tech goodness

Home Lab - update one

2015-03-30T23:15:00.000-05:00

As mentioned previously, I've decided to build a home computer lab for experimenting with new & interesting technologies. Parts have started to arrive, namely the chassis, memory, and storage media. The UPS is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, along with a 240GB SSD for my gaming rig. The remaining parts (motherboards and network gear) should arrive Thursday.

I ordered the new SSD over the weekend. I'm down to only 35GB of free space on my existing SSD, and I want to dual-boot Windows and Fedora. So I'll copy my Windows installation to the new drive and throw Fedora on the old 180GB one. My previous plan was to use my laptop (already running Fedora) to configure & manage the lab. After this, I'll be able to use the desktop - complete with 27" monitor - for that role.

I'm also returning the two 4TB Western Digital SE drives in in favor of four 4TB WD Reds. Why? Mostly because the latter were something like $55 cheaper each after a Newegg promo discount, making them an affordable way to double my capacity. But also because I don't really need 7200RPM drives with 1.2 million MTBF for a lab. You'd better believe those will by my choice for work, though!

That's it for now, and probably until next week. Between Easter and Opening Day, I won't have much time to actually play with my new toys.

Home Lab

2015-03-25T23:17:00.000-05:00

After months of hearing from a coworker the joys of having a home computer lab, and weeks of lurking in /r/homelab, I've finally purchased gear to build my own. It's been some time since I last played with new technology on my own terms, and not because work required it. I'm eager to regain that experimental spirit. Of course, some of what I learn may also benefit me professionally. But my focus will be on the trying of fun things.

The computers

I'm starting with two machines, identical nodes that I'll use as virtualization hosts. But enough talk; how about a parts list?

Motherboard & CPU: ASRock C2750D4i
Memory: 32GB Crucial DDR3-1600 ECC
SSD: 60GB Corsair Force LS SATA3
HDD: 4TB Western Digital SE 7200RPM SATA3
NIC: Intel I350-T2
Chassis: U-NAS NSC-400

The ASRock is a really cool mini-ITX server board with an integrated Intel Avoton C2750 octa-core(!) processor. It supports up to 64GB of RAM, sports twelve SATA ports, and offers twin Intel I210 ethernet adapters plus another dedicated management adapter with IPMI. The Intel I350 adds another two gigabit connections so I can perform networking tricks. I went with small-ish SSDs because they'll only hold the host OS (probably CentOS 7). VMs will be stored on the big, fast, enterprise-grade spinners. And the sweet U-NAS chassis will let me throw in even more storage when the need arises.

The network

Because I'm also a networking nerd, I picked up a TP-LINK TL-SG2424 24-port gigabit ethernet switch. It's only a "smart" switch, not a managed one, but it should be sufficient for the kind of experimentation I intend to do. It'll connect to my wifi through the neat little TP-LINK TL-WR710N mini pocket router. That may also become a traveling companion for those vacations when I want to connect my Chromecast to hotel wifi.

The rest

All of this equipment represents a fairly significant investment, so for the first time ever I'll be making use of a UPS. The CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD should be more than capable of protecting all of this kit plus my gaming rig. And it's probably worth mentioning that I'll use my Samsung notebook (running Fedora 21) to configure & access everything.

That's it for now. Just a matter of waiting for all of the pieces to arrive, then putting them together. My next update should include pictures. I hope to be ambitious enough about this to provide near-real-time commentary every step of the way. Feel free to follow along and share your thoughts!

Scripting the backburner.xml file for Amazon EC2

2012-09-05T15:19:00.001-05:00

A couple of people have contacted me about the PowerShell script I wrote while setting up 3DS Max Design to run in the cloud. Here it is, complete with comments. I'm also posting the backburner.xml file it modifies.

backburner.ps1

/* You must issue this command in a PowerShell window before the script will execute. It tells PS to run all local scripts, but none from the internet unless they're signed:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Run the script from the Startup menu using this command line (change path as appropriate):

powershell c:\backburner.ps1
*/

/* Stop Backburner service (should be started automatically) so we can alter the backburner.xml file. Change service name here (and at bottom) if it differs on your system. */

Stop-Service -displayname "Backburner Server version 2008.1.1"
Start-Sleep -s 10

# Retrieve computer name.
$computer = gc env:ComputerName

# Retrieve EC2 instance ID.
$wc = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$id = $wc.DownloadString("http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/instance-id")

