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Tuesday 23rd, June 2009

Using Synology Disk Station as a NFS NAS for VMware ESX06/23/2009 08:20 PM

Now I use the Synology Disk Station as a NFS NAS for VMware. Just define the NFS options and assign within VMware the datastorage. Compare the Synology Products.

Image:Badkey Corner - Using Synology Disk Station as a NFS NAS for VMware ESX

Image:Badkey Corner - Using Synology Disk Station as a NFS NAS for VMware ESX

The Badkey Team

Technorati: VMware

Saturday 20th, June 2009

Synology Disk Station DS107 Release Notes. Version: DSM 2.1-0844. Build Date: 2009/04/2206/20/2009 04:00 PM

Synology Disk Station DS107 Release Notes. Version: DSM 2.1-0844
Version: DSM 2.1-0844; Build Date: 2009/04/22 80Mb

Change log:
1.(8518) File Station 2: Fixed failure of downloading files and sub-folders in user's "home" folder.
2.(8543) Surveillance Station 2: Enhanced Internet connectivity of Live View page.
3.(8624) UPnP Multimedia Service: Enhanced folder name capitalization handling for browsing files.
4.(8512) Fixed fan behavior after recovering from hibernation.

Synology® Releases DSM 2.1 Firmware Update with Enhanced Usability in File Station 2, Surveillance Station 2 and UPnP Multimedia Server:
Taipei, Taiwan—May 5, 2009—Synology® Inc. today released DSM 2.1 firmware update DSM 2.1-0844 for its Disk Station models with fixes for "home" folder download issue in File Station 2, as well as enhancements for Surveillance Station 2 and multimedia server. DSM 2.1-0844 fixed the issue generated from DSM 2.1-0839 that may cause failure when downloading files and sub-folders in user's "home" folder. Users facing this download issue are encouraged to upgrade to the current version. For Surveillance Station 2, the Internet connectivity of Live View page has been enhanced, while for UPnP multimedia server, the browse function can now accurately process folder names with capitalized characters. DSM 2.1-0844 also fixed the fan behavior after recovering from hibernation in its 07-series Disk Station models.

Availability:
DSM2.1-0844 applies to all Disk Station 09-series, 08-series, 07-series models and DS-106j. It is available for free download at: synology.com/download

More @http://www.synology.com/enu/news

Technorati: Information

Thursday 18th, June 2009

Badkey VMware ESXi on Build 163429. 06/18/2009 09:01 PM

Patched up VMware ESXI to build 163429 an obvious increase in I/O performance. Now its the IBM Lotus Domino's turn for an upgrade.

Image:Badkey Corner - Badkey VMware ESXi on Build 163429.

Image:Badkey Corner - Badkey VMware ESXi on Build 163429.

This patch fixes the following issues:
Virtual machines using a NFS data store might fail after a HA failover event. This issue might result in two scenarios:

1. When you have memory overcommitment with virtual machines on a NFS datastore, it results in the creation of a vswp file, which is a non-zero size swap file.
In this scenario if HA failover events occur and the HA has the setting "Leave VM powered on", then you might have a virtual machine failure on the host where the virtual machine was originally running before the HA event.

2. If you do not have memory overcommitment with virtual machines on a NFS datastore, if HA failover events occur with the setting "Leave VM powered on", further vmotions of the virtual machine running on the original host might fail.

When an invalid license is specified to a license server or if the network is intermittent, the ESX server goes to an unlicensed state. The ESX server does not try again to acquire the licenses from the license server. This fix allows the ESX server to try to acquire licenses after a few minutes.
Addresses a robustness issue in VMX.

ESX 3.5 might fail on IBM, Fujitsu and SUN servers installed with Adpatec aacraid_esx30 driver. This issue occurs when ESX host is running management agents and heavy I/O load on the volumes owned by aacraid_esx30 driver.
This fix updates the tzdata package. The tzdata package contains data files with rules for various time zones around the world.

This updated package addresses the following changes to Daylight Saving Time (DST) observations:
* Future transition dates for Brazil were fixed
* Several Argentinian provinces decided not to observe Daylight Saving

Users in the affected locales, or users interacting with people or systems in the affected locales, are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which adds these enhancements.

