Adventures in backups and restores - StorageCraft Shadow Protect

After taking a new client over recently I have been working with StorageCraft's Shadow Protect backup solution for servers: http://www.storagecraft.com.au/  Initially I was just checking that the damn thing was backing stuff up to somewhere and trying to work through a multitude of other issues. Since these problems have settled down I've had more leisure to examine this product. 

The server solution has a wide range of backup capabilities - full backups, incremental backups and continuous incremental backups. The incremental backups can be performed every 15 minutes and up from there. These are keyed back to an initial full backup of the server and are a sector by sector backup. This means we can mount the backup image as the next free drive on the server. One can simply copy across the lost files and then dismount the backup. It's elegant, simple and works well. There is a very nice extension to this as well - the Granular Recovery for Exchange. When needing to recover a email, a folder or an entire mailbox, the ShadowProtect GRE makes it very easy. Simply mount the backup image of the drive with the Exchange database on it, tell GRE where it is, where the existing Exchange database is and then copy across the items you need to recover. It's awesome because of it's ease and speed, search functions and also as a means of migrating to a newer version of Exchange. The few times I've used this it absolutely blew me away with it's ease of use, speed and simplification of data recovery. 

ShadowProtect uses ShadowControl ImageManager software to help manage all the images and snapshots. It's another neat bit of kit and it's functionality is excellent.

The most impressive part of this backup solution is the ability it has to virtual boot a server from an image. You can boot it as an Oracle VirtualBox virtual machine, or as a HyperV VM. A failed physical server can be up and running in minutes as a virtual server. It will still be running backups as per the physical server and once the hardware is restored, the up to date virtual server can be restored back to the physical hardware and once again full services can be restored.

As with any software though it needs to be carefully set up and configured, with usual ongoing maintenance applied. The install I'm working on currently is a bit of a mess and there are a lot of images that need to be sorted out. As a backup solution it also ties in with the virtual environment, although this is something I'm still exploring - check StorageCraft's ShadowProtect out, it's well worth a look.

Adventures with the HTC One X

Just a week and a half after espousing the wonders of my One X the damn thing had to be replaced. Yep - the autofocus on the camera wasn't working. If I stopped and restarted it several times it might work, but eventually failed completely. After searching the net for "HTC One X autofocus not working" and several other permutations of this, I found it's a hardware error. The local Optus dealer, to whom I'm deeply indebted swapped it without issue.

The new phone works brilliantly and I'm happy to say that I'm taking plenty of snaps with it.

I have also purchased it wallet type cover for it - I think it will protect the screen better than some of the other types of protectors out there. I do of course have a screen protector on it, but this won't necessarily stop keys or change in my pocket from damaging it. On to the next adventure with it!

HTC One X Review

So I have taken possession of my new phone, bidding a fond adieu to my beloved Nokia e72. Originally I was considering getting the One S, not the One X - as a cost thing more than anything else. At any rate, I've chosen the One X on a new plan only marginally more expensive than my previous plan, with slightly more included calls after some excellent selling by an uber efficient sales lass.

Rather than re-type all the specs you can find them here: http://www.htc.com/au/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs

Key things to note are are the Quad core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The device itself is quite large - much bigger than the iPhone I use for work and it makes the iPhone seem quite a small phone. It makes the e72 even littler by comparison. The speed and the gorgeous screen make up for those slight detractions though. 4.7" Super LCD2 - oh so very bright, clear and lovely to look at. Reviewing photos taken by the 8 mega pixel camera is a joy, and taking photos with the camera has been excellent, apart from a small issue I have where the camera won't focus. After I leave the camera app and come back in a couple of times it seems to come good, but this can be annoying when I'm trying to get a quick action shot.

The phone is light and thin, it easily sits in a top pocket of a business shirt, or in my case, the side pocket of my cargo pants. Sound is clear and vibrant, music sounds great from the little speaker at the back. For the first time I've actually gotten a top of the line phone and now I see what the hype is about. Although the Samsung Galaxy S3 is a very similar beast in size etc, I find the HTC Sense interface to be comfortable and easy to use - I've used it before with my HTC Aria.

The bad aspects of this phone are as follows:

• the camera focus thing - perhaps this an update or it's something I'm not doing correctly but this irritates the hell out of me
• the size of this phone renders all my accesories obsolete - which while it's good to buy new stuff means that my old faithful phone case is no longer usable.
• Facebook doesn't ding on notifications
• Occasionally I miss the dings of emails etc
• I can automatically tell it not to receive emails/Facebook updates and the like between a given period. The one thing the Nokia e72 has all over this phone, for me, is that it only checked emails between given time periods. Neither the iPhone 4S I have, or the One X do this - always on email means you either manually have to turn the auto-sync off (which is what I do now) OR put up with email dings throughout the damn night. NO. I like to sleep peacefully, but I also rely on my phone as my alarm clock.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this new device and I recommend that if you want a great Android phone - consider it very seriously!

