Cisco 8510, 2702e's and -Z and -A Coded AP's

Well, this was a fun one.

Recently ran up a Cisco 8510 controller running code version 7.6.130 with 70-odd 2702e (can't buy the 2600 and 3600 series any more) APs.

Of the 2702's we ordered, all were AU version stock however 50 were coded as -Z 5GHz radios and 20 as -A.

Just on that - as the 2702's are VERY new, as part of a project I'm working on atm I will be doing pre-go-live testing so will be interesting to see how the new kid on the block performs.

On code version 7.6.130 for the WX, when you set the controller country code to AU they forgot to code support for -A 5GHz radios even though this is a legit Regulatory Domain code for AU.

On that - upgrading a Cisco WX is a bit of a less than amazing experience.

The upgrade process is clunky at best and all you are presented with during the process is what is actually being done in a random area of the screen.

No status bar, no ticks for each step.

Just hang on and hope for the best.

Anyway, as I knew the hoop-jumping of trying to log a TAC case via our Cisco Support reseller would take at least a week, I started looking for an alternative.

Luckily a trick I've used before paid off - Canada has the same regulatory channel and power restrictions as Australia, so setting the WX to support both AU and CA RD's works a treat.

After a WX reboot (which it seems has to be performed for any setting what-so-bloody-ever) all 5GHz radios were ready to go (after enabling and setting correct RD in advanced tab) all was good.

Hopefully version 8 code is a bit more polished.

TP Link T3700G - Don't bother...

 

Ok - well - as a follow up to my post on the T3700G.

Initial pricing is out and no - the T3700G pricing is pretty crap at $2000 US.

This pretty much lines it up for pricing with Cisco and HP except without the track record in enterprise grade gear to back it up.

Infocus M512 Root / SDFix / Link2SD / Launcher Fix / Uninstall Crap Guide

For those who aren't yet aware, they're is an uber-bargain handset called the InFocus M512  (manufactured by Foxconn) that is a whole lot of smartphone for the money (available from DealExtreme).

If you can read Chinese head to www.infocusphone.com or the translated version.

After using the phone for a little while, you quickly realise it has the following weaknesses:

• Lack of internal storage
• InFocus ROM is full of crapware
• The AppControl and TrafficControl apps are particularly annoying (constantly prompting you about every little thing an app wants to do)
• The stock Launcher is annoying in that it doesn't use an app drawer and rather spreads your app shortcuts across multiple home pages.

This originally started as my *slightly* more verbose version of the post on XDA @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/infocus-m512-root-discussion-t2893455

In addition, I've added the steps to resolve the annoyances listed above on top of how to root.

So, let's get into it :)

1. Copy ROM to SD Card
Copy MC2-1080-0-15CN-A02-update.zip to SDCard

Grab it from http://www.infocusphone.com/m512updates.html

Note - you have to access the chinese version of the page as when you pump it through the Google Translate engine it breaks the JavaScript behind the security verification code button.

The following screenies show you where to click :)

You can do this through mounting the phone as mass storage or directly connecting the micro SD through an adapter to your PC.

2. Enable USB Debugging on Phone
Settings -> About -> Repeatedly press "Build Number"
Navigate back to Security and select Enable USB Debugging

3. Copy ADB to Machine
Download ADB Fastboot Tools

Extract adb_fastboot_and_other_tools.zip Android folder to C:\


4. Install Universal UDB Driver
Download Universal Android ADB Driver and Install

5. Connect phone and say yes to prompt "enable USB debugging?"
Unplug and re-plug if you don't get the prompt

3. Use ADB to boot phone into recovery mode
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory you created in step 4.

cd android
adb reboot recovery

4. Flash ROM in Download Mode
From the phone menu:

wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache parition

Apply update from SDCard

5. Reboot
Set to English
Re-enable USB Debugging

6. Install Android SDK

Download the SDK Tools Only from the Android Developers site for your OS:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html

installer_r23.0.2-windows.exe (Recommended)

6. Extract infocus-M512.rar to C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\tools to directory with no sub-folders

Grab yourself the root ROM and script from http://www.needrom.com/download/infocus-m512/
Note - forced registration required.

7. Connect Phone and enable MTP Storage


8. Run InFocus_M512_15CN_1_03A国际版.cmd

You should be running this from the directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\tools

Let it go (make sure you accept USB debugging prompt on phone) and wait.