Release Date: May 28, 2009
More @kb.vmware.com

Technorati: VMware

Monday 8th, June 2009

Astaro 7.403 Up2Date Re-Released06/08/2009 10:50 PM

AxG 7.403 Up2Date Released. June 8, 2009

Up2Date 7.403 has just been published to the Astaro Up2Date infrastructure. This is a stability release which enhances the core and operation of your Astaro product. Please read on for the details around this Up2date package.

Depending on your location and bandwidth, this Up2Date may take some hours to become available within WebAdmin of your installation. We are testing a new distributed Up2Date dispersal system based on a cloud infrastructure, which may significantly speed up both Up2Date propagation to your device, and the download speed at which the Up2Date is retrieved. As this service is fully deployed, most customers will directly see the benefit for future releases.

-Up2Date Size: 72.59 MB (76111055 bytes)
-Md5sum: 9fda5190714aedc0636fbb43cbd0cc85

Remarks:
Configuration will not be changed
*NOTE*: System will be rebooted!

News: Added support for new Up2Date servers & cloud deployment

Bugfixes:
Fix [10015]: Active content removal not working correctly
Fix [10139]: Unable to download, clear, or delete log files
Fix [10233]: Regenerating the Signing CA might cause problems
Fix [10284]: Uplink interface not showing up sometimes
Fix [10323]: High-Availability logfile filling up quickly
Fix [10324]: Possible db sync problem on HA nodes
Fix [10339]: Slave nodes keeps UP2DATE state after manual action
Fix [10355]: Problem reinitializing tunnels after HA takeover
Fix [10360]: Exception list can not be created for Share
Fix [10361]: File Extensions missing from Filter Action page
Fix [10391]: POP3 prefetch fails at long MIME-encoded subjects
Fix [10409]: Web Security reports not visible for auditors
Fix [10423]: Using proxy arp may cause loss of WebAdmin connectivity
Fix [10426]: Importing license via wizard may not work correctly
Fix [10441]: HTTP block action not working in all cases

More @up2date.astaro.com/2009/06/axg_7403_up2date_released.html

Technorati: Firewall

Sunday 7th, June 2009

Linux Fedora Release 11 Schedule06/07/2009 07:49 PM

Fedora 11 Preview, more @press.redhat.com/2009/04/29/fedora-11-preview/

Fedora 11 Release Overview
Fedora 11 continues the Fedora Project's tradition of the Four Foundations: Freedom, Friends, Features, First. Freedom represents dedication to free software and content. Friends represents the strength of our community. Features represents our commitment to excellence. First represents our commitment to innovation.

Fedora's hallmarks are technical excellence and innovation. Fedora 11 is packed with tons of new features across the spectrum from casual desktop user to hardcore hacker. Additionally,
Fedora 11 offers a very good technical preview of features that may appear in the upcoming version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fedora 11 showcases a new default filesystem in ext4, a 20 second startup, and the latest GNOME, KDE and XFCE releases. Firefox 3.5 and Thunderbird 3 latest pre-releases are available as well. Fedora 11 features Presto, a yum plugin that reduces bandwidth consumption drastically by downloading only binary differences between updates. It also features Openchange for interoperability with Microsoft Exchange. There are new security enhancements, improved and upgraded development tools, and cutting edge features in areas such as virtualization.

For a complete list of Fedora 11 features see the complete Fedora 11 feature list.
To see what Fedora 11 will look like check out the tour, there is also a screenshot tour.

Fedora 11 will have the following features besides package version upgrades:
- 20 seconds boot time to log in screen from the 30 second Fedora 10 boot time
- EXT4 as the Fedora default file system.Documentation @ext4.wiki.kernel.org and @kernelnewbies.org/Ext4
- OpenChange for native access of Microsoft Exchange
- rpm 4.7 (improved performance)
- Automatic multimedia codecs, fonts and mime installer
- New virtualization features for security and desktop interaction
- Automatic installation of fonts and programs for specific downloaded files
- Better video card support including ATI, Intel, and Nvidia
- A new system for improved handling of input by international users
- The ability for developers to create Windows programs directly in Fedora using the MinGW cross-compiler

Review - Fedora 11 Preview

What is Fedora?
Fedora is a Linux based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project, a partnership of free software community members from around the globe. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

Our Mission
The Fedora Project's mission is to lead the advancement of free and open source software and content as a collaborative community.

