Run OpenManage on Dell 2950 / 2970 with ESXi

When trying to add 2 disks to an existing Raid 5 array (4 disks) I ran into some problems. The server is a Dell 2970 with a Perc 5/i controller, running ESXi 3.5 as OS. However, it seemed there was no easy way to reconfigure / resize the disk array. At first I tried to boot into the Raid Controller bios with CTRL + R. However, in here there was no function to resize or reconfigure the disks. After some research it seemed I had the following options:

1. Create a complete image of the current disks. Then recreate the Raid 5 array with 6 disks. Then restore the image. Seemed to be risky and time consuming.
2. Create a dual boot on an extra partition running Windows Server 2003. On this OS we could install Dell OpenManage to reconfigure the disk array. It seems like almost impossible to create a dual boot with ESXi.
3. Install ESXi version from Dell including OpenManage http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R215992&formatcnt=1&libid=0&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=306537. Since this is not just an update it probably requires to setup all VM's again.
4. Use a linux live-cd with OpenManage installed on it. It seemed the dell community worked on this and created a CentOS live-cd including OpenManage 5.5. See http://linux.dell.com/files/openmanage-contributions/

I tried option 4 first, since it seemed to be the safest option to start with. I downloaded the ISO and burned it to a CD. Then I went to the server, inserted the CD, rebooted and kept my fingers crossed. Unfortunately, this last step did not help. When the live-cd tried to recognize the SATA controller it raised an error:

'Fatal error occured - Data for LiveCD not found. Are you using SCSI?'

The LiveCD had problems detecting and initializing the SATA controller of the Dell 2970. Looking on the internet showed me that more users had this problem. My solution for this was to create a bootable USB stick containing the CentOS OpenManage ISO. To do this I downloaded UNetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Again, fingers crossed, I went to the server, placed the USB stick in the USB port at the back. Fingers crossed... Rebooted into the USB stick, the boot was succesful! I had to login with sluser / sluser. Then I saw the linux prompt. On another PC I started my internet browser and went to https://ip_of_server:1311 This showed me the OpenManage prompt and I could login! Now I can perform all OpenManage actions!

Hmmkay.

Android & Bluetooth

Like you could see in my previous post, I'm a happy owner of the HTC Hero Android smartphone. The only thing I still miss sometimes is native bluetooth support. Why oh why do I have to root my Android and BUY some app named Bluex to enable bluetooth file transfer (or OBEX). In my opinion it's quite sad that a lot of users are complaining about this, and still there is no 'fix'. Before Android 1.6 this was already an issue in the top of complaints lists. In the meanwhile we have had Android 1.6, no fix, now we get 2.0, but unfortunately no fix...

I have no clear idea to why this has not been implemented, are there any licenses maybe? Or is it just ignorance from the Android developers? I guess we'll have to wait until Android 5.0 comes alive, in the meanwhile I'll just have to live with the fact that there still is not one perfect telephone (although it comes close :))

HTC Hero, my experience so far

Just about a week ago I received my new mobile phone. After I used a HTC S710 and HTC Touch Pro for 2 years, this is my first step into the world of Android. My biggest worry was the speed. It has been mentioned over and over on several review sites. In my mind there is no issue with the speed at all. Yes, sometimes it lags very little. But if you're coming from a Windows Mobile phone you will be very pleased with the speed of the Hero! I think that's the issue with the reviews, the speed has been compared to an iPhone which has a very smooth UI but it's also twice as expensive... When you compare it with any Windows Mobile device the Hero is really really fast!

The good things:

1. Very good hardware design. The back of the device has this teflon layer which feels really good. Very solid!
2. The screen is great. Very clear and good size. Touchscreen is good, good respons. Even managed to write an error free text message with a lot of beer...
3. The speed is good.
4. HTC Widgets and skin is great.
5. Android OS is nice!
6. All basic functionalities like phone and sms work like a charm.
7. Very active development community, so the Android Market is full with software.

The less good things:

1. Back button placed quite inconveniently.
2. No flash for the camera. Camera is good at daylight, but when the sun goes down, so does the quality of the camera.

Conclusion:

Very nice phone. Certainly when you're moving from Windows Mobile, like I did, this will be a relieve!

HTC Hero delayed, again...

I've used Windows Mobile for a couple of years and wanted to try something different. Not that WinMo is that bad, but I just want to find if there is something with a better user interface and still give me the flexibility I want. So I found the Palm Pre and saw some finger licking video's of it, I like! What a beatiful device! But it's only to arrive in the Netherlands at around christmas time. Since I'm not the kind of guy with a six pack of patience I started to explore Android. For what I've seen from it, it's very promising. I wanted to give it a try so last week I pre-ordered the HTC Hero.

When I pre-ordered I already knew there were some troubles with the delivery of the phone. It was already delayed by two weeks I believe. But then a webshop showed 'delivery within 1 day', this together with rumors that it really was going to happen! I could not resist...

Unfortunately it's delayed again! Rumors say it might have something to do with a conflict between HTC and Google, others say HTC is busy with a last minute firmware update. HTC however says nothing. In my mind that's a very stupid thing to do. If you want to make your customers happy, then be honest! What's there to hide? Could it be a marketing action, I mean a very bad marketing action? If HTC is creating a hype around this phone, why not hyping with some positive news then?

On the other hand, negative attention is still attention, hmmkay!

Visual Studio 2010 Beta - Mobile

Just spend one and a half (!!!) hour to install Visual Studi0 2010 beta with the main goal to make some test applications for my mobile devices. When I could finally run the IDE I went to 'File->new->Project' only to find out there is NO option to start a mobile project.

As google is everybody's friend these days I started to search on this issue. First hit, Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 does NOT support Mobile projects! It WILL be included in the final release, but for some reason it's not in the Beta. Come on! So many developers for the WinMO platform, make them happy!

Hmmkay, downloading a trial of an earlier version now.

Java regex and String literals

I was just practicing for the SCJP exam and ran into some regex issues. Regex and Java String literals both use "\" as an escape character. In a non-regex Java String literal, every literal "\" must be doubled. In a regex every literal "\" must be doubled. Ok, now lets look at some examples.

When you want to write a pattern to check for a digit followed by a whitespace you need to create the following pattern:

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\d\\s"); // here you might expect to use ("\d\s").
Matcher m = p.matcher("12 this should be enough");

Now lets say you want to check for the literal "\" in a String:

String text = "hello in comes the backslash \\ ..."; // mark the double \\ to escape
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("\\\\");
Matcher m = p.matcher(text);

Ofcourse, normally the compiler or IDE helps you with this, by showing something like 'illegal escape character'. But for the exam you really need to 'know' it. 

To touch or not to touch

Telephones with touchscreens, hype, or useful? I've used a touch enabled smartphone for about a year now. I must say, there are definitely good features of it, like browsing, watching photos etc. The biggest problem for me however is to use that gdamn 'virtual keyboard', and virtual it is! For me it's not anywhere near the experience of a physical keyboard...

Ever since my HTC Touch Pro broke down I had to go back to my good old HTC S710. No touchscreen, small resolution. What a drawback you must think. What a relief, that's what I think! Allthough I miss my high-speed internet connection and a bigger screen would not be too much luxuriance. It still fulfills most of my needs, with a lot less frustration!

Sometimes I wonder, will there ever be a perfect(smart)phone on the market. One that has everything and still has a good interface. Maybe I found one, just maybe... Lately my eye fell on the Palm Pre, hardware keyboard, OS looks very nice. Hopefully this will be a big step closer to the 'perfect' phone! Can't wait for it to arrive in Europe (and hopefully not a single operator deal...).