Category: Product Specific

[Win10] Random ports blocked while using Docker / WSL / HyperV

I have been using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Docker on my Laptop since a long time. And during last Docker Con, WSL 2 was released to which I switched instantly - which I did not regret.

(Note: Upgrading to WSL 2 and the native Docker for WSL 2 version will cost you your containers and Docker images, there is even a Thanos meme coming around - so I have to give this fair warning ;))

However: Said Laptop started acting strange as suddenly local MariaDB instances or Apache2 did cease to work and even some nodeJS projects on port 9000. All these ports were not taken directly by any application, but somehow it did not work anymore. It turns out that a faulty HyperV update led to the hypervisor reserving too many ports across the board.

Luckily there is a solution to correct this issue as shown here by Christopher Pietrzykowski.

To make it easy and fast: Open up a powershell or cmd prompt as admin user and enter

netsh int ipv4 show dynamicport tcp
netsh int ipv6 show dynamicport tcp

If it comes up with startport 1025 and a huge number of reserved ports, you are experiencing the same problem. Please enter these commands to realign the startport to 49152 for both IPv4 and IPv6

netsh int ipv4 set dynamic tcp start=49152 num=16384
netsh int ipv6 set dynamic tcp start=49152 num=16384

after a reboot, everything should be fixed again 🙂

Upgrade SonarQube 6.7 to 7.9

That was surprisingly easy: Just swaped the "sonarqube:6.7-community" for the "sonarqube:7.9-community" image entry in my docker-compose.yml and restarted the Docker container. Upon boot, the container restarted due to an error:

ERROR: [2] bootstrap checks failed
[1]: max file descriptors [4096] for elasticsearch process is too low, increase to at least [65535]
[2]: max virtual memory areas vm.max_map_count [65530] is too low, increase to at least [262144]

This could be resolved by executing sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144 on my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS / Docker Host. After another restart of the container, it worked and I could start the update using a webbrowser under http://IP:9000/setup

(also add the option vm.max_map_count=262144 to the /etc/sysctl.conf)

SonarQube 6.7 Community with Postgres 9.6 in Docker on Ubuntu

This is a very quick install for SonarQube on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I presume you got the latest Docker CE 18.09 and docker-compose 1.24 installed.

# create folders for sonarqube files and postgres
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/{conf,data,logs,extensions}
sudo chown -R 999:999 /var/sonarqube
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/postgres
# make folder for all Docker files in home
mkdir ~/sonarqube
cd sonarqube
# create docker-compose.yml with following content
version: '3.1'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:9.6-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
     - POSTGRES_USER=sonar
     - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=sonar

  sonarqube:
    image: sonarqube:6.7-community
    ports:
      - 9000:9000
      - 9092:9092
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/conf:/opt/sonarqube/conf
      - /var/sonarqube/data:/opt/sonarqube/data
      - /var/sonarqube/logs:/opt/sonarqube/logs
      - /var/sonarqube/extensions:/opt/sonarqube/extensions
    environment:
      - SONARQUBE_HOME=/opt/sonarqube
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_USERNAME=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_PASSWORD=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_URL=jdbc:postgresql://db/sonar
# launch 
docker-compose up -d

You can then access your SonarQube instance on http://<ServerIP>:9000 with the credential admin/admin.

 

Migrate SonarQube from MySQL to PostgreSQL

For checking the quality of my private programming code, I have been using the free edition of SonarQube for multiple years. It is actually a cool project with a massive flaw: They did allow to use MySQL as Database - but not MariaDB. This struggle kept me a bit at bay, as I parted with MySQL years ago - with this one exception.

Some days ago I then stumbled upon the anouncement of SonarQube that did not fix this long-standing issue, but will be parting completly from MySQL. So the only choice would be to migrate to Oracle, MS SQL or PostgreSQL.

They even provided a tool called mysql-migrator for this purpose. However, this did not work. It always kept on complaining that it could not detect the schema version, etc.

Long story short: If you want (or in my case must...) switch from MySQL to PostgreSQL, use pgloader, which is available as Ubuntu package - all infos here.

