Unix Revolution

I purchased two Mac Mini Servers a while back to run some VM's, etc... I no longer have a need for one of them and I was pressed to see if the standard version (non-Server) would run on the device. Now, just to note... the install media for Mac OS X "workstation" will not install on this box via CD/DVD. There is a mechanism in the installer which inquires what hardware OS X is being installed on, and that inquiry is not good ;-)... So, with a new Firewire cable and some goofy procedure... I now have Mac OS X Lion running on my Mac Mini Server 1TB. Installing OS X Lion "workstation" on a Mac Mini Server.... What you will need: Mac Book Pro (or another Mac with Firewire) Mac Mini Server 1TB - Intel Core Duo Dual-Ended Firewire Cable (not common) OS X DVD (10.6 or later) OS X Lion Disc Image (download from AppStore - yes.. it ends up on your drive) Backup your Mac Book Pro (I have no idea how messed up things can get). Make sure everyt...

Building Kickstart, in it's entirety, is not an extremely difficult task. You simply need: media tftp, web/nfs server, dhcp server and name server to make things easier ability to configure the above services I have recently become somewhat familiar implementing a Red Hat Network Satellite including how to get my nodes to subscribe to it for updates. Beyond that functionality I am struggling to see how Red Hat intended their Satellite Service to be utilized. More to come...

I had originally planned on this being a lengthy post, detailing my experience with building a 2-node Veritas Cluster Server environment using VMware vSphere 4.1 hosting Red Hat 5.7 and VCS 5.1 SP1GA. Once I had the cluster up and running, it seemed to be somewhat flaky and I decided to focus on more important things.  I might get back to this someday. I guess my greatest surprise is that fencing appears to be working (even though the "hardware test" failed -- Output : Preempt and abort key KeyA using key KeyB on node vcs02 ................ Failed An even greater surprise is why fencing does not work in more environments... Regardless, here it is... [root@vcs01 rhel5_x86_64]# hastatus -sum -- SYSTEM STATE -- System State Frozen A vcs01 RUNNING 0 A vcs02 RUNNING 0 -- GROUP STATE -- Group System ...

The Emulex proprietary drivers and included utilities are extremely helpful. (the only oddity is where they are installed /usr/sbin/lpfc - but, whatever...). I happen to be at a shop that uses the OS multipath and Emulex fiber channel drivers. There is a bunch of good information to be found... # lspci | grep -i emulex 0b:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation Saturn-X: LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Adapter (rev 03) 11:00.0 Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation Saturn-X: LightPulse Fibre Channel Host Adapter (rev 03) # cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host[2-3]/fwrev 2.00A3 (U3D2.00A3), sli-3 2.00A3 (U3D2.00A3), sli-3 # cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host[2-3]/lpfc_drvr_version Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver 8.2.0.87.1p Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver 8.2.0.87.1p # hbacmd listhbas | grep "Port WWN" | awk '{print $4}' | xargs -n 1 hbacmd HbaAttributes HBA Attributes for 10:00:00:00:c9:a6:91:35 Host Name : dbslp0066...

So, not exactly Linux/UNIX related... but I am elated with, oddly enough, AT&T. I went to the AT&T store to purchase a new iPhone 4 to replace my seemingly dying iPhone 3GS. I have been having issues with my phone since May in the house... and now it is basically acting up constantly. I.e. can't make calls even though I have 4 or 5 bars, dropped calls, etc... I have called Customer Service numerous times pleading with them to remedy this situation so that I don't have to go to Verizon for an iPhone that works. As it were: I could get an iPhone 4 from AT&T for $200 and probably need a microcell to make it work in my house... Or, I could simply get a Verizon iPhone 4 for $200 (which currently has a $100 rebate) and be done with it. I explained this to the AT&T people and they didn't seem to "get it". Whatever. Well, when I went to buy my iPhone 4 as a "last ditch" effort, the guy behind the counter was looking at the notes and said ...