Spent about 3 hours this morning debugging a rebuilt Solaris 11 machine (running on a Sun T5240). The problem was that the SMF service ntp would not start. This is a new build and, as delivered, the ntp service is not enabled. So, step one was "svcadm enable ntp". Then step two, since I am a dutiful sysadmin was "svcs ntp" to verify that step one succeeded and I could move on to step three, drink coffee. Alas, no. ntp was in "maintenance" mode which generally means you screwed up the configuration file /etc/inet/ntp.conf. OK, that's probably it, right -- after all, the ntp.conf I'm using came from a Solaris 10 system. So parse through ntp.conf with a fine tooth comb. Looks OK, but just to be safe we'll try one of the distributed default configuration files, /etc/inet/ntp.client. "svcadm restart ntp" -- still no joy. So, svcs -xv tells us where the log file resides -- /var/svc/log/network-ntp:default.log. Looking there, we find only "[ Jan 14 10:20:51 svc.startd could not set context for method: ]".
Harumph.
So, using the output from "svcs -xv" again, we find the startup script is /lib/svc/method/ntp. Lots of "svcprop" calls in here, so go poking about in man pages and piddle with svcprop to find out what is in the SMF database, all to no avail. OK, so we'll just Google this and see what someone else has written up. No particularly illuminating results, then I notice that the log file also contains "chdir: Permission denied" without any typical log file decorations around it. Hmmm, no "cd" or "chroot" in the startup script. What is going on?
The best post I found while Googling suggested that this message from SMF was caused by the root user's home directory being nonexistent and fixing that particular problem fixed the SMF problem. Well that can't be it, right? "ls -al /root" shows… What the heck? . is owned by one of the junior admins (later discovery found that he was "looking for the mysql data files..."). "chown root /root; svcadm clear ntp" and voila, we now have a functioning ntp service.
Unbelievable!
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Friday, February 17, 2012
Plasma TV shopping
It's been quite a while since I've posted any updates, but yesterday I had an experience that seems sort of "post worthy", so here goes:
After all of the other updates to the home control and home entertainment systems necessitated by the lightning strike, the main home theater display began to show its age. The Sony KP-61HS10 is about 12 years old now and still works OK (and is now up for sale, BTW), but the lack of HDMI inputs and the pseudo 16x9 display just really doesn't fit after modernizing the other stuff. So, I went on a quest to slay and drag home a spiffy new plasma display. My Internet research told me that Panasonic was the way to go and my budget told me that the "GT" version of the 65-inch diagonal panel would be my best choice. I had seen many advertisements from H.H. Gregg for the Panasonic plasma sets at what appeared to be reasonable asking prices, so Tami and I took a trip.
We arrived about 7:45 PM and wandered around the store for a while, but never found the P65GT30 that I wanted, only some similar but less featureful sets. Tami noted that the display was not really crisp on several of them and I noted some noise artifacts as well. About half of the displays were running a basketball game, others were running canned demos, and still others were running BluRay content, so direct comparisons were next to impossible. Then I noticed that all of the "house" distribution of video content was via analog component signals, not HDMI! So we were looking at $2000+ plasma, LCD and LED backlit LCD panels in a very expensive piece of real estate with several staff members running around and they hadn't even bothered to configure the displays so that you could see their best performance! Calibrations were all over the map as well, but that was expected. Just to add a bit of insult to the process, not a one of those staff members said so much as "Hello" to me. Disgusted, I left and went to BestBuy, just across the street.
Same thing again: the displays were disorganized and placed sort of randomly throughout the TV area, calibrations varied wildly, some weren't even priced or identified. This store is also situated on some premium real estate and heavily staffed, but again no one other than the greeter at the front door had anything to say to me. Perhaps one of them might have walked up and said, "Hi, I see that you have $2500 about to burn a hole in your pocket. I'd like to help you with that!", all of which was true. I really do prefer to buy locally and let my tax dollars support my local economy, but not when it's this hard.
I have a true appreciation for the difficulty and costs of operating a retail business and I'm sure the owners of these stores have a much sharper view of these costs than I do. Why in the world would a business spend so much money on a storefront, advertising, salaries, utilities and the like and then fail to execute when a customer walks in with cash in their pocket!!!!!
