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This master index of Solaris storage videos will be updated periodically as new videos are added and missing old ones (that are still worth a look) recovered.

http://blogs.sun.com/storage/entry/solaris_storage_in_video

It’s now available from the Sun^H^H^HOracle website, I’ve previously had little luck with the older release and upgrading it didn’t work either. Oracle seems to have discontinued the VMware version so you’re stuck with VirtualBox.

You’ll need an Oracle account (it’s free, thankfully) to download it.

URL: Sun Unified Storage Simulator 2010.Q3 download link.

<rant>
Why is IPS so slow? I’m trying to do image-update a fresh install of b131 to b134 which is about 784MB in 90054 files, I get between 20 and 100Kb/sec, so far it’s taken two hours to download 661MB and it’s not my bandwidth as I always get 500-800KB/sec from Sun related websites. Of course the Sun site could be overloaded, or the webserver is bogged down 24/7/365 (I’ve never had an update go even remotely fast), so it must be down to the fact that it downloads individual files and not chunks or packages. Once it’s finished it’ll of course have to install the files and do it’s “magic”, turning the whole update event into a half-day job. I’m sorry, but that’s pathetic!

I don’t see the advantage of download individual files unless it’s capable……

Please bring back SXCE until OpenSolaris is a bit more mature.
</rant>

Today, while debugging a new 10/10Mbit broadband connection my trusty old Cisco PIX 515E decided it’d had enough or rather the lithium battery did. Bit of Googling didn’t yield any results on replacing it but I remembered that last time I had it open the battery did look quite plain, so I took it apart and found what appeared to be a standard “button cell” battery codenamed BR2032 3V. After scrambling around a bit in a drawer I found a CR2025 which is a bit thinner, .5mm to be exact, but it should fit just fine, the specs are the exact same except for the height but that’s not an issue as .5mm really isn’t much and it’s a real squeeze to fit it in the socket.. Guess what, it works beautifully.

The good folks at Citrix have is working on a new release of XenServer codenamed “Midnight Ride”, and a public beta is supposed to surface in March 2010.

Some of the new features are, but not limited to:

Granular Role-based access controls within XenCenter
Dynamic Memory Control & Overcommit
Enhanced snapshots, including full system state and  one-click revert
Administrative logging and audit reports
Automation for Workload Balancing
Host Power Management
StorageLink Site Recovery for business continuity
Enhanced CPU comptibility for XenMotion
Streamlined XenCenter interface
Support for “Supplementary Packs” for hardware vendor-specific features (i.e. Dell, HP)

I’m particularly excited about memory overcommit, can’t wait to see how this will perform on a real live system.

For more information and a Webinar signup link, have a look at http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/subfeature.asp?contentID=1861678

Oracle has done it, without a paid support contract you cannot get ANY Sun patches, not even critical security patches. http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-61-203648-1.

I don’t believe this is the correct way to do business, sure they stand to make a bit more money but in the grand scheme of things I can’t see it making much of a difference, only thing that will happen is that a lot of current customers will get pissed off with the new policy, and new potential customers will go a non-Sun/Oracle route ie. Linux or Windows (MS still supply free security patches).

Here is an OpenSolaris thread on the subject.

The EMC inq utility is a sought after little gem, a simple google search will quickly show you where to find it, yet a lot of people seem to struggle.

All versions ranging from 4.0.1 (2001) up to and including the latest 7.1.0.0 (Dec 2009) are available at ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/symm3000/inquiry/ for free, there are various Linux versions, Solaris, HPUX, AIX and Windows.

For more than 27 years, Sun has led the way in network computing innovation. And while oftentimes taking the road less traveled, our journey has delivered some of the most revolutionary — and evolutionary — ideas, business practices, and products. From Solaris to Java, open standards to open source, high-performance computing to eco computing, and everything in between, we’ve created a vibrant culture and a rich history, both of which we’ve shared with our partners, developers, students, universities, and of course, our customers.

We asked Sun employees from around the world to share some of their favorite anecdotes about their experiences at Sun. Take a look back at some of our more memorable moments and celebrate the unique culture that is Sun.

This is a great site with lots of history about Sun Microsystems, how Sun made a difference to it’s employees and the world, it’s innovations throughout the years, jokes, pranks, t-shirts and all the things that made Sun special, go check it out!

http://www.thenetworkisthecomputer.com/
 

This may not come as a surprise to many of you, especially the ones who have used OpenSolaris for a long time, but for myself who have only recently started tampering with the Indiana branch of OpenSolaris it took a few minutes to figure out what was going on.

When running Apache’s configure on OpenSolaris build 131 it would bomb out at:

Configuring Apache Portable Runtime Utility library...
checking for APR-util... yes
adding "-L/usr/lib" to LDFLAGS
checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: in `/root/httpd-2.2.13':

Checking config.log showed me that it failed at cc1: error: invalid option 't' Odd!
It didn’t immediately occur to me that it was using the OpenSolaris supplied APR-util which is using the SunPro compiler.

So, the solution is to run configure with the --with-included-apr option.

Yesterday the OpenSolaris Install team released their first preliminary version of OpenSolaris which is capable of installing without a GUI, meaning entirely text based, this is great news and in due time now that SXCE is being pulled. It should now be much easier to install SPARC and xVM DomU’s, and what’s equally exciting is that it doesn’t install GNOME, this is ideal for servers where you don’t want all that GUI clutter.

The install team has been working on a text-based installer for OpenSolaris.
While this installer is not quite complete, given the timing of the SXCE to
OpenSolaris transition, we are making available a preliminary version of the
text installer, based on OpenSolaris build 131:

o supports SPARC/x86
o 512 MB minimum memory requirement
o cpio based install
o installs basic headless server environment (no Gnome Desktop)
o tip/serial line install recommended for SPARC

These are pre-integration bits from the project gate. Updates will be provided
with each successive build of OpenSolaris until such time as a formal delivery
is complete (after 2010.03) and RE assumes the building and distribution of images.

The CD images are located at:
SPARC:
http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-sparc.iso
Size: 674 MB

x86:
http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-x86.iso
Size: 680 MB
http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/textinstall-131-x86.usb
Size: 816 MB

MD5 sums are located at:
http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/131/md5sum.txt

Please read the release notes page at:
http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Project+caiman/Text+Install+b131+Notes
for known limitations, a FAQ, and a link to open bugs.

Bugs can be filed on bugzilla at http://defect.opensolaris.org
Classification: Development
Product: installer
Component: textui

For more information on the text installer, see:

http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Project+caiman/TextInstallerProject

Please refer any questions to: caiman-discuss@opensolaris.org

Thanks,
Sue