Synergy, and I will be live-blogging the keynote. You can watch the keynote live at CitrixSynergy.com as well. I am sure there will be a focus on mobility, but with the release of XenDesktop and XenApp 7.5, I am excited to see Citrix getting back to the future (again). You can also follow me on Twitter for more updates throughout the conference. Also, if you are here at the conference,... Tue, 06 May 2014 06:00:41 -0500 http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/06/citrix-synergy-2014-live-blog/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/05/06/citrix-synergy-2014-live-blog/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/using-bootstrap-modal-with-splunk-simple-xml.html While working on a performance dashboard recently, I wanted an area to further explain the performance metric currently being displayed without taking up too much screen real estate. In the end, I ended up using a Bootstrap modal dialog to display the metric details when a user clicks an information icon. Here is the end result: Step 1 – Add the Bootstrap modal markup to your dashboard... Mon, 24 Feb 2014 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2014/02/24/using-bootstrap-modal-with-splunk-simple-XML/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/02/24/using-bootstrap-modal-with-splunk-simple-XML/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/measuring-windows-group-policy-logon-performance.html One of the common complaints you will hear from Windows users is that their logon takes too long. This is especially true for Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and Citrix infrastructures. Luckily, Microsoft is logging all the nitty-gritty details in Event Logs. So, naturally, Splunk can give you insight into what’s going on. Getting the Event Log Data Into Splunk The Windows event log holding this data is... Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2014/02/05/measuring-windows-group-policy-logon-performance/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/02/05/measuring-windows-group-policy-logon-performance/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/add-a-tooltip-to-simple-xml-tables-with-bootstrap-and-a-custom-cell-renderer.html I recently created a dashboard that displayed some information from the Windows Event Logs in a table. The “Message” field was important, but took up a lot of screen real estate. Since a lot of Bootstrap is built right into Splunk 6, adding a little JavaScript allowed me customize the display to show the “Message” field when hovering over some text or icon. Here is the result:... Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2014/01/29/add-a-tooltip-to-simple-xml-tables-with-bootstrap-and-a-custom-cell-renderer/ http://jasonconger.com/2014/01/29/add-a-tooltip-to-simple-xml-tables-with-bootstrap-and-a-custom-cell-renderer/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/monitor-processes-per-user-on-microsoft-remote-desktop-services-session-host.html Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Session Host (formerly Terminal Services) hosts multiple users on the same Windows Server Operating System. Therefore, all these users are sharing the same resources available to the OS. A lot of administrators want to know which processes belong to which user and how much resource allocation is used by each of these processes. This way, it is possible to determine power users or... Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2013/12/09/monitor-processes-per-user-on-microsoft-remote-desktop-services-session-host/ http://jasonconger.com/2013/12/09/monitor-processes-per-user-on-microsoft-remote-desktop-services-session-host/ Originally posted on the Splunk official blog: https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/tips-and-tricks/showhide-a-dashboard-panel-based-on-a-search-results.html Today’s post will build two of my previous posts about pivoting a single row table and toggling visibility of dashboard panels. In the post about pivoting a table, one of the fields in the table was an IP address. Wouldn’t it be nice to run the iplocation command on the IP address and display where the user was logging in from on a map? Yeah, that would... Thu, 14 Nov 2013 00:00:00 -0600 http://jasonconger.com/2013/11/14/showhide-a-dashboard-panel-based-on-a-search-results/ http://jasonconger.com/2013/11/14/showhide-a-dashboard-panel-based-on-a-search-results/