Virtualization for Simple HomeLAB

In 2009, I have migrated all server box in my workplace into a virtual machine(VM), using Citrix XenServer. I planned using VMware ESXi as host but the hardware NICs are not compatible.

After few months, I found this blog  that interest me to run ESXi again and make it as a HomeLAB for test and skill practice set, they call it AutoLAB. Just recently I decided to utilize an old laptop stocked at the garage to install ESXi. I upgrade it and fix. From an online shop, I bought additional 2gigs of RAM and a 240gb solid state drive(SSD). The laptop has a Core2Duo 2.20Ghz and a built-in Gigabit LAN which would be enough to run VMware ESXi 5.1 and later will add another USB LAN for other connectivity purpose.

I setup the network using an E3200 hi-speed router flashed with DD-WRT firmware, I configured the wireless in repeater mode and the vLAN feature. - The router is linked to a ZTE MF60 MyFi (Globe 5Mbps) via wireless repeater. Gigabit LAN connects to my HomeLAB via wired connection. And to make a bit complicated, I separated my HomeLAB server and LAN using vLAN configuration.

Although I have limited RAM availability, I can run at least 2 to 3 VMs at the same time depending on RAM assignment for each VM.  I have NAS4Free in one of my VM guest. It doesn't require much of memory RAM, used as my main storage for home share of movie files, music and other stuff. Set the NAS in AutoStart mode upon powering the HomeLAB. I have also manage to run iSCSI-target (SAN) on my test setup via NAS4free-VM. Other guest VM's are WinServer2008 and a linux server (Ubuntu). The SSD drive puts an indeed performance to make a fast read access on my VMs. But I still need another gig of RAM to make it 4gigs and maybe that's enough inorder to run some test programs on my VMs for the meantime. .

In my network diagram you will see the full layout of my current home simple network. I forgot to include an attached print server from HomeLAB.

 

I didn't use the startup kit downloaded from AutoLAB. I manually install and configure everything just like a baremetal Virtual Host. Maybe soon I will upgrade it into a small server box with Intel board, Core i5 3.4Ghz, 16gb DDR3 RAM. Will retain my Intel SSD drive and buy a new 2 pieces by 2ports/Gigabit PCIe Network Interface Cards

If you want to try virtualisation and make your own HomeLAB, you can visit AutoLAB page. There are download builds for starters and system requirements for your AutoLAB builds.

Cheers!

The Anatomy of Huawei E355 Mobile Wifi Smart HSPA+

The new breed of wireless internet comes from another series of 4G technology. Although frequency band is different from 4G WiMAX or LTE, the HSPA+ an extension to HSDPA/HSPA/UMTS can attain upto 21.6mbps of download speed (reality is far behind). WiMAX is under 2.4GHz to 2.7GHz or rather the most enhanced version of your laptops WirelessLAN(11g). The E355 lies on frequency band of WCDMA2100 2.1GHz. 

For me, 7mbps to 12mbps stable speeds can make me a happy hacker --harhar--. But telcos catering for this services provides Fair Usage Policy(FUP) and shared connectivity on burst speed mode. So, currently I can attain 2.5mbps to 4mbps on full-scale 3G areas and hitting around 8mbps to 9mbps on HSPA+ available areas in the metro.

HUAWEI Mobile WiFi E586 is a high-speed packet access mobile hotspot. It is a multi-mode wireless terminal for SOHO and business professionals, it can support 5 Wi-Fi devices connecting and can stay online anytime and anywhere.

Feature
•Able to connect with Tablet, Laptop, notebook and different types of Wi-Fi devices
•Support up to 5 Wi-Fi enable devices at the same time
•One-touch connection and OLED screen display
•Friendly user interface
•5 hours working and 280 hours stand-by by battery (while Wi-Fi is off) *
*Depending on the state of network and environment
Product Spec
•Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
•HSPA+/HSPA/UMTS (3G)  EDGE/GPRS/GSM(2G)
•HSPA+ data service up to 21.6 Mbps
•HSUPA data service up to 5.76 Mbps
•Equalizer and receive diversity
•microSD Card Slot(Up to 32GB)
•Data and SMS Service
System requirements
•Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista SP1/SP2, Windows 7, --(Linux also)--
•MAC OS X 10.5,MAC OS X 10.6,MAC OS X 10.7
•Hardware system should meet the recommended requirements for the installed OS version
•Display resolution: 1024*768 or above

Platform		Band Transfer rate Receive Diversity	3G: HSPA+/HSUPA/HSDPA/UMTS; 2G: GSM/GPRS/EDGE UL 5.76Mbps; DL 21.6Mbps Support
Interface		Micro SD card	Supported
Capacity		External memory	Up to 32GB
Appearance		Dimension (L × W × H) Weight	95.5mm×48.6mm×14.1mm 80g
Operation system		Operation system	Windows XP / Vista / Windows7 / Mac OS 10.5 / Mac OS 10.6 / Mac OS 10.7

Photos taken for reference to anybody.



