A great deal has changed since the last time that I’ve posted!   For example, I am heavily engaged in a masters degree program in Information Systems.  I will graduate in 18 weeks.

In the coming days I plan to introduce posts on a variety of projects that I’ve been involved with over the last several months:

- Creating a Proxmox VE cluster with ZFS storage nodes for virtual machines

- ZFS snap shoting (concept/scripts)

- ZFS L2ARC

- ZFS ZIL

- VIRTIO vs Emulated Hardware (NIC/Hard Disk)

- Enabling VIRTO drivers IO in Windows Server 2008

- NIC tuning on Proxmox Cluster nodes after applying VIRTIO drivers in VMs

-  Varnish-Cache

- Salt Stack (easy alternative to puppet, cf-engine, etc)

- BackupPC

- PrefSonar

- NIC tuning on Linux

- pfSense 2.0

- Blocking clients that are using P2P

- Blocking ‘bad’ web sites

- Setting up CARP (pfSense firewall clustering)

- CARP and pfSense plugin management

Limiting Broadcast, Unicast, and Multicast Traffic on a Cisco Switch

Sometimes we must all face situations where broadcast traffic will hinder network bandwidth.  An excellent example is a low speed layer two site to site VPN link.  Here is a method to throttle broadcast traffic by setting a limiter on the physical network port.

configure terminal

* puts the switch in configuration mode

interface gi1/0/20

* targets gigabit port 1/0/20 (this is the port that we don’t want to be hammered with broadcast traffic)

storm-control broadcast level 1.00

* This allows only one percent of total broadcast traffic at any given moment to trickle through on this port, acceptable values are 1.00-99.00

exit

*Exits configuration mode

write mem

*writes running config to flash memory

If you want to limit Unicast or Multicast traffic simply substitute the word unicast or multicast in place of the work broadcast in the “storm-control boardcast level 1.00″ statement.

Want Gnome 3?  ATI Users don’t install proprietary ATI drivers

Do you wish to run Gnome 3? If you are running Ubuntu 11.04 and have an ATI Radeon HD graphics card you may want to remove the fglrx proprietary driver.  I have an HD 2600 and have noticed the following:

- One month ago:  ATI Catalyst drivers didn’t support the XOrg version which Unity and Gnome 3 use

- Currently:  Bad tearing and discoloration.

When you remove fglrx you are reverted to the open source driver.  This driver works great with GNOME 3.  The open source drivers does have its drawbacks, for example lack of video acceleration.

Install GNOME 3 in Ubuntu 11.04

IMPORTANT:  If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 10.10 to Ubuntu 11.04 Beta please perform the following prior to the install of GNOME 3.

apt-get remove gnome-accessibility-themes

“gnome-accessbility-themes” conflicts with the GNOME 3 themes package.  If you leave this in place you’ll get the GNOME 3 transparent interface with gnome classic themed window borders.

Command Line Instructions

————————————–

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Unity

VS

GNOME 3

–

Ubuntu 11.04

This blog posting is strictly my opinion of the two interfaces in Ubuntu 11.04.

I tried both of these interfaces when that I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 Beta 2.  Unity did not stay installed very long.  This interface has matured to a stable state however the interface did not appeal to me.  Unity is plagued with overly large icons and lots of blandly bright colors.  It’s like the screen was designed by Crayola and not Canonical.

After following some steps I found on Ubuntu Geek, I added the PPA for GNOME 3 to my sources.list file.  These steps, I’ll include in a separate post.

GNOME 3 is a much better interface.  Not as snappy as GNOME 2 but the beautiful colorization and transitions are worth the minor performance impact.  GNOME 3 is more responsive than Unity.  Also, GNOME’s layout is logical.  Its nice to see that the search function is nested only one lay deep and the system does appear to hang as it looks up the applications you’ve typed in.

If you feel the same about Unity, then please look for my post on switching to GNOME 3.  However, if you are an ATI user, you may run into issues.  I was able to install GNOME 3 on my network with an Intel Graphics Processor, however my desktop with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro didn’t work.  Instead, I switched to the latest version of XFCE.  XFCE, I’ve reviewed before in the past.  It is an excellent lighter weight Linux interface.

Happy 200th Episode Linux Outlaws!

Fab and Dan, happy 200th episode!  I’ve enjoyed every episode that you gentlemen have produced!

If you’ve never checked out Linux Outlaws, please visit:

http://linuxoutlaws.com

This is a podcast about the latest operating system news and events.  It is centric to Linux as the name suggests.  Fab and Dan have two completely different personalities.  Fab is more of the eccentric and Dan more calm and subdue.  They complement each other well.

To mark their 200th episode they created a special episode about the processes involved in creating their show.  Hat’s off to them as it is a great deal of work!  Check out the episode at:

http://linuxoutlaws.com/podcast/200

Clonezilla – Cloning Disk to Remote Disk

I ran into a unique situation the other day at work.  I had used Novell Zenworks to push Microsoft Office 2007 to several client computers.  9 out of 10 of them, Microsoft Office installed successfully on.  However, the single computer that it did not work on could no longer get into Windows.  Through some magic in safe mode, I was able to remove the corrupted 2007 installed as well as the chunks of the older Office 2003 install that the installer failed to remove.  Once I thought that computer was in the free and clear, I reinstalled Office 2007.  The install went well.  The next morning my phone rang.  It was one of the clients.  Her computer refused to open the ERP front end client for the Raiser’s Edge.  Blackbaud’s knowledge base simple stated for that particular error the best measure was to reinstall.  This did not work.  Since my client’s PCs contained the same software, I choose to clone the computer rather than hunt down an issue that technical support was unwilling to help me with.  In came Clonezilla’s Disk to Remote Disk rescue.