The three elements of this mission are clear:
The Fedora Project always tries to lead, not follow.
The Fedora Project consistently seeks to create, improve, and spread free/libre code and content.
The Fedora Project succeeds through shared action on the part of many people throughout our community.

Our Method
Fedora is a center for innovation in free and open source software, and creates a community where contributors of all kinds -- developers, documenters, artists, system administrators, and other free software and open source enthusiasts -- come together to advance the ecosystem for the benefit of everybody. The Fedora community contributes everything it builds back to the free and open source world and continues to make advances of significance to the broader community, as evidenced by the regular and rapid incorporation of its features into other Linux distributions. Regardless of which Linux distribution you use, you are relying on code developed within the Fedora Project.

Fedora 11 Final Release 09-06-2009

More @fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/11/Schedule, @distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fedora and @fedoraproject.org

Technorati: Linux

Friday 5th, June 2009

Astaro 7.500 Beta Challenge, adds over 50 new features and conveniences06/05/2009 09:22 PM

Image:Badkey Corner - Astaro 7.500 Beta Challenge, adds over 50 new features and conveniences

The Astaro Team has work hard and long to bring you a new high quality release with lots new features and improvements in all areas.

We are proud to tell that we have implemented the by far most wanted feature of http://feature.astaro.com as well as other top requested changes like:
* Improved Intrusion Protection Performance
* Added Real-Time Bandwidth Monitor
* Added Import/Export entries into List Widget
* Added Clone Objects (Definitions, Services, Certain Profiles/Actions)
* Added Detailed Network Security Reporting
* Added Reputation Filter to Web Security
* Improved DHCP features
* Add PIM-SM Multicast Routing

On top of that you will find 30 additional smaller usability and feature improvements.

More Information about the new features and how to download this version can be found on our Up2Date Blog:
http://up2date.astaro.com/2009/05/asg_beta_7500_launched.html

What's new in BETA ASG V7.500?
7.500 adds over 50 new features and conveniences, most of which are directly a result of submitted features by our partners and customer base. While we'll have detailed documentation and release notes ready for the final release, here is an overview of the things of note, and a few bullet points for information so you know where to go and what to see/try. This is not an exhaustive list, but most new things will be at least mentioned. Some things listed as "minor" may indeed not be considered minor for various admins/users/partners, depending on your needs.

Major New Things
Intrusion Protection Performance
*Uses new version of the IPS engine
*Scales massively when used with Multi-Core CPU/Appliances

Real-Time Bandwidth Monitor
*New Interface utilization bars on Dashboard (setup scale via editing the Interface and filling in new parameters for Upload/Download)
*Click for detailed overview as to "whats happening in my network right now"

Import/Export Widget
*Gives the ability to work with manual lists for many features/fields
*Useful to import a large blacklist (for example) into the URL Blacklist
*Can been seen in many user-input boxes in Web, Mail and more. (Green Up/Down Arrows)

Transparent Authentication Support for Web Security
*Allows users to authenticate against a Portal-Style page
*Allows for username based tracking, reporting, and surfing without changing browser settings
*Currently logo can be customized. Text,HTML, and further customizations planned for a later time.
*Configurable Timeout via HTTP-->Advanced. (Default 900s)

Clone Objects
*Easily duplicate existing objects for quick re-use.
*Supported in most places for many objects (Definitions, Services, Certain Profiles/Actions)

Extended Network Security Reporting
*Added Detailed Packet Filter/Firewall Reports
*Added Detailed IM/P2P Reports

Reputation Support for Web Security
*Allows use of the trustedsource.org reputation for Web Filtering
*Documentation coming, for now visit their site/FAQ for more info on reputations

DHCP Improvements
*Automatically map a current lease to a static assignment
*Limit DHCP leases to those with static assignments only
*Configurable DHCP lease time
*Servers retain configuration when enabled/disabled

Multicast Routing Daemon:
*PIM-SM Routing support
*More documentation on this implementation to come. Experiment with it and if it solves your needs.