Perhaps the business model for these "big box" stores depends on screwing the customers on overpriced warranties and computer service that a high school kid could perform. Perhaps the margin on a $2000+ television is so slim as to not make it worth the time of yet another kid making $10 an hour. Who knows?
Please comment your experiences, particularly if you're the owner of one of these fine establishments. I'd love to hear from you!
After all of the other updates to the home control and home entertainment systems necessitated by the lightning strike, the main home theater display began to show its age. The Sony KP-61HS10 is about 12 years old now and still works OK (and is now up for sale, BTW), but the lack of HDMI inputs and the pseudo 16x9 display just really doesn't fit after modernizing the other stuff. So, I went on a quest to slay and drag home a spiffy new plasma display. My Internet research told me that Panasonic was the way to go and my budget told me that the "GT" version of the 65-inch diagonal panel would be my best choice. I had seen many advertisements from H.H. Gregg for the Panasonic plasma sets at what appeared to be reasonable asking prices, so Tami and I took a trip.
We arrived about 7:45 PM and wandered around the store for a while, but never found the P65GT30 that I wanted, only some similar but less featureful sets. Tami noted that the display was not really crisp on several of them and I noted some noise artifacts as well. About half of the displays were running a basketball game, others were running canned demos, and still others were running BluRay content, so direct comparisons were next to impossible. Then I noticed that all of the "house" distribution of video content was via analog component signals, not HDMI! So we were looking at $2000+ plasma, LCD and LED backlit LCD panels in a very expensive piece of real estate with several staff members running around and they hadn't even bothered to configure the displays so that you could see their best performance! Calibrations were all over the map as well, but that was expected. Just to add a bit of insult to the process, not a one of those staff members said so much as "Hello" to me. Disgusted, I left and went to BestBuy, just across the street.
Same thing again: the displays were disorganized and placed sort of randomly throughout the TV area, calibrations varied wildly, some weren't even priced or identified. This store is also situated on some premium real estate and heavily staffed, but again no one other than the greeter at the front door had anything to say to me. Perhaps one of them might have walked up and said, "Hi, I see that you have $2500 about to burn a hole in your pocket. I'd like to help you with that!", all of which was true. I really do prefer to buy locally and let my tax dollars support my local economy, but not when it's this hard.
I have a true appreciation for the difficulty and costs of operating a retail business and I'm sure the owners of these stores have a much sharper view of these costs than I do. Why in the world would a business spend so much money on a storefront, advertising, salaries, utilities and the like and then fail to execute when a customer walks in with cash in their pocket!!!!!
Perhaps the business model for these "big box" stores depends on screwing the customers on overpriced warranties and computer service that a high school kid could perform. Perhaps the margin on a $2000+ television is so slim as to not make it worth the time of yet another kid making $10 an hour. Who knows?
Please comment your experiences, particularly if you're the owner of one of these fine establishments. I'd love to hear from you!
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Internet Sprinkler Project
The lawn irrigation system at my house has always been only marginally acceptable. The plumbing has been plagued with leaks, the sprinkler heads don't perform particularly well and the system puts a lot of water on the non-lawn areas. Like most residential systems, it had a "dumb" timer with a dismal user interface that required a trip to the garage to make control changes. The leaks were resolved a few years back when I installed a master valve (i.e., now it only leaks when you're trying to water the lawn anyway), but the controls were still annoying.
The Rainbird ISA 408 was probably cutting edge technology in 1994 when this system was installed, but I knew I could do better. I considered several network connected controllers and finally settled on the Irrigation Caddy S1
because it is the right price and doesn't depend on an outside "service" for scheduling. It's easy to use as is and can also be integrated into my uber home control scheme. And, of course, it is network connected!
After installing the Irrigation Caddy, I worked on some long standing control wiring issues -- OK, I buried the wire that was running across the yard, the one that kept getting run over by the lawn mower. In the process, I "found" the supply side water line to one of my zone valves with my trenching spade. Spade 1, PVC pipe 0. Tami was particularly impressed with the large but very neat hole I dug to repair the damage... But, I digress. After putting everything back right again, I proudly told my neighbor Bruce about "The Internet Sprinkler Project". His response was simply and predictably, "John, you're such a geek."
As the great philospher Popeye the Sailor said, "I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam!"
