RadioCuba Tech Tips (RTT)

 As I am sure many of you have found, 1Gb switching is not cutting it anymore, especially dealing with the cabling sprawl of dual/quad port cards, switch uplinks, etc. Also, as more devices are being upgraded to support 10Gb or the Multi-gig standard ( IEEE 802.3bz), reducing cabling and uplinks between devices and switching, while increasing performance and bandwidth is becoming a no-brainer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5GBASE-T_and_5GBASE-T Here's a quick and dirty of list of some viable switches to look at. Mikrotik CRS312-4C+8XG-RM https://mikrotik.com/product/crs312_4c_8xg_rm#fndtn-specifications Buffalo BS-MP2012 (12 ports) https://www.buffalo-technology.com/productpage/switch-bs-mp2012/ Buffalo BS-MP20 (8 port copper) https://www.buffalo-technology.com/productpage/switch-bs-mp2008/ TrendNet TEG-7080ES (8 port copper) https://www.trendnet.com/products/managed-switch/8-Port-10G-EdgeSmart-Switch-TEG-7080ES QNAP QSW-M1208-8C https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/qsw-m1208-...

 First things first - these resources/documentation are quite helpful during the setup process, especially if you are coming from the VMware side and haven't used Xen in many years. https://xcp-ng.org/docs/ https://xen-orchestra.com/docs/ https://www.linuxhelp.com/add-additional-hard-disk-xenserver https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121313 Default Credentials Default Web UI credentials are admin@admin.net / admin Default console/SSH credentials are xoa / xoa (first login) Set Static Network Login to the console and run: xoa network static Sudo/Admin Access To avoid typing sudo for any admin command, you can have a root shell with sudo -s Storage Management (Work in Progress) During install, pick the install disk and then (1) disk for an initial VM datastore. If you select multiple disks it will try to span the SR across them. Only select (1) if available, the others will need to be added from the console after the initial installation is complete. *STRONGLY* recommended to use E...

 I needed to update the firmware on some Intel X540-T2 cards that I had gotten for my homelab.  The cards didn't appear to have been updated in some time. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29137/Ethernet-Intel-Ethernet-Connections-Boot-Utility-Preboot-Images-and-EFI-Drivers?product=58954 After downloading the latest firmware from Intel, I was struggling on the bootutil update syntax.  I came across this blog post that was quite helpful. https://calvin.me/how-to-update-intel-nic-firmware I also found this Intel support article that broke down the syntax and options for the bootutil command. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005790/software.html My cards had both the PXE and UEFI firmware, so I had to use the following: bootutil64e.efi -UP=PXE+EFI -ALL -File=BootIMG.FLB

 If you are also not loving the direction Ubiquiti has been heading in lately, and are frustrated with their schizophrenic approach to product development, support, and code review, take a look at these alternatives. Aruba InstantOn (Switches & WAPs only) https://www.arubainstanton.com/ Engenius Cloud (Switches & WAPs only) https://www.engeniustech.com/engenius-cloud/overview-cloud-networking https://www.engeniustech.com/engenius-cloud/hardware TP-Link Omada SDN (Switches, WAP's, & one router) https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/ Zyxel Nebula (Switches, WAPs, and Gateways) https://nebula.zyxel.com/ https://www.zyxel.com/solutions/Nebula-Commercial-Cloud-Networking-Solution-20161018-771782.shtml https://www.zyxel.com/us/en/solutions/Nebula-Commercial-Cloud-Networking-Solution-20180220-169563.shtml PlasmaCloud (former OpenMesh engineers) https://www.plasma-cloud.com/ Tanaza (Cloud wireless controller - AP agnostic) https://www.tanaza.com/

 Need to setup remote access to your home network/lab, or want to build a mesh network to connect with family or friends for file sharing or gaming?  If so, take a look at these projects! Free / Open Source Solutions WireGuard -  https://www.wireguard.com/ ZeroTier -  https://www.zerotier.com/ OpenVPN -  https://openvpn.net/ SoftEther VPN -  https://www.softether.org/ FreeLAN -  https://www.freelan.org/ tinc -  https://www.tinc-vpn.org/ VPN Gate (VPN Server List) -  https://www.vpngate.net/en/ Commercial Solutions Todyl -  https://www.todyl.com/ Perimeter81 -  https://www.perimeter81.com/ CloudFlare One -  https://www.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/

 For flashing an LSI-based SAS controller in 2020, especially on newer hardware, can be challenging.  Many of the resources/guides are many years old and were written before UEFI support. I recently needed to re-flash two 9211 controllers and found these helpful https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-flashing-lsi-sas-hba-controller-efi-uefi.78457/ https://www.tfir.io/easiest-way-to-flash-lsi-sas-9211-8i-on-motherboards-without-efi-shell/ Mount USB and Flash Card: Mount fs0  (fs0 = USB drive alias, yours may be different.  Use devices -b or map-b to see list) fs0: dir Sas2flsh.efi -listall sas2flash.efi -o -e 6 sas2flash.efi -o -f image.bin -b mptsas2.rom Reprogram card address: sas2flsh -o -sasadd 500605b0xxxxxxx   (x = numbers for card SAS address, can be found on back of card) reset   (reboot system)

 There are a number of great free DNS offerings to help keep yourself and your family safe while browsing the Internet in 2020.  With the growing threat of ransomware and bad actors taking advantage of COVID and WFH, it is critical to keep your home network safe from these threats. Here's my list of my "favorites" - simply update your home router and/or devices to use these IP's for DNS lookups. CloudFlare DNS IP's  ( https://cloudflare-dns.com/ ) No Blocking Primary DNS: 1.1.1.1 Secondary DNS: 1.0.0.1 Malware Blocking Only Primary DNS: 1.1.1.2 Secondary DNS: 1.0.0.2 Malware and Adult Content Primary DNS: 1.1.1.3 Secondary DNS: 1.0.0.3 Quad9 DNS IP's ( https://www.quad9.net/ ) Primary DNS: 9.9.9.9 Secondary DNS: 149.112.112.112 OpenDNS ( https://use.opendns.com/ ) Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222 Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220 CleanBrowsing DNS Filters ( https://cleanbrowsing.org/filters ) We have 3 free content filters available via IPv4 and IPv6. Choose the one th...