Lio-Target running on Soekris Net4801

 net4801, SBC (Single Board Computer), Soekris, Storage  2 Responses »
Jan 262012
 

Well, did it. I finally got Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installed and running on my Net4801 (via PXE netboot install and serial console), and got Lio-Target running on it:

root@net4801:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : Geode by NSC
cpu family      : 5
model           : 9
model name      : Unknown
stepping        : 1
cpu MHz         : 266.670
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu tsc msr cx8 cmov mmx cxmmx up
bogomips        : 533.34
clflush size    : 32
cache_alignment : 32
address sizes   : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

root@net4801:~# /etc/init.d/target status
[—————————] TCM/ConfigFS Status [—————————-]
\——> iblock_0
HBA Index: 1 plugin: iblock version: v3.5.3
\——-> lun0
Status: ACTIVATED  Execute/Left/Max Queue Depth: 0/32/32  SectorSize: 512  MaxSectors: 240
iBlock device: sdc
Major: 8 Minor: 32  CLAIMED: IBLOCK
udev_path: /dev/sdc

[—————————] LIO-Target Status [—————————-]
\——> iqn.2010.com.digitallyaccurate.net4801:lun0
\——-> tpgt_1  TargetAlias: LIO Target
TPG Status: ENABLED
TPG Network Portals:
\——-> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3260
TPG Logical Units:
\——-> lun_0/iscsi00 -> target/core/iblock_0/lun0

Target Engine Core ConfigFS Infrastructure v3.5.3 on Linux/i586 on 2.6.32-38-386
Linux-iSCSI.org Target v3.5.3 on Linux/i586 on 2.6.32-38-386
root@net4801:~#

(IP removed from TPG)

Ubuntu is running off the Compact Flash card. There is a hard drive inside the Net4801 which was used as a block device for the iSCSI target, note the net4801 IDE channel only runs UDMA/33. After testing this, I popped in a USB 2.0 PCI card, and attached a 500GB USB drive. Please see a pic below:

Tests:

Writing around 1.6MB/sec (CPU utilization ~40%)

Reading around 2.5MB/sec (CPU utilization ~80%)

Please Note:

The test numbers are not exactly correct due to caching Windows performs.

HP MSA20 – Extend and Transform Time Estimates

 HP, Storage  1 Response »
Jan 262012
 

Well, for all you people out there considering extending your MSA20 RAID Array or transforming the RAID type, but are concerned about how long it will take…

I recently added a 250GB drive to a RAID5 array consisting of 9 X 250GB disks. Adding another 250GB disk to the RAID 5 array, took less then 8 hours (it actually could have been WAY less) to add the drive. Extending the logical partition took no time at all.

One thing I do have to caution though, I did a test transformation converting a RAID 5 array to a RAID 6. It started off going fast, once it hit 25% it sat there, only increasing 1% every 1-2 days. After 4 days I finally killed the transformation. PLEASE NOTE: There is a chance this may have had to do with a damaged drive, and I think that may have had something to do with the issue. This will need further testing. Also, just so you are aware, you CANNOT cancel a transformation. I stopped mine by simply turning off the unit, and ALL data was destroyed. If you start a transformation, you NEED to let it complete.

ALWAYS insure you have a COMPLETE backup before doing these types of things to a RAID array!

Brother MFC-9840CDW – Extend Toner Life (More like squeeze the last little bit out)

 Printers  16 Responses »
Dec 102011
 

Sick and tired of “Toner Low”, “Prepare New Toner Cartridge”, or even “Toner End of Life”?

Here’s a little hack for you people out there who have a Brother MFC-9840CDW and want to squeeze a few more copies out of your toner cartridges. Keep in mind, this can probably void your warranty so do it at your own risk.

This works on both standard, and high-yield toner cartridges.

There are two components to this: 1) The hardware aspect: There is a laser or something that shoots through a clear plastic seethrough circle (on both sides) of the toner. 2) The software aspect: The toner counter has to be reset.

Let’s get to it:

Hardware

Remove the toner tray and remove a single toner cartridge. On the either side of the toner cartridge you should see a clear plastic circle that should have traces of the color of the toner possibly on it. PLEASE NOTE: This is located on the side of the toner cartridge, don’t mess with anything else. Simply tear a small peice of paper and put some tape on the back, and slap it on the clear plastic. You only need to do this on one side per cartridge. This will fool the printer in to thinking that physically the toner has ink in it.

Software

I could be wrong, but the printer recognizes whether or not your using a standard or high-yield toner cartridges and keeps track of how many pages you print, and how much ink you use. You will need to reset this to clear the “Toner End of Life” message which stops you from printing. First you need to cover the toner holes as mentioned above in “Hardware”. Then you can proceed with this.

Open the front of the machine (as if you were wanting to get access to the toner cartridges). Now hit the “Clear/Back” button. This will open a secret menu on the front of the printer. Depending on whether you are using Standard to High Yield cartridges, you will want to use the menu to reset the counters for the applicable toner cartridges. There is 2 options (one for standard, and one for high yield) for each color of cartridge.

After this, you should be able to print again!

Astaro Security Gateway v8 installed on v7 VM appliance – Issue with Networking “flexible” adapter

 Astaro, ESXi, Internet, Security, VMware, vSphere  4 Responses »
Nov 282011
 

Just thought I’d do up a quick little post about an issue I’ve been having for some time, and just got it all fixed.

I’ve been running Astaro Security Gateway inside of a VMware environment for a few years. When version 8.x came out, I went ahead and simply attached the ISO to the VM and re-installed over the old v7 and restored the config. This worked great, and for the longest time I had no real issues.

I noticed from time to time that with packet sniffs, there was quite a few retransmissions and TCP segments lost. This didn’t really pose any issues, and didn’t cause any problems, however it was odd.

Recently, I had to configure a Site to Site IPsec VPN between my office, and one of my employees to provide exchange, VoIP, etc… With astaro this is fairly easy, few clicks and it should work simple, however I started noticing huge issues with file transfers, whether being transferred over SMB (Windows File Sharing), or SCP/SSH. Transfers would either completely halt when started, transfer a few couple hundred kilobytes, or transfer half of the file until it would simply halt and become unresponsive.

After 3-4 days of troubleshooting, I went ahead and did a packet sniff, noticed there were numerous TCP segments lost, fragmentation, etc… Initially I beleive that maybe MTU configuration may have had something to do with it, however TCP/IP and the Astaro device should have taken care of properly setting the MTU on the IPsec automatically.

After trying fresh installs of ASG, etc… and no behaviour change, I finally decided to take a few days away and give it a shot later. I’ve troubleshot this from every avenue and for some reason the issue is still existing. I finally figured that the only thing I haven’t checked was with my VMware vSphere environment. Checked the settings, all was good, however I did notice that the NICs for the ASG vm (which were created by the v7 appliance) were set as flexible, and inside of the VM were detected as some type of AMD network adapter. I found this odd.

After shutting down the ASG VM, removing the NICs and configuring new ones using E1000, all of a sudden the issue was fixed, the IPsec Site to Site VPN functioned properly, and all the network issues seen in network captures were resolved.

I hope this helps some other people who may be frustrated dealing with the same issue.

Update: Shaw Business Internet 100 Plus

 Internet  No Responses »
Nov 022011
 

Well it’s been a few months and love it!

Here’s a little speedtest.net snippet:

Download: 93.89Mb/s

Upload: 4.83Mb/s

Ping: 12ms

Keep in mind I need the connection mostly for upload. I’ve actualy gone over 5Mbps plenty of times. Can’t wait for their 250 plus offering, or even better yet FTTP.

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