The Rainbird ISA 408 was probably cutting edge technology in 1994 when this system was installed, but I knew I could do better. I considered several network connected controllers and finally settled on the Irrigation Caddy S1
because it is the right price and doesn't depend on an outside "service" for scheduling. It's easy to use as is and can also be integrated into my uber home control scheme. And, of course, it is network connected!After installing the Irrigation Caddy, I worked on some long standing control wiring issues -- OK, I buried the wire that was running across the yard, the one that kept getting run over by the lawn mower. In the process, I "found" the supply side water line to one of my zone valves with my trenching spade. Spade 1, PVC pipe 0. Tami was particularly impressed with the large but very neat hole I dug to repair the damage... But, I digress. After putting everything back right again, I proudly told my neighbor Bruce about "The Internet Sprinkler Project". His response was simply and predictably, "John, you're such a geek."
As the great philospher Popeye the Sailor said, "I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam!"
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Repairing Lightning Damage
Since I didn't start this blog until well after the repairs were underway, it's kind of hard to do a chronological recap of all the stuff that I've replaced. The first thing that had to be put back in order was a router so that we would have VOIP phone service and e-mail, then the garage door opener, but after that it's been a matter of fixing whatever was most annoying at the moment. My philosophy on the repairs is to make the repaired system better than the system it replaced. That's why the new router is a Cisco 2651xm, replacing a Cisco 2621, the switch is a Cisco 2970G replacing a Cisco 2924xl, and that garage door opener is a LiftMaster 3800 Residential Jackshaft Garage Door Opener
instead of the Overhead Door chain drive wall rattler. The RJO is really quiet and as cool as something like a garage door opener can be (hey, Jay Leno installed three of them in his Garage Mahal!!!).
Today, I found an HAI Omni IIe system on Ebay which I plan to use in place of the Ademco 4100 that failed somewhat unspectacularly after the strike. The Ademco didn't make a fuss, it just turned on all it's lights and quit quietly. The Omni II will allow me to integrate some home automation features with the alarm system which is something I've been wanting to do for some time now. This should make plenty of fodder for future blog posts!
instead of the Overhead Door chain drive wall rattler. The RJO is really quiet and as cool as something like a garage door opener can be (hey, Jay Leno installed three of them in his Garage Mahal!!!).Today, I found an HAI Omni IIe system on Ebay which I plan to use in place of the Ademco 4100 that failed somewhat unspectacularly after the strike. The Ademco didn't make a fuss, it just turned on all it's lights and quit quietly. The Omni II will allow me to integrate some home automation features with the alarm system which is something I've been wanting to do for some time now. This should make plenty of fodder for future blog posts!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
First Blog
We have decided that a blog might help communication between the 30-ish members of our systems administration group at my regular day job, so I have started this personal blog as a way to learn about blogging in general. We may decide to host our group's blog internally but I thought that this Google hosted "blogspot" blog might be a really easy way to get started.
With all that said, I plan to write about my recent adventures in rebuilding my home infrastructure after a devastating lightning strike. The lightning strike occurred at 12:54 PM on July 30, 2011. The strike was recorded on several devices in our home that ceased to function at exactly that time. While putting everything back together has been an expensive and time-consuming process, Tami and I feel blessed to have lost nothing more than a pile of electronic trinkets. A close friend lost his home to a lightning induced fire a week or so before our incident. Weather events this spring and summer have caused many families in our area to have lost loved ones in addition to their material possessions, so our problems pale in comparison.
BTW, the name "Morning Coffee" came to mind since I plan to write most of these entries while I'm drinking my daily two cups of Joe.
So, as I hit "Publish Post" for the first time, I salute all who have blogged before me. Here goes!
With all that said, I plan to write about my recent adventures in rebuilding my home infrastructure after a devastating lightning strike. The lightning strike occurred at 12:54 PM on July 30, 2011. The strike was recorded on several devices in our home that ceased to function at exactly that time. While putting everything back together has been an expensive and time-consuming process, Tami and I feel blessed to have lost nothing more than a pile of electronic trinkets. A close friend lost his home to a lightning induced fire a week or so before our incident. Weather events this spring and summer have caused many families in our area to have lost loved ones in addition to their material possessions, so our problems pale in comparison.
BTW, the name "Morning Coffee" came to mind since I plan to write most of these entries while I'm drinking my daily two cups of Joe.
So, as I hit "Publish Post" for the first time, I salute all who have blogged before me. Here goes!
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