What's in your toolbox?

[AlexSoul]

Hi Everyone, 

We are building a dedicated Toolbox server and I was just wondering if you can share some ideas what might go onto this box. Things like PuTTY client for example and other handy tools for a savvy SolarWinds administrator 

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Please note, I am aware that SolarWinds has an Engineering Toolset product, but I would like to build an independent list of tools and have them running on our own dedicated box, accessible by our monitoring engineers. 

[mesverrum]

@mrxinu hit most of my build list as well, all of those are indispensable for me.  Tacking on for good measure,

• mRemoteNG or a similar session client - My tools server also functions as a jump host into a few other segregated networks that I can't hit from my workstation.
• SSMS - You can also get by with the vs code plugin for a good chunk of DB work, but there are some things that don't carry over if you get into those features.
• Greenshot - For making documentation as I'm working on things

[foonly]

WireShark

WinSCP

Notepad++

PortQryV2

Some sort of SNMP walk tool. SolarWinds has several, and they vary in capability.

[sturdyerde]

• Visual Studio Code Extensions that @mrxinu listed, plus: 
  • Diff (or similar file diff tool)
  • REST Client (optional)
  • EditorConfig - helps keep your team's editor settings consistent within each project
• SysInternals Suite
• RSAT (Remote Server Admin Tools)
• Windows Terminal
• 7-Zip
• PowerShell Modules:
  • PSPKI
  • SWISPowerShell
  • Your infrastructure vendors's modules
• LAPS UI
• Windows Administration Center

For the crowd in general, I'll add:

Harden this box!!!! Use MFA if possible. Turn on PowerShell logging. Do not log on as a Domain Admin, but instead delegate privileges where possible, and create a separate management server for Domain Admin tasks. Do not turn off UAC. Do not turn off virus/malware protection. Do not log onto this server with a standard user account (create separate accounts for management tasks). Disable internet access from this server. If possible, work towards using the tiered administration model of secure management. Have fun. 🙂 

[mrxinu]

Outstanding advice all around! I added the ones I was missing!

[mrxinu]

I was just talking to someone about must-have tools the other day. I don't know that this will apply to everyone, but given that there's an awful lot of cool stuff you can do with the SolarWinds API, a proper development environment wouldn't hurt.

So, onward...

• Visual Studio Code
  • I like this over ISE because it does a lot more for linting (showing you where you made a mistake) and the extensions I use with it make mistakes easier to see
• Visual Studio Code Extensions
  • Bracket Pair Colorizer 2
    • Same as Bracket Pair Colorizer but with some version-breaking enhancements
  • PowerShell (of course)
  • markdownlint
  • GitLens
  • ReWrap
    • Tame lengthy comments with Alt+Q
  • SQLTools
    • You don't actually have to run SQL from here, though you could
    • Dumping SQL or SWQL in here and Ctrl+P > Format Document can take a query on a single line and turn it back into a readable query again
• Postman
  • If you're working with the REST API because you're using a language other than PowerShell it helps to understand what the raw interaction looks like.
• SQL Studio
  • The Database Manager is fine for most things, but for some things you'll want the actual SQL Studio.
• SolarWinds SDK & SWQL Studio
  • A must-have for anyone doing dashboard customization
• Git
  • Version control is good, right?