#!/usr/bin/perl

# This script runs a batch of commands on a list of FC-switches. For example:
# fc-switch-commands.pl statsclear | configupload | supportsave

use strict;
use warnings;
use Net::Telnet;

our( @san_fabric1_core, @san_fabric1_edge_1, @san_fabric1_edge_2 );
our( @san_fabric2_core, @san_fabric2_edge_1, @san_fabric2_edge_2 );
our( @switches );
our( $ftp_host, $ftp_username, $ftp_password );
our( $telnet );
our( $i, $version, @debug );

@san_fabric1_core = ( "10.144.20.50", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric1_core' );
@san_fabric1_edge_1 = ( "10.144.20.51", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric1_edge_1' );
@san_fabric1_edge_2 = ( "10.144.20.52", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric1_edge_2' );
@san_fabric2_core = ( "10.144.20.60", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric2_core' );
@san_fabric2_edge_1 = ( "10.144.20.61", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric2_edge_1' );
@san_fabric2_edge_2 = ( "10.144.20.62", "admin", "JuNxJFSAS!", 'san_fabric2_edge_2' );

$ftp_host = '10.144.20.45';
$ftp_username = 'brocade_cfg';
$ftp_password = 'JuNxJPFC!';

@switches = ( \@san_fabric1_core, \@san_fabric2_core,
              \@san_fabric1_edge_1, \@san_fabric1_edge_2,
              \@san_fabric2_edge_1, \@san_fabric2_edge_2 );

@debug = ( Dump_Log => 'dump.log', Output_Log => 'out.log', Input_Log => 'in.log' );

$telnet = new Net::Telnet(Timeout=>240, Errmode=>'die',
                          Prompt => '/.*\:admin> $/is', @debug);

for ($i = 0; $i < $#switches + 1; $i++) {
  $telnet->open($switches[$i][0]);
  $telnet->login($switches[$i][1], $switches[$i][2]);

  if ( $ARGV[0] eq "statsclear" ) {
    $telnet->cmd("statsclear");
  } elsif ( $ARGV[0] eq "configupload" ) {
    # Check the FabricOS version, as Brocade decided to break compatiblity with
    # earlier firmware versions w/ v6 (at least configupload)
    $telnet->cmd("firmwareshow");
    $version = $telnet->lastline;
    $version =~ s/\s+|\s+$//g;

    if ( $version =~ "v6" ) {
      $telnet->cmd("configupload -all -ftp \"$ftp_host\",\"$ftp_username\",\"$switches[$i][3].cfg\",\"$ftp_password\"");
    } else {
      $telnet->cmd("configupload \"$ftp_host\",\"$ftp_username\",\"$switches[$i][3].cfg\",\"$ftp_password\"");
    }
  } elsif ( $ARGV[0] eq "supportsave" ) {
    $telnet->cmd("supportsave -n -u \"$ftp_username\" -p \"$ftp_password\" -h \"$ftp_host\" -d \"supportsave/$switches[$i][3]\" -l ftp");
  }

  $telnet->close();
}

#/bin/bash

svc_sshkey="~/.ssh/svc-id_dsa"
svc_addr="10.144.0.150"
svc_user="admin"

if [ -z $1 ] ; then
  echo "Please rerun this script with some kind of filter value"
  echo "(for example '$0 NAS')"
  exit 1
else
  filter=$1
fi

IFS="
"

DISK="$( ssh -i $svc_sshkey -l $svc_user $svc_addr svcinfo lsvdisk -nohdr -bytes -delim : \
          | egrep -i "V.*$filter" | cut -d: -f2,8 | sort )"

