DisplayLink announces release of Linux Open Source code

15 May, 2009 at 4:07 pm by Phil Wiffen · Filed under DisplayLink

About 5 minutes ago, DisplayLink announced the availability of an LGPL Library for Linux. Check out the Press Release for more info. Exciting times ahead! :)

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What’s new for BES Administrators in BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0?

6 May, 2009 at 2:23 pm by Phil Wiffen · Filed under General IT

As someone who looks after a Blackberry Enterprise Server, I’ve been hearing an awful lot of ‘buzz’ from RIM about the 5.0 release – but nothing that really spoke out to me as an Admin. Fortunately for me, CIO.com has nicely summarised what’s new in BES 5.0.

One of the stand-out things for me is the easing of OS upgrades. Hopefully the days of checking out the crackberry.com forums for the latest software will be long gone. The ability to actually schedule remote OS upgrades at a time convenient for the end-user is also very, very welcome.

I’m looking forward to 5.0 :)

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More Microsoft Madness

27 April, 2009 at 3:15 pm by Phil Wiffen · Filed under General IT

This is too funny not to post.

I’ve spent all morning trying to log on to Microsoft’s eAgreement website in order to sign our new OVS agreement, but have been getting error messages all over the place. I made sure I was using IE and not Chrome or Firefox, as they often cause issues.

After emailing their support team, it turns out that their website it not compatible with Internet Explorer 8.

So much for dog-fooding ;)

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How to patch and update a Dell Server running VMware ESX 3.5

18 April, 2009 at 1:19 pm by Phil Wiffen · Filed under General IT, Virtualisation

In this post, we’re going to run through patching/upgrading the firmware on a Dell PowerEdge 1950 III Server running VMware ESX 3.5.

The procedure should also apply to most recent Dell Servers running ESX 3.5, but your mileage may vary :)

Get your hands on the Software Update Utility DVD ISO and Burn it.

In terms of time, this is pretty much half the job, believe it or not. You’ll need to goto support.dell.com, find your Dell Server, and get the Dell Updates DVD ISO. For the PowerVault 1950 III, go here and then look under Systems Management for “Dell – DVD iso Images” “applies to: DVD ISO – Dell Server Updates”.

Patching the Dell Server

 

  1. Be sure to VMotion off any Guest OSs that you need to keep running. Shut down everything else, and then put the target server into Maintenance Mode.
  2. Insert the Updates DVD into the Server
  3. Bring up a command prompt, as root, on the Server and run the following to mount the CD-ROM: mount /mnt/cdrom
  4. Now navigate to the CD-ROM: cd /mnt/cdrom
  5. Check what’s upgradeable on your system: sh suu -c
  6. If you’re happy, then run the upgrade: sh suu -u
  7. That’s it, you’re done :)

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Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility User’s Guide

18 April, 2009 at 11:33 am by Phil Wiffen · Filed under General IT

If you’re looking for the documentation for version 1.8 of the Dell Server Updates (as part of OpenManage 5.5), you’ll find it here:

Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility User’s Guide

If you just do a straight Google search for “Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility User’s Guide”, the top result is the documentation for OpenManage Server Administrator 5.2 and not the actual Server Update Utility, which makes it pretty confusing!

And yes, it’s a Saturday and I’m patching Servers :P

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