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By admin, September 16, 2010 7:17 pm

For the whole month, my mind is full of VMWare, ESX 4.1, Equallogic, MPIO, SANHQ, iSCSI, VMKernel, Broadcom BACS, Jumbo Frame, IOPS, LAG, VLAN, TOE, RSS, LSO, Thin Provisioning, Veeam, Vizioncore, Windows Server 2008 R2, etc.

It’s definitely like taking an extremely fast track in getting my enterprise storage degree, and after all, it worths every penny of struggling, many long nights, endless calling to Pro-Support in Hong Kong and US EQL supports.

Equallogic and ESX 4.1 iSCSI Setup Crack Sheet to save you typing many commands.

1. Configure iSCSI vSwitch using GUI first and assigned multiple NICs onto the vSwitch, in my case, it’s 4 NICs.
2. Create multiple VMKernel on this vSwitch, in my case, there are 4 VMKernel (named iSCSI 1 to iSCSI 4)
3. Removed the extra NICs from individual VMKernel by unselecting 3 of those NICs and do this for each VMKernel.
4. # Enable Jumbo Frame on iSCSI vSwitch using CLI
   esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitch4
   esxcfg-vswitch -l to verify MTU=9000
5. # Enable Jumbo Frame on each VMKernel using CLI
   esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 iSCSI1 – iSCSI4
   esxcfg-vmknic -l to verify MTU=9000* I also enabled Jumbo Frame for VMotion as well as FT network.
6. Go to GUI, enable software iSCSI and note down the vmhba #, in my case, it’s vmhba47.
7. # Bind VMKernel to iSCSI Adpater using CLI
   esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk2 -d vmhba47
   esxcli swiscsi nic list -d vmhba47 to verify if all 4 NICs are binded with vmhba47
8. Do a rescan of the Storage, you will see EQL volume now. Please make sure you checked “Allow Simultaneous Connection…” under EQL volume property, or multiple ESX connection to the same volume won’t work.
9. To verify from EQL, go to group manager, then click that volume, now you see there are 8 connections with 8 different IP Addresses (ie, 2 ESX hosts, with 4 NICs each)
10. To verify from ESX host side, go to storage, right click Manage Path, you will see there are 4 IP Addresses from EQL.

Just got a reply from Equallogic support team regarding my customized configuration.

The document on the web site is the supported method of setting Jumbo Frames on the switch. This is the method that we have tested and confirmed to work.

Of course, as with many things, there is typically a method of doing this through the GUI as well. The method you are following appears to work in my tests as well, but we cannot confirm if it is a viable operation as it has not been tested through our QA process.

My suggestion would be to utilize the tested method. You may also want to check with VMware directly as it is possible that the GUI method you are utilizing simply calls the CLI commands we provide, but we cannot confirm that for certain (we do not have access to their code).

(Name Removed)

Enterprise Technical Support Consultant
Dell EqualLogic, Inc.

Finally, test ping your destination with a large message and specify don’t fragment.

• Linux VMs:         ping –M do –s 8000 <ip address or destination>
• Windows VMs:    ping –f –l 8000 <ip address or destination>
• ESX(i):                vmkping –d –s 8000 <ip address or destination>

Comments (5)

By admin, August 27, 2010 12:09 pm

Finally I’ve got time to inspect each individual part thoroughly and the following is my findings. 

1. Dell Powerdge iSCSI Offload Key for LOM NICs. Strange funny little stuff that makes a hell lot of difference for some people. Broadcom charges this for extra on their 5709 NICs (5709C not 5709S), the same apply to HP Pro-liant NICs.According to one of the EQL engineer we talked to, it is still best NOT TO use 5709C as ISOE HBA in ESX4.1 as it will lost Jumbo Frame feature and some other nice features will be gone if HAB mode is used with EQL boxes.

   

2. DDR3 Low Voltage ECC+Buffer R-DIMM 8GB by Samsung: It’s nice to have that 20% saving, but when you add 2DPC, your nice 20% power saving (ie, 1.35V) will be disabled automatically (ie, raise to 1.5V instead), good part is you still have that 1333Mhz bandwidth with 2DPC. DDR3L 1.35V will only apply when it’s in 1DPC mode.What about 3DPC? Old story applies, it’s 800Mhz, tested it and proved it and if populate with 3DPC and fully filled that 18 DIMMs (ie, 144GB), it will take twice the time to verify and boot the server, so it’s better not to as you lost 40% bandwidth is very important for ESX.

   

   Dell’s on-line documentation has no where indicates my findings and my findings completes what I found at HP’s resources previously. Btw, why does DDR3L still need that aluminum cap for heat dissipation if it’s voltage is really that low?

   More about Samsung’s DDR3 Low-Voltage Ram

3. Broadcom NetXtreme II 5709 Gigabit NIC w TOE & iSCSI Offload, Quad Port, Copper, PCIe-4: Nice to have two of this besides the embedded quad NICs, so total you will have 12 NICs within one server. The chipset is still BCM5709CC0KPBG, there is no iSCSI key found on the NIC, guess it’s been embedded already as well.
   
