The Wiert Corner – irregular stream of stuff

Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category

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Would lvmraid have been improved over 2019? (back then: very single threaded, and does not leverage anything of the power of the actual device)

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/18

Reminder to self to check out if things have improved over time: [WayBack] Kristian Köhntopp on Twitter: “Trying my lvmraid kata from yesterday in real hardware was very frustrating. Everything is very single threaded, and does not leverage anything of the power of the actual device. … Basically, my linear-to-raid conversion idea died in the crib.” described to 2019 situation:

–jeroen

Posted in Hardware, Power User, RAID | Leave a Comment »

SSDs: favour TLC over QLC when they usage pattern is to have them relatively full

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/18

Some interesting observations at [WayBack] Intel brengt 665p-ssd van 1TB met 96-laags qlc-nandgeheugen uit – Computer – Nieuws – Tweakers.

–jeroen

Posted in LifeHacker, Power User, SSD | Leave a Comment »

Be sure to apply (SSD) storage firmware updates before it breaks

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/15

Various storage providers have had overflow issues in their storage firmware , so be sure to apply firmware updates.

Example (that includes HPE and Intel failures): [WayBack] Bepaalde HPE-sas-ssd’s gaan kapot na 32.768 uur – Computer – Nieuws – Tweakers.

–jeroen

Posted in Hardware, Power User, SSD | Leave a Comment »

For WiFi guest networks with a fixed SSID: QR code – Wikipedia

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/06

Access Denied

Access Denied

I knew it was possible to generate QR codes to access quest networks (as the QR code has credentials) for WiFi networks having a fixed SSID.

I just never bothered, but did when needed home care with quite a few different people providing the care.

Generating was easier than I anticipated, though I hoped I just could put the parameters in a URL and fire off to get a page including the QR code.

Alas, the pages I found require you to enter the SSID name and key/password phrase.

That’s OK: I have saved the PNG files for our network and my brother’s as images so I can put them on-line, and printed them out so guests can scan and use the network at once.

Here we go:

  • 124 network Access Denied, key 2171TB24
  • 171 network Disconnected, key 1060NP71

Related:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Barcode, Development, Fritz!, Fritz!Box, JavaScript/ECMAScript, Network-and-equipment, Power User, QR code, Scripting, Software Development, Web Development, WiFi | Leave a Comment »

UniFi USG link dump

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/04

I wanted to setup a UniFi USG (Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway) with round robin multi-WAN and incoming port forwarding on both WAN connections.

Quite a few links were the result:

Adoption was another headache. Some links on that too:

If you end up in a cannot adopt state, then a reset is the only practical way to go:

–jeroen

Posted in Network-and-equipment, Power User, Unifi-Ubiquiti, USG Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway | Leave a Comment »

UCM6200 series IP PBX for Unified Communications- Grandstream Networks

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/10/04

The UCM6200 IP PBX series allows businesses to unify multiple communication technologies, such as voice, video calling, video conferencing, video surveillance, data tools, mobility options and facility access management onto one common network.

[WayBack] UCM6200 series IP PBX for Unified Communications- Grandstream Networks

–jeroen

Posted in Hardware, Network-and-equipment, Power User, Telephony, VoIP | Leave a Comment »

MikroTik PoE: automatically power cycle and reboot device when it becomes unresponsive.

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/09/24

In the past I had these manual scripts to power-cycle a hung RaaspberryPi device:

/interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=off
/interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=forced-on

or on one line:

/interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=off; /interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=forced-on

I am going to try this script for the port having a Raspberry Pi on it (note: this requires a 48V power brick for the Mikrotik!) on RouterOS version 6.48.3 (stable):

/interface ethernet
set [ find default-name=ether5 ] comment="RaspberryPi" poe-out=\
    forced-on power-cycle-ping-address=192.168.124.38 power-cycle-ping-enabled=\
    yes power-cycle-ping-timeout=2m

The above has not worked for a long time as per [Wayback] No POE Power Cycle @ hEX POE – MikroTik:

But it might be fixed as of [Wayback] RouterOS version v6.47.3[stable] as per [Wayback] MikroTik Routers and Wireless – Software: 6.47.3 (2020-Sep-01 05:24):

…

*) poe – fixed “power-cycle” functionality on RB960GSP;

…

Similar issues exist on RB760iGS/Hex S, and there the fix requires new hardware in addition to firmware as per [Wayback] POE OUT issue on ether5 rb760igs (no power) – MikroTik

Note that I did disassemble both of these routers for inspection and there are obvious changes to the hardware to correct the PoE problems – most notably a completely different relay, capacitor and some minor circuit design changes.