# Retrieve and format MAC address.
$macaddress = getmac /fo csv /nh
$macaddress = $macaddress.substring(1,17)
$macaddress = $macaddress.replace("-","")

/* Copy content of backburner.xml template, replace placeholder values with real ones, write to user profile. If you run Backburner as a different user, adjust the location appropriately. */

$file = Get-Content p:\setup\backburner.xml
$file = Foreach-Object {$file -replace "SERVERHERE", $computer}
$file = Foreach-Object {$file -replace "MACHERE", $macaddress}
$file = Foreach-Object {$file -replace "DESCHERE", $id}
Set-Content C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\backburner\backburner.xml $file

# Start Backburner service.
Start-Sleep -s 10
Start-Service -displayname "Backburner Server version 2008.1.1"

backburner.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!DOCTYPE SystemConfiguration [
<!ELEMENT SystemConfiguration (GeneralCfg*, TimerCfg*, LogCfg*, AppDetails*)>
<!ELEMENT GeneralCfg (ManagerPort, MaxBlockSize, NetworkMask)>
<!ELEMENT ManagerPort (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT MaxBlockSize (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT NetworkMask (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT TimerCfg (AckTimeout, AckRetries, FastTimeout)>
<!ELEMENT AckTimeout (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT AckRetries (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT FastTimeout (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LogCfg (LogError, LogWarning, LogInfo, LogDebug, LogDebugex)>
<!ELEMENT LogError (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LogWarning (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LogInfo (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LogDebug (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT LogDebugex (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT AppDetails ANY>
]>
<SystemConfiguration>
<GeneralCfg>
<ManagerPort>3234</ManagerPort>
<ServerPort>3233</ServerPort>
<MaxBlockSize>128000</MaxBlockSize>
<NetworkMask>255.255.255.0</NetworkMask>
<HttpRedirection>http://www.autodesk.com</HttpRedirection>
</GeneralCfg>
<TimerCfg>
<AckTimeout>20000</AckTimeout>
<AckRetries>6</AckRetries>
<FastTimeout>4000</FastTimeout>
</TimerCfg>
<LogCfg>
<LogError>1</LogError>
<LogWarning>1</LogWarning>
<LogInfo>1</LogInfo>
<LogDebug>0</LogDebug>
<LogDebugex>0</LogDebugex>
<LogMaxFileSize>10485760</LogMaxFileSize>
</LogCfg>
<AppDetails>
<ServerSettings>
<ManagerName>10.0.0.11</ManagerName>
<AutoSearch>0</AutoSearch>
<ServerName>SERVERHERE</ServerName>
<ServerMAC>MACHERE</ServerMAC>
<Description>DESCHERE</Description>
</ServerSettings>
</AppDetails>
</SystemConfiguration>

A couple of notes about the XML file. First, the ManagerName entry must reflect the IP address of your Backburner Manager instance. I always launch that instance into VPC using the 10.0.0.11 address. If you do the same, the file needn't be manually edited at all.

Secondly, the file is placed in a shared folder on the Manager that is then mapped as a drive on each of the nodes. I mentioned that in the original article, but it bears repeating. That's why the script looks for the file in 'p:\setup'.

That should do it. If you have any trouble, please don't hesitate to contact me. Good luck!

Android and Car Chargers

2012-03-12T14:40:00.000-05:00

My car charger died recently, so it was time to shop for a replacement. The requirements started out pretty simple. I just wanted the ability to charge two devices (my phone, and either a passenger's phone or a Bluetooth headset) at once. That it's. But as I shopped, things got a little more complicated...

You see, Android supports two different charging modes. The first, AC, is what you get when you use the OEM wall or car charger. These provide the correct current (generally about 1 A for phones, 2 A for tablets) for that device. Your gadget is going to charge the fastest in AC mode.

The second mode is USB, which is used when the device is connected to a computer. But computers only provide 500 mA through their ports. That means it will take twice or four times as long to charge the battery. If you're using GPS, playing games, or streaming music over LTE, the charger won't be able to keep up.

The difference between the two modes is hardware. Chargers designed for Android have the middle two USB pins shorted to each other. A device looks at these two pins, and if they're shorted, goes into AC mode. If they're not, it will use USB.

As it turns out, most aftermarket car chargers don't have those pins shorted. Sure, they're capable of providing the 1 to 2 A your device requires, but your phone will only detect USB mode and use 500 mA. Note that Apple devices use a different method for deciding how to charge, so "Designed for iPhone/iPad" accessories won't help.

