random thoughts at best
If you ever have a need to get into an EMC DataDomain BIOS screen the default password is a simple pattern based off the major series model number. For example: DD460 = d400d (delta four zero zero delta) DD670 = d600d (delta six zero zero delta) DD880 = d800d (delta four zero zero delta) The pattern is simple, “d […]
During testing, the EMC Isilon storage was successfully reading the Active Directory Attributes but the data was incorrect. The data that was in the uid & gid fields were id’s that were automatically generated by the Isilon storage itself. The id’s that were generated by the Isilon storage took precedence over any mappings that were […]
There are many challenges that are faced when an organization is forced to run a mixed protocol environment to serve up the same data. This introduces additional management tasks and additional complexities. In a mixed protocol environment you must manage Windows Access Control Lists (ACL) to enforce Windows permissions in addition to managing *nix user/group […]
“TACACS+ is an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) protocol originally developed for the U.S. Department of Defense for authentication to network devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls. Unlike RADIUS, it separates the Authentication and Authorization functionalities, which makes it more flexible for administrative access. The current version of the protocol standard was developed by […]
Just recently, there was a pesky failing fan inside of our controllers on a Xiotech Magnitude 3D 4000. A replacement part dispatched and when the controller was taken off line, it was difficult to determine which fan was “Board Fan 1” since there were no markings. In addition, the fan numbering could have started with […]
Upgrading the NX-OS on a Cisco MDS 9148 Fabric Switch is a straight forward task. There are only three commands to upgrade the NX-OS, two copy commands and the install command which does all the work. First you need a TFTP server on the same network as the management interface to transfer the files over […]
Restarting the Management Services for EMC Unisphere is simple and it does not require an outage. The process will require you to log into each Service Processor separately through a web interface. 1. Open up a web browser and goto https://<Service Processor IP/FQDN>/setup 2. Login using the ‘sysadmin’ user account and password. 3. Scroll down to […]
To update the PowerConnect M6220 I was force to connect via a Null Modem Cable to first configure an IP address then followed up the upgrade procedure. I was able to locate a cable off of eBay to connect to the console of the M6220 switch in the M1000e chassis. The cable is a “USB” to […]
It appears there is a lack of information on upgrading the Brocade Fabric Operating System (FOS) on an I/O Module within Dell PowerEdge M1000e Blade Chassis. This guide will show you the step-by-step on how to upgrade your internal Brocade switch in a Dell Blade Chassis and what can be expected. First, you will need to […]
A MAC flap is caused when a switch receives packets from two different physical/logical interfaces with the same source MAC address. The switch then learns where the MAC address is and puts in to a table. This table has the physical/logical interface and the MAC address. When flapping occurs it causes this table to be […]