Windows 7 x64 XP Mode

Well I finally had the need to try out Windows 7 feature called "XP Mode". I upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 x64 that I had been running Windows XP on for developing with Visual Studio 2005. Well VS2005 does not like Windows 7 so I installed XP Mode that allows you to run software in a Windows XP virtual machine. The cool part is that its totally seamless so it looks just like a normal app running on your system.

Intel Teaming on Server 2008 Core

I have been going round and round trying to setup NIC teaming on Server 2008 Core. Particularly Hyper-V Server 2008. This is built on Server 2008 Core so the problem is pretty much the same on both.

I finally was able to get it working though.

1. Install latest 14.0 drivers or newer. Just run setup.exe the GUI install works fine on Server 2008 Core. Install everything.



2. Go to your "%programfiles%\intel\ncs2\scripts" directory.



3. Run cscript Team_CreateTeam.vbs 1,2 AFT "Team #0"

That command will create an adapter fault tolerance team. I know from previous testing that ALB does not work with Hyper-V. I have not tested to see if that is also fixed in this version of driver.

I have also been trying to get teaming with Broadcom NICs to work, but no such luck. The BACS teaming software will not install without .NET framework at this point in time.

You can then use this command to check the teams settings.

"cscript Team_EnumerateTeamSettings.vba 1"

Update- 6/16/2009: I just tested this using ALB, and it seems to work ok with v14.0 on the Intel driver. Looks like Intel really got their stuff together for Hyper-V Server with this version.

Import UniData into SQL 2005

I have been trying to figure out how to get data from a UniData database into an SQL 2005 database to make building reports much easier. After installing the UniData ODBC tools from IBM I could not get the Import/Export wizard to connect to the ODBC.

After searching the Internet for the particulare errors I was getting I found the connection string should look like this. "Dsn=YOURDSN;Driver={IBM UniData ODBC DRIVER};uid=YOURUSER;pwd=YOURPASSWORD". As I found here http://www.bokebb.com/dev/english/2006/posts/2006108696.shtml.

Also you have to build you SELECT statements by hand, but that does not bother me as much as those other guys.

Update: 2-2-09
As of SQL 2005 SP3 this connection string no longer works in the Import/Export Wizard. Still looking into how to get it working again.

Howto: PC2724 Remote Management

If your like me one annoying issue is that the PC2724 management interface cannot be changed.  This can make it impossible to remotly manage the switch using the web interface if your using it with VLAN Trunks that will not carry VLAN1.  Example the Dell PC6248 L3 switch.  Effectivly the PC6248 VLAN1 is not routable so if your management VLAN is VLAN1 how can you manage it from a different VLAN?  You fool it!  This will work no matter what you use to do your intervlan routing.  We are using a pair of PC6248's.  I am not going to cover how to set those up.

1. Create your VLANs
   
   
   1. VLAN15 Phones
   
   
   2. VLAN20 PCs
   
   
   3. VLAN25 Management
   
   


2. Setup your uplink/trunk VLAN Membership
   
   
   1. VLAN15 Port 23+24 Tagged
   
   
   2. VLAN20 Port 23+24 Tagged
   
   
   3. VLAN25 Port 23+24 Tagged
   
   


3. Setup your uplink/trunk VLAN Port Settings
   
   
   1. Port 23+24 Admit Tag Only, PVID 1
   
   


4. Loop your management port to VLAN1
   
   
   1. Port 22 VLAN Membership 25 Untagged
   
   
   2. Port 22 VLAN Port Settings PVID 25
   
   
   3. Port 21 VLAN Membership 1 Untagged
   
   
   4. Port 21 VLAN Port Settings PVID 1
   
   


5. Connect Port 21, and 22 together.


6. Assign IP Addressing as if in VLAN25 for IP Address, Subnet, and Gateway.

Now you should be able to manage the device from any of your other VLANs. This assumes you already have your VLANs up, and InterVLAN routing working.

 

MS Hyper-V with VLANs

I just got a new mini server for my lab to run multiple virtual clients on. I ran into a huge show stopper trying to get VLANs working. Turn out that Intel NIC drivers filter VLANs so when your VM is configured to tag its traffic with a particular VLAN the host driver is discarding those packets. To get this fixed you need to modify the registry because the Intel Driver Control Panel does not have the option to disable this behavior. Search your register for "VlanFiltering" and modify its value from "1" to "0" to disable the filtering.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/11584256-b924-4945-a2f4-aefca0c3a43a/
Specifically by MikeLaschaThe Intel's were a tougher nut to crack as the settting is not exposed through the NIC's Advanced Properties, but only through the registry . Changing the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{GUID}\XXXX\VlanFiltering registry key (where {GUID} is the GUID containing the network adapter configuration and XXXX is the NIC to be confgured) from 1 to 0 and rebooting corrects the issue. The easiest way to find the proper key in your system is to use the find command in regedit with enough of the network adapter name (i.e. for the Intel's, find "1000 PT").Identifying a registry key to enable this support actually turned out to be a plus since I was able to use it to get VLAN support working in server core. So now I can use the Broadcom’s as originally planned (for host and cluster NIC’s), and the Intel’s for VM public and/or iSCSI connectivity.

Update: 12/1/08
I tried to reproduce this again on an ALB Team. I had to create/delete a VLAN from Intel ProSet before it would work. This must have enabled VLAN tagging in the registry. I could not find any other way to enable VLAN tagging on the team.

Low Profile Lab Server

I just got a new server for my lab to help with my testing of an open source WAN acceleration project I have been helping with called trafficsqueezer. Its a pretty neat little box, and is what I plan on putting in each of our office once the software is production ready. Until then I will be using it to run multiple client VMs for testing trafficsqueezer.

Here are the system specs:

• Supermicro CSE-510-200B Chassis
• Supermicro X7SBL-LN2 Motherboard
• Intel Xeon X3320 2.5GHz Quad-Core CPU
• 4GB PC 6400 ECC Memory
• 4x 2.5" Western Digital 250GB 7200rpm Drives

Installing the CPU

Installing the Memory.

Putting the board in the chassing, and installing the drives.

Server 2008, and Hyper-V installed.

Overall I am very impressed with this little thing. Getting the SATA, and power cables connected were a pain. I think 6" or 10" SATA cables will be on order soon to help get rid of some of the extra cable in the case.

Here you can see exactly what is in this system.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7804451

Update 4-29-2009:

I just built a 2nd one of these. They each now have 6GB of ram, and only 2x 250GB drives. Should be great for testing TraffiSqueezer

Dell PC6248 L3 Switch

A while ago we purchased some Dell PowerConnect 6248 L3 switches. I was hoping to get some Cisco L3 switches, but given the cost that was not an option. We got these for dirt cheap you might say.
In getting them setup though I found a few shortcoming.

1. Multiple DHCP Relays or lack of. This should be fixed in firmware v3 sometime 2009
2. vrrp ip address is not pingable. apparently this is according to the rfc for vrrp. Most vendors allow you to enable the pingability of the virtual ip though for troubleshooting. So far Dell does not.
3. ACE entries for ACLs limited to 13. This IMHO is lame. You can only have 13 ACE for your ACLs. If you have some complex security requirements this thing isnt going to work.
4. cannot enter descriptions for vlan interfaces.

Overall though I like the devices. You cannot beat the cost not HP, 3Com nothing comes close to how cheap these things are. So if you can live with the limitations it does have you get a really fast L3 switch for dirt cheap.