TechGrabage

A must have!

As Quoted from the site: “QEMU is a generic and open source processor emulator which achieves a good emulation speed by using dynamic translation. QEMU has two operating modes:

* Full system emulation. In this mode, QEMU emulates a full system (for example a PC), including a processor and various peripherials. It can be used to launch different Operating Systems without rebooting the PC or to debug system code.
* User mode emulation (Linux host only). In this mode, QEMU can launch Linux processes compiled for one CPU on another CPU.

An optional proprietary QEMU Accelerator Module is available to optimize the case where a PC is emulated on a PC. This module enables QEMU to run most of the target application code directly on the host processor to achieve near native performance.

The supported host and target CPUs are listed in the status page. For full system emulation, the supported Operating Systems are listed here.”

QEMU

Why can Windows not do sym links? These are so useful on *nix systems. Makes like a lot easier. I have done some research into Windows linking to find you need a programmer capable of firguring out an undocumented API. Silly, just silly. Lets get with it Microsoft.

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Want to mess with your users or a particular user a little bit? Do you use KIX for your login scripts on your Windows Domain? Create a new script and call it, oh I dunno, matrix.kix. Paste the code below into it. Put a Call() statement at the end of your real login script to matirx.kix. You can alter how long the matrix script runs by altering the 15000 at the end! Have fun! This will be sure to keep the helpdesk staff pretty busy!

CLS Break on

Shell “cmd.exe /C mode con lines=50″

$drops = 10

SRND( 10 )

Dim $matrix[$drops + 1] Dim $matriy[$drops + 1] Dim $matrichr[$drops + 1] Dim $matrichrold[$drops + 1] Dim $matrimode[$drops + 1] Dim $stop Do $a = $a + 1 $matrix[$a] = Rnd(80) $matriy[$a] = Rnd(40) $matrichr[$a] = Rnd(100)+150 $matrimode[$a] = Rnd (3) Until $a = $drops $a = 0

Do

Do $a = $a + 1

$matriy[$a] = $matriy[$a] + 1 If ($matriy[$a] = 49) Color g/n AT ($matriy[$a]-1, $matrix[$a]) ” ” $matrix[$a] = Rnd(80) $matriy[$a] = Rnd(40) $matrimode[$a] = Rnd (3) EndIf

$matrichr[$a] = Rnd(100)+150

If (Rnd(100) > 2) AND ($matrimode[$a] < 2) AND ($matriy[$a]) Color g/n AT ($matriy[$a]-1, $matrix[$a]) Chr($matrichrold[$a]) EndIf

If ($matrimode[$a] = 3) AND ($matriy[$a]) AT ($matriy[$a]-1, $matrix[$a]) ” ” EndIf

Color g+/n AT ($matriy[$a], $matrix[$a]) Chr($matrichr[$a]) $matrichrold[$a] = $matrichr[$a]

$stop = $stop + 1 Until $a = $drops $a = 0

Until $stop = 15000

What is the deal with current linux distros and wireless support! I know it can be done, but I have never had it just work. I want it to just work. For Linux to grab any decent market share wifi is quite important.

I have had my DWL-G650 (rev c) working for periods of time on Fedora Core 3, Ubuntu and Debian. Never once on any of the tested distros did it simply work. From MADWIFI to NDISWRAPPER. I tried it all.

When it did work I had to add MORE stuff to get 54g. I am fdar from a linux newbie. I have been installing and using Linux for about 5 years now. I also am not a Linux power geek , like my friend Paul.

I know enough to know that WIFI support in all Linux distros needs to improve. It’ll get there, I am just a bit frustrated with the rate at which we are getting there.

Ever had an issue with the Windows Management Instrumentation service and Microsoft Exchange Management service? They seem to suck up all resources on the box. If we have Exchange slowness (getting email, slow calendaring) I restart WMI which also restarts it’s dependant services, MS Exchange Management. All is good then for a day or so.

Is the MS Exchange Management service needed? Hope not. I disabled it today. As far as I can tell it is for advanced exchange management tasks such as message tracking. Never do it, never had a request. So far so good with the service turned down!

I’ll keep this updated.

So I was going about creating a new cluster resource on our 2 node MS Cluster this morning. Pretty straight forward. A department is running out of network storage space. I added a few disks to the CX200 SAN and represented the new 200gb LUN to the cluster. Good, the cluster sees the new F: drive. I created a folder and shared it from the F: drive.

Catch my mistake yet?

I then went about creating the new cluster SHARE resource. Created the resource and brought it online for testing. As soon as I tried to bring it online, the entire cluster group began to fail over between the two nodes! It never found a home on either one! This was causing some big issues. Here is what the sys log reported:

Source: ClusSvc Category: 2055 Event ID: 1068 Desc: Cluster file share resource XXX Files failed to start with error 5.

Source: ClusSvc Category: 2055 Event ID: 10553 Desc: Cluster File Share ‘XXX Files’ cannot be brought online because the share could not be created.

Source: ClusSvc Category: Services Event ID: 1069 Desc: Cluster resource ‘XXX Files’ failed.

Those three error were thrown. What caused all this? The cluster service wants to create the share! I looked at the F: drive and it had created a new folder and shared it. The service freaked out for about 3 minutes then defaulted at a resting point on the original node. The new resource was flagged as failed. I reformatted the 200gb LUN and created the new folder but DID NOT share it this time. Started the new resource and all is well now!

Professionaly that is…

I am a very experienced Systems Administrator from New Hampshire. I manage Windows, Solaris and Linux operating systems, all of various versions and flavors. My favorite but probably not my strongest is Linux. Windows servers are my strongest but n ot by choise. It just happens to be the most prevalent of the Network Operating Systems.

* I build Windows, Solaris and Linux servers
* I have migrated serveral organizations to AD environments
* I have implemented DNS, DHCP and WINS
* I have moved DNS from BIND to AD and also from AD to BIND
* I have done several MS Mail to MS Exchange (5.5 & 2000) migrations
* I have done several Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 migrations
* I have a lot of experience installing and configuring LAMP (Linux - Apache - MySQL - PHP) servers.
* I have worked with RedHat 7 through Fedora Core 3
* I have installed and played with many other Linux distros
* I have vast experience with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT WS, NT Server, 2000 server, 2000 Advanced Server. My experience dates back to Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups
* I have built Windows Clusters (2 Node).
* I have installed, managed and maintained EMC Clariion FC4700 and CX200 SANS. I have presented luns to Solaris and Windows hosts.

What is my ideal job? It is the same as any true geek. I want to have a lab of my own with various servers and operating systems available to me. I want to build the servers and rip them down to be rebuilt with a new config or operating system. I want this work to benefit a progressive organization. I wouldn’t mind being locked away for hours at a time with out any interuptions at all. It’s a dream job.

I enjoy Systems Administration during crunch time.