# Get a unique list of systems
SYSTEMS="$( echo $DISK | sed "s, ,\n,g" | cut -d\  -f1 | sed 's,^V,,' | cut -d_ -f1 | sort -u )"

for system in $SYSTEMS ; do
  VDISKS="$( echo $DISK | sed "s, ,\n,g" | grep $system | sed "s,:,: ," )"
  SYSTEM_TOTAL="$( echo $DISK | sed "s, ,\n,g" | grep $system | cut -d: -f2 | awk '{SUM += $1} END { printf "%.2f", SUM }' )"
  for vdisk in $VDISKS ; do
    NAME="$( echo $vdisk | cut -d: -f1 )"
    SIZE="$( echo $vdisk | cut -d: -f2 | sed "s,^ ,," )"
    GB_SIZE="$( echo "$SIZE / 1024 / 1024 / 1024" | bc )"
    if [ $GB_SIZE -eq 0 ] ; then
      GB_SIZE="$( echo "scale=2; $SIZE / 1024 / 1024 / 1024" | bc )"
      GB_SIZE="${GB_SIZE/./0.}"
    fi
    echo "$NAME: ${GB_SIZE/./,} GB"
  done
  SUB_TOTAL_SYSTEM="$( echo "scale=2; $SYSTEM_TOTAL / 1024 / 1024 / 1024" | bc )"
  echo "SUB TOTAL: ${SUB_TOTAL_SYSTEM/./,} GB"
  echo
done

TOTAL="$( echo $DISK | sed "s, ,\n,g" | cut -d: -f2  | awk '{SUM += $1} END { printf "%.2f", SUM }' )"
TOTAL="$( echo "scale=2; $TOTAL / 1024 / 1024 / 1024" | bc ) GB"

echo "------------------------------------------------"
echo $TOTAL

exit 0

I gotta say, once again I learned a lot … two new things about awk!

I know the report itself doesn’t look *that* pretty, but it serves a purpose!

I walked back outside, through the revolving door, and while inside the door decided to get back to the ticketing counter. I ended up booking another flight (paying another 30€ for the chanced flight), and landed three hours later in Berlin Tegel (TXL). Thanks to my parents (which collected me from Tegel, and spared me the three hour train travel — like I did back in February), I was finally home around 1:00AM the next day …

But guess what, another lesson(s) learnt!

After (yet another hour in front of Google), I finally found what I was looking for. At first I didn’t limit the query on a specific CPU, but that turned out to be shitty (x32 being displayed twice, once for each CPU). But after limiting it to DeviceID=’CPU0′ it works like a charm

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>32767</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/32G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>16383</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/16G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>8191</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/8G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>4095</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/4G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>2047</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/2G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>1023</match>
				<match_type>greater</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/1G.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

		<rule>
			<memsize>
				<match>1023</match>
				<match_type>lower</match_type>
			</memsize>
			<result>
				<profile>system/swap/default.xml</profile>
				<continue config:type="boolean">false</continue>
				<dont_merge config:type="list">
					<element>partition</element>
				</dont_merge>
			</result>
		</rule>

The content of a profile looks like this:

	<partitioning config:type="list">
		<drive>
			<partitions config:type="list">
				<partition>
					<create config:type="boolean">true</create>
					<crypt_fs config:type="boolean">false</crypt_fs>
					<filesystem config:type="symbol">swap</filesystem>
					<filesystem_id config:type="integer">130</filesystem_id>
					<format config:type="boolean">true</format>
					<loop_fs config:type="boolean">false</loop_fs>
					<mount>swap</mount>
					<mountby config:type="symbol">device</mountby>
					<partition_id config:type="integer">130</partition_id>
					<partition_nr config:type="integer">2</partition_nr>
					<resize config:type="boolean">false</resize>
					<size>16G</size>
				</partition>
			</partitions>
		</drive>
	</partitioning>

So basically what I did, was creating different classes, and depending on the size of the available RAM, AutoYAST selects the profile.

It was pretty simple. Putting /dev/cciss/c0d0 into /boot/grub/device.map as (hd0) made the grub-installer finish. Now, figuring out how to transfer those information during the installation proved difficult. I was just about to give up, while reading through the AutoYAST documentation, when it struck me. There is even an extra chapter for this stuff, so simply putting the following into my profile solved my issues:

	<bootloader>
		<device_map config:type="list">
			<device_map_entry>
				<firmware>hd0</firmware>
				<linux>/dev/cciss/c0d0</linux>
			</device_map_entry>
		</device_map>
	</bootloader>

I know a few people actually still use it, so I’m gonna put in a disclaimer and let some time pass before completely removing it. Just be warned, it’s going away! Again:

distributions.barfoo.org is going away!