Other New Things
*Windows SSL VPN Upgraded - New Client which supports X64 and many other options (download again via the UserPortal)
*Improved HTTP Caching - Increases hit/usage rates and makes the cache more effective.
*Quarantine/UserPortal Usability - Adds navigation to the bottom (supplementing the existing controls at the top), large amounts (250-1000) of displayed items per page, and sorting by subject line.
*Default Definition for "Internet" - Allows to specify "Internet" as an object which will exclude internal network(s) to aid policy creation (0.0.0.0/0 on Gateway interface)
*Customizable Shortcuts - Change the default Ctrl assignments to fit your preference
*Improved Definition/Services Sidebar - Mouseover now instantly shows full name and extended info to aid identifying desired object for drag 'n drop.
*User List shows static IP's - if assigned/configured (no need to edit in order to view)
*Live Log Negation - use to filter live logs to not show lines that match "-" entries i.e. -test to remove lines containing "test"
*Console/SSH Logins Trigger a notification - provides admin the needed insight when accessed.
*Instant Email Backup - Button for every created backup file which allows it to be sent immediately via email to configured addresses
*Custom text for notifications - Allows easier identification of which installation is sending the message. Especially useful if managing multiple sites using notifiers.
*Test NTP Sync - Button to immediately poll the configured NTP server
*Automatic Backup before Up2Date install
*Configurable Default for Lists - Allows for the amount of items per page (Packet Filter Rules, or anywhere there is a number amounts drop down) to have a larger default view
*Cluster/HA Serial Number View - Information on connected units made easier
*Schedule Firmware Installation - When an Up2Date for Firmware is available, you can schedule it to auto-install at a certain time (not a recurring setting)
*WebAdmin Network Section Split - Now two sections; "Network" and "Network Services" for usability.
*Search Boxes Retain Data - No need to re-enter query when returning from a drill down/result click.
*System Restart Reason - Allows logging of "why was system restarted" in the notification
*Group Tool tips for Members - Easily discern Network/Service Group members without having to edit in order to view
*Reporting Exclusions - Used to remove unwanted entries from various reports (such as Google-analytics from Web Security tables
*Log Flag for NAT Rules - Similar to packet filter, tells you which NAT rule was matched as part of traffic handling
Masquerading for Additional IP Addresses - Allows the use of Masquerading (vs. just SNAT) for additional IP's bound to an interface
*Support for Multiple Authentication Servers - The authentication server section has been redesigned to support fallback/failover in an easier format, with many usability improvements
*SNMP MIB - Downloadable via the SNMP section of WebAdmin
Up2date Status Reworked - Clarifies the current status of a Firmware Up2date to avoid confusion regarding the availability, download progress etc...of an issued Up2date.
*Inline/Snap Report Links - Directly moves the Admin to the relevant details report when browsing the embedded daily reports located throughout WebAdmin
*Global POP3 Sender Blacklist - Quarantined as "other" in the QM/EUP
*Dashboard RSS Feed - Provides visibility to select Astaro-issued items via WebAdmin
*Other magic features, enhancements, and usability improvements

The minimum hardware requirements for Astaro Security Gateway Software installations are:
Version 7.400+
CPU: 1.5Ghz Intel Pentium 4+ CPU
RAM: 1024 MB Ram
Harddisk: 20 GB HDD
CDROM: IDE or SCSI (see HCL for supported SCSI controller)
NIC: at least 2 PCI NICs (see HCL for support chipsets)

More @astaro.com

Image:Badkey Corner - Astaro 7.500 Beta Challenge, adds over 50 new features and conveniences

Technorati: Astaro Firewall

Tuesday 26th, May 2009

Unsupported Console and SSH on ESXi 405/26/2009 10:32 PM

This will likely not generate as much fanfare as it did for the 3.5 release of ESXi, however I can confirm that it does indeed still work in vSphere ESXi 4. This is the procedure I used to get it up and running on my “Lab” box.

1.alt-f1
2.unsupported
3.root pw
4.vi /etc/inetd.conf
5.delete the "#" from ssh
6.services.sh restart

I’ve also poked around a bit, and found that while scp works, sftp does not.
Technorati: VMware

Tuesday 19th, May 2009

FreeNAS is a free NAS (Network-Attached Storage) server05/19/2009 11:02 PM

FreeNAS is a free NAS (Network-Attached Storage) server, supporting: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, AFP, RSYNC, iSCSI protocols, S.M.A.R.T., local user authentication, Software RAID (0,1,5) with a Full WEB configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 32MB once installed on Compact Flash, hard drive or USB key.

SourceForge.net: FreeNAS: ISO

More @freenas.org

Technorati: Information