Thursday, September 21, 2017

VMWare ESXi 6.5a unhandled exception / invalid disk image errors

The default web interface module in the ESXi 6.5a iso release is buggy, get the latest web interface update from this link (direct link to the vib).

Links are borking - here https://labs.vmware.com/flings/esxi-embedded-host-client/

GNS3 + Centos 7.x

This and this (or it doesn't start).

Access VirtualBox guests from host and vice versa

In order to communicate between your VM's and host, add a host-only network adapter on the VM properties.  The IP associated with this adapter will be reachable by the host.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Useful commands for checking Linux hardware specs - memory, CPU, serial number

Server model
# dmidecode | grep -A3 '^System Information'

CPU model
# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep 'model name' | uniq

Memory summary
# dmidecode -t 17 | grep MB

CPU config - good summary, check socket and core outputs for physicals
# lscpu

CPU config - more detail
# less /proc/cpuinfo

CPU config - just the number of cores, physical and virtual
# nproc

Serial number
# dmidecode -s system-serial-number
# dmidecode | grep Serial

If no root / sudo access (might not work on Debian-based distros, tested on RHEL)
$  lshal | grep system.hardware.serial

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Logitech Z323 Speaker Hints

Having purchased my Z323's somewhat hastily and without any prior consultation of reviews a couple of weeks back, I was somewhat underwhelmed by their output. I purchased them to connect to my PC for listening to a variety of music types in my small study, and it just seemed like there was a big chunk of frequency reproduction missing somewhere in the midrange. I'm currently into emo'ish instrumental pop/rock and trancey stuff, which is admittedly quite acoustically demanding.

Bass was ok, not exactly punchy, but nevertheless adequate. Overall, there just seemed to be an absence of "snap" in the audio reproduction. The last set of 2.1's I bought was many years ago (Creative Cambridge Soundworks 2.1) and the Logitechs just didn't seem to measure up to that aged benchmark.

I've not had much time to spend with my new acquisition, but after some tweaking this afternoon the following facts became apparent:

- The midrange does seem to improve after some breaking in (my set is only now going into the first couple of hours of sustained playback and seems to be becoming a bit more "flexible" as time passes).

- One of the reviews on Amazon.com recommended turning the sats around to face the wall - this made a big difference to the perceived audio reproduction. There is a sweet spot here, but if your desk faces a wall and you have these speakers give it a go and see. Disadvantage is that the speaker volume control is now facing away from you, but I can live with that.

- Stereo imaging is good with a very broad field - seems you can put the sats almost anywhere and still maintain a nice soundstage.

- Moving the sub down to the floor and closer to the wall made the bass a bit more generalised, but now it seems to have difficulty keeping up. I can hear it lazily whoomping away, but seems to be a bit laboured. Maybe this will also improve with time and some more fine tuning of location. Turning the bass dial down a few notches helped - there is almost an exact point at which it goes from nicely accompanying the music to becoming "whoompy", for want of a better word...

I suppose my expectations here exceeded my budget, but Logitech speakers generally seem to be reasonably good all rounders. Definitely happier now than before, hopefully this info is useful to somebody else out there as well :-).

Friday, July 29, 2011

Zimbra error - Unable to determine enabled services from ldap

Symptoms: Zimbra users unable to log in to webmail, admin user unable to log into web interface, error "Unable to determine enabled services from ldap" if issuing command
$ opt/zimbra/bin/zmcontrol start

Cause: Zimbra's internal certificate has expired

Fix (as root):

# /opt/zimbra/bin/zmcertmgr createca -new
# /opt/zimbra/bin/zmcertmgr createcrt -new -days 365
# /opt/zimbra/bin/zmcertmgr deploycrt self
# /opt/zimbra/bin/zmcertmgr deployca
# su zimbra
$ /opt/zimbra/bin/zmcontrol restart

Monday, August 17, 2009

Windows Vista – Control Panel Inaccessible

If you cannot access your Windows Vista Control Panel, try this:

Select Start button –> Run –> enter “sfc /scannnow” –> Select OK

System files will be checked and repaired if possible; you might be prompted for your original Vista install media so that corrupted files can be replaced.