 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

That actually does the trick. The loader as well as the partition table are gone after wards!

1. VMware Data Recovery
2. VMware Consolidated Backup
3. vRanger, ……

As I was looking for something that wouldn’t cost us any money (thus excluding the third), I took a look at vDR and vCB. One point I do have to give to vDR is, that it’s damn fast. Only bad thing about vDR is that it doesn’t integrate at all with TSM, and it ain’t supported to install a TSM client inside the vDR VM. So vDR was also done for.

Only remaining thing was vCB. I remember way back when TSM didn’t support vCB directly, at which time it was *quite* the hassle to configure. But with newer TSM clients (as in the newer 6.x ones), IBM decided to integrate support for it. Which makes setting things up quite easy. You may think at least.

Since I wanted to use “hotadd” as transport mode for the vmdk’s (which is basically creating a snapshot of the vmdk and assigning that snapshot to the vCB VM), I did have to tinker around with some JavaScript files in %ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup. Sure, it isn’t supported by VMware (which is a bit lame since they announced the EOL for vCB with the upcoming vSphere version), but I didn’t want to open a support request. I’m lazy, yep:

Change DEFAULT_TRANSPORT_MODE in utils.js from “san” to “hotadd“. But apparently this only solved the backup method for vmdk-level, but not for file-level backups. The file-level is still gonna use nbd (network block device), which kinda sucks since the backup is going out via network.

After doing that, the hotadd mode is still gonna fail, since apparently the denoted “VMware Consolidated Backup User” (vcb-user in my case) also needs permissions onto the datastore. The permissions the handbook sets for the user are okay, you just need to apply that role to your datastore(s) containing the VMs you want to backup too! Otherwise vcbMounter is gonna fail with a rather cryptic error telling you that it doesn’t have sufficient rights to create a linked clone.

I went ahead, installed SP2 (as you can see on the above picture) while having the jitters. Also installed the VirusScan I was scheduled to install, and the system came back online. Phewww.

After my maintainance window was over, I looked into this issue a bit deeper. First tried copying over a taskmgr.exe (both 32bit and 64bit) from another Windows Server 2003 x64 SP2 system with no luck. The next step, was looking at PATH. As it turns out it has something to do with that ….

C:\>echo %PATH%
C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
C:\>taskmgr
The system cannot execute the specified program.
C:\>set PATH=C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
C:\>taskmgr
C:\>

As you can see, after fixing up the PATH environment variable, it works apparently .. Weirdly though, this issue doesn’t come up on another (identical) system, same PATH modifications, main difference: calling taskmgr.exe from the Run dialog works .. while it doesn’t on this particular system.

*Shrug* Gonna have to talk to my SAP guys tommorrow …

I myself don’t have any trouble with that. The trouble I do have is the people working with those VM’s and their possibly hazardous “uuuh, what’s this ? I don’t need this! <click-click, network-device unplugged>”

So I went googling (why isn’t that a dictionary term by now ?) and found something. Simple solution is to disable the hot plugging of hardware in the VM’s settings.

Hostname;IP;Model;Description;OS;Service-Pack;BL;Priority
epimetheus;10.0.0.2;VMware guest;File-Server
hades;10.0.0.1;VMware guest;Core-Router

After saving that one, and running a cscript //NoLogo win_sp_level.vbs you should find a completed list like this:

Hostname;IP;Model;Description;OS;Service-Pack;BL;Priority
epimetheus;10.0.0.2;VMware guest;File-Server;Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition; SP1;;
hades;10.0.0.1;VMware guest;Core-Router;Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition; SP0;;

The final script looks like this:

On Error Resume Next

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemOBject")

If objFSO.FileExists("Rollout_SP2.csv") = 0 Then
  CleanUp()
  Wscript.Quit
End If

Set CSVin = objFSO.OpenTextFile("Rollout_SP2.csv", 1)
CSVin_read = CSVin.ReadLine

Set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile("Rollout_SP2_result.csv")
Set objFile = nothing
Set CSVout = objFSO.OpenTextFile("Rollout_SP2_result.csv", 
CSVout.WriteLine("Hostname;IP;Model;Description;OS;Service-Pack;BL;Priority")