I just installed a fresh PostgreSQL 9.6 in Docker, bundeled it with the postgres 9.6 alpine, fired it up and then migrated it with the following command:

pgloader mysql://<mysqluser>:<mysqlpassword>@<mysqlserverip>:3306/sonar pgsql://<psqluser>:<psqlpassword>@1<psqlserverip>/sonar

Due to all things Docker, one had to play a bit around with the correct IPs, Ports and permissions to get the tool working, but once that was said and done, everything worked fine:

                    table name       read   imported     errors      total time
------------------------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------------
               fetch meta data        180        180          0          0.357s
                Create Schemas          0          0          0          0.001s
              Create SQL Types          0          0          0          0.004s
                 Create tables        106        106          0          2.842s
                Set Table OIDs         53         53          0          0.015s
------------------------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------------
            sonar.active_rules       1993       1993          0          0.116s
  sonar.active_rule_parameters        268        268          0          0.107s
             sonar.ce_activity          1          1          0          0.074s
      sonar.ce_scanner_context          0          0          0          0.040s
           sonar.ce_task_input          0          0          0          0.025s
     sonar.analysis_properties          0          0          0          0.157s
      sonar.duplications_index          0          0          0          0.020s
                  sonar.events        349        349          0          0.173s
                  sonar.groups          2          2          0          0.330s
             sonar.group_roles         12         12          0          0.433s
                sonar.ce_queue          0          0          0          0.033s
                  sonar.issues       7508       7508          0          1.546s
 sonar.ce_task_characteristics          0          0          0          0.029s
       sonar.default_qprofiles          9          9          0          0.162s
                sonar.es_queue          0          0          0          0.143s
            sonar.file_sources        500        500          0          1.733s
        sonar.loaded_templates         13         13          0          1.498s
                 sonar.metrics        246        246          0          1.564s
           sonar.organizations          1          1          0          1.744s
           sonar.org_qprofiles         26         26          0          1.722s
   sonar.perm_templates_groups          4          4          0          1.724s
            sonar.groups_users          3          3          0          1.283s
sonar.perm_tpl_characteristics          0          0          0          1.673s
                sonar.projects        542        542          0          1.850s
     sonar.internal_properties          2          2          0          1.384s
           sonar.issue_changes        501        501          0          1.522s
         sonar.manual_measures          0          0          0          1.306s
           sonar.notifications          0          0          0          1.297s
    sonar.organization_members          2          2          0          1.504s
           sonar.project_links          0          0          0          1.532s
    sonar.permission_templates          1          1          0          1.453s
       sonar.project_qprofiles          0          0          0          1.483s
    sonar.perm_templates_users          0          0          0          1.417s
        sonar.qprofile_changes       2001       2001          0          1.616s
                 sonar.plugins         13         13          0          1.366s
     sonar.qprofile_edit_users          0          0          0          1.545s
        sonar.project_branches          3          3          0          1.356s
 sonar.quality_gate_conditions          4          4          0          1.353s
          sonar.rules_metadata       1763       1763          0          1.311s
        sonar.project_measures      35940      35940          0          1.792s
          sonar.rules_profiles         26         26          0          1.503s
       sonar.schema_migrations        495        495          0          1.369s
                   sonar.users          3          3          0          1.497s
             sonar.user_tokens          5          5          0          1.489s
              sonar.properties          8          8          0          0.941s
    sonar.qprofile_edit_groups          0          0          0          0.924s
           sonar.quality_gates          1          1          0          0.834s
                   sonar.rules       1866       1866          0          1.069s
        sonar.rules_parameters        278        278          0          1.021s
       sonar.rule_repositories         21         21          0          0.999s
               sonar.snapshots        280        280          0          1.047s
              sonar.user_roles          0          0          0          0.960s
      sonar.webhook_deliveries          0          0          0          0.942s
------------------------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------------
       COPY Threads Completion          4          4          0          3.049s
                Create Indexes        127        127          0         22.308s
        Index Build Completion        127        127          0          1.460s
               Reset Sequences         33         33          0          0.051s
                  Primary Keys         51         51          0          0.051s
           Create Foreign Keys          0          0          0          0.000s
               Create Triggers          0          0          0          0.001s
              Install Comments          0          0          0          0.000s
------------------------------  ---------  ---------  ---------  --------------
             Total import time      54690      54690          0          8.412s

 

[VMWare] Get and upgrade ESXi 6.5 "offline" - without paid license

As I wanted to have a very recent version of ESXi, I went to VMWares website and checked out their Products, Free Products, vSphere Hypervisor section. This, however, only presented me with a ESXi 6.5.0a ISO from 02.02.2017 - too old. However, you'll get the much needed free license - so the visit pays off :).

