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By admin, February 2, 2011 2:13 pm

The following is from Delltechcenter’s forum, posted by Joe from Dell EQL regarding the confusions about Equallogic’s load balancing between pools with multiple array members.

The following best practices should be considered for storage pools:

1. Do not mix arrays with different drive speeds RPM within a single pool unless they are running a unique RAID policy

2. Do not mix arrays with different drive technologies (SATA, SAS, SSD) within a single pool unless they are running a unique RAID policy.

3. Do not mix arrays with different controller speeds (1GbE, 10GbE) within a single pool unless they are each running unique RAID policies.

4. To override the automated performance decisions for a specific volume, indicate a ―preferred RAID type for that volume. If that RAID type exists within the pool, the volume will reside on those arrays that match the preferred RAID policy for the volume.

For example: if you have two members with different drive technologies (Item #2), so you can create each member with a different RAID preference (as you indicated Array1 w/Raid50, Array2 w/RAID5), and then specify the preferred RAID policy for the volume(s), without any issues.

With volume RAID preferences set to Auto, the volume will span both members in the pool. If using the RAID preference, it isn’t a guarantee that it will adhere to the request and only place the volume on a given member; for instance if the volume is too large to fit on the member with the desired RAID level (you might end up with an 80/20 balance).

Note that when mixing SAS/SATA in the same pool the performance load balancer doesn’t take drive RPM into account in its calculations. A common issue is that if you combine fast SAS with slower SATA (often worst with the SATA setup as RAID 5) the SAS array won’t provide its potential performance, and the load balance may place more data on the larger SATA member (typically SATA Arrays have more space).

In other words, old RAID theory still applies here: DO NOT MIX different RPM disks in a raid group.

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By admin, January 31, 2011 1:35 pm

搞了一個晚上，終于學會了如何使用Canon 7D + 電腦。

Canon EOS Ultility的Remote Shooting實在太好用了，攝影功力馬上得到了几何級的爆升，感覺還真Pro！

拍攝環境還是那麼簡簡單單﹐什麼燈都沒有打﹐就靠幾盞室內的白光燈。

這次能照出比較銳利的照片﹐覺得主要還是因為機器配套強勁彌補了環境的不足。之前還誤以為一定要Micro L鏡頭才能拍得出好車模﹐看來我這顆EF-S 17-55mm已經足夠﹐它還真萬能﹐什麼都行﹐無論從廣角風景到微距﹐真值得投資。

 Canon 7D+EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM﹐光圈收小到F22﹐ISO100﹐EV -1左右。

 當然這次有用PS來加強肌肉效果！

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By admin, January 29, 2011 10:09 pm

I went to the pro-shop today and found out Luxilon no longer produces Big Banger ACE TOUCH hybrid, so I asked the owner to recommend something similar in terms of feel and composition, and he suggested Luxilon TIMO 18 (Main) + M2 17  (Cross) for my POG, which TIMO 18 replaced Ace 18 and M2 17 replaced Supersense 16L.

This time I asked the pro-stop to string it to 57lbs as the previous 60lbs was a bit too hard at the beginning and I felt more comfortable and much better control when string bed started to lose its tension, it felt incredibility good 1 month before it breaks, so I conclude somewhere around 55-57lbs should do the magic.

Anyway, let me try it on Monday and report back again.

Luxilon Big Banger TIMO 110 18 (Main)

Luxilon M2 17 (Cross)

Update Jan-31

After hitting for 2 hours, I found indeed the new combination is very close to the previous discontinued Big Banger ACE TOUCH hybrid, I like it very much!

Update Apr-13

To my surprise, it only last for 2 1/2 months, DAMN! I am not sure if it’s the lower tension (57lb vs 60lb) I asked for this time or Big Banger ACE TOUCH hybrid is a lot more durable. Of course, there is the 3rd possbility that I’ve added more spin into my ground stroke and serve.

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By admin, January 27, 2011 9:19 pm

In thoday’s game, I was able to get more spin and raise the safety margin on my serve now after changing to back-hand grip, of course, I am still working on the stability, and I am pretty sure I will manage it shortly

Actually there is another tips on serving which was advised by my CHing, you got to completely relax your body before the serving motion, as it will create more energy and make your serve more efficient, and this also applies to 詠春 equally which I just learn recently.

