Easily amused

Welp, the Promise array is here at last. I don't have any disks yet -- they're coming in next week -- but I've had a chance to play around with the firmware. First off, it's running Linux, just like JWSmythe said. The firmware that came with the box said "Now uncompressing Linux..." at boot time; it may be indicative of something that the newer firmware says "Now uncompressing kernel..." Promise doesn't mention anywhere on their website that the 15100 uses Linux, which surprises me a little. They also don't offer the source code anywhere. I've sent 'em an email asking about that; their autoresponder said I should hear about that today.

Second, I've yet to figure out how to enable SSH on the thing, and I'm increasingly lacking confidence that it even offers this, even after the firmware upgrade. Naturally, this is in strict contrast to what's listed on the website. I've sent them an email about this.

Third, I've yet to figure out how to monitor the thing by SNMP. I can run snmpwalk, sure, and I get info back, but but I don't see anything like network traffic or disk stats or anything. (Compare and contrast with the PDU from APC, which included the SNMP schema [if that's the right word] on the CD.) Then again, this may be because I haven't got any disks in there. We'll see.

Fourth, it looks like there was corruption of the firmware. Got it in yesterday, booted fine, upgraded firmware by TFTP, all good, turned it off before going home (and not for the first time that day, either). This morning I booted it, and things were just wrong: the network address was obviously bogus and couldn't be changed, various menu entries were showing garbage instead of "Promise VTrak 15100" or whatever, and so on. I called tech support, who told me the secret:

1. Reboot.
2. When booting, hold down ctrl-F to get to the BPD prompt (which is some sort of bootloader prompt).
3. Type "diag".
4. Select "Clear or Test FRAM".
5. Let it do its thing.
6. Quit the diag tool.
7. Type "reset" to reboot.

Note: if you fry your array by following this advice, you're on your own. But it worked for me. Of course, this doesn't explain why it happened in the first place. I'm going to be watching it carefully.

Funny moment: While waiting for me to figure out how to reboot the array [which took a few minutes because of the menu corruption I called to complain about], the techie I was talking to was having a conversation with someone else. "Are you reading? [pause] Okay, are you working on projects? [pause] It's okay if you're using the web to work on projects. [pause] But if you're just surfing the web looking for a job, that's not working on projects."

Second funny moment: The warranty registration page on the Promise website asks for suggestions and comments to "help us imporve in the future." Third funny moment: When registering the extended support, the page that asked for the value of the product purchased barfed with "Internal Error" when I put a dollar sign in the amount. (Okay, so I'm just easily amused.)

Finally, it's just plain odd to be asked for your bona fides by your power bar:

1. Access: Enabled
2. Protocol Mode: SSH Version 2 only
3. Telnet Port: 23
4. SSH Port: 22
5. Advanced SSH Configuration
6. Accept Changes : Pending?- Help, esc- Cancel Changes, enter- Refresh, ctrl -L- Event Log > 6 LICENSE AGREEMENT By enabling this security feature, you are agreeing to the following statements: A. This Product includes cryptographic software subject to export controls under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. You agree to cooperate with American Power Conversion Corporation as reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of the United States and all other relevant countries, relating to exports and re-exports ("Export Laws"). You shall not import, export, re- export or transfer, directly or indirectly, including via remote access, any part of the Products into or to any country (or its nationals or permanent residents) or to any end user or end use for which prior written governmental authorization is required under applicable Export Laws, without first obtaining such authorization. By ACCEPTING THESE TERMS, you are representing and warranting that neither your use nor your receipt of any part of the Products requires prior written authorization under any Export Laws. You are responsible for complying with any local laws in your jurisdiction which may impact your right to access or use this product. B. By ACCEPTING THESE TERMS, you are representing and warranting that (1) you are not located in or a national of any U.S.-sanctioned or terrorist-supporting countries, (2) identified on the U.S. Treasury Department's List of Specially Designated Nationals, the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List, or the U.S. Commerce Department's Denied Parties List; or (3) engaged in any proliferation-based or terrorist- supporting activities. Do you accept the terms of this license agreement? Enter 'YES' to continue or ENTER to cancel :