Innovation

Everyone has a plan…

12.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

…until they get punched in the mouth. Truer words are rarely spoken.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

Post to Twitter

Technology & Science

Network RAID Woes

11.20.11 | Permalink | 2 Comments

About 5 years ago, I made the decision to centralize all of the media that we have for our home on one server. I built the server from scratch and used Fedora as the OS complete with RAID 5, logical volumes, etc. It worked brilliantly until it was time to upgrade drives, and then was a pain in the ass. So, I decided to move from my hobby project to a real product, a live network attached RAID system, selecting the Western Digital ShareSpace 4Tb model.

The ShareSpace has configurable RAID levels, you can selectively update physical disks, it has 1 Gb ethernet and is in an appliance form factor. What it doesn’t have, is the ability to recover when there are 2 sequential power outages where the second outage happens before the filesystem check completes from the first outage. UPS (yes, I have one, only 15 min I’m afraid) isn’t sufficient to protect from this when the filesystem check takes hours to complete.

This exact condition happened Friday night and when I got around to looking at things, my RAID 5 volume was failed on the ShareSpace and unrecoverable from the web-based utility. I was bummed. I still had all the physical media, but it would take weeks to rip and transfer back to whatever I replace the ShareSpace with eventually. So, I got back to my roots to do a little hacking on the appliance, after all, what did I have to lose?

To make a long story short, it appears that WD used a very similar approach in building out ShareSpace that I used to build my own hobby server lo those many years ago. All my meta-device, physical volume, and logical volume experience looked like it could be useful here. So, to help anyone else who might find themselves in this position, here are steps you can take to get to a place where you can mount the network disk and move files off after one of these episodes. This worked for me, YMMV. If you don’t have Unix experience, offer a friend a six-pack and a pizza to help out ;-)

  1. Establish a ssh session to the device. This requires that in the web interface as admin that you enable ssh access. Using a terminal where ssh is supported (if you use a mac, just open the terminal tool.) If you’re on a PC, something like PuTTY could serve. Point ssh toward your ShareSpace. i.e. $ ssh admin@192.168.1.100 substituting the correct IP address. The default password is welc0me.
  2. Next, check your DataVolume status, attempt to access it by cd /DataVolume -> if there’s data there, don’t proceed, you have different problem. If there’s nothing there, then you can choose to proceed at your own risk. Right now, a professional might be able to recover your data. If you do the following steps, that option will no longer exist. BE SURE YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT RISK, or STOP.
  3. Let’s create /dev/md2. Use: mdadm –assemble –force /dev/md2 /dev/sda4 /dev/sdb4 /dev/sdc4 /dev/sdd4
  4. Next create the physical volume. Use: pvcreate /dev/md2
  5. Next create the volume group. Use: vgcreate lvmr /dev/md2 >
  6. Next create the logical volume. Use: lvcreate -l 714218 lvmr -n lvm0 (the 714218 value works for 4Tb RAID 5)
  7. Now, if we’re lucky, we can fix the file system. Use: fsck.ext3 /dev/lvmr/lvm0 -y (Note, this can take hours…..be patient.)
  8. If the file system comes back clean, then mount it up. Use: mount -t ext3 /dev/lvmr/lvmo /DataVolume -o rw
  9. cd /DataVolume and ls -l it, your data should be available
  10. Network mount device and move your data off the ShareSpace to safe keeping
  11. If you want to continue to use ShareSpace, you’ll need to nuke it and reestablish the RAID etc.

Well, that’s it. Now I have to find a place large enough to park these files until I establish the long-term solution. It’s too bad cloud services are so expensive at the scale I need….I have a full 2Tb of data, suggestions welcome for alternatives here or on Twitter @mah1.

Post to Twitter

Business, Innovation

re.vu users speak

10.24.11 | Permalink | Comment?
re.vu infographics

We’ve been busy working on re.vu and now we have some feedback from some of the users.

Check it out!

Don’t have a re.vu? Don’t know what a re.vu (“review”) is? Find out and re.vuget yours today.

Here’s mine.

Post to Twitter

Business, Innovation

Want to attend JavaOne?

09.22.11 | Permalink | Comment?
JavaOne

Request a JavaOne Discover Pass compliments of Juniper Networks.

Discover Pass benefits include access to keynotes, Executive Solution Sessions, Exhibition Halls, and much more. Passes are available while the supply lasts.

To get your pass:

  1. Follow @junosdeveloper on Twitter
  2. Send a tweet requesting the pass (with your email address and tag #JuniperJavaOne.)
  3. We will follow up with an email with information on how to get your pass!

Post to Twitter

Business, Innovation

Get your free re.vu

09.10.11 | Permalink | Comment?
re.vu, the cure for the common resume

I’m pleased to announce that re.vu (pronounced “review”) is generally available. Click the image to the right or visit re.vu to establish your personal brand today. For those of you who don’t know what a re.vu is, here is a handy primer.

A visual resume
It’s not just a visual resume, it’s a better visual resume available to everyone, free of charge. And yes, there is a place to link to your traditional resume too. See re.vu/stephen for an example, or better yet, create your own re.vu!

Fast start, import your LinkedIn data
You can get started by importing the data they have already entered for their LinkedIn profile with one click. This is a great starting point, but personalization makes your re.vu much more powerful.

Actively integrated into social networks
Your re.vu is actively integrated into LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. There are integration points with over 19 social networking/media sites and the ability to integrate into custom sites.

A collection of infographic widgets
A standard re.vu offers access to 12 complementary infographic widgets. These tools help you express more than just your work history, they provide an outlet for your creative genius.

Professionally designed themes
The re.vu team has invested in over 10 themes that change the look and feel of your re.vu instantaneously upon selection. Don’t like our themes? Create your own through a point and click interface.

Live linkage to your online assets
Have you got a web site you created? A document you’re proud of? A video you directed? A song you composed? A book you’ve written? Great, any and all of these can be part of your re.vu.

Limited only by your imagination
The combinations of widgets, themes, and content is nearly infinite and how your re.vu shows up is limited only by your imagination.

Get Started Today!
1) To get your free (now and forever) re.vu, visit re.vu – enter your mail address (no spam ever,) a password, and your preferred URL (http://re.vu/whateveryouwant.)

2) If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can get a great starter re.vu by importing your profile in a single click, just follow the prompts. Otherwise skip to the next step.

3) Explore the features of re.vu. Personalize your data, social networking sites, infographics, portfolio, and design options to have re.vu tell your unique story.

4) If you like the result, share on Twitter, blog, Facebook, e-mail, Google+, and LinkedIn under the Dashboard, Promote option.

5) Follow @resumevu on Twitter and Like re.vu on Facebook!

(Pro tip: re.vu works best with modern, standards based browsers like Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.)

There is a feedback button on each and every page, please make sure to share yours!

re.vu, the cure for the common resume.

Post to Twitter


« Previous Entries