So I tried the back-hand grip serving technic and force myself to completely relax my body, that indeed produced some very nice serves today. The most fun part is first time in history I can actually feel my body is driving the ball upward and toward the service line (become one: body+ball), this is really fun, I definitely need to practice more on this stuff.

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By admin, January 27, 2011 12:43 pm

I just came across this PDF today and found it’s pretty much everything about the latest features of EQL SAN like VAAI, MPIO, Thin-Clone, etc. I’ve already implemented most of them in our production enviornment and seeing performance gained by multiple times especially during SVmotion and depoly a new VM from template, of course the reduction in snapshot time really helped Veeam to run at it’s peak performance during backup window.

Hope everyone will finds this PDF useful!

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By admin, January 21, 2011 6:47 pm

I used to love this song very much and it is still one of my favourite rock n roll till today.

and of course there is R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”, I can still remember clearly that unforgettable night in England, everyone in the pub were so high singing this song altogether.

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By admin, January 13, 2011 11:51 pm

真的很耐用﹐省回不少錢﹐因為一年才需要穿一次(因為自己完全不介意跌磅的問題)﹐下次會穿低磅些這樣POG會更加好打。

Luxilon Big Banger ACE TOUCH Hybrid, Ace 18 (Main), Supersense 16L (Cross)

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By admin, January 13, 2011 10:25 pm

多謝兩位師兄今天來切磋﹐天公造美﹐原來還擔心會下雨﹐但到了3點竟然陽光普照﹐讓我們一共享受了3小時的Happy Tennis。

高手原來表面是完全看不出來的﹐直至上了場才知道今天遇到了兩位above 4.0高手中的高手。

一個power serve+top spin打兩邊﹐底線穩的無懈可擊﹐有頭腦又有plan﹐今天是我第一次比人打到連底線都要叫救命。原來還以為底線還可以﹐慚愧﹐見識了什麼是真正的底線抽擊才知道自己的渺小﹐哈哈。。。要改進和學習的東西實在太多了。

另一個也是打了二十多年的高手﹐電腳+平擊大斜角﹐他們兩個派左無數個蛋比我﹐記憶中好像只贏了他們各一個game﹐而且還要是他們自己多unforce error。有幾個game自己的開球還不錯﹐有角度也有速度﹐但還是給對手輕易的一個短球+nice angle﹐then game over。真的拗晒頭都沒方法可以打贏他們。

今天的學到的重點是速度+spin﹐第一次感受到什麼是新式的powerful top spin打法﹐還有就是他們兩位的下盤極之穩定﹐foot work almost perfect﹐打波其實真的靠對腳﹐腳到進攻就成功了一半﹐正如開球好一樣。

我的其中最大的缺點就是下盤不穩﹐foot work almost none﹐改了好多次﹐比當初已經進步了些﹐但離他們的水平實在相差太遠﹐還需繼續努力。

希望下次有機會再和你們學習。

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By admin, December 28, 2010 2:07 pm

I didn’t know this could happen until last night. I restarted VMware vCenter server after installing Microsoft patches for Windows Serve 2008 R2. Then used vSphere client to connect to vCenter, suddenly it started to pop up with error, also found vCenter Server Service has stopped or crashed to be precious and error logs showed Event 1000 ID, luckily I found this is to do with vCenter port conflicts. I was also able to confirm this by another user’s post in VMware community who’s having the same port conflicting problem with PRTG and ESX 4.

As usual, my memory needs to rewind and back to the point where I installed PRTG Network Monitor 4 days ago, by trial and error, I stopped the PRTG Server and Probe Services, then I was able to restart vCenter server again and login with vSphere client. Finally, I was also able to restart PRTG server without any problem, PRTG somehow was able to bind itself dynamically to another port which vCenter couldn’t.