Do While CSVin.AtEndofStream <> True

  Dim os, servicepack
  Dim user, password

  os = nothing
  servicepack = nothing
  user = vars(1) & "\chrischie"
  password = "hah-this-password-is-easy"

  current_line = CSVin.ReadLine
  vars = Split(current_line, ";")

  Set objSWbemLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator")
  Set objSWbemServices = objSWbemLocator.ConnectServer _
    (vars(1), "root\cimv2", user, password, "MS_409",, 128)

  objSWbemServices.Security_.ImpersonationLevel = 3

  Set colOperatingSystems = objSWbemServices.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")

  ' The set returns an Err.Number of 91 on success
  ' Don't ask me why though.
  If Err.Number <> 91 Then
    CSVout.WriteLine(vars(0) & ";" & vars(1) & ";" & vars(2) & ";" & vars(3) & ";NA;SP?;;")
  Else
    For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems
      os = objOperatingSystem.Caption
      servicepack = objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMajorVersion
    Next
    CSVout.WriteLine(vars(0) & ";" & vars(1) & ";" & vars(2) & ";" & vars(3) _
	                 & ";" & os  & "; SP" & servicepack & ";;")
  End If
Loop

The only thing I still need to improve is the error handling (as in notify when a system is being skipped due to RPC being unavailable).

# ./dsmc: no such file or directory

After fiddling with it a bit more, here are the control files, as well as the prerm and postinst-scripts for TIVSM-API, TIVSM-API64 and TIVSM-BA:

tivsm-api/debian/control:

Source: tivsm-api
Section: non-free
Priority: extra
Maintainer: root 

Package: tivsm-api
Architecture: all
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}
Description: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager API

tivsm-api/debian/tivsm-api.postinst:

for library in /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin/*.so; do
        ln -s $library /usr/lib/${library##*/}
done

# Automatically added by dh_makeshlibs
if [ "$1" = "configure" ]; then
        ldconfig
fi
# End automatically added section

tivsm-api/debian/tivsm-api.prerm:

for library in /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin/*.so; do
        rm -f /usr/lib/${library##*/}
done

tivsm-api64/debian/control:

Source: tivsm-api64
Section: non-free
Priority: extra
Maintainer: root 

Package: tivsm-api64
Architecture: amd64
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}
Description: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager API

tivsm-api64/debian/postinst:

for library in /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin64/*.so; do
        ln -s $library /usr/lib64/${library##*/}
done

# Automatically added by dh_makeshlibs
if [ "$1" = "configure" ]; then
        ldconfig
fi
# End automatically added section

tivsm-api64/debian/prerm:

for library in /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/api/bin64/*.so; do
        rm -f /usr/lib64/${library##*/}
done

# Automatically added by dh_makeshlibs
if [ "$1" = "configure" ]; then
        ldconfig
fi
# End automatically added section

tivsm-ba/debian/control:

Source: tivsm-ba
Section: non-free
Priority: extra
Maintainer: root 

Package: tivsm-ba
Architecture: any
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, lib32stdc++6 [amd64], libc6-i386 [amd64], lib32gcc1 [amd64]
Description: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Client

tivsm-ba/debian/tivsm-ba.postinst:

ln -s /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/lang/EN_US /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/EN_US

for binary in dsmadmc dsmagent dsmc dsmcad dsmj dsmswitch dsmtca dsmtrace; do
        ln -s /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/$binary /usr/bin/$binary
done

tivsm-ba/debian/tivsm-ba.prerm:

rm -f /opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/EN_US

for binary in dsmadmc dsmagent dsmc dsmcad dsmj dsmswitch dsmtca dsmtrace; do
        rm -f /usr/bin/$binary
done

All that was left to do, was simply adding a -n to the dh_makeshlibs call in each packages debian/rules file, otherwise dh_makeshlibs would overwrite my shiny postinst/prerm actions!

I started my trip around 12am from work to Stuttgart. Initially I had much more fear of the trip down to Stuttgart, since I have to drive on the A8 (which is kinda infamous for huge traffic jams), but as it turned out; those fears were without reason. It took me an hour to get to Stuttgart, which is fairly normal.