++++++++++++++
Important Note
++++++++++++++
* I made this as an experiment on my own. Trying to explore the conditions and options to provide an effective air-to-air connectivity via 3G/4G using a YAGI directional antenna for hi-gain reception. Just exploring just like the old days of my amateur radio hobby(HAMS) & homebrews. I'm just planning to make one (Yagi Antenna) soon.
** I do not hack for money. I do not make openline services to unlock your devices. 'I hack by my own!'
*** I do not repair devices for money or neither support repairs online.

Mount NTFS Seagate GoFlex External Drive on FreeNAS 7

I just rebuilt my Home freeNAS 7 box and re-installed it on a
Pentium 4 1.80Ghz, 512mb RAM. It has 20gb internal drive to host freeNAS 7
and a 500gb Seagate GoFlex 3.0 USB external drive. In short, I am running this
in an old laptop junkie, it can draw back up to 35watts power consumption and
there is still available slot for another 500gb USB external drive incase I need to.

My Goflex external drive is partitioned into two (2). In order to share my external drive via freeNAS,
I need to do the following or add it to Systems >Advanced>Command Scripts

First, create the mount directory:
login via SSH
# ssh -l admin 192.168.1.250

# mkdir /mnt/goflex-data
# mkdir /mnt/goflex-160

Now add below commands to Systems>Advanced>Command Scripts using the GUI.

Command                                             Type
 kldload fuse                                             PreInit  
 ntfs-3g /dev/da0s2 /mnt/goflex-data             PreInit  
 ntfs-3g /dev/da0s1 /mnt/goflex-160             PreInit



Mount NTFS Seagate GoFlex External Drive manual commands using the terminal.

SSH to freeNAS server

# kldload fuse

# /mnt/goflex-160# ntfs-3g /dev/da0s2 /mnt/goflex-data

# /mnt/goflex-160# ntfs-3g /dev/da0s1 /mnt/goflex-160

Middle Mouse Button Scrolling on Linux (Fedora 15)

We need to find the UDI (Unique Device Identifier) for the TrackPoint device. It's an input device and it's a mouse, so let's try to find that capability:

# hal-find-by-capability --capability "input.mouse"
/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i8042_i8042_AUX_port_Synaptics_pass_through_logicaldev_input

Only one hit. With that we can get a lot of information about the device:

[root@linuxfed15 conrad]# lshal -u "/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_9da_54f_noserial_if1_logicaldev_input"
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_9da_54f_noserial_if1_logicaldev_input'
  info.capabilities = {'input', 'input.mouse'} (string list)
  info.category = 'input'  (string)
  info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_9da_54f_noserial_if1'  (string)
  info.product = 'A4TECH USB Device'  (string)
  info.subsystem = 'input'  (string)
  info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_9da_54f_noserial_if1_logicaldev_input'  (string)
  input.device = '/dev/input/event7'  (string)
  input.originating_device = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/usb_device_9da_54f_noserial_if1'  (string)
  input.product = 'A4TECH USB Device'  (string)
  input.x11_driver = 'evdev'  (string)
  linux.device_file = '/dev/input/event7'  (string)
  linux.hotplug_type = 2  (0x2)  (int)
  linux.subsystem = 'input'  (string)
  linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.1/2-1.1:1.1/input/input7/event7'  (string)

# hal-get-property --udi "/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i8042_i8042_AUX_port_Synaptics_pass_through_logicaldev_input" --key "info.product" A4TECH USB Device


# hal-get-property --udi "/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/platform_i8042_i8042_AUX_port_Synaptics_pass_through_logicaldev_input" --key "linux.device_file" /dev/input/event7

Now we can put together a config file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ :

# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/42-middle-mouse-scrolling.conf
Section "InputClass"
   Identifier "Middle Mouse Button Scrolling"
   MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint"
   MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
   Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
   Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
   Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
   Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

If you dont have yet the conf file just copy/paste from Section down to EndSection and then save.  

NOTE: We're using "/dev/input/event*" instead of "/dev/input/event6"  to make sure our configuration still works should the device path change for any reason

The only thing missing now is a restart of X and we're done. Reboot!


CREDITS TO DENNIS CONRAD

This was edited according to cyb3rc0n's personal fedora15 config settings using A4TECH wireless optical mouse.

my HOMEBREW Home Storage Server --

This is a low power homebrew server for home and personal data storage backup. ideally it must be a low-power consuming server to meet basic household expense, only 35watts. No need for keyboard/mouse/monitor after setup installation, it is simply a server box plugged into power and ethernet LAN/router.

Hardware is powered by:
- Intel D425KT Atom based processor 1.80Ghz
- 4gb DDR-1333 RAM/memory SODIMM
- WDC 1 Terabyte SATA hard drive
- 512mb microSD & USB memcard reader for FreeNAS installation.
- Others, were old parts from old PC's which are still good ATX casing & ATX Power Supply.

