How Do You Troubleshoot a PowerShell Error “CreateFromDirectory … The Path Is Not of a Legal Form”?

Problem scenario
You want a PowerShell script to place files from a folder into one zip file.

When using PowerShell version 3, your script throws this error:


Exception calling “CreateFromDirectory” with “2” argument(s): “The path is not of a legal form.”
At line…
     CategoryInfo                  : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
   

How Do You Prevent the Error Message “AccelerometerSt.Exe – Application Error” from Popping Up?

Problem scenario:  When you log into your Windows 7 computer, you get this error:

“AccelerometerSt.exe – Application error

The application was unable to start correctly (0x000007b).  Click OK to close the application.”

How do you keep this error from popping up every time you log in?

Solution
Reinstall HP 3D Driveguard.  You used to be able to download the media from here (http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=ob_124661_1).  

Network and Server Monitoring Tools

Spiceworks, Solar Winds, and Cacti are all well-known effective network monitoring tools.  A lesser known company called Lizard Systems has quality software for network monitoring.  Techworld.com and PCworld have favorable reviews of Lizard Systems’ Network Scanner.  The Find Mac Address product has an easy installation and can find MAC addresses without network administrator rights to a given router.  For an alternative to Nagios or Sysinternals,

Intel No Longer Provides Anti-Theft Service

While HP’s website (http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/faqs/intel-anti-theft-service-faq.pdf) for a long while claimed that their computers (i.e., laptops and notebooks) have the benefits of Intel AT, Intel says they stopped it in January of 2015.  This link http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/faqs/intel-anti-theft-service-faq.pdf used to have more information.

How to Install Open Source Hadoop on an Ubuntu Linux Server? (old directions)

Update 1/5/18:  These directions below are outdated.
If you are looking for the newest directions to install open source Hadoop, click here.

The directions below are left here as a reference for legacy purposes.  To install open source Hadoop on an Ubuntu server, see this article.

Previous update was on 11/7/17

Problem scenario
You want to deploy (set up and configure) Hadoop on an Ubuntu server. 

​How Do You Troubleshoot This Error “Docker-Engine : Depends: Libsystemd-journal0 (>= 201)”?

Problem scenario
You are trying to install docker-engine on Ubuntu Linux, but you get this error:
“docker-engine : Depends: libsystemd-journal0 (>= 201)” 

Solution
This solution assumes your Ubuntu Linux server has access to the Internet.

1.  Run this command exactly once:

echo ‘deb http://cz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty main’ >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

2.  Try to install docker-engine again.

Why Am I getting This Error “Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock.”?

Problem scenario
You are using Linux (Ubuntu 14.04) and trying to run Docker for the first time.  You run docker ps or docker version and you see this message:

“Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?”

How do you fix this problem to get Docker to work?

Solution
Run this command:

cat /var/log/upstart/docker.log | grep -i docker | grep -i linux

If you see this: ‘ level=fatal msg=”Your Linux kernel version 2.6.32-042stab116.2 is not supported for running docker.

How Do You Deploy a Stack (a Collection of Infrastructure Resources) with AWS CloudFormation Using the Console?

Problem scenario
You want to use CloudFormation in AWS.  You want to create a server or multiple servers with CloudFormation. How do you use CloudFormation with no CLI to create a stack (a collection of infrastructure or application resources) in AWS?

Solution
Here is a simple example to answer the question.

1.  Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/home
2.  Click “Create new stack” button
3.