I was at the airport at 2pm, which was still an hour till my flight would leave. So I waited another hour (I bought myself a book in preparation) until it was 2:55pm (that’s the original boarding time).

At that time, they announced that the plane would be approximately an hour late, since it got stuck in the snow in Warsaw. Okay, I waited another half hour, until they announced that the plane just landed and we could hopefully begin boarding within the next 15 minutes or so.

After another half an hour, finally everyone finished boarding and we were rolling to the runway. After about an hour in the air, the captain announced we would be over Rostock, but we’d be in a holding pattern, because the ground crew in Rostock is trying to prepare the runway for the landing.

After ten minutes, he announced yet again, we would be flying circles for another 15 minutes (which were like 40 minutes), after which he announced we’d be flying circles for another 15 minutes (which again were half an hour). He then explained that the ground crew in Rostock is yet again trying to de-ice the runway in order to make it possible, so the plane can safely land (I figure, a Airbus A319 needs one hell of a long strip to land and brake on ice with about 75t).

So after circling for another 15 minutes, he announced with regrets, that the ground crew wasn’t able to de-ice and de-snow the runway in order to make a safe landing. He also informed us, that we would be diverted to Berlin-Schönefeld and that we’d get more information once we are on the ground.

As we were touching down and rolling into parking position, he announced that we either had the possibility to be carried to Rostock via bus (that is a charter bus), or be on our own. For that, I do have to say the following: Berlin is about 190km afar, plus the autobahn was icy that night.

He also announced that we’d get more information at the check-in booth. So 159 angry people went bothering the people at the check-in booth (which were kinda stressed out). They handed every person a Deutsche Bahn ticket with another sheet of photo-copied paper, that did hold the travelling information.

In the end, I was home around 1:30am, where I planned on being home at 7pm. Just nice. I’m just praying, that they’re actually gonna fly from Rostock today, since tomorrow just is another workday.

We may have to tune the script a bit more for our use, but it should show the basic functions I need.

Dim hostname, os, servicepack

hostname = WScript.Arguments.Item(0)

strComputer = hostname
Set objSWbemLocator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator")
Set objSWbemServices = objSWbemLocator.ConnectServer _
   (strComputer, "root\cimv2", hostname & "\chrischie", "hah-this-password-is-easy")
objSWbemServices.Security_.ImpersonationLevel = 3

Set colOperatingSystems = objSWbemServices.ExecQuery _
   ("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")

For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems
   os = objOperatingSystem.Caption
   servicepack = objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMajorVersion
Next

Wscript.Echo hostname & ";" & os & "; SP" & servicepack & ";"

At the time of finding this, I had no clue as to why the were not getting any updates. At first we thought it had something to do with the WSUS server, so I upgraded the WSUS 3.0 SP1 to SP2. Since that didn’t solve nothing, I went searching for a internal VM, that showed the same symptoms and I quickly found one.

After cloning said VM (since that one is running in the production environment), a bit of hacking on it (you know, disabling the network of the VM, switching IP and Hostname, running NewSID, …) I went cracking at the problem.

Stopped the Windows Update Service, cleaned the %WINDIR%\SoftwareDistribution, and started the Windows Update Service again; triggered a wuauclt.exe /detectnow /reportnow. Yet again the same result. “0 updates detected”. Shite.

Went ahead, and tried what Microsoft in their “If you have trouble with Windows Update” knowledge base article, but then again. Same result.

Another try, was simply reinstalling the Windows Update Agent, which also resulted in the same old … “0 updates detected”

Due to some discussion with my co-workers, I ended up clicking through a Microsoft KB for a recently released patch. What I found, was that any newer update I looked at, only had “Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2″ listed as download element. Shite.

Somehow, I stumbled over a link (in the same KB article) detailing the Support Lifecycle for Service Packs in general, as well as the Lifecycle announcements for each Service Pack.

End of the story and solution to my problem basically is, Microsoft terminated the Lifecycle for Windows Server 2003 SP1 on 14.04.2009, which is the target date after which Security and Critical Updates are no longer issued for systems running SP1.

