The Japan Page

The default Ubuntu server install doesn't have GCC, so run the following to install. You will be prompted for the original Ubuntu source disc.

sudo apt-get install build-essentials

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mrtg-2

MRTG Dependencies:

• MRTG is distributed as source code, so plan to compile it on your machine.
• Requires a recent PERL version. Ubuntu 6.06 includes

Posted by John Seaman at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Being a big messaging geek, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the 32 bit testing version of Exchange 2007 RTM. In case you haven't read up on the latest, there is a 32 bit version of Exchange 2007 - but only for testing.

After hovering over the MSDN download site for a few weeks, I started bugging our TAM for the bits. So, here's the 411.

Exchange 2007/32 is available for download off the Microsoft web site in two formats

Here's the gotcha's:

• Starting with Exchange 2007, all Exchange versions ship in 120 day "eval" mode. By entering your product key, you convert it to the MSDN or full production version.
• The two versions of Exchange 2007 32 bit above lack the licensing code functions. They operate only in 120 day eval mode, after 120 days you are officially in "Sorry Charlie" mode.
• There's no Ex2k7/64 VHD download yet because MS Virtual PC and Virtual Server don't support 64 bit yet.
• I suspect that an Microsoft internal use only version of Ex2k7/32 that doesn't time out exists, but it is not publicly available.

Microsoft marketing is being a little paranoid in refusing to release a non-crippled version of Ex2k7/32 to the public. Our test lab has older hardware that isn't ESX 64 bit capable, so Ex2k7/64 on ESX is not an option now. That limits us to installing Ex2k7/32 and rebuilding the test lab every 120 days, or finding a Intel dual core workstation (like an Optiplex 745) and installing Win2k3-R2-64 and Ex2k7/64 on it.

It's a shame to steal a shiny new workstation from a deserving (read revenue generating) end user to test new technology. Hopefully no one will notice one little missing workstation. :-)

I'd love to listen in on the MS Support telephone call when someone reports their production Exchange server just expired after 120 days of use. You know it's going to happen...

Posted by John Seaman at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Installation Notes: NetApp Data Ontap Simulator on Ubuntu Server 6.06 LTS, on ESX

1. Install Ubuntu 6.06 LTS from an ISO. Make the virtual disk 20 gb for 1 simulator and 30 gb if you plan to run two.

The NOW site has a good step by step guide here (NOW login required). This guide is more oriented to a VMware workstation or Server installation, and only covers Ubuntu workstation. The only gotcha is you need to go into ESX and configure the Vswitch to allow promiscuous mode. Put the Ontap simulator on it's own dedicated Vswitch if this is a concern.

2. You could probably run the Ontap simulator without a desktop or X, but I like the GUI because I use the box for more than just the sim. Just issue the command sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop.

3. Update the Ubuntu OS install.

4. Install the simulator. For ESX you should download the ISO version from NetApp, map the ISO to the guest and follow the installation instructions..

Performance
How to best describe the performance... molasses flowing uphill in Toronto in January? OK, that's a little harsh. Needless to say, performance is not why you use the ontap simulator. If you want performance, buy a toaster or try OpenFiler.

Running two simulators on 1 Linux guest OS
1. This was really easy to do, just copy the sim files into a new directory sudo cp -r /sim/* /sim2/ .

2. From the new directory run setup.sh . Then start the simulator and run setup, fix the hostname and IP address and you can probably keep all your other options.

Resizing the VMware guest OS
I didn't plan initially on running 2 ontap simulators on one Linux install, but once I figured out how easy it was I couldn't resist. Here's how to increase the size of an installed guest OS on ESX.

1. Shut down the guest OS. SSH into the ESX server and run vmkfstools -X 20g /vmfs/volumes/Storage1/myVirtualServer/myVirtualServer.vmdk .

2. Download the gparted liveCD here. This is a 50 mb size live boot Linux CD running the 2.6 kernel with GParted. Boot it up, then expand the VMware virtual disk partition to the size you want. You will probably have to blow away the swap partition, so recreate it at the end of your new partition.

