QT5 on xUbuntu 12.04.2 LTS

The latest version of xVideoServiceThief (2.5) switched to using the QT5 library.

To get it to work, I needed to setup QT5 on a xUbuntu 12.04.2 LTS which I did by running the following commands:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties && \
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:canonical-qt5-edgers/qt5-proper && \
sudo apt-get update && \
sudo apt-get install libqt5gui5 libqt5webkit5 libqt5script5

Let me know in the comments if this helped you or if there were any issues.

Cloudstack 4.1 on Ubuntu Server

My objective was to setup a Cloudstack 4.1 management node which will also server an NFS server for both primary and secondary storage.

The series of commands below were run on an Ubuntu Server 12.04.2(precise) system. During installation of the operating system, only the OpenSSH server was enabled in the task selection screen. I also made sure to name the server with a fully qualified domain name i.e. cloudstack.henyo.com.

#setup cloudstack source

echo "deb http://cloudstack.apt-get.eu/ubuntu precise 4.1" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cloudstack.list

#setup percona source

cat <<EOF >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list

deb http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main

deb-src http://repo.percona.com/apt precise main

EOF

#install the cloudstack apt-key

wget -O - http://cloudstack.apt-get.eu/release.asc|apt-key add -

#install stuff
apt-get update && \
apt-get install -y --force-yes openntpd nfs-kernel-server cloudstack-management percona-server-server-5.5 percona-server-client-5.5

cat <<EOF >/etc/mysql/conf.d/cloudstack.cnf

[mysqld]

innodb_rollback_on_timeout=1

innodb_lock_wait_timeout=600

max_connections=350

log-bin=mysql-bin

binlog-format = 'ROW'

EOF

service mysql restart

#setup nfs

mkdir -p /export/primary /export/secondary /var/primary /var/secondary

cat <<EOF >>/etc/fstab

/var/primary    /export/primary   none    bind  0  0

/var/secondary  /export/secondary none    bind  0  0

EOF

mount --bind /var/primary/ /export/primary/

mount --bind /var/secondary/ /export/secondary/

echo "/export         *(rw,async,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)" >> /etc/exports

exportfs -a

service nfs-kernel-server restart

#setup cloudstack database

cloudstack-setup-databases cloud:test@localhost --deploy-as=root:root

#setup management server

echo 'Defaults:cloud !requiretty' >> /etc/sudoers.d/cloudstack

cloudstack-setup-management

reboot

I hope you found the post useful. You can subscribe via email or subscribe via a feed reader to get relevant updates from this blog. Have a nice day.

iphone 5 plan comparison

iphone 5 plan comparison from globe and smart

I took some time to dissect each iphone plan from both globe and smart.

The spreadsheet below compare the iphone 5 - 16GB plans on unlimited data.



The cheapest plan for the iphone 5 16GB comes from smart but the difference is really not that much especially if you look at the monthly cost. The smart plan also provides a bit more free all texts and minutes. To me, it still boils down to the network where most of your contacts are.



The iphone 5 16GB unit might not meet your storage needs so for an additional 200 pesos per month, you can avail of the iphone 5 32GB. Here, globe takes the lead by a measly 1 peso per month. But in my opinion, smart provides a lot more value in the form of freebies.

I hope you found the post useful. You can subscribe via email or subscribe via a feed reader to get relevant updates from this blog. Have a nice day.

Disabling BBU Auto Learn with megacli

We are currently facing performance problems with mysql and I remember reading about RAID BBU Learning causing huge write performance drops. So I wanted to check if the RAID controller on our Master database had this configured.

Step#1: Find out what is the brand/model of the RAID controller installed on the server

I can of course ask accounting to pull-up the delivery receipt to find the brand/model but where is the fun in that. Googling led me to the following commands:


sudo lspci | grep -i raid
04:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 2108 [Liberator] (rev 04)

sudo lshw -class storage

description: RAID bus controller

       product: MegaRAID SAS 2108 [Liberator]

       vendor: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic

       physical id: 0

       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0

       logical name: scsi4

       version: 04

       width: 64 bits

       clock: 33MHz

       capabilities: storage pm pciexpress vpd msi msix bus_master cap_list rom

       configuration: driver=megaraid_sas latency=0

       resources: irq:26 ioport:d800(size=256) memory:fae7c000-fae7ffff memory:faec0000-faefffff memory:fae80000-faebffff

Step#2: Install the megacli package to be able to query the raid card for its status

Downloaded the megacli package from the LSI website. But they only provide RPMs so I had to convert them with:

sudo alien -k MegaCli-8.07.06-1.noarch.rpm

Then installed with:

sudo dpkg -i megacli_8.07.06-1_all.deb

To find out where the files got installed do:

sudo dpkg -c megacli_8.07.06-1_all.deb

Step#3: Use megacli to probe for BBU status and information

Running the command results to something unexpected:

./MegaCli64 -adpCount

Controller Count: 0.

