Month: January 2012

MD3220i firmware update

Jeff Miles 2 Comments

MD3220i There isn’t too much out on the interwebs about the MD3220i, so I thought I’d share my experience with updating the firmware.

Before the Christmas break Dell called and mentioned that a very important firmware update had been released, and it should be done as soon as possible. Due to scheduling, last week was when I scheduled a maintenance window to do it.

I was previously on firmware 10.70, so to fully update to 10.80 I need to use the bridge firmware to get to 10.75 first.

Luckily I realized that I needed to update the “PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager Client” before doing the firmware update. I uninstalled the previous version, and then reinstalled from this package:

ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER88591M/1/DELL_MDSS_Consolidated_RDVD_3_0_0_18_A00_R314542.iso

However, installing from the setup.exe in that ISO, I had lost the actual “PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager Client”; no where to be found.

Eventually I figured out that from the install source, you also need to go into one of the sub directories, and run a different executable to get the MDSM Client.

Of course, I started drafting this post while I had that install source, and now I realize I must have deleted it so I can’t give the exact path of the executable that is needed. If I download the package again, I’ll make sure I update this post with the right path.

 

Once I had the MDSM updated, I updated to the bridge firmware first, and then the 10.8 firmware second. During this process the MDSM gave specific information about which controller it was updating, and all of my resources running from the MD3220i went uninterrupted.

Firmware updates are always a little stressful, even more so when the company SAN is the one undergoing an update; this one was smooth and painless which I was very glad for.

My Hyper-V cluster logs went wild though, reporting failures of the reach-ability of all hosts. Nothing to worry about since there’s dual controllers, but something to be aware of.

 

Hyper-V Cluster and Windows Server licensing

Jeff Miles Leave a comment

Thanks to Aidan Finn and this blog post, I’ve recently discovered that how I planned the licensing for my Hyper-V cluster is incorrect.

With two Dell R410’s in a Hyper-V cluster, I purchased two licenses of Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. I figured that as long as I didn’t run more than 4 VMs per host, I’d be good. In the case of a Live Migration or fail over, the VMs weren’t permanently assigned to the other host so it’d be alright. For future VMs, one off purchases of Server Standard would be made to allow for their use.

I really don’t understand why Microsoft doesn’t make it more obvious that Datacenter really is what’s necessary to run a Hyper-V cluster. Unless you’re running 4 VM’s or less across two hosts, Datacenter is the only way to go. Any more than that, and you’ll be doubling up on Enterprise licenses for each host, which by that point you might as well buy Datacenter. For a two host Hyper-V cluster this will cost between $12,000-15,000.

I’m assuming this is just as much of a problem for ESXi clusters too; apply a Windows license to each host even though it isn’t running Windows, so that during failover, the licensing is legal.

 

At least now I know that this is incorrect, so for 2012 fiscal two Windows Server Datacenter licenses will be purchased. Of course with Windows 8 around the corner, I’ll be getting these licenses with Software Assurance (assuming Windows 8 isn’t out yet).

Thinking about Datacenter has got me really excited actually, because of the additional Hyper-V features, future improvements to DFS and DFSR (which I’m anxiously awaiting news of) and updated OS for WDS, RDS and a bunch of other services.

Internet Services – Telus sucks

Jeff Miles 4 Comments

image from sxc.huUntil recently, my company had a Managed ADSL service with Telus, but when the contract expired in 2011 we had no hesitation in choosing not to renew it.

Perhaps it was just bad luck in being assigned poor account managers, or perhaps this poor experience is common throughout Telus’ business offerings.

Either way, I saw the fact that I was paying $485/month for a 4Mbps down/1Mbps up with an SLA that was heavily slanted towards advantage for Telus (as most SLA’s are) as unneeded.

Other factors in canceling the Telus contract:

  • Auto-renewal of 3 year term contract, without notice or follow-up
  • Telus “forgetting” to cancel our Managed ADSL contract after receiving signed letters and repeated call-backs, resulting in many months overages despite the fact that we cancelled the contract

 

It is unfortunate Internet service is so expensive in Canada, especially for such low speeds. The amount of data that we’re pushing in and out is growing every year, and single digit Mbps just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Over a year ago we added an Internet connection from a wireless ISP, WiBand. This is a 10Mb sustained (20Mb burstable) connection with unlimited GB/month. We have been very happy with this service, and it’s been rock solid for us. Almost all of our services to external clients run over this connection.

With the cancellation of our Telus line, we brought in a Shaw Business 50 connection that is 50Mbps down, 5 Mbps up. While this isn’t guaranteed throughput, it is very cheap (under $100/month) and provides great access for our head office’s general Internet needs. Because we have our WiBand link with an SLA, we don’t need a highly reliable Internet connection from Shaw for general use.

Funny enough, when I asked what Telus had to compete with this Shaw Business 50 service, I was told we would be much better off with a 5Mbps down/5Mbps up fiber service that cost $800/month. Great job there listening to your client, Mr Telus rep.

Despite these nice links, I still long for the day when Canada gets speeds like they do in Northern Europe, with fiber to the home being common and high-throughput links being used.