System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException “The given key was not present in the dictionary” with MySQL Connector/NET and utf8mb4 character set

An System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException “The given key was not present in the dictionary” can be the result of using a too old MySQL Connector/NET version in your ASP.NET web application. A KeyNotFoundException is thrown when an operation attempts to retrieve an element from a collection using a key that does not exist in that collection. An unsupported character set like utf8mb4 can be such a key, if your Connector/NET doesn’t support this character set. Luckily there is an easy workaround for this.

Reduce Wordfence CPU usage, disable Wordfence “Live Traffic View”

Whenever WordPress is using a lot of CPU and you have Wordfence Security plugin enabled, it is recommended to double check some settings. Unfortunately the Wordfence “Live Traffic Options” (“Traffic logging mode”) feature can cause high CPU usage and load issues for WordPress websites. Therefore, I recommend you disable this feature to improve the performance of your WordPress website.

Use -SearchBase with Get-ADComputer for faster results

This might be specific to my Windows Server environment and PoSH scripting, but using -SeachBase with PowerShell’s Get-ADComputer gives me faster results. You can use this for your own advantage, here is a little example to speed up AD DS queries.

Install Windows Server Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) using PowerShell

You can install Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) for Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 using PowerShell, without downtime. Because they must be installed prior to your normal Windows Server security updates, you can install them anytime you want to during the day. Here’s a small PowerShell example to do so.

Security baseline for Windows 10 v1903 and Windows Server v1903 – final release

Microsoft is pleased to announce the final release of the security configuration baseline settings for Windows 10 version 1903 (a.k.a., “19H1”), and for Windows Server version 1903.

Automatically flush Redis cache after publishing a WordPress post

In a previous post I explained that clearing PHP opcode caches before WordPress Updates helps in streamlining the update process. WordPress updates no longer fail because of cached file locations. Did you know you can automatically flush opcode caches like Redis when you publishing a post or page in WordPress? Doing so ensures you and your visitors see the newly created content immediately.

Setting up Monit monitoring in Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog article about setting up Monit monitoring on an Ubuntu VM on Hyper-V. Now it’s time to do the same, but then in Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL. So, without further ado, here is how to install and configure Monit monitoring in Windows 10 WSL.

How to verify SMBv1 is disabled in Windows and Windows Server

Since WannaCry and Petya ransomware were spreading through Windows systems in 2017, it’s recommended to have Server Message Block version 1 (SMBv1) disabled in Windows clients and Windows Server. Now SMBv1 is not installed by default in Windows 10 1709 and Windows Server, version 1709 and later, but how can you be sure it is disabled in older Windows versions? Easy, use PowerShell.

Silently import .reg file in your Windows registry

To add a .reg file silently to your Windows registry, you can use the regedit command. As almost always, the /s parameter is for silent and /q for quiet.

How to uninstall and remove Adobe Flash Player in Windows Server

Ever wondered why Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) offers Flash updates for Windows Server? Adobe Flash Player is installed on Windows Server 2016 / 2019 if you have the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) role installed. Yikes! I can imagine you want to delete Adobe Flash Player without deleting the RDSH role, and here is how.

11+ Tips to optimize Umbraco CMS

Umbraco is a popular, ASP.NET powered, content management system (CMS). Even though it performs pretty well, here are 11+ tips to optimize the performance of Umbraco powered websites on IIS.

WordPress .htaccess security best practices in Apache 2.4.6+

Apache Access Control done right, ‘Allow/Deny from all’ versus ‘Require All Granted/Denied’

Since Apache 2.4.6, a new module is used to configure and set up access control for websites: mod_authz_core. This means you have to use a different syntax for allowing or blocking hosts and IP addresses to your website. But unfortunately, old documentation is never updated and people even still write blog posts using that old syntax, leaving you with an unprotected website. Not what you had in mind, now is it?…

How to set SVN_EDITOR environment variable in Windows Server

On a newly installed workstation or server, you might encountered the following subversion error when you commit a change:

Manually fail-over all databases in an SQL Server Database Mirroring configuration

How to manually fail-over an SQL Server database mirroring session?

How to manual fail-over mirrored SQL Server databases using Transact-SQL (T-SQL) in SQL Server 2017+. This can only be initiated from the principal server, and the mirrored database must be synchronized (that is, when the database is in the SYNCHRONIZED state). In this article I’ll show you how to force a fail-over.

ASP and ASP.NET connection string examples for Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL

A connection string is sometimes a bit obscure. Do I need ODBC or OLE DB? When you need one and Google for it, you often find old ones that either don’t work at all anymore, or are not optimal. This article provides you with a couple of ASP.NET to SQL Server connection string examples, and as a bonus for ASP to MySQL too.