Exit Code: 0x00

megacli cant find the raid adapter. It seems that megacli has an issue with kernels >= 3.0 and can be remedied with:

sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -adpCount

Controller Count: 1.

Exit Code: 0x01

So to find out about the BBU:

sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuStatus -aALL

BBU status for Adapter: 0

BatteryType: iBBU

Voltage: 3972 mV

Current: 0 mA

Temperature: 24 C

Battery State: Optimal

BBU Firmware Status:

  Charging Status              : None

  Voltage                                 : OK

  Temperature                             : OK

  Learn Cycle Requested                  : No

  Learn Cycle Active                      : No

  Learn Cycle Status                      : OK

  Learn Cycle Timeout                     : No

  I2c Errors Detected                     : No

  Battery Pack Missing                    : No

  Battery Replacement required            : No

  Remaining Capacity Low                  : No

  Periodic Learn Required                 : No

  Transparent Learn                       : No

  No space to cache offload               : No

  Pack is about to fail & should be replaced : No

  Cache Offload premium feature required  : No

  Module microcode update required        : No

GasGuageStatus:

  Fully Discharged        : No

  Fully Charged           : Yes

  Discharging             : Yes

  Initialized             : Yes

  Remaining Time Alarm    : No

  Discharge Terminated    : No

  Over Temperature        : No

  Charging Terminated     : No

  Over Charged            : No

  Relative State of Charge: 97 %

  Charger System State: 49168

  Charger System Ctrl: 0

  Charging current: 0 mA

  Absolute state of charge: 53 %

  Max Error: 2 %

Exit Code: 0x00

sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuCapacityInfo -aALL

BBU Capacity Info for Adapter: 0

  Relative State of Charge: 97 %

  Absolute State of charge: 53 %

  Remaining Capacity: 641 mAh

  Full Charge Capacity: 664 mAh

  Run time to empty: Battery is not being discharged.  

  Average time to empty: Battery is not being discharged.  

  Estimated Time to full recharge: Battery is not being charged.  

  Cycle Count: 37

Max Error = 2 %

Remaining Capacity Alarm = 120 mAh

Remining Time Alarm = 10 Min

Exit Code: 0x00

sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuProperties -aALL

BBU Properties for Adapter: 0

  Auto Learn Period: 30 Days

  Next Learn time: Sun Feb 17 19:37:09 2013

  Learn Delay Interval:0 Hours

  Auto-Learn Mode: Enabled

Exit Code: 0x00

Auto learn mode should be disabled and scheduled during off-peak time.

#!/bin/bash

TMPFILE=$(mktemp -p /tmp bbu.relearn.XXXXXXXXXX) || exit 1

echo "autoLearnMode=1" > $TMPFILE

setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -SetBbuProperties -f $TMPFILE -aALL

sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -GetBbuProperties -aALL

rm $TMPFILE

script for safe write back:

#!/bin/bash
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp ADRA -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp -Cached -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp DisDskCache -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp NoCachedBadBBU -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp WB -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDInfo -Lall -aALL


script to force write back without BBU protection:

#!/bin/bash
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp ADRA -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp -Cached -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp DisDskCache -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp CachedBadBBU -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDSetProp WB -Lall -aALL
sudo setarch x86_64 --uname-2.6 /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -LDInfo -Lall -aALL


Useful Links:
http://linux.dell.com/files/whitepapers/solaris/Managing_PERC6_0714.pdf
http://hwraid.le-vert.net/wiki/LSIMegaRAIDSAS
http://yo61.com/dell-drac-bbu-auto-learn-tests-kill-disk-performance.html


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Transferring a huge file over a LAN

We need to transfer several huge files from an old server to a new server. I plan to use netcat to do a raw transfer followed by rsync to ensure data integrity. I'll report back on the results.


On the destination server:
nc -l 1234 > ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso


On the source server:
time cat ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso | nc $DESTINATION_IP 1234


On the source server:

cat >rsyncd.conf <<EOF
#rsyncd.conf
[temp]
path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/
read only = yes
list = yes
use chroot = no
EOF

rsync --config=rsyncd.conf --daemon --no-detach --port=1234


On the destination server:
time rsync -av --inplace --progress rsync://apollo@192.168.7.167:1234/temp/ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso

Update#1:

time cat ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso | nc 192.168.7.198 1234

real 0m58.130s
user 0m0.072s
sys 0m2.016s

ubuntu-12.04.1-server-i386.iso is 646MB in size which gives a transfer rate of 11.13MB/s which is NOT what I expected from a gigabit connection.



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