If it still fails, I might try

[Wayback] No POE Power Cycle @ hEX POE – MikroTik: workaround script

:local ipPing ("x.x.x.x")
:local pingip
#
# pingip below RUNS and sets the variable
# to number of successful pings ie 3 means 3 of 45 success
# can also use ($pingip > 1) or ($pingip >= 1) both TESTED
# ($pingip >= 1) means if only 1 or 0 pings do the IF, not the ELSE
#
:log info ("ping CHECK script IS RUNNING NOW")
# first delay 90 b4 ping test incase this is running at POWER UP
:delay 90
:set pingip [/ping $ipPing count=45]
:if ($pingip <= 3) do={ :log warning (">95% lost ping LOSS to isp GW IP x.x.x.x via ether5 so DO POE powerCYCLE")
  /interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=off
  :delay 12
  /interface ethernet poe set ether5 poe-out=auto-on
  :delay 10
  :log warning ("ether5 POE HAS BEEN TURNED BACK ON")
  :delay 90
  /system script run emailPOEresult
} else={
  :log warning ("PoeCyclePINGcheck ELSE ran so no ping loss detected by script")
}

Based on:

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Posted in Development, Hardware Development, Internet, MikroTik, Power User, Raspberry Pi, routers | Leave a Comment »

Low cost remote IP KVM and control, is it possible?

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/09/20

A long time ago, I bought one [Wayback/Archive.is] SpiderDuo Local and Remote KVM Over IP | Lantronix, which – without power control unit – was already some USD 400 (while writing this in fall 2021, the price has increased to almost USD 600 [Archive.is]).

1PORT Local + Remote USB Securelinx Spiderduo KVM Over IP : Electronics - Amazon.com

It was about the only “affordable” remote KVM over IPv4 available and by now has a big drawback: it’s based on Java in the browser, which is a pain in the ass to keep working.

So I went looking for alternatives and found only two reasonable ones:

I will likely go for the Pi-KVM ; it’s on kickstarter right now

Not only that, but I found a few comparisons favouring PiKVM:

I found the Pi-KVM via [Archive.is] Solar Designer on Twitter: “PiKVM v3 HAT, “Raspberry Pi based open-source KVM over IP” by @mdevaev, is now funded on Kickstarter “

At USD 145 or less on kickstarter (excluding a Raspberry Pi 4 or power brick, so add some USD 50 for those), it is way cheaper than the SpiderDuo above which I bought some 5 years ago.

The kickstarter closes in about a week from now, so if you consider one: don’t be late! [Wayback/Archive.is] PiKVM v3 HAT by Maxim Devaev — Kickstarter shows what you get:

  • The PiKVM v3 HAT board for Raspberry Pi 4
  • USB-C bridge board – to connect the HAT with Pi over USB-C
  • ATX controller adapter board and wiring – to connect the HAT to the motherboard (if you want to manage power supply through hardware)
  • 2 flat CSI cables
  • Screws and brass standoffs

You will also need:

  • Raspberry Pi 4 with 2Gb RAM or more
  • MicroSD card
  • USB-C to USB-A cable
  • HDMI cable
  • Straight Ethernet cable (for the ATX expansion board connection)
  • Power supply unit (5.1V 3A USB-C, recommended by the Raspberry Pi)

You can use our free 3D printing case design to build a beautiful complete unit or wait a bit for the official PiKVM metal case we are working on!

–jeroen

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Posted in Hardware, KVM keyboard/video/mouse, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Mikrotik RouterOS “/ip ssh” setting not available from WinBox and defaulting to insecure?

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/09/20

Still need to research this further:

Somewhere around 6.44, when upgrading an existing RouterOS device, this snippet became part of the configuration:

/ip ssh
set allow-none-crypto=yes forwarding-enabled=remote

A few remarks:

  • I could not find anything in WinBox that is equivalent.
  • This sounds very insecure, so I have run this script:
    /ip ssh
set allow-none-crypto=no forwarding-enabled=no

    which makes the snippet to disappear (because they are default settings according to [WayBack] Manual:IP/SSH – MikroTik Wiki).

    Like usual, the on-line documentation is dense and insufficiently clear, hence my measure.

In the future, I need to decipher these posts (via [WayBack] winbox ssh allow none crypto – Google Search and [WayBack] winbox ssh forwarding enabled remote – Google Search):

–jeroen

Posted in Internet, MikroTik, Power User, routers | Leave a Comment »

Windows and the current state of S.M.A.R.T. tooling that understands NVMe

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/09/16

I had trouble with two Intel 600p NVMe SSD devices: read-errors.

It appeared only few tools understand how to get S.M.A.R.T. health information from them, and even then they did not explain the read errors.

I’m going to RMA them, but in case anyone else needs to get health information from NVMe SSD devices, here is which tools do what:

So basically, CrystalDiskInfo and HD Tune are my first line of checking for drive issues, followed by smartmontools to get text output, then by vendor specific tools to assist with the RMA.

In the past, I used another smartmontools wrapper, but it was discontinued and had an even older version than GSmartControl: Source: Closed: HDD Guardian – Home.

On Intel 600p becoming locked in read-only mode after failure:

Start of Intel RMA procedure via [Wayback] Warranty Information.

My case looks remarkably similar to [Wayback] Full Diagnostic Scan always fails during Read Scan on my SSD 600p Series 256GB – Intel Community.

A few screenshots of the tools I used for health information:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hardware, NVMe, Power User, SSD, WayBack machine | Leave a Comment »

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