3. After rebooting Linux, you will need to reconfigure the swap partition. You can confirm it's there or not by running top, if it shows swap 0k total/free/used/cached, then you need to put your swap partition back.

A. Run fdisk -l, you should see a partition like /dev/sda2 or /dev/hda2 called Linux swap.
B. Do sudo mkswap /dev/sda2 and sudo swapon /dev/sda2 to make and turn on the swap drive. Thats it.

I've also heard you can use VMware Converter Enterprise edition to resize a guest machine, so I'll try that one next time.

Posted by John Seaman at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, it's a nerd thang to do... browsing through your Program Files directory and counting the apps. Being a hard-core techie, I have a pretty decent toolkit and I always like to share and compare notes with friends. So here goes...

1. Ultramon (commercial) - if you have more than one monitor on your desktop, you need this app! It brings the task bar across all monitors, each hold only those apps active on that monitor. Also does individual wallpapers on each monitor. Get it here.

2. Zoundry (freeware) - the ultimate WYSIWYG blog editor, and it really works, unlike a bunch of home grown freeware apps I tried before. Works great with 24+ different blogging platforms. Get it here. Disclosure: The Japan Page is occasionally updated using Zoundry. It would be hardly-ever updated without Zoundry.

3. FileZilla (open source) - FileZilla is probably the best Windows FTP client out there. I was a long term CuteFTP user, but balked at their upgrade fee, hated the advertising encumbered version and never looked back after switching to FileZilla. Get it here.

4. BartPE (freeware) - Bart Lagerweij is well known for his network boot disks, which have involved into a completely pre-configured "Live CD" for Windows. A "Live CD" is a bootable OS install found in the Linux world that runs a full Linux distro and often contains additional trouble-shooting, recovery or specialized applications. Bart has combined MS Windows PE with a modular application environment for Windows machines. Get more info here.

5. Knoppix (open source) - the first popular and widely available Linux distro that boots off of a jump drive, CD or DVD. Get it here.

6. BitVise WinSSHd and Tunnelier (commercial) - a Windows port SSH v2 client and server application. Great for remote access to Windows machines over the Internet when you don't want to expose a MS Terminal or PPTP server to the Internet. Get it here.

7. Adobe Photoshop (commercial) - I'm too embarrassed to even mention the old version I have clunking around at home. The premier application for the advanced digital photographer or web graphics designer. Get it here.

8. Alex Feinman's ISO Recorder (freeware) - a great utility that installs into the Windows shell and offers right-click to create ISO files from directories. This is really handy when you want to ship a whole directory off to a VMware guest OS on a firewalled network. Get it here.

9. DU Meter (commercial) - a great utility to monitor network usage on your Windows box. If you run Bit Torrent or do large file transfers, you can get a real time update of up/down traffic. Also produces good logs of daily traffic. Much easier to use than the networking tab in taskmgr.exe. Get it here.

10. Privoxy (open source) - Privoxy is a web proxy utility that runs on your local machine and filters the crap out of the web. Based on the Internet Junkbuster project, it blocks popups, ads, banners, and does a good job against javascript and other obnoxious adverts. It's completely customizable, and makes viewing www.cnn.com a true pleasure. Get it here.

Posted by John Seaman at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally got around to installing Exchange 2007 gold in a test lab, on Windows 2003 R2 x64. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get real mail routing through it anytime soon, it has to live off the prod network for now.

If you're not a messaging geek, hit the back button now...