That leaves you with three options:

Buy a charger that is known to work with your device.
Buy any charger that provides the necessary current, open it up, and short the pins yourself.
Buy any charger that provides the necessary current, plus a cable that has the pins shorted.

I ruled out option one because I couldn't find a charger that had two ports and was known to work with the Galaxy Nexus. Option two was out because I'm just not handy with a soldering iron (though that is a skill I'd like to develop).

So I went with option three. Amazon sells this cable (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VYBCAY/) for $8. I paired it with this charger (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056VNVV8) for $12. The Bracketron provides 1 A over one of its ports and 2 A over the other. That gives me the ports I need to charge two devices, and one of those devices can even be a tablet.

However, and this is very important, if you go with the modified USB cable, make sure not to mix it up with your normal ones. You could damage your computer if you do.

Rendering from 3ds Max Design 2011 on Amazon EC2

2011-12-22T17:18:00.000-06:00

I've posted a few details of my current project to Google+, but never a full-length description. This is my first practical experience with cloud computing, and one of the most enjoyable things I've done in my fourteen years in IT. Perhaps the experience will help others.

Background
My firm is being called on more and more to provide 3D visualizations of our designs. Sometimes it's in the form of a static image. Other clients want an animated walk-through. In the past, we've been able to use our internal equipment to produce this work. But the general-purpose computers we have can take hours to create one frame. Animations consist of thirty such frames each second, which could mean days or weeks of processing for a two-minute video clip.

Luckily, modern design software allows you to harness multiple networked computers and put them to work on a single job. Let's say you have ten machines. One of these will function as a "manager", and split your image into multiple chunks. Or in the case of an animation, it will cut it into individual frames. The manager then sends one chunk at a time to each of the nine other computers. These will render the parts they've been assigned, then return the finished work to the manager, which re-assembles the bits. The manager then sends the next nine parts, and the process continues until the job is done. The more nodes you have, the more chunks you can process at once. The more powerful each machine is, the quicker it can process them.

There are plenty of rendering farms on the internet, and they're relatively easy to use. Just upload your scene, maps, materials, and whatever else to their FTP site, fill out a form, buy some time, and let 'er rip. I've used a service like that (RenderTitan) before, and was generally quite pleased with the results. The price, however, was another matter.

You see, most of these outfits have you pre-pay by the gigahertz-hour. That was a new term for me, though it's not hard to understand. If you have a 1 GHz machine, a gigahertz-hour is what it costs to run that computer for one hour. A 2 GHz machine costs two gigahertz-hours. A quad-core 2.5 GHz machine costs ten gigahertz-hours. Easy, right?

This seems like a decent way to measure processing time, but it makes budgeting somewhat complicated. You can, of course, estimate by running a few test frames on a machine, then multiplying that figure by the total number of frames. For example, if it takes three hours to render ten frames on a dual-core 3 GHz computer, you're left with an average of 1.8 gigahertz-hours per frame. If the total animation consists of one hundred frames, you should budget for about 180 gigahertz-hours. But some frames are more complex than others, and take longer to render. Others won't take as long. That's where things get difficult. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, you have to purchase the time in advance. If you run out of "credits" before the job is complete, it will stop. You'll then have to purchase more time, and submit the remainder of the job. And you certainly don't want to pay for more time than you need!

There are other drawbacks to using an off-the-shelf service. It may not support the plugins or special content you use in your model. If something goes wrong, it's difficult (if not impossible) to see if the problem is machine- or file-specific. As a stereotypical control-freak IT guy, I don't like giving up that control. There had to be a better, cheaper way.

Amazon to the rescue
I had heard about Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) previously, but didn't understand what it was or how I could make it work for us. It's embarrassing how long it took for me to grasp the concept of virtualization. I eventually started playing with XenServer internally, which is really what made cloud computing click for me.

EC2 lets you choose an operating system and computer class in one of Amazon's data centers, creating what they call an "instance". The processing power of a given class is measured in "Compute Units," which Amazon defines as "the equivalent CPU capacity of a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor." Prices range from $0.02 an hour for a t1.micro instance (613 MB RAM, 2 CU) running Linux, to $2.97 an hour for a cc2.8xlarge (60.5 GB RAM, 88 CU) running Windows. There are several classes between these two extremes. Once you've created an instance, you're free to install whatever software you need. You can then create snapshots of your custom configuration, which are saved on Amazon's servers and can be started, stopped, or deleted on demand. You're only billed (at the end of the month) for the time your instances are actually running, plus fees for certain bandwidth use, storage, IP addresses, and monitoring.

