This is a story about how we migrated a production server from RAID-1 to RAID-5 without losing data, using the PERC H730 controller. Recently, we pushed a Dell server’s PERC RAID controller to its limit. (After making a verified good backup, of course). Originally, the server’s hard drives were set up as a RAID 1 … Read more
Dreamhost HTTP error WordPress media upload and library Spent the weekend troubleshooting a website error on Dreamhost with the Shared Hosting Plan. Symptoms Media files (pictures) larger than 2mb were spontaneously disappearing from the media library. When uploading, large files would get the vague “HTTP error” in WordPress. The thumbnail would be blank, and … Read more
FortiAnalyzer virtual appliance setup. Version 5.4.x Disk configuration problem: “Hard drive allocated for this VM instance” “is less than the licensed VM storage volume” . How do I remove this annoying warning? Behavior: If I select the alert, a link to the FortiNet website is displayed: http://help.fortinet.com/fa/vm-install/54/index.htm which is not helpful. Solution: … Read more
I recently spent time building FortiAnalyzer reports to let management see which devices are spending the most time browsing non-work websites. I was really surprised how hard it was to find information on this topic. No default reports on the FortiAnalyzer gave the level of detail I wanted without running the User Detailed Browsing Log … Read more
The #1 Computer Security Threat Just Evolved – RCE Worm Let me tell you a story about a worm. This worm’s name was Welchia, and it came into the world late one night in mid-2003. I was early career IT at that time, working Tier 2 Helpdesk in a very large (hundreds of thousands … Read more
Symptoms: You increased the size of a datastore in the past, but now when you open vCenter, you see the old (smaller) size displayed. There may be low disk space warnings. Web client for vCenter 6.5 and vSphere 6.5 and probably vCenter 6.0 and vSphere 6.0 If you refresh the datastore information, the correct size … Read more
Had to troubleshoot a few HP DL360 servers recently during a vSphere upgrade. They refused to upgrade to vSphere ESXi 6.5 with a conflicting_vibs_error Symptoms: After selecting “Upgrade ESXi and preserve the existing datastore”, the system scan presented the following error: <CONFLICTING_VIBS ERROR: Vibs on the host are conflicting with vibs in metadata. Remove … Read more
Problems with your PC Support and IT staff “Step 1: Change all the passwords…” This is an inside joke for IT professionals. It refers to job security. If you are the only person who has the keys, your management will think twice before they fire you. With that level of job security, you can close … Read more
4 mistakes people make when hiring a computer services company Mistake #1: After choosing an IT support provider, you no longer need to be involved in the management of them. As with any department you manage, your IT support provider will need oversight as well as clear and consistent communication. When you stop being … Read more
Traditionally, if you needed a new server for your business, you bought an expensive piece of equipment, screwed it into a rack, turned it on, and installed the software. Now we have cloud computing, which makes the server software independent from the equipment. You could have ten servers worth of software running on one piece … Read more