So to get the latest version and updates, you need to go to http://vmware.com/go/evaluate-vsphere-en - and are presented with the 6.5.0 U1 ISO from 27.07.2017 - a lot better. With said image you can then install your server. Even if you had an old 6.5.0a install, you could download the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle - which will upgrade your old 6.5.0 installation to U1 from that site.

After that, you'll need to check out the very useful VMWare ESXi Patch Tracker on https://esxi-patches.v-front.de/ESXi-6.5.0.html. There you can see, which patches are needed to get your ESXi host to the latest version (in my case I only need to apply the 2017-10-05 patch series to get from U1 to latest). So now switch over to https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/patch#search and look for ESXi 6.5.0 patches. I did find my needed ESXi650-201710001 patch with release date 05.10.2017 - and downloaded it. From the ESXi Patch Tracker I now know, that the Imageprofile of said Update is called ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard and uses the Buildnumber 6765664. I then enabled SSH on the ESXi Host, shutdown all VMs, put the ESXi Host into Maintance mode and uploaded the ESXi650-201710001.zip to a folder on my Datastore datastore01 into a folder I created called ESXiUpdate.

After that, I could execute said update via SSH with the command esxcli software profile update --depot="[datastore01]ESXiUpdate/ESXi650-201710001.zip" --profile ESXi-6.5.0-20171004001-standard

As you can see, it needs to provide the path to the patch file, as well as the Imageprofilename we found out earlier via the ESXi Patch Tracker. After the successful installation, a reboot is need.

As soon as the machine has booted again, login and check if the Buildnumber now matches the Updates Buildnumber. If this is true, disable the Maintenance Mode, restart the VMs and you're good to go.

If other patches need to be applied, you would re-enable SSH  access, not restart the VMs and not disable the Maintenance Mode and just keep on uploading and applying the updates :).

More infos abot the esxcli commands can be found here - and you can still use your free license with ESXi 6.5 which you acquired at the first steps of this weblog - even if you use the most recent patch (luckily!).

And now, get those machines patched ;)!

[Dell] Using the Update CDs to get Dell Servers to latest firmware

Dell has an very comfortable way of getting new firmware to nearly all of its server components: The bootable media / ISO or Update CDs. You can find them on this website and very useful. On a basic level, you pick your server, download the ISO, compare the MD5 checksum and burn the ISO onto a DVD. After that, you should get the Servicetag of your server and check for BIOS and iDRAC updates - these should be installed manually first. After that, boot from the DVD and let it install all the needed firmware. Basically, the DVD will cycle through all firmware of components ever installed in the series of your particular server and installs updates if needed. After another reboot, you're done :).

Thanks Dell for being so helpful to your users! 🙂

[Dell] T30 Intel AMT Blank Screen on Ubuntu Fix

The Dell T30 is an awesome little Homeserver, packing a punch with the Xeon E3-1225 V5 - and being affordable at about 399 €. It also comes with Intels Active Management Technology / AMT which is an extension of the horrible Intel Mangement Engine (which was all over the place months ago when some genius figured out how to stop that Man-in-the-Middle-always-on chip with some simple commands) - but quite useful - nonetheless. The good thing about this, is that it acts like an DRAC (Dell) / ILOM (Sun) / IPMI (Supermicro) card - so it is an KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse, not the virtualization thingy this time, sorry ;)) extension which allows you to control the server via network as if you were plugged in directly.

There is an awesome guide from Christian on goNeuland, written in German on howto setup that thing without the need to buy VNC Viewer Plus.

However, my Ubuntu instance came in as blank screen after successfully connecting to the system. In the end, that turned out to be that way, as Ubuntu decided to deactivate the graphics unit - due to no monitor being attached.

Different solutions were talked about here, here and here.

In my case, following helped:

1.) Open your grub, i.e. sudo vi /etc/default/grub file

2.) Add nomodeset to your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line, so that it would read i.e. GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="reboot=force bootdegraded=true nomodeset" (your commands will vary!)

3.) Save and close the file

4.) Update grub via sudo update-grub

And after a quick reboot, everything worked out :)!

[Dell] PowerConnect 2824 Switch

The Dell PowerConnect 2824 is an oldie but goldie 24 port Gigabit Managed Switch (with ports 23/24 being shared ports like on the Cisco 3560 PoE 8 - which have Gigabit Cooper Ports as well as SFP ports - but you can only use one at  a time :)).

You can get them for about 80€ / delivered on eBay as used products and they are qualitywise very good and got an reasonable (although ugly) webinterface as well as SNMP and the usual stuff. They can work as managed or unmanaged switch, which can be switched via the "Mode" port on the front (holding it for less than 7 seconds during operation, it switches the Mode, longer than that -> reset).