You're limited by default to twenty on-demand instances at a time. However, Amazon also offers what they call "spot" instances. You can request up to 100 of these. They make use of otherwise unused capacity, and prices fluctuate according to demand. For example, the current spot price for a t1.micro instance running Linux is $0.006 per hour - 1/3 the price of an on-demand instance. If you bid $0.007, and there are resources available, your instance will launch. This is a tremendous way to save money.

The downside, of course, is that you can be outbid. Let's say you have a spot instance running at the price above, and someone else is willing to pay $0.008 per hour. If there are no other instances available, yours will be shut down in favor of the new highest bidder. So while spot instances are a good way to add capacity cheaply, you don't want to rely on them exclusively.

Another key feature is Amazon's Virtual Private Cloud service. This allows you to create a private 10.0.0.0 network space for your instances, and assign static addresses from that subnet. It's also completely free.

Here we go

Once I understood it, EC2 seemed like the perfect solution. I could pick the hardware I need, install & configure the software we use, and run the farm cheaper than using someone else's.

My first step was creating a base image. I chose an m1.large instance (7.5 GB RAM, 4 CU) running 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2, in a VPC. To this machine I installed Google Chrome (of course), then downloaded the installers for 3ds Max Design 2011, its Service Pack 2, and Archvision Dashboard. I also changed the time zone to match my own, disabled Windows Firewall, and set a new administrator password. I then took a snapshot for future use.

After capturing the image, I restarted the instance and began configuring it as the manager. Because it's accessed by all the other machines, it needed a static IP address, which the VPC allows. I then installed 3ds Max in trial mode, which gives me thirty days of free use. Next was the service pack, followed by the Archvision software. I created a shared folder for the RPC and other content to live. The 32- and 64-bit versions of the RPC plugins were installed and configured, and I set the Archvision Content Manager to look in the shared folder.

With the manager ready to go, it was time to create an image for the nodes. I went back to my base image (the one with 3ds downloaded but not installed) and created a c1.xlarge instance (7.5 GB RAM, 20 CU) in my VPC. I mapped a drive to the shared folder on the manager, installed the software, and pointed the RPC plugins to the static-addressed Content Manager.

Now, my goal with the nodes was to make them completely hands-off. I don't want to have to log on to twenty or more computers before they'll start rendering. Backburner, Autodesk's network rendering component, can run in the background as a service, so I installed it to run using the Administrator account. I then fired up the Manager component. The node registered itself with the manager, and I sent through a quick job. Success!

However, things got a little more complicated when I launched a second instance. When Backburner on the new machine registered with the Manager, it seemed to replace the existing node. After some investigation, I found a file (backburner.xml) that contains the settings used to identify the machine to the manager. Because I'm using a single image, the files on all the instances start out identical. I had to find a way to automatically change the file on each instance to reflect that machine's MAC address and name.

My solution was to write a PowerShell script that runs at log on. It stops the Backburner service, grabs the computer name and MAC address, and polls a web address for the instance's ID. It then changes those settings in the backburner.xml file and restarts the service. The script went in the Startup folder, and I set Windows to log on to the Administrator account at boot time.

Wrap it up

Launching nodes could not be more hands-off. All I do is select the image and launch as many instances as I need. They automatically log on to the Administrator account, change the necessary Backburner settings, and launch the service. On the manager, I can see new nodes come online and identify themselves. Once they do, each grabs a frame and goes to work.

The manager, on the other hand, needs to be created each time. "Why," you ask, "would that be?" Well, remember that I'm using the trial version of 3ds Max Design. That means I get thirty days' use before I have to purchase the software. By starting from scratch each time I need a manager, I gain another month of "free" rendering. It's a bit of a hassle to re-install everything, but you can't beat the price.

Speaking of price, it compares quite favorably. Remember RenderTitan? They charge $0.125 per gigahertz-hour. In EC2, I'm using hardware that Amazon rates equivalent to 20 GHz, and costs $1.16 per hour, for a gigahertz-hour calculation of $0.058. That's half the price of the commercial service. Not too shabby!

The downside is that if I only use on-demand instances, I'm limited to nineteen rendering nodes, plus a manager. But I can get additional nodes, when they're available, using spot instances. The base spot price for a c1.xlarge instance is $0.45. By bidding closer to the on-demand price, I can maximize my chances of getting that extra horsepower. I've yet to reach thirty running instances this way, but it could happen over the holiday weekend.