9. Phone should now reboot and you have Root!

10. Install SDFix from Play Store

11. Partition MicroSD and Install Link2SD
http://rootmyandroid.org/increase-internal-memory-phone.html

Use the Mini Tool Partition Wizard Home Edition app to do this.
You will need a MicroSD to SD adapter for this step.

Note - when formatting the SDCard:
* Use FAT32 for the Media Partition (Partition #1)
* Use EXT4 for the Apps Partition (Partition #2)

These are the only file system types I could get to work after a bit of trial and error.

The InFocus M512 doesn't like EXT2.


13. For good measure, set your camera and gallery apps to use SDCard storage as well.

14. Remove Bloatware using Titanium Backup Root
Wow - InFocus has bloatware that would make the likes of Apple and Samsung proud!
To remove some of the crap, install Titanium Backup and blow those suckers away.

Specifically, some key apps you will want to kill are:

* AppControl
* TrafficControl
* Extra crap the root version of the ROM installed (Battery Minder, Performance Booster etc.)

* InFocus customer feedback

15. Replace Launcher with Google Launcher
This will give you the same launcher as the Nexus handsets (yay - you get an app drawer again!).

Install Google Search and Google Now from the Play Store and you will also get the Google Launcher.

To set it as default, go to settings, press the home button and you should get a prompt to choose your launcher.

Set Google as Always and then uninstall Launcher+ using Titanium Backup.

Done!

Bit of pain but you've saved a bunch of cash :)

TP Link T3700G - Could this be the best value Stackable Gigabit Switch?

So you've probably heard of TP Link - the uber cheap manufacturer of WiFi access points and home-grade routers.

What you might not know is that they are #1 for the category of network infrastructure sales in China.

That's kind of a big deal.

Given that half of the IT game is trend-spotting, I started poking around the TP Link Website to see what else is currently in the pipeline.

As it would so happen, TP Link is manufacturing a stackable 24-Port Layer 3 Gigabit Switch with 10gbps uplinks capable of stacking up to 8 units dubbed the T3700G.

From the spec sheet it looks like it uses 10Gbps SFP+ interfaces (hopefully DAC cable compatible) for stacking providing 20gbps bandwidth between each device in the stack (nothing to be sneezed at).

It will be interesting to see how mature the technology is in terms of stack operational functions like firmware upgrades etc. (something that HP has nailed but still causes mass headaches for remote deployments on Cisco and Juniper gear).

IF this puppy comes in at the right price point, this could be a very disruptive bit of kit.

To be clear - this switch (at least from a features perspective) is no lightweight.

The specs list includes real enterprise grade features that you get from HP, Juniper and Cisco such as (I'm only listing features people actually care about):

• Wire speed switching
• 8 Unit Stacking
• 128 L3 VLAN Interfaces
• STP / RSTP and MSTP Spanning Tree
• OSPFv2 Dynamic Routing
• IGMP Snooping and PIM Sprase and Dense Mode Multicast routing
• DHCP Relay
• VRRP
• Distributed Link Aggregation (i.e. across different units in the same stack)
• LLDP (Yes - everybody does neighbour discovery - not just Cisco)
• QoS Marking! (8 Queues)
• Voice VLAN (Idiot Mode QoS)
• Layer 2 - 4 ACLs
• 802.1x Authentication (unclear if device login or front port)
• Port Security (omg - please no - not another generation of this dumb-ass security practice)
• SNMP v1/2/3
• CLI and GUI

Chances are the firmware will be pretty buggy on the first cut (although their slogan is "the reliable choice" - we'll see about that) but if they leave the boot loader open, I reckon some pretty awesome alternative firmwares would become available pretty thick and fast.

Although it probably won't be ready for prime time in large enterprise from the get go, I think this is will become very prevalent in small to medium business if the price is right.

From there it's probably only a matter of time.

Intel NUC D54250WYKH - How to Boot from USB

OMG VMWARE and Intel - PLEASE STOP BUSTING MY BALLS!

Sooo getting sick of doing this dance every time with ESX.

I'm building up a Intel NUC as an ESX server to run a couple of guests (phone system and a Remote Access VPN Server) and OMG I can't believe how much of a PITA this whole process still is.

This little sucker doesn't have any external storage devices so USB is the order of the day.