In additional, I did try to change the port for PRTG and its Probe services, but after restarting the server, somehow PRTG is still conflicting with vCenter’s port (I don’t know which port, but PRTG is using a range of ports above 23560)

The solution is quite simple but a bit troublesome, as it’s a matter of precedence, I just need to start vCenter Server service before starting the PRTG services MANUALLY every time after restarting the server.

If you know how to change the service start dependence or any proper way to solve this, please do let me know, as somehow I still couldn’t figure out the permanent solution for this port conflict problem, thanks!

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By admin, December 23, 2010 1:11 pm

Dell has a new “Build-in OS” called System Service (USC) that you can simple update firmware and deploy different OS using the simple GUI. I like it a lot for OS deployment as it indeed saved me a lot of time in finding different drivers, but until recently, I found the specific USC module that is the Platform (Firmware) update feature isn’t very stable and may cause various system problems.

The following is what I’ve encountered:

I press F10 during boot time and enter USC and select Platform Update for firmware update process, configure IP for USC and then next connect to ftp.us.dell.com to check a list of update firmware, after 5 minutes, as usual, USC found a list of outdated firmware (about 15 of them) and asked me if I would like to continue to update those. Great! then click apply, “Please Wait” is what I get on screen and wait, and wait and wait, I waited for more than 2 hours and definitely sensed some kind of strangeness as my last update using USC for BIOS and IDRAC only took 15 mins.

Immediately I called Dell Pro-Support regarding this issue, they suggested me to wait and they ensure me everything should be ok, as even bad thing happens, I can still use Firmware Roll Back under USC, and if a particular firmware download process isn’t completed then the update won’t carry on.

O.K., then I went to sleep, after 12 hours, I checked the server, it is still showing the annoying “Please Wait”, NOTE there is NO WAY for me to know the status of the update progress as it won’t tell me which module/firmware it has finished downloading or completed the upgrade process for a particular firmware.

I have no choice but to reboot the server, luckily, the server (OS is Windows Server 2008 R2) came back ok, and I checked the firmware information in OpenManage, NOTHING HAS BEEN UPDATED, and worst some of the sensors in OpenManage are gone such as temperature/voltage/fan, etc. Right away I KNEW iDRAC Must Have Been Damaged during the firmware update under USC, so I connected to R610 iDRAC and indeed found all of the sensors showing reading errors. Huh???

Then I thought by updating the iDRAC firmware may help, so I tried to update iDRAC6 to latest 1.5.4 using the standard windows firmware file, immediately error shows “This update package is not compatible with your system configuration”, thank you very much!

After searching Google with no solution found, I suddenly thought of a way to update it by downloading the raw iDRAC6 firmware update file and using iDRAC’s own update feature from Remote Access > Update and I have successfully updated it! Yeah! Then I reboot the server, and checked OpenMange again, thank god, everything is back to normal this time!

Finally, I simply go back to the traditional way of updating firmware on Poweredge which I have been doing for the past 10+ years, that is download the firmware one by one and update my Poweredge R610 BIOS/Network/Raid etc one by one.

So my conclusion is:

1. Platform Update utility under USC is NOT A MATURED PRODUCT!

2. Probably USC FTP process hanged, network issue, but USC won’t alert at all, just showing “Please Wait” that really DOESN’T HELP AT ALL!

3. You NEED TO UPDATE iDRAC first (probably using the above method) before using USC, as USC uses iDRAC to facilitate the rest firmware upgrade process. I remembered ont time USC warned me it will upgrade iDRAC first before anything else, but it didn’t warm me this time.

Dell please correct this bug ASAP in USC Platform Update, at least show us the update process bar or some useful detail information!

If you want to read about my first disappointment regarding firmware update, please refer to Do not update firmware/BIOS from within ESX console.

Update:

Just received an update from Virtualization Buster, which is the proper way to update firmware using an USB method via F10 Unified Server Configuration (USC).

Updating Dell R-Series aka 11-th Generation Servers via USB and Repository Manager

http://www.virtualizationbuster.com/?p=1301

Finally, since there is no way to attach an USB via iDRAC6, so if you need to update Driver thru USC, you can use Dell Repository Manager, export the drivers to an ISO. (Tips from Dell Pro-Support)