i did end up putting debian on my sheevaplug some time ago and i have to say it’s working better than it ever has. when the plug had ubuntu 9.04, for whatever reason it seemed like i would have to hard reboot it from time to time. a common reason would be because it would randomly stop accepting SSH connections and i messed around with all sorts of SSH timeout settings with no luck. but now with debian on it, it runs beautifully.

i followed the instructions here:
http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/uboot-upgrade.html (if i remember correctly, i believe i had to reboot the plug for the USB stick to be detected)
and
http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/install.html

i’m currently very happy with the sheevaplug, but i also like to keep an eye out for new items. earlier this week i received a promotional email from globalscale about the release of the mirabox. this thing is pretty awesome…newer processor, wireless-N, 2 one gig NICs, and 1GB of DDR3 RAM, and USB 3.0 ports. while the dreamplug seemed like a minor upgrade from the sheevaplug, the mirabox seems like a pretty substantial upgrade. i’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for reviews on this product.

so for wireless, i stated a while ago that i ended up getting a linksys/cisco e2000. it’s worked fine but i made one big mistake because i wanted to save a few bucks. i got a dual-band wireless-n router but not simultaneous dual-band. i wish i had put forth the $30-$50 extra dollars at the time to get one. even that might not help out the current situation much. the wireless range on this thing is dreadful. it barely reaches to the living room from the office where it’s located. next time i will get a router with external antennas.

i’m not really sure what my plan is going to be for wireless upgrades. the current situation with the poor reception is far from ideal. and i don’t really want to purchase another wireless-n router or a draft 802.11ac router. i also wanted to go with an asus router next time as i’ve divorced myself from the linksys/cisco brand. checking on amazon now, the quality asus routers go for $100-$200. that’s more than i’m willing to pay at the moment so i guess i’ll just keep my eye out for falling prices.

in our current exchange 2007 organization, it appears that POP3 access is enabled on every mailbox and that it’s also enabled on the CAS servers. the only thing stopping POP3 access from functioning is the fact that the Microsoft Exchange POP3 service does not start automatically on the CAS servers.

i was wondering about just enabling POP3 access on select mailboxes. of course, i’d have to disable it across the board first. this site http://www.exchangelog.info/2008/11/disable-pop3-for-all-users.html provides the following exchange management shell script: Get-CASMailbox  -ResultSize Unlimited | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled $false

to enable POP3 access on a single mailbox: Set-CASMailbox -Identity <email address> -PopEnabled $true
source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124578(v=exchg.80).aspx

to get a listing of mailboxes that have POP3 access enabled: Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | where {$_.PopEnabled -eq $true}
source: http://exchangeserverpro.com/enable-disable-pop3-access-exchange-2010-mailboxes/

to get a mailbox count: (Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited).count

telnet can be used to test POP3 connectivity: telnet <cas-server> 110

connecting from a POP3 client: CAS server IP or FQDN, port 110, StartTLS

so that powershell command should take care of the here and now, but then what about newly created mailboxes? it appears that POP3 access is enabled on mailboxes by default. i found the suggestion to create a powershell script and have it run periodically on a post somewhere.

so i made the following pop3.ps1 script that combined many of the commands mentioned above:

Get-CASMailbox -ResultSize Unlimited | where {$_.PopEnabled -eq $true} | Set-CASMailbox -PopEnabled $false
Set-CASMailbox -Identity user1@mydomain.com -PopEnabled $true
Set-CASMailbox -Identity user2@mydomain.com -PopEnabled $true
Set-CASMailbox -Identity user3@mydomain.com -PopEnabled $true
Set-CASMailbox -Identity user4@mydomain.com -PopEnabled $true

i set up a scheduled task on one of the CAS servers to run the script once a week (i felt like this was sufficient).
powershell -psconsolefile exshell.psc1 -command “& {c:\pop3.ps1}”
start in E:\Exchange\Bin (in my case)
run as an account with appropriate Exchange rights
source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adamfazio/archive/2007/10/25/exchange-2007-script-how-to-run-as-a-scheduled-task.aspx

when a specific outlook client does not have persistent autocomplete functioning for Global Address List lookups try doing the following:
in the Outlook 2010 client, go to File->Options->Mail->Send Messages
then choose “Empty Auto-Complete List” and close the Outlook client

apparently, when autocomplete stops functioning it indicates something is not quite right with the stream_autocomplete file in %userprofile%\appdata\local\microsoft\outlook\roamcache. when the auto-complete list is emptied then a new stream_autocomplete file should be created.

