Category: Computers & Technology

ESX 3.5 HOW TO obtain storage information from vimsh

In case it is not apparent already, vimsh is something you can invoke on an ESX 3.5.x environment, in order to grab some sometimes necessary storage information.

One particular problem that was outstanding for some time was finding a way to read /proc/vmware/scsi/vmhba<x>/* content. Specifically, the SCSI/LUN ID was sought-after by some TSEs and customers, which are unavailable due to the relevant /proc/vmware/scsi/ nodes being omitted on ESX 3.5.x.

Provided is a simple line to grab the output using vimsh:

“vimsh -n -e hostsvc/storage/topology_info &> test.txt”

It will in this order:

–          Run vimsh in non-interactive mode with the “n” switch.

–          Using the “e” switch, will run “hostsvc/storage/topology_info” for you.

–          Will suppress STD_OUT with the “&” sign before the output redirector (benign “file not found” error shows up, may as well ignore).

–          Output the content to the test.txt file.

Obviously the above is run in BASH / the COS.

If you want a more general overview of storage, replace “topology_info” with “info”.

When running vimsh, remember that you can use “Tab” to list the available files/commands and categories. Content of a file/command is displayed by invoking it directly. We effectively execute hostsvc/storage/topology_info to list this information. Hostsvc and storage are directories or categories.

There is a wealth of information contained and accessed by this utility. I don’t believe we want customers to play around with it, but I imagine you may run into cases where they need the SCSI information for their SAN teams. The above should help a bit.

Note that vsish acts differently, and contained values are obtained using “get”.

Good luck, hope it helps some of you out there still confused.

Zimbra 4.5.6 to 5.0.10 upgrade notes

Things I needed to do for Zimbra to work – 4.5.6 to 5.0.10 upgrade.

1) Mysql root/user passwords need to match what’s in /opt/zimbra/conf/localconfig.xml. I played around with mine and managed to screw this up.
2) Since I changed the hostname, ldap wouldn’t start. To fix this, I had to rebuild the SSL certificates. You can do this here: http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=SSL_Certificate_Problems – I had some trouble following directions – note the version numbers – they’re important. 🙂
3) Make sure that 127.0.0.1 is in zimbraMtaMyNetworks. Ref: http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=ZimbraMtaMyNetworks – if not, you won’t be able to send mail out – it will say relaying denied.

What’s USB device VID_07aa&PID_0011 ? Any Windows XP driver available?

This happens to be my old ass USB wireless lan adapter – only 11Mbps. Good enough for an old system and just to get online though it doesn’t have a whole lot of range. The reason I’m posting is because I did a search and couldn’t find the driver very quickly. It’s available at www.driverguide.com, but I’m so tired of having to click through their ads to get to my final driver download. The driver is available for downloading here.

How to Flash an AirLink101 AR430w router with DD-WRT firmware

1. Connect cable to WAN port and power on router

Download contents from: http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/down.php?path=downloads%2Frelease+candidates%2FDD-WRT+v24+RC7%2FAtheros+WiSoc%2FAirlink+101+AR430W/

2. Set your host IP to 192.168.20.80 (Don’t bother with any values in DNS Server/Alternate DNS)
3. ping -t 192.168.20.81
4. Run PuTTY/PuttyTel (YOU MUST USE PUTTY – SecureCRT and the regular Windows telnet DON’T WORK!) and set port to 9000 with Telnet option. – on the 2nd ping, hit open to connect to the router on 192.168.20.81. If you miss this, you may need to reset the router and try again.
You’ll see:
You’ll probably get these messages:
/releases/svn.porsche/redboot-ar231x/redboot-ar231x/redboot_cobra/ecos/packages/devs/eth/mips/ar531x/current/src/ae531xecos.c#390:ae531x_send AHB ERROR: AR531X_DEBUG_ERROR = 00000145
/releases/svn.porsche/redboot-ar231x/redboot-ar231x/redboot_cobra/ecos/packages/devs/eth/mips/ar531x/current/src/ae531xecos.c#393:ae531x_send AHB ERROR status_4 = 00000145

It’s safe to ignore them.

5. Started TtftpSrv in background.

In the screen, run:
load ap61.ram
go

6. change host IP to 192.168.1.23 and then change your command prompt window to run: “ping -t 192.168.1.1”

7. with putty, telnet to 192.168.1.1 9000
You’l see: DD-WRT>

Unfortunately, after this, it’s a little shaky as to what I did. If you do all of these steps in this order, it should work.

ip_address -l 192.168.1.1 -h 192.168.1.23
fconfig bootp false
bootp: Setting to false
Update RedBoot non-volatile configuration – continue (y/n)? y
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .
DD-WRT> fis init
About to initialize [format] FLASH image system – continue (y/n)? y
*** Initialize FLASH Image System
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .

DD-WRT> ip_address -l 192.168.1.1 -h 192.168.1.23
IP: 192.168.1.1/255.255.255.0, Gateway: 0.0.0.0
Default server: 192.168.1.23
DD-WRT> load -r -b %{FREEMEMLO} ap61.rom
Using default protocol (TFTP)
Raw file loaded 0x80080000-0x800a8717, assumed entry at 0x80080000

fis create -l 0x30000 -e 0xbfc00000 RedBoot
An image named ‘RedBoot’ exists – continue (y/n)? y
… Erase from 0xbfc00000-0xbfc30000: …
… Program from 0x80080000-0x800a8718 at 0xbfc00000: …
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x807f0000-0x80800000 at 0xbffe0000: .

reset

DD-WRT> fis init
About to initialize [format] FLASH image system – continue (y/n)? y
*** Initialize FLASH Image System
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .

fconfig boot_script true
boot_script: Setting to true
Update RedBoot non-volatile configuration – continue (y/n)? y
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .
DD-WRT> fconfig boot_script_timeout 3
boot_script_timeout: Setting to 3
Update RedBoot non-volatile configuration – continue (y/n)? y
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .
DD-WRT>

DD-WRT> load -v -r -b 0x80041000 linux.bin

You should see something like this:

|——————————————————————————-
Raw file loaded 0x80041000-0x803cefff, assumed entry at 0x80041000————–
DD-WRT> ———————————————————————-
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
–

Then run:
fis create linux
This will take forever. This would probably be a good time to set your telnet session so that putty doesn’t timeout and die.

Here’s a screenshot:

putty config to set the timeout

DD-WRT> fis create linux——————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
… Erase from 0xbfc30000-0xbffbe000: …………………………………………………
… Program from 0x80041000-0x803cf000 at 0xbfc30000: …………………………………………………
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .
DD-WRT> DD-WRT> DD-WRT>

DD-WRT> fconfig
Run script at boot: true
Boot script:
Enter script, terminate with empty line
>> fis load -l linux
>> exec
>>
Boot script timeout (1000ms resolution): 3
Use BOOTP for network configuration: true
Default server IP address: 192.168.1.1
Console baud rate: 9600
GDB connection port: 9000
Force console for special debug messages: false
Network debug at boot time: false
Update RedBoot non-volatile configuration – continue (y/n)? y
… Erase from 0xbffe0000-0xbfff0000: .
… Program from 0x80ff0000-0x81000000 at 0xbffe0000: .

Please reference: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=29779

and http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=23510&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=240

and of course http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/release%20candidates/DD-WRT%20v24%20RC7/Atheros%20WiSoc/Airlink%20101%20AR430W/flashing.txt

By the way, here’s the end result:

Airlink DD-WRT screenshot