Random Bytes…
Been reading:
Definitely recommended reading when you get a chance. Learned a ton about Wireless Security. If you're on Fios definitely make sure the Verizon Router they give you is on WPA at least, by default they come with WEP turned on and basically broadcast the password inside the packets it sends out in broadcast. On a related note, if you want to mess with your router, checkout this site. I flashed my router to it a month or so ago. The web interface is so much smoother than the factory firmware. Going along with the wireless theme, I got 2 netbooks yesterday, well ordered them at least. Got a pair of these bad boys:
Got 2 spare Corsair 4gb DDR3 so-dimms, an OCZ Vertex 30GB SDD and an OCZ Vertex 2 60gb SSD. I plan to swap out the 1gb sticks and 250gb 5400 drives in it with those parts, should bring the performance up considerably. I plan to do extensively benchmarking before and after so everyone will know how each benefited and what percentage. I definitely will be wiping the Windows 7 Starter Edition for OpenSuse. They should be both come Tuesday, latest Wednesday so stay tuned!
vmware ESXi Server moved into a new home
I recently got a Rackable Systems 2U Dual Dual Core Opteron system off eBay for dirt cheap. The problem however though as I noted previously was the noise, Antec . Got 3 Antec fans and had my Antec 500w ATX power supply connected externally, much quieter, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving my ESXi server opened like that so I scrambled. Found my original 4U file server case I purchased back in 2009 and started the migration.
Old 4U File Server case on the left, 2U Rackable Systems Case on the right
Motherboard inside 4U File Server Case
Transplant powered on
Revised Server Stack
Fun with WPF…
I've diving into WPF the last couple of weeks focusing on the 2D animation elements, but today I started on the 3D aspect. Easy enough, it's accelerated in Direct 3D so I could probably throw a ton of polygons/textures at it versus the old GDI+ method I'm used to. I added in 3D support to my new engine I started to write a few weeks ago this morning. It didn't take much, just had to re-learn the 3D thought process as far as programming is concerned since it had been a while since I had done 3D graphics programming. Ran into a small hickup though when rendering out some 3D Terrain:
Very Bland Looking Terrain
Better looking Terrain
Much better terrain
Dual Quad Core Opterons here I come…
Just scored 2 brand new AMD Opteron 2360SEs off eBay for $69.99 shipped. These are the highest clocked Quad Cores out there at 2.5ghz. I had a Dual Quad Opteron 2344HE back in Spring 2009, albeit they were 1.7ghz cores for a total of 13.6ghz versus my new server at 20ghz. It is kind of interesting thinking about it now, my main rig has a 6 core Phenom II has 19.2ghz of power. It might have been cheaper to simply get another 1090T, 890FX/990FX series AMD motherboard, 16gb of ram and throw it in the same case? Let's see...
- Phenom II 1090T (3.2ghzX6) - $190
- Asus Sabertooth 990FX motherboard - $210
- 16gb G.Skill DDR3-1600 - $180
For a total of $580 Versuses...
- Rackable Systems with 2U Case, 2X2214HE Opterons - $150
- 2 Opteron 2360SEs - $140
- 10gb Kingston DDR2-5300 ECC - $90
For a total of $380, plus I plan on selling the original 2U case and Opterons so probably will end up spending $320. $200 off the bat plus whatever I can get back. In addition I have plenty of room for more ram 16 slots versus 4 slots on the 990FX motherboard. Worth it? I think so
New ClearOS Firewall
Call me crazy, but I simply couldn't stand having an Intel running in the house. I had bought a Dual Core Atom (D510) CPU/Motherboard a few years ago, originally to run Mac OS X on. It bounced around between my NAS, HTPC, Windows Media Center 7 Extender and finally a Firewall/Gateway a month or so ago running ClearOS. Over the last weekend I realized I had a new AMD Sempron 140 still sealed, checked prices on the new 5 series Asus motherboards, saw it was only $60 on Amazon and picked up a 2gb G.skill DDR3-1333 stick. As fate would have it, NewEgg sent over a Norco RPC-270 2U case. Took about an hour but I got everything installed and up and running again on the new AMD platform. Below are the build pictures.
Empty Norco RPC-270 Case
Asus M5A78L AM3+ Motherboard Installed
Everything Installed
Gotta love AMD CPUs, unlocked the 2nd core without a blink of an eye
The stack continues to get bigger
Antec 80mm Fans == Quieter Server?
I bought these fans off of Amazon: 
Thinking they would have to be quieter than the original 80mm fans that came with my Rackable Systems. Finished positioning the fans: 
To my surprise it is actually pretty quiet even without the case on. I did attempt to reposition the fans with the top on, but the front CPU overheated pretty quickly and it shut itself down. So overall, +1 on the quiet factor & +.5 on the "free" nightlight. -1 on the fact I still can't close the case. My hunt continues for a 1U Socket F heatsink with a quiet fan.
Unknown Unaccessible VMs on ESXi
Had a quick power bump and my ESXi server restarted, upon coming back up the VMs were "Unknown (inaccessible)".
Had a little panic before finding this guide -> http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=217
Basically just go into your DataStore and re-add them one by one after removing the one entry that says Unknown.
Nexenta Default Password
In case someone else is searching, the default login for Nexenta (at least in 3.0.5) is:
root
nexenta
Radioshack No More
Before: 
After: 
The Antec ISK-300 case will be sold on eBay shortly and I'll be adding a 3U Norco next week.
VMware ESXi Datastore 256gb Limit
Upon creating a datastore on my Western Digital 2TB Green drive, I didn't realize the default max size for a datastore based on the default 1MB block size was 256GB. Part of the reasoning for building a ESXi server was to create a OpenSuse 11.4 VM to backup my SAN, HTPC and Workstation. 256GB datastores won't really work for my needs. Luckily you aren't limited by it. Just in case someone is searching on a solution, you have to wipe your datastore and update your block size accordingly:
- 1MB =256GB
- 2MB=512GB
- 4MB=1TB
- 8MB=2TB
2U Dual Dual Core Opteron == Hairdryer
I bought a Rackable Systems 2U Dual Opteron 2214 HE server for my VMWare ESXi playground. For $125 it was a steal. I brought it home to find out the sound was defeaning. Not satisfied with the level of noise especially considering the Master Bedroom is 20-30 feet away from my Office. Opening the case I found a 1U 70mm "leafblower" heatsink/fan on the front CPU and a 2U 60mm "leafblower" heatsink/fan on the back CPU. Disconnecting those 2 fans along with the rear 3 80mm fans it was much better, but still had a ridiculously loud noise. Looking at the PSU, it has a 40mm fan on the front. Noting the motherboard had standard ATX connections, I hooked up my spare Antec EarthWatt 500w power supply. Nearly silent. Now onto the CPUs. I attempted to take the Dynatron 1U heatsink's fan off, but was unable to, the screws are pretty much stuck. The rear 2U fan however was easy to pull off, put a 70mm fan I took off a spare AMD AM3 Stock Heatsink. Booting up to the bios and monitoring the temperatures, the 2U with the new fan was hovering around 38'C, while the 1U was hovering at 65'C. Knowing that was under no load, I would need to do something. Thus the ultra ghetto 120mm blowing air onto the 1U: 
While not the prettiest sight, it is very quiet. A little bit more than my 4U SAN sitting below it, but no where near the 50+ decibels it was before.