Disable Windows 2008 Firewall

Using gpedit.msc...

Group Policy Setting for Disabling Windows Firewall
Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\Windows Firewall.

To disable Windows Firewall in a domain environment, the Group Policy setting you would use is located in Computer Configuration under Policies (if present), in Administrative Templates\Network\Network Connections\Windows Firewall\Domain Profile. The setting is called Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections. If you disable this policy setting, Windows Firewall does not filter or block any network traffic.

Update: from an administrative command line, you can run:

"netsh advfirewall set profiles state off "

where profiles is AllProfiles, CurrentProfile, DomainProfile, PrivateProfile, or PublicProfile.

Reference:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771032(WS.10).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766337(v=ws.10).aspx

SQL 2008 Management Studio connection problems

Good step by step for troubleshooting SQL 2008 connection issues.

Reference: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/21/sql-server-fix-error-provider-named-pipes-provider-error-40-could-not-open-a-connection-to-sql-server-microsoft-sql-server-error/

Enabling SSH on ESXi Hosts

1. Open vSphere client
2. Select ESXi host, then the Configuration tab.
3. Select Security Profile
4. Click on Properties
5. In the Services popup dialog, select SSH and press the Options button
6. Change settings, then click OK when done.

Reference:
http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2011/08/enable-ssh-on-esxi-5-via-vsphere-client/