Category: Tech Tips

Frozen in Time – aka wanting your OS to prefer IPv4 over IPv6

Recipe for a good geek ‘giggle’ Take any arbitrary Friday Combine with Neology Dev and Ops staff Add IPv6 Enjoy the fireworks Being a rather staunch IPv6 proponent I had to laugh when IPv6 and its ‘issues’ once again saw the light of day on the Neology balcony – but this time the reason was …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/frozen-in-time-aka-wanting-your-os-to-prefer-ipv4-over-ipv6/

Using Windows headphones for Ubuntu sound output (aka the missing Synergy component ;-) )

My home desktop environment may be somewhat more involved than what the average home user has …. but I know I’m not alone when it comes to using multiple desktop systems at home with one keyboard and mouse…. I am not going to regurgitate how to make this setup work with the excellent Synergy tool. Rather, I am …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/using-windows-headphones-for-ubuntu-sound-output-aka-the-missing-synergy-component/

Oracle Java on Ubuntu and Debian

{This is more a tech tip for myself – but may be of use to others} [Updated 2012/10/06 – Of course when I most need this its not working. Oracle changed the way they check for license acceptance. So, first go to http://www.oracle.com//technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk6u35-downloads-1836443.html with your browser. Accept the radio button terms. Then run the oab-java …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/oracle-java-on-ubuntu-and-debian/

Installation note for Windows 8 on KVM

Needing a moment of headspace I decided to spin up the latest Windows 8 Release Candidate on my KVM platform at home… I pulled the image from: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview Lets kick off the install: I selected Windows 7 as Windows 8 is not yet an option. I selected kvm and an x64 platform (the RC is a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/installation-note-for-windows-8-on-kvm/

Keeping Cacti sane during outages

While we use a number of monitoring tools CACTI is still a faithful option to just keep the basic graphing in place. The ops team obviously have to keep this page running in the background – even when on standby remotely etc. A common pain with Cacti is it’s default meta refresh approach which redirects you to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/keeping-cacti-sane-during-outages/

WOL – Pollutant Solution

As part of my preparations for this year’s studies I pulled my study apart – not a fun project. One of my main frustrations was that my multiple desktops chew power, generate heat and most importantly make noise! While I don’t need access to all the systems all of the time I certainly need the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/wol-pollutant-solution/

Current state of Peering

Ok, so there’s been a ton of hoopla around MWEB’s decision to refuse to pay for local transit. Few have openly supported them with many such as Telkom (SAIX)and MTN somewhat less than enthusiastic. I thought it might be of interest to provide my perspective as a proponent of public peering. Neology went live at …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/current-state-of-peering/

One IPv6 to rule them all

Invariably I find the most entertaining distractions when I’m supposed to be focussing all my attention on time sensitive ‘stuff’. Today is no exception, instead of finalising my Best Man’s speech for Mark Loxton (Overstreet) I prodded Telkom into getting IPv6 peering live with them at last. With the brilliant assistance of Pieter Bezuidenhout we …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/one-ipv6-to-rule-them-all/

iBurst 2.6.31 drivers

It is nights like that that I appreciate the simple pleasures of linux…. I run Windows 7 x64 as my main OS on my IBM T500 (a lovely machine) – but thanks to the short sightedness of Kyocera I cannot use my iBurst PCMCIA modem with it. So, instead of asking my coding partner in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/iburst-2-6-31-drivers/

Resetting HP iLO Passwords

Having had to reset HP iLO password far too often these days I’m blogging this more for my own sanity than anything else. 1st off you need to have configured  HP Proliant Support software. There are some rings to loop through here depending on your architecture. Once done, you need the HPONCFG tool appropriate for …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.vdvyver.net/resetting-hp-ilo-passwords/