To clean a newly acquired switch:

  • Connect to Serial port via Null Modem Cable, 9600, 8, None - the usual
  • Powercycle switch
  • An "Autoboot in 2 seconds" will show up. Press ESC during that time to enter a special menu
  • Enter 2 to "Erase flash file" and enter config to delete the config file. Press ESC to exit and boot
  • You will see that the switch will be boot in Unmanaged Mode, and the "Managed" LED will turn off. Now Press the Mode switch for about 5 seconds, and it will turn to Managed Mode
  • You can now setup the switch via Serial Console, or just wait 60 seconds for it to start up with the default values: 192.168.2.1 as HTTP Interface and admin as username - no password

The latest Firmware for this Switch 1.0.0.45, A07  (more exactly Software Version 1.0.0.45 / Boot Version 1.0.0.13) can be downloaded here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/powerconnect-2824/drivers - you can update this Firmware via TFTP or Web Interface, you will find the option under System -> File Management -> File Download and need to switch to "Download via HTTP" to Upload the Firmware files (Boot Code = rfb, Software Image = ros) via the Web Interface and then reboot / reset the Switch (System -> General -> Reset)

On word of advise if you want to use this system with VLANs - which works a treat: Switch -> VLAN -> VLAN Membership. Chose you VLAN ID, give it a name and then click on the Switch Picture the Ports to the correct mode. Just a grey field means nothing, T means the VLAN comes on this port as VLAN tagged, U means untagged.

To put this into perspective: Grey - No connection, U - this port can directly be connected to a PC or other equipment and got the VLAN as native / vanilla LAN on its port, T - it is tagged and good to transport of multiple VLANs / i.e. trunks.

Trunk config would be like that, i.e. Port 3 of the switch. With 3 vlans, I would go to my native VLAN 1 and set it to U, VLAN 2 to T and VLAN 3 to 3. From then on, I got VLAN 1 as native VLAN on the port and 2 and 3 tagged - and with that a nice little trunk to my i.e. Server.

Configurationwise, the Switch has some sensible defaults like Rapid Spanning Tree on all ports, Green Ethernet enabled. You should maybe remove all Community Strings from SNMP and disable it, if you would not use it and set some secure password. Other than that, good to go :)!

[Ubuntu] PERC6/i on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

To use the PERC6/i i.e. the

03:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 04)

on Ubuntu, megacli is the best tool - but rarely available due to the demise of LSI Logic. Good thing that the guys from https://hwraid.le-vert.net put together a nice repo to host the latest RAID files. And yes, for everyone that does not like the idea of including a foreign repo - sorry to disappoint here :/.

# Add GPG signatures
wget -O - https://hwraid.le-vert.net/debian/hwraid.le-vert.net.gpg.key | sudo apt-key add -

# Add Package Repo
echo "deb http://hwraid.le-vert.net/ubuntu xenial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hwraid.list

# Upgrade and Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install megacli

After that, megacli is installed and can be used:

# Basic Commands
# Info Controller
sudo megacli -AdpAllInfo -aAll
sudo megacli -CfgDsply -aALL

# Info Virtuelles Laufwerk
sudo megacli -LDInfo -Lall -aALL

# Info Battery
sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL

I picked out the most important infos for me and wrote this little script

#!/bin/bash

echo "Some Infos are commeted out in this script to not overwhel the user ;)"

#echo "----------------------- RAID Controller"
#sudo megacli -AdpAllInfo -aAll

#echo "----------------------- RAID Controller Config"
#sudo megacli -CfgDsply -aALL

echo "----------------------- RAID Battery"
#sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL
sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL | grep "Battery State:"
sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL | grep "Charger Status:"
sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL | grep "Relative State of Charge:"
sudo megacli -AdpBbuCmd -aALL | grep "Next Learn time:"

echo "----------------------- RAID Virtual Drive"
#sudo megacli -LDInfo -Lall -aALL
sudo megacli -LDInfo -Lall -aALL | grep "State"

echo "----------------------- RAID Harddrive Status"
sudo megacli -CfgDsply -aAll | grep "Drive has flagged a S.M.A.R.T alert"

 

Additional infos can be found on:

http://erikimh.com/megacli-cheatsheet/

https://www.thomas-krenn.com/de/wiki/MegaRAID_Controller_mit_MegaCLI_verwalten