   

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By admin, August 18, 2010 9:17 pm

Jim Carrey近年罕有的登峰造極之作﹐淚中帶笑﹐苦中帶甜﹐絕對值得一看﹗

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By admin, August 17, 2010 12:50 pm

Jackie Evancho, 10 years old sings ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Musical ‘Gianni Schicchi’

Paul Potts, mobile sales man sings Nessun Dorma

Susan Boyle, housewife sings ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from Musical ‘Les Miserables

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By admin, August 9, 2010 11:21 pm

The new Virtual Data Center project has been keeping me really busy, the followings are some of my findings.

• Learn that R810/M910 with 4 sockets will only use 1 memory controller instead of two, memory bandwidth will be cut by half, that sucks! Strange enough, when R810 populates with 2 sockets only, it will use both memory controllers and gain access to all 32 DIMMS. So R810/R910 is still best for 2 sockets server, that why we switch to R710 instead after read the benchmarking, it’s a waste of money to go for R810.
• DDR3L low voltage (1.35V), we populate with 2 DPC (8GB x 12 DIMMS), guess what? Voltage will shoot to normal 1.5V! and no one at Dell pre-sales or pro-support can answer us this, I found out this fact from HP’s resources, ridiculous! Anyway, it’s still running at 1333Mhz, that’s a bless.
• Equallogic PS6000XV 15K should be a monster, we will only be worried about adding front-end (like R710/R720/R730) and adding back-end PS6000XV/PS7000XV etc. in the future, that’s main selling point for this solution, scalable beyond imagination, this really is the whole motivation we selected EQL boxes.
• With the release of vSphere 4.1, VAAI, iSCSI Off-load fully support on Broadcom 5709 but no Jumbo Frame, what the heck! EQL vStorage off-load improvement, Multipath plugin (EQL finally solved the big problem)
• One box of PS6000XV is good enough for 4Gbps, absolutely no need to go for 10Gbps for the time being except you are aiming for that 200M/s increase (yes, it can only reach 650M/s at max, there is no way reaching 1000M/s in reality. We were also told by paying about 1/4 of the box, you can always upgrade to 10Gbps version of PS6010XV in the future, but for our environment, IOPS is way demanding than thoughput, so 4Gbps is more than enough, just get a PowerConnect 5448 with 48 ports, we should have lots of space to grow from here.
• There is a special iSCSI Key need to be purchased in order to have TOE+iSCSI Off-load on R710, this is the same on HP Proliant servers.
• Found HP Proliant’s server resources are much more professional than Dells’, but Dell’s stuff are a lot cheaper (1/3 at least), so we just have to live with that.
• In ESX 4 or above, Thick provisioning is always recommended for performance concerned VM applications, it’s a lot faster.
• Talked to two of the local IDC who’s going to start a cloud business, but their core technical team doesn’t seem to know what they are really doing, seemed they have a long way to go comparing with US counterparts.
• Again, virtualization is the future and you need a good SAN to support it!
• Talk to your inside sales manager, show your sincerity, you will be rewarded and get unbelievable discount at quarter end!
• Dell’s EQL expert is really helpful and resourceful, thank you so much! You are really the super-hero, kick-ass type!

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By admin, August 6, 2010 5:54 pm

All I can say is What a Film! Make sure you stay till the end that’s where the real ass-kicking coming in.

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By admin, July 14, 2010 11:32 am

Recently, I acquired a rare piece of collector’s item and almost complete my POG collections except the mid and mid-plus versions. It is the very first generation of POG, the one with 1 stripe, head size 110 (though a bit bigger than other POG 110 4 stripes and heavier). This version came out around 1978 and Made in USA. This version of POG was used by many big names back in the 80s, super stars like Andre Agassi, Gabriela Sabatini and of course my favouite, Michael Chang.

Searching through the net, I discovered there are actually two different versions of POG with 1 stripe, see the followings:

POG with 1 stripe – very 1st version, no side deco (ie, blank on both side)

POG with 1 stripe - the 2nd version, note Prince Logo and side deco

Some more information I found on Tennis-Warehouse Forum

POG 1 = Tear dropped shaped head single line with no grommets/no bumper and no printing on top or side or racket (possibly just sticker) except for Prince/graphite- circa 1978

POG 2 = Tear dropped shaped head, single line with grommets/no bumper no printing on top or side or racket (possibly just sticker) except for Prince/graphite- circa 1980?

POG 3 = Normal shaped head, single line with grommets and bumper, printing on side is “graphite series 110″ top has no printing front is Prince/Graphite. Printed stringing weight is 70-80 – Circa 1983

POG 3.5 = Same as 3 but side says “graphite 110″, String weight 60-75
Circa ?