In the end, I don’t really blame them, since SP2 was already released in 2007. But what I would’ve expected is some kind of press release or a public note, that Security releases are gonna end. Another construction area identified, more work for me!

At first, I favored a normal Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop. While thats okay, it simply isn’t the right thing for a netbook. Why ? For example, if the programs bar is larger than the vertical desktop resolution, it gets kinda tiring to work with this thing.

Took me (and him) a while to notice that, but in the end I put the Netbook Remix of Karmic on this sweet little thing. Only trouble he had, was that while everything worked out of the box (even the Digital Motion Camera at the top end of the screen), his UMTS didn’t. That’s kinda shitty, since he bought this thing, in order to get online, even if he is at a hotel without actual internet connection (that is no DSL or LAN connectivity).

He already bothered the guys at his local T-Mobile shop, which told him he had to send it in to Samsung for repairs, since they don’t do warranty claims (which iirc they have to do, according to the HGB). Anyway, he sent the box my way, for me to take a look at it first, to avoid paying 70€ for a damn quotation for the repair of the defect UMTS modem.

Turns out (as so often), it was just a simple software bug. The guy over at aptgetupdate, was kind enough to document the steps necessary to install a nightly build of NetworkManager (which Karmic uses to connect to any kind of network), which fixes this issue. As a proof, I’m writing this here blog post via the UMTS connection of the netbook!

For myself, here are the exact steps, in case I ever need to repeat them:

cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nm-nightly.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/network-manager/trunk/ubuntu karmic main
EOF

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver=wwwkeys.de.pgp.net \
    --recv-key 248DD1EEBC8EBFE8
sudo aptitude update; sudo aptitude full-upgrade
sudo service network-manager restart

That’s it, that enables UMTS connections again.

What I don’t like about Data Recovery is the fact that you ain’t allowed supported to install any kind of backup agent inside. I  was looking into Data Recovery because I wanted to replace VCB’s functionality with something tightly integrated, that even our, well lets say — not so vCenter centered workers — could use (restoring a VM with vDR is real easy, just three clicks and you got a previous version of your VM — even if it has been deleted).

I guess, we do have to stick to Consolidated Backup for now, until VMware redesigns vDR or polishes VCB.

Since the Revo was running Jaunty Jackalope, I decided to reinstall the box (yeah, yet again) — but this time with Karmic Koala. Took this forums post and this blog entry as pointer (ie what needed to be installed), and started from there. And guess what … after finishing all that, changing the settings in XBMC — tada sound works. After finishing, I turned the box off and then back on, booted to the “old” installation — guess what .. Sound is working again. I really don’t have a single clue as to why the heck the sound stopped working and the started working without any doing, but I’m glad

As a pointer to myself, here’s a complete list of commands that need to be done to get a working installation of XBMC. Requirement for this is a minimal installation of Jaunty Jackalope/Karmic Koala.

# I need to blacklist the internal WLAN device, since I'm using an external one
cat << EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf
blacklist ath5k
EOF
# Also need to blacklist the not working RAlink drivers
cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ralink.conf
# The below drivers don't work with the Atheros AR5001
# (Linksys WUSB600N)
blacklist rt2800usb
blacklist rt2x00usb
EOF

# Add the necessary PPA's
cat << EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/nvidia-vdpau/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
EOF
# Add the GPG keys to the APT keyring
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com \
                 --recv-keys 64234534 40618B66 CEC06767 318C7509 \
                             91E7EE5E 64234534
sudo aptitude update
# Install necessary prerequisites (like nvidia-glx
# for VDPAU rendering)
# debhelper needs to be added, otherwise dkms is gonna fail.
# I need nvidia-glx-180 because the -190 apparently brings
# a large framedrop (as in I'm getting 18 FPS instead of 24)
sudo aptitude install nvidia-glx-180 debhelper linux-sound-base \
                      alsa-base alsa-utils
# unmute the Master an PCM channels with alsamixer. Press ESC to quit
sudo alsamixer
sudo alsactl store 0
# Install XBMC as standalone (i.e. no desktop environment like GNOME)
sudo aptitude install xbmc-standalone