1Terabyte SATA drive, for pure data storage only. It will be formated to UFS file system after installing FreeNAS 8 on the memory card.

512mb SanDisk M2 memory card and a memory card reader. I will install FreeNAS 8 on it. You can download and read more about FreeNAS at http://www.freenas.org/

I use an opensource FreeNAS 8 to operate necessary features to drive the server to its purpose - but I preferred FreeNAS 7.
After successful setup, you can then connect it to your modem/router/wifi to access, save, and stream audio video personal files from your laptops, desktops and even to your wifi phone. You can also backup your data files from your laptop and wifi phone if in-case your phone or laptop crashes or even loosing it from anywhere.

Below is my network setup at home.

* This project setup is currently on test mode and right now it works fine and currently using it at home. I was planning to upgrade disk capacity and with rugged use to at least 2Terabytes in RAID1. But I need to have a PCI SATA-RAID controller card.

** This is not a tutorial on how-to-install FreeNAS. Just showing up the cheap mainboard I got with few old componenets and built it as my home storage server for family use.

My Openshot Video Edit Test

Recently I learned from Category5.tv about Openshot Video. I installed it few days ago and now I have the chance to try it out to see if I could stay using Linux as my main video editing box on full open source application. By the way, Im a Linux Fedora fan and also I can manage to work in a cross-platform between linux (fedora/ubuntu..etc.) and Microsoft windows based systems.


The final output video was uploaded to Youtube initially, but it was blocked due to copyright policy. So now I can use the copyleft :) ...uploaded to my Facebook videos and Vimeo (not sure if vimeo would block it soon). Because the two video formats I used was official entry video in high definition formats downloaded in .flv and the other is an .mp4 format - so i could test 'Import' file compatibility using Openshot application on different encoding formats.

You can watch it on this link Original+Parody or you can view the embedded video below. Check out Openshotvideo.com also.

This video editing test alone was done in less than an hour - not to include dowloading/uploading of videos.
Here are some screenshots:

You can create a multi-track depending on which track you preffered to PAN-view or track mute others if not needed on simulteneous track play.

Allows you to 'Export' the video in HD formats in different variant levels depending on your desired quality or reproduction.

My editing hardware is Lenovo Essential G470 core i3(2nd-gen) with a 4Gb/1333 RAM running 64bit Linux Fedora 15 / Gnome3.

Now here's the video saved/uploaded in HD 720 25p format:


Iyaz - Shoni video remix using Openshot opensource application. [HD] from conradq5 on Vimeo.

Astronauts next ride inreplace to Space Shuttle - The Orion

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Video Editing 101 using Opensource Application

Here is a featured video tutorial of OpenShotVideo by Robbie Fergusson (www.Category5.tv)

Using linux platform you can perform video editing using free softwares with Ubuntu for common linux desktop systems and or like me which I have done this tutorial from my Redhat based Fedora-15 linux system.

Recommeded Software:
OpenShot Video Editor (Linux)
Blender (Windows/Mac/Linux)
Inkscape (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Enjoy & have fun with the video tutorial and then make your own video afterwards...

inSSIDer -- Wi-Fi Scanner/Analyzer for Linux

Install inSSIDer 2 (Alpha) on Fedora 15

1. Download inssider-0.1.1.0429-1.x86_64.rpm (for 64 bit)
inssider-0.1.1.0429-1.i386.rpm (for 32 bit)

download it from github https://github.com/metageek-llc/inSSIDer-2-Cross-Platform/downloads

“but DONT run the .rpm downloaded file – we will install it using the terminal”

2. Open Terminal – go to the folder where you have downloaded the file.
I installed it using root ( you need to type 'su' then 'password')

I have downloaded/save the file on Downloads folder.

# cd Downloads
# yum localinstall --nogpgcheck inssider-0.1.1.0429-1.x86_64.rpm
# yum install mono-web

...and dont forget this to be able to run inSSIDer
# yum install webkit-sharp

You can check out more of Metageek inSSIDer 2 (Alpha) here http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/linux


Have fun and enjoy!

Watching NASA-TV

..its just another lazy Sunday.

Recover your Ubuntu Unity desktop-profile from messed Compiz settings

Recently playing with Ubuntu 11.04 Unity desktop. Tweaking some of my work around, I found this quite helpful 'Things to Tweak after Installing Ubuntu 11.04 Natty-Narwhal Unity desktop'.


I come up to play with compiz settings and kinda set things up accordingly for a test. Suddenly I messed it up and 'unity desktop' is gone, no side bars and top panel.

And so, I tried to make another user from Ctrl-Alt-F1, login as root
# adduser 'newuser'
# passwd newuser

Well eventually it works out fine, but I have to reconfigure everything I built under that profile like browser settings, plugins, etc.

Inorder to recover everything back, I found this solutions from http://ubuntu4beginners.blogspot.com/2011/04/missing-top-and-side-panels-in-unity.  http://ubuntu4beginners.blogspot.com/2011/04/missing-top-and-side-panels-in-unity.html