Exchange 2007 Send As from a different domain

Imagine this scenario, it may be one you've come across:

• the organisation you're working for / consulting to has a single Exchange Server (be it standalone or part of SBS)
• You have it receiving multiple domains e.g. example1.com and example2.com
• Users would like to send from name@example1.com and from name@example2.com

Exchange does not support this without either adding an additional mailbox for example2.com to each user's Exchange account or implementing some expensive third party software. 

There is an easier way to do this and it has two separate parts to it: creating a relay for example2.com via the Exchange server, and setting up a dummy POP3/SMTP client in outlook to send as the second domain using the "From" drop down in the create email window in Outlook.

Part 1 - Setting up an additional SMTP Relay to avoid the dreaded 550 5.7.1 Unable to Relay

The Exchange server won't necessarily allow mail from a different domain to be relayed through it to the outside world. In Exchange 2007 you don't add a an extra SMTP relay, you have to add a New Receive Connector (because the server is receiving the mail to then send it on). 

Firstly add an IP address to your Network adaptor - don't try to re-use the existing IP address, this will over complicate things. Simply add an extra address - increment your existing address by one, or find a free one. This will be the outgoing SMTP server address we set up later in Outlook so note it down.

Open the Exchange Management Console and go to Server Configuration. Hit Hub Transport and choose "New Receive Connector"

Name it, and choose Custom as the intended use for the Receive Connector. Hit Next and on the Local Network Settings page, click the Add button and type in your new IP Address. Leave the port at 25 - most mail programs don't like this to be messed with.

Remove the "All Available" Local Network address and hit Next again.

The next window should be the Remote Network Settings window - use this to control which addresses can relay through the server. Ensure you put in a range that is meaningful and allows for some security. If you put in too large a range, or do 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255 you have created an Open Relay and spammers love these - probably not the best plan to do that. Pick your DHCP range or something similar to lock it down to.

Choose Next and on the Summary screen click New to create the connector. OK so now we need to alter the permissions.

On the properties page of the new Connector (right click and choose Properties), choose the Permissions Groups tab and select the checkbox next to "Exchange Servers" and hit Apply.

Go to the Authentication tab and select the checkbox next to "Externally Secured (for example, with IPsec)", and hit Apply and OK.

Now we can relay through our server.

Part 2: Configure a Dummy Outlook Account to get access to the extra "From" option in Outlook

Open Outlook on your desktop and go to Options, then Accounts and create a new POP account.

Put in the User's name, their email address and then for the POP3 Server address put in a dummy address pop.local for example. Put the IP address you configured above in to the SMTP server and click finish. The Test button won't work - the POP account will fail every time. Because we have only a single mailbox with multiple addresses assigned to it in Exchange, we don't have to worry about where emails sent to example2.com land - the Exchange server will automatically put them in the correct folder.

Open Tools again, Options and go to the Send/Receive section and disable "Receive email items" from our new dummy account. Restart Outlook. 

Now when you open an email to send to someone, you'll see the "From" button beside the sender's address at the top and you can select your example2.com account.

I hope you find this useful - I've cobbled it together from two separate issues that ended up being interrelated.

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 2 Review

Recently, through sheer blind luck, I was able to get a hold of one of these excellent little devices. A friend sent it down (he prefers his iPad) so I was able to play with it a bit before handing over to the wife for her amusement. The Galaxy Tablet is a 7" tablet, much like the Google Nexus I recently reviewed and use almost continually. At first blush here are the differences I noted:

• the user interface is different (naturally). I feel that the Galaxy's is more polished, looks crisper but is a lot more busy. The QWERTY keyboard interface for example has the numbers above it and the keys are smaller on screen than the Nexus.
• SD Card slot - upgradeable storage is a nice thing indeed.

Weight, size and battery life appear comparable. My wife loves it. She wasn't convinced initially about a tablet and didn't think she could find a use for it. As a non-technical person it seemed like another gadget to her. Now though she uses it for Pinterest, Facebook, eBay, email and generally web searching.

The Galaxy Tablet is a fine piece of hardware, but I have to criticize the interface. It is not as user friendly as the Nexus and this was actually a factor that led me to purchase a HTC One X over the Samsung Galaxy SIII recently. Navigating through some of the menus has been a pain, and initially finding in the Yahoo Mail app the Create Email option was not straightforward at all. That being said, now I've played more with it it's quite good.

I recommend the Galaxy Tablet to anyone who needs 3G or LTE connectivity as the Nexus doesn't appear to offer this. WiFi connectivity is very good on both devices and the Galaxy has a bright easy to read screen. Occasionally the light sensitivity gets a bit annoying as it dims the screen unnecessarily, or makes it too dark, but otherwise it's very good.

