Nov 10

Redhat RAID5 setup

This article shows how to create a 3 SATA DISK RAID5 confgiuration using Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 aka Redhat 5.5.

I used a small 40GB drive the boot drive. This could have been anything including another Mirror but I didn’t go that nuts with my failover. I just wanted to make sure that if one of my primary DATA disks went bad, I would be able to recover with just buying another 54 dollar TB drive.

  • Load OEL 5.5 on 40GB IDE or SATA drive.
  • fdisk each of the SATA drives setting the format type to “fd”
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e   extended
p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-121601, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-121601, default 121601):
Using default value 121601
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): fd
Changed system type of partition 1 to fd (Linux raid autodetect)
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Command (m for help): nCommand action   e   extended   p   primary partition (1-4)pPartition number (1-4): 1First cylinder (1-121601, default 1): Using default value 1Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-121601, default 121601): Using default value 121601
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System/dev/sdc1               1      121601   976760001   83  Linux
Command (m for help): tSelected partition 1Hex code (type L to list codes): fdChanged system type of partition 1 to fd (Linux raid autodetect)
Command (m for help): wThe partition table has been altered!

  • Then run the following mdadm command line to create RAID 5 array

mdadm –create –verbose /dev/md0 –level=5 –raid-devices=3 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1

  • Check your work to make sure the configuration is enabled.
cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
md0 : active raid5 sdc1[3] sdb1[1] sda1[0]
1953522816 blocks level 5, 64k chunk, algorithm 2 [3/2] [UU_]
[>………………..]  recovery =  0.1% (1053748/976761408) finish=568.6min speed=28594K/sec
  • Next make your filesystem on /dev/md0
mkfs.ext3 /dev/md0
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
244203520 inodes, 488380704 blocks
24419035 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
14905 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
102400000, 214990848
  • The configuration of your raid is unfortunately not saved until you run the following:
mdadm –detail –scan –verbose > /etc/mdadm.conf
  • Create your mount point directory
mkdir /mnt/DATA
  • Edit your /etc/fstab to include the following:

/dev/md0 /mnt/DATA ext3 defaults 1 2

  • mount your new 3 TB (now only 1.9 TB) drive.

mount -a

Jul 08

Lotus Notes 8.5 Install on Ubuntu 10.04 32bit

  • Download C1WR1EN.tar from IBM
  • untar intoibm_lotus_activities-8.5.i586.deb
    ibm_lotus_cae-8.5.i586.deb
    ibm_lotus_notes-8.5.i586.deb
    ibm_lotus_sametime-8.5.i586.deb
    ibm_lotus_symphony-8.5.i586.deb
  • install ibm_lotus_notes-8.5.i586.deb
  • After installing you will need an additional package to be installed:
  • sudo apt-get install libgnomeprintui2.2-0
  • Start “notes” from /opt/bim/lotus/notes and point the setup screens to your current user.id
  • enter your password and you should be ready to go.

Jan 27

Want a free VOIP home phone system? Build it yourself with “PBX in a flash”

I took a good look at my monthly bills and found that I needed to curtail them. One useless bill was my phone bill. Almost 600 bucks a year. So I decided to turn to, yes the internet, to find a low cost solution that would do the same things and more than my current Vonage setup.

There are many home PBX software solutions out there, but I chose “PBX in a Flash” based on FreePBX and Asterisk. It can run on a very low end system 1.5 GHz Pentium would do fine. I chose to use an old laptop for my Linux based PBX (Private Branch Exchange) solution.

So first step was to download and install an ISO from http://pbxinaflash.net/downloads. Burn the ISO to a CD and then boot from it.

Follow the instructions as the install will take you through basic Linux setup such as IP etc.

Once you have installed it, fairly straight forward, you will need the following:

  • Google Voice Account
  • Free SIP account ( I used SipGateOne residential account )
  • Configure SIP phone or Software based VOIP ( I used Linksys SPA-3102 )

To be continued…

Nov 07

Testing Windows Live Writer

Download windows live and check out the Windows Live Writer. It lets you point to your WordPress and other blog software and uses a client server approach which seems much faster than creating blog entries using html forms etc.

Oct 28

Create Windows7 install from usb

Requirements:

*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)

*Windows 7 or Vista installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

1. Plug-in your USB flash drive to USB port and move all the contents from USB drive to a safe location on your system.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter to see the below message.

 

Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 1.
4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive no is “Disk 1”.If you have Disk 2 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 2.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

 

5. Next insert your Windows7/Vista DVD into the optical drive and check the drive letter of the DVD drive. In this guide I will assume that your DVD drive letter is “D” and USB drive letter is “H” (open my computer to know about it).
6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type  the following command now:

D:CD BOOT and hit enter.Where “D” is your DVD drive letter.

CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.
7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H:

 

Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.
8. Copy your Windows 7/Vista DVD contents to the USB flash drive.
9. Your USB drive is ready to boot and install Windows 7/Vista. Only thing you need to change the boot priority at the BIOS to USB from the HDD or CD ROM drive. I won’t explain it as it’s just the matter the changing the boot priority or enabling the USB boot option in the BIOS.

Note: If you are not able to boot after following this guide means you haven’t set the BIOS priority to USB. If you got any problem in following this guide feel free to ask questions by leaving comment.