Source:

Start the Clonezilla CD.  Select Disk to Remote Disk and accept all prompts.  As your progress through the steps select the drive you wish to copy to the target and write down the IP address assigned via DHCP.

Target:

Start the Clonezilla CD.  Drop to the terminal! (None of the menu’s will be of help)

Type the following commands:

sudo su (this switches you to the root user)

ocs-live-netcfg (script which will configure the network card – select DHCP if you did so on the server, you DO NOT need to remember the address assigned here)

ocs-onthefly -s 192.168.1.2 -t sda (Replace 192.168.1.2 with the IP address you wrote down which was assigned to the source machine.  Replace sda with the device name listed in /dev for your the hard drive that you want the source disk to be copied to)

Roku XD – Amazing IPTV device

Many of us have heard from various sources that Roku it the leading Netflix streaming device.  I was looking for an additional Netflix device so I could move the Nintendo Wii from the Living Room to the Den for my two young daughters.  One day while I was with friends at Best Buy I saw this small device out of the corner of my eye.  I stood in disbelief at the size of the box.  How could something so small deliver decent Netflix playback?

The next morning after purchase, I rolled out of bed and hooked the device to my LCD TV via HDMI.  Within moments the wizard stepped me through the initial setup and I was able to playback Netflix in HD!  However, as I continued to use the box, I realized that I was able to do some much more.  For example, this is a list on Wikipedia of all “free channels” on Roku:

Free channels

• Sunimi
• Roku Newscaster
• Revision3
• TWiT.tv (network)
• Mediafly
• NASA TV
• blubrry
• CNET TV
• Crunchyroll
• Frame Channel
• techpodcasts.com
• Spacevidcast
• blip.tv
• Pandora Radio
• Life+Health Network
• Roxwel
• Radio Time
• Radio Paradise
• Blastro
• Proud Television
• The Highway Girl
• Break.com
• CDNTwo
• Liberty News Radio
• Film Fun^[12]
• Tagesschau (Germany)
• USB Media Player^[13]

Please keep in mind that the list above even at the moment of my posting is old.  They have tons of additional free content that exceeds the list above!

After I bought the Roku, I tend to not watch as much Netflix and Hulu Plus.  Why?  Just to busy enjoying that free content from Revision 3 and listening to University lectures via Mediafly.

How can such a small device deliver a bigger punch that my Sony Blu-ray player which is ten times its size?  One word, Linux!  With Linux at the devices core, you can rest assured that the device will be highly modular and have a long software update life cycle.

If you are looking to switch from cable to IPTV, I’d highly recommend this device!

Netbuilder Article Fail – Using Firewall Builder to Configure Cisco PIX/ASA

Isn’t it just aweful when you sit back and read an article and know that it is too good to be true.  This is one of articles that I’ve read which fits this description:

http://www.howtoforge.com/using-firewall-builder-to-configure-cisco-asa-and-pix

The article also featured on Netbuilder’s website is a waste of material.  In it the author does not discuss the following topics:

- Establishing routing, static or dynamic

- Access rules to the WAN to allow DNS, etc.

- Tweaks to get Firewall Builder to issue a “no shutdown” on your interfaces.

If you use this guide you’ll end up with a useless configuration on a $5,000 – $20,000 appliance.  This article isn’t meant for beginners or intermediate level Cisco users.  It is foolish for Netbuilder to target advanced Cisco ASA/PIX users.  Why?  They’d rather be at the CLI.  If the goal of the product is to allow ease of firewall configuration, then make a seemless guide for the beginner.  This guide must be feature rich and full of detail like your product.  Netbuilder, please reconsider revamping this article.

The Giant is falling…

I was in high school when Bill Clinton’s administration rightfully attacked Microsoft.  At the time it was in violation of anti-trust laws.  This giant had grown too fast for comfort.  At the time, I was frightened.  If the United States Government split up Microsoft, what would happen to PC standards?

Times have changed.  I’ve changed.  I am no longer a Microsoft Windows user.  I firmly believe in open source and open standards.  Sadly this trend did not start nor end with me.  In a profound decision HP has “fired” Microsoft as well.

http://scobleizer.com/2011/02/09/hp-fires-microsoft/

This doesn’t include just the mobile market.  HP intends to migrate all consumer desktops to WebOS.  This allows them to create a service based architecture similar to Apple.  This gives HP the advantage of allowing HP mobile devices better integration with HP computers using the cloud and a common operating system.  HP makes up 30% of all Windows computer purchases in the consumer market.  How will this impact Microsoft’s market share?  Microsoft had already fallen below 90% of the market share prior to this announcement:

http://www.netmarketshare.com/os-market-share.aspx?qprid=9

WebOS is based on Linux.  Will the operating system market become a playground for propreitary Linux distrubutions?  Will these companies contribute back to the Kernel and other GNU licensed software?  Will they allow the open source community to contribue to thier operating system and application market?  Here is more info on WebOS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS

Since HP’s departure, Microsoft has partnered with Nikoa.  Nikoa is already suffering from a failed mobile platform and dewindling mobile device sales.  Thus far the partnership has resulted in a sharp decline in stock value and employee strikes:

http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/02/14/nokias-value-slides-amid-downgrades/

http://technology-corner.com/nokia-employees-will-work-in-partnership-with-microsoft.html