Google Nexus 7 Review

For my recent birthday I purchased one of these excellent devices. I had been eyeing one off for several weeks - in lieu of an Apple iPad or similar device. I picked it up from JB HiFi here in town and paid less than what I'd pay online. The basic specs of the Nexus 7 are:

Specifications

SCREEN

• 7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)
• Back-lit IPS display
• Scratch-resistant Corning glass
• 1.2MP front-facing camera

WEIGHT

• 340 grams

MEMORY

• 8 or 16 GB internal storage
• 1 GB RAM

BATTERY

• 4325 mAh
• 9 hours of HD video playback
• 10 hours of web browsing
• 10 hours of e-reading
• 300 hours of standby

CPU

• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor

SIZE

• 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm

WIRELESS

• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth

USB

• Micro USB

OS

• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

FEATURES

• Microphone
• NFC (Android Beam)
• Accelerometer
• GPS
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscope

General Information

These specs come from the Google Website here: http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs

I chose this tablet because of it's 7" size - the large iPads I find are too big to hold and type on with my thumbs, not because I've got small hands, on the contrary they're quite large, but just the comfort of the big iPad (or larger tablets for that matter) I find to be better on a smaller device. 

I also chose this device because of an ongoing love affair with Android - a love affair that I've felt to be a bit one sided at times. My first use of it was with the Motorola Backflip and it was dreadful. A HTC Aria followed, and while it was better, the speed was a real issue. I was hoping very much to avoid this again with the Nexus and thankfully it was all I hoped it would be. Let's start at the beginning:-

My initial impression of the device was a pleasant weight, solid build and a lovely bright screen. The onscreen keyboard was responsive and the buttons were large enough I was able to type quite quickly on it straight away. The pretty graphics and screen bling were very nice, smoothly drawn and with great colour depth. 

I managed to get a hold of a case, a rubbery plastic thing which I've since replaced with a nice faux leather one. The screen is robust and has thus far survived being dropped and drooled on by my 15 month old baby and also the rigours of being carried around in my hip pocket while I'm working. 

The screen's brightness and easiness to read have meant an introduction to eBooks in a serious way for me now. It also displays movies in HD and came with Transformers Dark Side of the Moon which I delightedly watched - the $25 Google Play voucher was very welcome too - I promptly bought a few eBooks and apps with it - the billing was very easy and it all worked well.

Now that I've had the device for a week I have it syncing 4 separate Google Apps accounts - email/calendar/contacts/Google Drive, plus Facebook and Twitter and the battery lasts for 2 days. I use it more or less continuously during working hours - reading and responding to mail, and using the Cards features for calendar and weather information. It has certainly accelerated my ability to respond quickly and stay on top of what is happening in a busy work environment. The WiFi connectivity has been solid, and I've been tethering it with my iPhone for out of office work - this has worked brilliantly thus far. 

Conclusion

For my money, the Google Nexus is an excellent device and has already saved me a significant amount of time and effort in keeping on top of the unending information flow that's part of my job. These are an extremely useful tool, and a great little toy too - definitely worth the money!

Further adventures with the HP N40L and Dragonfly BSD

Since my last post, I've tried a bunch of different things with this box. These include:

• Xenserver with the following virtual machines:
• Ubuntu Server
• Windows Home Server 2011
• FreeNAS
• DragonflyBSD
• Ubuntu Server
• Linux Mint 13

Having the 2TB mirror has caused many of the problems. FreeNAS simply crashed and used 100% of CPU the as soon as I tried to copy a file. Dragonfly wouldn't install. Ubuntu took 4 days to build a software RAID and then when we had a power failure, the RAID failed to build again. There was a lot of frustration and perhaps a cranky swear word or two.

Eventually I decided to follow this route:

• Installed Linux Mint 13 on the box, set up a software RAID for the large disks, and left the other disks simply as an install disk and an archive disk. 
• moved all the data from my Netgear Stora to the new server
• I've deployed it to replace my server and my media PC, allowing me to ditch two PCs, one UPS and the Stora.

Yes I'm going a bit greener :-) Thus far it's going quite well. I've managed to also build up a Dragonfly BSD backup server as well.

I took my old server and put the disks from my Stora and from an external USB drive that had a failed power converter. With 3 x 2 TB Disks and a 1 TB disk in the system I wanted a way to effectively use all that disk space. It's not for live data, just for periodic backups. The HAMMER file system is awesome for this because there is no fsck on boot - it's live and happening straight away. Dragonfly is also very lightweight and runs well on the system I've got. The HAMMER filesystem has a lot going for it too - I was able to add the three disks into a single filesystem of 5.5TB and it does the normal snapshots built into HAMMER. The set up and the speed it created the filesystems with was excellent. I had one small issue with my USB DVD drive during the installation which caused the whole thing to fall in a heap but once I used a USB drive the installation went quickly and smoothly.