SCVMM: Mount Shared ISO

I have been using SCVMM R2 for a while but one thing I never got working correctly is the ability to mount an ISO directly from the library share rather than copy the ISO to the VM. There are plenty of guides to help you get that setup. Like here:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/dutchpts/archive/2009/02/09/hyper-v-and-scvmm-2008-mounting-iso-s-from-a-network-share.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

It never worked for me until I found this other little blog entry by Timothy. http://www.avianwaves.com/Blog/default.aspx?id=187&t=SCVMM-Mounting-Shared-ISOs-From-The-Lib

Basically if your SCVMM library is on the same server as the Hyper-V host you just need to add the NT AUTHORITY\Network Service user account to both your library Share and NTFS permissions.

iPad

So I got an Apple iPad Tablet (32GB, Wi-Fi) from work and have been playing with it. Its a pretty neat toy. I have been looking around for apps and have found a few that I like so far.

Kindle
iBooks
ABC Player
Epicurious
Wikipanion
Pandora
Dungeon Hunter HD
Marvel
Netfilx
SSH Terminal
Nightstand
RDesktop
Calculator XL

I loaded the sample of Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition and tried reading a few chapters. It was actually pretty easy on the eyes after lowering the brightness and tilting the screen a little so the lcd was not shining directly into my eyes. It’s still not even close to as easy to read as a kindle but makes a great alternative multiuse device.

Droid X

We recently got new phones for work and most of us got Android based phones either the Droid 2 or the Droid X. I opted for a Droid X due to the larger screen size and HD camera. The slide out keyboard was tempting but I had a Blackberry Storm so am accustomed to the on screen keyboard already.

Overall I am very happy with the phone. I have found a few quirky issues that bug me a little. Like when you search your corporate directory and click on the contacts phone number to place the call it does nothing until you use the "back" button to exit the corporate search at that point the phone makes the call. Not a huge problem just annoying.

I was extremely worried about dropping or scratching the phone so went ahead and got some accessories to protect the phone. First was the Carbon fiber case from Verizon. While I was waiting for that to arrive I was also looking for screen protectors. I ended up getting the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD for Motorola Droid X (Screen). Its not the easiest screen protector to put on but it does a great job once you finally get it on.

OpenNOP Open Source Network Accelerator

So I have been sporadically working on my pet project OpenNOP which stands for (Open source Network Optimization Platform). Several months ago I re-branded it from its former name of PacketSqueezer as it was to very similar to another open source project that I had been testing called TrafficSqueezer.

Originally I was using PacketSqueezer as an example on how similar results could be achieved without having to write an entire custom kernel. Something I really didn't like was having to compile a custom kernel to use TrafficSqueezer. Some of us just want to install and go.

I am really not a programmer so its mostly just me fumbling around. So if you are a programmer with some networking skills please spare a few cycles and check out the code. Its all uploaded at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/opennop. I could use the code review and if you want to work on this just let me know. I would love to see it mature and become the open source alternative to "insert expensive commercial WAN acceleration solution here".

CCNP Routing & Switching Certification Library

I received my CCNP Routing & Switching Certification Library today and have to say that I am very excited about getting into it. CCNP has been something of a dream goal of mine for the last several years so actually starting to study for the exams is invigorating.

Passed IINS Exam 640-533 today!

Well I took the CCNA Security exam today and past. It was down to the wire as my CCNA cert would have expire Aug 2nd.

I scored a 955 on the exam after studying hard the last three weeks. I studied mostly using the CCNA Security Exam Cram by Eric Stewart. He said I should get his book in the forums over at www.dslreports.com so I did. The last week I used Boson ExSim-Max to get use to the test taking process again.

Have to say pretty happy I passed. Was not looking forward to taking the CCNA exam again if I failed.

Open Source WAN Acceleration

I have been doing research on WAN acceleration for a while now. Unfortunately due to the cost I have been unable to get it installed in the network that I manage. So several months ago I started working on my own WAN accelerator as an open source project.

I recently finished a pre-alpha, and am moving forward with its development. I have setup a portal for it at http://www.opennop.org. The pre-alpha is entirely contained in a kernel module, and is limited to compression. The next release I am working on is a combination kernel module and user space service that does the optimizations. It also currently capable of compression of the application data within the TCP segment, but is also multi-threaded to increase performance.

The next feature I will be adding is block based data reduction. This will be a difficult feature to implement, but is one of the most beneficial in terms of increasing WAN performance.