Workbench Plans

It recently became obvious that I require a flat surface in the garage as a place for repair jobs, tool storage, part storage etc.  A new workbench with shelves seems to be the best choice.  I’ve never been a fan of pre-built wood or metal benches, I would much rather build my own.  I also find most benches and counter tops too low for me, building it myself allows customization (particularly height).

I wanted a way to visualize the plan.  This allows me to adjust as I go but more importantly to try out different ideas and make sure the end product is something I want.

I was reminded at this point of Google SketchUp; a 3D modeling software.  Every time I use this software I’m reminded of how powerful it is.  However, I don’t use it enough and have to relearn it each time.

This time I concentrated on labeling each major part of the bench as a component.  By providing each component a name and a description I can create a parts list.  The built in measurement tools also provide a great way to determine the dimensions of the finished product. 

The developer community has created several Plugins for SketchUp, I found one this time called “Cut List”.  This plug in reviews the finished model and outputs a list of what wood to purchase and provides a cut plan.  I highly recommend this plug in.

Here is a screen shot of the “finished” model (I think I have some more tweaking to do yet).  Looking forward to building this in the spring when the weather warms enough.

ESXi 4.0 to 4.1 Upgrade

There appears to be significant differences on various websites and blogs on the proper way to perform this upgrade.  I ran across several variations of command lines etc.

I was able to complete an upgrade from 4.0.0,294855 to 4.1.0,260247using the following process:

1. Download the ESXi 4.0 to 4.1 Upgrade package to c:\vmware
2. Shutdown all guests
3. Put host into maintenance mode
4. Run the following command line:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\bin>vihostupdate.pl –server <hostname> -i -b c:\vmware\upgrade-from-ESXi4.0-to-4.1.0-0.0.260247-release.zip

A username and password with root level access to the ESXi host will be prompted for.  After several minutes the following message will appear:

The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.

Reboot and remove the host from maintenance mode.

Note that command line is found on page 63 of the vSphere Upgrade Guide which can be found here vSphere Upgrade Guide

Ford Sync Review

As a recent owner of a new Ford vehicle that includes the SYNC system I thought a review might be in order.  Ford Sync is described at syncmyride.com.  Its major features include:

• Hands free calling with a Bluetooth enabled phone
• Hands free music playback
• 911 Assist
• Hands free text messaging
• Turn by turn navigation
• Vehicle health report

Unfortunately, the last two features above are currently only available in the United States.  Here in Canada they are still being worked on.  On a personal note I hope they hurry up and get it enabled.  The nice thing is by registering the vehicle on syncmyride.com an email warning will appear once an upgrade is available.  The upgrade and a loader program get put on a USB thumb drive.  Put them in the vehicle and boom…updated system.  In my opinion this software based system is a much better setup than a hardware based system, that likely would be harder to upgrade.

In terms of the hands free setup all the controls are on the steering wheel.  A “voice command” button is used to get SYNC’s attention.  You then select by voice what service you want (Phone or USB).  During the Bluetooth pairing exercise SYNC downloaded the address book from the phone.  So any contact can be dialed by name and by location (cell, home, office, etc).  Any incoming call’s ID is displayed on the display console.

Selecting USB (assuming an iPod, Zune, any other MP3 player, or even a thumb drive with music on it) will index the music on the device; building a catalog of metadata regarding each of the songs.  Title, Artist, Genre, and Album are all indexed.  Once indexing is completed you can “tell” SYNC to play any of these items by calling for a track, artist, etc.  SYNC also has a play “similar” feature.  Find a song you like then ask SYNC to “play similar”.

911 Assist places a 911 call on your behalf if the airbags are deployed, a very comforting safety system.  The hands free texting will read out incoming text messages and allow you to select from a set of canned responses.  Unfortunately, this feature requires a cell phone that supports a text profile over Bluetooth, something my BlackBerry 8120 does not do.

All in all I am very impressed with this setup and feature.  It was jointly developed by Ford and Microsoft and it works very well.  At a $500 option it was well worth it.

vSphere Host Update Utility 4.0

Had some difficulties upgrading my ESXi 4 host today using this utility.  The patching process failed several times with an uninformative error message.

I was instructed to check the log file, unfortunately it was not obvious where that log file was.  After several Internet searches I was no closer to finding the source of my problem, let alone the log file that was going to answer my questions.

Finally found it so thought I would share in case anyone else finds themselves looking for the log file created by the Host Update Utility.  The logs can be found in C:\%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\VMware\VIU\logs.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

Attended an interesting presentation tonight on the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010.  This appears to be a very powerful way to manage image deployments for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

I have to admit I’ve been eyeing this tool up for some time and been looking for a way to give it a try.  For a free tool it appears to have promise.

The presenter deviated from the canned Microsoft presentation and showed us some examples from his production MDT environment.  To any presenters this is an excellent approach and I highly recommend it.  Real world approaches almost always make for a better demo.

The presenter was able to show a depth of experience with the MDT product.  His blog appears to have a large amount of information on this subject, it can be found at http://www.toddlamothe.com/.

Here is a link to the Microsoft MDT site, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd407791.aspx.

Two of the best Canadian Commercials ever...

Molson Canadian ads have always been excellent. Two of the best ever have to do with the “unwritten code in Canada”.
You agree? Let me know.
1st

and a close 2nd

ESXi 4.0

I recently realized I needed to update my skills from VMWare ESX 3.x to version 4.x.  So I recently converted one of my home lab machines from Windows Server to ESXi.  VMware is making its standalone ESXi hypervisor available at no cost in order to help companies of all sizes experience the benefits of virtualization.

VMware ESX and VMware ESXi are both bare-metal hypervisors that install directly on the server hardware. The difference resides in the architecture and the operational management of VMware ESXi. Although neither hypervisor relies on an OS for resource management, VMware ESX relies on a Linux operating system, called the service console, to perform two management functions: executing scripts and installing third party agents for hardware monitoring, backup or systems management. The service console has been removed from ESXi, drastically reducing the hypervisor footprint and completing the ongoing trend of migrating management functionality from the local command line interface to remote management tools. The smaller code base of ESXi represents a smaller “attack surface” and less code to patch, improving reliability and security.  From a security professional’s standpoint this appeals to me. The functionally of the service console is replaced by remote command line interfaces and management with the vSphere client.

While the official VMWare Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) does not list my test machine the install of ESXi 4 went very quickly and appears to be working fine.  The only requirement is a 64-bit capable processor, this machine does not have the Intel Virtualization extensions.

While I can’t get most of the advantages of shared SAN storage the 500 GB hard drive in this machine is more than enough space to run the permanent virtual machines I need as well as space to stand up specific environments to test or learn most scenarios.  This will also be the platform to learn Server 2008.

After registering with VMWare and downloading the code, the install took about 10 minutes:

1. In the BIOS disable “cpu id is limited” or set to set support to legacy /nt4
2. Boot the CD created from the downloaded ISO
3. Allow the installer to partition the drive as it wishes
4. Reboot when completed
5. A small management console will appear allowing you to set the IP address, root password etc
6. Install the vSphere client on another machine

I was up and running in no time.  While not a server class machine this will be more than sufficient for the experimentation and learning I need to do.  So far I am very impressed with this version of ESX and look forward to more experimentation.