I've been meaning to put this up for a couple weeks now, but haven't had a chance... I got an email from the customer service manager at Promise, and it's good news. As required by the GPL, they've finally released the source for the Linux kernel and the Busybox utility. They're used in the firmware for the VTrak SATA-to-SCSI drive arrays. MD5 checksums for the tarballs match those that I had downloaded (and mirrored) before. Hurray!
I got the iBook, I got the Slashdot t-shirt, I got the beard...but do you think I can get a wireless signal? Oh no. Thanks, Broadcom. But hey, enough complaining. Time for an update.
The wireless ISP is gonna do a point-to-point link between windows of our old and new temporary offices. Should give us 100Mb/s access or so. Which is good, because for a while I thought I'd have to walk down to London Drugs, grab some Linksys routers, and install my own firmware to do it. Which would have been a lot of fun...but would have been a fuck of a lot to get ready in, like, three days. Now I just have to get OpenVPN talking at either end, get Shaw installed, and set up a firewall. Oboy.
And then there's the troubles I've been having with our backup server. A while back I decided to start racking all the boxes we've been using as servers -- transfer the hard drives to proper servers, then use the old shell as a desktop for a new hire. Welp, the backup server was the first to go, and man it's been a headache.
First off, I didn't take care of cooling properly, and the tape drive (HP Ultrium 215, for those paying attention) suffered a nice little nervous breakdown and kept spitting out the tape. I tried downloading the HP diagnostic tool, but it only runs on Linux and the server runs FreeBSD -- neither Linux compatibility mode (not surprising) nor a Knoppix disk (kept hanging) allowed it to work. So I had no real idea what was going on other than the drive was too hot for my liking.
But HP, bless their souls, came to the rescue. Once I made it through their speech recognition voicemail tree hell, they just sent out another one -- they didn't even bitch about not being able to run the diagnostic tool. Not only that, it came the next day, and we don't even have any special contract with them -- that's just warranty. Thumbs up for them.
But now I've got different problems: the damn machine keeps seizing up
on me. See, I've got this 500GB concatenated Vinum array of three
disks that I use as a copy of yesterday's home directory for people,
and I'm trying to move it to a four-disk RAID5 drive on the Promise
array. I tried using rsync, and it just froze...but eventually. I
thought maybe rsync was spending too much CPU time figuring out what
to transfer, so today I tried using dump | restore -- and sure
enough, it froze again.
I plugged in a monitor, hoping for a panic or something, but nope -- just unresponsive. I've found some mention in the FreeBSD mailing lists about possible problems with write caching and the Adaptec 3960D SCSI controller (which I thought was a 39160 SCSI controller, but I guess not). I'll have to see if that does the trick or not -- but in the meantime I'm wondering how I'm gonna get yesterday on the Promise. Of course, figuring out why it's crashing in the first place would be even better...
But it's not all bad news: earlier this week, the support manager at Promise that I've been dealing with called to tell me that the word had come down from on high. Yep...Promise is going to follow the GPL and properly release the Linux and Busybox source code for the firmware that goes into the VTrak 15100. Hurray! I'll have to watch, of course, and make sure it shows up...but it sounds good. "Let's put it this way," said the manager. "It's on my desk for me to do. And I don't want it there for long." To the home front, now.
As if I didn't have enough on the go, I've blown my tax return on the makings of a MythTV backend: 2.4GHz P4, umpty-GB hard drive, the PCHDTV-300 (get it while you can!), generic 128MB Nvidia (no onboard video on this mobo, or I would've stuck with that), a Hauppauge PVR-500MCE, and a nice Asus mobo in an Antec case to tie it all together. Random notes:
And now for something completely different: new mottoes for Harley Davidson:
"Harley-Davidson: Because social contracts are for weak pussy-ass losers with small dicks."
"Harley-Davidson: Because those other people aren't really human. Not like you and me."
"Harley-Davidson: You deserve it. So do they."
"Harley-Davidson: Because if you pissed in their faces, you'd be arrested."
"Harley-Davidson: Because 'Fuck you!' is just too damned hard to remember."
"Harley-Davidson: Because 'Fuck you!' is just too damned eloquent."
At last, Promise sends over the MIBs for the VTrak 15100. I've put 'em up with the kernel and busybox sources. Still waiting to hear when they're going to comply with the GPL re: offering source.
Welp, Promise has come through on the first part of the GPL: they've put up the source code on their FTP server (look around, not that hard to find...) for Busybox and a Linux kernel. Looks like the kernel tarball is a copy of 2.4.18, and Busybox is 1.00-pre3. I'll be grabbing original copies of each and see if I can find any differences.
In the meantime, I've put up both on my website (though see below re: further GPL obligations, and note that I do not vouch for or guarantee the integrity of these tarballs -- for all I know, I've got a bunch of cunningly renamed source files for SoBig). --Woohoo, there's even .config files in both! Next step is to convince them that Sections 3a and 3b (hand out the source with the binaries, or offer to hand out the source for the binaries) is just as important as giving me a copy. But kudos to Albert Dy, Technical Support Manager at Promise, for working with me on this.
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:
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:
- Access: Enabled
- Protocol Mode: SSH Version 2 only
- Telnet Port: 23
- SSH Port: 22
- Advanced SSH Configuration
- 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 :