the following article describes using a nk2edit utility (i have not tried this): http://blog.chron.com/helpline/2012/08/repairing-outlook-auto-complete/

sources:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrclients/thread/69d72432-4726-4e40-a71b-048033ee33a0
http://www.itechtalk.com/thread9945.html

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/3615.rapid-equallogic-configuration-portal-by-sis.aspx

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/storage/w/wiki/2660.equallogic-technical-content.aspx

recently, we only had one tape drive hooked up on a quantum scalar i40 tape library. the drive showed up in windows as a stand-alone and we installed the HP ultrium drivers for it.

so we assumed something was wrong because we weren’t seeing the medium changer listed in windows device manager. i installed qlogic sansurfer to identify the exact HBA we were using and installed the latest drivers. after rescan/reboot there was no change.

eventually i hooked up the 2nd tape drive after wondering if that was the problem and immediately the medium changer was present in windows. the HP driver auto-installed for the 2nd drive and i applied the quantum drivers to the medium changer.

will benny ever know the solution for this?

this is a floppy bootdisk from my first IT job in 1999-2000. i didn’t make it, but i thought it was really cool at the time. basically, DOS boots and you are presented with options on which NIC drivers to load. the netware client for DOS then loads and you login. then the utility network drives are mounted. this disk was often used for network-based imaging of client PCs. the software used back then was something called “imageblaster”.

autoexec.bat

goto %config%

:3ComISA
a:
cd \nwclient
@CALL A:\NWCLIENT\STARTNE2
PATH A:\NWCLIENT\
goto END

:Dell_&_3ComPCI
a:
cd \nwclient
@CALL A:\NWCLIENT\STARTNE1
PATH A:\NWCLIENT\
goto END

:Netflex
a:
cd \nwclient
@call a:\nwclient\startnet
path a:\nwclient\
goto END

:Hitachi
a:
cd \nwclient
@call a:\nwclient\startne3
path a:\nwclient\
goto END

:Xircom
a:
cd \nwclient
@call a:\nwclient\startne4
path a:\nwclient\
goto END

:END
f:
login
map next hatter/work:
path=k:\imgblst\bin2;%path%
path=k:\pqmagic;%path%

config.sys

[menu]
menuitem=3ComISA
menuitem=Dell_&_3ComPCI
menuitem=Netflex
menuitem=Hitachi
menuitem=Xircom

[common]
lastdrive=Z

[3ComISA]

[Dell_&_3ComPCI]

[Netflex]

[Hitachi]

[Xircom]

startnet.bat

@ECHO OFF
SET NWLANGUAGE=ENGLISH
LH LSL
LH cpqnf3
LH ipxodi
VLM

dell generation 12 servers (such as the r720) include the idrac7. previous generations required a hardware addition to add a drac to a server. now apparently all the necessary hardware is included by default. the catch is that you have to purchase a license for idrac enterprise features. the enterprise features include the use of virtual media and virtual console…basically the main features that everyone has come to expect from a drac.

i haven’t figured out all the details yet, but essentially it seems that you purchase a license from dell for the enterprise features and you can keep track of your licenses from a license management portal at: http://www.dell.com/support/retail/lkm

lots of idrac7 information here:
http://www.dell.com/Learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-idrac7-12g?c=us&l=en&s=bsd

update 4/9/2013:
i’ve actually been through this process now. the good news is that if you purchased the idrac enterprise edition from dell when your ordered the server then there’s nothing special you need to do. if you messed up and didn’t include the enterprise features then you’ll get an idrac with express features only.

if you want to upgrade your idrac express to an enterprise feature set then you must purchase the licenses.
then check here: https://www.dell.com/support/licensing (same login as dell premier)
if you have unassigned licenses then all you have to do is assign them to server service tags and then download the license and upload it via the idrac itself. an annoying aspect here is that the idrac express feature set does not allow the use of the dedicated drac nic, so you’ll have to assign one of the LOM (LAN on motherboard) ports to the drac…at least temporarily to perform this step.

if you don’t see any unassigned licenses, then send an email to digital_fulfillment_alert@dell.com with the server service tags (you also might need to provide a dell order number).

this one is a first for me…setting up a wireless NIC completely from the command line.
step 1 is to make sure your kernel supports the NIC. in this case i have a linksys/cisco ae1000 usb wireless adapter. according to http://wiki.debian.org/rt2800usb, support was added since kernel release 2.6.31 and i’m running 2.6.32 so i should be good there. also it appears a firmware-ralink package is required as well. i have also installed the following packages: wpasupplicant and wireless-tools.