Preparation Steps:

0.0 Read the MS Documentation first. Failure to RTFM will slow you down.
0.1 Make sure your AD is in Windows 2000 native mode, or Windows 2003 mode. Mixed mode won't work.
0.2 Make sure your Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 organization is in native mode.
0.3 Understand the funky new names for roles of Ex2007 servers: (equivalent oldskool role in parenthesis)

• Hub Transport (oldskool=bridgehead) - the server that routes your internal e.mail flow. Sorry, no X.400 connectors any more.
• Edge Transport (newskool, baby) - the server that sits with it's arse exposed to the Internet to pick up incoming e.mail. No sane Exchange administrator ever put Exchange outside the firewall, so this was typically your Symantec / Trend Micro / other 3rd party AV scanner server, or a bastion host *Nix install. This is a combo of a stripped down Exchange server that doesn't live in a domain (it uses ADAM) with the Sybari product that MS bought and incorporated. This is a really, really new idea from Microsoft, so think about using ESVA.
• Mailbox server (mailbox server)- not much different here, or is there...? This is the server that has the Information Store and holds the end users mailboxes. What's new? You don't have to have a MTA on a mailbox-only server.
• Client Access server (the other half of a mailbox server?) - this box is a combo of a OWA "Front-end" server and MAPI RPC glutton. It also does POP3, IMAP and mobile devices. This role can co-exist with a mailbox server, or as a stand-alone.
• Unified Messaging server (zzzz) - . If you've not seen the Ex2007 demo where you dial in and hear your e.mail, then call your MS TAM. UM has existed in some form since Ex2000, an underwhelming success by most accounts, but it's back and looking good now.

1. The ExBPA or Exchange Best Practice Analyzer now has an "Exchange 2007 readiness check" option. Install and run this first. You'll need the .Net Runtime v.1.1. Upon install it will tell you to run a cscript command to put IIS into 32 bit compatibility mode. Don't do it, the Exchange 2007 installer will just make you reverse the change. If you install this on an x64 machine, you'll need the "amd64" directory from the OS install media handy.

2. Make sure the host server has the correct prerequisites:

• You'll need the.Net Framework 2.0 and the following hotfix KB926776.
• You'll need the IIS Web Service for some roles, or the IIS common files at the bare minimum.
• Windows PowerShell 1.o installation. Exchange 2007 administration is all based on PowerShell now. Go ahead, install PS everywhere. :-)
• MMC 3.o. It's included in Windows 2003 R2.

3. If you're installing to an existing Exchange 200x Organization, set the "SuppressStateChanges" registry value per this TechNet article.

4. Fire off the Exchange 2007 installer. It will automagically check your host machine and point anything else out.

Have fun.

How to install Exchange 2007 in Unattended mode here.

Posted by John Seaman at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've used or tried several dynamic IP clients in the past with various results. One windows shareware utility worked fine, but randomly decided to use 100% of the CPU until manually reset. Probably the best so far was Ez-ipupdate for *Nix systems, it's a freeware/open source utility and really only lacks good reporting features.

So now it's time to batch a utility using (trumpets pleeze) tinyget.exe from the IIS 6 resource kit. I've been an EASY DNS customer for about 7 years now, and they've kindly posted a (1 page) howto on their "API" here.

Tinyget.exe is available from the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit.

Here's the sample code to post an update:

tinyget.exe -a:1 -u:username -p:password members.easydns.com /dyn/dyndns.php?hostname=server.mydomain.com^&myip=12.34.56.78

I was thinking I needed to script another call to determine my local external IP address, but it turns out that if we use "myip=1.1.1.1" EasyDNS will determine our IP from the request headers. Kewl ! Also, "myip=0.0.0.0" will set your host to "offline".

How to do it over SSL:

So now it's time to encrypt the whole conversation, no point in sending your password over clear text.

tinyget.exe -s:3 -a:1 -u:username -p:password members.easydns.com /dyn/dyndns.php?hostname=server.mydomain.com^&myip=1.1.1.1

OK, that was easy. Now let's convert it to a batch script... oh wait, it's already done. Just copy and paste into notepad.

Troubleshooting tinyget.exe:

If you really want to make sure the connection is going over SSL, or you want to see what tinyget.exe is doing, just add -t "trace" to the command line and you'll see the debug level headers.

Posted by John Seaman at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)