POG 4 = Norm head, 4 line with grommets/bumper, printing on side is “graphite 110″, top is “110″ , side sticker says “series 110″ front is Prince/Prince- , Printed stringing weight is 60-75 – Circa 1987

POG 4.5 = Same as POG 4 but top is printed “oversize”, side is “graphite oversize” , front is Prince/Prince, printed stringing weight is 50-60 -
Circa > 1987 (any ideas?)

POG 5 = Straight shaft-Not sure of OS had straight shaft?

POG 6 = Tour

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By admin, July 14, 2010 11:08 am

今天又見陶傑好文

西班牙贏得世界盃，香港有何「啟示」？有。看看本地的樓盤廣告，名字越來越誇，最新的一個，叫「帝峰．皇殿」，其他還有皇廷、御花園、君臨天下、皇府山、御林皇府。中國人在潛意識裏極度迷戀帝皇，但民居敢僭稱什麼帝峰、皇殿，若在三百年前，北京知道了，必定滿門抄斬。

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By admin, July 10, 2010 10:29 pm

一定要選最Cool的相機

最粗的鏡頭

上就得上最大的遮光罩

直接把相機給蓋上

直徑最小也得77mm

什么閃光燈啊，柔光罩啊，手柄啊

能給他接的全給他接上

腰上別鏡頭包，包里面有鏡頭

口袋里放個Windows Mobile智能機算景深

HTC，屏幕特大那种

只要一拍照儿，甭管儿對沒對上都得來一句

The depth of field of the subject 1 meter away at F2.8 and 50mm is 0.04m with near limit of  .98m and far limit of 1.02m.

一口儿地道的專業味儿

倍儿有面子！！

肩上再背個三角架，材料用碳纖維的

光快裝板就買上十几個

再買個測光表，二十四小時測光

就是一個字儿——Cool!

買CF卡就得花個万八千的

你周圍攝友不是一頭一機就是一頭多機

你要是機身沒鏡頭多啊

你都不好意思跟人家打招呼

你說這樣的裝備，一套得花多少錢

我覺得怎么著也得五六万吧

五六万?那是入門

十万起

你別嫌貴，還不打折

你得研究文藝青年裝Cool心理

愿意買六万的鏡頭

根本不在乎在多掏六千買附件

什么叫裝Cool文藝青年你知道嗎?

裝Cool文藝青年就是，買什么東西都買最Cool的，不買最好的

所以我們文藝青年搞攝影的口號就是

不求最好，但求最Cool！

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By admin, June 22, 2010 12:32 pm

陶傑今天的短文是關於哲學家的。

” 歐洲在中世紀，忽然重新發現了一個人，就是古希臘的阿里士多德。時值黑暗時代，羅馬教權壟斷了思想，民間許多知識份子，僧侶、貴族，紛紛從一千五百年前的阿里士多德論著裏找解悶的出路。

比起孔子，阿里士多德的論述更豐富。孔子的論語只一兩句話，不是失諸「阿媽係女人」之簡單，像「有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎」之類，就是一個抽象空泛的「仁」。

阿里士多德不同，有邏輯學，形而上學，生物、心理，這一切，孔子都沒有什麼深入的探討。最重要的是，阿里士多德比孔子更 user-friendly，像一件貨，對消費者想要什麼，一切考慮周到。譬如，阿里士多德討論什麼是快樂─對於商人，快樂是財富；對於紳士，快樂是名氣，追求快樂，手段要崇高，這一點，比較像孔子說的「仁」。

但阿里士多德沒有把崇高往三十三重天的高處提昇，他回到地面：阿里士多德先承認人有各樣缺點，譬如物慾的揮霍或吝嗇，衝動和怯懦，但只要以理性衡量，取乎中庸，譬如，在奢侈和吝嗇之間，就是慈善的捐獻；在衝動和怯懦之間，就是勇敢，阿里士多德沒有叫人只許做那樣，禁忌那樣，只呼籲人在不一樣的處境，判斷正反兩極，作理性的結論。

阿里士多德的論說清晰，沒有像孔子一樣受後世曲解。真正的哲學，必是清晰而無從曲解的。”

Some of Aristotle’s famous quote:

“Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it…”

“All men by nature desire to know.”

“Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”

“Change in all things is sweet.”

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”

Friendship is a single soul living in two bodies.”

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”

“If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.”

“It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way.”

“It is simplicity that makes the uneducated more effective than the educated when addressing popular audiences.”

“Man is by nature a political animal.”

“Man perfected by society is the best of all animals; he is the most terrible of all when he lives without law, and without justice.”

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way…you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”

No great genius is without an admixture of madness.”

“Philosophy is the science which considers truth.”

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”

“The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.”

“The goal of war is peace, of business, leisure.”

“The mathematical sciences particularly exhibit order, symmetry, and limitation; and these are the greatest forms of the beautiful.” 

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”

“The soul never thinks without a picture.”

“We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.”

“We live in deeds, not years: In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”

“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”

“We cannot learn without pain.”

“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”

“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”