Initial thoughts on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus

2011-12-15T21:47:00.001-06:00

Much has been written about Google's latest showcase device already. Most of those reviews are far more thorough and professional than anything I could hope to write. But when has that ever stopped someone from sharing their thoughts on the internet? So in that grand tradition, I present my completely biased opinion of the coolest bit of tech I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

Yes, I'm a total Google fanboy.

The first thing I noticed about the phone was how much nicer things look in Ice Cream Sandwich. I never had complaints with Android's design, but this version is a vast improvement. The new Roboto font is striking, and even the icons and widgets somehow look cleaner. Of course, the high-resolution screen could also have something to do with that. I can't wait to throw an HD video at this thing.

Something I thought was cool in the previews, but didn't fully appreciate until now is the new folder system. To create a collection of apps on your home screen, you simply drop one icon on top of another. You then end up with a stack of icons representing your new folder. Clicking the stack opens a dynamically-sized window showing those items in a grid. I keep a lot of shortcuts on my home screens, but I'm only using three (of five) thanks to folders.

The phone is super-responsive. Sliding from screen to screen is instantaneous, as are menus. Great Little War Game, which used to take a good six or seven seconds just to open on my EVO, is now ready to go in two. Hooray for dual cores!

Notifications, always one of Android's strong suits, are even better in the new version. If you've assigned a picture to a contact, that image will appear as part of the notification when you receive an email. A fun bit of trivia is that all but one of the stock ring tones is named after a star, constellation, or galaxy (get it?).

The new soft buttons are great, but they make interface inconsistencies even more obvious, and sometimes frustrating. Many apps put a menu button in a toolbar at the top:

Others put the toolbar on the bottom:

Still others rely on a soft menu button:

And then you have those that have a soft button, but pressing it doesn't do anything:

The built-in screenshot function, by the way, is very nice. I'm making good use of it.

Face Unlock is pretty cool. Sometimes it's instantaneous (or near enough), and sometimes it takes a couple of seconds. Other times it doesn't work, and you have to slide to unlock. The system won't recognize me when I wear a knit cap, or in especially low light. No biggie.

Finally (for now), the cameras. I haven't really used either of them yet, except to play with the instant shutter. And yes, it is fast. Snapping multiple photos in a row is now incredibly easy. I look forward to taking this phone to Brewers games! Of course, there's a price to pay for quick shots, and that is focus. It's going to require some experimentation to see how quickly I can grab pictures without making them blurry.

I'm extremely pleased with this phone after 24 hours, I also can't deny that the honeymoon period is in full effect. I will continue to post my thoughts here and on Google+ as I get more experience with it. If there's anything in particular you'd like to know, about the phone or the new OS, I'll be happy to share.

A review of Picasa 3.9 (beta)

2011-12-09T09:10:00.001-06:00

Google rolled out the latest version of Picasa yesterday, which brought with it Google+ integration. I installed the program last night, and spent several hours tagging all of my pictures with places and faces. That probably sounds more ambitious than it actually was, as I don't really have that many photos. The process did give me enough time, however, to evaluate the good and the bad points of the application.

I had used Picasa to create a number of albums already, and these appeared in the new version without issue. To download my existing Google+ collections, I used the new "Import Albums from Google+ Photos" command on the File menu. Downloaded collections appeared in a "Web Albums" section on the left-hand side of the Organizer window.

The first thing I noticed was the accuracy of the facial recognition. One album consisted of shots of my brother, sister-in-law, and five-month-old (at the time) twin nephews. I expected Picasa to identify the two adults without any problem, and it did. What surprised me was that it also picked out each of the boys in the majority of the photographs. Jaden and Braden aren't identical, and it's easy for family to tell the difference, but I was thrilled that the software could do it as well.

Syncing those tags back to the web is where things went sideways. The new identifiers would usually appear when using the Picasa Web Albums interface, but not in Google+ Photos. In many cases, the only way to force an update was to delete the photos from the web, then re-upload from the desktop. There just didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason, which made the process incredibly frustrating.

There also seemed to be some inconsistency when it came to sharing. Even if I set the visibility to Public when I uploaded, the album showed up as Private in Google+. I had to change it again using the web interface to make it stick.

I suppose I just wasn't using the tool in the manner for which it was designed. My best advice at this point is to use Picasa to tag photos before they're uploaded at all, and use the web interface to tag your existing photos. Maybe it will work better as development continues.