Posts made by jrc

I'd not use it. The "free" aspect of it worries the hell out of me, they have to make money somehow. Then there is the fact that it is "peer-to-peer" that means that at some point your machine/device will be used as an exit node, and as soon as that happens all bets are off. You'll probably have the FBI knocking on your door pretty soon asking why your IP was used in some crime or another, assuming they ask before arresting you...

Free ALWAYS poses some risk to you, but in most cases it's just advertising, but in others it is far less clear.

If you are looking for a VPN then look for a solid reputable one that is not free (in most cases they are less than $100/yr). You'll be much better off.

@BMarie said in What does your desk look like?:

Here's mine, I collect Winnie the Pooh stuff, frog stuff and the green bug on my computer is from a driver at work. They've given me a nickname and that's what the bug is for. They are so sweet.

Not enough monitors!!! I do like the clean and organized nature of it, but that's an ideal I doubt I'll ever reach.

@Reid-Cooper

I can tell you that the templates for Debian 6 and 7 are PV in Xen 7.1

@scottalanmiller

I completely agree.

However in Education you have to work with what you've got and convincing the board to scrap a $10k licence to shell out for a different $10k one would be kind of hard without serious compelling reason. Lack of Xenserver support would not be compelling enough I think.

@scottalanmiller said in Smoothwall on XenServer 7.1:

@NerdyDad said in Smoothwall on XenServer 7.1:

Couldn't something like Untangle work for you?

SmoothWall has a new and proprietary web filtering technology. Untangle and those others don't offer a competitive service.

Precisely. SmoothWall's filtering is heuristic based rather than a traditional blacklist/whitelist type thing.

Plus we've paid them, a lot, so switching now is not really a possibility.

The frustrating thing here is that they have built in support for VMWare, but not Xen.

@momurda

Nope, that's the community (free) version, it is actually significantly different from the commercial version.

@Reid-Cooper said in Smoothwall on XenServer 7.1:

The issue that their support should have told you appears to be that they strip out the Xen PV kernel as well as the necessary drivers to work on Xen. I don't know what Os they build upon, but whatever they are using they are removing the Xen components.

Right, that is what I was worried about. It is based on Debian and it would not surprise me that they would have done that. I'll check in with them on it, but this maybe the end of my testing on this and if so, then I'll need to stick with a physical Smoothwall server.

@Reid-Cooper

In a perfect world this is what I'd do. However, neither VyOS or pfSense offer a solid web filter, which is the primary reason we went with Smoothwall.

Their support told me that they run it on VMWare all the time, and could not think of any reason why Xen would be an issue, though they have not done it, nor have certified it.

That said, I have not called them to ask just yet, I thought I'd see if anyone else has had any ideas about it first.

I used the Debian 8 template and the Other templates, both had the same effect. The Debian 8 Template does not give me the option to out that string in that field nor the Other Install template, but both result in no HDD controller found.

Both the Debian 6 and 7 (I tried the 64bit and 32bit templates) create a PV VM and that fails to boot from the CD (though it does give me the option to add -- quiet console=hvc0).

@momurda said in Smoothwall on XenServer 7.1:

-- quiet console=hvc0

I am not getting the option to enter that, though I suspect that has to to with it being in HVM mode (rather than PV mode). From what I found in the net, it needs to be in HVM mode.

@NerdyDad

Thanks for the suggestion, but we're stuck with Smoothwall, mostly for the content filtering and we've allready paid them for about 100 years of support (well not really, but definitely for the next 3 yrs).

@DustinB3403 said in Smoothwall on XenServer 7.1:

I'd give it a try in my lab, but without a non-metered internet connection atm....

stupid wind....

We have squirrels not wind here, but I feel your pain!

So I worked out it needed HVM enabled, so I used the Debian 8 template, which gets the setup going. However it won't detect the HDD controller and therefore I cannot get it installed.

Anyone gotten Smoothwall to run as a VM in Xen? If so, how did you get the HDD to be detected?

The setup does allow for me to insert a driver floppy, but I am unsure about where I'd get the drivers and how would I attach a virtual floppy drive to Xen.

For servers I go with Ubuntu Server. Most are running 14, though one or two are 16. We do have one or two CentOS servers, but they were put in place before my time.

For Desktops, I am partial to Ubuntu with the Cinnamon UI, but I spend most of my day in OS X at work and Windows 7 at home. But my work Macbook is due for replacement, so I am considering a high end PC laptop and switching to Ubuntu full time.

@Tim_G

That looks perfect to me. Tell me when you undid them, where they screwed into the chassis, or was there a nut on the underside of the board? Trying to ascertain if I have to pull the motherboard to install these or not. I'll have to work it out either way, but I figured if you noticed this when you removed them then maybe I could save some investigative time.

@Tim_G

Awesome. I am in no major rush for them right now. I was able to jerry rig the thing to stay on, but it won't last forever.

A flat rate priority USPS box (the small one) would probably work out perfectly and would be cheap ($6ish IIRC) and get here PDQ. However, go ahead and ship it with whatever method is most convenient for you, though no need to get it here super fast or for lots of money.

I'll PM my mailing address to you.

Thanks again for the helps, it's a real life saver!

@Tim_G

Atherton.

@Tim_G

Yep, the circled pieces. They are the ones that those metal levers attach to and have a torx headed screw holding them in (something like a T20 in size).

@Tim_G said in Dell Poweredge 2950 CPU Heatsink Retention bracket:

We already threw a bunch out. I think we have another on it's way out. Is yours a 2U? Maybe I could send you the piece you need... here's a pic of the one I have:

Yes, that is exactly what they look like. If you are tossing the thing and can mail them to me that would be awesome. Could I be so bold as to ask for all 8 pieces from the CPU sockets? Never hurts to have some spares.

I can paypal you over some money for mailing and a little extra for a six pack or something.

@momurda said in Dell Poweredge 2950 CPU Heatsink Retention bracket:

Cant remember what socket these are?
Some heatsinks will simply screw into the mobo(this depends on socket, obviously)
Can we get a pic of the piece?

This is for a 2850, so mine is slightly different, but it'll give you an idea:
http://www.darklab.rutgers.edu/MERCURY/t15/pe2850dell/td14-Proc-21_500px.jpg

The fixed end of that arm is what broke (top left). The piece is screwed in with 2 screws and could be easily replaced if I could only find one.

The socket is a different type on the 2950 (Socket 771), but the brackets are the same as near as I can tell (they look pretty much the same).

It broke on me, and for the time being I have managed to jerry rig the thing so the CPU does not overheat, but I need to replace the plastic piece that the heat sink lever attaches to on one side.

Anyone know where I can get one? I tried searching for it, but I can't seem to find one for sale anywhere. Seems a shame to have to toss a perfectly good server because of one little piece of plastic.

And before you respond with "That's an old server, toss it out the window and get a new one" I'll ask you not to. This would not be helpful in anyway, besides this server is not a production server, it is setup as a NAS for our tech team to use to make short term backups of peoples data and/or a place to drop any software installers we use on a semi-regular basis, and there is simply no money to replace the whole thing.