# Configure the Xserver
sudo nvidia-xconfig

# Add the init-script (no need for fancy tty login stuff)
cat << EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/init.d/xbmc
#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          inputlirc
# Required-Start:    \$network
# Required-Stop:     \$network \$remote_fs
# Should-Start:      \$syslog udev
# Should-Stop:       \$syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Starts XBMC standalone
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

test -d /var/run || exit 0

test -x /usr/bin/xbmc || exit 0

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "\$1" in
  start)
        xinit /usr/bin/xbmc --standalone &
        ;;
  stop)
        killall xbmc &>/dev/null
        ;;
esac
exit 0
EOF
sudo update-rc.d xbmc defaults

# Install usplash, configure our resolution and
# regenerate the initramfs
sudo aptitude install usplash usplash-theme-ubuntu
cat << EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/usplash.conf
resx=1920
resy=1080
EOF
sudo update-initramfs -u

# Install lirc
sudo aptitude install lirc inputlirc lirc-modules-source
cat << EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
#
# this config file was automatically generated
# using lirc-0.7.1pre2(any) on Mon Jul  4 22:11:52 2005
#
# contributed by
#
# brand:                       Technisat
# model no. of remote control: TTS35AI
# devices being controlled by this remote: Skystar 2.6D
#

begin remote

  name  Technisat_TTS35AI.conf
  bits           13
  flags RC5|CONST_LENGTH
  eps            30
  aeps          100

  one           882   803
  zero          882   803
  plead         905
  gap          112766
  toggle_bit      2

      begin codes
          Power                    0x1A8C
          Mute                     0x1A8D
          1                        0x1281
          2                        0x1A82
          3                        0x1283
          4                        0x1A84
          5                        0x1285
          6                        0x1A86
          7                        0x1287
          8                        0x1A88
          9                        0x1289
          0                        0x1A80
          -/--                     0x128A
          A/B                      0x1AA3
          Red                      0x0AAB
          Green                    0x02AC
          Yellow                   0x0AAD
          Blue                     0x02AE
          Ok                       0x0A97
          Up                       0x12A0
          Down                     0x1AA1
          Left                     0x1291
          Right                    0x1A90
          SFI                      0x12AF
          Back                     0x1AA2
          Info                     0x028F
#          Prog+                    0x1AA0
#          Prog-                    0x12A1
          TV/Radio                 0x0293
#          Volume+                  0x1A90
#          Volume-                  0x1291
          Menu                     0x0A92
          Hilfe                    0x1A8F
          TXT                      0x12BC
          STOP                     0x1AA9
          EXT                      0x12B8
          HILFE2                   0x0AB6
      end codes

end remote
EOF
sudo sed -i -e 's,REMOTE="",REMOTE="TechnoTrend USB IR receiver",' \
       -e 's,REMOTE_MODULES="",REMOTE_MODULES="lirc_serial",' \
       -e 's,REMOTE_DEVICE="",REMOTE_DEVICE="/dev/lirc0",' \
       -e 's,START_LIRCD="false",START_LIRCD="true",' \
       /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
sudo sed -i -e 's,EVENTS="",EVENTS="/dev/input/by-id/usb-Formosa21_USB_IR_Receiver-event-mouse",' \
       -e 's,OPTIONS="",OPTIONS="-g -m 0",' /etc/default/inputlirc

cat << EOF | sudo tee /usr/share/xbmc/system/scrapers/video/nfo-file-scaper.xml



EOF

# Reboot the system
sudo reboot

Now we just need to configure the audio output to pipe everything through HDMI. For that change the settings in Settings -> System -> Audio Output like this:

Or if you like messing with ~/.xbmc/userdata/guisettings.xml:

    
        false
        alsa:plug:hdmi
        
        
        true
false
        1
alsa:hdmi
        
        
        
    

As for the changed device names of the input device (ie usb-Formosa21_USB_IR_Receiver-event-ir (Jaunty) vs. usb-Formosa21_USB_IR_Receiver-event-mouse (Karmic), just take the Lircmap.xml from here, and change the remote-Line accordingly.