I have re-established my local Nexenta repository and am making it available to the public. If you are interested in newer versions of Apache, PHP, and Samba compatible with NCP 2.x or 3.x then you’ll want to peruse apt.zpool.org. Some other tidbits include the latest stable BCFG2, a patched gamin package that supports Solaris FEN, and a working php5-imap package. These packages are pulled in from a variety of sources but most of them come from Debian (unstable).

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Hybrid storage pools are the new coolest thing in ZFS land and are being pushed commercially with the recent release of Sun’s 7000 series open storage. For various reasons, Sun has only added a supported SSD option to the X4540 Thor systems. This unfortunately doesn’t help those of us wanting to extend our X4500 Thumper investments and get in on the SSD performance action. I’m fairly certain you could buy Sun’s Thor solution and use it in your Thumper, but I for one wasn’t impressed with the price.

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The current Nexenta NCP 2.0 hardy-unstable repository has some broken bits that prevent a clean apt-clone dist-upgrade from working. A common question on the IRC channel is how to work around this, and I’ve answered it enough times that I thought it best to write up some basic instructions. Here’s an example of what happens: # apt-clone -v dist-upgrade This operation will upgrade your system using ZFS capabilities. Proceed ? (y/n) y <p>Updating APT sources .

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Every self-respecting geek has a home media server to store their CD and DVD rips, downloaded TV shows, photos, etc. and I’m no exception. I’ve always found it interesting to see what others put together to fill this void, so I’m returning the favor by showing off my current setup: The full components list includes: Chenbro RM31212B 3U Rackmount Chassis including a 460W Zippy PSU Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.

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Once again I’m revisiting the state of Flash support running under Sun Ray software. My previous post showed there had been improvements made on this front. How are things doing over a year later? My Sun Ray environment today is using Ubuntu Hardy and Flash 10 from the included flashplugin-nonfree package. I’m still using PulseAudio with a workaround by Sebastian Hesselbarth that nicely configures pulseaudio for each user and redirects sound through the appropriate $UTAUDIODEV device.

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