Downloaded RUFUS (USB Installer Creation Utility) and imaged the USB Memory Stick with the latest ESXi image setting boot type as MBR.

And of course it wouldn't boot.

Ok - checked UEFI and MBR options in NUC BIOS to make sure I was only booting off legacy.
Still no dice.

Queue rage.

Ok - so obviously something is missing in the ESX image that the NUC needs to boot from USB.

It turns out that  you need to inject some goodness into the image using the good old ESX Customizer.

And no - nothing specific in terms of drivers.
Just something it does as part of it's re-build must fix whatever is broken in the latest stock ESX ISO image.

Anyway, to be able to actually use the customizer, you need to throw a driver of some description at it.

As it turns out, the NUC D54250WYKH NIC and SATA drivers are missing from the standard ESX build.

Of f#$%ing course they are.

Now this is toss - I can put up with having to slipstream drivers for a whitebox but this is an off the shelf device which is what VMWare is supposed to support out of the box.

So - grab yourself the following drivers:

NIC Driver
SATA Driver

Slipstream those suckers using the customizer, flash your USB stick using RUFUS and then you can FINALLY begin to install ESX.

Note - when slipstreaming, you'll first have to add one driver to your original ESX image.
Then, re-launch the customiser, point it at your image file with integrated driver from previous run (i.e. not the original esx image) and add your second driver.

Argh.

Ubuntu Linux - Apps that "just work"

Well I'm now on day three or so of  my Ubuntu adventure and I'm super impressed by the availability of software.

More importantly, the days of having to stuff around in the Linux shell installing apps are virtually over.

I've put together a list of apps that are installed directly from the included GUI driven "software centre" that were mandatory to have working as I previously used them on a daily basis back in Win8 land.

Brace yourself - it really is that easy.

1. Remmina

This is an RDP client that lets you jump into Windows desktops should the need arise.
The client works perfectly and the bit that does my head in is the fact that this app launches faster than the old mstsc app in Windows and feels like it has less lag.

2. VLC
Good old VLC.
This really is the go-to video and audio player.
Works beautifully in Ubuntu and has no issues playing back anything you can throw at it.

3. Pinta
Pinta is a port of paint.net for Linux.
Leaves gimp for dead and has the exact same GUI as paint.net

4. KeePass
If you're not already using KeePass, shame on you
This is the standard for password safes.
To make your life easier, save your keepass database on your Google Drive storage and you can then access your store from your Android phone when you're out and about.

5. Sublime Text
While I have been a big fan of Notepad++ for a long time unfortunately there's no native port for Linux.

Not to worry though - Sublime Text is just as good (and actually looks a little bit slicker) as Notepad++ and has a diff plugin (sublimerge) as well.

Again, I can't believe how easy this has all been.
Linux has always been a sure fire bet in server land but the time has come where there is no reason not to jump in and run Ubuntu on your laptop.

Next up, apps that need a little bit more love to get up and going (but not much). 

Ubuntu Kingsoft Office Install Guide

Every now and then I fire up a Linux distro just to see where things are at in the world of the Penguin.

Last night I gave Ubuntu v14 a whirl and was a little bit taken by surprise.

I made a list of the daily apps I use on my Win8 laptop and found that there was a solid Linux equivalent for every single app. 

The big hold up for me jumping ship to a non-Windows machine has always been a lack of good Office Suite.

Thanks to Kingsoft Office, this now exists for Linux.

If you're keen to give a whirl, it's actually super easy.
Just not published very much.

To install Kingsoft Office on Ubuntu, follow these three steps:

1) Download Kingsoft Office

Grab the installer file from http://wps-community.org/download.html 
 You want the first file in the list named something similar to wps-office_9.1.0.4751~a15_i386.deb

2) Install gdeb

gdeb is a package manager that makes installation of apps and dependencies much easier.

To install, fire up the Ubuntu Software Centre app from the dock on the left and search for and install gdeb (not the kde version).

3) Install from Terminal

Search for terminal from the search function on the dock and enter:
cd Downloads
sudo gdeb wps-office_9.1.0.4751~a15_i386.deb

Or whatever version of the wps .deb file you downloaded.

Say yes to the "do you want me to install all required dependencies" question and that's it!

To launch, use the finder and if you want, drag and drop the shortcuts to WPS to your dock.

Nice :)