HP Gen7 N54L Hardware Upgrade

I have a HP Gen7 N54L. Although Gen8 is released but it also makes N54L more attractive. It is a Microserver and it's worth to get one as a home server. There is a 4 bay enclosure. If you make use of the space of optical drive and the eSata output, the server can serve totally 6 SATA devices which is good enough for a storage server for a SME. 

Originally the configuration is a 4GB ECC memory with a 500GB Black disk. The CPU is AMD Turion(tm) II Neo N54L Dual-Core Processor. It is embedded in the mainboard so there is no way to upgrade it. Also, the main board doesn't have any USB3.0, which is not acceptable nowadays. 

So what can we do in order to make it more productive? For me, I have purchased the following :

• 2x 2TB Green disks (with software raid, will explain later)
• Add 4GB non-ECC memory (totally 8GB)
• Add a USB3.0 pci low profile adapter

I also upgraded the BIOS which can make the harddisks hot pluggable. 

Since I need some time to make a short procedure for the hardware, I just show the result at the moment.

# free
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 8052260 826372 6648096 14800 577792 6854592
Swap: 0 0 0
# lspci |grep -i USB.3
02:00.0 USB controller: Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720202 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 02)

Of course I am a Linux guy so it is expected I installed a Linux on it. You can see there are 6GB free right now. And I can even use the USB3.0 ports to connect more hard disks (to backup, for example).

Restore HP-UX from ignite tape (with screen dump)

 Objective

To restore HP-UX (11i, 11.23 should work) from a backup (make_tape_recovery)

1. Login MP console and recycle it
2. "CO" to console
3. Within that "10 seconds", press any key and see the menu

   ---- Main Menu ---------------------------------------------------------------
   
        Command                           Description
        -------                           -----------
        BOot [PRI|ALT|]             Boot from specified path
        PAth [PRI|ALT] []           Display or modify a path
        SEArch [DIsplay|IPL] []     Search for boot devices
   
        COnfiguration menu                Displays or sets boot values
        INformation menu                  Displays hardware information
        SERvice menu                      Displays service commands
   
        DIsplay                           Redisplay the current menu
        HElp [|]           Display help for menu or command
        RESET                             Restart the system
   ----
   Main Menu: Enter command or menu > sea

4. Insert the tape and run "SEA" to search devices

   Main Menu: Enter command or menu > SEA
   
   Searching for potential boot device(s)
   This may take several minutes.
   
   To discontinue search, press any key (termination may not be immediate).
   
   
                                                                              IODC
      Path#  Device Path (dec)  Device Path (mnem)  Device Type               Rev
      -----  -----------------  ------------------  -----------               ----
      P0     0/0/2/0.0          ide.0               Random access media       1    
      P1     0/1/1/0.0          intscsia.0          Random access media       1    
      P2     0/1/1/1.4          intscsib.4          Sequential access media   1    
   
   
   Main Menu: Enter command or menu >

5. "P2 0/1/1/1.4 intscsib.4 Sequential access media 1" -> which is the tape drive
   
   

OpenVPN server setup on Raspberry Pi

Note: it is for bridge mode only

Ref: http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html

I found that Raspberry Pi is a good choice for setup OpenVPN server. I can always power on it as the power consumption is low. After setting it up, I can connect VPN to home in office or cafe outside. 

You may think port forwarding by router or via SSH is good enough. However, there are limitations when:

1. there are lots of services you want to connect from outsider, then your port forwarding rules will be massive
2. as the OpenVPN client can reconnect automatically, I can have a relative stable connection. Sometimes you would like to have a reserve connect from server to client. My own experience is that in my previous company, I setup OpenVPN client in office and connect to my home, leave the connection alive. Then when I go home I can reconnect to my office PC by remote desktop :)

Objective

• Internal network: 192.168.28.0/24
• Setup a OpenVPN server such that client connection will connect to the server and assign a 192.168.28.0/24 IP as if it is within the internal network
• necessary install

  apt-get install  bridge-utils openvpn 

Cisco MDS port zoning 101

Objective

• There are two FC ports (fd0, fd1) on a hp-ux rp3410 (hostname: rp3410 )
• The storage is EMC VNX5100, we will use SPA P1/P2 and SPB P1/P2.

Physical connection

• rp3410 fd0 will connect to SW1 port 1/7
• rp3410 fd1 will connect to SW2 port 1/7
• VNX5100 SPA P1 on SW1 port 1/1
• VNX5100 SPB P1 on SW1 port 1/2
• VNX5100 SPA P2 on SW2 port 1/1
• VNX5100 SPB P2 on SW2 port 1/2

Switch configuration:

We will create 4 zones, 2 on each switch: The zoneset is "full-zoneset"

SW1 wwn is 20:00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

SW2 wwn is 20:00:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy

The VSAN of SW1 is 201, SW2 is 202

(it is port zoning, for soft zoning by wwn, it will be ready later)

SW1:

config t

vsan database
vsan 201 interface 1/7
 

interface 1/7
no shutdown
switchport mode F
switchport description "rp3410_fd0"

zone name rp3410_fd0_VNX5100_VNX_SPA1 vsan 201
member interface fc 1/1 swwn 20:00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
member interface fc 1/7 swwn 20:00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

zone name rp3410_fd0_VNX5100_VNX_SPB1 vsan 201
member interface fc 1/2 swwn 20:00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
member interface fc 1/7 swwn 20:00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

zoneset name full-zoneset vsan 201
memeber rp3410_fd0_VNX5100_VNX_SPA1
memeber rp3410_fd0_VNX5100_VNX_SPB1
zoneset activate name full-zoneset

SW2

config t

vsan database
vsan 202 interface 1/7

interface 1/7
no shutdown
switchport mode F
switchport description "rp3410_fd1"

zone name rp3410_fd1_VNX5100_VNX_SPA2 vsan 202
member interface fc 1/1 swwn 20:00:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
member interface fc 1/7 swwn 20:00:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy

zone name rp3410_fd1_VNX5100_VNX_SPB2 vsan 202
member interface fc 1/2 swwn 20:00:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
member interface fc 1/7 swwn 20:00:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy

zoneset name full-zoneset vsan 202
memeber rp3410_fd1_VNX5100_VNX_SPA2 vsan 202
memeber rp3410_fd1_VNX5100_VNX_SPB2 vsan 202
zoneset activate name full-zoneset

Update MoinMoin from 1.9.5 to 1.9.7

This is the general steps for updating moinmoin from 1.9.5 to 1.9.7

1. Stop web server or standalone process
2. backup wiki instance (eg. mywiki or instance1)
3. backup moinmoin installation path
4. if there is customized logo, backup it as well (eg. moinmoin.png)
5. delete *.pyc or *.pyo
   find  -name *.pyc -exec rm {} \; 
6. download moinoin1.9.7 and install to existing path
   python setup.py install --prefix 
7. replace moinmoin.png if necessary
8. if using web server, remember to change the static path from "/moin_static195" to "/moin_static197"
9. start web server or standalone process
10. double check the version by http:///SystemInfo